War never changes, he says.
Im like, I must be a writer.
I was really, really bad at it, he says.
Cains writing strengths, as fellow Fallout originator Leonard Boyarsky has suggested, lie in shortform.
Thankfully, though, it turns out Cain is a natural raconteur.
The same anecdotes that appeared flat and toneless in his memoirs go down a storm on YouTube.
Now I spend as much time answering questions and doing videos based on things people ask about.
Among Tims recent videos are titles like MarketingThe Outer Worlds, Game Production Stages and Focus Group Testing.
Some of these stories involve professional upsets and bust-ups with bosses.
The smile and twinkle that defines his video thumbnails never slips into jadedness or cynicism.
Today, these assorted notes provide material for YouTube.
Some of them I barely remember, he says.
Like, I did a whole video on the original names for Fallout.
In May last year, Cain stifled his gigglesas he ran through the list.
It was funny reading over those.
Fallout was an early indicator of the design philosophy that has guided Cain throughout his working life.
I didnt want a lot of things to be scripted, he says.
I wanted things to be done systemically.
He still remembers coding the pickpocketing system.
It used the same interface as barter, he says.
So because of that, automatically, it let you put things in.
In other words, you could reverse-pickpocket.
Initially, the team was worried.
But then we were like, This is fun.
Its an emergent property, why not?
Why cant you set the timer for 60 seconds, stick it in someones backpack and sneak away?
I didnt want it to be the same experience for everyone, Cain says.
In one early quest, the village elders daughter, Tandi, is kidnapped by the Khan raiders.
By Cains count, there are 12 or 14 distinct ways of resolving that situation.
Only a few of them are scripted, he says.
Even I was surprised at how many different ways QA found to rescue Tandi.
So we added dialogue.
What arent you taking me home?
Im young and not very experienced, could you kindly take me back to my family?
But player agency is huge in my games.
I dont necessarily want control.
There is so much about being a game director that is not fun, he says.
And I get that some people hold onto it because they like power.
But for me, I had so much fun makingPillars Of Eternity, which Josh Sawyer conceived.
There are games I want to make, he says.
Im unwilling to believe it for the eighth time.
I said, Let me read you a few lines from a production meeting in July of 95…
