Game development is an interesting process. Studios take inspiration from each other, combining ideas to create something both familiar and unique. Fallout 4 is no exception, having taken inspiration from many different games over the years. One game in particular that had an impact on Fallout 4's development is the smash-hit Minecraft. When Bethesda started talking about what they would like to include in the next Fallout game, minds started drifting to how players will end up creating countless mods once the game is released.
"For us, we had been thinking about a feature like this [crafting and settlement building] because it hearkens back to us doing mods for a long time and having a creation kit," Todd Howard, game director at Bethesda Game Studios, told iDigitalTimes. "But our games only span [a limited] audience, and the PC audience is at best a third of that, and then the people that use the creation kit to make things are a small subset of that audience."
So how do you make something that's like modding, but for everyone to enjoy? "Minecraft starts hitting at the same time [as we were working on Fallout 4]," Howard said. "So while were making it [crafting] we were not looking at Minecraft per se, but looking at how do people build crazy shit in Minecraft. Cause they'll build, like, working computers. How does that actually work?"
Seeing all of these crazy Minecraft contraptions got the team at Bethesda fired up. If people were using the limited tools in Minecraft to create huge works or technological feats, what could they end up doing in Fallout 4? "So we watch stuff like the 3D copier and ask 'how did this person do this?'" Howard said. "And then we go 'what are the things we could do to facilitate that kind of building?' And so Minecraft helped inform the actual things we were putting into the workshop, not [the decision to have] the feature."
While not as open-ended as Minecraft's crafting system, the number of options for what to make in Fallout 4 will surely be staggering. Knowing the fine people of the Internet, there are bound to be hilarious, interesting, and jaw-dropping creation videos coming as soon as Fallout 4 is released on Nov. 10.
So what do you think? Will you be spending time crafting and improving your settlements in Fallout 4? Are you going to be more focused on the missions and story? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
