THE WORLD OF FALLOUT is a cluttered one. At its most basic level, the set dressing for this game consisted of filling its spaces with all the junk and detritus that would fill a ruined postwar landscape. We try to find the right level of visual density in our scenes to create interesting and aesthetically appealing environments. But the real job is using environmental storytelling to enhance the player's joy of exploration and discovery.



Fallout takes place in an alternate timeline, and although there are many objects the player will find familiar, much of it is just different enough that it needs to be designed from scratch. Sometimes a table is just a table, and certainly there are many tables that look like they're straight out of a vintage furniture catalog. But other times the table is from the future, and that's where we have some fun. We try to maintain a mix of the old, the familiar, the modern, and the futuristic, as that's what you would find in the real world.



It's fairly easy to create fantastical sci-fi designs, but we challenged ourselves to think about how industrial and product design would have evolved in this alternative universe. In general, its prewar industrial design consists of soft forms and light colors that come across as friendly and approachable. Technology was seen as helping humanity and improving lives, so the designs are imbued with optimism and a sense of playfulness.



It's not all pastels and rounded corners, though. The postwar set dressing throughout the Wasteland is rough and rickety. Improvised devices and strictures are built out of scrap metal, wood (lots of wood—no shortage of trees out there), and whatever else people can gather up. This stuff is built by people who are just figuring it out as they go along, so it all looks a little bit off and of questionable functionality.



We broke these rules a bit when it came to designing the technology of the Institute. There needed to be a clear separation here, as their hardware is far advanced over anything else out there. You can see some influence from furniture and computer designs of the 1960s and early '70s, the use of more exotic materials, and a very stark and limited color palette, almost clinical in nature. In fact, were referenced hospital equipment for inspiration. Still, this is Fallout, and there are some limitations on how advanced the tech can get; in certain ways development is quite stunted. You won't find color screens—and certainly no flat-screen technology. Blinking lights and CRTs continue to be the primary interface with technology.