My favorite environmental storytelling moment in Fallout 3 is finding the mound of forgotten forks in the Enclave base that must have fallen through the grates. It just tickles me imagining several scary, dangerous, hardcore power armored soldiers fiddling around with forks at lunchtime only to eventually end up dropping them through the cafeteria floor and slamming their fists on the table in frustration!
It wasn't a joke, but I had a cool experience in New Vegas just an hour ago. There's an obnoxious, presumably lying npc bragging about shooting death claws right in the eye. I was having none of it so I used several speech checks to dismiss his claims. He eventually ran off. A short while later I was coincidentally in Sloan talking to the chef there, they have problems with Deathclaws. She talked about witnessing some stranger shooting Deathclaws straight in their eyes. If I had not had the previous interaction, I'd enjoy the information, but it totally changed my perspective in a really interesting way. I was like "ah shit, I messed that up, you got me" with a big smile.
You didn't mess up, those scenes are not directly related, both are just references to Fallout 2. The lady in Sloan telling about her great aunt witnessing a stranger shooting her captive deathclaw in the eye and thus losing access to deathclaw eggs is direct reference to what you can do in the town Modoc in Fallout 2. The guy in Honest Hearts DLC who's bragging about killing multiple "deathjaws" by shooting them in the eye is obviously bullshitting and it's just another more indirect reference to the same thing.
Just for additional context: in Fallout 1 and 2, there was an option for a called shot to be directed at the creature's eyes. It was very hard to hit, but extremely beneficial, causing huge damage and blindness. So towards the endgame, you ran around shooting everything in the eye (or the groin if you were bored). There isn't such option in F3/NV VATS. So it may be a throwback to the originals.
Those skeletons in bed are literally one of the most memorable moments I have of that whole decade of gaming. That simple story telling was just amazing to me at the time and I don't know if some developers know how impactful those simple moments can be to world building.
This is great! 2 weeks ago I went to Disney, and every night after putting the kids to sleep I'd take out the laptop and play Fallout 1. My first replay in probably 15 years. And now I discover this channel! I look forward to watching all the videos you make!
I remember several years ago, back when Bioshock Infinite was just announced, Ken Levine did a podcast talking about how "if you want to learn how to design a game, go to Disneyland." Easy to see how it influenced the design of System Shock 2 and the first Bioshock.
13:13 Bioshock had a really awesome way of doing this, throughout the game there was diary's that where recorded on old tape-like recorders. By picking them up, you could listen to them at your own pace. While they did play the first time you collected them, you could go a special menu and replay them as many time's as you want. Really loved that idea, both letting the player digest the lore at their own pace and rewarding exploration.
I released the Journey to Splash Mountain campaign for Left 4 Dead 2 back in 2013 and while watching this video I found myself nodding a lot, as I noticed many of these points during the campaign's development. Disneyland is a real masterclass of visual line-of-sight design.
Hi Tim, just finished binging all your videos uploaded thus far. Just wanted to say Fallout is my favourite thing ever and has had a massive impact on my life. I was busy doing toddler things when Fallout 1 came out so obviously Bethesda had a big hand in that, but they couldn't have done it without you and the rest of the team. Big thanks for all your hard work. that aside, I don't care how 'unprofessional' or 'low quality' your videos are and I don't really have any questions as of yet, I'm just happy to hear you talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Great talk - thank you! After having played games basically all my life, the things you bring up here feel almost obvious, but it's clear that it might not be obvious to everyone. Having a "handbook" like this when designing a game (or anything else meant to entertain) is invaluable.
Just took the girls to Disneyland a week ago so this was fun, hearing how you adapted Imagineer rules into RPG making. Your abundance of knowledge and attention to detail still astonishes.
Hello Tim! Can You please tell Leonard Boyarsky that he's one of my heroes! He's one of the reasons I got into the game industry almost 10 years ago :D
I'm a huge Disney nut. I proposed to my wife on Peter Pan's Flight. Somehow I knew you were a Disney guy too. Marty Sklar's book was so enlightening. I love how you've brought game development and theme park design together.
Best channel I found in years. I really wish people listened to you and drop the huge monologues and movie intros into games. These days it's like playing a game 2 hours of intro and tutorial before you can even try to play it! I think these are now my golden rules in game design. Disney really was genius. Isn't it great I am watching you in the same light as you talk about Walt Disney? I'm very proud of you
I distinctly remember thinking about POIs upon first seeing the NCR Ranger monument. Even more than the Lucky 38. In New Vegas. I remember standing in the southern early area thinking „I want to go there“
hey tim, just wanna say I have been listenting/watching your videos for hours and now and its truly a treat to listen to someone I have always admired talk about their life experiences. Not only is this entertaining but truly relaxing thanks for the great content man!
What a great video on game design. I learned a ton and immediately started thinking back to games I played that used some or all of the rules. Thank you for the insight.
Hello Tim, I love your take and thinking, i would love a videos about Japanese dev and games from your perspective. It's rare to see a big westren dev like you talks so humbly to us on RUclips, we need to squeeze your knowledge Haha.
Great stuff. Scott Rogers has a great book called "Level Up!" on game design which at its core, centers around understanding that videogames are like themeparks. It would be interesting to see a book review by you on it.
Hi Tim, it is a fantastic piece of news that you started this channel! I can not express all my gratitude towards you for all the joy I had from your games all the way through till present day, simple "thanks" would not be enough. Thanks for the games and for the channel! As DM myself I found a lot of inspiration in Fallout 1 and Arcanum on how to make the game mechanically and from a story perspective. Was your DnD experience as a DM useful for game creation? I heard that Elder Scrolls series was at first a tabletop campaign and Van Buren project had some inspiration from tabletop sessions. Was it true for any of your games? Also thanks for the insights about the vaults - they were really refreshing in terms of my perspective on them. I before viewed them more as a social experiment than a scientific task. I'm running campaign in Fallout setting right now and I will design the vaults as they should be )))
Hey Tim, it's awesome you're sharing your experiences on here now! I'm a big fan of the Fallout series and I know that the development of the first game saw the project undergo a lot of changes, with it starting as an adventure game with time travel and eventually becoming the retro-futuristic post-post-apocalypse RPG we all love today. The Fallout we ended up with seems so cohesive in terms of tone and style that it seems hard to believe the initial idea was so different, was there a point during it's development when you knew you'd "found" that unique tone and setting? I think a video going in-depth on it would be awesome.
Easily one of my new favorite channels. Can I send you a webcam I have? I would love to watch these in 60 fps or something i cant tell whats up with this video but i have just listened it a few times instead of watching. still amazing content!!!!
That was great. Tim I hope someday you will publish one of your current small games. Also please consider making a longer presentations like this one about how to invent great and orginal game ideas. Im personally interested in this topic and a lot of other indies will be as well.
Hey Tim, what are your toughts on Epic Mickey? It is a kinda bleak game directed by Warren Spector. I saw some elements of theme park design in the game.
Hmm, I'll only remember 2 of these as I'm not good at memorizing things unless there's a point of interest (like an oversized note) or it's very easy to remember. I bet you can guess which two I'll keep in mind :D!
Honestly I even think that everything that isn't game and can be skippable should be. Cinematics, in engine dialogs that block the game, tutorials... If you're scared that the player will skip them accidentally, just have them press a key for 2 seconds.
This channel weirdly started to exist RIGHT as my semester ended which was when I was planning to play through Fallout and do a comprehensive playthrough of it where I could experience everything within the time limit. It's honestly kind of awesome when I take breaks between sessions to see what the thoughts were behind the design and various things.
Can I ask for your permission to reupload (repost) your videos to a Chinese video platform called Bilibili，for some reason Chinese gamers cannot access youtube normally. Anyway,I'm really looking forward to the new game from Obsidian Entertainment
Finally, someone who understands that reference does not equal humor. Someone figure out how to get this information to the current crop of screenwriters out there.
It didn't feel like a longer video, it went by quite fast. For every point I could think of video games which followed that advice, and some which didn't.
Hi, Tim. Thank you for your wonderful channel. A question: which one of your games do you think is objectively the best one? And which one is *subjectively* the best (for you personally)? Which one you're the most proud of? Do they all differ and if they do why do you think they do?
Good questions, but there are so many ways to answer. I tell people that you can feel my creative vibes the most in Fallout and Arcanum, because they are original game IPs made with small teams. I am really proud of Temple of Elemental Evil, considering what we made on a tiny budget with a small team and not much time. But then there are games like Wildstar, where I dove into MMORPG development, or Pillars, which showed me what crowdsourcing could create. It's been a wild ride.
@@CainOnGames i love MMORPGs and i remember trying wildstar when they were giving out the free max level char thing.. i didn't know what to do though.. unfortunately that game shut down which you probably know but there's people working on a private server :D.. i remember after free realms shut down people went over to wildstar it was crazy
Hey Tim. I love that you're doing youtube. It's always nice to hear the thoughts of the people that created some of my favorite games (both growing up and now). I do however have a bit of a question. It's mostly in regards to The Outer Worlds and the eventual "Timed Exclusivity" that was suddenly slapped on it. I remember you talking about it coming to various platforms, literally a few hours before Private Division back-tracked. It didn't feel good or right in my world. How did that situation sit with you? And do you think Xbox plans to continue the circle of keeping TOW exclusive?
I wasn't happy with what happened. I didn't know PD's plans for exclusivity, and I don't know Microsoft's plans for it with TOW2. The most I can do is withdraw from PR and refuse to participate. I don't like being made to look like I was lying to fans.
A lot of that can be turned into game master best practices for tabletop RPG’s as well. Nothing was than a lore dumping GM that takes up an hour of precious playing time droning on and on about his home brew world. You want to experience that world and play in it, not just hear about it in droning detail.
![Gucci Mane & Sexyy Red - You Don't Love Me [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/j7IBqyFKT4c/mqdefault.jpg)
My favorite environmental storytelling moment in Fallout 3 is finding the mound of forgotten forks in the Enclave base that must have fallen through the grates. It just tickles me imagining several scary, dangerous, hardcore power armored soldiers fiddling around with forks at lunchtime only to eventually end up dropping them through the cafeteria floor and slamming their fists on the table in frustration!
I always think of those plungers sticking to the wall in that one room
You are posting every day! No wonder your subscriber count increases so fast. Thank you for your talks!
You are welcome. As you can see in my videos, I get very excited when I talk about game development. It's all I have ever done, professionally.
@@CainOnGames Thats why we are all here :)
I'm beyond glad you started this RUclips channel. Thank you Tim, Arcanum is one of my favorite games and what lead me to become a game programmer.
Truly, truly appreciate your insights here, Tim. Thank you and please continue to share your thoughts! We appreciate it.
It wasn't a joke, but I had a cool experience in New Vegas just an hour ago. There's an obnoxious, presumably lying npc bragging about shooting death claws right in the eye. I was having none of it so I used several speech checks to dismiss his claims. He eventually ran off. A short while later I was coincidentally in Sloan talking to the chef there, they have problems with Deathclaws. She talked about witnessing some stranger shooting Deathclaws straight in their eyes. If I had not had the previous interaction, I'd enjoy the information, but it totally changed my perspective in a really interesting way. I was like "ah shit, I messed that up, you got me" with a big smile.
You didn't mess up, those scenes are not directly related, both are just references to Fallout 2. The lady in Sloan telling about her great aunt witnessing a stranger shooting her captive deathclaw in the eye and thus losing access to deathclaw eggs is direct reference to what you can do in the town Modoc in Fallout 2. The guy in Honest Hearts DLC who's bragging about killing multiple "deathjaws" by shooting them in the eye is obviously bullshitting and it's just another more indirect reference to the same thing.
Just for additional context: in Fallout 1 and 2, there was an option for a called shot to be directed at the creature's eyes. It was very hard to hit, but extremely beneficial, causing huge damage and blindness. So towards the endgame, you ran around shooting everything in the eye (or the groin if you were bored). There isn't such option in F3/NV VATS. So it may be a throwback to the originals.
Those skeletons in bed are literally one of the most memorable moments I have of that whole decade of gaming. That simple story telling was just amazing to me at the time and I don't know if some developers know how impactful those simple moments can be to world building.
This is great advice for modders, too!
I could probably watch you talk all day.
I brought out my boxed copy of Arcanum today and found the banana bread recipe. Going to give it a try!
This is great! 2 weeks ago I went to Disney, and every night after putting the kids to sleep I'd take out the laptop and play Fallout 1. My first replay in probably 15 years.
And now I discover this channel!
I look forward to watching all the videos you make!
I remember several years ago, back when Bioshock Infinite was just announced, Ken Levine did a podcast talking about how "if you want to learn how to design a game, go to Disneyland." Easy to see how it influenced the design of System Shock 2 and the first Bioshock.
13:13 Bioshock had a really awesome way of doing this, throughout the game there was diary's that where recorded on old tape-like recorders. By picking them up, you could listen to them at your own pace. While they did play the first time you collected them, you could go a special menu and replay them as many time's as you want. Really loved that idea, both letting the player digest the lore at their own pace and rewarding exploration.
System Shock did it pretty well, too.
I released the Journey to Splash Mountain campaign for Left 4 Dead 2 back in 2013 and while watching this video I found myself nodding a lot, as I noticed many of these points during the campaign's development. Disneyland is a real masterclass of visual line-of-sight design.
Hi Tim, just finished binging all your videos uploaded thus far. Just wanted to say Fallout is my favourite thing ever and has had a massive impact on my life. I was busy doing toddler things when Fallout 1 came out so obviously Bethesda had a big hand in that, but they couldn't have done it without you and the rest of the team.
Big thanks for all your hard work.
that aside, I don't care how 'unprofessional' or 'low quality' your videos are and I don't really have any questions as of yet, I'm just happy to hear you talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Great talk - thank you! After having played games basically all my life, the things you bring up here feel almost obvious, but it's clear that it might not be obvious to everyone. Having a "handbook" like this when designing a game (or anything else meant to entertain) is invaluable.
Thanks, Tim! So interesting to hear from someone with the knowledge and experience that you have,
I wish I could like it twice.
Just took the girls to Disneyland a week ago so this was fun, hearing how you adapted Imagineer rules into RPG making. Your abundance of knowledge and attention to detail still astonishes.
Hello Tim!
Can You please tell Leonard Boyarsky that he's one of my heroes! He's one of the reasons I got into the game industry almost 10 years ago :D
Hope there's a Boyarsky guest episode further down the line some time!
I love your videos! Your energy is great :) Fantastic insights, too
I'm a huge Disney nut. I proposed to my wife on Peter Pan's Flight. Somehow I knew you were a Disney guy too. Marty Sklar's book was so enlightening. I love how you've brought game development and theme park design together.
Best channel I found in years. I really wish people listened to you and drop the huge monologues and movie intros into games. These days it's like playing a game 2 hours of intro and tutorial before you can even try to play it! I think these are now my golden rules in game design. Disney really was genius. Isn't it great I am watching you in the same light as you talk about Walt Disney? I'm very proud of you
I distinctly remember thinking about POIs upon first seeing the NCR Ranger monument. Even more than the Lucky 38. In New Vegas. I remember standing in the southern early area thinking „I want to go there“
hey tim, just wanna say I have been listenting/watching your videos for hours and now and its truly a treat to listen to someone I have always admired talk about their life experiences. Not only is this entertaining but truly relaxing thanks for the great content man!
Loving the insights, Tim! Keep them coming
You are a wealth of information. Thanks for all the videos you've been posting!
This is awesome.
What a great video on game design. I learned a ton and immediately started thinking back to games I played that used some or all of the rules.
Thank you for the insight.
Hello Tim, I love your take and thinking, i would love a videos about Japanese dev and games from your perspective.
It's rare to see a big westren dev like you talks so humbly to us on RUclips, we need to squeeze your knowledge Haha.
Seriously awesome! Thanks so much for sharing :)
This is such and interesting approach and philosophy to tackle game deisgn with. I never expected this.
Great stuff. Scott Rogers has a great book called "Level Up!" on game design which at its core, centers around understanding that videogames are like themeparks. It would be interesting to see a book review by you on it.
Tim, thanks for helpful and inspirational video! Stumbled onto your channel by accident and already viewed a lot of videos. Keep going!
Thank you for this video! I'm working on a sequel to a popular game and needed to hear a few of these things.
You should open a Fallout amusement park Tim.
Hi Tim, it is a fantastic piece of news that you started this channel! I can not express all my gratitude towards you for all the joy I had from your games all the way through till present day, simple "thanks" would not be enough. Thanks for the games and for the channel!
As DM myself I found a lot of inspiration in Fallout 1 and Arcanum on how to make the game mechanically and from a story perspective. Was your DnD experience as a DM useful for game creation? I heard that Elder Scrolls series was at first a tabletop campaign and Van Buren project had some inspiration from tabletop sessions. Was it true for any of your games?
Also thanks for the insights about the vaults - they were really refreshing in terms of my perspective on them. I before viewed them more as a social experiment than a scientific task. I'm running campaign in Fallout setting right now and I will design the vaults as they should be )))
Never in my life subed faster. Thanks for working on some of the best games ever.
Hey Tim, it's awesome you're sharing your experiences on here now! I'm a big fan of the Fallout series and I know that the development of the first game saw the project undergo a lot of changes, with it starting as an adventure game with time travel and eventually becoming the retro-futuristic post-post-apocalypse RPG we all love today. The Fallout we ended up with seems so cohesive in terms of tone and style that it seems hard to believe the initial idea was so different, was there a point during it's development when you knew you'd "found" that unique tone and setting? I think a video going in-depth on it would be awesome.
Thanks so much for the content, really enjoying these videos and your insights on design.
Tim: "no lore dumps"
Pillars: "I AM THE LORE DUMP"
Those are great tips that are also applicable to education.
genius! keep up the amazing content Tim!
Easily one of my new favorite channels. Can I send you a webcam I have? I would love to watch these in 60 fps or something i cant tell whats up with this video but i have just listened it a few times instead of watching. still amazing content!!!!
this is awesome
This was great thank you Tim!
So many people today obsessed with graphics and "bugs" in games. Its to the point where I find many of "the best" games today arent even fun.
To add insult to the injury, most modern games are being watched (streamed) and not played.
Arcanum is my favorite rpg right ahead of Fallout 1, love ya Tim
Thanks Tim!
4:52 Know your Audience
Thank you for this Video!
That was great. Tim I hope someday you will publish one of your current small games. Also please consider making a longer presentations like this one about how to invent great and orginal game ideas. Im personally interested in this topic and a lot of other indies will be as well.
Wow! Love the channel, great content. Great beard! 😁
Great to see you doing these fascinating videos Tim. And you're too kind. I'd rather spend all day playing Fallout than go to Disneyland.
i loved the premise of ghost of tsushima, but couldnt get past the blurry, low framerate mess that it is on a base PS4.
Hey Tim, what are your toughts on Epic Mickey? It is a kinda bleak game directed by Warren Spector. I saw some elements of theme park design in the game.
Jesse Schell also loves to mention Disneyland theme parks in his book.
Tim I need you to leak the few design docs that are still secret and the entirety of van buren lol
Can you do a deep dive into the Disney Land meta?
This video should be required watch for any game designers . Especially current AAA producers.
Hmm, I'll only remember 2 of these as I'm not good at memorizing things unless there's a point of interest (like an oversized note) or it's very easy to remember.
I bet you can guess which two I'll keep in mind :D!
Honestly I even think that everything that isn't game and can be skippable should be. Cinematics, in engine dialogs that block the game, tutorials... If you're scared that the player will skip them accidentally, just have them press a key for 2 seconds.
This channel weirdly started to exist RIGHT as my semester ended which was when I was planning to play through Fallout and do a comprehensive playthrough of it where I could experience everything within the time limit. It's honestly kind of awesome when I take breaks between sessions to see what the thoughts were behind the design and various things.
emacs > vim
Wow the point about quest objects being abstract is what Vogel has been doing forever
I disagree about the main story always being clear. I think Morrowind's ambiguity made doing side content make sense for the narrative
Can I ask for your permission to reupload (repost) your videos to a Chinese video platform called Bilibili，for some reason Chinese gamers cannot access youtube normally. Anyway,I'm really looking forward to the new game from Obsidian Entertainment
Finally, someone who understands that reference does not equal humor. Someone figure out how to get this information to the current crop of screenwriters out there.
It didn't feel like a longer video, it went by quite fast.
For every point I could think of video games which followed that advice, and some which didn't.
Hi, Tim. Thank you for your wonderful channel. A question: which one of your games do you think is objectively the best one? And which one is *subjectively* the best (for you personally)? Which one you're the most proud of? Do they all differ and if they do why do you think they do?
Good questions, but there are so many ways to answer. I tell people that you can feel my creative vibes the most in Fallout and Arcanum, because they are original game IPs made with small teams. I am really proud of Temple of Elemental Evil, considering what we made on a tiny budget with a small team and not much time. But then there are games like Wildstar, where I dove into MMORPG development, or Pillars, which showed me what crowdsourcing could create.
It's been a wild ride.
@@CainOnGames i love MMORPGs and i remember trying wildstar when they were giving out the free max level char thing.. i didn't know what to do though.. unfortunately that game shut down which you probably know but there's people working on a private server :D.. i remember after free realms shut down people went over to wildstar it was crazy
Unfortunately many modern RPGS don't follow these rules.
Outer Worlds was an interesting game, but I have to confess it seemed to dump too much dialog and info imo.
Hey Tim.
I love that you're doing youtube. It's always nice to hear the thoughts of the people that created some of my favorite games (both growing up and now).
I do however have a bit of a question. It's mostly in regards to The Outer Worlds and the eventual "Timed Exclusivity" that was suddenly slapped on it.
I remember you talking about it coming to various platforms, literally a few hours before Private Division back-tracked.
It didn't feel good or right in my world. How did that situation sit with you? And do you think Xbox plans to continue the circle of keeping TOW exclusive?
I wasn't happy with what happened. I didn't know PD's plans for exclusivity, and I don't know Microsoft's plans for it with TOW2. The most I can do is withdraw from PR and refuse to participate. I don't like being made to look like I was lying to fans.
@@CainOnGames Thank you for the reply. That was exactly how I felt about it. It was rude and underhanded imo.
Yeah 👍 that space between destinations is known as Liminal Space.
can you explain what you mean by "don't cheat" in the context of game development? i'm not sure what you mean
Developers often play test the game using cheat codes, giving themselves items or quests without earning them.
@@CainOnGames thank you for the reply!
Undroppable items and unkillable NPCs were such bad choices for later Bethesda games
The man who's most famous for an influencial game set in a post-apocalyptic world doesn't like crowded places,...what a surprise... ^^
A lot of that can be turned into game master best practices for tabletop RPG’s as well. Nothing was than a lore dumping GM that takes up an hour of precious playing time droning on and on about his home brew world. You want to experience that world and play in it, not just hear about it in droning detail.
Sounds like maybe these guys you go to Disneyland with should have designed how you move through the park, rather instead the fungineers.
These are very good advices, it's a shame they weren't followed in The Outer Worlds.
Never been in disnayland, they dont build them in post communism city slams
Liked to play "Theme Park" in the 90s a lot.