Torment Kevin Saunders leaves inXile

[Diablo169]

This seems rather disturbing, how common is it for someone in Kevin's role to leave before a game is completed?

 

[Fairfax]

Well, pretty sure it's too late in the game's development for this to have much of an effect. Unless of course everything is somehow a mess behind the scenes despite the good quality of the alpha, and now Chris Keenan has the tough job of deciding what to cut to save the project, Sawyer-on-NWN2 style. But that seems unlikely. And all the roles most important for a Torment game - creative lead (Colin McComb), lead area designer (George Ziets) - are still there, so...

A lot of content can end up getting the axe/heavy changes until release. WL2 went way over budget in 2,5 years. TToN is at 2,5 years and it's still in Alpha. To give credit where its due, Sawyer apparently ran a tight ship with PoE, yet 3/4 of MCA stuff was cut.

This seems rather disturbing, how common is it for someone in Kevin's role to leave before a game is completed?

Very rare. Usually happens to games in development hell, which doesn't seem to be case here, so it's even more unusual.

 

[Roguey]

This seems rather disturbing, how common is it for someone in Kevin's role to leave before a game is completed?

Sawyer left IWD2 to go back to work on The Black Hound, but that was because he was on The Black Hound first and IWD2's lead designer quit early on and someone had to steer that ship.

Dragon Age: Origins went through two project directors and three lead designers. The first iteration didn't take, Dan Tudge/Brent Knowles did most of the work, and the Darrah/Laidlaw job was purely console port-related matters and we'd see the true Darrah/Laidlaw collab with DA2.

Most infamously, Ferret Baudoin skipped out on Obsidian for Bioware months before NWN2's release, leaving Sawyer in charge to prevent total disaster.

 

[Fry]

Safe to say that everything is not going swimmingly if the project director leaves midstream.

Hopefully it's just an ego conflict between Fargo and Saunders and not an indication of serious money problems.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[DarkArcher]

That is bad news any way you slice it. Didn't they name Chris as Project Lead on Bard's Tale IV? How does that work?

 

[Irenaeus II]

No sea or Fargo? We know who to blame now.

 

[Fairfax]

Safe to say that everything is not going swimmingly if the project director leaves midstream.

Hopefully it's just an ego conflict between Fargo and Saunders and not an indication of serious money problems.

I really doubt they're not having money problems of any kind. PoE had a small team and ran out of KS money during development in less than the 2,5 years it took. If not problems per se, I bet InXile is having to spend some of their own funds.

 

[agris]

No sea or Fargo? We know who to blame now.

No Fargo is really the most telling omission.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Good job inxile, put the fucker that was responsible for the bland uninspired mess that was Wasteland 2 in charge of Torment...

 

[Infinitron]

No Fargo is really the most telling omission.

Not really, the tweet was obviously directed at people ("TTON heroes") who had actually worked on the game with him.

 

[Fairfax]

Not really, the tweet was obviously directed at people ("TTON heroes") who had actually worked on the game with him.

Well, Fargo is the executive producer.

 

[Irenaeus II]

No Fargo is really the most telling omission.

Yes, I was joking about sea

 

[Fry]

...inXile and I have decided it is time for me to depart from the studio. I am proud of the project that I'm leaving in capable hands, and while I do not know what I'll do next, I look forward to new challenges and opportunities.

This reads to me like leaving was not his idea. Since letting him go would have to be Fargo's decision, well...

 

[Sensuki]

Just read the email update

 

[Infinitron]

Better update your Twitter profile, Chris: https://twitter.com/rangerkeenan

Kevin's LinkedIn is already updated: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevindsaunders

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

You people are paranoid. If I had to guess, he simply didn't want to relocate to NO and they didn't have appropriate position for him in NC.

Mystery solved.

 

[Sensuki]

You're missing the point, he voluntarily left early.

 

[Fairfax]

You're missing the point, he voluntarily left early.

He says in the post: "inXile and I have decided it is time for me to depart from the studio." Could've been anything, really.

 

[Sensuki]

Could have, yep. Was he working remotely?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Except for "[company] and I have decided it is time for me..." is a very awkward phrase.

 

[Infinitron]

Another thing you might want to consider in your random speculations is that there was some kind of disagreement over a new, different inXile project.

You people are paranoid. If I had to guess, he simply didn't want to relocate to NO and they didn't have appropriate position for him in NC.

If that was true, it would imply that the entire Torment staff was relocating to New Orleans since it makes no sense to just move the project director. Which would leave inXile California pretty much empty, I think.

Could have, yep. Was he working remotely?

No.

 

[Blaine]

Guys, my $1,000 is safe, right?

Guys?

H-hello?

 

[Excidium II]

Jumping off the sinking ship while other job offer is still open

 

[Fry]

Jumping off the sinking ship while other job offer is still open

Unlikely....

I do not know what I'll do next