Today marks the 25th anniversary of releasing the first game in the Fallout series. In honor of this milestone, a number of the series’ developers have been reflecting on some of the series’ most memorable entries and providing behind-the-scenes glimpses of their work.
For instance, a few of the game’s developers have divulged some information regarding the game’s setting, Washington, District of Columbia, and more specifically concerning the absence of the White House in the game, even though pretty much every other landmark is still there.
As it goes out, the Bethesda developers chose to place a crater in the place where the White House was supposed to be because they didn’t have room on the timeline to install it once they finished arranging the rest of the city’s landmarks. According to a new video posted to the official Bethesda Softworks YouTube channel (thanks, GamesRadar), senior artist Istvan Pely explains that the White House in Fallout 3 was blown to bits because the team ran out of time. To create it.
While going to DC, we realized that we had not yet completed the White House, and according to Pely, there was not enough place on the timeline to tackle the White House. We had visited many of the city’s other sites and the ruins of those landmarks that were dispersed across the city, but this was a rather important one. We were getting close to being out of time…
They would have started by destroying the White House, so let’s eliminate it. It is not possible in this location. So for us, it was more of an “Indiana Jones firing the gun at the whip” kind of scenario, but it was successful, and I think that gave people a good laugh.
