Fallout, then Fall Over: Guide Creation Blog 07 / 07

Part 07: The Back of the Book

An entire extra chapter with insider information, including Todd Howard's favorite armor? It's all here!

The back of this behemoth of a book has three additional chapters, the first of which is called “Ending it All”. Flanked by a “Spoiler Alert!”, this tells you how to obtain all the endings in the game. Yes, every single one of them. Following that are the Appendices – all 22 of them. Without resorting to some nasty Spoilers, I can reveal that every type of Collectible, Unique Weapon, Fat Man, MiniNuke, and other advantageous item that doesn’t “randomly” appear is listed. However, instead of simply flagging them, every special item has its own number, Zone, precise location, and description of its hiding place. This way you can additionally refer to the Tour of the Wasteland Chapter for more information on finding the exact items you’re looking for. Naturally, all the Xbox 360 Achievements are listed too, complete with any relevant tactical advice.

    If you’re thinking of bagging the Limited Edition guide, with its hardback cover, biggest map poster, and one-inch thick spine, you’re in for an extra treat. Firstly, there are dozens of art pieces, along with narratives by the team, in a section dubbed “Post-Game, Post-Apocalyptic Musings”. Whether you’re after information on how V.A.T.S. was created, the team members’ favorite locations, and some weird and wonderful scrapped ideas, this is the chapter to turn to. Exclusive art drips from every page, including some great sketches, early designs, and other oddities.

    The goodies continue in the final section called “Tall Tales from the Capital Wasteland”. Not only do you receive Bethesda’s top tips for preventing certain death (which includes some tactical advice you never thought possible), but there’s the unwrapping of some delicious Easter Eggs, too! Next up are a half-dozen “Wasteland Wanderers”; a few of the hundreds of player characters that Bethesda team members employed during their playthroughs. Each has their own (usually disgusting, despicable, and always socially-awkward) story to tell, whether it’s the lament of Davey “Comet” MacDonald (who overly relied on Chems and booze), or Porkchops the Fish Lady, searching for her giant teddy bear and honing her A3-21 Energy Weapon talents at the same time.

    All of this is wrapped up by an Afterword typed out by Moira Brown personally, exclusive to the guide.

    Thanks for reading this Blog, and thanks to Bethesda for all their help. Please let us know what you thought of the guide by emailing dhodgson@primagames.com. This concludes your Fallout 3 author blog.

Check out both the regular edition game guide and the collector’s edition game guide.

Fallout, then Fall Over: Guide Creation Blog 06

Part 06: Tour of the Capital Wasteland: Overview

A grim and unforgiving landscape, dotted with hundreds of areas to explore, like this long-abandoned church.

    In an attempt to craft the most valuable guide imaginable, we went kinda crazy with this section. Clocking in at over 200 pages (just over two-fifths of the total pages in the Limited Edition guide), the Tour of the Capital Wasteland was to serve two main purposes: 1: To allow you to instantly locate an area you’re needing help with, and 2: To reveal the items available, so you can judge whether a sortie is worth the risk of possible (and almost always grisly) death. This took around two months of hard graft to achieve, but the results were definitely worth it: You have a complete atlas of the entire game world at your fingertips.

    Written with the map poster in mind (although all the poster maps also appear inside the guide too), the Tour begins with explanations on the information each location has to offer. To start with, if the location is featured in a Main, Miscellaneous, or Freeform Quest, this is noted. Then comes the Threat Level (rated from one to five), so you can quickly ascertain whether to bring a 10mm Pistol, or a hulking great Follower armed to the teeth with a Minigun and a bad attitude. Then comes a Faction flag; showing you which Wasteland group controls this area; especially useful as you can bring preferred killing equipment to the expedition. Services are flagged for each location, too; so you can instantly know whether you’ll find a Healer, Repairer, or Trader. Next up are possible dangers (aside from the regular enemies); such as the types of traps to watch out for. Finally, the type and number of Collectibles the location has is shown, as well as more “miscellaneous” information; like whether you can find a Follower, sizable ammo caches, Perks, Radio Signals, and even a place to live in.

    Delve a little deeper, and there’s information on the dozens of Mini-Encounters that you might run into. Following that, the entire Wasteland is subdivided into nine sprawling Zones. Each Zone gets an Overview (which shows the Collectibles present in the entire area, as well as Primary and Secondary locations). Every single location can be found by either tracing the Latitude/Longitude on the Map Poster, or by its own Zone number. Naturally, the overview map looks just like the one on your Pip-Boy, so you can easily spot where you are. Once the overview is out of the way, you can dig into each specific area. Let’s take the church in the screenshot as an example.

    This is the eighth Primary location in Zone 1, so it is flagged as location 1.08. Instantly locatable on a map, there’s a list of assets, and a biography of any inhabitant living at the location (in this case, no one important enough is around). If the area has a likelihood of an enemy encounter, it is listed here, too. Then comes general and succinct tactical advice for the location, along with any Freeform Quests. Freeform Quests are smaller and optional tasks, usually taking place at one or two locations, and every single one of them is shown during this chapter.

    For larger settlements, such as Megaton, every single location within town is revealed, the type of Terminal and Locked Doors are shown (so you know whether your Skills are good enough to allow you access), and more importantly still, every location that needs it gets its own map. Maps have waypoints labeled on them so you know where every major occurrence is. With well over 150 “interior” maps (that aren’t on the poster), it took a team of four map makers around three months to finish them all, and they look superb. Naturally, they’re all extremely detailed (down to computers on tables, floor tiles, and debris piles), and are a great way to learn the topography of a location without blindly trekking through increasingly hostile corridors without any knowledge of how vast an area is.

    Around a third of the Tour showcases the labyrinth of the D.C. Metro Area itself. A massive series of locations that join the exterior Wasteland via dozens of snaking underground tunnels, finding your way around here is almost impossible without an “underground” map. Fortunately, there is one, so you can figure out the quickest routes between major areas. Naturally, each underground location gets its own map, too. There are 11 D.C. Metro areas to witness too; whether it’s the somber gloom of Arlington Cemetery, or the awe-inspiring Mall and Capitol Building, these get a meticulous going-over, too.

    Whether you’re out on a jaunt and want to find some specific enemies to slaughter, you’re out to grab every single particular type of collectible, or you’re encroaching an area that looks foreboding, this chapter can be dipped into and skipped across in a multitude of ways. Whatever you’re doing, and wherever you’re going, try utilizing the Tour to get there and back with a greater chance of living than you thought possible!

    Come back on launch day (Tuesday 28th October), where we finish off this blog in style with some extra-cool Appendices, and Limited Edition content information.

Check out both the regular edition game guide and the collector’s edition game guide.

 

Fallout, then Fall Over: Guide Creation Blog 05

Part 05: Main and Miscellaneous Quests: Chapter Overviews

A Brotherhood squad comes kitted out with all the best killing ordnance, and comes to your aid at a critical moment.

Much of this book (196 pages, in fact) is taken up with a thorough and meticulous exploration of the Main and Miscellaneous Quests you can begin at any point during your adventure. Segmented into dozens of logical parts, the strategy guide has some key advantages for getting the most (or just the very basic facts) from any point in the game, whether you’re exploring the basement of Tenpenny Tower, or searching for your father and finding out more about your upbringing, and his plans for the future. Expect copious amounts of advice throughout these chapters, which includes the following elements:

    Firstly, these two chapters of the guide are easily flipped to, as there’s an intuitive “tab” system on the side of the book, so you can locate a chapter in a second. Then, we’ve assumed you want to either “dip in” to a specific part of a Quest you’re having difficulties with (or want to find out more information about), or you’re content to read through an entire Quest to figure out all ways to complete it. Either way of reading the guide is simple to achieve: Firstly, the top-right of each page has the section of the Main Quest, or the specific Miscellaneous Quest named, along with specific Vault-Boy iconography. The first page has a complete overview of your course of action, with the main settlements flagged so you can easily cross-reference them with the guide’s poster map. There’s even a small mini-map showing the major location where most (but not all) of the Quest’s action takes place in.

    Perhaps the coolest element of these chapters is the Quest Flowchart. For every part of the Main Quest, and every Miscellaneous Quest, there’s a plotted-out series of boxes and arrows, in one of three colors (white, red, and green). White boxes refer to Objectives you’ve unlocked (or yet to unlock) on your Pip-Boy. Red boxes indicate actions you need to attempt, and green boxes reveal the rewards you receive if the action is successful. As every major path variant is showcased in these flowcharts, and you can easily figure out your next course of action without wading through pages of text. Main and Optional paths are shown in this flowchart, along with the characters you need to interact with, the locations to visit, any recommended Skills and Items you might want to use, possible enemies to encounter, and whether your path has a particular Karmic influence. More often than not, checking these flowcharts gives you enough encouragement to continue playing the game with minimal interruptions.

    Naturally, after the Flowchart is a highly-detailed Walkthrough, too. There are captioned screenshots dotted throughout, along with text designed to inform and entertain. We hone in on every specific detail, with objective flags in the text so you know which part of the Quest you’re reading about. There are also icons showing every major item you can pick up, and box-outs showing particular Statistics, Skills, and Perks to employ at every critical point. Again, Karmic choices are flagged in the text too, and there’s the obligatory notes, tips, cautions, and spoilers to try to ensure you don’t die, and also don’t accidentally read a section with game-changing information in it! We even went as far as noting when computers, holotapes, and other information sources provide pertinent (or simply flavorful) information. “Exhaustive” is a great description to apply to these chapters. “Exhausted” is a great description of my mental state after writing these chapters.

    So, every gameplay path is catered for, every eventuality is noted, all possible rewards are flagged, and there’s help aplenty – not just to see you through the adventure, but to point to hundreds of possibilities you may not have even thought about. No wonder these chapters took two and a half months to write….

   Come back on Monday 27^th October, where the Tour of the Capital Wasteland (over 200 pages in length) is detailed and dissected. 

Check out both the regular edition game guide and the collector’s edition game guide.

Fallout, then Fall Over: Guide Creation Blog 04

Part 04: Bestiary Chapter Overview

Three parts insect and two parts disgusting. You don't want to know what the Bloatfly throws at you....

CAUTION! Some minor spoilers ahead!

Although not the largest chapter in this gargantuan-sized strategy guide, this is perhaps the one that packs the largest concentration of thoroughly enjoyable and tactical goodness. If you’re wanting to know what just rammed into you and defiled your corpse after an ill-fated Wasteland wander, this is the chapter to peruse. Basically, you’ve got all the information on every single living entity in D.C.’s smoking remains, and the surrounding area. Rest assured; there’s stats aplenty here.

 

But to begin with, there’s some highly detailed “canon” about the variety of Wasteland Factions that battle the irradiated hellscape for supremacy (or in the case of feral ghouls, fleshy morsels). This is the section with revelations about the government forces known as The Enclave. There’s background information on the Brotherhood of Steel, as well as an “Outcast” contingent that have been spotted in the wilds of the Wasteland. The Vault Dwellers themselves get a good going-over; then it’s back on the surface to read the raison d’etre of the Raiders, and other scum that shoot first, and ask questions after they dance on your entrails; the Talon Company Mercenaries.

 

There’s some rather interesting reading about Super Mutants, and how these hulking beasts have arrived at the East Coast, some background on a small Merc clan called Reilly’s Rangers, and some general information on those seeking a meager existence outside the confines of Megaton. Next up are Slavers, and the poor humans they barter with. Then come the Ghouls, and finally there’s some revelations about small pockets of the Chinese military that still survive, decades after the bombs dropped. You’ll also find out about an odd collection of folk known as The Family, and some other clandestine organizations too….

 

[Remember; these are the main Factions that exist here; specific settlements, and the weird, wonderful (and sometimes feral) populace inhabiting them, are detailed in future chapters.]

 

Now, about those stats…. The second half of the Bestiary goes into (actually rather obsessive) detail about every single beast, being, mechanoid, and mutant you can battle. I won’t list every single entity in this blog post, but I will reveal the type of information you can find (and then rely on). Among the informative statistics is the “Level” of the enemy; basically, when your character reaches this level, you can expect a preponderance of this type of foe. Then there’s “Perception”. This is the entity’s PER stat, and the higher the stat, the quicker you’re spotted, surrounded, savaged, and bludgeoned to death.

 

Needing to know a foe’s Health Points is always a benefit; especially as you can cross-reference this with the damage each weapon causes (that’s the big table in the Training chapter), and then work out how many 10mm Pistol shots it takes to drop a Mole Rat (the answer is five by the way, if you didn’t miss, and didn’t cause a Critical Hit). Some of the less primitive (and more bipedal) adversaries you meet have their own Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Melee Weapons, and Small Guns Skills, so we noted their precise ability values, too. Why? So you can tell how adept that a Raider carrying a Flamer is (the answer, by the way, is “reasonably” – that value is 45/100).

 

Next up is the Armor they wear (which you can then cross-reference with the Armor equipment table in the Training to work out how much damage they can absorb (hint; not much if you aim at an exposed head!). Then there’s information on their Primary and Secondary means of attack. For example, there are 11 Raider “variants” you might encounter. If you see one with a Hunting Rifle, you can instantly reference it in this chapter, and find out all the information about him (or her). Finally, we reveal the likely experience points for dropping each foe. For the slightly less “humanoid” entities, there’s complete information on the type of (usually disgusting) unique damage they cause, and any special notes (like whether the foe has a weak point, flees easily, or is much faster than you).

 

All in all, it’s essential statistical viewing, and quickly enables you to figure out how to approach – and then dominate – combat. Come back on Saturday 25th October, when we reveal how we put together the massive Main and Miscellaneous Quest chapters together.

If you can’t wait that long, check out both the regular edition game guide and the collector’s edition game guide.

 

Fallout, then Fall Over: Guide Creation Blog 03

Part 03: Training Chapter Overview

Want to create a fearsome Wasteland warrior? Consult the Training chapter.

Delving a little deeper into the guide, and moving chronologically through the pages, we begin with the Training chapter. Over 40 pages are dedicated to preparation for surviving and thriving in the Capital Wasteland, and there’s an incredible amount of useful detail for both character generation, and general overall tactics. It all begins with the Primary Statistics; the seven S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes that form the basis of your avatar. As these statistics influence other skills, we reveal exactly how everything is inter-related, and the precise modifications a higher or lower statistic brings into play. Want to know what skills your Charisma influences, and by what amount? Then consult this section. Next up is a section on Derived Statistics; a set of values automatically determined when you choose your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. values. These include how much weight you can carry, your chance to inflict a critical hit, how your health is influenced, your resistance to damage, Action Points in V.A.T.S. combat, and more. Say you want the most Action Points for your takedowns; you’ll find out the statistic you need to raise, by how much, and what modifiers and Perks you can use and choose to help augment this statistic.

Next up are Skills. These 13 cool abilities get a thorough going-over, with stats aplenty, with tips on how to receive more skill points to allocate to these abilities, as well as an overview of every Skill. Need to know the related Statistic that helps your Lockpick skill? Then the information is presented here, as well, for ease of use. Naturally, there are related Perks to every skill, so we flag them, and let you know the Level your character needs to be at before you can add the Perk. Where appropriate, we add tips to each skill, so you can choose the ones that best benefit your Vault Dweller.

This is followed by a massive and meticulous section on Perks. Mining the Bethesda development team for information, I was able to reveal every single Perk, the character level the Perk is available, how many times (or “ranks”) the Perk can be chosen, and any other requirements needed to receive the Perk. Then comes the crazy part; there’s advice on whether this Perk is going to help you in gameplay situations, and how. Every Perk gets its own tactical advice where appropriate, so you end up choosing only the Perks that benefit your style of play, and you never waste points. Is “Commando” a better Perk than “Gunslinger”? You’ll know when you’ve digested this section! Oh, and the Perks section ends with a list of Perks you can only receive during specific Quests, which is handy.

Plotting out a plan for creating the very best Wasteland survivor continues with a section on Character development. Working closely with Bethesda, an overview of choosing the best combination of Statistics, Skills, and other allocations reveals the key choices that allow you to dominate throughout your adventure. Is Lockpick better than Science? Do clothes affect your conversations? What are the key skills you should never leave Vault 101 without? All of these are answered, along with some Character archetypes; including “The Quick-Handed Assassin” and “The Boxer”.

Once you’ve created an uber-survivor, there’s a set of general training instructions to further familiarize yourself with. What’s the difference in gameplay difficulty? How does Karma work? What’s the deal with experience points? What are the finer points of my Pip-Boy? What are all the Radio stations I can listen to? Next up is a thorough overview of V.A.T.S., revealing the best plans and tactics for all weapon types. Do I shoot my foes in the legs, or head? Which is better? What guarantees the squishiest of deaths? Then comes advice on the variety of traps you’ll encounter, how to Sneak, Steal, what to do when settlements go hostile, and the finer points of pickpocketing and scavenging. More revelations end this chapter, including advice on trading, healing, repairing, tinkering at work benches, when to stand around or sleep, armor, health, chems, and a good amount of information on Followers. This is finished off by instructions on making all the custom weapons, and the different types of collectibles to scour the irradiated landscape for. Ultimately, there’s a series of massive tables revealing all the important stats on every weapon (including the value, weight, damage, rate-of-fire, and rarity), armor (including whether the armor is powered, the weight, and effects), and item (again, with copious amounts of detail).

Simply put, the Training section alone gives you dozens of concrete and battle-tested pieces of advice on creating the ultimate wasteland survivor. Check back on Thursday 23rd October, when we break open the Bestiary….

If you can’t wait that long, check out both the regular edition game guide and the collector’s edition game guide.

Fallout, then Fall Over: Guide Creation Blog 02

 

A spine an inch thick, and Vault-Tec Approved: Two choices to help in your Capital Wasteland roaming.

 

 

Part 02: Meanderings and Overview

I initially received my first build of the game on May 25^th, which is when all major social activity (never a major concern for a strategy guide author) was curtailed, and my trip into the Capital Wasteland began. After booting up the PC and 360 versions, I began an intensive, week-long “cursory” play-session, and spoke at length with Pete Hines and Jeff Gardiner at Bethesda about what they wanted the reader to gain from the guide. They deluged me with pile after pile of internal wiki information, and allowed me to bombard the team with a variety of questions, most of which were variations on the “yes, I just discovered this, and it’s freakin’ awesome” theme.

 

Workload-wise, this guide took approximately 120 days to construct (And that’s not including the sterling work of others who commenced map-making, design, corrections, approval, and printing), and my personal involvement (authoring, screenshots, and doctor visits for more blood-pressure medicine) was approximately 1,100 man-hours. No, I’m not kidding. But I do have a shockingly thorough knowledge of the game, which was great when I wrote it all down in guide form, but is now sloshing uselessly about in my brain, waiting to be forgotten about. I must have about 650 game saves. And time spent actually playing the game? I’d say around 500+ hours. This was by far the most complicated, gigantic, and madcap guide I’ve ever been involved with, and I loved every minute of it.

 

Once the first week of intensive gameplay was over, I realized – with a creeping sense of both excitement and horror – that I’d only grazed sections of the game, but I’d been having such an entertaining time building the custom weapons, fiddling with skill and perk combinations,  finding devious methods to circumvent the “expected” strategy in a quest, and tried a few of the billions of other lunatic things you can attempt… that I didn’t mind. After some talks with the team at Bethesda (who remained steadfastly patient, enthusiastic, and helpful throughout my Wasteland odyssey) we’d already agreed on the breakdown of the strategy guide. Here’s what the final guide encompasses:

 

A comprehensive contents page and Foreward by Todd Howard.

 

A Training section where I mined the brains of designers at Bethesda, and offered meticulous advice on Attributes, Skills, Perks, the dangers of the game world, main tactical advice on V.A.T.S., information on Followers, and (naturally) a complete list of every weapon, outfit, item, Chem, Stimpak and Foodstuff in the game. I love stats, so we got a table with elements like fire-rates, ammo-clip totals, and everything the more deranged gamer needs to figure out which selecting the correct weapon to bring to a Ghoul massacre.

 

Next up, was a Factions and Bestiary, where the major warring forces of the game got an official back-story, and every single irradiated beast, mutation, and abomination received a thorough inspection. Can you check the health of a Super Mutant, compare it to the damage your favorite boomstick does, and then calculate how many shots it takes to kill one? Most certainly. There’s stats-aplenty.

 

Chapter 3 and 4 concerned the different Quests you undertake during the game, all of which are optional. These two chapters alone were large enough to be their own strategy guide, and every Karmic effect, Skill or Perk you can utilize at a pertinent point, and all the different outcomes are shown. Yes, including all the endings. Naturally, to avoid massive rage-filled forum posts, Spoilers are flagged throughout. Copious screenshots and Vault Boy iconography were used, as well as flowcharts. Oh yes, lovely, easy-to-read flowcharts showing every main route to try, and the rewards for trying for every single Quest in the game. The flowcharts (dotted throughout the chapters) take up over 30 pages on their own. Did I mention this game is big?

 

Then matters took a turn for the deranged, as I embarked on Tour of the Capital Wasteland. This sightseer’s guide ballooned into a 200+ page section, but includes maps of every single exploration point, and the major ammunition caches, items – and “other bits” I can’t mention – and an overview map modeled after your Pip-Boy’s. There are major and minor locations, each with a number and a coordinate to ease the cartographically limited. May I suggest a few hours’ study of the insanely dangerous and labyrinthine D.C. Interior and linking underground tunnels? These were mapped at great cost to my sanity over a period of three weeks.

 

Accompanying this Tour is a double-sided, movie-sized poster pinpointing every single location in the Capital Wasteland. I recommend studying it for a good 15-20 minutes to let it all soak in. I’ve never played a game with more locations that needed to be pinpointed correctly.

 

Tucked at the back of the book are the endings, so it’s wise to skip past those pages and gaze at the 20+ Appendices, which basically give you Achievement advice, and locations of everything even vaguely seen as “collectible”. Precise locations are shown, and a month’s worth of cross-referencing work went into all of it.

 

Decided to purchase the special Pre-War Collector’s Edition? Then, aside from a Hardback cover and a bigger map poster, you get an extra section packed with exclusive art, team interviews, additional team tactics, easter egg information, a half-dozen “Wasteland Wanderers” showcasing the entertaining and sometimes frightening way some of Bethesda’s team cultivated their characters, all finished off rather pleasantly by an Afterword by Moira Brown. Who’s she? Owner of the Craterside Supply, don’t you know.

 

Ready your coffee table for reinforcement; the Pre-War Collector’s guide clocks in at 498 pages.

 

Come back next time, where we reveal a little more information, and you’ll realize just how much of a job sabbatical you’ll need to take to make a dent in this behemoth of a game.

 

 

Fallout, then fall over

I started work on the Official Strategy Guide to Fallout 3 in earnest on May 24th, 2008. We’re currently tidying up the final pages, and cramming every last piece of tactical guidance into both the regular and special limited edition tomes in readiness for an October 28th on-sale date. Water-tight, pain-of-death non-disclosure agreements prevent me from speaking specifically about what went on during the last four months, but I can offer some rather vague information on why I halted an already-truncated social life for the chance of exploring a post-apocalyptic wasteland instead of writing, you know, three “regular” guides.

Firstly, this game is spectacularly big. How big? [CENSORED] Yeah, that big. Just in case that doesn’t get through, I will say our limited-edition strategy guide poster is larger than most coffee tables, that I spent at least a month constructing it, and that it has more locations than [SORRY, MUM’S THE WORD]. When you read interviews with other developers, and they say “there’s weeks of gameplay in this title”, they’re usually lying. But if you’re wanting to explore every nook, cranny, and small wasteland [SPECIFIC SETTLEMENT TITLE REMOVED] out in the middle of a blasted heath, you’ll need to free up a seriously large amount of time; more than mere weeks: [NOPE, CAN’T SAY], in fact. Fortunately, these expeditions can be performed in [A DIFFERENT, AND SUITABLY VAGUE MANNER], allowing you to savor the experience, as well as picking and choosing where you’d like to visit, and how savaged you’d like to get at the talons of a [REALLY RATHER COOL CREATURE I CAN’T MENTION].

I’ve personally spent more than [A SPECTACULARLY LARGE AMOUNT OF] man-hours on this project. I’ve worked directly with Bethesda to ensure [VARIOUS BITS AND BOBS] are presented in the easiest and most methodical manner possible. I’ve worked closely with professional cartographers so that [A RATHER IMPRESSIVE NUMBER OF] maps are created to the highest standard. And teasing just one element of the “meat and potatoes” of this effort, I have to make special mention of the [NOTHING TO SEE HERE] explorations: Well, let’s just say [ACTUALLY, LET’S NOT, SHALL WE?], an experience I’ll regard as one of the most [ENTHUSIASTIC ADJECTIVE] I’ve ever witnessed.

I hope I’ve suitably salivated your interest in the game and guide. Although I’m meeting the City Folk up at Nintendo for a while, I hope to be back soon, revealing [NOTHING SENSITIVE WHATSOEVER] about Fallout 3. Until then, I’ll send this to Prima’s ace legal department (they’re sure to perform only minor alterations to my blog entry), and let you feast your eyes on this single early rendered art piece, especially taken from already-available press release materials, and not any of the [LARGE NUMBER OF PRISTINE SCREENSHOTS] I took.

see more of David’s work at PrimaGames.com

the secret life of a strategy guide writer / 11

Last time: I played ball with the resident cool cats at Naughty Dog. This time, I enter the maze known as Electronic Arts’ Redwood City Campus.

Part 11: Arts for Arts’ Sake

I’ve been there to work on The Godfather and Crysis, and I’ve had a whale of a time on both occasions. During the 1990s, when I was working at the hilariously awful incite Video Gaming magazine, we watched (in-between bouts of deathmatch Kingpin) as a series of university-sized buildings rose skywards near the 101 Freeway just south of San Francisco. We knew EA was planning something big, but didn’t realize just how enormous the place actually turned out to be. Fast-forward six years, and I’m attempting to find my strategy guide contact. Three reception rooms later, I’m in the main foyer of one of the buildings. The one with the 20-foot wide projector screen broadcasting E.A. T.V. to the assembled sharp-suited dudes who are here to make billions, the executive’s kids here to play Madden before anyone else, and Coolio. He’s always there: In spirit, if not congealed form.

Amid the blaring awesomeness, dozens of flat-screens showing off games from the last six months, and more projection screens showing pre-production art from different video games (a rather nifty way to re-use assets), I was given an exciting swipe-card that opened just enough security doors, and escorted to meet the teams. The floors of the building itself are set out like a cubicle metropolis, but open plan enough to prevent screaming. You’re always close to an executive office, conference room, Starbucks machine. Starbucks coffee house, basketball court, football field, contemplation pool… it’s a wonder anyone leaves. Naturally, I made a wrong turn and locked myself in a maintenance corridor, eerily like the one in the Mirror’s Edge demo. Lacking the ability to see red sections of concrete, I feebly tried to phone my way out. Two hours later, security dragged me back to normality.

Next time: I inspect Jade Raymond’s tree house.

the secret life of a strategy guide writer / 10

Last time: I witnessed an early iteration of Epic Games’ North Carolina Doombase. This time, I’m where all the beautiful, tanned people go to make it into movies, but end up in waitering jobs; the Santa Monica monolith of Naughty Dog.

Part 10: Going to the Dogs

Naughty Dog’s Offices are plush. They’re in one of the shiniest buildings in an already pretty glaring and tinted part of Los Angeles, in the swish part of Santa Monica, a few blocks from where Hasselhoff let his paunch hang out on Baywatch. The place is teeming with MTV personnel, with their ultra-trendy haircuts that make them look like a half-shorn hedge, hipster jeans, and Borg headsets. That’s because MTV is just around the corner. Naughty Dog takes up a palatial floor or two overlooking a meticulously preened pond and gardens, which is part of a larger office complex that loves their ice-cream socials. But inside the offices, it’s gaming overload. I was sent to capture footage for the Jak-X racing game, and was placed in a small storage closet not unlike the one Milton Waddams sat in during the Office Space basement scene. But no matter; I was in with the Test crowd, and aside from the close-proximity to man-odor, the sense of camaraderie was immense.

When I was allowed outside to feed, the office is open plan, with large monitors, huge windows that could have a fantastic view but are completely closed and stuffed with anti-glare blinds, curtains, drapes, and posters of skulls and crossbones. The executive offices are top-notch affairs, with the usual maple veneer desks, and the guy who used to work on Sonic games showing me his incredible maps. There’s an ultra-cute dog waddling around with an odd breathing problem, too. And let’s not forget the treasure trove of Jak-based schwag, now consigned to glass cases for all eternity. That, and the life-size Jak statue built for when trade shows meant something, makes Naughty Dog a class place to work.

Next time, I get locked in a side corridor in E.A.’s epic Redwood City labyrinth / campus.

 

the secret life of a strategy guide writer / 09

Last time: I braved the artic tundra in a quest to witness the warmth of Bioware’s ice palace up in Edmonton. This time, I travel to the wilds of North Carolina, and visit Cliff Bleszinski and the Epic Games crew, hard at work on Unreal Tournament 2004. Yes, this was before the Gears of War money flooded in.

Part 9: An Epic Office

Back when PC guides were black and white, I was sent to spend a couple of weeks with the good folks over at Epic Games in their North Carolina offices. This wasn’t the first Carolina I’d been to; I’d had to find a small hotel somewhere in South Carolina and interview the band P.O.D. about their love for Sega Rally. Don’t ask. Actually, do; that was for a magazine where celebrities were valued as highly as video games. It lasted seven issues. Go figure. Anyway, as exciting as the nearby waffle house had been, I wasn’t itching to get back to the Carolinas, but Epic’s office changed all of that. Partly because it was in the middle of the flattest backwoods around (but still within spittin’ distance of a Red Lobster), and I love my own backwoods at my Pacific Northwest Doombase, but mainly because Epic had amenities even EA would have been excited to show off.

Yes, they had a large black room decked out in foam, where they stuck ping-pong balls on actors and forced them to play-fight as if they’d been gibbed. And that was before you wandered around the developers’ office space. Back in 2003, everyone in the Epic office had one of those big CRT monitors with a SONY logo that weighed as much as Forrest Griffin’s head, and was just as difficult to hold onto. But Cliffy B (as he was known back then) had not one, but two of those brand-new 24-inch flatscreens, back when they cost $2,999 each. His office was pimptabulous, if you’re a fan of Optimus Prime and Dodge Vipers (in which a rode to a luncheon where we talked about Seanbaby). Although the office was shared with others, Epic had their own luxury level, with views across deciduous woodland, high ceilings, thick, executive wood doors, and (because I’d descended right in the middle of crunch time; a tendency that really leaves a developer wanting to string you up by your gaming thumbs) a mass of white DELL keyboards, a mess of chunky computers plus wiring, and great camaraderie.

Cliffy B’s office was Epic, is Epic — and after they changed gears and garnered giant success with Marcus Fenix’s excellent adventure — is probably festooned with giant plastic and metal versions of everything thick and sinewy that appeared in the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if Field Marshall Bleszinski now rides to work in a life-size Optimus Prime truck. He’s earned it.

Next time, Santa Monica calls, as I shake Naughty Dog off my leg.

 

Just finished: Nope, no finish in sight for me.

Currently: Touring the Wasteland and noting down interesting locations.

About to: Cross-reference items, going slightly doo-lally in the process.