This is starting to break me, guys. Joystiq interviews J.E. Sawyer.<blockquote>Joystiq: What's your history with the Fallout franchise?
Josh Sawyer: I worked on what's called "Van Buren," which was the codename when Black Isle started to work on what would have been Fallout 3, and we had worked on it for maybe half a year, and then it was canceled because Interplay had a lot of financial problems.
Has it been a bizarre journey for you -- to have worked on the original iteration of Fallout 3 and now to be creating New Vegas, the sequel to the Fallout 3 you didn't work on -- or is it just "business as usual"?
I don't know if it's necessarily business as usual. You know, I've had a few high profile games be canceled, and so when I start working on a game at this point I'm kind of like, "I'm not confident that a game is going to ship until the manual is printed." Although, I have heard of examples where even then games have been canceled.
So, I mean, I'm really glad to be working on Fallout again. But like I said, until we get really close to the finish, I don't think I'm really going to have the same level of excitement that I had back in the early 2000s, because when I came to Black Isle, all I could think of was working on Fallout 3. So it has basically been 11 years coming to this, so I don't want to get ahead of myself until it's actually out the door.</blockquote>Shacknews has an interview with Sawyer, Feargus Urquhart and Pete Hines, the "Fallout: New Vegas Makers" (errrr).<blockquote> Josh Sawyer: We're trying to build on [the franchise's fictional history] a lot. One thing I do admit is kinda tricky is sometimes we take for granted [knowledge of past characters and events].
Pete Hines: That's all part of the Fallout canon, and going back there is just building on that canon but ultimately acknowledging that you are in part of the U.S. where other games did take place and there are places and things that, if you played those games, you should see and recognize. If you don't, if you don't what the NCR is, it doesn't take away from your enjoyment of the game. You still get what it's all about.
Josh Sawyer: When you go to Black Mountain, we wanted to include the chimes from the cathedral in Fallout 1. Sometimes [the references are] really overt, like, "Hey, look it's that character." Sometimes it can be as subtle as an instrument you heard in a theme that comes back. </blockquote>GamePro offers a video interview with Feargus, drawing comparisons to Fallout 1/2.
And the BethBlog has its Inside the Vault article with the man of the hour, with one of the geekiest-looking photos of Sawyer I've ever seen. C'mon dude, you drive a motorcycle, up the coolness please.<blockquote>What is the best part about your job? The worst part?
I really enjoy seeing people create great things. Few things make me happier than going around and showing people a cool new feature, critter, animation, icon, loading screen, or effect in the game. The worst part is definitely dealing with project cancellations.</blockquote>
Josh Sawyer: I worked on what's called "Van Buren," which was the codename when Black Isle started to work on what would have been Fallout 3, and we had worked on it for maybe half a year, and then it was canceled because Interplay had a lot of financial problems.
Has it been a bizarre journey for you -- to have worked on the original iteration of Fallout 3 and now to be creating New Vegas, the sequel to the Fallout 3 you didn't work on -- or is it just "business as usual"?
I don't know if it's necessarily business as usual. You know, I've had a few high profile games be canceled, and so when I start working on a game at this point I'm kind of like, "I'm not confident that a game is going to ship until the manual is printed." Although, I have heard of examples where even then games have been canceled.
So, I mean, I'm really glad to be working on Fallout again. But like I said, until we get really close to the finish, I don't think I'm really going to have the same level of excitement that I had back in the early 2000s, because when I came to Black Isle, all I could think of was working on Fallout 3. So it has basically been 11 years coming to this, so I don't want to get ahead of myself until it's actually out the door.</blockquote>Shacknews has an interview with Sawyer, Feargus Urquhart and Pete Hines, the "Fallout: New Vegas Makers" (errrr).<blockquote> Josh Sawyer: We're trying to build on [the franchise's fictional history] a lot. One thing I do admit is kinda tricky is sometimes we take for granted [knowledge of past characters and events].
Pete Hines: That's all part of the Fallout canon, and going back there is just building on that canon but ultimately acknowledging that you are in part of the U.S. where other games did take place and there are places and things that, if you played those games, you should see and recognize. If you don't, if you don't what the NCR is, it doesn't take away from your enjoyment of the game. You still get what it's all about.
Josh Sawyer: When you go to Black Mountain, we wanted to include the chimes from the cathedral in Fallout 1. Sometimes [the references are] really overt, like, "Hey, look it's that character." Sometimes it can be as subtle as an instrument you heard in a theme that comes back. </blockquote>GamePro offers a video interview with Feargus, drawing comparisons to Fallout 1/2.
And the BethBlog has its Inside the Vault article with the man of the hour, with one of the geekiest-looking photos of Sawyer I've ever seen. C'mon dude, you drive a motorcycle, up the coolness please.<blockquote>What is the best part about your job? The worst part?
I really enjoy seeing people create great things. Few things make me happier than going around and showing people a cool new feature, critter, animation, icon, loading screen, or effect in the game. The worst part is definitely dealing with project cancellations.</blockquote>
