Fallout was nearly cancelled and got its name from Interplay's president, not its designers

pop & funWikipedia1994–1997 · Irvine, California, USA

Fallout was nearly cancelled and got its name from Interplay's president, not its designers

the gist

Fallout began development in early 1994 at Interplay with Tim Cain as its only programmer for the first six months, built on the GURPS tabletop rules. The team grew to around 30 people by 1996 and scraped together a budget of roughly $3 million over three and a half years. The game was nearly cancelled in late 1994 when Interplay acquired Dungeons and Dragons licences, but Cain persuaded the company to let him finish. When the GURPS licence was dropped in 1997 over disputes with its creator about violence, the team swapped in their own SPECIAL system in a matter of days. The result was a post-apocalyptic role-playing game whose retro-futurist style drew on 1950s Atomic Age films and posters.

so what

Fallout became a foundational title for open-world role-playing games, and its story of a team scrambling against budget, licensing and creative constraints shows how many classic games were built under pressure. It also explains why the series looks and feels the way it does, from its vault designs to its dark humour about nuclear war.

fun fact

Ron Perlman, who voiced the narrator, recalled being paid 40 dollars and a sandwich for his performance.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Illustrative photo · Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks, Dominik Martinez, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

historyWikipediaclassic1336–1565 · Karnataka, India

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗