Fallout Creator's YouTube Channel Is A Treasure Trove Of Insight
Tim Cain We Love You
Game development is an infamously secretive space, and any information published on what goes on behind the scenes is often filtered through corporate bureaucracy or through investigative reporting. But sometimes developers are happy to divulge perspectives openly, and Tim Cain’s YouTube channel is exactly that.
Cain is widely known as one of the creators of Fallout, a game series that is seeing a bit of renaissance since the launch of the TV show of the same name. While some creators of very popular games and movies get, for better or for worse, shoehorned into only ever talking about one thing, Cain isn’t interested in just talking about Fallout. He also wants to tell you about chocolate he’s had, the goods and bads of video game piracy, and his experience of being a gay game developer.
As someone who writes about video games on a blog that is only ever “promoted” on the Aftermath Discord server (YOU SHOULD GIVE THEM MONEY ITS WORTH IT), the tiny audience I have is made up of people who look at games through a different lens than the greater populace, and with that viewpoint comes a desire to read and listen nuanced dissections of this art form. This is why I love Cain’s channel.
Of course, it’s fascinating to listen to stories about how the original Fallout games were developed, but it’s also intoxicating to hear Cain eloquently explain the use of ‘Design Pillars’ in the games he helped developed. I especially love this video because its helped me understand and identify what type of games I gravitate towards. One of the pillars that Cain talks about is not having a “right way” of completing a quest, and how the development team behind the original Fallout really resonated with the idea of having shades of gray for outcomes.
This design pillar made its way into Fallout: New Vegas, and still continues to be a source of much internal debate in my head whenever I replay the game. The Legion is the worst, and that can’t be debated. But deciding if New Vegas should remain in the hands of Mr. House or put under the control of the NCR is something I’ve struggled with since day one, because there’s no right answer. You have to figure out who is the best worst faction to side with. And if you can’t, you can just choose yourself with Yes Man. Are you even the right person for the job?
Cain has some other brilliant videos, like Game Designs That Impressed Me, where we get some rather endearing insight on what impressed Cain, but also how deep his love for all things games is as exemplified by the fact that he whips out a book of notes containing dungeons he came up with in high school.
So yeah. Thats it. That’s the blog. Check out Tim Cain’s youtube channel. Eat some dark chocolate. Enjoy your day.