Fallout creator Tim Cain has revealed that he was “ordered to destroy” all of his notes, code, and prototypes from his days at Fallout’s original developer and publisher, Interplay, and as a result, no original source code or assets remain.
Making the admission on a new YouTube video (thanks, GR+), Cain explained that he was told to destroy everything after he left the Fallout studio, having been told that the studio would “be the archive keeper”.
Cain later learned, however, that it “lost it”.
“There’s a lot of organisations out there that demand to be the archive keeper, and then they do a terrible job at it,” Cain said. “They lose the assets they were in charge of keeping. This has happened multiple times in my career.
“When I left Fallout, I was told ‘you have to destroy everything you have’, and I did. My entire archive. Early design notes, code for different versions, prototypes, all the GURPS code – gone.
“When they finally, a few years after I left, contacted me and said ‘oops, we lost it’ I thought they were trapping me into ‘we’re going to sue you if you say you have it.’ Turns out, no, they really lost it.”
Cain said the experience shows why programs like GOG’s preservation work are so important.
“Individuals and organisations actively work against preservation,” Cain added. “The amount of stuff that’s been lost about Fallout and its early development saddens me. I had it. I had that in digital form and was ordered to destroy it.
“So many other games that came out in the ’70s, and ’80s and ’90s – the code is gone. The art assets are gone. Sure, you can try to crack open the databases and pull out those things, but you’re only getting the final stuff. You’re not getting the original source code or art[work]. I think it’s even happening for the ’00s and the ’10s and probably now in the ’20s. Stuff is being lost.”
Cain has plenty of praise for Amazon’s TV adaptation, saying of the show: “They had huge sets with amazing production values on them… Amazing props. The acting was phenomenal. It was just surreal to watch Fallout recreated in real life like that.”
In related Bethesda news, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered stealth-dropped just five days ago, but it’s already clocked up over four million players and already has over 100 mods available for it, even though Bethesda said it won’t offer any official mod support.