Fallout: Miamiis an upcoming, long-awaited mod forFallout 4, and it’s shaping up to be a highly unique mod. Set in a post-apocalyptic Miami, the mod features new quests, characters, and settings that offer a fresh take on theFalloutfranchise. The mod has been in development since 2016, with a collected team of over 100 modders working to make it a reality.
To shed more light on the development process and what players can expect, Game Rant recently spoke with two key members of theFallout: Miamiteam: Ezra J Wayne, lead voiceover director, and Luke Benjamin Carlson, level design lead. During the interview, Wayne and Carlson shared some exciting details about theFalloutmod, their inspiration for the project, and the challenges they faced while creating it.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the background of Fallout: Miami and how the project first got started?
Wayne: The project was originally conceived by a guy called Micah999, and it was very different from the current project that we’re working on now. The initial vision of the mod was just to be like a cool world space project for the original creator and it kind of broke off and became a separate project. The original creator actually released, what is called on the Nexus, the early version. That’s his world space, and it has nothing to do with this mod.
Q: How has the project evolved since its inception in 2016?
Carlson: It kind of changed from just a world space to a full-on DLC with quests, characters, and other things you would expect from a DLC.
Wayne: As long as I’ve been on the project, which is over four years now, we have been trying to get it as close as possible to feeling like an officialFallout 4DLC. We tried to matchthe vibe ofFallout 4and catch the spirit of all the games. There have been over 100 people that have worked on it over the course of its life, and I think that’s really something special and exciting. It’s benefited from everybody who’s had their hands on it. It really gained traction when we had a clear view of what we wanted to accomplish, and it’s a view that resonated with a lot of people.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the setting of Fallout: Miami?
Carlson: It’s a big world space map, which we’ve scaled it to DLC size. You have very industrial areas up north with factories, and as you go down into the southern Flamingo region, it becomes more residential. Then you’ve got the beach on one side and a huge urban jungle in the middle. Theyfeel more like biomesin a sense than neighborhoods and urban districts. Visually, it’s really quite stunning. Miami Beach is all very urban, so we’ve adapted really unique styles to make feel more interesting.
Wayne: What really brought me into the project was all the different aesthetics and cultural aspects of Miami that have been captured by the developers. We have a lot of strong Haitian and Cuban influences, and a lot of colorful buildings and outfits. It was a little bit daunting to try and come up with an identity for Miami that feels authentic and not like a collection of pop culture references. I think we’ve been able to do that effectively and it’s work that I’m really proud of.
Q: Can you talk about the new quests and side quests in the game?
Wayne: We have main factions and minor factions, and all ofthose factions have quests. The main quest of the mod is basically split in half between Act I and Act II, which is the first set of quests. The first half is about dealing with the slavers at Sunshine Cove. Basically, you pick a faction, and by the end of Act I, you’ve chosen your faction and you take care of the slavers. Act II is the conflict and the resolution between the main factions.
Q: Do you have a favorite quest line?
Wayne: My favorite quest in the entire mod involves the youngest member of the Enclave in Miami. It is a quest about him and what he wants for his future, and it’s very important to me. I’m an Army veteran and I really feel for him and his situation.
Carlson: I, unfortunately, can’t talk about my favorite because it’s one of the penultimate quests in Act II. It’s a fun quest and it puts you in quite an interesting situation.
Q: Can you discuss the role that factions will play in Fallout: Miami and how they will interact with players?
Wayne: We have four main factions. One of them, of course, is the Enclave. The second is the Nuclear Patriots, who are ideologically the polar opposite of the Enclave and are pseudo-anarchists. They are two entities that can’t coexist in the same space and are fighting for control of the area. Caught up in the mix is the third faction, the Center, which is the largest settlement in Miami Beach. The Napoleon Room is the fourth faction. They are fighting with the current mayor of the Center for control. Whoever controls the Center will sway the conflict between the Enclave and the Nuclear Patriots. All of these factions are tied to each other, and the choices that you make affect every faction. They’re very intricately linked.
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Q: How have the various environments in Miami been designed to reflect the post-apocalyptic setting of Fallout?
Carlson: Well, one thing I believe we can mention is, Miami wasn’t hit by any nukes. That’s been quite interesting to do. There were nukes in mainland Florida, but nothing hit Miami. So it’s more the product of the aftermath of nuclear fallout more than the direct impact. Decay, abandonment, and tidal flooding hit Miami shortly after the bombs fell. So, you won’t see these bombed-out streets, deserts of nothingness, or a glowing sea as you did inFallout 3. I mean, it’s stillFallout, but it’s a very different kind of aesthetic for an apocalypse that I don’t think we’ve seen.
Q: How have you approached balancing gameplay and story in Fallout: Miami?
Wayne: We are fortunate to have such a hands-on group of lead developers that provide oversight for that kind of thing. We have technical people, we have creative people, and we work together to make sure that encounters and quests are balanced—that there’s enough action and story distributed throughout all the quests. We have usually like at least three people looking at any given quest, making sure that it makes sense, it’s balanced, it’s interesting, it’s long enough, it’s not too long—all that.
Q: Can you tell us about the process of designing and implementing new weapons and armor for the game?
Wayne: We have some amazing concept artists who worked on weapons, armor, clothing, and characters. The faction leaders and the companions all have official art that was created by these artists. And then, of course, our 3D team has been working really hard to bring those concepts to life. We have some really incredible artists that have worked on this project.
Carlson: Yeah, and they have designed agood variety of weapons and armorthat comes with a lot of custom assets.
Q: How has the team approached the task of creating believable characters?
Wayne: Creatingcharacters that are dimensional, believable, and relatable has always been a priority for us. I think that’s a value that’s shared. We all want to make something that is engaging to people. On the other hand, we also have some characters who have problems that are absolutely ridiculous, and that’s fun too. We don’t want to be so realistic that it’s depressing, but we also want to have enough levity that it’s a fun time for everybody. You have to strike that balance.
Carlson: A big thing is adding moments of humanity. If you give characters a moment where they can be a little bit human, you want to engage with them more.
Q: What role has the modding community played in the development of Fallout: Miami?
Wayne: The modding community is the development team forFallout: Miami. We have devs on a couple of sister projects—likeThe Capital Wasteland Project,Fallout 4,New Vegas,Fallout: Cascadia—who share assets to provide moral support. We are all in it together, and even if we’re not working on the same mod, we’re all going through the same things and facing a lot of the same issues. Being able to figuratively look across the street at them when we have a problem is just such a boon. The community is everything. That’s why we’re here.
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Q: How has the modding community continued to support and grow in the years since Fallout 4 and Fallout 76?
Wayne:Bethesda games have a famously strong modding communityand have been very supportive of mod creators. I wish that every developer was like that. I think it’s just been a perfect storm of the developer fostering enough resources to make creating mods accessible, and also a huge community of people who love the mod and love the games enough to create content for it that takes years to do.
Carlson: Mods have done a lot for the longevity of games. There’s always more interesting content to add. I think mods give these games longevity because, as hardware improves, mods allow for stability. you may go back and play Morrowind and Elder Scrolls Arena still, even though it’s been years, because the mods that exist allow you to.
Q: Can you share some of the most challenging aspects of developing Fallout: Miami?
Wayne: For me, the most challenging aspect of developing this mod is that I don’t have as much time to devote to it as I wish I did. There is so much writing work to be done on this project, and we have some very good writers, but there aren’t that many of us. Writing does sometimes become a bottleneck, and it’s my responsibility to minimize that bottlenecking. Recently I finished a quest that I wrote entirely by myself. When it was done, I felt like I just climbed Mount Everest. It was emotionally taxing, but you have to really recognize your own victories.
Carlson: It can sometimes feel a bit like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill. Especially when some departments you see more work done than others. In level design, you’re always seeing something built, but writing doesn’t always feel like you’ve done a lot. It’s still valuable work, and even the smallest, most arduous tasks are vital to the development of the mod.
Q: How do you see the future of Fallout: Miami and the Fallout franchise more broadly evolving in the years to come?
Carlson: I hope we finish. That’s what I want.
Wayne: We will finish it. It’s just a matter of putting in enough time and work. I feel strongly confident it will get released. It’s just a matter of when. We hear a lot of negativity. We see the comments on our YouTube videos on the updates and in the community server, and that’s discouraging because so much progress is being made all the time.
Q: Is there a release date set for the game, or any new teasers on the horizon?
Wayne: We have a bunch of teasers and content relevant to theFallout: Miamimod planned. We do have more many misadventures planned. And I believe it’s four or five more. At any rate, there will be, there will be more.
We have internal timelines and soft deadlines, but we will be setting a release date when we are sure, and we are definitely not sure yet. We have hopes. We have dreams. We have realistic expectations.
