As reported in GameSpot News last week, Fallout producer and designer, Tim Cain, parted ways with Interplay. The buzz that followed included rumors of lawsuits, ugly corporate disagreements, and mass exoduses at Interplay. While the buzz seems to have contained more bark than bite, Cain revealed enough of the story to answer some of the most pressing questions.

　　Although the celebrated designer (many have called Fallout the best RPG of this decade) had refused to talk with the press during his final days at Interplay, GameSpot managed to catch up with Cain on Tuesday and got the real story on why he left and what his plans are for the future.

　　"The short answer to why I left is that I made games very differently from how Interplay made games," explains Cain. "I thought I had proven myself with Fallout, but as we started production of Fallout 2, all of the difficulties began to show up again."

　　While Cain was quick to point out that he has no quarrel with the company and has a great deal of respect for many of Interplay's employees, he decided to seek an atmosphere that would be more conducive to his style of management. "I think I could have made Fallout 2," Cain says, "and I think it could have been really good, but I would have been miserable by the end."

　　Tim also confirmed a fact that Interplay has repeatedly refused to comment on: the simultaneous departure of Fallout's art director, Leonard Boyarsky, and the game's technical art lead, Jason Anderson, both of whom Cain says tendered their resignations the same day as Cain.

　　According to Cain, he discouraged the two from leaving but found that the artists' minds were already made up. He explained, saying, "When Leonard and Jason found out, they wanted to join in, but I said it was too much. They said, 'If you're leaving, we're leaving.'"

　　The trio is now working on a new game design and is hitting the streets of LA in search of a publisher willing to set them up as a team. "I want to make an RPG system from scratch again. I don't want a license, I just want a tabula rasa - and to have a chance to implement all of the things and ideas I couldn't put into Fallout. I know I'm asking for a lot of resources, but I'm going to companies and saying, 'If you give us two years, we will make you a hit,'" Cain said.

　　Cain further explained the team's progress by saying, "We're spending a few weeks building a game design and a few weeks building a business plan. If we find a company that wants us in-house we'll talk game design, if they want us out-of-house we'll talk business plan. Leonard's already been working on a storyline, and Jason's been looking at new points of view for an isometric environment."

　　While it's doubtful that such a skilled team will be left jobless long, Cain is very clear on the fact that there was no grand scheme behind his departure from Interplay. "A lot of people thought I left because I had a deal with another company," Cain explains. "I didn't have a deal, and I still don't have a deal." In fact, in the final days before he left Interplay, Cain says he did everything he could to make sure that Fallout 2 would proceed at its current pace. And he seems to think that the game will be a success. "I think Fallout 2 will be cool; in fact, I'm planning to buy it."

　　He provided a tease for gamers saying, "I didn't leave until the storyline, the head descriptions, and some of the graphics were complete. In fact, you could actually play the first couple of levels when I left."

　　Cain completed his comments on Fallout 2 by describing its broad appeal, saying, "If you haven't played Fallout, it'll still be a cool game. But if you have, it'll make you look back at things that happened in the first title and say, 'Ohhhh.... I get it.'"

　　In the end, Tim Cain is a far cry from the crowd of prima donna developers who have been making headlines with high-profile moves and deals.

　　He comes across more as a man of vision who's just looking for a place where he can settle down and make some RPGs. When asked about what kind of future projects he'd like to work on, Cain replied, "I would love to try my hand at an RPG that you can play with your friends." The way Cain and the rest of his team proved themselves with Fallout, it's going to be a lucky company that gives him that chance.