Joel Burgess, currently at Ubisoft, previously worked on Fallout 4 at Bethesda, and this week shared a very elaborate Easter egg (or, to be more accurate, series of Easter eggs hidden within each other) that he snuck into the game based on System Shock, Gone Home’s Steve Gaynor and Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher.
So part 1 is the most obvious. I set up a simple door puzzle, and built/scripted a little four-digit input toy. The code is hidden in the room nearby, but immersive sim fans won’t need it. 0451 is a nod to System Shock that also appears in Thief, Deus Ex, Dishonored… pic.twitter.com/niPM22FsC8
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) July 18, 2019
Part 3 is the one I don’t think many people got. The body staging here is a reference to the classic @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN game, SNATCHER. I put a similar reference in Fallout 3 (with a few extra clues which made it more obvious) https://t.co/JXOc6kvJED pic.twitter.com/IF12D5PCcp
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) July 18, 2019
That’s pretty cool, sure, but what’s more interesting is Burgess’ follow-up tweets, in which he gives his thoughts on implementing Easter Eggs in video games as a senior developer, and examples of rules regarding their use which he’s employed on other releases.
It’s a really good read, as it explains considerations made towards stuff like tone and setting.
See, I actually hate most easter eggs I find. Especially 4th-wall breaking pop culture references. I won’t give specific examples (rude), but putting an overt, incongruous reference to, say, a meme or pop song usually makes me roll my eyes at your game.
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) July 18, 2019
Of course the references in that easter egg I just posted exist outside the Fallout canon – so how do I reconcile that? Obviously this is all subjective, but the rule for me is based on people who don’t get the reference.
(oh, thread here: https://t.co/c0qw7JWnu7)
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) July 18, 2019
If a person who never played Dark Souls came across that setup, the bonfire would feel like normal, interesting set dressing. The significance of a checkpoint bonfire would be lost, but that’s fine. The Sun Bro, however, would make no sense w/o context. Big WTF?! moment.
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) July 18, 2019
Again – this is all subjective, and what’s off-tone for one game might work great in the next. Devs love making easter eggs, and players love finding them, so policing them feels like a bummer.
But I think you can have your cake and eat it too.
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) July 18, 2019
If you know the source material, the name of the family, the address, the dead dog, the poem the robot reads… all big nods to Bradbury. The house itself basically mirrors Bradbury’s story. It’s a glaringly obvious homage if you get the reference.https://t.co/RBeo3XUud3
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) July 18, 2019
So I got my cake (a nerdy-ass deep cut reference to one of my favorite stories) and players got to eat it, too (a quirky, apocalyptic mini-story tucked into their quirky, apocalyptic video game)
Everybody wins! Nobody got excluded!
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) July 18, 2019
I know he says it’s subjective, but I think that’s a pretty good rule!
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