Q: What was your inspiration for creating this mod?
snakster: Kai!

Kai Hohiro: Not to brag or anything, but I believe I was the fountain of inspiration and ideas for this project.

snakster: Can I still take back my initial statement?

Kai Hohiro: Can I still kick you from the team?

snakster: I’ll save you the trouble, I quit! Damn, we didn’t even make it past the first question... I knew this was a bad idea... But alright, enough goofing around, here’s a proper answer:
Project Nevada indeed was Kai’s idea, he brought it up in summer 2010, so way before New Vegas was released. At first it was just a name, and learning from past experiences we had a general architecture in mind for how our future mod should should be organized.
The first actual feature we wanted to include were cybernetic implants. We didn’t want them to replace perks, instead they should enable or improve abilities we added ourselves (Bullet Time, Sprint, etc). One inspiration for those was Mass Effect 2. Everyone in the team loves that game, especially because the unique abilities allow you to experience the game in a completely different way for each class. So that’s what we were initially aiming for.
Other things like the Dynamic Cross-hair were features we had already prototyped in Fallout 3. We just waited for the right occasion to finish them up and release them.

T3T: Yeah I pretty much did what they told me, I have a complex. It was fun, all the same.

Q: What did you find most enjoyable about the creation process of this mod?
Delamer: Labor organization and human relations. Big attention to little details.

Kai Hohiro: Working in a team. To me it’s a wildly different (and more enjoyable) experience compared to modding alone. You have people with the same interests around that motivate, provide feedback and discuss ideas with you.
snakster: For me it’s the process of solving problems. In modding, every good but complex idea usually means there’s no straight forward or easy way to realize it. You have to find creative solutions, and you have to pull them off so nobody notices all the weird tricks you had to resort to. So having an idea and seeing it come to life - never gets boring.

Kai Hohiro: We’re still constantly amazed that all our “creative solutions” work as well as they do.

Q: What were some of the challenges you came across making this mod?
Kai Hohiro: Our own expectations and those of our players(or at least what we imagined them to be) were a constant specter during development. With FWE we created ourselves very big footsteps to follow in. A more reasonable team probably would have ported FWE over to FNV, considering that we had been working on FWE for more than one and a half years.
But since we lean more to the crazy side, very early on we made the decision not to port anything over and instead start with a clean slate and build everything from scratch. And of course the workload was consequently very high, but I believe in the end it paid off.
Another big factor was that our mantra is every feature should feel like a natural part of the game as much as possible. This drastically increased the time needed for every single feature and in some cases entire features had to be scrapped or approached very differently due to the high standards we aimed for with Project Nevada.

T3T: Finding creative ways for the art to work, I think. It was a challenge, one that I dare say I loved.

snakster: I guess forcing myself to do things I don’t like doing, like writing descriptions etc :*(

Q: What is your favorite and least favorite part of the Fallout New Vegas tools?
Delamer: Most favorite- FNVEdit.

Kai Hohiro: The CS/GECK have always been powerful tools that offer virtually anyone the chance to mod. Especially for building new environments it’s very powerful and easy to use.
It’s biggest drawbacks would be the overview (especially when working with multiple plug-ins) and that it’s often more time consuming to edit large amounts of data and find possible problems than in FNVEdit (a powerful community tool).

Q: What are some other common tools you used in your development?
Kai Hohiro: Just as important as the FNV tools were our collaboration tools. When you work with a group of people who are in entirely different timezones than you, it’s important that everyone is always on the same page. Aside from a permanent Skype chat room we had an internal wiki, SVN file repository, bug tracker and numerous shared Google Docs.
Other than that Notepad++, Gimp, Nifskope and Audacity are my usual tools of the trade, along with Adobe Premiere for the videos.

T3T: I used Photoshop to make each icon and art asset used. Again, would be getting nowhere fast without it. That’s just me though.

snakster: I used Photoshop for some non-demanding artwork creation, otherwise mainly the GECK and Notepad++ for scripting/XML stuff. Oh and Visual Studio for the installer.

Delamer: Opera browser. It allows me to keep open about 20 pages simultaneously, so I can control many sources with ease.

Q: Roughly what was the total time it took for you guys to put this mod together so far?
T3T: We started before Fallout: NV was even released if that’s any indication.

Delamer: First issue on our problem’s page was registered at Nov 04, 2010, and not resolved until now.

Kai Hohiro: Well I’m sorry for not saying yes to each and every one of snakster’s crackpot ideas!

snakster: From my side I’d say 2-3 month full-time. As usual, I had lots of free time after the exams from October till the end of the year, and I spent much of it on modding.

Q: Do you plan on any more new features in your mod? Specifically anything not listed on your
mods page on the Nexus?
T3T: I’ve been making more Icons for the new version of the Grenade Hotkey. So that’s getting updated, tweaked, it’s going to be good.

snakster: Yep, we have an improved Grenade Hotkey, the Equipment module is coming along quite well, too. We're also adding a completely reworked Explosive Entry feature that allows you to open locks by simply detonating explosives in their vicinity, depending on the lock and explosion force. No special menus or key presses needed.
So yes, those are just a few of the things already done, and there are even more plans. Still much work to do

Kai Hohiro: And new Cyberware Implants!


Q: Do any of you have other mods you are working on or do any of you plan to create other mods as a team? If so what might those be?
T3T: I made T3T_WeaponTweaks for Fallout 3, and T3T_MiscItemIcons for both NV and FO3

snakster: Pretty much all mods I created so made their way into Project Nevada, so other than that there’s nothing to show for from my side.
But our more recently joined team members created some cool mods on their own:
Increased Wasteland Spawns by TheCastle: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=38623
ZL Armaments by Zealotlee: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=39883
Fallout 3 Weapon Restoration by Yukichigai: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40007
Immersive HUD by Gopher: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40340

Q: Tell us a little about yourselves. Where you are from, what are some of your other hobbies outside of games?
Delamer: I’m from Russia, and no, I don’t have other hobbies, outside of games.

Kai Hohiro: Originally from Chicago, living in Germany now. Aside from a regular workout(which isn’t all that regular anymore) and other casual things (reading, going out etc), the combination of a full-time job, modding and gaming does not leave me much time to pursue other hobbies with the same dedication. But once I move to Pluto I’ll have an additional 130 hours per day to finally learn the ukulele and brush up on my Spanish.

T3T: I’m from Small Town, Iowa. I do a lot of drawing, writing, swimming, and attend college. I love making icons for Fallout 3/New Vegas, PC gaming in general, but I also own all the current generation consoles as well. Gaming is a big part of me, but not the only part.

snakster: I’m from Germany, not living too far from Kai actually, though we have no desire to ever meet. I’m a full-time student, currently going for my master’s degree in computer science. I think I used to have hobbies as well, but I can’t remember what those were.


Q: What are some of your other favorite games if Fallout New Vegas isn't the only game you play? Any other game genres besides the RPG style games that Bethesda publishes?
Delamer: Fallout 3 and Fallout NV- most favorable for now. But I like many other games too, such as System Shock 2, Thief games, Silent Storm, Baldur gates, Planescape Torment, Dragon Age, Lands of lore, Bioshock, Beyond good&evil, Mass Effects- all of them... many good games from different genres.

Kai Hohiro: Mass Effect 2(I’ve stopped counting how often I played through it), Super Street Fighter 4 and Bulletstorm have occupied most of my recent game time. As long as a game is fun, any genre goes.

T3T: I love Morrowind above most other PC Games, but other favorites are Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Deus Ex, ME1/2, and Borderlands, many more PC games I like but that’s off the top of my head.
I’m a big console gamer too, I love Rock Band 3. I regularly Gold Five Star songs on Expert when I can. I have the Rush - Moving Pictures Album DLC and it’s the best. I’ve probably downloaded hundreds of Rock Band DLC Songs ranging from the likes of Boston to Lady Gaga. I’ve imported my RB1/2 songs to RB3 as well. I’m obsessed.

snakster: Currently modding doesn’t really leave that much time for playing games (sadly, this includes Fallout New Vegas). But hey, at least I bought it!


Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring mod authors?
Kai Hohiro: Modding is simply a hobby like any other and you need to enjoy the process of modding just as much as playing the game itself. Many of us had very little experience with modding or any of the required tools prior to FO3, but if you’re passionate and patient enough you can learn it all, even with no past experience in programming, design or 3D modeling. If you feel like you’re stuck just ask someone politely for advice, the modding communities are extremely helpful.
But above all else modding needs to be fun for You, if it starts feeling like work your enthusiasm and quality of work will often suffer, so don’t force yourself. Modding is not a job, it won’t make you famous or wealthy, but it can bring you and many, many other people a lot of joy and you will make new friends along the way.
You don’t build a rainbow to find a pot of gold at the end, you build it so other people can look at and enjoy it.

T3T: Remember that internet users are still people/human beings, first and foremost. Be happy that you mod and mod for yourself first. Don’t gloat, don’t judge your success on ratings and praise alone. Be satisfied with your mod and learn to accept praise and criticism alike. Treat fellow modders and players like peers. Treat others with respect and always be fair. Be honest and make good choices when dealing with players, and fellow modders. Make your readme clear and concise.

snakster: Well, my best advice would be to start small. Many people new to modding have very high expectations, and as soon as they encounter the first problems they feel disappointed and throw the towel. Don’t get me wrong, being ambitious is fine, but it’s usually better to divide the work in smaller parts that don’t take a year to finish


Q: And finally, do you have anything you would like to say to our readers out there?
Delamer: As all of us, I want to thank all members of our community for their great support and appreciation. First days after release was especially hard to us all, and many good words from many good people filled our hearts with warm and joy. Thanks, guys!

T3T: Success is not nearly as important as what you do with success. Wherever you go, remember where you came from and who you are.

snakster: Well, I could tell how we are grateful for the support and positive feedback so far, but who am I kidding? Everybody knows we’re only in it for the money! Thanks anyway

Kai Hohiro: You guys are awesome and it’s communities like this that make gaming so special.