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- Tell us a little about yourself, what have you accomplished in life?
Well, I came into this world the youngest (by a large 11 year gap) of 10 kids. I was quite a surprise to my parents, who thought they had long been finished with all of that baby stuff. My older sisters spoiled me rotten and my brothers tried to ignore me. There was always something going on at home and family was a big part of my everyday life, and still is. On to games...
When I was around 9 or 10, my mom read an article about Gary Gygax and went out and bought me the basic D&D set. (Remember the blue one? The one with the die that fell apart when you threw them?) I didn't have anyone to play with, so I created characters and played by myself until I found some friends at school to play with. We played nearly every day at school during lunch. I remember when the Advanced D&D books came out, with the Monster Manual, it was such a huge deal for us. And I remember when we heard about the movie BladeRunner and the cool world it was taking place in, we used the D&D system as a model and made up our own RPG based on a BladeRunner-esque world. We also liked to play Avalon Hill games and sit around dreaming up our own RPG systems and talking about the games we'd make one day. At that time, home computers were pretty scarce. But one of my friend's parents had a computer that we would play Space War on (I think that was its name).
A couple of years later I moved away from my friends, but I got my first computer, an Apple 2. I recall learning Basic and making my own little dungeon crawl program using low rez graphics so that I could run through D&D by myself. It was only a top down representation of hallways and rooms and it would randomly pick encounters within the rooms. Then I'd play the rest of the game out on paper.
Soon after, I got really into music and played my guitar a lot, and the computer moved to the background of my life. I still enjoyed games like the early Ultimas, Wolfenstein, etc. But I didn't feel the need to tinker around on the computer anymore.
After high school I stopped playing the computer all together, worked construction, installed garage doors and pulled a 4 year stint at Toys R Us while I studied sound engineering at the local community college. During this time, whenever we were visiting Shellman's family, I'd spend as much time as possible playing all of the cool games on it - Battle over Britain, Silent Service, etc. In 1992, I finally saved up enough to buy my own 386 machine. I played all sorts of games on it, then I got a copy of 3D Studio. The computer bug bit me again and I taught myself how to use 3D Studio and put together a demo reel of my work and mailed it off to Interplay. Then I held my breath.
I got my first contract assignment working on USCF Chess and after that was offered a full time position! My first job was clean-up artist on StoneKeep, which was just about to ship. As soon as that finished up, I was sent over to Tim Cain as the second person on the GURPS project.
In the beginning, I supplied Tim with art to test out with the graphics engine he was building. Even though I was only hired on as an artist, Tim ran a very open team and everyone was encouraged to contribute. I attended all of the design meetings and ultimately I designed the way the art would be implemented into the Fallout engine.
The team was small at first, so there was a lot of diverse work to be done. I created a good part of the opening movie, modeled and animated approximately half of all of the creatures, including the female humans and the mutants. I also created many of the landscape tiles and wall sets and built the interface. In the end, I helped a lot with design as well, especially in regards to the story and the quests. Fallout was a great project to be a part of.
After Fallout Tim, Leonard and I went off and formed Troika Games. Our first project, Arcanum was made with only 14 dedicated employees - so once again, everyone contributed to all portions of the game and I again did art, movies, design, dialog and this time I got to try my hand at scripting, music and sound effects as well.
Next, I worked on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines concentrating on game design, level design and creation, sound effects, and of course interface and artwork design and implementation.
As one of the owners of the company I also spent a lot of time creating design docs for future games, managing projects, interacting with our publisher and directing our artists. Plus, I never really let go of my previous jobs, so I remained involved with the art production, design, sound, scripting, level building and modeling on our projects.
Once Troika shut down, I took a little (much needed) vacation. 10 years in the game industry is a good haul, and it was time for a little break. I spent about 6 months rehabbing an old house - I had forgotten how hard construction was, but it felt great to do physical labor again. (Game development is bad for the physique.) And I just completed a project where I designed and built my own swimming pool and spa - a lot of hard work, but very rewarding, especially when you live in Phoenix. I've also kept busy designing curriculum and spending time educating my children, which is a reward in itself.
Next? You'll just have to wait and see.
- What are your favourite computer games/board games and why?
That's a tough question. I have had so many favorite computer games and genres over the years. There was a period where I was really into Sims (flight, sub, tank, etc.) I just loved the immersion with being able to imagine what it must have been like to fly in a WW2 fighter, be in a tank during a battle, etc. Some of my favorites games from that time period were Red Baron, the Aces series, M1Tank and Silent Hunter. But after a while I discovered that the more I studied and learned about the actual histories, the less the games seemed real to me and then they weren't as appealing.
Obviously, I've always been into RPGs. I really enjoy taking on the role of a character and following the clues to complete quests. I like feeling as if I am creating my own unique character and that I am impacting the world and/or story. A few of my favorite classic RPG games are the Wizardry series, the Ultimas and later the Baldur's Gates and especially Planescape Torment, which is one of my favorites.
I also enjoyed turn based strategy games like X-com and Jagged Aliance and then RTS's like Dune 2 and Total Annihilation. While working at Interplay we got early releases of WarCraft (the very first WarCraft) that we played around the office after work nearly everyday.
I became completely hooked on the whole concept of playing against another player. My roommates and I set up a 5 computer LAN at home and had great times playing WarCraft 2, and of course Doom, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem - there were so many games you could have a blast with while playing multi-player.
And lately I've found myself playing several of the MMOs like WoW, Galaxies and EQ, which are great to play with friends and family who live far away. We actually use it as a way to keep in touch. Hell, even my kids play WoW with their grandma who lives 500 miles away.
So I guess in a nutshell, I'd have to say that I like all sorts of computer games. (and board games too - but those are in the kid/education realm in my house at the moment.)
- What hobbies do you have besides computer games?
Music has always been a huge part of who I am. Even before computers, I played piano by ear from the time I was 5. I've composed several pieces on my own and have always loved listening to music. In my younger years I really appreciated movie scores such as Superman, Black Hole and Jaws and later on Star Wars. Even then I tended toward heavier, more aggressive music. Into the 80's I was into the whole metal scene and played my guitar constantly. And even now, where some people read books, I prefer to delve into music.
- What are your favourite bands/artists (music)?
During the production of Fallout, three of my favorite bands were Quicksand, Tool & Sepultura. As I said before, I have always preferred heavier, more aggressive music. These days, some of my favorite bands include Bleeding Through, As I Lay Dying, old Killswitch Engage. And currently on my playlist are bands such as Silent Civilian and blessthefall. I am always on the lookout for new music to discover. When I lived in Los Angeles, I enjoyed going to shows and seeing new bands. Now that I live in BFE (thanks Shellman) I don't get a chance to do that as much.
- Tell us a little about your role in the making of Fallout 1/2/3 (Van Buren)/Tactics?
I worked on the original Fallout. I was the second person on the team, was brought in to do art, and worked closely with Tim on developing how to get the art into the game engine. In the beginning, the genre of what was to become Fallout was unknown. At that point, all we knew was that it was going to be a GURPS game.
Tim had open meetings after work for design on the project. So Tim, myself, and other people that were going to be on the project began meeting and discussing concepts we wanted to make. During this time, Tim expressed his desire to build the world out of hexes, so I came up with a way to incorporate the landscape (tile) and wall art into a hex system.
Ultimately, I became the Technical Art Lead on the project, creating a majority of the tile sets, 1/2 the wall sets, 1/3 of the characters, lots of the interface art, lots of the creatures, the opening movie and vault overrun movie and a few of the end game shots. Near the end of production I also wrote a lot of dialog and designed quests in order to make the game feel more complete.
And prior to leaving and forming Troika, Tim, Leonard and I created a skeleton design doc of what we thought Fallout 2 should be, which was partially followed by the Fallout 2 team.
- What's your favourite Fallout memory?
I have a few favorite memories. I think one of the best is when we came to the conclusion that the player was going to have to get kicked out of the vault at the end of the game. Leon and I shared an office and he was struggling to think up an end movie for the game. Originally, it was going to be a celebration... You are the returning hero of the vault in classic rpg fashion. This was decided on early in the game's design. And while we sat there wracking our brains trying to figure out how to make the movie work, it dawned on us that the whole idea of this celebration sounded kind of ordinary and lame.
Leon made the comment that, through the whole game, the vault dwellers are completely xenophobic... I mean, why would they even *let* you in? And I responded, well, then we should just have the movie being them kicking you out.
It was so funny. Over and over again we said we can't do that! But we absolutely loved the idea - it was just so cool! So we went to tell Tim. Tim wasn't sure of the idea. He thought it would flop with the fans, nothing like that had ever been done. But he finally gave in (we could be pains in the asses when we wanted something our way.) That movie is one of my favorite parts of the whole game - the returning hero getting kicked out. Absolutely perfect!
I also loved looking at all of the Perks cards that T-Ray drew. Every new batch was just so exciting to go see. They were amazing.
- What specifically inspired Fallout for you? What were the biggest influences?
Leonard. Leonard was my biggest art influence on Fallout. I shared an office with him, so I suppose this was only natural. Leonard drove the look and feel of the art in the game and some of what he was doing with the game I was familiar with, but some of it he introduced me to. In regards to art style, I was truly following his lead as to the look and feel of the game. Although, after spending 3 years sharing an office with him, I pretty much nailed down the look and feel of Fallout. Ask me a question now - I know it all.
Other than art, I can't think of any one thing that specifically inspired Fallout for me. I mean, I brought along all of my previous game playing experiences - but I didn't pull from any one source. I have always had a drive to excel at what I do. And since creating an RPG was something I had wanted to do since I was a kid - this was the pinnacle of my life. I was doing the best job I could - pulling from every experience and resource I had. And I'm very proud to have worked on such a great project and with such great people.
- Pop Culture played a big role in Fallout, what pop culture
influences you?
Well, I don't think that pop culture influences me that much. In fact, I think I tend to go against pop culture. You won't find an I-pod in my house, my car is an antique (my other a hybrid), my kids are homeschooled, my house is decorated pre-raphelite as opposed to modern and my music is not mainstream. I guess you could say I go against the grain in a lot of respects. The team did put pop culture references into Fallout, like The Simpsons, the Red Rider BB Gun, and the Tartus event, but that wasn't me. Well, on second thought, I believe I did put a few Star Wars references in there, plus there's the Corvega... so I guess I'm not completely immune to pop culture, but I was not the primary influence behind its large role in Fallout.
- How was it to be a part of the Fallout team?
It was a dream come true. There I was, a guy that was very into rpgs and loved to play rpgs and then suddenly I found myself in a situation where I had input into design and conceptualization of a crpg - I was in heaven.
Fallout was the first complete game that I ever worked on. And I couldn't have asked for a better environment to work in. I realize that there are people out there that think Tim, Leon and I were the be all end all of the game, but in reality, it takes a lot of people to make a game great, not just a few.
For instance, the initial skeleton design of the world and the people in the world were all designed by Scott Campbell - who just happened to leave the team early. We fleshed the world out and added to it, but the basic conception was his.
Then there was the opening movie that got such great reviews. A large group of us sat in a room trying to come up with ideas for the opening movie. I believe that the movie we created was spawned from an idea by Gary Platner.
We had QA guys helping out at the end creating last minute quests and design. And while their main job was to test and provide feedback, they were more than willing to help out in other areas. Even Feargus, who was busy getting Black Isle running, got in the trenches and helped us with last minute additions and changes to areas such as the Hub and the Boneyard.
Fallout had such a great group of people that worked on it. While there were only 10 or so people working on the game for a good portion of development, near the end there were 30 or more people involved - all of who were vital to its success.
- Were there things that you wished you had added to either Fallouts?
That's a tough one. It has been so long, it is hard to recall if I had regrets about Fallout specifically, or just about changes on other games that I've worked on. They all mesh together a bit in memory.
I do recall having several more quest ideas that I would have liked to add, but there just wasn't time. I also remember wanting to add more guns and unique items to find in the world. So there I things I could have added, but the game stands well without them. So, no regrets.
- What were you favourite places in fallout and why?
The Brotherhood of Steel was one of my favorite places. I really liked the idea of having a society built upon the religion of technology with strong, knight-like leaders.
I also liked Junk Town. As a fan of Road Warrior, it was very cool. I had a lot of fun designing and creating the wall sets for it.
- What is your hope for future Fallout games? Would you like to be a part of a future Fo team?
I would love to be part of a future Fallout team. I really feel that I have a lot to offer to a future Fallout project. I was there from the beginning and feel that I absorbed everything in regards to concepts, design and art and I'd love to get a chance to do it one more time.
To that end, I hope that Bethesda is successful with Fallout 3. Purely for selfish reasons - further success of Fallout ensure that future Fallout's will be made.
- Who would you bring with you in a future Fallout team and why?
There are so many people from the original core team that I would like to bring back. Everyone brought something to the original Fallout that made it what it was and it would be great to work with such a dedicated team again.
- In your opinion, what are the key ingredients that every RPG should have?
I believe that the player should be able to create a character that feels unique and that the player should also be able to make decisions for their character that impact the world around them. I feel this is the core ideal behind an rpg.
- Where do you see computer RPGs going?
IMHO, the current future of RPGs is most definitely in MMOs. I believe the MMORPG is still evolving and that it has not yet reached its peak. I am really looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the genre and hopefully being a part of it.
- How does the fan base hinder/help the projects that you've worked on?
It is always great having a supportive fan base around and having people be enthused about what you are working on - they're the reason you're making it, after all.
Your fans are the people that are going to be playing the game, so you naturally value their input. Every one of the team members that created Fallout was a fan at one time or another (heck, we still are those fans). And working for a game company doesn't make us much different from the average player - we just got lucky enough make some of the games too.
The only thing that can really bum you out is that no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to please everyone when you are creating a game. And it does bother you when some of the fans are upset. There are many, many decisions made during the development cycle of a game. And some of these decisions involve things that 90% of the people may like, but 10% hate. And if those 10% are really vocal, it can create a very negative vibe about the project.
But in the end, I feel that fans and community input are very important to any project, regardless of the negatives.
- When planning the story how do you go through the process of integrating themes and story with the constraints on software?
Basically, you end up living within the constraints. Early on in Fallout's development, we wanted the game to feel like you were walking towards towering ruins. But the game ended up having a 1 story building constraint - the technology just wasn't there at the time to give us more. So we worked within the constraints the software had given us.
The story never really gets constrained by software. A story can be told in hundreds of different ways. It is a bit of a job to keep the story flowing, especially if you are giving the player a lot of options. This is one of the challenges the Fallout team faced, as well as the Arcanum team. The more freedom of play and freedom of choice the player gets, the more difficult it is to keep the story on track, but that is something we wanted to give the players so it was worth the extra work.
The main thing that gets constrained by software is the artist's vision. And it is the artists that complain the most about the constraints within any game that they are working on. With the speed technology has advanced, those constraints are being lifted more and more. But it has been replaced by a time constraint. We can build beautiful, high detail worlds, but they will take many more artists and much more time than we have budgeted. And so there are still compromises.
- If you could make any computer game that you wanted, which would it be and why?
I'd really enjoy working on an MMO, since that is the way I believe rpgs are going. The breadth and depth of the worlds and the amount of involvement of the PC intrigues me and I find myself coming up with ideas I would like to see implemented in one. I have been playing several different MMOs and I can't help but think of things that I'd like to put in them. I have a million MMO ideas in my head that I'd love to get out.
- Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Well - its been 10 years since Fallout - and I certainly didn't think I'd be where I am now. In 10 more years, absolutely anything is possible. Lets see... in 10 more years I'll be 48 - I should be partly cybernetic by then. Bladerunner took place in 2017, right? The technology should be there, so why not? "I want more life..." well, you know. Hey! A pop culture reference.
- Any last word to the Fallout fan base?
Thanks for making Fallout one of the most enduring RPGs of all time. Its a dream come true to have worked on a game that has been so well received and to have been a part of its creation. Sincerely, thank you.