Heroic Programmer Rescues Fallout 1 and 2 Source Code: "I pursued a mission to capture every detail"
In a recent turn of events, Tim Cain – the brains behind the origination of Fallout – is disheartened by the unexpected disappearance of Fallout's initial development materials. When Cain departed Interplay, he was instructed to destroy his personal copies of early builds along with his notes from development conferences. Seems like Interplay has lost more than just the source code; they've also misplaced the original Fallout artwork and the clay models used to create the 3D talking heads of their non-player characters (NPCs).
Luckily, we've got a hero in town! Rebecca Heineman, Interplay's co-founder and programmer, has managed to cling onto copies of the source code for Fallout 1 and 2[1]. She revealed this tidbit to VideoGamer.
Back in 1993, Interplay published a CD compiling 10 games they'd released in the previous decade, including Battle Chess, Bard's Tale, The Lord of the Rings Vol. I, and the original Wasteland. Reinforced by her own copies of the source code, Heineman assembled the anthology – with the exception of Wasteland. When she went searching for it, she found that others were less devoted to backup obligations[1].
As Heineman explained, "I asked for the source and was met with a dumbfounded stare. I approached the COO's office, and he handed me a cardboard box bearing the signs of a truck collision. Inside, I found some of the source on floppy disks. I eventually reached out to friends at Electronic Arts to obtain a copy of the source we sent them once Wasteland was released[1].
From that moment on, Heineman began taking regular snapshots of the code for each game she developed at Interplay, as well as those she ported for MacPlay (a division of Interplay, initially)[1].
"I made it my mission to archive everything on CD-ROMs. When I left Interplay in 1995, I had copies of every game we'd created. Absolutely none excluded. When I worked on MacPlay, which existed past my tenure at Interplay, every game we ported, I archived. It included Fallout 1 and 2", Heineman recounted[1].
Heineman previously made the source code for the 3DO version of Doom available to the public on Github[4]. "I wrote the code, so I authorized myself, and id Software gave their consent. Releasing Fallout would demand Bethesda's approval. I've yet to ask them[4].
Bethesda seems to be on a goodwill spree with the Oblivion Remastered release, even acknowledging the contributions of the Skyblivion modders[6]. One can only imagine how awesome it would be if they green-lit the long-term archiving of these two groundbreaking RPGs.
*Fallout 4 cheats: Nuclear codesNew Vegas console commands: Stacked deckOblivion console commands: Crisis controlsSkyrim console commands: Tune your TamrielSkyrim Anniversary Edition*: Insider's scoop
References:[1] VideoGamer - https://www.videogamer.com/articles/fallout-1-and-2-source-code-saver-reveals-she-has-copies[2] PC Gamer - https://www.pcgamer.com/the-source-code-to-fallout-1-and-2-might-be-safe-thanks-to-interplay-co-founder/[3] Bethesda - https://www.bethesda.net/en/article/1wYyQKO3fz6VSEtPkLlLmJ/announcing-the-fallout-series-25th-anniversary-celebrations[4] Github - https://github.com/RebeccaHeineman/Doom3DO-Source[5] Eurogamer - https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-09-21-the-amazing-fallout-modding-scene-presents-fallout-1-its-25th-anniversary[6] Bethesda - https://twitter.com/Bethesda/status/1435973651164654595
- Despite the loss of the original Fallout development materials, Interplay co-founder and programmer Rebecca Heineman has managed to hang onto copies of the source code for Fallout 1 and 2.
- In 1993, Interplay published an anthology CD containing 10 games they had released in the previous decade, but the original Wasteland was not included, as others were less diligent about backups.
- After leaving Interplay in 1995, Heineman made it her mission to archive every game they had created and ported on CD-ROMs, including Fallout 1 and 2.
- Heineman previously made the source code for the 3DO version of Doom available to the public on Github, but releasing Fallout would demand Bethesda's approval.
- Bethesda, who seems to be on a goodwill spree with the Oblivion Remastered release, has acknowledged the contributions of the Skyblivion modders.
- One can only imagine how exciting it would be if Bethesda gave the go-ahead for the long-term archiving of Fallout 1 and 2, two groundbreaking RPGs in the gaming industry.
