Fallout: New Vegas Old World Blues DLC Developer Diary and Concept Art

To celebrate the (North American) release of the third Fallout: New Vegas DLC, Old World Blues, Bethesda has released two pieces of concept art (mirrored in our gallery) and a short developer diary written by Chris Avellone that talks about the add-on’s development.

Old World Blues is built around the history of Fallout games we’ve worked on. It’s history-that’s-created-history, with a dash of what might have been from past games, media, and design documents from Fallout 1, 2, and past Fallout projects given new life. From Lobotomites, DNA splicing, Cazadores, Night Stalkers, where-the-hell-did-those-plants-in-the-Mojave-come-from, the scientific enclave of Big MT itself, Proton weapons, and giant robotic scorpions, all of these things formed the nucleus of taking a trip into the past-is-present Fallout universe to see a slice of the Old World that’s been fenced in and feeding on itself for far too long. We wanted you to see the context and homages to the Fallout universe in a scientific preserve, both from the distant Fallout past to more recent adventures in New Vegas and the DLCs. As you’ll discover, Big MT (or the Big (Empty)) is filled with what-might-have-been. and all that was lost that potentially could have made a better world for all. There’s an undercurrent of the blues all around Big MT. but if you’re strong enough, you can change it, and the whole meaning of Old World Blues forever.

Designing Old World Blues was an adventure in itself. It involved taking a trip down memory lane, both in terms of past games and also in terms of 1950s sci-fi cinema to get the exaggerated (Science!) feel, where a great many inventions were atomic and anything nuclear promised amazing things for the future. Usually with an exclamation mark. Over the course of Old World Blues, we watched and paid respect to some of the 50s science fiction films from Brain from the Planet Arous, Things to Come!, Forbidden Planet, When Worlds Collide, the Deadly Mantis, Tarantula, the Mole People (although we pushed some of that out for the next DLC), the Monolith Monsters, and more. There’s also a little Wizard of Oz thrown in for good measure. although it’s in the Fallout context.