Dogmeat Almost Didn’t Make It Into Fallout

Though he eventually became one of the most iconic pieces of the Fallout universe, Dogmeat almost never made it into the game at all.

Dogmeat became a beloved companion in the Fallout series not only because he’s a tough fighter that’s great in a fight, but also because he’s unwaveringly loyal to you. But as Michael Fiegel explains in this week’s issue of The Escapist, some tricky tech nearly kept him out of the Wasteland completely:

If there is one person to thank for Dogmeat, it is likely Heinig. Tim Cain, Lead Programmer and Designer of Fallout and currently the Design Director of Carbine Studios’ unannounced MMOG, notes that Heinig was the one who figured out how to get followers working in the first place. (“We never planned for them in the design,” says Cain.) No followers, no Dogmeat.

Fiegel’s article also makes it clear Dogmeat was inspired both by Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog, but what I’d like to know is whether or not Sam of I Am Legend is based on Dogmeat. True, one’s a Blue Heeler and the other’s a German Shepherd, but there definitely seems to be a bit of an homage going on — or is that just me?

Be sure to catch the rest of Junktown Dog in Issue 211 of The Escapist.