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'''''Van Buren''''' was the codename used for a cancelled [[role-playing video game]] developed by [[Black Isle Studios]]. It was intended to be the third game in the mainline ''[[Fallout (franchise)|Fallout]]'' series. Set in the year 2253, the plot of ''Van Buren'' revolved around a prisoner who would explore the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]] while being chased by robotic prison guards. The main antagonist was a [[mad scientist]] named Victor Presper, who planned on using the prisoner as an inadvertent [[Disease vector|vector]] to spread a deadly virus. The gameplay of ''Van Buren'' would have included a mixture of [[Real-time tactics|real-time]] and [[Turn-based tactics|turn-based]] combat. The player would explore the map with a team of [[non-playable character]] (NPC) companions. Each NPC would make their own independent decisions which would affect the story.
'''''Van Buren''''' was the codename used for a cancelled [[role-playing video game]] developed by [[Black Isle Studios]]. It was intended to be the third game in the mainline ''[[Fallout (franchise)|Fallout]]'' series. Set in the year 2253, the plot of ''Van Buren'' revolved around a prisoner who would explore the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]] while being chased by robotic prison guards. The main antagonist was a [[mad scientist]] named Victor Presper, who planned on using the prisoner as an inadvertent [[Disease vector|vector]] to spread a deadly virus. The gameplay of ''Van Buren'' would have included a mixture of [[Real-time tactics|real-time]] and [[Turn-based tactics|turn-based]] combat. The player would explore the map with a team of [[non-playable character]] (NPC) companions. Each NPC would make their own independent decisions which would affect the story.


Plans for a third ''Fallout'' game date back to 1998. Black Isle wanted to make a ''Fallout'' game with 3D graphics, but the project was cancelled, and the team moved onto ''[[Icewind Dale]]''. ''Van Buren'' was Black Isle's second attempt at making a third ''Fallout'' game, but its development was hampered by the financial struggles of publisher [[Interplay Entertainment]]. When the Black Isle game ''[[Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound]]'' was cancelled, key staff members like [[Chris Avellone]] and [[Feargus Urquhart]] resigned. [[Josh Sawyer]] replaced Avellone as the lead designer on ''Van Buren'', but he too resigned due to mismanagement from Interplay. In December 2003, ''Van Buren'' was cancelled in favor of ''[[Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel]]''. Some of the story elements from ''Van Buren'' were later used in the 2010 game ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]''. Fans have attempted to recreate and finish ''Van Buren'' using a leaked playable demo and a 700-page design document.
Plans for a third ''Fallout'' game date back to 1998. Black Isle wanted to make a ''Fallout'' game with 3D graphics, but the project was cancelled, and the team moved onto ''[[Icewind Dale]]''. ''Van Buren'' was Black Isle's second attempt at making a third ''Fallout'' game, but its development was hampered by the financial struggles of publisher [[Interplay Entertainment]]. When the Black Isle game ''[[Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound]]'' was cancelled, key staff members like [[Chris Avellone]] and [[Feargus Urquhart]] resigned. [[Josh Sawyer]] replaced Avellone as the lead designer on ''Van Buren'', but he too resigned due to mismanagement from Interplay. In December 2003, ''Van Buren'' was cancelled in favor of ''[[Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel]]''. Some of the story elements from ''Van Buren'' were later used in the 2010 game ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]''. Fans have attempted to recreate and finish ''Van Buren'' using a leaked playable demo and 700-page design document.


==Premise==
==Premise==

Revision as of 21:58, 6 May 2024

Van Buren
Developer(s)Black Isle Studios
Publisher(s)Interplay Entertainment
Designer(s)Chris Avellone
Josh Sawyer
SeriesFallout
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseCanceled
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Van Buren was the codename used for a cancelled role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios. It was intended to be the third game in the mainline Fallout series. Set in the year 2253, the plot of Van Buren revolved around a prisoner who would explore the American Southwest while being chased by robotic prison guards. The main antagonist was a mad scientist named Victor Presper, who planned on using the prisoner as an inadvertent vector to spread a deadly virus. The gameplay of Van Buren would have included a mixture of real-time and turn-based combat. The player would explore the map with a team of non-playable character (NPC) companions. Each NPC would make their own independent decisions which would affect the story.

Plans for a third Fallout game date back to 1998. Black Isle wanted to make a Fallout game with 3D graphics, but the project was cancelled, and the team moved onto Icewind Dale. Van Buren was Black Isle's second attempt at making a third Fallout game, but its development was hampered by the financial struggles of publisher Interplay Entertainment. When the Black Isle game Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound was cancelled, key staff members like Chris Avellone and Feargus Urquhart resigned. Josh Sawyer replaced Avellone as the lead designer on Van Buren, but he too resigned due to mismanagement from Interplay. In December 2003, Van Buren was cancelled in favor of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. Some of the story elements from Van Buren were later used in the 2010 game Fallout: New Vegas. Fans have attempted to recreate and finish Van Buren using a leaked playable demo and 700-page design document.

Premise

Van Buren would have used isometric graphics

Set in the year 2253, the plot of Van Buren revolved around a prisoner, who the player could decide was either guilty or was wrongfully accused of their crime.[1][2] At the beginning of the game, the prisoner would escape, and explore the American Southwest while being chased by robotic prison guards.[2] The map consisted of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, and the player could visit locations like Denver and the Grand Canyon.[2][3]

During the game, the player would learn that the prisoner carries a virus that either kills its host or makes them sterile.[4] The player would also learn that in order to get the prison guards to stop following them, they would need to capture other escaped prisoners.[4] The climax of the game would reveal that a mad scientist named Victor Presper tricked the player into capturing prisoners so that they could spread the virus as a vector.[1][4] Presper would then enact a nuclear holocaust on the infected population.[4] There were several endings, which were determined by the player's actions throughout the story.[1] One of the endings involved using Presper's nuclear satellite to destroy part of the world.[1] In addition to Presper, there were multiple subplots related to different factions, such as a war between the Brotherhood of Steel and the New California Republic, as well as roaming tribes like Caesar's Legion and the Daughters of Hecate.[1]

The gameplay of Van Buren would have included a mixture of real-time and turn-based combat.[5] The player would explore the map with a team of non-playable character (NPC) companions.[6] Each NPC would make their own independent decisions which would affect the story.[7] Throughout the game, the player would encounter another malevolent team of AI controlled NPCs.[4] This group was also making decisions that would affect the story.[4] Designer Chris Avellone explained that the gameplay modeled after tabletop role-playing games.[6] Other notable mechanics included the usage of a theme song for any skill of the player's choosing, and the need to repair railway lines in order to fast travel.[6][8]

Development

After the release of Fallout 2 in 1998, Black Isle Studios decided the next Fallout game should feature 3D graphics.[9] Development on what was intended to be the third game in the Fallout series coincided with the development of Planescape: Torment.[9] Black Isle worked with the game engine NDL, but due to their inexperience with the engine, development was slow.[9] Black Isle's publisher Interplay Entertainment cancelled the project, and moved the team over to the development of what would become Icewind Dale.[9]

At the time, Interplay had undergone a period financial hardship, an issue that would persist for several years.[10] Journalist Kat Bailey credits Interplay's financial struggles to the increased cost for game development, and the industry shift toward console gaming in the late 1990s.[10] As a result, layoffs and project cancellations became commonplace for Interplay affiliated studios.[10] In 2003, Interplay lost the license to publish Dungeons & Dragons games on computers, but retained the rights to publish games on console.[4][10] This occurred while Black Isle was developing the Dungeons & Dragons inspired game Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, and the project was canceled.[10] Key staff members like Avellone and Feargus Urquhart resigned shortly after.[10] When asked about this period, Avellone remarked, "[Interplay founder] Brian Fargo was gone by that point, and the vision for the company went along with him. And while we knew [Interplay] needed to turn a profit, we were starting to feel it in the trenches."[3] After the cancellation of Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, Interplay instructed Black Isle to retool the game engine and focus on making a new Fallout game, codenamed Van Buren.[11]

Josh Sawyer took over as lead designer for Van Buren, while Tom French served as the producer.[10][12] Sawyer notes that he condensed the story Avellone had already written so that it would work on a smaller scale.[12] During development, Sawyer made multiple attempts to get Interplay to evaluate the work that had been done, but he never received a response.[10] According to Sawyer, "It basically made me think, 'They have either no interest or no care for what we're doing'."[10] When Interplay moved one of the remaining character artists for Van Buren onto a different project, Sawyer resigned.[10] In December 2003, Van Buren was cancelled.[10] Interplay's parent company Titus Interactive wanted to focus on console releases, and Van Buren was cancelled in favor of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.[8] Sawyer estimates that Van Buren had been in development for half a year before its cancellation.[13]

Later developments

In 2007, Bethesda Softworks purchased the Fallout intellectual property.[8] The following year they released Fallout 3.[8] Fallout 3 was well received by critics, and sold more than 5 million copies in 2008.[8][14] Although the plot of Fallout 3 was completely unrelated to Van Buren, some story elements from the cancelled game were used in Fallout: New Vegas, such as the American Southwest setting and Caesar's Legion.[1][2] Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a company Avellone and Urquhart helped found after they left Black Isle.[10] In 2014, the company Roxy Friday LLC registered a trademark for the names "Meantime" and "Van Buren."[15] Meantime was the cancelled follow-up to Wasteland.[15] Some journalists noted that Roxy Friday LLC was linked to Brian Fargo's company inXile Entertainment, and since Fargo directed Wasteland, he might try to resurrect the Meantime and Van Buren projects.[15][16] Fargo later told Eurogamer that he would like to work with Avellone on a game akin to Van Buren when the two had availability.[17]

One month after Bethesda purchased the Fallout intellectual property, a playable demo for Van Buren was leaked online, along with a 700-page design document.[8][18] The demo showcased what would have been the tutorial, a self-contained storyline about a town that is attacked by Chinese-affiliated communist insurgents.[1] There have been multiple attempts by fans to recreate and finish Van Buren using the playable demo as reference, including mods for Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, as well as a full game developed in the Unity game engine.[2][18] Jody MacGregor of PC Gamer notes that Van Buren holds a "mythic quality among Fallout fans" due to the wealth of information about the game.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Miszczyk, Maciej (November 6, 2016). "Fallout 3: Van Buren". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f MacGregor, Jody (May 30, 2021). "The cancelled Fallout Van Buren is being remade as a New Vegas mod". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Dransfield, Ian (2018). "The History of Fallout". Retro Gamer. No. 186. pp. 26–27. ISSN 1742-3155.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Klepek, Patrick (November 24, 2015). "That Time Someone Else Was Making Fallout 3". Kotaku. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  5. ^ Bailey, Kat (December 31, 2020). "The Making of Fallout: New Vegas: How Obsidian's Underrated Sequel Became a Beloved Classic". VG247. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Frank, Allegra (November 16, 2015). "The aborted Fallout 3 had pen and paper origins, sounded amazing". Polygon. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  7. ^ Hillier, Brenna (November 17, 2015). "Fallout 3: Van Buren companions would have changed the game world". VG247. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e f McLaughlin, Rus; Kaiser, Rowan (April 26, 2024). "IGN Presents the History of Fallout". IGN. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d Osborn, Alex (January 27, 2017). "Obsidian CEO Reveals Fallout 3 That Was Never Released — IGN Unfiltered". IGN. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bailey, Kat (November 24, 2017). "The Last Days of Black Isle Studios". VG247. Archived from the original on April 21, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  11. ^ Lafleuriel, Erwan (2018). Fallout. A Tale of Mutation (E-book). Third Éditions. p. Chapter 2 (Search phrase "They told us to retool the engine and create Fallout 3"). ISBN 978-2-37784-032-8.
  12. ^ a b Ooi, Will (September 25, 2011). "An Interview with JE Sawyer - game developer, biker, and cat lover". Game Developer. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  13. ^ Kelly, Kevin (May 5, 2010). "Interview: Josh Sawyer on Fallout: New Vegas". Engadget. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  14. ^ Cobbett, Richard (June 5, 2015). "A brief history of Fallout". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on March 22, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  15. ^ a b c Chalk, Andy (December 8, 2014). "Van Buren and Meantime trademarks filed by inXile". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  16. ^ Benson, Julian (December 10, 2014). "InXile trademark Van Buren and Meantime. The most famous RPGs never made". PCGamesN. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  17. ^ Purchese, Robert (June 9, 2015). "inXile saving Van Buren trademark for a rainy day". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  18. ^ a b Litchfield, Ted (November 23, 2021). "Canceled Fallout RPG from 2003 is being resurrected". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
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