The latest issue of Edge magazine includes an article on the making of Bethesda's Fallout games, in which some of the studio's key creatives discuss how they brought Black Isle's classic isometric RPGs into 3D. The series was "a big pivot" for Bethesda, best known for the high fantasy of The Elder Scrolls, says lead artist Istvan Pely, who was responsible for much of the game's look: "It started with the box art."
One crucial element of that look was the presence of firearms, from pistols to energy blasters, which in Fallout 3 have a kind of chunky and utilitarian feel to them. "The Fallout guns are very exaggerated, they're almost like caricatures of guns in some qualities," says Pely. "Usually, we try to stick with vintage pre-war realistic guns. But then there's a whole class of the more futuristic stuff, like the energy weapons."
