Why Fallout: New Vegas is famous for its freedom

0:00 over a decade since its release fallout new vegas remains one of the best

0:05 examples of player freedom in an open world rpg the player can go anywhere

0:10 be anyone and choose which of the game's many quests to engage with along

0:15 the way they can decide to unceremoniously

0:18 slaughter every character they meet or play

0:21 through the entire game as a pacifist but despite this vast range of player

0:26 freedom new vegas still manages to tell a complete and cohesive story one

0:31 that starts with a bang you're shot in the head and dropped in a shallow

0:37 grave in the outskirts of vegas this is josh sawyer i am the studio

0:43 design director at obsidian entertainment i directed

0:46 fallout new vegas i was the lead designer and only system designer on fallout

0:50 new vegas solving the mystery of who

0:52 shot you and why is the question that drives the opening of new vegas

0:57 along the way you're having these encounters that are really filling in a lot

1:01 more about the wasteland environment

1:03 and this huge conflict that's going to occur

1:05 between the new california republic and caesar's

1:08 legion this is john gonzalez i was

1:11 the lead creative designer and lead writer of fallout new vegas john josh

1:16 and the rest of the team at obsidian

1:19 faced a challenge in executing their ambitious

1:21 vision for new vegas how do you guide a player through a linear

1:25 narrative that culminates in a final climactic

1:28 battle while at the same time offering

1:30 a radical level of player freedom and choice at every step of the journey

1:35 and perhaps just as importantly how do

1:38 you make sure the player feels that freedom

1:41 so today i want to examine how the game allows for a wide range

1:45 of player types presents the player

1:47 with a variety of meaningful choices and then

1:50 reflects those choices back at you to create

1:52 an experience that feels unique to each

1:55 player welcome to story mode fallout new vegas before we dive into the tools

2:07 and techniques used to create an experience of freedom for the player it's

2:11 worth identifying the type of character the player will be stepping into one

2:15 of the things that you need to figure out creatively is how you're going

2:19 to approach characterization of the protagonist there

2:23 are some different options that essentially i think

2:26 they exist on a spectrum when we spoke to john about creating aloy

2:30 for horizon zero dawn he discussed the design

2:33 of an authored protagonist a main character

2:35 designed entirely by the game's creators you have a character who has her own

2:41 arc her own objectives and motivations

2:45 and so your relationship to the character is

2:47 a little bit distanced you empathize

2:49 with that character some games feature a hybrid

2:52 protagonist where the player character is co-created

2:55 by both the designers and the player we recommend the excellent video by game

2:59 makers toolkit commanding shepard for more on this but as is traditional

3:04 for the fallout franchise new vegas features a protagonist

3:08 on the other end of the spectrum created entirely by the player john gonzalez

3:13 refers to this type of protagonist as a player-shaped hole so this is where

3:19 you have a protagonist character who's

3:22 completely undefined you get to customize all

3:26 of the attributes and all of the perks of this character you get to the look

3:32 of the character as well and this really just does become this hole

3:36 that you sort of step into and begin adventuring in this new world allowing

3:42 the player to create their own character

3:43 from scratch presents a gameplay challenge how

3:46 do you design a satisfying experience

3:48 for a wide variety of player types and personalities

3:52 in horizon zero dawn if you try to attack a friendly character the game

3:57 simply won't let you this is not something aloy would do therefore it's

4:01 not something you can do but in a fallout game on the one hand

4:08 we had you playing as a walking

4:10 flame thrower utter sociopath relentless and remorseless

4:14 killer the moment you met anyone you just went ahead and killed them

4:18 in the most vile way that you could think of and then on the other

4:21 hand we had the i'm playing as a pacifist i'm not even going

4:24 to kill an animal i'm mahatma gandhi of the wasteland and as long as we

4:30 managed to have the game work with those two extremes that everything

4:34 in the middle was in play the reason for this it was really to establish

4:40 a level of freedom with the player that we were consistent in delivering

4:43 on so i said like if the player at any point says i don't like

4:48 this guy like i'm just i'm just gonna shoot this character um i don't

4:52 want the game to push back and say i'm sorry no but this character

4:55 is too important when we do that throughout the entire game the player will

5:02 learn to have faith that that is how the world works and if they

5:06 want to do something then they can do it but designing a game

5:10 that allows for this kind of freedom

5:12 also creates a narrative challenge how do you

5:15 write a compelling story about a protagonist that can be anyone and do anything

5:21 i would say that a player-shaped whole game is a bad venue for story

5:27 you're just not going to have enough authorial control and enough control over

5:32 the emotional arc of the game to really

5:36 compose a compelling tightly paced story instead

5:40 what you're focusing on is the pleasure of having impact the pleasure of agency

5:45 and reactivity so that's an entirely different

5:48 kind of pleasure so instead of fallout

5:51 new vegas being about the protagonist it's

5:53 about everything going on around the protagonist

5:57 most stories are about a character undergoing a change but in fallout it's

6:02 the story world that changes impacted by every choice you make and those choices

6:08 begin even before the first moments

6:10 of game play when you design your character's

6:13 appearance traits and skills one of the first choices you make when designing

6:19 your character is deciding which skills to invest

6:22 in these skills primarily affect gameplay mechanics

6:25 as you traverse the wasteland but as you begin interacting with the people

6:29 of goodsprings the game's first area it

6:32 becomes clear that every skill will also play

6:34 an important role in the game's dialogue there are skill checks in a lot

6:39 of games that's just a speech check skill that's used over and over again

6:44 we used a much wider array of skills often in games whether or not

6:48 you can pass a dialogue skill check is determined solely by how many points

6:52 you have invested in your character's speech

6:54 skill in fallout new vegas the creators wanted to reward all player types

6:59 by integrating the other skills into dialogue interactions

7:02 as well in good springs you're asked to protect the town's people against

7:07 a gang called the powder gangers and it

7:10 quickly becomes apparent that the skills you've

7:12 invested in will unlock unique dialogue options

7:15 influence gameplay and affect the story world

7:19 you can use every single skill to get some advantage in the gun fight

7:24 in for the town with the powder gangers that was a way of letting

7:27 the player know like hey whatever you

7:28 invested in however you built your character

7:31 this is going to be a fun character to play like we're going

7:33 to give you cool reactions to the things that you chose if you built

7:37 an explosives science character we're going to have cool things for you to do

7:42 with explosives in science other than just getting a bonus damage when you throw

7:45 a stick of dynamite so when you ask easy pete to help

7:49 in the upcoming gunfight it will only

7:51 help if your explosive skill is high enough

7:53 to convince him you know what you're doing and when sunny smiles hears you've

7:57 recruited easy pete she'll give you five sticks of dynamite to use in the fight

8:02 as the fight plays out the skill checks you passed will give the people

8:06 of good springs a better chance of winning but if you failed several skill

8:10 checks too dangerous sorry or just didn't bother trying to recruit help then

8:15 the fight might not go so well

8:17 for good springs allowing characters to die during

8:20 the gunfight is another way the game demonstrates the impact you can have

8:24 on the narrative as the permanent consequences

8:27 of your actions make a lasting impression

8:30 on the story world that ought to keep things settled for a while hope

8:34 it stays that way and for the characters who survive the result of your choices

8:39 during this fight will greatly affect your reputation the world of fallout new

8:46 vegas is filled with many different factions

8:48 including two major forces vying for control of the mojave the bureaucratic new

8:54 california republic and the ruthless caesars legion

8:58 as the player takes on more and more

9:00 quests their actions will increasingly affect their reputation

9:03 with each faction those reputations are a way of for you to understand what

9:08 your relative relationships with those factions are

9:11 after the battle of good springs you gain fame with whichever faction you help

9:16 and infamy with whichever faction you fight

9:19 these shifts and reputation have lasting consequences

9:22 on how those factions respond to you

9:24 throughout the game whether they see you as a friend foe or neutral

9:28 party instead of measuring your reputation

9:32 on a sliding scale where your standing simply

9:34 goes up or down with each good or bad deed the designers crafted

9:38 a more complex and realistic reputation system

9:41 positive and negative reputation are tracked independently um

9:45 and they're modified independently so doing good

9:48 things and doing bad things it's not

9:50 one number going up and down there's a positive axis and a negative axis

9:54 for example if you actively participate

9:56 in the good springs fight and kill enough

9:58 members of the powder gangers you'll become

10:00 vilified by the powder gangers it doesn't matter

10:03 how many good deeds you've done for that faction you've killed their people

10:06 and have sealed a negative reputation the reputation

10:10 system also plays a role in how

10:12 you're treated as you step out into the wider world running into a faction

10:16 where you have a positive reputation may

10:18 allow for certain quests or discounts to be

10:21 unlocked but running into a faction where

10:23 you have a negative reputation may make certain quests unavailable or force you

10:28 to wear that faction's outfit as a disguise

10:31 to avoid being attacked on site finally

10:35 as word about your character spreads throughout

10:37 the mojave your actions become known to factions before you've even met them we

10:43 like having characters that are on or close to the crit path recognize

10:47 things that you've done in general and in specific it doesn't have to be

10:50 everything it just has to be enough for the player to go like oh

10:53 wow they're paying attention for example when you meet chief hanlon of the new

10:57 california republic he reacts to you based

11:00 on your reputation and which quests you've

11:03 completed the mojave has a way of burning decent people up but it sounds

11:08 like you've done right by the ncr rather than hanlin greeting you with generic

11:13 dialogue he responds to the character you've decided to be up to this point

11:18 demonstrating that the world is responding to your actions folks with your kind

11:23 of reputation i expect to see them cooking in the sand with some 44 slugs

11:28 to keep them company if the rangers haven't caught up to you yet they

11:32 will what you're really looking to do is to create ways of holding up

11:35 a mirror to the player and reflecting to the player the things that you

11:40 did it makes it feel like the game is actually paying attention to what

11:44 you're doing as you get further into the main quest you make bigger

11:48 and bigger decisions that can leave a lasting

11:50 impression on the story world so when

11:53 you meet caesar the head of caesar's legion you really begin to feel

11:57 the weight of your past actions he

12:00 also recounts the most impressive things that you've

12:04 done over the course of the game i mean a man nearly kills you

12:07 and your response is to track him across the breath of the mojave you

12:11 visit the tops and next thing you know the head of the chairman

12:14 is fleeing the strip like a whimpering little pup when you set your mind

12:18 to something you get results i like that that passage could be anything

12:23 from the two things that every player would

12:26 have had to have done before they got

12:27 there to a long list of up to ten items where he just sort

12:31 of rattles off all these amazing things that you've done and that's why he

12:34 wants to work with you when key

12:37 characters acknowledge the specific actions you've taken

12:39 as a player it reinforces the fact that your choices matter your character may

12:45 not be changing but the story world is let's take a look at a quest

12:50 that can have a significant impact on the story depending on how you

12:54 handle it it begins when caesar opens up to you about his illness initiating

13:00 a quest called etumor boute simply being

13:05 able to access this quest demonstrates another

13:08 way in which fallout new vegas responds to you the quest is only available

13:12 to players who have done a considerable

13:14 amount of work for caesar's legion permanently

13:17 destroying their reputation with two other factions

13:19 and resulting in the death of a major

13:21 character but even now the player doesn't have to remain loyal to the brutal

13:26 imperialistic legion and this quest offers the freedom to either help or hurt

13:31 the faction the app tumor brute quest occurs on the legion quest line when

13:36 it does because we wanted to have it taking place where maybe you still

13:41 haven't really fully thrown in with the legion and one of the things you'd

13:45 like to do if you're an agent from another faction is kill caesar probably

13:50 but that's not easy to do because he's very heavily guarded he's in an armed

13:54 camp all of a sudden he's making you aware of something that reveals

13:59 a vulnerability the headache started a couple of months ago they weren't too bad

14:03 at first but now they come frequently

14:05 and they're debilitating caesar has a brain

14:09 tumor and it's up to you to decide what you're going to do about

14:13 it this is then really asking you the question what are your intentions towards

14:17 caesar if you've thrown in with the legion you probably want him to still

14:21 be the guy who's in charge of it and so we just give you

14:23 these clues about different ways that you can pursue this and then turn you

14:27 loose that's super important because it builds

14:30 this very powerful sense of player agency

14:32 you can tell right from the start that you're going to be the one

14:36 who gets to decide how this turns out not only are there multiple

14:40 avenues to completing this quest but how

14:43 you complete it depends on the character

14:45 you've built as most of the outcomes require you to pass certain skill checks

14:50 if you have high enough medical

14:52 and speech skills you can diagnose caesar's condition

14:55 and convince him to let you operate on him and choose to save

14:58 or kill him and the process but if you can't pass those skill checks you

15:02 still have other options there's also an auto dock in the tent that you

15:07 can repair and use to operate on caesar or secretly program it to kill

15:12 him you can use the auto dock to kill caesar you can make it

15:17 look like there was just no way of saving him to do that convincingly

15:21 requires a high medical skill and then it also requires being able to convince

15:27 his retainer that you didn't do it purposefully you can go ahead and be

15:30 somebody who has quite a high speech skill and you can kind of bs

15:34 your way through that now you can also use the auto doc to just

15:37 blow his head off i mean you can do this but then you've

15:40 got this this like fire fight where now you're trying to battle your way

15:44 out of this armed can so two ways to use the auto dock

15:48 to kill caesar very very different outcomes

15:51 most of these options are available to all

15:54 players but as with many other quests in the game there are additional more

15:59 obscure solutions the general sort of approach

16:03 was there should be some obvious things

16:06 and when you think of some like more obscure less obvious things if

16:11 it's not hard to put them in please make the time to put them

16:13 in for instance if you have the doctor arcade gannon as a companion you

16:18 can give him as a slave to the legion to cure caesar but arcade won't

16:23 travel with you if you have a high reputation with the legion so

16:27 it becomes a resolution to the quest very few players will experience by taking

16:32 the time to include rare outcomes that may only be experienced by a handful

16:36 of players the developers create the feeling

16:39 that this really is a free open world that rewards your unique choices it feels

16:45 like wow they thought of everything which

16:47 of course we didn't we just thought of one particularly cool thing but one

16:50 particularly cool thing every hour of gameplay makes it feel so robust we were

16:56 definitely looking to give the player

17:00 the perception that you could complete this quest

17:03 in almost an infinite number of ways but of course there's a limit

17:07 to how many actual outcomes the designers can create for any given quest and too

17:11 many outcomes can begin to make the player's choices feel less meaningful a lot

17:17 of the time my critiques of people's quests would be you know like is

17:22 this actually interesting like is this actually

17:24 rewarding don't waste your time don't

17:26 waste the players time you don't want to have a dozen different vanilla outcomes

17:31 that are more or less the same that's not really going to feel like

17:34 you have agency in a game of this kind players don't just want choices they

17:39 want meaningful choices they want consequential decisions

17:43 this philosophy pays off following the etumor

17:46 boutain quest whatever outcome you choose is

17:49 meaningful because it will have permanent consequences

17:53 affecting your reputation with the legion the final

17:55 battle at the hoover dam and even

17:57 the state of new vegas after the end of the game under the legion's

18:02 banner civilization savage as it was finally

18:06 came to the mojave wasteland by repeatedly

18:10 reflecting the players unique build and play style back at them through skill

18:14 checks reputation and permanent consequences the designers

18:18 of fallout new vegas form a special

18:20 kind of trust with the player a trust that no matter what they choose

18:24 to do the game will respond accordingly creating a sense of true freedom

18:31 trying to embody that spirit of letting the player do things in cool ways

18:36 that feel unique and surprising and rewarding for the character that they built

18:40 and that character can be a combat monster

18:42 that can be shitty chat smooth talker stealth

18:45 brainiac like there's and all sorts of combinations of that trying to support

18:49 as much as that as possible is really where that replayability and that sense

18:53 of joy comes from if you'd like to watch the full interviews with josh

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