The Outer Worlds Launch Party Video

tim-cain the-outer-worlds obsidian game-development behind-the-scenes launch-party

Abstract

Problem: What did the internal development journey of The Outer Worlds look like from concept to launch, and how did the team celebrate its completion?

Approach: Tim Cain shares a behind-the-scenes video he created and narrated for The Outer Worlds launch party on October 25, 2019, compiling screenshots, development footage, and bloopers collected throughout production.

Findings: The game went from initial concept to vertical slice in just 10 months, with combat, stealth, dialogue, and art style all coming together remarkably fast. The development process was also full of hilarious bugs — face distortions, torso glitches, pathing disasters, and physics-defying deaths.

Key insight: The Outer Worlds was born from a simple pitch — "Can you mix Fallout and Firefly?" — and Tim Cain's launch party video captures both the impressive speed of development and the entertaining chaos of game production bugs.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkl_hjWeYhg

Origin of The Outer Worlds

Tim Cain reveals that The Outer Worlds originated from a straightforward question posed by the Obsidian founders almost four years before launch: "Can you mix Fallout and Firefly into a new game?" He and Leonard Boyarsky discussed the concept for a few months, and that's how the project was born.

The Launch Party

The Outer Worlds launched on October 25, 2019, and Obsidian held a big launch party. Most of the development team attended, along with representatives from publisher Private Division and Take-Two. The party featured themed food and decorations, including truffle mac and cheese with caramelized maple bacon bits — which Tim notes he's "actually salivating" just thinking about.

Tim was expected to give a speech as co-game director. After he and Leonard each said a few words, Tim showed a video he'd put together documenting the game's development. He credits producer Ryan Rosinski and audio producer Tony Blackwell with doing "all the heavy lifting" on the video — Tim just narrated over the top. He later got permission from Obsidian (thanks to Mikey Dowling) to share it publicly on his YouTube channel.

Development Timeline

Two Months In

The team put together very early designs with test rooms. Tim asks the audience: "Do you remember when crouch holes were supposed to be a thing?" Combat was working early, including reactions, death animations, and called shots. NPCs were already moving around and taking cover.

Six Months In

A playable prototype demonstrated the three main ways of playing the game: combat, stealth, and dialogue. Key systems were already functional — cover grass, stealth awareness states (inside and outside, with doors, line of sight, and sound). Tim mentions "Nigel," an NPC who guarded a door in the prototype facility, noting that "most of you killed him."

The team also had a circular called-shot device at this stage (later changed), where players could select specific combat effects.

The art style was determined by this point and was "beautiful." The team put together a "beautiful corner" — a polished art showcase — and showed it to Private Division, who loved it. Many of these early art pieces made it into the final game, including the water purifier from Stellar Bay, the ship designs with their distinctive engine flares, and the Art Deco look of Byzantium.

Ten Months In

The vertical slice was complete, using Roseway as the showcase level. The layout was already very similar to the final game. The vertical slice demonstrated four main play styles: fighting, dialogue, stealth, and leadership. Both Roseway's general layout and the covert lab were in place.

One Year In

By the one-year mark, the game had content that looked very close to the shipped product, including fully voiced dialogue with the darkly comedic tone the game became known for. Tim expresses amazement at how much was accomplished in just one year of development.

The Bloopers

A major portion of the launch party video was devoted to development bugs, which Tim calls "the stuff of nightmares":

  • Face issues — Distorted, horrifying facial deformations on NPCs
  • Torso issues — Bodies stretching and contorting in impossible ways
  • Dialogue issues — Conversations going wrong in various entertaining ways
  • Walking issues — Characters moving incorrectly
  • Camera issues — The camera behaving erratically during gameplay
  • Combined issues — Sometimes all of the above happening simultaneously
  • Lighting and brain issues — Visual and AI glitches
  • Death problems — Including a death animation that "just never stopped," a pants-less NPC, and dramatically physics-defying ragdoll deaths
  • Pathing issues — Companion Ellie getting stuck or moving incorrectly
  • "Butt issues" — Multiple instances of rear-end-related visual bugs

The End Result

Despite all the development chaos, Tim notes the end result was "fabulous." The game won numerous awards at E3, and reviews praised the writing, visual design, character customization, system mechanics, and humor. Tim closes the launch party video by telling the team: "I'm proud of each and every one of you. Thank you very much for your contribution to The Outer Worlds."

He then breaks character with one final joke — telling Ryan to "take out that last quote" — a self-deprecating nod caught in the narration.

References