Tim Cain could be finest generally known as a co-creator of the unique Fallout, however a few of his most up-to-date work has include Obsidian on its The Outer Worlds sequence. Whereas he’s presently consulting on The Outer Worlds 2, Cain’s simply shared a demo of the primary sport from only a yr into its improvement, and it’s nicely price trying out.
Within the video on his YouTube channel that includes this vertical slice – which he’s proven off with permission from Obsidian itself – Cain explains that it’s a vertical slice. What’s that? Properly, principally a restricted part of the sport which has to “look and play like the ultimate sport” and is proven to the writer, which on this case was Personal Division.
As you’ll be able to watch beneath, this demo of The Outer Worlds – or because it was know throughout improvement, Challenge Indiana – is narrated by designer David Williams and exhibits a participant negotiating what would flip into an early model of the ultimate sport’s Roseway stage.
“This vertical slice was so good, that somewhat than simply throw it away, we made it a delivery map within the sport,” Cain explains, emphasising that with the ability to create one thing like this simply 54 weeks into engaged on a contemporary IP in an engine the builders weren’t conversant in is “a testomony to simply how good the crew was”. “I’ve seen teamS or heard of groups that couldn’t do that after two, three, or 4 years,” he provides.
Naturally, provided that this demo was made two years earlier than the sport ended up delivery and is simply designed to convey what the ultimate model may appear like, there are many variations between it and the completed product. For instance, a variety of the UI components merely hadn’t been designed or finalised as a result of the mechanics they have been associated to had solely simply been made and there are additionally a variety of bald NPCs, since “hair wasn’t prepared”.
“We didn’t have any companions accessible other than Ellie and Felix, so that you solely see them,” Cain outlines, “however the best way we hid that from you is that we didn’t allow you to go aboard your ship, The Unreliable, which is the one place you’ll be able to swap companions. We additionally didn’t have crafting prepared, so by not letting you go on the ship, we didn’t allow you to get to the crafting desk that’s within the ship, and we simply didn’t put any crafting tables in [that version of] the Roseway stage”
Regardless of these caveats, the slice does do a fantastic job of exhibiting off how the complete sport would deal with issues like weapons, creature and world design, in addition to dialogue with NPCs. So, it’s a cool watch for those who’re eager for some perception on what the sport improvement course of appears like.
As Fallout New Vegas director Josh Sawyer has tweeted about Cain’s video: “It is uncommon for the general public to have the ability to see the VS and evaluate it to the ultimate sport, so hopefully this offers some insights about how VSs match into the event course of.”
