How Fallout Got Its Name
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2023
- Naming new video games is surprisingly hard, and Fallout was no different. I talk about how we came up with its name, including a list of alternate names from both the Fallout team and from Interplay's marketing department.
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Imagine being told your ideas will not be critiqued and then having Tim Cain dunking on you 20 years later. This is the kinda stuff that makes RPG villains Tim!
Hey, the statute of limitations has run out! Besides, if you don’t think people made fun of my Radstorm idea, then you don’t know Team Fallout. 😄
@@CainOnGames I thought Radstorm was better than most of the other name ideas, to be honest
@@CainOnGames hey look, its better than Post-Nuclear Adventure. jesus, id have been embarassed to put that on the drawing board hahaha
@@bladekemp1765 But hey, Post-Nuclear made the subtitle in the final cut. "Fallout - A Post-Nuclear Role Playing Game". Just goes to show it never hurts to put your ideas out there. Even if your boss critiques it 25 years later.
you could say that he
Nooked (u)
them
a top contender for the title that was missed!
"Hiroshima revisited" 💀
You would think so but the "fallout" from the bomb has since cleared, (and very quickly) of course that weapon was designed specifically to limit the amount of radioactive fallout in case of drift and other things
Vault 13 2: This time, it's serious
Vault 13-2: nuclear boogaloo
I always liked how the name Fallout could also be in reference to the choice based nature of the games, having to deal not only with nuclear fallout, but also the “fallout” of your decisions
It does work perfectly.
if only you tripped as you step out of the vault
ya know, fallout of it
It just works
@@zerpblerd5966 i mean for all ya know, ya did, seeing as ya begin in a dark cave
@@AgentDanielCross hilarious opening cinematic as the vault dweller steps out for the first time into the unknown...all serious tone /trips
I really wish the name of the game was further into the wasteland because then we could have just kept expanding that title. "Further than ever before even past the even further into the Wasteland"
“If you thought your last foray into the wasteland was far, wait until you see this! Part 2”
@@CainOnGames Further into the Wasteland (2016) Episode 1
except linguistically it would be 'farther' not 'further'
but it doesn't work logically as a name because you can only go so far into the wasteland before hitting not wasteland/ocean/whatever so it's kind of too linear
you're looking for something like "Wander the Wasteland" so you can "Still Wander the Wasteland" and "Still Continuing to Wander the Wasteland" and "Still Continuing to Wander the Wasteland Some More"
oh I read the comment before getting to that part of the story
but yeah, the idea came from the marketing department, guess they didn't do well in english comp.
Fallout 76 would be “So much further into the wasteland were looping backwards in time and re-writing history”
The subtitle of Arcanum was brilliant. It grabbed the eye and established the steampunk quality. Only "Arcanum" would have been a name for any fantasy game.
Definitely, the subtitle is excellent. It tells you so much about the setting (Victoriana) by evoking era literature styles.
Arcanum would be good for a 40k game
it's the only place it fits, for this game
doing anything like that now would be hokey, out of place, lame
back then in that context, it was
'ooooo, interesting!' whereas simple "Arcanum" was rather drab on its own (though now has taken a place as a good word alone)
Yeah, nobody should be making fun of that subtitle, it's fantastic. The game sounds less remarkable when you just say 'Arcanum'. That's a good name and all, but if you say 'Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura' (which you'd only do on occasion because it's a mouthful), it really builds up this sense of scale and grandeur to it that I think goes along perfectly with its setting and music. One of my favourite subtitles for any game ever, if not my absolute favourite.
@@zerpblerd5966 you really do reply to every comment, attention seeker?
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a great name. It captured my imagination right away.
It's always magicka instead of magick in my mind for some reason
Agree! Love that name.
Same for me
It sounds like the name of an encyclopedia. A fictional magic encyclopedia but still an encyclopedia. ig it's debatable if that's good or bad.
@@element1111elder scrolls :)
"I finally have it.....HalfLife.... wait dammit"
QuarterLife!
"Earth A.D." and "Static Age"? Someone on the team was a Misfits fan, respect
Same with “Moribund World.” Moribund was a Samhain song. (Glen Danzig’s band after the Misfits.) Sounds like our Misfits fan was Jason Anderson.
Oh dang beat me too it lol
Can't believe you guys had Aftermath and Dead Glow right together but nobody said Afterglow! I always loved the first one's subtitle too: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game.
Instead of Deadmath?
@@CainOnGamesyes. Fallout is a better name. But I still think of fallout as wasteland 3.wasteland was a literal game changer. (thank God for that loot bag glitch!!!) I always assault the nunnery with rocket launchers, and every play through it is one of my favorite moments.
Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a 5:01
The official Chinese translation of Fallout title is "异尘余生" (translated by InterWise, a Taiwanese game publishing company), literrally "Leftover Life in Abnormal Dust". It's a title with some uncathy wordings, not easy to say, but when read as text it's actually quite poetic in Chinese, and it summarise the world in game. However most fans in the Chinese speaking world just call it "辐射" (Radiation), which is much more catchy, if not much less poetic. I don't know the origin of this alternative and more popular translation, my guess is that it's from the salesmen of pirated games at that time.
The official translation has post rock vibes I like it
This got totally over my head. In 1998 in Russia we had only several pirated localizations. They all were hilariously bad (this alone could've made me begin to learn English, but there were also the Sierra's quests). Usually, the translation was made in 20th century software, almost no correction. The game's title was not translated or translated to something like Падение/Упадок (downfall). The translators were probably unaware of the term "radioactive fallout". And so were we kids.
The most puzzling moment were the "SNEAK" indicator was translated as "МУЛЬТФИЛЬМ" (cartoon), I have no idea how it came to be. Also, every pirate excercized their wit in translating the word G.E.C.K. and all the jokes around it, geckos etc.
Thank you for my favorite game of all times👍
lol that FO2 fargus translation... KO.SO.GO.R (Komplekt dlya Sozdaniya Goroda Raya, комплект для создания городая рая, paradise city creation kit) is "oblique hill" when read as acronym, and most of the jokes were adapter to that name
@@YaroslaffFedin Fargus loxalization was actually the best one. At least, translated by human, not only PROMT.
@@intreal Yes it was a legit translation that i played FO2 with. The intro music was a bit of a strange choice. It's kinda artsy, but at the same time they took a large creative liberty there with аукцыон
@@YaroslaffFedin The АукцЫон song was not in the "Fargus", but in the translation by "Left Corporation". That translation itself was pretty crappy, but the song kinda fit.
@@intreal Oh yeah? In that case i played that left corporation thing I guess. I dont remember it being machine translated, so there might have been more than one decent translation. though that kosogor rubs me a funny way
"The Rust Age" is kinda cool IMO
Arcanum and its full name is still one of my favourite ones. Its catchy and memorable.
Now I wanna play Dim Place: Souls of Blood
I'm crying at "Dark World...... Dim Place"
I'm guessing 'Hiroshima Revisited' would have gotten a title change when it was released in Japan. Yikes.
You could have gotten away with Vault 13. Bioware's foundational RPG was Baldur's Gate, named for the primary city involved in the first game. They then moved the whole setting to Athkatla for the sequel, and Tethyr for the expansion that ended the series. People were too busy being impressed by how awesome Baldur's Gate 2 was to complain about the name.
this has meme potential
It must be an eerie feeling for you and the whole team to think how a casual brainstorm turned into something so hugely recognisable nowadays. Especially for the person who came up with the RIGHT name!
Don’t stress too much over Arcanum, it’s a beautiful one aswell.
This video gave me a good laugh, anyway! Thank you and keep it going.
Man, those are some really mid 90s names. Anyway, I always loved the name Fallout. Because it encapsulates the setting and also it has the connotation that there is 'fallout' or consequences of your actions. So the name works on several levels which is what a title should do.
I believe that Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is one of the best name in the whole game industry and definitely my favorite.
Hello Tim, as I’ve been going through your videos I see you bring up a lot of previous colleagues be it small stories or working with them. I was wondering if you’d be willing to talk about how it was to balance work social interactions and how that kind of environment changed over the years. Especially now since burnout is a large topic it be interesting to hear if it was always there in some form.
I will add that to my list of topics. Thanks!
When I think, "Fallout", I instantly imagine the original sprite image of my Vault Dweller. Thank you Tim and the rest of the team for bringing this brilliantly shaped world to us all! ♥️
Just wanted to take the time to say thank you, Tim, for sharing these insights with us!
I wasn't playing games when Arcanum came out, but "Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura" is great! I wasn't even aware it was made fun of or something, it's a an evocative subtitle and is much better than something more generic in my opinion. It lets you know exactly what this is, and I like it a lot.
It sounds absolutely badass and intriguing up to this day
Долгих лет жизни тебе, Тим. Спасибо за Fallout и мое детство 90х в нём. ❤
Someone at Interplay must of been huge fans of the band Misfits since two of their albums are Earth A.D. and Static Age. Interestingly enough Static Age was first recorded in 1978 but not commercially or publicly released til 1996 which would of been around the same time you guys were trying to figure out names for the game. Anyways, just thought I would share that bit of info. Keep up the great content, Tim!
I reacted to those names too! Sure one might be a coincidence, but not two Misfits titles.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't a version of Static Age on Legacy of Brutality from 1985 though? Or am I mistaken and Legacy of Brutality was released later?
@@almastidyatlov9641 you are correct it was released in 1985.
Just wanted to say thank you for all the great games throughout the years, sincerely.
It's interesting to hear you say that naming things is hard, considering the struggle that many players have with naming their characters!
Also, "Hiroshima Revisited" made me laugh out loud. I'm so glad that cooler heads prevailed, lol
Long life to you, Tim. Thank you for Fallout and my 90s childhood in it. ❤
"of steanworks and magic obscura" sounded so cool! I never thought it was a bad name. It was super fitting to the game and the world it had in it.
The biggest issue with that game was its size. It was too big for the content. An entire continent was too much and watered down the story and the progression.
With a smaller world, maybe even a JRPG style map or more like Baldur's Gate, nicely drawn, with large big cities to explore and side quests around, and that would have been a huge hit.
The Biohazard name suggestion is interesting seeing as Capcom came up with Resident Evil because of copyright issues relating to Biohazard in the US
I might be wrong but Bio Hazard was dropped in the US since it wasn't as catchy as in Japan where that wording was rearely seen, if at all.
@@PointReflex It was due to copyright issues. Even the original designers said that Resident Evil was a stupid name, but they had to come up with something last minute. Plus I think the original intent was "Residence of Evil" which makes sense given the first game, but bad Japanese to English translation happened as it so often did at that time.
Naming is also so hard. I think Tyranny was also a really excellent name when it comes to games you worked on. Have to imagine it was a similar nightmare to name, trying to avoid something really generic like "Dark Empire" but it ended up with a title so simple that captures the whole thing.
really? i always found the title "Tyranny" just woefully ambiguous and paired with the tactile looking gameplay it always kinda served as a deterrent towards me playing it tbh
Tyranny is too generic
I love how there were not 1 but 2 Misfits albums proposed as names
Some of those are Misfits album names. Whoever was into punk / dark stuff definitely tossed those in lol.
Personally the subtitle for Arcanum, and the striking box art to be fair, were the things that drew me to it to begin with.
MS should have InXile remake Fallout 1 and 2
@@Asphyxx-up7ii
Why? InXile made Wasteland 2 and 3.
InXile is ran by Brian Fargo, who also founded Interplay who made Fallout 1 and 2. InXile is like the most appropriate and qualified studio to remake Fallout 1 and 2.
If that ever happens chances are it's gonna be done by Bethesda whether we like it or not
@Asphyxx Wasteland 3 is a great game. W2 is a bit weaker but still good. That said, I would love Fallout 1 and 2 remade in first/third person, not isometric.
The very existence of your channel is already a source of great joy. And the fact that you post videos every day, as well as their content is infinitely cool. Thank you for all your work. I won't be wrong in saying that I'm not the only person who owes my love for video games, role-playing games and their production to you. And now that I grew up with your games, it's great to know that I got a chance to watch you on youtube and get at least some of your experience. Thanks for the videos and the channel!
Not going with "Nuclear Summer" robbed us of a chance to see a ghoulified Walton Goggins in a speedo.
with Earth AD and Static Age, someone on the team was a misfits fan
Love hearing these behind the scenes stories, awesome stuff! Ty for sharing👍
Mr. Cain, first of all, I would like to express my gratitude for all the games that you and your colleagues had a hand in. I was lucky to grow up on them and now I'm interested in hearing how they were created. Thanks good sir
Could you speak about why the Fallout exe has your face on it?
Programmer Chris Jones did that secretly (along with my head exploding in the credits), and my face was only supposed to show up in the rare situation (rare in 1997) that someone set Windows to show Large icons. Now that setting is the default, so you get my face.
@@CainOnGames Haha. That's very amusing; I noticed it when I first played the game in 2010 or 2011. Thanks for sharing!
@@CainOnGames these easter eggs are hilarious
The Legend himself. So glad I learned you have a channel!
I'd love to see your notes get turned into a book, that sounds so fascinating
Star Trek Discovery (which is atrocious and shits on previous Star Treks) has abbreviation STD, which is quite fitting.
I love how you are both informative and absolutely hilarious, i bet those team meetings on deciding the name would have been too!
I found the marketing team's suggestions especially hilarious. Thank you for sharing these special moments Tim & as always, looking forward to the next topic whatever it may be! :)
Hi, Tim, just stumbled upon your channel and it’s wonderful. So humble and informative. Fallout is my favourite game of all time and these tasty nuggets of information are just delicious. Thanks for indulging us! ❤
Kudos to Fargo for pointing out the title we all know and love today
Hi Tim, great insight and detail on Fallout! The subtitle of Arcanum really stuck with me from the get go - it’s a memorable title! Thanks for sharing, loving these posts!😊🙏
Biohazard, Radstorm and Dead Glow are all quite fitting to describe the physical world of the game but Fallout adds an interpersonal aspect to it. If a relationship turns bad you can say "There's been some fallout/falling out." which ties into the game's role-playing nature. There are factions that oppose each other, your character can make personal enemies and so on. It's a less obvious aspect of the word but it grants that "all-encompassing" edge. The other three titles only allude to fighting against monsters and ecological disasters but not against other people.
Also, why did marketing love adjectives so much? Some of the developer suggestions were bad, but these adjectives just make me think of shovelware.
Biohazard was taken by resident evil so no
I love the title "Warriors of the Apocalypse." It makes me think of a cheesy sword and sorcery game with 80s power metal music, hyper-masculine characters, and a post apocalyptic setting.
It's also interesting that marketing came up with the name Biohazard, since that was the Japanese title for the first Resident Evil which came out around the same time.
Darkshadowland would've been a nice spiritual sequel to Wasteland
Tim, привет. Ты говорил, что работал над первыми локациями в Fallout 2. В городе The Den можно найти автомобиль Highwayman. Было бы интересно послушать историю создания этого транспорта. Чья идея была добавить машину в игру?
What a legend. So glad I found this channel!
6:48 "The Surfacing" sounds like the sequel to M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening"... 😅
You have no idea how important it was for me to learn all these little stories about Fallout. Appreciated
Scarred Earth from the marketing looked like a cool alternate name.
Love this channel, thank you for sharing
Thank God you guys picked Fallout.
"Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura " is one of the best video-game names..
Hey, "Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura" is what got me interested in Arcanum!
Radstorm and deadglow sound awesome 😂
I found a CD ROM for the original Fallout game at a thrift store, and it just created this whole world that kept expanding further into where it is today, I love the details you added in creating the name, you are the best for creating my top favourite vidro game series
Its REALLY nice to hear someone who has worked on a creative project as grand as the Fallout series talk about their past in such a casual way, without any B.S in the way, loving these videos!
I could listen to you talk about anything for hours.
Just want to say thanks for making these videos, Fallout is my favourite game franchise of all time and you talking about things from behind the scenes is so cool. Could you talk about where the ideas or special random encounters came from? And Is the giant dinosaur footprint a reference to Godzilla or the original game concept before fallout (the one with time travel and dinosaurs)
I love seeing how much fun you have doing this 😂
Fallout is a beautifully picked name for the first fallout, because it also represents the actions of prewar earth and how they aren't there to realize the consequences (fallout) of their actions, really bringing fourth the message the series really tries to bring. war never changes... not only in that instance, but in many different points of views the story tells.
I think just "Rust" would have been a pretty fitting title
Oh boy, that Marketing title brain storm....
Marketing. Marketing never changes.
"Remains of the Day" is a good name for any restaurant specialty involving Iguana Bits.
Imagine if Fallout was named "The Waterchip Incident".
I hope the Fallout word doc will be released (if it's fit for public consumption and there isn't anything you don't want the public to see anyway)! Thank you so much for the videos, Mr. Cain, you're doing us a great service!
Thank god at the end you picked the best name. I have enjoyed the Doomsday Warrior I and II, Doomsday Warrior: Tactics and Doomsday Warrrior 3 so much over the years. =)
"Rust Age" and "Dead Glow" would both be pretty good
Hello Tim. Good to see you. I am enjoying your videos. I did not know this about the name.
There is this little indie game that I play called "Game Dev Tycoon" where as the title would lead you to believe you take on the role of a game making company. Of course you also have to name your project and the game will actually roast you in the fictionnal reviews if you forget to change the default name (which is Game #X). I always try to put up name that would actually make sense for these and it is sometime indeed very hard to comes up with.
I also use reference to existing classic for fun such as an action game on hunting called "Mallard Hunt”, I’ve done action Sci Fi named “Aureola”, RPG Sci Fi titled “Inertia” and when I used the Post Apocalyptic theme with RPG genera I went with “After Fall” in reference of Fallout (though one time I also used Climbin as a joke).
'Souls of Blood' sounds awesome ;)
Hey Tim, just yesterday I discovered you can make your head explode in the Fallout credits! Still discovering new things in Fallout to this day!
I could easily see Radstorm working in an alternate universe
I love this deep background lore.
"Earth AD" and "Static Age." Clearly, the company had a Misfits fan on staff. I'm surprised there wasn't a "Legacy of Brutality" suggestion in there.
Green Hell
Radstorm sounds badass!
Even before I got into the series I remember seeing FO4 ads on TV and thinking it was a really sick name. I also noticed one of the proposed names was Moribund World, which at least got to become the name of the music track for the world map.
some of these names are hysterical, HAHAHAHAH
"Watch out for religious hot water. "
"Vault 666?"
I’ve always thought “of steamworks and magick obscura” is amazingly evocative and interested me in playing the game
An alternate reality where Fallout is called DARK BLOOD
Someone made fun of "of steamworks and magic obscura?" that is such a cool subtitle!
So thats what falloutW.exe meant lol, I wondered about that.
It's a great name. Can't imagine the game called anything else. Only association I had on hearing it was there's an obscure early song by The Police called "Fallout", wasn't a hit or anything.
Some of these suggestions actually sounded cool
Arcanum without that subtitle would pass as another fantasy title. At least for me.
This list is incredibly 90s, I love it!
I hope the marketing guys went into the B movie business cause they sound perfect for it
It is so difficult to name a creative project. There's a reason all my writing projects have placeholder titles! I love the creativity of the suggested names. Some of them are really good, and sound like games I would play.
10:10 I know the feeling. Other people can call it Episode 4 or A New Hope but it is and always will be Star Wars to me.
When you have a confluence of a great ground breaking and fun game + such a great name (the icing on the cake), that's what makes a classic that will echo for hundreds if not thousands of years.
the W in Falloutw makes so much more sense now, I played the game for years without this knowledge.
not to mention fallout also implies the idea of the aftermath, it was a very ingenious name