Retrofuturism in the Fallout series

Fallout is a series of Wikipedia:post-apocalyptic role-playing video games, the first three Wikipedia:tactical role-playing games, the later two Wikipedia:shooter games. Although the series is set during the 22nd and 23rd centuries, its retrofuturistic story and artwork are influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s America, and its combination of lurking fear of nuclear annihilation and hope for the promises of technology. Its retrofuturism tends to be seen by those who emphasize the importance of the first, as social comment, and by others who favor the second, as merely nostalgia.

The first two titles in the series (Fallout and Wikipedia:Fallout 2) were developed by Wikipedia:Black Isle Studios. They featured dialogue tree storytelling integrated into connected subplot elements that spanned a large world, with consequent plot-driven roleplaying that was arguably the first to reach such heights.

Micro Forté and Wikipedia:14 Degrees East's 2001 Wikipedia:Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel had a mission system, rather than the roleplaying story.

In 2004, creator Wikipedia:Interplay Entertainment closed Black Isle Studios, and continued to produce an Wikipedia:action game with RPG elements for Wikipedia:PlayStation 2 and Wikipedia:Xbox, Wikipedia:Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel without Black Isle Studios.

Disappointments over the third and fourth Fallouts, cancellations of games, failure of development companies, and long waits for sequels lead to a fanbase that was more critical than most. Wikipedia:Fallout 3 was released in 2008 by Bethesda Softworks, and acclaim by a brand new fanbase drowned out the complaints of the old.

Wikipedia:Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Wikipedia:Obsidian Entertainment with many former Black Isle employees who created Fallout and Fallout 2. Bethesda made it clear that New Vegas was not a direct sequel to Fallout 3, but an addition to the franchise.

An inspiration for Fallout is Wasteland, a 1988 role-playing game by Wikipedia:Electronic Arts. Although the game worlds are different, the background story, inhabitants, locations and characters draw many parallels from this landmark game. It is said that the Fallout series is the Wikipedia:spiritual successor to Wasteland.

Retrofuturistic elements of the games include:

• Factors too numerous and detailed to list, in the opening sequences of One • Two • and Three, set to • the Ink Spots' "Maybe", • Satchmo's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" • and the song that Black Isle tried to get rights for to use in F1, but could not, F3's I don't want to set the world on fire (Ink Spots again) • The cars • The Vault suits • The Cola machines • The tubes and dials construction of the G.E.C.K. and other devices, • and the line drawings of the Pip-Boy character.
• RPG Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6911-RPG-Examiner~y2009m5d27-Retrofuturism-in-gaming
• You say Apocalypse, I say retro-chic
• 1950s architecture that is preserved or restored in the real-life present day, such as the Reno sign, and shown ingame.
• Pipboy or PIPboy (the first three letters an acronym for Personal Information Processor) is the brand name of the Vault Tec computer given to the player early in Fallout and Fallout 2.

It serves various roles in quest, and inventory management, as well as presenting player statistics. It is involved in battle management in Fallout 3 only, contrary to the misstatement that exists in the WP article to this day.

There is supposedly an illustration on it of a character with pointy ears, red and yellow jumpsuit, and red hair.

Each of 150 Wikipedia:SPECIAL stats, perks, special perks, traits, skills, ailment indicators, Karma, even level and other miscellaneous data display the Vault Boy in a unique illustration. Fallout Boy's image also illustrates the Vault-Tec Lab Journal player's guide sold with Fallout 2.

• Vault Boy (or Fallout Boy, or Pip Boy...o wait, definitely not Pip Boy. Never was. Not Fallout Boy, either)

Displayed on the character screen is an illustrated character which may also be referred to erroneously as 'Pipboy', with round ears, often a blue Vault jumpsuit with yellow accents, and blond hair. The character may also be called 'Fallout Boy'. The character should be and has always been called Vault Boy, according to the leader of the Vault Wikia, but of the four assembled developers and a fifth source, only one developer supports this and the rest contradict it.

• Tim Cain : p.s. Many people seem to think this is the PipBoy, but this is the FalloutBoy character. The PipBoy is the yellow and red caped character who appears on the pipboy device.
• Leonard Boyarsky : I also came up with the idea/design for the “Vault Boy” and the “cards” (as I called them) showing him doing all the different things in humorous ways. By the way, he’s not the Pip Boy, the Pip Boy is the little guy on your Pip Boy interface. The Vault Boy was supposed to evoke the feel of Monopoly cards, and the Pip Boy was based on the Bob’s Big Boy mascot.
• Chris Avellone wrote 'Pip Boy' in his Fallout Bible, but it is claimed that he was "confused" by the developers of Wikipedia:Fallout Tactics, MicroForte, confusing the two and calling the Vault Boy "Pip-Boy".
• "See that guy holding up the burger and that guy on top of the bowling alley? That's a character known as "Fallout Boy" or by people who get confused as "PIPBoy" (PIPBoy is actually the little computer the player has on his wrist in FO1 and FO2 and has no relation to "Fallout Boy").

Fallout Boy was first used in Fallout as part of the propoganda campaign feel of the manual. Fallout Boy was seen first in the manual hiding under a desk. He's also present in the Fallout opening sequence getting safely sealed in the vault, which is part of the television advertisments that you watch for the opening sequence. He wasn't a burger king or bowling alley mascot, he was essentially a piece of Government propoganda<sic> (potentially even an image owned by Vault-Tec, as he appears in the Vault-Tec manual and Vault-Tec promo movies)."-#27 Things About Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel-Duck and Cover

Either of these latter uses have the advantage of distinguishing the character from the computer.

The Vault Boy character is Vault-Tec's mascot, and is a frequently recurring element in Vault-Tec-related items in the world. This includes the Pip-Boy, where Vault Boy models all of the clothing and weaponry, and illustrates all of the character statistics and selectable attributes.

Illustrations

Links to some much-needed illustrations

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYVE_hgoNZw Video, "Retrofuturism" 40 seconds in
• http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/vault/diaries_diary4-5.14.08-pg1.php 18+
• http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/art/fallout3-conceptart1.php 18+
• http://www.awesome-robo.com/2012/02/farewell-adam-adamowicz-visual-mind.html

Citations

Scarcely worth mentioning, since I wrote almost all of this, including "lurking fear of nuclear annihilation and hope for the promises of technology", that I am quite proud of, but it does have a pinch or two of content from Wikipedia.