Eternity Obsidian willing to pimp out Pillars of Eternity like the cheap whore it is.

[Forest Dweller]

OBSIDIAN OPEN TO OTHER DEVELOPERS DOING PILLARS OF ETERNITY GAMES – IGN UNFILTERED
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Letting other ideas in can be good for everyone, Sawyer says.
BY JOSEPH KNOOP For Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

director Josh Sawyer, one of the most valuable things a game company can hold onto isn’t just its employees or the hardware it develops, but the original worlds they create that can be used throughout the future to create different games. In this month’s IGN Unfiltered, Sawyer says that Obsidian is open to the idea of other developers using the Pillars of Eternity IP to create their own games set within the same universe.

“I as an individual designer, I try not to design outside the boundaries of what we're actually putting in the games because I want other teams and other designers [to use this] -- or heck, maybe someone would license this from us,” Sawyer says, citing a hypothetical Pillars of Eternity tactics-based game as an idea that Obsidian might not have the interest in or means to produce itself. Sawyer suggests that a different developer could possibly license the Pillars of Eternity IP and software to start their own project.

What We Can Learn From RPG Design Guru Josh Sawyer - IGN Unfiltered #32
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1:05:18

“That would be great for everybody. It expands that universe, it gives the fans more games to play in that setting, and it's ultimately more profitable for the company,” Sawyer says.

When designing Pillars of Eternity’s narrative, Sawyer says one of their main objectives was to make the adventure “feel epic but not too epic.” Obsidian placed an emphasis on the player character being a relatively normal person who catches glimpses of the supernatural forces that their character can’t yet understand. This starting point allowed the writers of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire to responsibly raise the stakes, letting you pursue a rogue god across the sea without it feeling unearned.

Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition Review
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2:09

Sawyer suggests that any number of ideas, including a first-person Skyrim-style game, could be possible within the Pillars of Eternity world.

“There's all sorts of stuff we could do with the setting. I'm developing a crazy tabletop role-playing game, going all the way back to my roots, for Pillars of Eternity,” Sawyer says. “When I conceived it, I said this is a thing that we need to use as a company to build in the future.”

As for the immediate future of the franchise, Sawyer says that he does want to see Obsidian develop new types of experiences set in the Pillars of Eternity world, but that there are opportunities for more mainstream games as well.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Review
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4:40

“Personally, I want to work on something different because I’ve been working on Pillars for about six years now, which is kind of a while,” Sawyer says. “I have made a lot of party-based fantasy role-playing games. They’re a lot of fun to make, but I’m burned out for now on this. I have other game ideas that are actually even smaller in scope than something like Pillars or Deadfire.”

As design director for the entirety of Obsidian Entertainment, Sawyer says he’s going to spend the next year or so helping other designers at the company improve in their craft while focusing on Obsidian’s other projects.

For more behind-the-scenes info on the world of Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian’s work adapting tabletop design into Fallout: New Vegas, or their canceled Aliens RPG, make sure to check out this month’s full episode of IGN Unfiltered.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

imagine the devs lining up to make games for the bestselling franchise "Pillars of Eternity"

 

[Sacred82]

please feel free to take our advanced Unity 3D technology™ and our extremely indepth setting - now with ligatures - and do something nearly as amazing as Pillars of Eternity with it. We know you can do it want it.

 

[J_C]

OBSIDIAN OPEN TO OTHER DEVELOPERS DOING PILLARS OF ETERNITY GAMES – IGN UNFILTERED
Share.
Letting other ideas in can be good for everyone, Sawyer says.
BY JOSEPH KNOOP For Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

director Josh Sawyer, one of the most valuable things a game company can hold onto isn’t just its employees or the hardware it develops, but the original worlds they create that can be used throughout the future to create different games. In this month’s IGN Unfiltered, Sawyer says that Obsidian is open to the idea of other developers using the Pillars of Eternity IP to create their own games set within the same universe.

“I as an individual designer, I try not to design outside the boundaries of what we're actually putting in the games because I want other teams and other designers [to use this] -- or heck, maybe someone would license this from us,” Sawyer says, citing a hypothetical Pillars of Eternity tactics-based game as an idea that Obsidian might not have the interest in or means to produce itself. Sawyer suggests that a different developer could possibly license the Pillars of Eternity IP and software to start their own project.

What We Can Learn From RPG Design Guru Josh Sawyer - IGN Unfiltered #32
share
1:05:18

“That would be great for everybody. It expands that universe, it gives the fans more games to play in that setting, and it's ultimately more profitable for the company,” Sawyer says.

When designing Pillars of Eternity’s narrative, Sawyer says one of their main objectives was to make the adventure “feel epic but not too epic.” Obsidian placed an emphasis on the player character being a relatively normal person who catches glimpses of the supernatural forces that their character can’t yet understand. This starting point allowed the writers of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire to responsibly raise the stakes, letting you pursue a rogue god across the sea without it feeling unearned.

Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition Review
share
2:09

Sawyer suggests that any number of ideas, including a first-person Skyrim-style game, could be possible within the Pillars of Eternity world.

“There's all sorts of stuff we could do with the setting. I'm developing a crazy tabletop role-playing game, going all the way back to my roots, for Pillars of Eternity,” Sawyer says. “When I conceived it, I said this is a thing that we need to use as a company to build in the future.”

As for the immediate future of the franchise, Sawyer says that he does want to see Obsidian develop new types of experiences set in the Pillars of Eternity world, but that there are opportunities for more mainstream games as well.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Review
share
4:40

“Personally, I want to work on something different because I’ve been working on Pillars for about six years now, which is kind of a while,” Sawyer says. “I have made a lot of party-based fantasy role-playing games. They’re a lot of fun to make, but I’m burned out for now on this. I have other game ideas that are actually even smaller in scope than something like Pillars or Deadfire.”

As design director for the entirety of Obsidian Entertainment, Sawyer says he’s going to spend the next year or so helping other designers at the company improve in their craft while focusing on Obsidian’s other projects.

For more behind-the-scenes info on the world of Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian’s work adapting tabletop design into Fallout: New Vegas, or their canceled Aliens RPG, make sure to check out this month’s full episode of IGN Unfiltered.

There would be nothing wrong in letting a competent developer use this setting. They have built a nice world, even if they can't use it competently.Turn based RPG anyone? You are trying to bash Obsidian too hard.

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

He also practically jizzed himself at the thought of Obisidian doing another Fallout game.

It's a good grand Idea to want other, smaller, studios to want to work with your IP (tm).

It's an even more profitable idea to want to take over another studio's (more profitable) IP on their bahama cruise year.

Why the fuck wouldn't you want that for you studio.....?

 

[AwesomeButton]

I found it kind of self-contradictory when he first said that he is ok with making games that sell around a million copies, but this isn't seen as a good RoI in these days, and then saying that the IP is so valuable and he would like to see other devs make games in this setting. Ok, how valuable will it be for these other devs to make a game that sells around one million copies in three years?

I think such reasoning is wrong, he is thinking of the days when one million copies was a hit and then your technology and setting could be sold out for a lot. This isn't the case any more. Games like PoE are boutique, or they wouldn't have to be crowd funded in the first place.

Would Larian stop what they are doing in their setting just to make a TB RPG in Eora? Why, "for what"?

 

[Abu Antar]

A TB game with PoE2 classes and multiclasding could work.

 

[Theldaran]

please feel free to take our advanced Unity 3D technology™

 

[FeelTheRads]

Game companies develop hardware.

Couple of words in and IGN already delivers.

 

[Lilura]

"I have modded a lot of party-based fantasy role-playing games".

Fixed.

 

[AwesomeButton]

A TB game with PoE2 classes and multiclasding could work.

Depends on the execution of course. I mean the setting itself isn't something that will drive fans to your hypothetical isometric turn based RPG. Just like it's definitely not the setting that's winning over players for D:OS/2.

 

[Theldaran]

A TB game with PoE2 classes and multiclasding could work.

Depends on the execution of course. I mean the setting itself isn't something that will drive fans to your hypothetical isometric turn based RPG. Just like it's definitely not the setting that's winning over players for D:OS/2.

To be honest, Forgotten Realms setting on original BGs that in this case spawned POE, was bland, too. Not the games' selling aspect indeed.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The more I read, the more I come to the opinion that a good fantasy setting, but really good, not "the target-groups like it"-good, can happen only as the result of the long work of one very learned individual, with input from others equally learned. That's how it happened in Tolkien's case. I don't like Josh's approach of "I'll work on this area of the world in isolation, then years on from now, some other designer will do his own stuff in another part". This is probably a more feasible and realistic way for something to happen, but this setting will never be a great, emblematic setting.

Unless of course it gets sold for peanuts to someone like Bethesda or EA and they ravage it, then with their marketing budgets it can become a mainstream hit worth millions. Not that many people will cry for it, but the fact there are no such people is just a sign that it will probably never get sold.

 

[Theldaran]

I guess it's the same with FR, for example the North was given to Salvatore for his Drizzt shenanigans. FR is a compendium of small patches each done or expanded upon by a different guy. That's not to say it doesn't have an overall feeling and some direction, but you can't really make a credible, living fictional world out of your ass. There's gotta be holes somewhere. The amount of work is fantastic, so that's the reason most fantasy works fall short, or are limited to a pretty small area (like "Tigana").

That's also why with each installment of A Song of Ice and Fire the world and backstory is expanded upon, and that's why FR has needed years to grow in detail.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I think there is a trend for FR devaluing simply because of demographic reasons. Modern players don't know why it should be cool, because the old glory days don't mean anything to them.

 

[Cross]

A TB game (...) could work.

Fixed.

citing a hypothetical Pillars of Eternity tactics-based game as an idea that Obsidian might not have the interest in or means to produce itself.

So Feargus is still stubbornly refusing to make a turn-based game when Deadfire is struggling (still sitting somewhere in the 100-200k range), while the likes of Darkest Dungeon and Divinity: Original Sin sell millions of copies.

 

[Infinitron]

So Feargus is still stubbornly refusing to make a turn-based game when Deadfire is struggling (still sitting somewhere in the 100-200k range), while the likes of Darkest Dungeon and Divinity: Original Sin sell millions of copies.

I suggest you watch the video. Josh sounds a lot more hypothetical than the text is implying.

https://youtu.be/z2ODZ0zgIms?t=150

 

[The Great ThunThun*]

Wow. Obsidian is literally grasping at straws to save the setting. But really, let's be honest here. they blew the best bits (Gods are artificial) in the first game and it was done so badly that why would anyone want to tell stories in this world? There is no mystery, no real way to one-up the "watcher" (euphemism for peeping tom).

Let it die.

But I guess if they can monetize it then they will do it.

 

[J_C]

A TB game with PoE2 classes and multiclasding could work.

Depends on the execution of course. I mean the setting itself isn't something that will drive fans to your hypothetical isometric turn based RPG. Just like it's definitely not the setting that's winning over players for D:OS/2.

The reason for a smaller developer would use the setting is that it takes a lot of time and effort to come up with a whole fantasy world, with pre established lore, geography, language and bestiary. Licensing PoE would mean that they can spare this work and focus on writing and gameplay.

 

[Cross]

So Feargus is still stubbornly refusing to make a turn-based game when Deadfire is struggling (still sitting somewhere in the 100-200k range), while the likes of Darkest Dungeon and Divinity: Original Sin sell millions of copies.

I suggest you watch the video. That's IGN's interpretation, but I didn't get the same impression from Josh's words.

"I really want to make that tactics game. But let's say we weren't able to make it for one reason or another, it just didn't fit with us, maybe another company could license the Pillars of Eternity franchise from us."

Those are Sawyer's words. What other interpretation is there? Did you expect him to curse Feargus' name in public? Under the circumstances, this is as strong a confirmation he could give that Feargus is not interested in making a turn-based game.

 

[Infinitron]

I think there's a subtle but definite semantic difference between "let's say we weren't able to make it" and "citing a hypothetical Pillars of Eternity tactics-based game as an idea that Obsidian might not have the interest in". The former sounds like the opener to a hypothetical scenario, the latter sounds like something is being ruled out a priori.

In general, in gaming journalism, never trust anything that isn't a direct quote.

 

[The Great ThunThun*]

A TB game with PoE2 classes and multiclasding could work.

Depends on the execution of course. I mean the setting itself isn't something that will drive fans to your hypothetical isometric turn based RPG. Just like it's definitely not the setting that's winning over players for D:OS/2.

The reason for a smaller developer would use the setting is that it takes a lot of time and effort to come up with a whole fantasy world, with pre established lore, geography, language and bestiary. Licensing PoE would mean that they can spare this work and focus on writing and gameplay.

You are not serious, are you? It takes time to come up with a setting better than fantasy orks, elves and hobbits?

Please, spare me the indignation.

I almost make a new setting for every campaign I DM. About the geography, the world of "eora" is not that well detailed or reasonable anyway. The history is a joke and the lore is laughably bad because of the reason that there is no big mystery to solve or a plot of enough importance to overcome. That latter is the most crucial element in any setting. Consider how detailed and rich FR is by comparison and yet FR is by now trash.

 

[AwesomeButton]

It takes time to come up with a setting better than fantasy orks, elves and hobbits?

In his defense - "with better" is subjective, "with different and better" - yes it takes time, and not a small amount of it if you want a legit good setting, but my point in my last post was that it doesn't matter how good your setting is to the present day audience, it matters how hard your marketing is pushing this setting, and if it's a previously established one or not.

 

[Life of the Party]

it matters how hard your marketing is pushing this setting

To give you an example, Invicta did some videos on Cleopatra's Egypt when Origins was about to be released and Extra Credits did the same thing with Norse mythology and God of War.

None of it for free, obviously.

 

[J_C]

I almost make a new setting for every campaign I DM.

Yeah, I highly doubt that you come up with a new world, with new races, new history, new bestiary everytime. So spare me your bullshit. Hurr-durr, I don't like PoE's setting so it was probably piss easy to create it. Anybody can do it.

Give me a break.