Tim Cain

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This article is about the game producer. For other people by the name of Tim Cain, see Tim Cain (disambiguation).
Tim Cain
Timothy-cain-gdc2010 cropped.jpg
Cain on the GDC Online 2010
Born
Timothy Cain
NationalityAmerican
OccupationProgrammer, designer, producer
EmployerObsidian Entertainment
Known forCreator of Fallout series
Spouse(s)
Robert Land
​
(m. 2011)​

Timothy Cain is an American video game developer best known as the creator, producer, lead programmer and one of the main designers of the 1997 computer game Fallout.[1][2] In 2009 he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.[3]

Biography[]

Early life[]

Cain went to college at the University of Virginia and to graduate school in California. During this time, he helped out a friend programming a card game named for which was released in 1986.[4] In 1989, he received a Master's Degree in Computer Science at University of California, Irvine.[3]

Interplay Entertainment[]

Began as a freelance programmer for Interplay where he worked on the fantasy role-play editor The Bard's Tale Construction Set.[citation needed] After finishing the game in 1991, he was employed full-time at Interplay.[citation needed] For the first time he worked with Leonard Boyarsky, who was a freelance artist at the time, as designer and programmer on the business simulator Rags to Riches: The Financial Market Simulation which was released in 1993.[citation needed]

In 1994 he started for a couple of months as the only employee working on a game which would later become the post-apocalyptic CRPG game Fallout.[4] He lay out the basic concept based on the GURPS system and began programming the isometric game engine. He also took over the producer role from who had to supervise multiple other projects at the time.[5] With a development cycle of three and a half years Fallout was released in 1997. During this time he was also a programming consultant on Stonekeep (1995) and helped out coding Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (1997).[6]

Before leaving Interplay to form his own company in January 1998, he wrote the main story arc as well as helping designing The Den area of Fallout 2.[citation needed] In an interview he criticized the bigger influence from sales/marketing department during Fallout 2 development, saying, "We were losing part of the game to a larger group who had bigger plans for it."[7]

Troika Games[]

Tim Cain (middle) with the two other co-founders of Troika Games: Jason Anderson (left) and Leonard Boyarsky (right).

After forming Troika Games with fellow Interplay workers Leonard Boyarsky and Jason D. Anderson in 1998, he worked as a project leader and lead programmer on Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura a steampunk/fantasy an RPG game for Sierra On-Line, Inc. which was released in 2001.

His next game reunited him with , the original Fallout producer. As project leader and lead designer he produced within 20 months the Dungeons & Dragons game The Temple of Elemental Evil for publisher Atari in 2003. While he loved making the game he was disappointed that it did not turn out what he wanted it to be.[8]

After Bethesda secured the Fallout license from Interplay in 2004, Cain expressed disappointment.

I was hoping that Troika would get the license, but we were massively outbid. But in the end, they made a good game.[9]

Cain had mixed reactions to Fallout 3, praising Bethesda's understanding of Fallout lore as well as the adaptation of "S. P. E. C. I. A. L." system into a FPS-RPG, but criticized the humor and recycling of too many story elements from the earlier Fallout games.[8]

He helped out programming the last Troika game, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, a horror RPG for Activision in 2004. He also worked on a post-apocalyptic roleplay game for which he couldn't convince any publisher to fund. As consequence he had to lay off most employees in late 2004 and shut down Troika Games in February 2005.[10]

Carbine Studios[]

He joined as the programming director at Carbine Studios working on a fantasy MMO game for NCSoft. He was promoted to design director in October 2007.[11] Cain left Carbine Studios in July 2011.[12]

Obsidian Entertainment[]

In 2011, Tim Cain joined Obsidian Entertainment as senior programmer.[13] He worked on Pillars of Eternity, which was funded through Kickstarter.[14] He was also a co-director for The Outer Worlds.[15]

Personal life[]

Cain is affected by hereditary color blindness, stating in a Gamasutra interview that he "[can now] see less than half the spectrum of colors". He enjoys cooking, particularly Japanese and Chinese cuisine, and his favorite dishes are garlic chicken fried rice and chicken karaage.[16] Cain married his husband Robert Land on July 14, 2011.[17]

Ludography[]

Year Title Role(s)
1991 The Bard's Tale Construction Set Designer, programmer
1993 Rags to Riches: The Financial Market Simulation Programmer, additional design
1997 Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Programmer
Fallout Producer, designer, lead programmer
1998 Fallout 2 Designer, additional programming
2001 Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Project lead, lead programmer
2003 The Temple of Elemental Evil Project lead, lead designer
2004 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Programmer
2014 South Park: The Stick of Truth Programmer
WildStar Additional design, additional programming
2015 Pillars of Eternity Programmer, additional design
2016 Tyranny Programmer
2019 The Outer Worlds Director

References[]

  1. ^ Dransfield, Ian (3 October 2018). "The History of Fallout". Retro Gamer (186): 21.
  2. ^ Green, Jeff (October 2005). "The Bard's Tale", Computer Gaming World (255): 76.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "IGN - 85. Tim Cain". Games.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Matt Chat 66: Fallout with Tim Cain, Pt. 1". YouTube. 2010-06-27. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  5. ^ "No Mutants Allowed - Your Post Nuclear News Center!". Nma-fallout.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-05. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  6. ^ "Reboot Develop 2017 - Tim Cain, Obsidian Entertainment / Building a Better RPG: 7 Mistakes to Avoid".
  7. ^ "Matt Chat 67: Fallout with Tim Cain Pt. 2". YouTube. 2010-07-04. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "Matt Chat 68: Arcanum and More with Tim Cain". YouTube. 2010-07-11. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  9. ^ "Duck and Cover :: View topic - DAC Interview with Tim Cain". Duckandcover.cx. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  10. ^ Hoffman, Erin (2006-12-26). "The Escapist : The Rise and Fall of Troika". Escapistmagazine.com. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  11. ^ [1][dead link]
  12. ^ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tim-cain-obsidian
  13. ^ "Fallout Creator, Troika Co-Founder Tim Cain Joins Obsidian". Gamasutra. 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  14. ^ "The People Behind Fallout And Planescape Are Making My Dream RPG". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  15. ^ Hall, Charlie (2018-12-06). "Obsidian's new RPG, The Outer Worlds, has echoes of Mass Effect and Fallout: New Vegas". Polygon. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  16. ^ "Will Ooi's Blog - Unmasking the Gamers: Tim Cain – Industry Veteran, Programmer, and Original Creator of Fallout". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  17. ^ Harper, Todd; Adams, Meghan Blythe; Taylor, Nicholas, eds. (2018). Queerness in Play. Springer. p. 64. ISBN 9783319905426.

External links[]

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