Meet the Fallout 3 devs - Jeff Gardiner Jeff " jg93 " Gardiner What ' s your job at Bethesda ? I ’ m a producer here at Bethesda Game Studios . I help over see the design department with direction , scheduling , and systems design . What prior projects have you worked on ? I ’ ve worked on titles published by Midway & Activision including Marvel properties as a designer , lead design and design director . I helped here with Oblivion , and was lead producer on Shivering Isles , Knights of the Nine and all the downloadable content , including everyone ’ s favorite Horse Armor wink . gif What have you drawn on for inspiration in developing Fallout 3 ? Books , movies , music , etc would be fine , if you don ' t want to name any games . I draw inspiration for my games from many , seemingly at - odds sources . I ’ ve found that inspiration comes from the strangest of places , and often the best inspiration comes from mediums and genres that totally don ’ t fit within the typical cannon of inspiration for what you ’ re working on . How is the work - environment ? Is it competitive or co - op ? Do the different teams talk together ? The work environment here is fantastic . Electric , focused and never dull . What is your favorite type of game to play ( RTS , FPS , RPG etc ) ? I ’ m first and foremost an RPG fan , though I play everything . I was born and bred on Dungeons and Dragons ( first edition ) and I ’ ve never really grown out of it . For me a game doesn ’ t last long without a good narrative , whatever label you try to pin on it . How long have you been playing Fallout , and how would you describe your feelings towards the franchise ? I ’ ve played Fallout on and off for years . I have to admit missing them the first time around as I was in college at the time , didn ’ t have my own PC , and was more interested in … Well … other things then playing games . I quickly got back to my roots though and you ’ d be hard pressed to name an RPG I haven ’ t played . Considering that much of the game will probably be in a wild wasteland , do any of you spend much time hiking , camping , etc , and if so where ? I actually hike quite a bit outside of DC . I ’ m planning a trip up to Pennsylvania this summer to do some mountain hiking as well . What ' s the last game you bought ? Did you like it ? My most recent purchase was Catan on Xbox360 Live . And I love it . This year I ’ ve also played LotRO , C & C3 , Warhammer Mark of Chaos , Gothic 3 , Crackdown , Call of Duty 3 , Burning Crusade , and Echoes of Faydwer . I play too many games . What games are you looking forward to on the horizon ? Conan , Bioshock , Forza , NWN2 : Mask of the Betrayer and Mass Effect . Other than videogames , what are your interests ? ( Board games , reading , music , etc ) Mountain Biking , Wargaming ( Warhammer and Hordes ) , Aquariums , my kids . I also read a fair bit of Fantasy , Narrative History & books on Western and Eastern Mysticism . Have you played the VanBuren Alpha ? If so , what were your feelings on it ? I haven ’ t yet but I ’ m sure I will soon . I have a ton of respect for all the Black Isle ex - employees , and their new team at Obsidian . I ’ ve had the pleasure of working with a few of their employees as well as several ex - Trokia devs . Have you read George R R Martin " Songs of Ice and Fire " maybe ? Many of us are big fans of Martin , myself included . I just finished " Children of Hurin " last night - far different tone but an excellent read . Which matters more to you , a game that sells a lot and makes a lot of money or a game that ' s great and will be loved , maybe even worshipped by its fans ? I didn ' t realize these were mutually exclusive . What kind of education do you devs have and has it in anyway helped you as a game developer ? BA in English Creative Writing Arts ( Focus Fiction / Drama ) ; Masters of Information Technology . They ' ve helped immensly . Favourite quotes ? " . . . belief is the death of intelligence . As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort , or assumes certitude , one stops thinking about that aspect of existence . The more certitude one assumes , the less there is left to think about … ” - Robert Anton Wilson , Cosmic Trigger " Pain or damage don ’ t end the world , or despair or [ censored ] ’ beatin ’ s . The world ends when you ’ re dead . Until then , you got more punishment in store . Stand it like a man — and give some back . " Al Swearingen , Deadwood " In the crux of reality there exists two lies ; one before the shadow and one behind the eye . " Frater I . V . What wallpaper do you have ? William Blake ' s Ancient of Days Source . Meet the Fallout 3 devs - Jeff Gardiner @ No Mutants Allowed