Game designer Chris Avellone has revealed new details of cancelled Fallout 3: Van Buren, which he said was intended to be a turn based cinematic game which could be easily translated to the pen and paper format, especially since the game’s cutscenes were effectively shown via slides.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of his hour long presentation at the NYU Game Center, as reported by Polygon, is news that your companions in the game could make world-changing decisions.
Playing as an accused criminal, your companions’ choices could impact other NPCs and players (though the game did not offer multiplayer). The game’s AI determined what choices were taken and it’s not clear whether your own decisions or your relationship with your companions would affect how they operated but it certainly sounds like a unique concept. As you progressed through Van Buren, you would see how other teams choices changed the game world.
Avellone developed a paper playtest, consisting of two teams of six developers each who served as different sets of teams. Avellone implemented the effects of choices made by one group in the other’s gameplay section without informing them. As such, those involved were effectively fighting another team to cause or prevent further damage being done to their game world.
He also revealed that players would have been able to choose the theme music for their own protagonist. Players would have been asked to select a unique soundclip to add a 50 per cent stat bonus to any skill and while players were free to choose what they wanted, picking something from the game itself would have offered additional bonuses.
Interplay eventually folded and the rights to Fallout ended up with Bethesda who completely re-imagined 2008’s Fallout 3 but some ideas from Van Buren did make it into Fallout New Vegas. Numerous NPCs in Obsidian’s 2010 game were originally conceived for Van Buren, along with several locations in the game.
