Bethesda teased a new era of open-world possibilities when it unveiled Fallout 4 this week, announcing that the expansive quest will include town-building mechanics, among other features focused on player customization. Speaking to 12DOVE, director Todd Howard further explained how players can leave their own distinct mark on post-apocalyptic Boston with an array of build-it-yourself creative elements - including programming your own in-game jukebox.
"One of the things we [couldn't fit in the E3 stage demo was] a music player," says Howard. "You could make things that play audio tunes, then plug the terminal in, and adjust the pitch. Because we have terminals in Fallout, we can kinda get away with pseudo-scripting, without you getting in and modding [or coding]."
Citing inspiration from sandbox-style games like Minecraft and Terraria, Howard notes that players will be able to customize their homesteads using programmable in-game terminals. "You can build a terminal, and then access everything on it," Howard said. "So as the artists and the other designers make new things, they give them properties, and those properties will feed back to the terminal, and you can see those.
"It works well in the game, but we're more excited to get it out to everybody and then see what they make with it. You look at what people do with Minecraft, just with basic timers and switches and redstones - it's bonkers."
The construction elements introduced in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim's Hearthfire expansion served as a foundation for Fallout 4's customization features, and Howard notes that the added complexity brings new challenges for internal testers.
Fallout 4 premieres for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC platforms in November. For more in-depth coverage of this week's announcements, check out our E3 2015 hub for the latest updates.
