Eric "Ferret" Baudoin was a developer who served as one of the game designers of Van Buren, Black Isle's canceled Fallout 3 project. He was later hired by Bethesda Game Studios and served as a quest designer and writer on Fallout 4. He was also the lead quest designer of Fallout 76 at launch, and was the lead designer on subsequent updates, including Wastelanders.[1]
Work on the Fallout series[]
For Fallout 4, Baudoin worked on content for the Railroad, Deacon and Curie.[1] He also created and designed the quests Human Error,[2] The Silver Shroud[3] and Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution.[4] He was also a senior designer on the Far Harbor add-on.[2] For Fallout 76, he wrote a majority of the story for the Appalachian Brotherhood of Steel.[5] For Van Buren, he originally designed the Maxson bunker and Hoover Dam, which were later passed on to other designers after he left Black Isle.
Personal life[]
Baudoin passed away suddenly, surrounded by family and friends, on October 15, 2022, following complications from cancer surgery.[6] News of his passing was shared two days later, with an outpouring of tributes and memorials to him.[7]
Employment history[]
| From | To | Company | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 2001 | Activision | Lead QA Tester / Production Coordinator |
| 2001 | 2003 | Cyberlore | Lead Level Designer |
| 2003 | 2003 | Black Isle Studios | Designer |
| 2003 | 2006 | Obsidian Entertainment | Lead Designer |
| 2006 | 2012 | BioWare | Lead Designer |
| 2012 | 2022 | Bethesda Game Studios | Senior Designer |
Credits[]
Fallout series[]
| Year | Title | Credited as/for |
|---|---|---|
| - | Van Buren | Designer |
| 2015 | Fallout 4 | Quest Designer & Writer |
| 2016 | Far Harbor | Senior Designer |
| 2018 | Fallout 76 | Lead Quest Designer Lead Designer (various updates) Additional Design Leadership |
Other work[]
| Year | Title | Credited as/for |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Dark Reign: The Future of War | Quality Assurance Test Team |
| 1997 | Comanche 3 | Team NovaLogic |
| 1998 | Remington Top Shot: Interactive Target Shooting | Quality Assurance Lead |
| 1998 | Battlezone | Quality Assurance Test Team |
| 1999 | Shanghai: Second Dynasty | Quality Assurance Tester |
| 1999 | Kingpin: Life of Crime | Quality Assurance Tester |
| 1999 | Heavy Gear II | Production Tester |
| 1999 | Civilization: Call to Power | Quality Assurance Tester |
| 1999 | Battlezone II: Combat Commander | QA Project Lead |
| 2001 | MechWarrior 4: Black Knight | Designer |
| 2002 | MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries | Designer |
| 2004 | Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords | Designer |
| 2006 | Neverwinter Nights 2 | Design Lead |
| 2009 | Dragon Age: Origins | Lead Designer / Writer |
| 2011 | Dragon Age II | Lead Designer / Writer |
| 2014 | Dragon Age: Inquisition | Additional Design |
| 2023 | Starfield | Senior Designer |
Retrospective[]
External links[]
- Buy Me a Coffee (support and memorial fund for Baudoin's children's college)
Interviews (text)
- Fallout Developers Profile - Ferret Baudoin (No Mutants Allowed - August 16, 2004)
- Bethesda wants to bring humanity to Fallout 76 through NPCs (GamesIndustry - March 9, 2020)
- Wastelanders "Ask Me Anything" (Reddit, with Jeff Gardiner - April 23, 2020)
Interviews (video)
- Bethesda Game Days – Fallout 76 Panel (Bethesda Game Studios - April 4, 2019)
- Bethesda Game Days 2020: Fallout 76: Wastelanders Preview (Bethesda Game Studios - February 29, 2020)
- Fallout 76 Wastelanders - Gameplay Interview (IGN, with Jeff Gardiner - June 30, 2020)
- Bethesda Fallout 76 Interview ~ QuakeCon At Home 2020 with Mark Tucker and Ferret Baudoin (The Fallout Hub/QuakeCon - August 11, 2020)
- Fallout 76 Lore Dive with Bethesda's Ferret Baudoin and the Fallout Lorecast! (CHAD: A Fallout 76 Podcast - December 16, 2020)
Official developer gameplay
- Fallout 76: Wastelanders - Changes Around the Wasteland (Bethesda Game Studios - April 9, 2020)
- Fallout 76: Wastelanders - New Items + Gold Bullion (Bethesda Game Studios - April 9, 2020)
- Fallout 76: Wastelanders - Wendigo Colossus Fight (Bethesda Game Studios - April 9, 2020)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bethesda Fallout 76 Interview ~ QuakeCon At Home 2020:
Ferret Baudoin: "I was a designer on Fallout 4, I did the Railroad, I did Deacon, I did Curie, I did all sorts of fun quests there. And I was the lead quest designer at launch for all the content for Fallout 76, and then post-launch, I was lead designer." - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Archived screenshot of Baudoin's LinkedIn resume
- ↑ Emil Pagliarulo on Twitter: "I created the character of the Silver Shroud, wrote all the radio plays. Most of the quest was done by designer Ferret Baudoin."
- ↑ Bethesda Fallout 76 Interview ~ QuakeCon At Home 2020:
Ferret Baudoin: "I did the Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution and so I was doing all sorts of research about rockets. My searches would be like, 'rockets how do I tamper and make them explode.' Like, that would be my search, right? And then I'd be like, 'oh no, that wouldn't quite do it, we need to make the rocket explode in a different way' so that you could tamper with it. So I kept doing search after search, and I'm like, 'if I'm not on a watchlist...'" - ↑ Bethesda Fallout 76 Interview ~ QuakeCon At Home 2020:
Ferret Baudoin: "I did a lot of the writing for the Brotherhood of Steel at the launch of Fallout 76. And for me, I'm like, a big, huge Fallout Brotherhood of Steel fan. And to me, it was an awesome chance to sort of say like, 'let's explore some things that haven't been explored before that make sense.' Because Maxson has always been just a very intriguing figure to me. Just by talking about that, actually, there are nods to all sorts of things from various games. Fallout 1, probably, more than anything." - ↑ More information on the death of Ferret Baudoin, Fallout 76 Quest Designer/Lead Designer (/r/fo76, via Kenneth Vigue of CHAD: A Fallout 76 Podcast)
- ↑ Obituary: Bethesda Game Studios senior designer Ferret Baudoin has passed away
