Classic Game Postmortem: Fallout
Why Hacker News recommends it
Held up as an exemplary GDC postmortem and a first-hand account for fans of the original Fallout.
What it is
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.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2018 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec somedude895 · 2022-03 · on “Wolfenstein 3D secrets revealed by John Romero in lengthy post-mortem chat”
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] [this video]
Recommends Cognitron · 2018-08 · on “The Making of Prince of Persia (2011) [pdf]”
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) [this video]
Recommends aresant · 2025-12 · on “Fallout 2's Chris Avellone describes his game design philosophy”
Great find and also worth a watch is the Classic Game Postmortem: Fallout video from Fallout creator Tim Cain [this video]