Community:Galaxy News Network/The Galaxy Tribune 004

July 12th, 2023

THE GALAXY TRIBUNE
EDITION #004

Fallout: Ashburn Mod Project Update (July)
July 3rd, 2023 by CookOLo

Fallout: Ashfall is a DLC-sized Fallout: New Vegas Mod continuing the Courier's journey on the Puna region of Eastern Hawai'i. Starting in 2022, Fallout Ashfall has shown many updates, and another one just posted on July 3rd, 2023.

Project Lead AshfallDude shares the Art Lead The Doc of Pepper's work on the creature "La Mo'o" (whose conceptualized and written by Lead Writer Krimson) as well as their other designs on an unarmed weapon and a sailboat. Not only that, AshfallDude also shares progress on the land mass of this mod project as the southern portion of the map is continuing to be worked on while the northern part is planned to be worked on this month.

Please check out their Twitter and join their Discord server and show your support!

A Galaxy Conference (002) - Kenneth Vigue, Creator of CHAD: A Fallout 76 Story
June 30th, 2023 by Jah (@di0xazine)



As our mission of spotlighting people and communities, this person has shown so much creativity in their writing and storytelling with his team for his podcast, let’s learn more about Ken!

Ken started to be interested in Fallout following the release of Fallout 3 that Christmas, Ken had received a Best Buy gift card and said that “there I was, just after Christmas browsing through the PC game section and saw a striking cover art of a futuristic yet anachronistic helmet so it was an immediate buy [Fallout 3]”. He didn’t know but with this purchase would be something that would change his life forever. Ken brought up that at the time, he “never heard of Fallout, though I’d been playing PC games forever.. I immediately fell in love with them game and was hooked, playing a lot of every Fallout game”. As per him joining the community side of Fallout, was because of the blast of success with the Fallout 76 Story podcast. With him personally about communities and such, he described himself as a “fairly private person” and hadn’t really stumbled into things like Tumblr, Reddit, Gaming Forums or anything of the sort before. He did bring up that with him getting more and more into online platforms/communities and including things related with the podcast like official & unofficial collaborations with Bethesda that he said it was “both a learning curve and experience in terms of learning to be more comfortable with being a content creator”. He then stated for the first question that the global community for Fallout fans are “some of the most passionate, artistic, supportive and wholesome people I’ve ever seen in gaming”.



I asked him about what inspired him to start the podcast and “CHAD” as a whole, he said that he was “playing Fallout 76 one night, we were in the Morgantown School and reminiscing about school days with some other older players. We realized we all had known a Chad in school who universally lived up to the stereotype and meme of the same name”. He continued by saying that “In year one of Fallout 76, there were no NPC’s so it forced you to really form your own communities, lore, roleplaying, stories, etc”. Ken then went into the story of “CHAD” he had thought of during one of these gaming sessions, describing the story by saying “A story started turning around in my head that would see two people grow up in the Vault as if it were school, one the bully, the other not with Reclamation Day being graduation. In real life we say goodbye to a lot of people after high school, but here, in Appalachia, what would happen if you couldn’t get away from each other? Chad vs. Simon, with Simon finally having enough and shooting Chad in the face after he was woken up again in the middle of the night to Chad using his workstation”, he said it starts as simple as a punchline but states that “in the last two seasons, it has broadened considerably as we approach our midway point in our series arc with the close of Season 2 coming up this Fall with two more seasons to go”.



Personally myself, I was not expecting them to end basically in Season 4, I kind of thought it would go on a little bit more. He then expressed his and his team’s gratitude for how the podcast has been going by saying “We’ve been blessed to amass a really amazing following of almost 1 million listens and being ranked in the top 0.5% of all podcasts worldwide…which is frankly humbling and mind blowing”. He then said after by saying “I think what people love so much about our story is that not just the relatable meta humor, but also the complex characters you can’t help but feel connected to and identify with in some fashion or another”. I personally agree with this because with how creative the story is and how they have been spanning it out, it has honestly been a joy to listen too. I asked him about what opportunities that him and his team were able to obtain with the success of the podcast. He said within the few months of it being up, some developers of Fallout 76 were listening to it! They were given the opportunity of doing a live show at PAX East in Boston, It was huge moment for all of them with big audiences, but was especially for Ken.

Stating “for me personally as a writer. I’d given up on writing for a good 10 years after it went nowhere…so for this game to become a muse to reconnect me with that part of myself and for it to be successful was really unexpected”. Since then, him and his team have been organizing many community events, launch parties and many more with teams from the likes of QuakeCon and Bethesda. But in December of 2020, he founded the Fallout for Hope Charity Initiative as he says “as a way to give back, but also bring the entire Fallout community together to help raise money for worthy causes”. The charity has been a success as they have raised with the community over $520,000 for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, American Heart Association, Alzheimer’s Association and Project Hope. Ken said that “It was when we started doing special events and programming for charity that I had the opportunity to bring together the voices, developers, streamers and gamers of Fallout in a way we haven’t before. From interviews with Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarasky on how Fallout came to be, to doing in game/on camera plays with iconic voice actors…we’ve had the opportunity to create some amazing programming for worthy causes”.

They recently had an event that brought back all of the Fallout 4 voice actors for the first time in whole for a original 3-hour production called “Death Shroud: A Nick Valentine Mystery”. The community, understandably went crazy for it! Ken said it was “amazing to see Stephen Russell, Wes Johnson and loads of voice actors we love back in character performing live”. But even with all of this success, there will be and has been some challenges and setbacks with the productions of the podcast. Ken described how him and the team have somewhat became victim of their own success of “CHAD”, he said how when he started the podcast it was more or less holotape recordings that he performed but later on, hiring a full on voice acting team with him and them sharing the same interests in Fallout and wanted to tell more in-depth stories. It did allow him to tell bigger stories that he had been wanting to tell with the podcast. Adding on, he wanted to find this “bridge” stating that “I wanted to find a way to bridge the feel and sound of Old Time Radio with the kind of cinematic soundscapes you hear in modern movies and TV. I wanted to create something so rich in sound that even people who aren’t into podcasts because they think they’re just “audio books with someone talking”, fell in love with podcasts since it was so easy to visualize.” but with that came the problems with sound building, scoring, and much more that it takes a long time to get episodes out. He expressed that he wished “we can produce things faster, but without sacrificing the kind of richness of sound”. He did describe himself as being a “functional introvert” and later on becoming a “mask wearing extrovert” which he says that it can be draining. While he loves being known and visible, understandably can make someone overwhelmed with the social interactions, and which is what happened to Ken. He said how “When you become a content creator.. there is no handbook for this. so you have to figure it out as you go, including how much of yourself you share. Do people know your real name or not? Do you show your face or not? Do you talk about being LGBTQIA+ or not? I’ve opened up in inches and miles slowly over time because I also think when you find yourself having a platform that you have a responsibility to use it only for good…to inspire, motivate, support or help others. Not weaponize it against others…there is far, far too much of that already in the world”.



He did say that he has gotten a lot of advice, support, ideas and much more and loves how helpful people can be. He also included how he loved how the podcast has genuinely inspired people to start podcasts of their own. “I think that’s amazing! We need more of them”. As the interview closed up, it was an honor to talk to him and get to know him more and get into his creative mindset. He said as per the future of all of this is that he has four seasons planned and is half way done. The Season 2 finale will come out this fall and “it will have a lot of people talking, particularly where we’re going with the story”. This journey has given him so much confidence in writing that he has “YEARS worth of new ideas on Podcasts in the world of Bethesda” he said. He wants to publish his first book, a story of his own and nothing to do with video games. He plans to continue with the Fallout for Hope Charity, stating that it has grown to “600+ streamers worldwide supporting our drives for charity and I really, really want to see that project continue to grow”. He will make big changes to the foundation this winter that to “broaden its horizons outside of Fallout and even (hopefully) outliving me”. Going back to the podcast, he plans for him and the team to take a break in-between seasons 2 and 3 while Ken works on a new Starfield anthology podcast. Unlike CHAD, he isn’t going to be the sole writer for this podcast. He said he “has brought in a host of fellow podcast writers and published sci-fi authors to create a season of Twilight Zone/Outer Limits style stories” Including with another Fallout story called “Fallout: Ocean Song” by Fall of 2024. He said at the end of the interview saying “For any writers out there who maybe wrote some Fallout fan fiction or roleplay stories in Fallout 76, don’t ever think your work isn’t good enough to put out there. It’s so, so easy to make a podcast these days. Don’t let your work, imagination and ideas hide. Get them out there! I wish I hadn’t lost over a decade of time I could’ve been writing. Never, ever stop writing”. We at GNN wish the best for the CHAD team no matter what they work on, and hope we can help with any future things. Thank you again to Kenneth for taking time to talk to us. We will see you with another conference.



Dawn of America Project gets Youtube Channel
July 4th, 2023 by CookOLo



Dawn of America is led by Lead KateAces and Co-Leads CurserCᴀᵰdɪ and Moff Tiann Jerjerrod, Dawn of America is a mod project that aims to continue "the Enclave following the events of Fallout 3 ... expanding upon the faction .. and the individuals at the core of it." They have been keeping the community updated with the mod project through work-in-progress pictures since ~2019.

Recently, they have just created the Dawn of America Youtube Channel on June 29, 2023, as another avenue for posting updates. As of July 2, 2023, two teaser videos have been released on the channel showing the level design progress on the project. To see more of the updates from this talented team, check out their Youtube (and Wiki page in addition)!

Fallout Mod in Paradise
July 5th, 2023 by Jah (@di0xazine)



With more mods being brought to our attention, we find ourselves in other people’s amazing works. Thank you for Ashburn’s Lead Dev Ashfalldude

for bringing this mod to our attention. We talked to the Project Lead, Aleph_Null about Fallout: Hawaii and the reason behind it. He said to us that “Fallout Hawaii is a total conversion mod for Fallout 4, set on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu”. He went on talking about the lore of Hawaii saying that it is “set after the first battle for Hoover Dam… Hawaii is a story of a 3-way power struggle between American, Foreign and Native Hawaiian interests, all competing for the dominance for the island”. He did state that he isn’t the project creator but that he found it and fell in love with the story with the setting and creativity of the mod. He started working on the team and said “I started with the writing work on the team.. the old project lead had me step in when he had to deal with real life obligations”. With the project still being in early development, we asked about current things the team is working on. He described about “we’re working on just on design right now.. trying to finish writing up a number of comprehensive documents.” But with all of that doesn’t come without some setbacks, he states that “our biggest setback all along has been lacking in people who can actually do level design work.” He added on about not being able to fully able to learn CK due to a busy schedule but learns anytime he gets as he is very dedicated to this project. He continued by saying “this has been frustrated by the fact that we’ve had some bad luck finding level designers which most of them have a busy schedule and or ended up leaving. They were mostly good people who know CK and are dedicated to it.” Despite being early in development, we asked him about a possible release date for Hawaii as he sadly said “I couldn’t tell ya. We are nowhere near close enough for me to guess.” He added on with his closing thoughts saying “I appreciate all of the other developers I’ve talked to during this endeavor that have helped me get this started. In addition, I’m grateful to every member of my team who have given up a considerable amount of their free time to work on this. I’m grateful to everyone who’s followed our development as long as they have. We’ve been around for a while, and things have been radio silent.. however, I am glad to see people are still invested in the project.”

We love what Hawaii is doing and we hope the best for their development and release. If you are a level designer, please go to their Discord server and talk to Aleph.



The Recharger Family joins Fallout 4: New Vegas
July 4th, 2023 by CookOLo



On July 4, 2023, the Fallout 4: New Vegas Mod Team released their launch trailer of their standalone mod that aims to recreate the Recharger Weapons from Fallout New Vegas in Fallout 4. If you didn't know, Fallout 4: New Vegas (F4NV) is a mod project re-creating Fallout New Vegas in Fallout 4. In the trailer, not only do we see the Recharger Weapons showcased, we also see more the worldspace the F4NV Team has been recreating throughout it's development.

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This standalone mod, F4NV Recharger Weaponry, specifically adds the Recharger Rifle, Recharger Pistol, and MF Hyperbreeder Alpha. Both the Rifle and Pistol will be integrated into the leveled lists while the Alpha is a unique weapon. In addition to F4NV Recharger Weaponry, the team also released the standalone mod F4NV Repconn Souvenir Rocket as a bonus, which replaces the Toy Rocket Ship with the REPCONN Souvenir Rocket. All in all, an excellent round of mods from the F4NV Team!

If you want to learn more regarding the F4NV Mod Project, check out their social medias! They are always looking for recruits! Facebook, Twitter, Youtube & Discord.

Galaxy News Network is hiring writers!
June 29, 2023 by

At the Galaxy News Network, we want to be able to shine a light on people and or communities in Fallout that deserve the shoutout to grow and expand, and to highlight new and exciting things happening in the game and out.

So GNN is hiring writers for The Galaxy Tribune! This gives an opportunity for people all throughout the Fallout Community to get a chance to spotlight new and exciting things to share with the masses! If you are interested in being a writer, contact for more information and application! We hope to see some new faces soon for the Tribune! We are looking for people who is willing to cover anything fallout.. Art events, in-game events, communities, people, mods, datamines, and everything in-between!

If you have any form of writing, journalism, creative writing or anything in-between of experience or not, please do apply! We want to create an amazing team of people to help us produce the Tribune and get them out on a semi-daily basis. Below is the Google Form to apply. Please join the main server too so we know you are in there and it is easier contact!

Come and Apply!