[Kelly Osbourne Kelly]

Do you think the developers of FO4 have ever been inspired by our posts on this forum?

[Ricky Meehan]

This forum? Probably not, as it wasn't public until after FO4 was revealed. FO4 was pretty much feature-complete once it was unveiled and was in testing from what I gather.

Previous FO forums and TES forums? Possibly.

[Ashley Campos]

The devs say they pull a lot of input from the community, but we here ourselves, probably very little during them wrapping it up.

That's not to say they don't take things into account for how things are going.

[Pete Schmitzer]

Maybe, I think Bethesda likes input from their fans. I think they look at popular mods and incorporates these into many of their games. I truly believe when Beth obtained the rights to make 3 fallout games, they knew they would make 2 and have another developer the other(Obsidian). I think they had the story on the east coast(FO3&4) already on paper way before they even started working on these games. That's why I think every DLC from FO3, we will see it related to FO4. I even think Jason Bright from FONV, we will find his body or crashed rocket somewhere in the ruins of Boston( yes, FO4 will take place after FONV and I know the Bright Followers return to Novac according to the ending but I don't think all return)

[Sheeva]

The greatest influence of the Fallout 4 devs was what got the most downloads for the past two Fallout games. The entire user-base of this forum (spanning all of Betheda's releases since like 2003) represents a drop in the bucket of their actual market and doesn't really make for accurate statistics of what a majority of people want rather than DL hits on the Fallout Nexus or whatever.

[Ysabelle]

I agree. We are not the whole of the Fallout fandom.

If I were a dev and I wanted to see what the last game lacked and what would make the next game a hit, would be to look at what the modding community has done, and what are the most popular mods with positive feedback on them. What are those mods offering that I as a dev did not, and make note to maybe take what made that mod work, and see if it fits the production of the next game.

[Astargoth Rockin' Design]

I don't think the forums have been of much influence at all, they seem to have been mostly influenced by other big games/developers (see Bioware) and some of the more popular mods.

[Alan Whiston]

As most have said, Fallout was pretty much in a "what you see is what you get" kind of state when these particular Fallout 4 forums were opened. Your thoughts, ideas and feedback could provoke future patches, implementations and DLC that Bethesda mentioned in http://bethesda.net/#en/events/game/fallout-4-launch-and-beyond/2015/09/08/22 So continue to share!

[Laura Shipley]

I think one of the most important input for Bethesda should be the created mods and the number of peoples who endorsed it. Of course except the more "problematic" mods.

But i think i heard somtime, that they take a close look at the created mods and take aswell some input and ideas from them for the further games.

[Brandon Wilson]

Bethesda looks at ideas and concepts in action, not on paper.

[Chloé]

Just my posts

[Rachel Tyson]

This, although I do think they try to glean a general sentiment on the forums. Like, "what kind of things do they like and don't like?" as opposed to "this guy's 35-page design doc of his ideal Fallout game that he posted in the speculation thread is really good, let's use it". In interviews and stuff they always emphasize that an idea on paper can't always hold up in-game, and the in-game experience is more important than any sort of complexity laid out on paper.

As for the Fallout 4 forum in particular, this forum existed after the game was mostly finalized. They're not going to change direction now based on whatever hare-brained ideas I post in the forum.

[Ana]

Yeah, while we might have some minor impact on future features, the game was feature locked shortly after being announced.

They are in bug fix and fine tune mode right now.

We might have some minor impact on the fine tuning of the game balance, but we only represent a tiny fraction of their audience.

The most hardcoe part if we are talking about the game months before it is released.

[phillip crookes]

Thank you, that link was both helpful and inspiring.

[Kelvin Diaz]

Fallout 3 forums and Fallout NV forums yeah. Fallout 4 forums? No. They might get some ideas for free small items or future DLC features but I think that's a push unless they have 2 years+ of planned content support.

There's also the Nexus with its forums and mods has helped shape it.

[Alexis Estrada]

Not this forum in particular but Beth has stated they looks at critics towards Fallout 3 (and even towards games Beth just publish, like dishonored), it should be noted there focus seams to have been more towards listing to folks talking about what they liked and disliked about a game, rather then the random "I have the idea for X mechanic" or "wouldn't it be cool if they took the mechanic from X game and put it in Fallout" threads.

At least that's my impression from a Peter Hines interview not long ago.

[StunnaLiike FiiFii]

No, but I'm going to guess it's provided some level amusemant to Beth employees....

Forums like these are a very small, introverted and highly fanatical slice of the overall customer base so listening here to be "influenced" would not be in their best financial interest. Not saying a good idea is impossible to find here, but the only thing worse than designing by committee is designing by the masses....it NEVER works out.

[MatthewJontully]

Yeah Bethesda if you are listening give PC gamers a chance to play this game and don't make it exclusive to Steam.I'm so confident they are going to listen to this.

[Heather Kush]

I said years ago that a baseball stadium would be both a good defensive place for a settlement and fit with the 50s thing.

They couldn't have got that idea from anywhere else. Inconceivable!

[Catherine N]

I remember Obsidian guys posting on maybe the FO: Series Discussion board(?) before NV.
I've seen GStaffers online a few times.
There are a good number of people who have been posting here for years, I'm sure someone at Bethesda has seen at least a bit of what people wanted for Fallout 4. (There were http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1516657-fallout-4-speculation-ideas-and-suggestions-251/page-3?hl=%2Bfuture+%2Bfallout#entry23940970 posted. )

But, the Fallout 4 forum hasn't been around long enough for them to really do anything with what they may or may not see in here. And it is mostly speculation on something we haven't seen yet anyway, no?

I gotta think they'll keep their eyes out to see what people want in a DLC, when that time comes. But I'm sure finalization/aunch is the mindset that everyone is in, currently.

[Darren]

Short answer: no.

Long answer: as has been stated, these forums were created too late to have any real impact on FO4. The game was too far along when it was announced for that.

However, my understanding is that BGS does pay attention to it's fan base. I've heard that the weapon modding system in New Vegas was implemented because of a popular mod for FO3 that did something similar. In addition, there was a character in Honest Hearts named Two Bears High-Fiving, an obvious reference to a mod on the New Vegas Nexus. So while the things we're saying may not make much difference now, that's not to say that something won't come from them in the future.

Oh, and I do agree that if the devs want a good idea of how their fan base feels about their games, they shouldn't be paying attention to just the forums.

[Chloe Mayo]

No. That's not how BGS development works. For one, as others have stated, this forum was created when the game was officially unveiled, and the game was almost content complete by then. There is absolutely zero chance of any of these threads are making any sort of impact on Fallout 4 as the game was done long ago. What these forums are useful for is post-launch content (DLCs, feature updates, and future games).

Even then, forums are not the "go to" place for BGS when it comes to interesting ideas and innovations for future games. They either look at competitors (Irrational Games, BioWare, Rockstar), features they had to cut due to time constraints, or they look at mods. Much of the major innovations either come from what other developers in the industry are doing or what mods worked well with previous games and BGS wants to incorporate into their games in the future.

The forums are certainly here for feedback and BGS will consider them to a degree, but they tend to prefer things that are in practice rather than theories or concepts, which is what you get here. BioWare and CDPR, on the other hand, are much more receptive to fan feedback and the developers consistently have a presence on their forums actively engaging with the community on current projects and future ones.

[Jennifer Munroe]

I didn't mean to ask if this SPECIFIC forum influenced the development of FO4. Our aspirations for Fallout 4 have been contemplated on these boards long before Three Dogs Gate & The Survivors Hoax. When FO4 was still just a crazy dream, I remember being shuffled off to the "Fallout 4 Speculation Thread" by the mods if you so much as mentioned the title in a dull whisper.

I think these forums have influenced the development of Fallout 4. Why else would they keep us around? I'm certain that the developers have plenty of their own ideas but they might have draw inspiration from our posts. It would be more than plausible that a Dev could infiltrate our ranks and get feedback on their ideas. I can think of several ways that I could & would utilize the Beth boards during the development of a game I was working on. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't make the game for the good people that post here but I would be hanging on your every word if I was developing a new installment of .

[Amanda Leis]

All I will say is BGS makes the games they want to play. It's not necessarily what we want to play, although what they consider fun is typically fun for many. BGS' philosophy has always been to make a game they'd enjoy and if they happen to see ideas from mods or other games or perhaps the forums, they'll consider it. I think it's fair to say, however, that forum feedback is probably at the very bottom of the kinds of tools BGS looks towards when developing a new game. The forums are more so here for us to talk about the game, especially after release, which is when BGS really wants feedback.

[Rudy Paint fingers]

we made a number of threads in the other fallout forums prior though. In terms of gameplay, I'm sure they are well aware of what's popular, considering they almost always get inspired by the best mods on their next game. I never really worry about how the game is going to be since I know they always deliver (albeit in mysterious and surprising ways sometimes).

I really want them to listen to the modders input though, especially concerning some rinky dink aspects of the CK / GECK. The fact that you can't change the hotkeys for panning / translating / tumbling, etc. really irritating because you know that's not a massive undertaking. Just small things they could probably fix relatively quick.

If you click the link in my sig, there are some great ideas here were mine:

1) Sort By function in the editor, so you can sort by type of objects. This is really a must have.

2) Place-able Pivot Point - Basically so that you can orbit around any where in the world without losing control, like you do so often in the CK.

3) 1st person View - probably a massive longshot, but it would be nice to be able to walk around in the ck with a character or object.

4) a decent text editor with syntax highlighting - some may not want b/c they like to use notepad++ or w/e, but it would be nice in house upgrade.

5) Options to map orbit, pan, zoom on keyboard and mouse. What i wouldn't give for Maya or Max controls in the CK.

6) they have to implement a SNAP TO function. so that you can take an object and snap it to another object.