Chris Avellone's Blog

This was an interesting and insightful post, thanks. I've started Dead Money today (have just recruited the team) and am enjoying it so far.

 

The fact that you were aiming for a horror-ish experience was interesting to read for me. I actually thought about this when I first started up Dead Money, more specifically in terms of the audio. I think one "flaw" is that the audio-scape constantly reminds me of New Vegas, you hear the same music snippets and so forth that you hear in the wasteland which introduces a certain level of familiarity that perhaps shouldn't be there. Now, I really loved the audio of New Vegas (actually one of the best soundscapes in a game that I know of) but it seems to me that the Sierra Madre could've really benefitted from a more separate audio to make the player feels out of the comfort zone. When I heard familar musical snippets as in vanilla New Vegas, there was immediately that "connection" that took me out of the hostile feel for a bit. Don't know if that makes any sense.

Two very simple audio cues that work wonderfully was when recruiting Dog/God and Christine. In the case of the Super Mutant, hearing the voice talk to you when going down into the basement was plenty creepy I think. In Christine's case, it was a nice touch to hear the "thumping" throughout that level.

 

Just some random thoughts that sprung into mind since you mentioned the horror aspect of it.

As soon as I viewed the Ballad of Gay Tony trailer I knew DLC was allowing for more... freedom of expression.

 

From reading this, it sounds like the format of downloadable content provides some opportunity for risk taking not only in areas of content but also design. I was gonna wait for a GOTY package, but now this kind of feels like the weeks leading up to Alpha Protocol, where I can't take anything for granted. Too exciting to put off until I "have time."

I signed up just to ask about this so:

 

You mentioned this bit which piqued my curiosity.

 

having a "join the bad guy Fallout 1 style end movie" (which I missed ever since joining the Master's Army in Fallout 1, so we put it in DLC1 to allow the player to join Elijah)

 

This is... obtainable? It's the first time I've heard of this.

I'd say the scrounging is what kept it riviting, dying due to lack of supply and watching rationing kept me on the edge of my seat to the point that I had to quit playing it at points because I found myself getting frustraited, and by being in that mental state was more open to the other things going on, like that breathing noise for the ghost people. which signalled me to open my inventory and see if i had enough chems to support a fight or if i could whip up a cloudtini. and to the poster above, yeah you can kill everybody

Here's what you need: Headless enemies whose arms and legs give them an immediate, dramatically lethal advantage over the players, and who are so tough that they won't be close to dead even after all of their limbs/parts have been crippled.

Hi Chris,

 

Just want to say I'm greatly enjoying Dead Money so far. One thing I'd like for future DLC's is more scaling difficulty for hardcore mode. It would be neat if hardcore mode made ammo, food and water more scarce...as it is now I'm practically swimming in food and ammo even though I'm using a mod that greatly increases the rate of hunger/thirst.

Also, I must say I'm very disappointed in reviews that complain about the collar and poison cloud mechanics, I really like what they add and haven't died once because of them (though I did die to some grenade traps).

Keep up the good work and don't be afraid to make hardcore mode even harder in future DLC, I think most people who play on that setting really do want to be challenged!

Yes, the Elijah ending is obtainable, although you have to really hate NCR and have talked to Veronica about Elijah thoroughly (perhaps again) after DLC1 is installed.

 

Having the "join the bad guy" ending has been important to me since Fallout 1, so if we can do that in our titles, even in DLC, we try for it. Also, writing the Elijah joining end movie was a lot of fun in an evil way.

 

And on the headless enemies - we did joke about that, although I suppose in the end, Ultima cornered the market on those creatures.

Hi Chris,

 

Just want to say I'm greatly enjoying Dead Money so far. One thing I'd like for future DLC's is more scaling difficulty for hardcore mode. It would be neat if hardcore mode made ammo, food and water more scarce...as it is now I'm practically swimming in food and ammo even though I'm using a mod that greatly increases the rate of hunger/thirst.

Also, I must say I'm very disappointed in reviews that complain about the collar and poison cloud mechanics, I really like what they add and haven't died once because of them (though I did die to some grenade traps).

Keep up the good work and don't be afraid to make hardcore mode even harder in future DLC, I think most people who play on that setting really do want to be challenged!

 

Thanks - Dead Money was actually initially a lot harder than its final release. A lot.

 

First off, all the hardcore mechanics in DLC1 were par-for-the-course in normal mode, it had a lot more traps, the toxic cloud was even more lethal (rather than reduce you to low hit points in normal mode, it would kill you and kill you faster than it did now). I did want the player to feel apprehensive while playing and create a sense of tension, but the end conclusion was that it was too punishing overall: not challenging, punishing. One joke was that Dead Money was going to become the Tomb of Horrors for the Fallout universe - all I wanted was people to pay attention to the environment and space more.

 

Feedback from Bethesda QA did provide a lot of good metrics for what felt right in terms of enemy strength, trap placement, and toxic cloud scaling, and we used a lot of those same feedback appraisals for future DLCs, so that's good.

 

I did want the player to scavenge and scrounge, however, and see each last resource as precious, as mentioned above - it was my way of trying to restore value to things Fallout players may now be taking for granted (and really, Stimpaks should be an amazing find for any player living in the Fallout universe).

Thanks - Dead Money was actually initially a lot harder than its final release. A lot.

 

First off, all the hardcore mechanics in DLC1 were par-for-the-course in normal mode, it had a lot more traps, the toxic cloud was even more lethal (rather than reduce you to low hit points in normal mode, it would kill you and kill you faster than it did now). I did want the player to feel apprehensive while playing and create a sense of tension, but the end conclusion was that it was too punishing overall: not challenging, punishing. One joke was that Dead Money was going to become the Tomb of Horrors for the Fallout universe - all I wanted was people to pay attention to the environment and space more.

 

Feedback from Bethesda QA did provide a lot of good metrics for what felt right in terms of enemy strength, trap placement, and toxic cloud scaling, and we used a lot of those same feedback appraisals for future DLCs, so that's good.

 

I did want the player to scavenge and scrounge, however, and see each last resource as precious, as mentioned above - it was my way of trying to restore value to things Fallout players may now be taking for granted (and really, Stimpaks should be an amazing find for any player living in the Fallout universe).

 

I found the difficulty appropriate in hardcore mode, but I felt that consumables and ammo should have been more scarce. Does the engine support varying the spawn rates across normal/hardcore?

 

For me, this was a major issue in the main game - once you leave the starting areas the wealth of food and ammo available trivializes the "needs" portion of hardcore mode, making it more of a chore than a feature (since you'll always have food and water in your inventory). Perhaps it would also make sense of your needs would increase with certain stats/skills, like a high strength character should require more food.

 

Anyway, I hope you can continue to use hardcore mode to incorporate some of your more "punishing" ideas in future DLC

 

I found the difficulty appropriate in hardcore mode, but I felt that consumables and ammo should have been more scarce. Does the engine support varying the spawn rates across normal/hardcore?

 

For me, this was a major issue in the main game - once you leave the starting areas the wealth of food and ammo available trivializes the "needs" portion of hardcore mode, making it more of a chore than a feature (since you'll always have food and water in your inventory). Perhaps it would also make sense of your needs would increase with certain stats/skills, like a high strength character should require more food.

 

Anyway, I hope you can continue to use hardcore mode to incorporate some of your more "punishing" ideas in future DLC

 

There is a script function to check Hardcore mode, that's not a bad idea. I'm not sure how it affects item spawns, although I don't think that would be hard to do.

 

Great Write-up and thanks for the information. I for one LOVED the DLC. the writing, the overall feeling of oppression it gave off. some perks did trivialize some of the atmosphere like rad child or the regen implant. but it was a very Smart DLC and Its really the 1st DLC I would Actually say was worth the price. so much to do and Find in there. it really rewards you for exploring thank you and Looking forward to the next DLCs.

 

Mak

This reply is really late, but I didn't think to reply directly to your blog post previously. I read your design breakdown on the DLC shortly after I beat the scenario, and I found it a great read. Personally, I enjoyed the DLC scenario a lot, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming DLC releases as well (finally announced!). There were a few points in particular which I would like to talk about regarding Dead Money though.

 

First of all, my main disappointment was the way the endgame event was scripted. I played Dead Money with my end game save, and I went straight into it. I had already had extensive conversations with Veronica previously on the subject of Father Elijah. I did not expect that the DLC would require me to talk to her again after installing it, for the proper flag values to be registered. As such, I was unable to talk to Father Elijah at the end with Veronica. It's a minor issue in terms of overall gameplay experience, but I feel it is a significant flaw in terms of impacting the roleplaying experience.

 

Secondly, I would like to say that I really appreciated the internal economy system the scenario. It wasn't just about making basic common Fallout items feel valuable and useful again. What really struck me as solid game design was that the vending machines effectively created a value system for otherwise useless junk, and in a way which made complete sense within the logic of the setting. Adding this additional layer in the setting made me pay a lot more attention to digging around in places which I had grown accustomed to ignoring in the normal game, like dressers. It also made me see the object models for cigarette packs and cartons in a whole new way. They weren't **** that I would ignore any longer, but something I would actively seek and get excited over. Great job.

 

Lastly, I really liked how the companion interactions were designed. Not only were they all unique and memorable, but the way their perks were designed to specifically help with different parts of the scenario, and how there were unlockable "secrets" designed into their dialog trees. I feel that the best designed games are the ones which give back to the player as much as the player decides to put in. It is satisfying that there are gameplay rewards and story/background content which can only be discovered by putting the extra effort in. Another touch I really liked was that the companions who were not in your party at the time would actually have conversations with each other around the fountain. This is something I would have loved to see in the Lucky 38 Suite in the main game. It would have been really rewarding if gathering a full team at the suite would result in them interacting with each other.

 

I'm looking forward to the upcoming DLC releases, and I hope you will do design breakdowns for Old World Blues and Lonesome Road as well. Keep up the great work, and all the best!