Computer Graphics World

March 2009 n n n n Gaming Visually Speaking While the retro-tech aesthetic of the Fall- out universe is incredibly advanced in some ways, it is also old-fashioned in its design because of the primitive manufacturing techniques of the 1950s. Hence, a lot of the technology and machinery within the vault and the city share many qualities with 1950s-era military and consumer/ industrial design, such as vented metal boxes, the preponderance of rounded edg- es, large indicator lights, and so forth. "We tried to demonstrate this contrast between the technology's capabilities and the primi- tive nature of the manufacturing processes and miniaturization," says lead artist Istvan Pely. "An example of this is the Pip-Boy, a wrist-mounted PDA of sorts that has far more features than any modern smart phone, but uses an antiquated glass CRT screen, knobs for the interface, and is quite bulky and heavy." According to Pely, color was crucial to evoking the deathly atmosphere through- out the game. e desaturated palette of the wasteland emphasized the harshness and bleakness of the world, while certain locations subtly shift that palette to draw attention or signify passage into a different environment. e vault in Fallout 3 adheres to the same design philosophy set by the underground shelters from the two previous games. However, the new shelter is far more real- ized and immersive than the previous two, given today's more advanced technology. "Back then, they literally had a handful of pixels in which to illustrate the sort of details that needed to flesh out the world in a 3D, first-person perspective. Now, we could really up the ante in terms of realism, to have the vault be a believable environ- ment that felt authentic in terms of design and construction," says Pely. Many of the changes can be found in the walls lining the hallways and rooms, which are now poured concrete, with heavy metal bulwarks and structural reinforcements throughout—an engineering staple of ac- tual underground fallout shelters of the time. In the previous titles, the player never saw the ceiling, but for this release, a low ceiling is designed to make the person feel claustrophobic and conscious of the weight of tons of earth above. "Nevertheless, in the designs of the doors, the vents, and the air- conditioning units in every room, we tried to remain as consistent as possible with the originals. e same goes for the furnishings and general color palette—elements that should help create a sense of familiarity," says Pely. Like the vault, the wasteland was anoth- er iconic environment that had to feel au- thentic to the Fallout brand. Because of the change in setting from West to East, the team simply couldn't replicate the barren and flat deserts that were a staple of Fall- out 1 and 2. "We needed to reinterpret the landscape so that it was not only recogniz- able as a classic wasteland, but believable as the remains of suburban Washington," says Pely. To that end, the team retained the series' signature dry, dusty, and arid land- scape, with lots of brownish hues forged through copious amounts of dirt. e cavernous Metro tunnels provide the player with connectivity between the various urbanized world spaces that make up the city. "We closely replicated the ar- chitectural cues of the actual stations, in- cluding the waffle-patterned arched ceil- ings and the second-story mezzanines," says Pely. e team also tried to make these spaces interesting from both a visual and gameplay perspective. Since urban ruins are a popular venue for many action titles, creating a convinc- ing destroyed city that exceeded the already high standard set by other games and the expectations of the player was a constant challenge. e team studied its competi- tion extensively, and then analyzed such war movies as Saving Private Ryan and Full Metal Jacket, which have inspiring and realistic gutted city settings. To create the rubble piles in Fallout 3, the group lined the polygonal blocks and chunks of con- crete with normal-mapped decals that had rough, chewed-out edging to make the rubble more realistic. e city itself, Pely says, was loosely modeled after the layout of the real-world Capital, capturing major streets and land- marks while taking liberties with spatial relationships. "It was more important that the spaces played well and were visually interesting than they be geographically ac- curate. It's an alternate history in Fallout's timeline, so it made sense that there would To ensure that the urban ruins shown throughout the game are as convincing as possible, the group analyzed various war movies featuring realistically gutted cityscapes.

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