The History of Fallout: Part 1 (1988-2000)
1,705The history of Fallout is filled with highs and lows, as some games in the series frequent lists of the best games of all time, while others are best forgotten about entirely. In this video, we’ll be taking a look at the history of Fallout, Fallout 2, in addition to a game that is etched in Fallout’s history; Wasteland. This is… The History of Fallout - Part 1 (1988-2000).
Want more gaming history? Check out The History of Video Games:
The History of Video Games: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2UL0LNnH7HzgVURj_5hVI8bNSqdrMG-R
Want more Fallout? Check out some of these videos:
A Brief History of Fallout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwNrTr4X1So
6 OLDEST Fallout Characters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRqLRVH2liw
6 Saddest Fallout Stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eJIe9GEGGo
5 Happiest Fallout Vaults: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhJ_veoNxR8
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The History of Fallout: Part 1 (1988-2000) (in text form)
The Fallout franchise is nearly 20 years old, but the history of the series goes back much further than that. While Fallout can easily be considered Interplay’s most successful franchise, their legacy goes beyond the post-apocalyptic, being publishers of such games as Descent 3, Baldur’s Gate, and the developers of Wasteland. Baldur’s Gate and Descent 3 certainly helped shape Interplay into the developers they would eventually become, but it was Wasteland, first released in 1988 on the Apple 2 computer, that really laid the foundation for Fallout. Not only did Wasteland pave the way for Fallout, it nearly single handedly saved an entire genre that was quickly falling into obscurity.
Following the success of Wasteland, Interplay wanted to develop a sequel. But there was a problem. Interplay couldn’t secure the rights from Electronic Arts, the publishers of Wasteland, to make a sequel (shocking). So, they started working on a new project in the same vein as Wasteland. In 1994 they obtained the rights to use GURPS in their game. GURPS, the Generic Universal RolePlaying System, was used for tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons. Interplay wanted to adapt it, or at least its core ideas, into their game. They wanted characters to have attributes and skills, and the combat to be turned based. GURPs seemed like a perfect fit. During early development, the game had a few working titles that included GURPS: Wasteland and Vault 13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure. Eventually, they decided to just call the game Vault 13. The gameplay and combat from Vault 13 was very similar to the original X-Com game UFO: Enemy Unknown, as many members of Interplay were big fans of the game.
Interplay had recently gotten the rights to Forgotten Realms and Planescape Dungeons & Dragons, and they were anxious to put them into use. They also wanted to develop a sequel to Fallout, so they created a division within the company to focus on role playing games; Black Isle Studios. The idea to take many of the Fallout developers, put them in their own group, and have them work on the sequel was a good idea, however, there were issues. The members of the team weren’t working together as much as they should have been, which led to everyone just sort of working on the game by themselves or in groups of a few people. Basically, everyone had their own section of the game to work on, and they didn’t know what the other groups were doing until it was time to put the pieces together. It was not the collaborative effort you’d expect from a game development studio. That problem wasn’t helped when several members of Black Isle Studios, including Tim Cain, left during development to form Troika Games. As a result, Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game was released on September 30, 1998, exactly one year after the first game.
Before the arrival of the best, we have to take a look at the rest. A few months after the launch of Fallout 2, Interplay created a subdivision within the company called 14 Degrees East. They focused on strategy games and were tasked with creating the next Fallout title. This new game would be a squad-based first and third person tactical game for the Xbox and Playstation 2 and would utilize the Unreal Engine. The game would be called Fallout Extreme. In addition to taking the Fallout series in a new direction, it would also include multiplayer with modes like Assault and Capture the Flag. Not much is known about this title because it never got released, in fact, it was cancelled not long after development started. A design document for the game states that it would have taken place almost a century after the Great War. Extreme would have seen the player leading a group of revolutionary soldiers known as The Cause. The game would have taken place on the west coast, in Oregon, Washington, and parts of Canada and involved taking over territories in order to get people to join your cause.
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