In early 1994, he began work on an isometricgame engine which would eventually develop into the post-apocalyptic role-playing video gameFallout.[7] For the first six months, he was the only employee on the project. He eventually took over the producer role from Thomas R. Decker who had to supervise multiple other projects at the time.[8]Fallout was released in 1997 after three and half years of development to critical acclaim.
He was placed on the team for the sequel, Fallout 2, over his objections, wanting instead to work on a project unrelated to Fallout. Cain later explained in May 2023 that he left Fallout 2 months into development due to burnout and the cut in his bonus pay for Fallout by executive producer Brian Fargo as punishment for a game-delaying buffer overflow crash bug. Colleagues Jason D. Anderson and Leonard Boyarsky resigned along with him.[10] In an interview, he criticized the bigger influence from sales/marketing department during Fallout 2 development, saying, "We were losing part of the game to a larger group who had bigger plans for it."[11]
Cain co-founded Troika Games in 1998 with former Fallout colleagues Jason Anderson and Leonard Boyarsky.[8]
His next game reunited him with Thomas R. Decker, the original Fallout producer. As project leader and lead designer he produced within 20 months the Dungeons & Dragons game The Temple of Elemental Evil for publisher Atari in 2003. While he loved making the game, he was disappointed that it did not result how he wanted it to be.[12]
I was hoping that Troika would get the license, but we were massively outbid. But in the end, they made a good game.[13]
Cain had mixed reactions to Fallout 3, praising Bethesda's understanding of Fallout lore as well as the adaptation of "S.P.E.C.I.A.L." system into a first-person shooter role-playing video game (FPS-RPG), but he criticized the humor and recycling of too many story elements from the earlier Fallout games.[12]
He helped out programming the last Troika game, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, a horror RPG for Activision in 2004. He also worked on a post-apocalyptic roleplay game for which he could not convince any publisher to fund. As consequence he had to lay off most employees in late 2004 and shuttered Troika Games in February 2005.[14]
Carbine Studios
Cain joined Carbine Studios when it was formed in 2005 [15] as its programming director working on a fantasy MMO game for NCSoft. He was promoted to design director October 7, 2008.[15] Cain left Carbine Studios in July 2011.[16]
Cain created a YouTube channel in 2011. He began regularly uploading videos in 2023 in which he discusses topics such as the video game industry, video game development, business management, and his experiences with different companies and projects, as well as occasional personal stories. As of November 2025, the channel has released 674 videos and has 192k subscribers.[22]
I have an ulterior motive which I've revealed after months of doing Youtube. I want people watching my channel to learn how to make games, and then make games for me to play[…] because I'm explaining games how I like them made, so if a few people start making those kinds of games, it's win-win![23]
Personal life
Cain came out as a gay man in the early 2000s after concealing his sexuality throughout much of his early career.[24] He married his husband Robert Land on July 14, 2011.[25] He resides in the Seattle metropolitan area after previously living in the Los Angeles area for most of his career.
Cain is affected by hereditary color blindness, stating in a Gamasutra interview that he "[can now] see less than half the spectrum of colors". He enjoys cooking, particularly Japanese and Chinese cuisine, and his favorite dishes are garlic chicken fried rice and chicken karaage.[26]
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