The following is based on Van Buren design documents and is not canon. |
The Lil' Pip 3000 was going to be the main Pip-Boy variant in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios. It was technically the first to be visible on the player in the game.
Background[]
Conceptualized for Van Buren by Chris Applehans and modeled by Glenn Price, the Lil' Pip is not mentioned in design documents, suggesting it came about later in development. Joshua Sawyer later included it in his tabletop RPG, describing it as a much less cumbersome device worn on the forearm, but offering all the functionality of its bigger variant. The device used integrated circuits, rather than vacuum tubes, a flip-up split-screen monitor with three display colors to choose from (green, blue, and red), and could accept up to six data tubes as expansion hardware to expand its functionality. However, it was not a sales success, due to the fragility of the device, as compared to the rugged 2000 series.[1] It could read holodisks like any other device, using a loading tray.[2]
Functionality[]
The Lil-Pip 3000 was accessible through a dedicated button on the interface bar, and closed using a knob on the Lil-Pip display. When open, it showed the current date and time (with the time zone displayed), listed expansion hardware present (none are mentioned in the design documents), and allowed access to its four main functions: Alarm, Tasks, Maps, and Downloads. By default, the logo displayed across the split screen, moving to the upper one when one of the four functions was accessed, with the lower screen occupied by a listing of available options.
- Alarm: Set an alarm clock (allowing the player to rest their character), to ten minutes, thirty minutes, and one, two, three, four, five, or six hours. Alternatively, they could rest until a specified time: Morning or 6 AM (inheriting a legacy design mistake from Fallout that never corresponed to the actual morning in scripts), noon or 12 PM, evening or 11 PM, midnight or 12 AM, or until the party or just the player character was healed.
- Tasks: Listed tasks the player agreed to and completed. Van Buren was the first game in the series to feature detailed journal entries on each tasks (written in first person by the Prisoner), and the only one to differentiate styles between a "stupid" and regular player character.
- Maps: A dynamic map generated by the game based on level geometry, like in Fallout and Fallout 2, with the ability to toggle between full and simple map modes. Unlike the rather useless map in the previous two games, it also allowed the player to add, edit, and delete notes, as well as zoom in and out. It is also likely that it would have featured labels and location markers.
- Downloads: A section with any content downloaded by the player. Holodiscs were listed here under a separate heading, indicating the game would provide the player with other types of downloads and list them there.