They say if you want something you have to go out and get it, but apparently when it comes to co-creating one of the most successful RPG series of all time, that's not always the case.
In a new episode in a long-running series I call Tim Cain Talking About Stuff, the veteran RPG developer yaps about his approach to career planning and how that's changed from his early days at Interplay, in which he would just let things fall into his lap as fortuitously as they did, according to Cain. As the video goes on he actively encourages young developers to plan out their careers more strategically, but having co-created the Fallout franchise and served as designer on Arcanum, it seems his passive work ethic paid off rather serendipitously.
"I fumbled my way through my career. Opportunities arose that I was just in a good position to take, but I didn't actually seek them out," says Cain. "I usually thought very short term – what am I doing on this game I'm working on now – to the point where I rarely even thought about a sequel."
Of course, there ended up being several sequels to Fallout, but Cain left the series during development of Fallout 2, a decision he explains in a genuinely insightful video from a few years back. And while Cain says he "didn't think about a sequel to Fallout while I was making it," (or Arcanum for the matter), he was originally against a sequel altogether but was assigned to it anyway despite his desire to work on something else. Poor Tim.
"I rarely thought long term, I'm talking five or 10 years in the future. That was just not in the Tim brain space," he says.
As an aspiring creative in an incredibly competitive industry, I have a friendly jealousy toward Cain for becoming one of the most noteworthy game devs of his time despite having such a nonchalant approach to the most formative years of his career. Again, he advises young developers to not take his early approach to career planning, but it sure seems to have worked out well for him.
