HackerTube.dev

Classic Game Postmortem: Fallout

GDC Festival of Gaming · 301.3K views · 2017-05-04 · 59:03

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

Timothy Cain's 2012 GDC postmortem of the original Fallout, covering how he helped build the game and set the template for open-world RPGs. He talks through production, design and programming decisions.

On Hacker News

Held up as an exemplary GDC postmortem and a first-hand account for fans of the original Fallout.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2018–2025

Topics

Game designGame history & retro gaming
Search by tags
fallouttimothy caingdcrpg designpostmortem

What people said

somedude895 · 2022-03 · Strong recommendation

I can't wait for this to go up on Youtube. GDC post mortems are amazing, especially the ones on Diablo[0] and Fallout[1]. I've loved Fallout since I was 12 and it really got me into post-apocalypse fiction. I ended up watching and reading all the media that Tim cites in his presentation and discovered some wonderful things like On the Beach (the book by Nevil Shute AND the movie), A Canticle for Leibowitz, etc [0] [LINK] [1] [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
aresant · 2025-12 · Recommendation

Great find and also worth a watch is the Classic Game Postmortem: Fallout video from Fallout creator Tim Cain [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
Cognitron · 2018-08 · Recommendation

I like these too. Here's Jordan Mechner on Prince of Persia: [LINK] Also for Fallout fans (the first game): (EDIT: unrelated to Prince of Persia, I just like Fallout) [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by GDC Festival of Gaming, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources