Fallout Shelter

Fallout Shelter is a free-to-play installment in the Fallout series for iOS and Android devices that was announced at Bethesda's E3 2015 press conference on June 14, 2015. The game was released on the iOS App Store the same day, after the conference ended. The date of release on Android devices has yet to be announced. All officially stated is a tweet from Bethesda stating it would be released in "a few months."

The game allows the player to create their own Vault and thereby become an Overseer of its inhabitants.

Project history
According to Bethesda's Todd Howard, several early designs have been pitched and rejected.

On November 5, 2009 John Carmack of Id Software said that, while it's nothing official yet, he has an internal proof of concept made for a Fallout iPhone game. Both Carmack and Bethesda's Todd Howard are fans of the platform and any iPhone game based on Bethesda's IP will likely be made as a joint project between id and Bethesda. Carmack said that he will likely be personally involved in making the game, although currently he is too overloaded with work on other games. "At the very least I'm going to be providing code," he said.

The game was a surprise release on June 14, 2015, during Bethesda's first E3 conference.

Gameplay
Fallout Shelter is a simulation game in which you run a Vault-Tec Vault as the overseer. As the overseer you control all of the Vault's functions including: power, food, water, and the number of vault dwellers. To advance through the simulation you are to increase the size of your vault by adding and upgrading new rooms; each with their own function and then adding dwellers to run each room.

Vault rooms
Fallout Shelter contains 20 buildable rooms that are unlocked by increasing the number of vault dwellers. All rooms can have a limited number of dwellers assigned to it and each production room requires at least 1 dweller to run it. Each room built begins at tier 1 and can be upgraded with caps to as far as tier 3. Each room requires a specific one of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L skills to run at its max efficiency. With Production rooms such as for a power generator it will produce and hold more power when upgraded but will take longer to produce unless more efficient dwellers are assigned there. Rooms can also be merged by placing an identical room next to it. Merged rooms are larger and take longer to produce supplies and cost more to upgrade but are also more efficient. Rooms must also be of the same tier level to merge and will merge automatically when built next to each other.

Here is a good layout for beginners to follow. It allows you to have a self-sufficient economy to keep continuing building vault rooms until you get to Nuka-Cola Bottler (the final room in the game)



Dwellers
Vault dwellers are an essential part of the game and are required for: operating production rooms, mating, protecting the vault from raider attacks, and scavenging the wasteland. To increase your dweller population you can wait for them to show up at random, mate 2 dwellers with a charisma of 2+ or produce a radio studio. Each dweller will spawn with only a vault jumpsuit and their fists for a weapon. Basic dwellers start at level 1 and can be upgraded through working, preventing hazards, and scavenging. Whenever a dweller levels up a number of caps are gained equal to their new level. All dwellers have their own individual S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes and are most commonly set between 1 and 3. S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes can also be boosted with special rooms such as classrooms or armouries. Vault dwellers can also be acquired with additional levels, attributes, outfits, and weapons if acquired through lunch boxes.

Incest is not allowed as putting two dwellers with the same surname in the living quarters or any of its upgrades will trigger conversation between the characters citing "Nothing like hanging out at home with my family." Automated surnames of children are of their parent of opposite gender, e.g. female offsprings will follow last name of father, male offsprings will follow last name of mother. First and last names, however, can be reassigned by players.

Lunchbox
Lunchboxes are awarded upon completion of certain game objectives, additional lunchboxes are also available for purchase via micropayments. Each lunchbox allows player to attain 4 cards, each card then allows players to attain either dweller, weapon, outfit, or resources. Though the in-game description states that "Each lunchbox is guaranteed to either have a dweller or a rare item," +500 caps is also categorized as a rare item. Players could also obtain Common, Rare, and or Legendary dwellers through lunchboxes.

Quotes
"I think that the world of Fallout is unique enough that it could work on any platform. I think some of the things we do like V.A.T.S., I think that could translate to any platform, particularly the iPhone. We've looked into those things, we just haven't found the thing that supports the brand well. I wouldn't be surprised if it does happen one day. The iPhone versions that we've designed and said 'Ehh, we don't think we're going to do that right now,' there are ... there are a lot of them."

Official links

 * Official site
 * Fallout Shelter on the iTunes App Store