The Fallout franchise has explored most of the modern world through its various entries, but one location that remains largely untouched is the island of Hawaii. A currently in-development Fallout: New Vegas mod, dubbed Fallout: Ashfall, intends to correct that. The mod takes place on the tropical island and plans to introduce a variety of fresh content to the game. P
In a recent interview, several members of the Fallout: Ashfall mod team spoke with The Best War Games, including Project Lead Ashfall Dude, Level Design Lead Cellblock Psycho, Level Designer Fresh, and 3D Artist Doc Peppers. The group discussed many aspects of Ashfall, including the inspiration behind the game, the influence of Hawaiian culture on gameplay design, and how the game will fit into the Fallout: New Vegas world. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Q: Can you talk about the history of Ashfall?
Ashfall Dude: Fallout: Ashfall was initially started by Ellb6 in May 2021. Back then, Ashfall wasn’t even called Ashfall yet, and there was only a doc town and a nature reserve. By December 2021, the project was dead with next to no progress being made. I asked if I could be the next Project Lead, and after that, I was able to get the project back up and running.
Q: What inspired the development of Fallout: Ashfall?
Ashfall Dude: What initially inspired my vision for Ashfall was Fallout 2, specifically how the game was separated by hub worlds and random encounters. My initial plan for Ashfall was to attempt an adaptation of Fallout 2’s hub worlds and random encounters with my limited-level design abilities but with a focus on new locations, factions, etc. Since then, Cellblock Psycho has more or less turned Ashfall into a proper open-world game single-handedly.
Since then, my inspiration has been a mixture of previous Fallout games with other RPGs I have discovered and enjoyed, like KOTOR 2, Deus Ex, and Morrowind, games with a strong emphasis on role-playing and world-building. My goal for Ashfall is not to just make a game-sized expansion or even a DLC-sized mod for New Vegas. Ashfall is planned to be as large as Honest Hearts, both in terms of how much brand-new content is added to New Vegas along with the scale of the stories told within the mod.
Q: How did the setting of Hawaii and its environmental elements influence the overall design, gameplay, and storyline of Ashfall?
Ashfall Dude: Many of us on the team have found learning about Hawaii and its history is as fun as making the mod itself. The best thing about making a Fallout mod set on Hawaii is that it’s not only almost untouched in official Fallout lore, but the Hawaiian Islands themselves would likely be disconnected from the mainland and would not have groups like the New California Republic have any presence on any of the islands. There’s also no reason to believe that the Forced Evolutionary Virus would make its way to Hawaii, meaning Super Mutants or Deathclaw lore wouldn’t make any reappearance at all on the islands.
On Hawaii, we get to see a version of Fallout where mankind never had to deal with very extreme mutant threats like The Master, which in turn can create something of a domino effect for what the wasteland is like. We couldn’t both have a Hawaii flooded with rads and a Hawaii that still has plant life.
Cellblock Psycho: The world space itself is a rather different beast than that of Fallout: New Vegas. I've made a large number of worlds in the Fallout: New Vegas engine, and I will admit that the desert environment that the game is relegated to often becomes tiring to create. Working in a tropical paradise is definitely a new challenge, as it requires different types of trees, weather effects, and foliage in general.
Doc Peppers: Big Hawaii is a very humid place. The weather makes metal rust faster and wood rots more. I try to make sure the meshes look more moist and decayed unless they are made from hardier materials.
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Q: Can you talk about any unique challenges or considerations you had to take into account when creating content based on Hawaiian culture and history?
Ashfall Dude: Given how there is currently no one on the team who is a resident of the Big Island, part of developing Ashfall is to keep a close eye on Hawaiian culture and history to avoid giving an inaccurate portrayal in the mod. One of the things I love about the Fallout games is how often they draw from real-world history as inspiration for their settings. Hawaii’s history, depending on how you view it, is tragic.
For its history, culture, and people, we want to make sure we get things right. For example, we created a new melee weapon called the Polynesian Shark-Tooth Sword which is based on the same kind of sword once used by ancient Hawaiian warriors, which can not only be found on Nexus Mods for free, but will also appear in Ashfall as a new weapon. Used by whom? I don’t want to give that away just yet.
Doc Peppers: A lot of the objects are created with the way older Fallout games in mind, but this is also a very different setting than the older games. It’s a fun challenge to try to balance the three factors of the classic look, the climate effects, and the setting itself in a fair and believable way.
Q: Can you discuss some of the new locations players can expect to explore?
Cellblock: This tropical paradise will have a lot to offer with the various locations within it. When you're not exploring the deep jungles, the haunting ocean, or the desolate ruins, there are various different settlements with their own quirks. These include but may not be limited to Pahoa, Paradise Park, Keaau, Mountain View, Hilo, and Paukaa and Papaikou. One of the locations I've worked on bringing to life was the massive island resort on the island, known as the Robco Resort.
Like Tenpenny Tower from Fallout 3, it sits tall as a landmark to be seen all across the island. Robco Resort is the prime marketplace for the entire island, set up as the center for the island's civil economy with a vast class system of the elite living in the luxurious penthouses and the less fortunate living in the lobby, basement, or exterior of the hotel. It's certain to be a hub for many interesting characters, quests, and interactions for the player to have.
Q: Can you give us a breakdown of the different factions and settlements players can expect to encounter in Ashfall?
Ashfall Dude: One of my personal favorites is the Hell-Razors. Initially inspired by the PMRC’s Filthy Fifteen, Cellblock helped turn what were once basically wasteland rockstars into an actual raider gang that could be taken seriously. They’re in conflict with one of the mod’s main factions.
Cellblock: In terms of the story of this project, I have made significant additions to it overall by writing and designing an interesting antagonist faction for the mod. I’ve incorporated other factions into the game in a way that I would consider diegetic. This ensures having balance between the many groups, giving them reason to exist, having clear and present goals to achieve, and most importantly allowing for the player to have fun and interesting interactions with them. There are definitely some elements of Hawaii's culture that will play a part in the many factions. The meld between cultures of Hawaiian natives and tourists will definitely be a concept that will be acknowledged and be worked into some of the various tribals of the project.
Q: Can you talk about the interior locations designed for the game, and the inspiration and thought process behind those designs?
Fresh: The interiors in the mod are decorated and fit the mod well. Some of the interiors I have worked on, or are currently working on, have a lot of detail put into them, so hopefully they turn out well when the mod releases.
Q: Have you thought about any unique mechanics or gameplay features that will set Ashfall apart from other Fallout: New Vegas mods?
Ashfall Dude: Gameplay wise, we try to stick to what works. One goal I have in mind is to try and design Ashfall so that the average player’s experience with the mod can benefit with New Vegas’ Hardcore Mode enabled. I also intend on giving the different SPECIAL stats extra buffs to make character creation just a bit more impactful in the mod. For example, I plan on giving Charisma a buff, so players must first pass a Charisma check in order to have access to Speech checks. It doesn’t matter how convincing or true your character is, nobody is going to listen to them if they aren’t likable.
We’re also considering giving certain special stats an extra utility in dialogue, like having Perception used in “lore checks,” where the player character can notice things about the environment the player might have overlooked, similar to how lore checks in Pathfinder sometimes work. Finally, we are considering having Ashfall’s version of a low intelligence run have a more comedic focus, where the player’s character is more tone-deaf. It gives the writers more to work with than making the player grunt and groan like in Fallout 2.
Cellblock Psycho: I would expect this mod to be DLC sized by the time it is finished, if not a little larger. While we will be bringing in new weapons, armor, and an entirely new Fallout culture to the gamebryo engine, the gameplay from base New Vegas should remain moderately unchanged. Our draw is the difference in the environment.
Q: What is your vision for the final product?
Ashfall Dude: A Fallout: New Vegas quest mod that leans into as many of New Vegas’ strengths as possible, putting as much of an emphasis on role-playing as we possibly can. Ideally, this should be a mod that benefits from a playthrough on hardcore mode and at least gives the player a practical reason to invest in Charisma.
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Fallout: New Vegas is available now for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
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