The dog that played Fallout 4's Dogmeat has died
28
Jun 21
River contributed to one of the best portrayals of a dog companion in a video game
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Dogmeat was one of the standout characters in Fallout 4. The loyal companion stood by our side as we journeyed through the post-apocalyptic wasteland, however, owner Joel Burgess confirmed over the weekend that the dog who played the pawesome character has sadly died.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I said goodbye today to River, who most of you know as Fallout 4’s Dogmeat.<br><br>Heartbroken doesn't cover it, but I won’t eulogize her here. For twitter, I thought it'd be appropriate to look back at her impact on that game.<br><br>(plus, writing about game dev hurts less than grieving) <a href="https://t.co/ayN1Vd6oqQ">pic.twitter.com/ayN1Vd6oqQ</a></p>— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoelBurgess/status/1409013849584504833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Joel spoke about the German Shepherd, River, and her impact on the game in a detailed thread on Twitter, first mentioning that she wasn't in line to play the character. But the dev's dog soon made the cut ahead of "professional" dogs.
Her markings not only contributed to the character's looks but also worked really well for the 'pose read' and 'facial expressions' when developing the game. It wasn't just the looks of River that contributed to Dogmeat's character, the audio was also done by the canine. "For audio, we wanted to avoid stock libraries as much as possible. This was tricky, especially w/distress calls. The only way we could get these was to separate us - I'd have to stand in an adjacent room where she could smell but not reach me, until she started calling out." Joel recalls.
Dogmeat won CW's Top Video Game Dog of 2015 as her performance and the dev team's hard work combining to make an iconic character that resonated with many dog lovers. Part of this was due to the way combat was portrayed in-game, as Joel likens River's personality to the way they handled his combat in Fallout 4
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You see, Dogmeat isn't primarily focused on killing your enemies. <br><br>He's *protecting you*, often throwing himself directly in harm's way, giving you the time + opportunity to deal with the threat yourself.<br><br>If you've ever had a German Shepherd, you understand.</p>— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoelBurgess/status/1409013893251358720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
We at Fanatical pass our condolences to Joel, his family, and all of River's friends. RIP River.
