Obsidian's Lawlor: Original Fallout 1, 2 Tracks In New Vegas As 'Homage'

Author: by Staff

In Gamasutra's latest feature, Obsidian Entertainment audio director Scott Lawlor discusses the soundtrack New Vegas, and how elements of the previous games' scores merged with a new direction in the series' sound tech and audio aesthetic. Writes Lawlor, "Atmosphere is the key ingredient in the Fallout: New Vegas soundscape. From the long-decayed, echoing gunshots to the dense, layered ambiences, these are the sounds that pull the player further into the post-apocalyptic world of the Mojave Wasteland." As Obsidian Entertainment has many Black Isle alumni who worked on the original games, it's only fitting that the title -- which is built upon the foundation laid by Bethesda in Fallout 3 as well -- blends old and new. "The Fallout series has a rich history of amazing music. I had been listening to Mark Morgan's soundtracks from the first two Fallout games quite a bit while working on the project and I decided that some of the tracks would fit perfectly into the world of New Vegas. After all, the series shares a lot of factions, characters and themes from the first two games," writes Lawlor. "I contacted Bethesda and Mark Morgan about including a selection of remastered Fallout 1 and 2 pieces in New Vegas, and all parties were fully on board. I also felt that some of the Fallout 3 tracks should make a return to help forge a synergy between all of the games in the series." "The music from the previous games acts as an homage to the lineage of the series... However, the vast majority of the music in the game was composed for New Vegas and it takes the series in a new direction," he writes. The full feature, which goes into greater detail about the process used to concieve the soundtrack and execute it with the help of composers Inon Zur and Mark Morgan, as well as the technical tricks used by the developers to make it dynamic, is live now on Gamasutra.