Fanout :: Press Release 08/10/04

[Role-Player]

For immediate distribution.

Howdy, and welcome to Fanout's first ever monthly press release. While I intended to have a scheduled flow on information to the public, I suppose I can credit Mutants Rising nonetheless for the idea of a monthly press release. It is a good idea. A project like this lives and dies on community support. We are all volunteers, whose efforts, ideas and hours come from the community. If it were not for the Fallout community, it all its strength, this project would not be possible. I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am for the support we have received already.

Every month I plan to keep the community filled in on where we're at, and what we're planning. The project is not yet a month old, and yet I feel like we've gone through so much already. A friend of mine working on an Ultima project said that no project has really started until you hit your first problems. We've come across our first road-bumps, and overcome them. Working with a volunteer project presents unique challenges, but I am aware of these challenges and I feel that we are capable of handling them.

One thing I want to talk about is what sets our project apart from other mods on the internet (and by that I mean mods in general and not necessarily other Fallout projects because I haven't followed them as closely perhaps as others). When I hear an announcement of a new mod project in the works, I am instantly beset with a certain amount of hopeful excitement, and cynicism. So many projects start with great intentions, promise the moon, and deliver nothing.

Why will Fanout be different? We acknowledge the standard pitfalls of such projects, and look to avoid them. Communication and accountability will be paramount with this project. I am going to implement a policy of monthly reports, and eventually perhaps move to biweekly reports. Each team member will report his or her progress (or lack thereof). I will evaluate our progress in every area, and reassess whether workload needs to be redistributed.

I can't claim to have demonstrated phenomenal organizational skills to this point in the project as my workload has largely been occupied by getting these forums up, and recruiting a team. I'm proud to say we have a full, and capable team. I can now focus myself from this moment on primarily on organizational duties.

We also have small, reasonable goals. We're not looking to change the FO2 engine. We're not promising multiplayer, or any insane notion that we can't deliver on. What we can deliver, and even improve upon from the original two FO games is a well-written storyline, with in-depth characters and quests. We will demonstrate that with our demo. While we strive eventually to make a full game, we're concerned with a demo centered on one town initially.

From that demo we will apply lessons learned, and better plan how to approach a full-sized game, and the manpower necessary to achieve those goals.

On the news front, I'm proud to report that we have a working draft of the design document, a new website with forums, and a wonderful team. We're 13 members strong. Our designers have had great ideas so far. Our artists are talented, and we have experiences scripters. I'm not sure about our mappers though. (Just kidding). Arcaliea has already produced a few sample map ideas based off the design document, and I'm very happy to announce that Corpse from No Mutants Allowed has joined our team.

Corpse is very experience in the Fallout mod community, and brings a lot of talent and name-recognition to the table. We have a team who is diverse globally, and in background. Some of our team members have varied levels in skills, but I have no major fears or concerns with this team. I have full confidence that they're going to make me look good (which is not to say that I won't be busting my ass, because I will!)

Lastly, I have not had the opportunity to really seek out and talk with the other Fallout groups like Mutants Rising, Fallout Yurop, TeamX, and Fanmade Fallout, but I intend to in the near future. We had some hosting issues early, and I needed to get some forums up for the team to communicate via. However, I do respect and recognize their place in the Fallout community. They've already run into many of the issues we're going to come across, and if we are going to be successful, we will no doubt rely on their expertise and support. Many members of Mutants Rising already offered support and advice in our infancy, and I am very grateful. I look forward to meeting members from all the Fallout teams in the near future.

In closing, I've always believed that the Fallout community was strong, knowledgeable and well organized. I'm excited about what the future holds for the Fallout fan community. Thanks for letting me share in the fun!

http://projectfanout.com

-Enderandrew