Design and Development Fallout3

8/8/2019 Design and Development Fallout3

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Design and Development of the Pip-Boy Model 3000

Istvan Pely

Lead Artist

For Fallout 3 we sought to create an interface system that was functional, unique and

entertaining. The core of this is the Pip -Boy, a classic element of the series that exists as

both an important object in -game as well as the players primary method of interacting with

his character. This diary entry will provide some insight into the process that a team of

artists, designers and programmers undertook to create and implement th e Pip-Boy 3000.

Conceptual Design

The basic parameters for the industrial design of this piece of hardware were simple. It was

decided early on that the device would be worn on the player characters arm and feature a

display of some sort. Along with the design of the Vault Suit, the Pip-Boy was one of the first

things that our resident conceptual artist and creative genius, Adam Adamowicz, began to

sketch. We went through pages and pages of drawings, iterating every little detail, in order

to lock onto something that looked interesting and also seemed plausible from a realism

point-of-view.

Inspiration came from both commercial product design and military industrial design of the

1950s to early 1960s. Elements from items such as old portable televis ion sets and army

field radios were studied and incorporated in some fashion along the way. As with all of

Fallout 3s industrial design, a careful balance of realism, future -retro-style and practicality

was sought in the final product. In terms of realism , its not an essential factor, but a sense

of believability within the rules as defined in the Fallout universe is important.

Technology in the world of Fallout 3 is somewhat paradoxical in that its incredibly advanced

in some ways, and downright primitive in others. Certain technological advancements that

we take for granted in our own history either did not occur, or developed along a very

different path. Miniaturization is one example; yes, the fact that a device with the

capabilities of the Pip-Boy could be made at all is amazing, but its still a rather bulky and

heavy lump of hardware. It uses a monochrome cathode ray tube, there are no flat

LCD/Plasma/OLED screens. Its housing is cast out of a metal alloy, not plastic. And its an

ergonomic nightmare. But all these qualities give it character, and this was an important

aspect of the design, as the Pip-Boy is almost a character itself.

After much iteration the design was eventually narrowed down to a basic look. Once Adams

drawings all start looking too similar we know weve honed in on the most likely design. The

device clamps on the users arm, fastened via bolts (which implies that it doesnt come off

very often.) It prominently features the aforementioned CRT display, hooded to prevent

glare from the hot wasteland sun. There are various buttons and knobs, slightly oversized to

facilitate handling with a gloved hand. The grill indicates that the circuitry within can get

pretty hot, and proper ventilation is required. Also note the gloved hand wit h a control-box


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mounted on the back, it has a large knob and coiled wire connecting with the main unit.

That knob is the primary controller for the user to manipulate the on -screen cursor. The

overall design isnt too over-styled, as this is meant as tough piece of field equipment.

At this stage we moved on to mesh-building. Often times we draft more detailed, blueprint -

like drawings before passing a design to a production artist, but sometimes its left rough so

that theres some flexibility to experiment in 3D.

Creation of the Model

Now that we had a pretty good idea of what the Pip -Boy looked like, it was time to build the

model that would eventually appear in-game. As with most hardware-based game assets,

the artist starts with the high-poly version of the mesh. This is usually the most fun, since he

doesnt have to pay any attention to poly-count. The goal is to refine the design in 3D, with

every single detail fleshed out. This is our virtual maquette, something the creative staff can

study to make comments on and the artist can tweak until just right. The result is spiritually

close to the concept drawings, but has been tweaked to read better in 3D, given factors

such as camera FOV, screen real estate issues, etc.

The lower-poly, game mesh is then built. Without getting into too much detail of the art

development pipeline, we use the initial high -poly model to generate a series of normal

maps which provide all the detail of the original with the efficient mesh construction of the

final, in-game model.

The texture of the device was critical. It certainly isnt brand new when the player acquires

it, and new models havent been built for many years. Instead, a limited amount of prewar

examples have been patched and maintained over time. So the finish is pretty worn down,

paint-chipped and scratched. It took several tries to develop a color -scheme that felt right,but eventually we ended up with something not too far a field from the abstracted Pip -Boy

interfaces from earlier games in the series, yellow lettering and all.

The final touch was to add a layer of grime and finger -print smudges to the screen.

Textual User Interface

Designing the content for the on-screen display in the Pip-Boy 3000 was a challenge. There

were a host of restrictions placed on the UI because of the unique nature of the hardware asimagined. We looked at old computers from the 70s to early 80s, when operating systems

were text-based, interfaces were not-so-graphical, displays were low-rez, and color was a

luxury many systems did not have. The Apple // was a primary influence, with its green

phosphorus CRT raster scan monitor, and a 1mhz processor that couldnt quite keep up with

its own frame buffer. The UI would have to be simple. No overlapping windows, few icons,

and only basic animation capabilities.


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Given these parameters, a UI design evolved that was primarily text-based. The only

iconographic element would be the 1 -bit representations of the various Vault Boys. These

icons show up throughout the menus, providing humorous and descriptive imagery that

accompany all of the stats as well as every item in the game. Natalia Smirnova illustrates

each icon, a monumental task given the shear number of variations that exist. Part of the

fun is just scrolling through the me nus to find every Vault Boy example.

Other than Vault Boy, the interface is primarily text and numbers, with brackets to visually

segment the many sections of the layout. Despite the sheer amount of information that

needs to display within limited screen real estate, the minimal UI and smallish font present a

clean and functional appearance, with zero ornamentation to get in the way of the data the

player needs.

The biggest creative battle fought was to keep the Pip -Boys screen monochrome, as adding

a dash of color was often an easy solution to a usability problem. But color in UI design is

often a crutch and not to be relied upon, plus it would have disrupted the purity of the

concept. So we found ways around it, often forcing us to improve the layouts i n the end.

Implementation

A design doesnt become an interface until a skilled team of programmers enters the

picture. That team consists of Erik Deitrick, Ricky Gonzalez and Dan Teitel, a group whose

forte is translating a host of conceptual UI mockups into functional menus. Its a complex

task given the fact that no interface makes it from concept to reality without a substantial

bit of tweaking and refinement. A good interface must evolve as its used and tested, and

the best idea on paper can often just plain not work until its gone through this process.

Luckily, the interdisciplinary dynamic between art, design and tech is tight and functions

well. This is particularly invaluable when the artist is asking the programmer to move a

button 3 pixels up, 2 to the left until everything lines up just right. Or when a screen is

completely scrapped if a better idea comes along.

We knew from the very beginning that we wanted the Pip -Boy to exist as an in-game object,

on the player characters arm, and not fake the transition to the actual menus. On hitting

the menu button the player characters arm raises into view, filling the screen with a close -

up of the device. It never switches to an alternate model or mode, the effect is seamless and

stunning. However, in order to really sell the illusion, the Pip -Boys screen needed to be

convincing as an old glass tube. Orin Tresnjak was instrumental in devising a method to

project the menu displays on the curved geometry of the screen, instead of simply

overlaying UI graphics above 3D geometry. In addition, he created a series of imagespace

filters and effects that transform the UI into a wonderfully authentic reproduction of that

early Apple // monitor we were inspired by. Raster lines, a slight flicker, loss of ve rtical-holdwhen switching modes, these are examples of the sort of attention-to-detail that was

lavished on the Pip-Boy 3000, to transform it from a simple object to a virtual prop that

looks and feels as tactile and real as an actual physical prop.

The Pip-Boy 3000 isnt done yet. Its a work -in-progress that continues to evolve as we

improve it, adding features and refining existing ones. The hopeful end result is that when

the player activates the Pip-Boy, immersion isnt disrupted. He hasnt stopped playing the


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game in order to check something in a menu. But rather, his character has simply paused

and looked down to fidget with his personal analog assistant for a moment, still in the

wasteland.

Miscellaneous

If the players in a dark room, only the gr een glow from the screen illuminates the Pip-Boy.

The model is lit realistically within the current environment. In fact, the Pip -Boy can serve

as a source of light when none is available. Its screen can be switched to a special over -

bright mode, illuminating the immediate surroundings in a greenish glow. This can be quite

handy at times.

Late in the design we added a physical radiation meter to the top left of the Pip -Boys

faceplate. The needle vibrates upwards as the player character absorbs rads.Given the

reality that radiation is a major factor in survival in the wasteland, we wanted to make sure

the rad-level was always visible at-a-glance, regardless which screen the players in.

Once the Pip-Boy was working in-game, there was something missing. The animation of it

coming into view was dynamic, the screen effects were great, but the whole thing felt too

static, as if time had frozen. Indeed, time does freeze, but thats for practical gameplay

issues, its not desirable visually. The solution was to a dd a very slight constant idle motion

to the Pip-Boy, the sense that the player character is breathing, his arm not perfectly steady.

Josh Jones, our animation lead, spent a good deal of time tweaking the motion so that it was

subtle and apparent, but not annoying in the least. We didnt want the player chasing

buttons around with their cursor.

Sick of all that green? The player can choose to change the color of the Pip -Boy 3000s

display. Perhaps amber, like an old Dynalogic Hyperion PC. But then it wouldn t be Fallout,

would it?


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Creating Collectibles

Pete Hines

Product Manager

Details on the Collectors Edition have been out and available for a bit. If youre reading this,

chances are youve already seen it listed and, hopefully, seen a picture of what it comes

with. We take a measure of pride in our collectors editions, its s omething we spend a lot of

time thinking about. Whats a good fit, what do fans want, whats feasible and what isnt?

So a bottle of Nuka Cola might be an awesome idea (we had these made previously and

gave them out at a press event), but logistically its a disaster. You dont want to get into

having a food product into a video game product. Trust me.

Todd and I have spent the better part of two years going back and forth on this at various

points. We always get different people in the team involvedwhat do you think about doing

this, or that? What would you like to see? We also take a look at fan conversations about

what theyd like to have in a CE. The big thing for us was that, as much as possible, we

wanted the stuff to be from the game.

Lunch Box

First and foremost was the lunch box. From day one, Todd insisted that it had to come in a

Vault Tec lunch box - long before we knew what else was going in it. We spent some time

playing with different designs. Youve probably seen the one we did previo usly for the press

event, but that one was a little more straightforward. We just printed the front and back

and nothing else. For this lunch box, we wanted to go all out and print the thing like Vault

Tec would have. So youve got some recognizable Vault Tec imagery on the front and back,along with Vault Boy along the top, bottom, and sides in his various poses. If youre

wondering, yes, those are all the different poses related to your SPECIALs. We added a fair

amount of weathering and grunge to it, as i t needs to look like its been around awhile. You

can find these lunch boxes in the game, and one of the custom weapons you can create is a

lunch box filled with Nuka Cola bottle caps and an explosive strapped to the side that makes

quite the handy frag mine (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME).

Bobblehead

Back when we showed the game off for the first time last year, we were trying to come upwith an idea of another cool thing to give to the press. We toyed with the idea of an

Iguana-on-a-Stick and a number of other things. The idea of a bobblehead came up, and I

mentioned it to Todd and Emil when they said they had already been talking about having

those in the game as Easter Eggs throughout the world. The idea being that Vault Tec

handed these out as promotional items, and you could have them boost one of your stats if

you found one.


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The ones we did then were made of a different materialalmost like porcelainand they

had a really high breakage rate. I remember sending out a number of them to people after

the press event who had theirs break in transit. So we went for more standard bobblehead

materials on this one non-Phalate PVC for those chemical engineers out there because it

would stink to get your Collectors Edition and open it up to find only pieces of a Vault Boy

bobblehead. We think this one is actually a better representation of Vault Boy than the

original one, and the arms folded pose is much less prone to snapping off en route to you.

Art Book

We have reams of concept art here. Years of it. Adam did more iterations on the Vault Suit

than anyone thought possible. So we wanted to be able to pull the best of it together in a

book. Its hard cover, 96-pages, and includes some commentary on the different pieces, how

they came about or evolved over time.

DVD

Finally, the Collectors Edition comes with a Making Of DVD with lots of behind -the-scenes

interviews and insight into the making of the game. The film crew is actually here shooting it

as we speak. Youll hear from about a dozen different me mbers of the team and get an idea

of what goes into making a game like Fallout 3. Theyre also shooting a few meetings we

have going on, including our monthly team meeting, so I think itll be cool. Im hoping

footage from a meeting that continued on in pi tch darkness after all the power went out will

make the final cut. I didnt get to see it, but it sounded pretty hilarious.

Survival Edition

Probably a year or so ago, I was sitting in my office working on some things, and had an idea

to build an actual Pip-Boy 3000. Well, a replica of one anyway. A big thing that looked just

like the one in the game. I went downstairs and talked to Todd about it and he liked it and

we started talking about how we might do it. We talked to some different companies about

how we might pull it off. We looked at a lot of different approaches.

At one point we seriously looked into the idea of building one that woul d actually work and

interface with the game on some level. That turned out to be a huge problem technically -

getting it to work on three different platforms, and 10,000 issues here and there. So we

bagged that and just went back to the original idea of s omething that looks just like the

one in the game, and it sits on my desk. We liked the idea of having it function as a watch

so it did something as wellnot just an inanimate object that sat there.

We spent a tremendous amount of time going back and f orth designing this thing. Mike

Wagner worked on helping them figure out the scale of it, Istvan well, Istvan pretty much

did everything to make it look exactly like it was supposed to. Eventually we settled on a

look for the thing in general. Were sti ll finalizing the screen, but itll have a pretty basic


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watch/clock interface. As Im typing this I have the only one currently in existence sitting on

my desk. Just a form test to make sure the proportions are right and knobs and buttons are

in the right place. But even though its just black with nothing on the screen, its still really

cool. So I cant wait to see what one looks like when its finished.

Were doing these through Amazon.com in very limited quantities. We wanted to do it in a

way that they were really exclusive for folks that got them. So once theyre goneand

theyll go quicklythey are gone for good. We arent making any more, although I will admit

Ive socked a few away in case we decide to give some away through contests and such at

some point.


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Faction Profile the Brotherhood of Steel

Emil Pagliarulo

Lead Designer

How, exactly, does one worship technology?

Is it as simple as praying to a golden, robotic calf? Perhaps god is recognized as some kind

of sentient artificial intelligence who demands subservience in exchange for feats and

favors?

Or maybe, just maybe, the human race has already answered this question: technology is

worshipped, simply and plainly, through obsession and attainment. We are a people

dominated by technology, from our electrically-powered cities right down to our

scientifically engineered anti-depressant medications. And every Sunday mass we miss to

stay home and watch football on our HDTVs is further proof that now, more than ever,

technology is the dei ty we hold most dear.

Now imagine all of that compulsion, all of that addiction we as an entire race share, and

encapsulate it into one group of people. Imagine the obsession and fervor, the unending

need for technological superiority, and the ultimate fu tility of such a goal.

Imagine, if you will, the Brotherhood of Steel.

In Fallout 3, the Brotherhood of Steel is one of the most important and influential factions

youll encounter. And while its true they are a military organization, the Brotherhoods

values and command structure are actually more representative of a mediev al knightly

order. Like the Templars of old, in their own eyes, the members of the Brotherhood of Steel

are pure, they are just they are truly human in a world filled with both physical and moral

corruption.

But it is the worship of technology that tru ly defines and drives them. For a Brotherhood of

Steel Paladin, Power Armor is his plate mail, a powered Super Sledge his warhammer. A

non-combatant Scribe is more scientist than scholar, utilizing computers as a monk in the

Middle Ages would a quill and i nk.

Its not enough for the Brotherhood of Steels members to use whatever high -tech gadgetry

theyve acquired, though. The organizations entire existence is predicated on the

acquisition of technology. Whatever theyve got is never enough. Their bes t equipment? It

could be better. Even if this endless search for high -tech toys means keeping the good stuff

out of the hands of others who could really benefit from it, well, thats okay with the

Brotherhood of Steel.


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So it really didnt come as a surprise to anyone within the Brotherhood of Steel when the

orders ruling council, based in Southern California, decided to send a contingent of soldiers

all the way to the East Coast, with two important objectives:

To scour the ruins of Washington D.C., once the nations capital, and recover any and all

advanced technology. After all, D.C. was the home of the Pentagon, the very headquarters

of the United States Department of Defense. Who knows what secrets or equipment

they left behind?

To investigate the reports of Super Mutant activity in the area. Could these creatures be

somehow related to those that fled eastward after the Masters destruction (as depicted at

the end of Fallout 1). Or were these Super Mutants something else entirely?

And so a small but hardened contingent of Brotherhood of Steel soldiers, led by an idealistic

Paladin named Owyn Lyons (and accompanied by his friend and technological advisor Scribe

Rothchild, as well as his seven year -old daughter Sarah) set out from the Lost Hills Bunke r in

California, and began the long trek east to what was once Washington D.C.

When the group finally arrived in the Capital Wasteland, it didnt take long before they

made some remarkable discoveries.

The Pentagon, as they had feared, was largely de stroyed. But its sub-levels remained intact,

and contained enough pre-war technology and weaponry to keep Lyons forces going

indefinitely (once the defense robots were destroyed). But there was something else, as

well a technological marvel that, if restored, could help the Brotherhood rebuild a strength

and reputation that had been declining steadily for years.

The discovery was significant enough to earn Paladin Lyons a battlefield promotion to Elder,and a new directive from his superiors to establish a new, permanent Brotherhood base in

the Capital Wasteland, and continue the search for any other advanced technology hidden

in the capitals ruins.

Lyons accepted his new post gladly, and founded the Citadel, built into and beneath the

ruins of the Pentagon. It was a fortress the Brotherhood of Steel desperately needed, and

one they rushed to fortify, thanks to their other great discovery Super Mutants.

It didnt take long for Lyons and the Brotherhood of Steel to find the Super Mutants, mostly

because they didnt have to: the Super Mutants found them. In the Capital Wasteland

particularly in the urban ruins of downtown D.C. the Super Mutants simply couldnt beavoided.

Thats why, for the people of the Capital Wasteland, the Brotherhood of Steel was the

answer to their prayers. Scattered, hungry, and largely disorganized, they had lived with the

constant threat of death or capture by the Super Mutants for as long as they could

remember. Elder Lyons and his brave Knights and Paladins changed all that. For the first

time, the Super Mutant tide was stemmed. The D.C. ruins were still Super Mutant controlled


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and uninhabitable, that was true, but the number of incursions against outlying settlements

dropped significantly. Life was still harsh and u nfair, but at least now the people of the

Capital Wasteland had a fighting chance and they had Elder Lyons and the Brotherhood to

thank for that.

Fighting the Super Mutants, simply keeping them at bay, may have been enough for the

areas innocents, but for the Brotherhood, too many questions remained: how were these

local Super Mutants created? Why were they capturing the people of the Capital

Wasteland? Where were they taking them? Finding these answers would, ultimately,

become Owyn Lyons' obsession.

The years passed, but not in a way anyone had foreseen. Indeed, the Brotherhood of Steels

importance to the people of the Capital Wasteland was not something that Lyons ever

expected. Nor was it something his superiors back in California cared at all a bout. Their

newest Elder had a clearly defined mission to acquire advanced technologies in and

around the ruins of Washington D.C. Finding the source of the Super Mutant threat and

destroying it was important too, of course. But that shouldnt take too l ong right? Surely

the Brotherhood of Steel could handle a few Super Mutants? How hard could it be to locate

and eliminate their source? Lyons prime objective was, first and foremost, the acquisition

of technology. The Super Mutants were his second priori ty. Thus was the subject of every

communication from the Brotherhood of Steel leadership in California.

But Elder Owyn Lyons had another priority, one he considered more important than his

original directive or any orders received since the protection of the innocent people of the

Capital Wasteland. And so, Lyons sent word to his superiors that he would continue his

search for technology when he was damned good and ready, and would not sacrifice thepeople who had come to rely on the bravery and strength of the Brotherhood of Steel.

The Californian corridors of Lost Hills erupted in rumor and speculation. Had Owyn Lyons

gone native, putting the needs of the people of D.C. above those of the Brotherhood

itself? Or had a Brotherhood Elder finally exh ibited the selfless behavior that should serve as

a model for the entire order? Caught in the middle, the ruling Elders made the only decision

they could they would still recognize Elder Lyons as a leader of the Brotherhood of Steel,

and the Citadel as their D.C. headquarters. But all support from the West Coast was thereby

cut off. If Lyons wanted to pursue his own agenda on the East Coast, he would do it alone.

So thats what the stalwart Elder did. The Capital Wasteland division of the Brotherhood of

Steel, headquartered in the Citadel, became its own entity: still affiliated with the

Brotherhood of Steel on the West Coast, and bound by its laws and customs, but otherwise

completely independent.


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Most of Elder Lyons soldiers supported his dedication to the people of the Capital

Wasteland, and were proud of their leaders commitment to honor and heroism. But there

were those who voiced their opposition loudly, and aggressively. They believed that by

abandoning the Brotherhood of Steels primary missi on of acquiring new technologies, Elder

Lyons had abandoned the very values that defined the order itself.

One night, the dissenters departed from the Citadel, absconding with weapons, Power

Armor, and other pieces of technology and equipment. This was, w ithout question, Owyn

Lyons darkest hour. He had become a man of compassion and understanding, and couldnt

help but sympathize with those who had left: he had abandoned the Brotherhoods primary

mission. He recognized that, and took full responsibility. Some of the Knights and Paladins

who left had been his battle brothers for years. Together, they had shared victory and loss,

pain and elation. But to those soldiers loyal to Elder Lyons, this dereliction of duty and theft

of technology was an act of cowardice and treason. Lyons was left with little choice: he

branded the dissenters Outcasts, traitors to the Brotherhood of Steel it was a name they

would ultimately wear like a badge of honor, proud of the distance it put between

themselves and Lyons soldier sycophants.

Such is the state of the Brotherhood of Steel when you, the player, enter the picture, in the

year 2277. The order is still dedicated to the protection of the people. Its members are

tough, loyal, and bound by honor and theyre also barely scraping by.

Elder Lyons daughter Sarah is now a grown woman, and one of the Brotherhoods fiercest

warriors; in fact, shes the only member to have achieved the illustrious rank of Sentinel,

and now commands her own elite squad, Lyons Pride.

The war with the Super Mutants a conflict that has continued unceasingly for over twenty

years rages on, and the Brotherhood is feeling the strain of this extended conflict. Without

reinforcements from the West Coast, Lyons has been forced to recruit l ocally, and the

results have been less than stellar: most new conscripts are overeager, unskilled, or both,

and as a result their survival rate is atrocious. So low, in fact, that that word has spread

throughout the Capital Wasteland join the Brotherhood of Steel, and youll be dead within

the week.

The Outcasts have grown in power since their split from the Citadel, and have re -dedicated

their lives to what they consider the Brotherhood of Steels only mission the acquisition of

new technologies.

Its certainly not how Elder Owyn Lyons expected his life to turn out, not the way he

imagined his command would be chronicled in the historical archives. Such is a career of a

Brotherhood of Steel Elder.

Now, only one question remains When the Brotherhood of Steel Scribes record the events

to come, what will they say about you?


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Forging the Steel

Jeff Browne, Lead Level Designer

Alan Nanes, Lead Designer

Once an author puts the last piece of punctuation on the final sentence of his creation, the

story is traditionally over. However, with our latest downloadable content project, we were

determined to break with this tradition by taking the ending of Fallout 3 beyond that epic

moment in the purifier and beginning a new chapter in the saga of the Dwelle r from Vault

101. We had to revisit old locations and characters, change plot elements and yet still keep

the tone and consistency accurate while at the same time provide an entertaining and

rewarding experience for the player. It was a challenge we were d etermined to meet head-

on, and the result is Broken Steel.

Beyond the mere fact that we were continuing Fallout 3s story, we were given the task to

raise the level cap from 20 to 30. Many issues stood in our way: balancing past level 20,

providing new creatures and new NPCs to challenge the post -level 20 players, creating new

weapons and armor, handling the experience points, and generating new freeform quests to

name a few. We knew going into this project that many questions had to be answered and

that a lot of work had to be done.

In Fallout 3, a lot of time and energy was put into balancing the games encounters. The

game was designed and balanced for a level cap of 20. After level 20, well, we had nothing.

We also tried very hard to have visual distinctions between two creatures of the same

faction. For instance, a Super Mutant Behemoth is visually different than a Super Mutant

Master, which is visually different than a Super Mutant Brute. A player in a battle betweentwo Super Mutants should be able to quickly assess the threat and make decisions based on

the visual differences of the creatures.

If we were to increase the level cap to 30, we first needed to figure out which factions we

wanted to support the new cap. Super Mutants were one creature we knew we had to

support. The decision was made to keep the Super Mutant Behemoth at the top, so we

needed to fill the gap between the Behemoth and the Super Mutant Master. Thus was born

the Super Mutant Overlord - a creature much stronger than a Super Mutant Master and one

that is beginning to take on the shape and form of a Behemoth. Its posture is beginning to

show signs of the Behemoth with its large, thick neck and slightly forward head. Given

enough time, the Overlord would eventually gr ow to become a Behemoth.

To fill the gap for the FeralGhouls we added the Feral Ghoul Reaver, which wears worn out

armor, has special effects emitting from its body, and a new ranged attack, making it visually

distinct from the normal Feral Ghouls as well as the Glowing One.


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For the Rad Scorpion, we made the Albino Rad Scorpion - a formidable foe that roams the

Wasteland, dealing out great amounts of damage, and is much more resistant to attacks

than the Giant Rad Scorpion.

For the Enclave, we introduced a new elite fire -based ranged soldier who not only wears

new fire-resistant armor, but also wields a new and powerful weapon, the Incinerator. The

Incinerator is a powerful ranged fire attack that ignites its victims upon impact.

While working on extending the level cap to 30, creating new creatures, armor, weapons,

perks, etc., we also began to work on several Water Quests separate from the DLCs Main

Quest. With these Water Quests we wanted to explore the consequences of the player

starting the purifier, and whether or not he spiked it with FEV. A drastic state change in the

world was beyond the scope of the project, so we tried to show the whole in the parts, by

focusing on a few key personalities and locations struggling with the difficul ties of mounting

a massive humanitarian effort in the harsh realities of the Wasteland. Various difficulties

posed by various interests taking advantage of the water supply are presented, and the

player can get involved in classic Fallout fashion, setting things right through altruistic

action, or milking the situation for his personal gain through extortion and blackmail.

With the team working on all of the above, we also began to work on extending the

storyline of the Main Quest after the purifier is tu rned on. We needed to tell a compelling

story about life in the Wasteland with the addition of clean (or FEV spiked) water. This

alone is challenging to do especially with schedule constraints of DLC. Many questions

needed to be addressed: When should t he DLC begin? A day later? Weeks? Months? Did

the player spike the water with FEV? If so, how does that affect the world? Will people

know the player spiked the water? What happens to some of the main characters in Fallout

3? Are they still around? Did the player destroy Raven Rock? If not, is it still around? Is the

new story going to use existing environments? Are new environments needed? What doesthe Purifier look like turned on? How is the new water distributed, if at all, and by whom?

Wheres Prime and what is he doing? What happened with the Enclave? Have they left DC?

After several brainstorming sessions, we answered all of these questions and many more.

We then looked at our schedule constraints and determined if we could do everything we

wanted. Once we nailed down what we could finish and polish in the time given to us,

production began on Broken Steel. (Be sure to check out JeffGardiners dev diary, Creating

Downloadable Content, to gain insight on how the different production phases w ork and

how we come up with downloadable content.)

From a Level and Quest Design perspective, our main goal for the story was to shift thefocus entirely on the player and let him determine how the story ends. We didnt want you

escorting anyone nor fighting alongside any group for the majority of the DLC. It was mainly

to be a solo experience and we made sure the player had access to everything his character

had in the main game, including followers (unlike Operation Anchorage and The Pitt). We

wanted to use existing locations in Fallout 3 as much as possible to keep the story

associated with the Capital Wasteland and also wanted to create new environments for the

player to explore. But we needed to make sure the new locations fit with the theme of th e


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Capital Wasteland and didnt feel tacked on. For example, part of the quest takes the player

to Old Olney in the Capital Wasteland. Weve added new gameplay to the exterior of Old

Olney, used existing interior spaces of Old Olney, and also created new interiors for Old

Olney.

Another big goal of ours was to make the climb to level 30 a difficult one. The new

creatures are much more difficult than their closest counterparts and it will take a lot of

resources and smart tactical decisions to take them down. If you face two or more of these

new creatures in a single encounter, be prepared for a difficult fight. Those playing on the

Hard or Very Hard difficulty setting may soon find themselves dropping it down a notch or

two.

After reading this, we're certain its obvious that this DLC didnt just set out to raise the

level cap by the haphazard inclusion of a few creatures, weapons and changing some

numbers. What weve given to the Fallout 3 fans is a robust expansion bristling with

content: 10 additional levels to explore, several new creatures, some new weapons and

armor, new items, new locations in the Wasteland, new side quests and a worthy

continuation of Fallout 3s epic Main Quest. Overall, we are pleased with the outcome of

Broken Steel. A lot of hard work and long hours were put in by the team that worked on this

downloadable content. And as you walk your way through and experience all these new

things weve provided, we hope weve done our job by putting a smile on your face.


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Notes on Pull ing the Sky Down: The Level Design of Fallout 3

Fallout 3 Level Designers

From left to right: Phil Nelson, Jesse Tucker,

Jeff Browne, Joel Burgess, and Daryl Brigner

Fallout 3 has been the first Bethesda Game Studios project with a dedicated level desig n

team from the outset. With this resource, we were able to set our sights higher than ever

before. We knew early on that one of our big concepts for the game was to challenge the

traditional RPG divisions between towns, wilderness, and dungeon. With that mission in

mind, we actively sought to blur the lines and create a world that was at once believable,

unpredictable, and above all; entertaining.

The Washington, D.C. area was a natural choice of setting for the game. Despite her

architectural beauty and social significance, the Capital is surprisingly neglected as a setting

in videogames. We believed, as locals, that we had a great opportunity to do her justice.

This setting has been a blessing in many ways. The U.S. Capital is thick with imagery and

symbolism which is only amplified against an apocalyptic backdrop. This is a city of

beautifully distinct architecture and a variety of local charms from neighborhood to

neighborhood. Those of us who dont live within D.C. herself are a very short metro trip

away from the heart of downtown, so research and inspiration were never far away.

For all her grandeur, D.C. also presented us with some design quandaries that we had never

encountered before. Early prototypes showed us that simply building a city layout in the

open world was not only a performance nightmare, but also prevented us from creating the

kinds of gameplay scenarios we were eager to attempt. We also looked at other open world

games, like GTA and Crackdown, with expansive, open cities, and those ga mes allow the

player to move around the world in a much different way than we felt fit Fallout 3. Playersdont have access to fast cars or superhuman jumping abilities. Rather, explorers visiting the

Capital Ruins do so in a thorough and deliberate manner , and we wanted to turn our

attention to a density of destruction suitable to a devastated city. To this end, we focused

on combining the visual focus of level design in other first -person titles like Doom 3 or Call

of Duty 2 with the exploration aspect of games like BeyondGood and Evil or any Zelda title.

These influences, as well as our own ambitions for the game, helped guide the level design

of Fallout 3s D.C.

Our goal with D.C. was never to rebuild the city street -for-street, but to capture her spirit.

The timeline of Fallout diverged from our own many years in the past, and progressed

beyond our present day before the apocalypse happened. While much of the cityscapewould be recognizable to us, this vision of D.C. is distinctly different from the on e we know

today. Major and historic landmarks remain. The monuments on the National Mall are

present, and a portion of the C&O canal can be visited. Arlington Cemetery reclines west of

the Potomac River, beyond the Key Bridge. The city surrounding these ma jor points of

interest is generally more dense and oppressive, however. Further, D.C. would have been an

obvious priority target in the nuclear exchange of 2077, known only as The Great War. The

catastrophic damage caused by intercontinental barrage devastated the city, making


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exploration difficult and dangerous. Much of the city would be cut off from exploration, and

navigating the ruins often requires passing through seeming unrelated areas, such as

clambering from a collapsed train tunnel into the base ment of an office building, and

emerging in a city park or bomb crater.

So, instead of D.C. being an enormous, open area on the world map, we hatched a plan to

focus on the individual areas and neighborhoods of the city. Each of these neighborhoods is

its own large outdoor area. This allowed us to clearly define the personalit y of every

neighborhood and specifically tailor gameplay to populate each. Further, the player must

navigate treacherous underground areas to move from one neighborhood to another, as

many of the surface-level city streets are completely buried under heaped hillocks of debris

from shattered structures.

The neighborhoods of D.C. are so varied and unique; it was difficult to select which ones to

re-imagine. Pennsylvania Avenue and the National Mall were obvious choices, while the

historic appeal ofGeorgetown and Dupont Circle helped those areas make the cut. You can

also visit less well-known areas such as the residential crossroads of Seward Square in

Southeast D.C., or the modern and efficient Falls Church. Thanks to the inherent character

of areas like this, it was easy to draw inspiration to guide our hand. When a level designer

was assigned a neighborhood, it was easy to research its history and defining traits. More

often than not, our difficulty was not in finding a defining characteristic of a neighbo rhood,

but which of many to focus on. Theres something to be said for actually visiting a place

when trying to distill and recreate a bit of its character.

Connectivity became a well-worn part of our vocabulary while working on Fallout 3,

particularly when discussing D.C. One of our usual level design concerns is to avoid the

player exploring and clearing a level, only to have to backtrack through empty hallways to

escape. For D.C., achieving a believable world design involved allowing multiple ways in an dout of an area. We created alternate routes that circled back to an exit or, especially

downtown, allow the player to pop up in a new location entirely. This elegantly avoided the

issue of back-tracking, but made it more difficult to design gameplay to be compelling

regardless of the players direction through it. The city is laced with dozens of such small

and versatile connections. These interior locations became instrumental in the design of

D.C. because their multiple entrances allowed us to connect e ach neighborhood to the

others as part of an elaborate network of ruined tunnels and structures.

Working out the connectivity of DC's intricate levels.

The most predominant of these connective areas are the metros. Metro is the colloquialterm for the D.C. subway system, operated by the fictional DCTA organization. We

envisioned a pre-war system of stations and tracks which mimics D.C.'s real-world public

transit system, and used that to guide our development of the DCTA metro. While many

tunnels have collapsed and stations have been rendered inaccessible, the player can still

make use of in-world cues such as maps and station signs to navigate the innards of D.C. The

largest continuous set of tunnels allows the player to reach almost any neighborhood

without needing to go above ground, negotiating derelict train tunnels and frequently


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as well as a small experience point reward for finding them. These cues serve as a sort of

optional checkpoint system, reminding the player that they can take a trip to town, sell loot

and rest up, then easily return to this spot to resume scavenging D.C. at a later time.

We also filled D.C. with small stories to help build the larger arc of the players experience.

These stories are side quests from our quest designers, traditional levels with their own

secrets to uncover, or one of numerous terminals, notes or recordings. Fallout is a world rife

with the unfinished tales of lives cut short by nuclear holocaust, as well as those of unlucky

survivors who scrabble out a meager life from such dire circumstances. With such a deep

well from which to draw inspiration, time was the only limit on how many tales could be

told. D.C. is full of these stories, told through any combination of text, dialogue, or more

subtle venues.

The written word is a powerful and direct tool for storytelling. Much of our storytelling as

level designers, however, is told with the voice of the world. For every space in the game,

however minor, we asked ourselves why is this here and what s happened here? Even

when this back story isnt conveyed directly to the player, it informs even minor level design

decisions and lends an honest quality to the space. A lonely grave, a heap of human gore, or

a long-abandoned outpost convey atmosphere and meaning without a single written word.

These small stories all contribute to both the truth of setting and the unique narrative of

each players experience playing Fallout 3. Their distribution through the world is designed

to intersperse the player experience with more punctuation marks to keep time playing the

game from blending into a hazy, forgettable miasma.

We set out to blur the lines with Fallout 3s level design, and building D.C. was our greatest

experiment, entailing every aspect of our craft from the granular to the grand. We hope

that, in some small way, it can change the way you look at RPGs and game worlds in

general. When you venture past that threshold of safety and plunge into that ruinedmetropolis for the first time, keep your wits sha rp and your eyes open. The wasteland may

be dangerous, but the ruins are a new experience altogether. Let us know what you think

when you emerge, eyes blinking, on the other side.

Design and Development Fallout3

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