The Art of Fallout 3

Fallout 3 visual development process and concept art collections

er š © 2006 Bethesda Softworks LLC All Rights Reserved

Fallout, Prepare for the Future ond related logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bethesda Softworks LLC in the U.S and/or other countries, All Rights Reserved

2 _THEART OF FALLOUT 3 Oe

Folowt® 3 © 7008 Bethesda Softworks LLC 0 Leriltex Media company Bethesda Softwacks Bethesda Game Studios, Zesithax ond related logos ore registered trademarks o trademarks of Zenidox Media Inc jo the U.S and/or

other counties:

yays rán while hl iE Emil io a

r every sketch oe yel

rodudi ion began with a serie s of paintings we commissioned

ullins These were focused on the “big picture,” mainly

2 and scope something fo provide inspiration for how various

locations in tn world would feel emotionally Color paleties, sense :

scale, and density of destruction were the elements we tried to captur

with these, and the final in-game result is fairly faithful to these concepts

The next step was to go down a long list of costumes, creatures, weapons

and environments that would need detailed drawings for our mesh

builders to work off of Early in the project we spent quite a lot of fime

iterating through a few key designs, such as the Vault suit and Pip-Boy,

but as fime went on we didn't have the luxury to do 20 drawings for

each asset, and the pace picked-up considerably There isn’t much in the

game that wasn’t concepted beforehand Anyone who works with Adam

will soon come fo appreciate the speed at which he can get through a lot

of material while maintaining a sense of humor and creativity that was

essential for the world of Fallout 3 Enjoy!

INTRODUCTION 3

key location in Fallout 3 We wanted the player to feel a sense of

he explored o dense concrete jungle of streets and

foreboding a

l0 contrast harply with the stark warm sunlight of the wasteland

Given that we were designing the aftermath of a devastating

11, we did a bit of research to see just what would be left

The answer is, not much So th

fanding after such a holocau:

lecision was made ( arly on that we would take some liberties with

the level of destruction so that enough interesting “stuff” would

fill be left standing for the player to explore This meant quite

0 few of the structures, although heavily damaged, would still be

mact to provide locations for dungeons and the like We treated

the urban zones of our world map as a large, multi-sectioned

utdoor dungeon, using destroyed buildings and walls of concrete

mnnect via underground subway tunnels

These paintings give a sense of the level of detail

capture, in order to have a realistic sense of des

throughout the city They provided the world artists a benchmark t

L f \

hit in terms of realistic object density, something that req

creotive tricks in order to have environments like this run smoothly

rihe games engine

THE ART OF FALLOUT 3

%

/iirdialed, but IÌ w0s 01 0p

orld dry and brown in order to tit in

I0 ~—- THE ART OF FALLOUT 3

M

"mm

em

The Pip-Boy was one of the first three iconic elements we wanted l0

noil-down in terms of look and feel, the other two being the Vault suit

and Brotherhood of Steel power armor This was a good exercise in

determining the approach we would take for al industrial design in the

delicate balance; swing too far towards the retro ond you end up with

something campy and unrealistic, but too for with the futurism and

you risk a generic look

After much iteration the design was eventually narrowed down to a

basic look Once Adam's drawings all start looking too similar we know

we've honed in on the most likely design The overall design isn't

too over-styled, as this is meant as tough piece of field equipment

The device camps on the user's arm, fastened via bolts (which implies

that it doesn't come off very often) It prominently features a bulky

mini-CRT display, hooded to prevent glare from the hot wasteland sun

There are vorious buttons and knobs, slightly oversized to fucilitate

handling with a gloved hand The grill indicates that the circuitry

within can get pretty hot, and proper ventilation is required Also note

the gloved hand with a control-box mounted on the back, it has a

large knob ond coiled wire connecting with the main unit That knob is

the primary controller for the user to manipulate the on-screen cursor

It's only years later that | reolized we should have put the knobs and

control on the right side of the screen as opposed to the left, this would

have been considerably more ergonomic Oh well, ergonomics were

never o priority in design for this era

THE ART OF FALLOUT 3

id

RT OF FALLOUT

TUC A init A

16

tym cy cv Tl fe

whey, a] 2⁄2

eo

Gwe C'S BRAND CLOTH NG THe Pst HolocAusT TREMTMENT

WAS TELARD MERCHAN

Sune ond Low Down)

"_ —— ===.=5. 5 6 1

THE ART OF FALLOUT 3

COSTUME DESIGN 25

Poste

| THEARTOFFALLOUT3 -

COSTUME DESIGN 29

THE ART OE CAIINIIT CARI UF FALLUUL 32

art with its personality

SI OF an intense

ff slashing 10-inch claws with

may not be the most critical element in d ni ’ best to kill or

onality not be killed Yet it’s this thoughtful proces: gu! [

evolutionary path, maybe hopes and dreams, th

vincing design that is a cut or two above “generic monster

FEY, in the case of a Super Mutant By far too much e

fo radiation, such is the plight of the Gho

just, well, hanging out outside too much, as

almost everybody in this world Our texture a

fime painting these subtle variations

There have been many creature designs in many movies and games

and staying fresh and original with our particular menagerie wa

quite challenging ot times Luckily, the previous games offered

great deal of good genetic material to work from, and having the

opportunity to try and update these classic designs was a real treat for

e art team And yes, Mirelurks are heavily mutated blue crabs We

1 Maryland, afterall These guys capture the B-movie “guy-in-a

ter-suit” spirit beautifully

A few of these sketches were for creatu

the game Con you guess which ones?

5 that never quite made it into

CREATURES

33

Float

36 ~—- THE ART OF FALLOUT 3

(oo ee are eee x-+c

ñ Tea ” : Lath (W4 Ê⁄/ 22/22 z7Z⁄⁄⁄2 Brahiten (0aw/⁄( 2 Vi

CREATURES 41

42

Cranky Z4

DFATHPF

CREATURES

Arrupuch= Bay

44 THEART ARI OF FALLOUT: UT: ¬ ame

Ả

hibo Pit?

46 THE ART OF FALLOUT 3

L

a iii iia “3 gai in cơ dang ng HỆ

Á

=.€ a

Nr ae |_|

52 THEARTOF FALLOUT 3

WEAPONS |

{t wasn't long into the project before | heard rumblings amongst

producers cursing the number of playable weapons we had to build for

into getting a weapon built, cnimated, and programmed is substantial ,

comparable to the amount of development overhead a new creature

model requires

“HAVE BRICK , WILL TRAVEL

On the other hand, the effort was certainly worth it The amount of

variety in the weapons, both in terms of design and functionality is

very entertaining and makes the player's discovery of a new example

a memorable experience The design process for these varied greatly

depending on the nature of the weapon The more mundane designs

either real-world, or intended to feel like real-world, such as an assault

rifle or shotgun, were designed by combining interesting elements from

various existing guns into a new whole that felt slightly familiar but

original at the same time

When it came to the build-your-own and other exotic weapons, we went

crazy Physical plausibility may seem to take a backseat to some of

these ideas, but the player must suspend belief and put himself in the

mindset of a culture that imagined mini-nuclear reactors and ray guns

as real possibilities in the near future That being said, Adam was intent

on making sure every weapon design, no matter how outlandish, looked

-

ae ae “ :-—-~ Surplus Pach Frame with seat beR straps Sven ne Che đc toa rondrcee

U Metorcyck man ven brake Penitae phonerhead noục

: Subliminal fene

via HYpae H

side load ammo box

act

60 ‘THE ART OF FALLOUT 3

to early 1960's Elements from items such as old port able

ion sets and army field radios were studied and incorp

factor, but a sense of believability withi

Fallout universe is important

Technology in the world of Fallout 3 is somewhat paradoxical in that it's

incredibly advanced in some ways, and downright primitive in others

Certain technological advancements that we take for granted in our own

history either did not occur, or developed along a very different path

One element that has advanced to an incredible degree is th

miniature fission reactors in a variety of applications Inspired by te

futuristic 1957 Ford Nucleon concept car, the idea of everyday vehicles

powered by a micro nuclear reactor in the trunk is fully rocked in the

Fallout universe Of course, hundreds of years after the war the country

is full of automobiles with unstable reactors that are way overd

service and replacement, but this makes for the entertaining blowing-up

of what would otherwise be unremarkable background art

HARDWARE 6]

giz Dara“

Ob) n7,

64 — THE ART OF FALLOUT 3

OE THEWORLD 75

ƒ6 — THEART OF FALLOUT 3

78 THART 0F FALL0UT3 “OE

3 “=>

- 2422/82/92

Hjvet lity Piterid

THE

PRET

sequences that play out in a linear r

iled planning Include

lutely critical First ist

st game, and the radio in

didn’t have cinematics in the game, the reality is that we

itive camera playback of the player’s queue

Included here is the original storyboard for how

camera sequence playing-out And I’m pleased

result in the game, a few years later, is really not so fa

initial sketches, at least in spirit

e, much of what Adam has di

the transition to 3D very faithfully, and { think this

darity of vision and quality of the conc

lo the closing days of alpha | hope you've enjo

of the art of Fallout 3

Fade in from black

3 Dangling dashboard filament heats up

SFX: Bzzzzzt Song starts.4

HD MERMID OSES: Guy

STORYBOARDS 93 |