Tim Cain joins Obsidian

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 2:05 pm

[ Person -> Article ] - News related to <a href="http://www.duckandcover.cx/archives.php ... y=122">Top Story: Fallout Mastermind back to his baby</a> | More info on <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Tim Cain">Person: Tim Cain</a> | More info on <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Obsidian Entertainment">Company: Obsidian Entertainment</a>

Stop the presses!? Just as I moaned about there not being any new Fallout news, <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com">Rock Paper Shotgun</a> announced just 20 minutes ago that Fallout mastermind and all round good guy Tim Cain was to join the good folk at Obsidian Entertainment. At this point it seems that only Cain himself has commented on the fact in his Facebook page and was promptly spotted by the users on the Obsidian forums.
You can check the piece <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/10 ... /">here</a> for now, we'll try to keep ours updated as more info comes in.
Update: Cain has confirmed via his <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id ... ">LinkedIn profile</a> that he is now a Senior Programmer at Obsidian. Hopefully he is hard at work on the next Fallout title. Perhaps he will finally be able to create his long-fabled Fallout sequel that he mentioned to DAC.
For further reference, see DAC's most recent <a href="../../content.php?id=113">interview with Tim Cain by clicking here</a>.Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/">Rock Paper Shotgun</a>

Ed of Vault 13 · Post by **Ed of Vault 13** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 2:42 pm

Excellent... I think that's great news. Hopefully he does have a part in the next Fallout game. *gets on knees and prays*

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 2:55 pm

This is the most awesome news ever in the history of post-Fallout 2. I hope Tim take the lead on the next Fallout game and finally gets to create the sequel that he's always wanted to. It seems he's had the whole thing planned out already, from what it seems from our interviews with him.

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 3:05 pm

People like Cain or Avellone garner street cred among us for good reason. Whether the move'll translate into great games or not, we'll have to see, although the potential is enormous.

So who's left on the draft board now? Taylor? Fargo?

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 3:28 pm

Fargo is still at inXile, but he didn't really have much to do with the design of Fallout from what I know. Jason Anderson, Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, Scott Campbell and Chris Taylor were the main driving forces behind Fallout.

Anderson is currently at Turtle Rock studios. He's bounced around from Interplay working with Chris Taylor on Project V13 (FOOL), to inXile with Brian Fargo, and now to Turtle Rock. Maybe now that Tim Cain is at Obsidian, he can be persuaded to join? He joined Taylor and then Fargo, and Obsidian is on the ups.

Boyarsky is currently being very successful at Blizzard as the lead world designer for Diablo 3, so he's probably not going to leave anytime soon (if ever).

Campbell is the Creative Director at Whitemoon Dreams, an independent studio. I'm not sure if he is one of the founders of it, but if he is then that decreases his chances of leaving.

Taylor is still at Interplay working on the Fallout MMO PV13, so unless he is VERY attached to that game he should be smart and jump ship to Obsidian as well.

SenisterDenister · Post by **SenisterDenister** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:16 pm

Its like a classic heist movie where grizzled veterans of the game all get together for one last shot of glory, except in this case they would just be making a Fallout game.

Regardless, good news was had.

Stalagmite · Post by **Stalagmite** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:36 am

Wow great news am actually looking forward to the next Obsidian game now.

Post by **Retlaw83** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:42 am

I really do hope Bethesda just tosses the Fallout reigns to Obsidian. Days of turn-based and isometric are never coming back, but I don't care what the interface is as long as you're giving me a story with consequences.

Stalagmite · Post by **Stalagmite** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:59 am

Retlaw83 wrote:I really do hope Bethesda just tosses the Fallout reigns to Obsidian.

If only.

Post by **King of Creation** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:04 am

Using their 20/20 hindsight, most gaming sites/reviews/journos/etc. believe Fallout: New Vegas to be VASTLY superior to Fallout 3. Bethesda just had the huge marketing push for Fallout 3. Hopefully Fallout 5 (?) stays with Obsidian and is led by Tim. I desperately want to play his Fallout sequel.

Aonaran · Post by **Aonaran** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:52 am

Dude.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:48 am

King of Creation wrote:Using their 20/20 hindsight, most gaming sites/reviews/journos/etc. believe Fallout: New Vegas to be VASTLY superior to Fallout 3. Bethesda just had the huge marketing push for Fallout 3. Hopefully Fallout 5 (?) stays with Obsidian and is led by Tim. I desperately want to play his Fallout sequel.

This.

My buddy's cousin worked with Cain over at Carbine. Wonder what got him out of there.

Post by **King of Creation** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:54 am

jetbaby wrote:Wonder what got him out of there.

If I were him, the chance to work on the series I basically created would be enough. Also, Cain got married and everything so maybe that had something to do with it.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:41 am

I was somewhat sadpanda when Cain didn't show up to PAX. I wanted to molest him a little.

Cimmerian Nights · Post by **Cimmerian Nights** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:37 pm

This is good news indeed.

However, I'm still of an "oh yeah, prove it!" frame of mind when it comes to Obsidian. New Vegas was pretty damn good, and most of my complaints would be about the shitty engine and mechanics they were saddled with (gamebryo, VATS etc.). KOTOR2 I found to be very meh and couldn't be bothered with. NWN2 I never bothered with, although Mask of the Betrayer is on my to do list.

I'm just reminded of a MCA quote from way back about when asked about doing a Fallout sequel he said "Don't do one. Do something better and raise the bar even higher." I'm afraid with NWN2, KOTOR2, Fallout 3 II and Dungeon Seige 2 (ewww) they are pigeonholing themselves, as the sloppy seconds developer.

The names are all familiar, but they have a ways to go to catch up to what BIS and Troika did. But given how BIS and Troika went down in flames, I'm willing to give Obsidian some leeway to farm themselves out to do licensed sequels if that's what keeps the lights on.

King of Creation wrote:Using their 20/20 hindsight, most gaming sites/reviews/journos/etc. believe Fallout: New Vegas to be VASTLY superior to Fallout 3. Bethesda just had the huge marketing push for Fallout 3. Hopefully Fallout 5 (?) stays with Obsidian and is led by Tim. I desperately want to play his Fallout sequel.

I would love to know what Bethesda thinks about this, if NV was a lucrative deal for them, I'm sure they'd have the brains to do more. But I have the feeling they shelled out for the FO license as a way to just repackage the elder scrolls style of adventure RPG lite, and keep pumping them out every 4 years, reusing the same licensed engine and tech.

Cain brings the same RPG principles to the table that made Fallout great. If it can't be done in that environment, I think he's shown that he can take those principles and apply them into a new setting/rule system. Like Arcanum, which is more of a spiritual successor to Fallout, whereas FO3 is like a spiritual successor to Oblivion.

That's where Bethesda dropped the ball. Fallout wasn't just a setting, it had a tight rules system too. Just like D&D isn't just a setting. Bethesda doesn't like the restrictions that real RPG systems impose on their ADD addled target audience. The endumbening of TES franchise under Todd Howard is proof of that

Frater Perdurabo · Post by **Frater Perdurabo** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:23 pm

I'm convinced that Obsidian can make a proper Fallout game, but they need to get a new engine. That Oblivion one is a vile piece of shit.

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:33 pm

Cimmerian Nights wrote:Cain brings the same RPG principles to the table that made Fallout great. If it can't be done in that environment, I think he's shown that he can take those principles and apply them into a new setting/rule system.

Not sure if this is what you meant but that's what I find particularly exciting about the move. Here is a guy that went "What, we can't have Wasteland? Fuck it, we'll go with Fallout." and can just as well now go "What, we can't have Fallout? Fuck it, we'll go with :new ip:.", regardless if he's using his plans for the Fallout sequel Koc pointed out or not. Especially when all the Fallout (of the Official tm kind) we're likely to get is going to be RPG-lite stuff of the bethesdian type.

What remains to be seen is whether Obsidian has the drive to push said :new ip: out allowing it to retain the same aspirations Fallout had when BIS got it out.

VasikkA · Post by **VasikkA** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:31 pm

INTERESTING.

SenisterDenister · Post by **SenisterDenister** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:40 pm

Frater Perdurabo wrote:I'm convinced that Obsidian can make a proper Fallout game, but they need to get a new engine.

This, a million times this. The gamebyro engine by itself isn't that bad, a lot of games have been made with it, but Bethsoft manages to find a way to fuck it up and make it unplayable.

If Obsidian could use Cain's talents and help them make a spiritual successor to Fallout in the sense that it was originally one of Wasteland, I would be content.

Pizzahut Lover · Post by **Pizzahut Lover** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:27 pm

Speaking of a Prosper Fallout.

I think it will be a while before Bethesda contacts me. I haven't yet been contacted. That phone call i got from Irvine California was related to a shootout or the inmates who were getting beaten by the guards. Learned it from CNN.

But um. Speaking of messages. I gave the Bethesda peeps my cell phone. so far i only have =/had this messages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yssE6mC3DjU