Tim Cain

Timothy Cain is an American video game developer best

Tim Cain
known as the creator, producer, lead programmer and one of
the main designers of the 1997 computer game Fallout.[1][2] In
2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game
creators of all time.[3]

Early life
Cain went to college at the University of Virginia and to
graduate school in California. During this time, he helped out a
friend programming a card game named Grand Slam Bridge
for CYBRON Corporation which was released in 1986.[4] In
1989, he received a Master's Degree in Computer Science at
University of California, Irvine.[3]

Career Cain on the GDC Online 2010

Born Timothy Cain
Nationality American
Interplay Entertainment
Occupation(s) Programmer, designer,
In 1994 he started for a couple of months as the only employee producer
working on a game that would later become the post-
Employer Obsidian
apocalyptic CRPG game Fallout.[4] He laid out the basic
Entertainment
concept based on the GURPS system and began programming
the isometric game engine. He also took over the producer role Known for Creator of Fallout
from Thomas R. Decker who had to supervise multiple other series

projects at the time.[5] With a development cycle of three and a Spouse Robert Land (m. 2011)
half years Fallout was released in 1997. During this time he
was also a programming consultant on Stonekeep (1995) and helped out coding Star Trek: Starfleet
Academy (1997).[6]

In an interview he criticized the bigger influence from sales/marketing department during Fallout 2
development, saying, "We were losing part of the game to a larger group who had bigger plans for it."[7]
Cain corroborated further in May 2023 that he left the company bitter after he was forced to work on
Fallout 2 and did not get the bonus pay that was agreed upon after completion.[8]

Troika Games
His next game reunited him with Thomas R. Decker, the original Fallout producer. As project leader and
lead designer he produced within 20 months the Dungeons & Dragons game The Temple of Elemental Evil
for publisher Atari in 2003. While he loved making the game he was disappointed that it did not turn out
what he wanted it to be.[9]
After Bethesda secured the Fallout license from Interplay in 2004,
Cain expressed disappointment.

I was hoping that Troika would get the license, but we

were massively outbid. But in the end, they made a good
game.[10]

Cain had mixed reactions to Fallout 3, praising Bethesda's

understanding of Fallout lore as well as the adaptation of "S. P. E. Tim Cain (middle) with the two other
C. I. A. L." system into a FPS-RPG, but criticized the humor and co-founders of Troika Games: Jason
Anderson (left) and Leonard
recycling of too many story elements from the earlier Fallout
Boyarsky (right).
games.[9]

He helped out programming the last Troika game, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, a horror RPG
for Activision in 2004. He also worked on a post-apocalyptic roleplay game for which he couldn't convince
any publisher to fund. As consequence he had to lay off most employees in late 2004 and shut down Troika
Games in February 2005.[11]

Carbine Studios
He joined as the programming director at Carbine Studios working on a fantasy MMO game for NCSoft.
He was promoted to design director in October 2007.[12] Cain left Carbine Studios in July 2011.[13]

Obsidian Entertainment
In 2011, Tim Cain joined Obsidian Entertainment as senior programmer.[14] He worked on Pillars of
Eternity, which was funded through Kickstarter.[15] He was also a co-director for The Outer Worlds.[16]
Since June 2020, Cain is no longer employed by Obsidian as a full time employee, but still works for them
on the sequel to The Outer Worlds as well as for two other companies on a contract basis.[17][18]

Personal life
Cain is affected by hereditary color blindness, stating in a Gamasutra interview that he "[can now] see less
than half the spectrum of colors". He enjoys cooking, particularly Japanese and Chinese cuisine, and his
favorite dishes are garlic chicken fried rice and chicken karaage.[19] Cain came out as a gay man in the
early 2000s after concealing his sexuality throughout much of his early career.[20] He married his husband
Robert Land on July 14, 2011.[21]

Games
Year Title Role(s)

1991 The Bard's Tale Construction Set Designer, programmer

1993 Rags to Riches: The Financial Market Simulation Programmer, additional design
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Programmer
1997
Fallout Producer, designer, lead programmer
1998 Fallout 2 Designer, additional programming

2001 Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Project lead, lead programmer

2003 The Temple of Elemental Evil Project lead, lead designer

2004 Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines Programmer

South Park: The Stick of Truth Programmer

2014
WildStar Additional design, additional programming
2015 Pillars of Eternity Programmer, additional design

2016 Tyranny Programmer

2019 The Outer Worlds Director

References
1. Dransfield, Ian (October 3, 2018). "The History of Fallout". Retro Gamer (186): 21.
2. Green, Jeff (October 2005). "The Bard's Tale", Computer Gaming World (255): 76.
3. "IGN - 85. Tim Cain" (http://ign.com/top/game-creators/85.html). Games.ign.com. Retrieved
June 5, 2011.
4. "Matt Chat 66: Fallout with Tim Cain, Pt. 1" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgjd4i1o4U
Y). YouTube. June 27, 2010. Archived (https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/x
gjd4i1o4UY) from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
5. "No Mutants Allowed - Your Post Nuclear News Center!" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120
405112725/http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=7219). Nma-fallout.com. Archived
from the original (http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=7219) on April 5, 2012.
Retrieved June 5, 2011.
6. "Reboot Develop 2017 - Tim Cain, Obsidian Entertainment / Building a Better RPG: 7
Mistakes to Avoid" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEewLWDpscA&t=265). YouTube.
Archived (https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/MEewLWDpscA) from the
original on December 19, 2021.
7. "Matt Chat 67: Fallout with Tim Cain Pt. 2" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laq9ua5VjTs).
YouTube. July 4, 2010. Archived (https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/laq9u
a5VjTs) from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
 8. Cain, Timothy. "Why I Left Fallout 2" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGfaCXEu0tE).
YouTube. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
9. "Matt Chat 68: Arcanum and More with Tim Cain" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4XV
W6qcuzM). YouTube. July 11, 2010. Archived (https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/202
11219/m4XVW6qcuzM) from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
10. "Duck and Cover :: View topic - DAC Interview with Tim Cain" (http://www.duckandcover.cx/f
orums/viewtopic.php?t=23766). Duckandcover.cx. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
11. Hoffman, Erin (December 26, 2006). "The Escapist : The Rise and Fall of Troika" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20110830161011/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/i
ssue_77/440-The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Troika.4). Escapistmagazine.com. Archived from the
original (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_77/440-The-Rise-and-
Fall-of-Troika.4) on August 30, 2011. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
12. [1] (http://www.carbinestudios.com/news/ncsofts_carbine_studios_names_tim_cain_design_
director.htm)
13. Meer, Alec (October 12, 2011). "Most Able: Fallout's Tim Cain Joins Obsidian | Rock Paper
Shotgun" (https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tim-cain-obsidian). Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
14. "Fallout Creator, Troika Co-Founder Tim Cain Joins Obsidian" (http://www.gamasutra.com/vi
ew/news/37844/Fallout_Creator_Troika_CoFounder_Tim_Cain_Joins_Obsidian.php).
Gamasutra. October 12, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
15. "The People Behind Fallout And Planescape Are Making My Dream RPG" (https://kotaku.co
m/5942307/the-people-behind-fallout-and-planescape-are-making-my-dream-rpg).
Kotaku.com. September 14, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
16. Hall, Charlie (December 6, 2018). "Obsidian's new RPG, The Outer Worlds, has echoes of
Mass Effect and Fallout: New Vegas" (https://www.polygon.com/game-awards-tga/2018/12/
6/18129122/the-outer-worlds-trailer-obsidian-ps4-xbox-one-windows-pc-tga-2018). Polygon.
Retrieved April 1, 2019.
17. Frequently Asked Questions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IZwda2fCKY), retrieved
June 1, 2023
18. Semi-Retirement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdHqBi1IPOY), retrieved June 11,
2023
19. "Will Ooi's Blog - Unmasking the Gamers: Tim Cain – Industry Veteran, Programmer, and
Original Creator of Fallout" (http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WillOoi/20111026/8734/Unma
sking_the_Gamers_Tim_Cain__Industry_Veteran_Programmer_and_CoCreator_of_Fallout.
php). Gamasutra. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
20. Jackson, Claire (June 2, 2023). "Fallout Creator's Coming Out Story Hits Harder This Pride
Month" (https://kotaku.com/tim-cain-fallout-obsidian-lgbtq-pride-month-gay-history-18505019
28). Kotaku. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
21. Harper, Todd; Adams, Meghan Blythe; Taylor, Nicholas, eds. (2018). Queerness in Play.
Springer. p. 64 (https://books.google.com/books?id=awZ0DwAAQBAJ&dq=Tim+Cain+marri
age&pg=PA64). ISBN 9783319905426.

External links
Tim Cain (https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,2720/) at
MobyGames
Entry (http://www.terra-arcanum.com/troikapedia/index.php?title=Tim_Cain) at Terra
Arcanum
Tim Cain's YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@CainOnGames)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tim_Cain&oldid=1224431291"