The Fallout franchise is an absolute gold mine for maker inspiration, as its fictional universe is very stylized and full of interesting designs. Even the Nuka-Cola bottles look cool! Redditor CheezyJesus wanted to build a RetroPie arcade machine and used a computer terminal design from Fallout 4 as the reference for this awesome build.
There have been several computer terminal assets used throughout the various Fallout games and most of them are actually surprisingly understated, looking mostly like many of the terminals and computers that existed in our real world in the ‘70s and into the ‘80s. But the Fallout 4 art bookhad a more unique computer design that really stands out. It has the kind of swoopy, art deco style that Fallout is known for and CheezyJesus chose it for this project.
This is a RetroPie arcade machine built around a Raspberry Pi single-board computer. RetroPie is a pre-configured Linux distro setup with several video game console, arcade, and computer emulators. CheezyJesus paired the Raspberry Pi with a monochrome CRT from a portable TV sold in the early 2000s. The lack of color may be detrimental to some games, but the monochrome CRT fits the Fallout aesthetic.
The vast majority of CheezyJesus’s work went into that stunning enclosure. They modeled that in Autodesk Maya, which is 3D sculpting and animation software. They then 3D-printed the enclosure as several pieces and glued them together. From there, they spent countless hours sanding, priming, and painting everything to achieve the perfect finish.
The completed arcade machine is small enough to fit on a desk, but has some heft to it. Whether you’re a Fallout fan or not, we’re sure you can appreciate the craftmanship that went into this project.