Dogmeat

Dogmeat is a character featured in the post-apocalyptic role-playing game series Fallout. An NPC, Dogmeat was introduced as an optional companion to the player character in the original Fallout (1997), and made cameo appearances in the sequel Fallout 2 (1998). Other versions of Dogmeat are featured and serve similar roles in Fallout 3 (2008) and Fallout 4 (2015). The character has been well received, widely regarded as a series highlight, as well as one of the most popular sidekick characters in video games. River the dog's performance was positively received, and has won best video game dog for 2015. Character design Dogmeat was inspired by the unnamed dog of Max Rockatansky (Mad Max) from the 1981 post-apocalyptic film Mad Max 2. His initial name had been "Dogshit" and his ultimate name was derived from the opening scene of the 1975 post-apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog, in which the main character Vic calls his dog Blood "Dogmeat". According to Fallout producer, lead programmer and designer Tim Cain, "Leonard Boyarsky, the [game's] art director ... had that movie running continuously in his office, and I think he remarked on several occasions that having a dog in the game would be really cool. [It's] why we wanted a dog in the first place." Fallout programmer and designer Jesse Heinig was credited by Cain as probably "one person to thank for Dogmeat." Heinig himself said: "My understanding is that [Fallout designer] Scott Bennie settled on the name 'Dogmeat' for the character, and it's likely that he did pick that from the story in question."