Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Josh Sawyer Q&A Thread

Kev Inkline

Kev Inkline

(devious)
Patron
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
5,482
A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
rusty_shackleford said:
Infinitron said:
Click to expand...

reminder that this thing used to look like a normal human
image.png

image.jpg
Click to expand...

I don't see any other problem here but the tats, tbh, which are a desecration of the temple that is the human body. Unless, of course, they're protecting runes on a troll slayer.
 
Infinitron

Infinitron

I post news
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
99,671
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/668951007230918656/hello-im-a-developer-working-on-an-rpg-and-i

Guten Abend, Josh!

My name is Steve and I’m a Game Designer (albeit on the dark side of the industry - mobile games) and I have question that I hope you can elaborate on a bit.

First I want to mention though that I’ve seen many of your videos and talks, but the one that resonated with me the most was “Game Direction on Collaborative Teams”. I seem to naturally fall into lead roles and I’ve learned a lot via this talk - I think it made me a better designer and quite frankly a less obnoxious lead. So my heartfelt thanks for that.

Considering a lead or directorial design role in a given project (similar to the ones you often have) I’m wondering how you deal with the challenges that naturally arise from the other side of game development - publishers.

I find myself often in similar situations as with the development team itself - lots of discussions, explaining/selling/defending a vision and unfortunately added politics.

Due to publishers virtually always being the people financing the game you’re building, you have to make compromises - sometimes ones that keep you up at night, because you deep down *know* it makes the game worse. No matter how much invest in explaining/pleading or even ranting, you can’t convince the other party and the decision has been made.

I’m pretty sure you know exactly what I’m talking about as the F76 jersey in your talk did not go unnoticed. With that said, i’d love to hear any insights, tips or experiences you have with working with publishers.

Danke fürs lesen und ich würde mich über eine Antwort sehr freuen!

Viele Grüße aus Berlin,

Steve Haßenpflug
Click to expand...

Hi, Steve. Thanks for the kind words on my talk. I’m glad it’s useful.

Thankfully I haven’t had to deal with a publisher much on my last few projects. Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire were crowdfunded, and while we had partners for PR, marketing, and distribution, they didn’t have any say in how we made the game. We had a different set of expectations from backers, but I’d rather deal with backer/player expectations than publisher requests any day.

Making games is a marathon and there are only so many fights you can keep up over the course of development. You have to triage issues to keep the project/morale healthy. Sometimes I have to step back and ask myself, “What is the impact of this bad thing?” There are times when I know someone is asking for something bad and dumb – but if it’s not expensive and the badness of it is not catastrophically bad… maybe just let it go.

Save the knock-down-drag-out fights for the truly stupid things, the requests that will make the experience significantly worse for the majority of players.

Also, try to recognize when a compromised position is worse than either extreme. Too often, devs make compromises that no one is happy with because it represents a partial win, or some sort of obvious movement away from the thing they didn’t want. Sometimes these decisions can be worse than allowing the thing they don’t like to fully manifest.

I always try to keep everyone focused on the experience we’re trying to create and the audience we’re trying to make it for. If people get caught up in what they personally like or don’t like, arguments can become intractable. I’m not saying what you like doesn’t matter. It’s very important! But if everyone is just arguing on the basis of personal preference, it’s very hard to actually move anyone’s opinion.

Anyway, these are the things that have helped me. Good luck.
Click to expand...


 
You must log in or register to reply here.

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom