In his latest video on YouTube, Fallout co-creator Tim Cain walked fans through the origins of the post-apocalyptic franchise (yet again). He dipped down memory lane and returned to 1997 to discuss the series’s first title. He revealed that Fallout could have been a real-time combat title from the outset, but it turned out to be too expensive.
The first couple of outings for the Fallout franchise were turn-based, isometric games that had a much slower pacing and a more strategic operating model. The most major change for the series came with Fallout 3 in 2008, which was a first-person action shooter, but the real-time mechanics could have come a decade before.
What Might Have Been
Tim Cain revealed in his latest YouTube video that he prefers turn-based combat because real-time combat can get too overwhelming, and you can’t see everything coming at you all at once. He was the lead mind working on Fallout when the series was first concocted, and in recent years, he has come up with some fantastic tidbits about the game’s creation.
In his recent video, he said:
Interplay marketing approached me in 1996, a year before we came out, and they wanted Fallout to be made real-time because of Diablo.
They pushed several times, and the way I finally got it to stop was just pointing out how much money I would need – and time – and they finally stopped.
Cain stressed that a Fallout remake shouldn’t ever introduce real-time combat to the game. It should remain faithful to the original. In his hypothetical breakdown of what it would look like, Cain constantly leaned on the negatives of real-time combat.
I’m curious to know what Cain thought about the real-time, first-person pivot that led to Fallout 3 surfacing.
Previously, Cain revealed his original plan for the ending of Fallout, as well as the design elements that meant players were never supposed to be pacifists in the game.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Oblivion Remastered is being revealed today
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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