Jeff Husges is a developer who worked at Obsidian Entertainment on Fallout: New Vegas as an area designer. Previously, he worked on Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios.
Career
Work on the Fallout series
At Black Isle Studios, Husges was first involved with the Fallout series on the canceled Van Buren project, when he had been a designer for only a few months.[1] He was the author of the Blackfoot Tribe, Mesa Verde and Jericho design documents for Van Buren.
After joining Obsidian Entertainment, Husges became involved with Fallout: New Vegas shortly after development started on the project, seeing it as an exciting opportunity to deal with "unfinished business" from Van Buren. As an area designer, Husges was responsible for various locations' layout, quests, character dialogue, combat and more. Some of the areas that Husges worked on include Goodsprings (including the quest Run Goodsprings Run), Jacobstown (including writing for Marcus), the Fort, Westside (including the quest The White Wash),[2] the NCR sharecropper farms, Sloan, Quarry Junction and other minor areas. He designed the quest For Auld Lang Syne based on concepts from Joshua Sawyer,[1] and wrote all of the Enclave remnant characters.[3] According to Joshua Sawyer, Husges also worked on Boulder City and Rex's quest, Nothin' But a Hound Dog, which partially takes place at Jacobstown.[citation needed]
For the add-on Dead Money, Husges designed various areas in the Sierra Madre Villa.[4] For the add-on Old World Blues, Husges designed the encounter with the X-42 giant roboscorpion (based on a concept by Chris Avellone) and implemented the legendary bloatfly (on the suggestion of Charles Staples).[1] He also scripted weapons in Gun Runners' Arsenal alongside Jorge Salgado.[5]
Other work
Husges was first involved with quality assurance at Black Isle Studios, including on Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. At Obsidian Entertainment, his other design work includes Pillars of Eternity and its sequel.
Employment history
| From | To | Company | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2003 | Black Isle Studios | Designer / QA |
| 2004 | 2005 | LucasArts | Designer |
| 2005 | Present | Obsidian Entertainment | Designer |
Credits
Fallout series
| Year | Title | Credited as/for |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Van Buren | Designer |
| 2010 | Fallout: New Vegas | Area Designer |
Other work
| Year | Title | Credited as/for |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Neverwinter Nights 2 | Area Designer |
| 2014 | South Park: The Stick of Truth | Level Designer |
| 2015 | Pillars of Eternity | Level Design |
| 2018 | Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire | Area Designer |
| 2020 | Grounded | Core Team |
| 2022 | Pentiment | Alpha Feedback |
| 2023 | The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition | Area Designer |
Behind the scenes
- Regarding writing for the Enclave remnants during For Auld Lang Syne, Husges remarked that, in retrospect, he felt like he may have made the characters too sympathetic, though he was still satisfied with how the quest turned out.[3]
- According to Husges, much of the content he wrote for the game includes references to lore and locations from previous Fallout games, because having the series history available to him made it easier to write more interesting dialogue, and he thought that long-time fans would appreciate the callbacks.[3]
Videos
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Memories Of The Mojave With Jeff Husges - Part 1
- ↑ Question: "I really like "The White Wash" quest. It was really well done and left with a moral dilemma that still screws over someone (The NCR, who's approaching a food shortage or Westside, who're trying to be self-sufficient). Can you give props to who wrote it?"
Joshua Sawyer:"Thanks. Jeff Husges and I created The White Wash. I like how the dilemma played out, but the mechanics/flow of the quest were not that great (my fault, not Jeff's)."
(Joshua Sawyer Formspring posts/2012) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Memories of the Mojave With Jeff Husges Part 2
- ↑ "An Interview with Chris Avellone - game designer, writer, and former 'unlucky schlep'" - Gamasutra (Archived)
- ↑ Question: "I know you were the project director of F:NV, but what contributions did you make?"
Joshua Sawyer: "For F:NV, I designed (but did not write the dialogue for) all of the companions and companion arcs. I did all of the system design and balancing. I wrote all of the high level RDCs (Region Design Constraints) that area designers used to write their ADDs (Area Design Docs). I wrote the dialogues for Arcade Gannon, Chief Hanlon, and President Kimball.
For Honest Hearts, I was also the project director. I wrote the story, designed and tuned most of the gear, designed all of the main characters (the Happy Trails caravan, Ricky, Joshua Graham, Daniel, Follows-Chalk, Waking Cloud, and the Survivalist) and wrote Joshua Graham and Daniel (Ricky, Stella, and the Survivalist were written by John Gonzalez; Jed Masterson, Follows-Chalk, and Waking Cloud were written by Travis Stout).
For Gun Runners' Arsenal, I did all of the design except for scripting, which was done by Jorge Salgado and Jeff Husges.
On the other DLCs, all I did was weapon tuning."
(Joshua Sawyer Formspring posts/2011)