08/10/00
Developer Update for Fallout Tactics
Woo! For those that don't know, myself and Dan Levin (another designer here at Interplay) left the warm comfort of sunny SoCal to journey to Australia to meet with the Micro-Forté guys. Our trip was extremely productive and was time very well spent. I'm back, but Dan is still working down there for a few more days.
We spent most of our time with Ed (designer) and Tony (producer), but we also meet all the programmers, artists and level designers.
The primary topic for discussion was mission design, but we also talked about (at various times): new weapons, vehicles, game mechanics (like the way Doctor works now, for example), multiplayer games, tutorials and demos, updating the official website more often (heh), movies and cut-scenes, localization and other various issues. It was really keen seeing the most up to date build (I like using the word 'keen') and all the work that was going into the game. We have a pretty good grasp of the current status now, and Tactics is surprisingly larger than we had been expecting.
For the missions, we worked on mission sequencing (where a mission goes in the story and when missions become available on completing earlier missions), mission events and skill usage, mission revisitation (we have a new plan), consequences of player actions, character type differences and random encounters. One major change to previously discussed plans is the number of missions. Previously, we had 20 core missions and 18 side missions (with no random encounters and no mission revisitation). We are now working on 25 core missions, plus random encounters and the ability to revisit previous missions. There is about the same amount of material, but it is presented in a way that will let more people see the material.
Finally, I'd like to congratulate the Icewind Dale team over in Black Isle. They have made a really good (and keen!) game. Very, very enjoyable and a great way to lose a couple of hours that should have been better spent writing up notes and working on design...
pax,
-Chris Taylor
Senior Game Designer