Josh Sawyer Q&A Thread

[Chris Avellone]

I see. Were the 6 classes as stretch goals ordered Feargus or did they come from the team?

Right, but Sawyer said he worked with them to conceive the companions. He even said they still followed MCA's guidelines for companion design. As far as concepts go, I'd say they did follow most of it, but the execution was terrible.

Tyranny did have better companions than Deadfire, but two of its writers have left the company, so I guess there's no solution there either.

Stretch goals: I don't know, I wasn't involved with the KS stretch goal decisions (I did weigh in on companion design, but those were guidelines, not mandates, and they weren't followed consistently). I did help out with press contacts (I got Josh the interview on NPR, for example).

I do recall Josh complaining about the "two big cities" stretch goal and he said that came from the owners, but I had no part in, or was aware of, that decision. Often, the "owners" were "an" owner or Parker and Feargus in tandem coming to their latest brilliant decision, but the problem becomes everyone else at the company believes such decisions were a group "owners" decision, which is really confusing when someone is in your office (like Josh was) blaming it on the collective and you go silent b/c you have no idea what the fuck he's talking about. Again, we weren't really good about communication at the top level, right down to the PoE1 release date, which came as a surprise to me when I found out it had been pushed back because of the scoping issues (but I was glad it was delayed, it was in no shape to ship when originally promised - Deadfire could have used a few more months to cook as well).

As for companion design, story design, etc. I still don't understand who did what narratively on Deadfire (for example, Carrie wasn't listed as a lead until what felt like late in development, and if so, it sucks to be saddled with story decisions you didn't decide - that happened to me on Alpha Protocol, but I tried to roll with it), so I couldn't give an opinion on anything else. I would love to hear what those narrative breakdowns were, though, when the transition happened, and how much freedom each designer was given for each companion and for the lead making story corrections. On the companion side, I could always ask Tony Evans (Serafen), I suppose, but a contractor may have had a different experience than someone full-time at the studio.

 

[Chris Avellone]

If I had to guess, Chris Avellone saw people being annoyed at getting poisoned by cazadores and decided that a good gameplay reward for the DLC would be no longer having to be annoyed by it

Poison seemed mostly irritating, and narratively, not having a heart to pump blood seemed like it would lend itself to being poison-free. That said, systemically, not having to worry about a nuisance debuff is a positive award and makes it seem like you're more of a superhero than everyone else.

Overall, I didn't think it would break the game to have it gone if people chose to be Heartless.

I could go into a long-winded discussion about the endless food item in Ultima Underworld 2 (in short, you suffer food management annoyance until you get it, so you REALLY appreciate it when you get it), but poison doesn't come close to the annoyance of the feeding mechanic.

 

[Fairfax]

I do recall Josh complaining about the "two big cities" stretch goal and he said that came from the owners, but I had no part in, or was aware of, that decision.

I knew he criticized the two big cities after launch, but it's interesting that he complained back then as well. He ended up making a similar mistake:

Early in preproduction, Sawyer stood his ground on big decisions; most significantly, the size of the game. The old Infinity Engine games, which the team had been playing during spare afternoons for inspiration, had worlds that were divided into individual map screens, each full of objects and encounters. The largest of these games, Baldur’s Gate 2, had nearly two hundred unique maps. To plan Project Eternity’s scope, Sawyer and Brennecke would need to figure out how many maps the game would have. Brennecke had settled on 120, but Sawyer disagreed. He wanted 150. And Sawyer wouldn’t relent, even though they all knew it would cost more money. “The way I view the relationship between production and direction is there intentionally should be a little bit of antagonism,” Sawyer said. “Not hostility—but the director at some level is saying, ‘I want to do this, I’m writing this check.’ Production holds the checkbook.”

 

[Chris Avellone]

I knew he criticized the two big cities after launch, but it's interesting that he complained back then as well. He ended up making a similar mistake:

The way to which Baldur’s Gate was used as leverage to get things the team wanted was amazing, and in all honesty, kudos to them, because it worked. Production may hold the checkbook, but they didn't check what they were signing off very much nor question it, which floored me - well, when I was aware they'd done it.

In short, I wouldn’t put too much stock on the devs being pushed around by outside forces or “fan expectations” for a BG nostalgia clone determining their choices for scope – they’d alternately use BG as a reason for or against whatever feature or scope they themselves wanted, and there wasn’t much to hold it in check (the only check on PoE1 was Ferg, and he didn't often question Josh b/c he was distracted and the dynamic between them).

Even worse, though, they’d even try to hide the decision and the resources cost if they could.

For example, late in PoE1, I noticed we weren’t getting any updates on the system design aspects for PoE1 in the design meeting reports being sent to production even though clearly new elements were being worked on.

When I noticed that, I specifically requested they be included in design reports and disseminated – especially after what happened with system design on FNV that caused problems: To explain one small example: “hey, we’re near the end of production and perks aren’t designed or in the game yet but no one really knows that or knows when they’re going and heyyyy I’m not a system designer or anything but maybe that may create balance issues?” Crazy, I know.

Anyway, lot of scope lessons. And really, I doubt anyone was religiously comparing PoE1 vs. BG in any event - players just wanted PoE1 to be a good game as the highest priority, as we all did, and I'm not sure "more maps" is really the shining symbol of quality.

EDIT: Sorry, what's above isn't accurate - Brandon Adler did weigh in on production decisions, but he wasn't always listened to. For example, he told me that in all future titles, Josh should not do any companion design or writing for a long list of reasons (which made sense - the biggest point was the time it consumed vs. overseeing the project as Project Director). That said, Brandon doesn't run Obsidian, and while his instincts may be correct (I agreed when he told me his opinion), he doesn't have the authority to make that happen vs. the "owners".

 

[Fairfax]

I knew he criticized the two big cities after launch, but it's interesting that he complained back then as well. He ended up making a similar mistake:

The way to which Baldur’s Gate was used as leverage to get things the team wanted was amazing, and in all honesty, kudos to them, because it worked. Production may hold the checkbook, but they didn't check what they were signing off very much nor question it, which floored me - well, when I was aware they'd done it.

In short, I wouldn’t put too much stock on the devs being pushed around by outside forces or “fan expectations” for a BG nostalgia clone determining their choices for scope – they’d alternately use BG as a reason for or against whatever feature or scope they themselves wanted, and there wasn’t much to hold it in check (the only check on PoE1 was Ferg, and he didn't often question Josh b/c he was distracted and the dynamic between them).

Even worse, though, they’d even try to hide the decision and the resources cost if they could.

For example, late in PoE1, I noticed we weren’t getting any updates on the system design aspects for PoE1 in the design meeting reports being sent to production even though clearly new elements were being worked on.

When I noticed that, I specifically requested they be included in design reports and disseminated – especially after what happened with system design on FNV that caused problems: To explain one small example: “hey, we’re near the end of production and perks aren’t designed or in the game yet but no one really knows that or knows when they’re going and heyyyy I’m not a system designer or anything but maybe that may create balance issues?” Crazy, I know.

Anyway, lot of scope lessons. And really, I doubt anyone was religiously comparing PoE1 vs. BG in any event - players just wanted PoE1 to be a good game as the highest priority, as we all did, and I'm not sure "more maps" is really the shining symbol of quality.

The BG thing sounds like a clever tactic to exploit Feargus' nostalgia and the delusion that he made BG happen. Then again, Sawyer thought IWD1 and IWD2 were average at best, and it seems he never understood or liked PS:T that much, so it's possible he genuinely saw BG as the only standard of comparison. Not a pressure from the backers, though. After all, the Kickstarter promised something else:

the central hero, memorable companions and the epic exploration of Baldur’s Gate, add in the fun, intense combat and dungeon diving of Icewind Dale, and tie it all together with the emotional writing and mature thematic exploration of Planescape: Torment.

EDIT: Sorry, what's above isn't accurate - Brandon Adler did weigh in on production decisions, but he wasn't always listened to. For example, he told me that in all future titles, Josh should not do any companion design or writing for a long list of reasons (which made sense - the biggest point was the time it consumed vs. overseeing the project as Project Director). That said, Brandon doesn't run Obsidian, and while his instincts may be correct (I agreed when he told me his opinion), he doesn't have the authority to make that happen vs. the "owners".

It seems he took that advice and decided to do the opposite in Deadfire.

 

[Roguey]

My experience with cazador poison in New Vegas was that if I didn't antivenom immediately, I'd be dead, so I wouldn't so much call it a nuisance as I would call it not-quite-instant death spell (requiring a hard counter in the inventory).

he told me that in all future titles, Josh should not do any companion design or writing for a long list of reasons

 

[2house2fly]

Baldur's Gate frankly is the only standard of comparison. Icewind Dale and PST are well-regarded but never really got out of the niche, Baldur's Gate broke into the mainstream. When someone talks nostalgically about the Infinity Engine games there's a better than even chance they're talking about Baldur's Gate

 

[Rivmusique]

When is he joining ZA/UM?

 

[Neanderthal]

I could go into a long-winded discussion about the endless food item in Ultima Underworld 2 (in short, you suffer food management annoyance until you get it, so you REALLY appreciate it when you get it), but poison doesn't come close to the annoyance of the feeding mechanic.

Oh the box in the Goblin tower, I missed that first couple of playthroughs for some reason and never really minded managing hunger, but then again I like preparation and find i'm having less and less to do in rpgs to point where i'm a little bored when playing many modern games and feel like i'm not that much involved in the game.

Might be just me though.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Prime Junta]

Hey, he's not bad, considering it's not his day job. Bit too much vibrato maybe.

 

[Killzig]

Probably one of the few tracks they didn't have to pay any special licensing fees for.

 

[Infinitron]

Interesting:

 

[Drax]

Should've used that instead of unity then.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Sentinel]

school friends killed
forced to work on ip he hates
denied his turn based tactics game
at a sinking company
knows he'll never touch the franchise he loves ever again because his boss is a cunt

Punished Josh had a hard life.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Infinitron]

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/178731159801/hi-josh-you-seem-like-a-really-knowledgeable-guy

Hi Josh! You seem like a really knowledgeable guy with a diverse set of interests. What are your 5 favorite books? (Non)fiction both OK. Danke!

It changes, but I’d say The Name of the Rose (Eco), The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (Spence), Nudge (Thaler, Sunstein - though don’t take that as endorsement of everything in the book!), Italian Folktales (Calvino), History of Madness (Foucault).

 

[turkishronin]

THIS NIGGA READING FOCAULT

 

[Infinitron]

Josh was asked a question about this podcast that Jason Liang posted about earlier this year: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...s-infinity-engine-pillars-what-is-rpg.122500/

 

[LESS T_T]

We’re also in a time when RTSs are more of a niche market, so the microing skill set is less common among players than 20 years ago.

Funny to think that now probably XCOM is doing what RTSs did at that time.

 

[Killzig]

So did Josh quit? Seems like he hasn't been in the office for a few months now.

 

[2house2fly]

He's working on the challenge modes, and some dev said in an interview that he was also working on some updates to the ship combat but who knows. He pops into the Something Awful thread every now and then to link to a Deadfire short story or DLC trailer (or to get mad at me for saying sidekicks should have more dialogue) but otherwise looks to be on a break

 

[Xeon]

I thought he was done with PoE completely. He even worked on the tabletop version or something as well I think and now he is back again.

 

[Killzig]

He's working on the challenge modes, and some dev said in an interview that he was also working on some updates to the ship combat but who knows. He pops into the Something Awful thread every now and then to link to a Deadfire short story or DLC trailer (or to get mad at me for saying sidekicks should have more dialogue) but otherwise looks to be on a break

I tuned out after the first DLC, I didn't realize he was working on the challenges. Just going from his social media it seems like he's been everywhere but California for the last few months so I guess he's still working remotely.