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Obsidian General Discussion Thread

Roguey

Codex Staff
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Sawyerite
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May 29, 2010
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https://www.obsidian.net/careers/open-positions/design/8Kaq9UUCp8-lead-narrative-designer

Obsidian is looking for a Lead Narrative Designer to join the development team making our next great world-class RPG.

The Lead Narrative Designer is responsible for advocating for the audience's best narrative experience. They must possess excellent communication and organization skills as well as the ability to negotiate with peers in a goal-oriented way. They will have perfected balancing a game director's goals with the needs of narrative design teams and the expectations of the game's expected audience.

This position requires the ability to work onsite or in a hybrid capacity at the Obsidian Entertainment office in Irvine, CA.

Responsibilities
  • Working with the Game Director, Region Directors, and Narrative Designers to execute on the game's story beats across content
  • Reviewing writing for the project and providing guidance based on the established style and specific aesthetic
  • Writing some portion of dialogue and additional game text to have a basic understanding of the game's pipelines and to help establish expectations for the other Narrative Designers
  • Working with the Audio Director, Narrative Designers, external voice directors, and voice actors to help coordinate VO sessions (preparing character sides and scripts, providing guidance and context, etc.)
Requirements
  • 3+ years of professional game writing experience with at least one shipped game
  • Experience working as a writer on at least one shipped game with branching dialogue
  • High working knowledge of RPG conventions
  • An active gamer with a passion for making games
  • Experience working with dedicated dialogue tools for game development
Pluses
  • Experience in a management/lead role
  • Experience working with scripting languages
  • Familiarity with the Unreal Engine
Portfolio Requirements
  • Please attach three fiction writing samples that are representative of your range and skill as a writer
  • Samples may include game writing, short stories, novel excerpts, screenplays/script excerpts, graphic novel excerpts, or video links to cutscenes/dialogue sequences you have written
  • At least one sample must demonstrate your skill with character dialogue
Obsidian Entertainment is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Please, no phone calls or drop-ins. We only accept electronic applications.

:lol: None of their current writers are qualified for the position. Great job, Absurdian, great job.

Edit: Unrelated, but there's also an area designer position open that mentions that either Avowed or TOW 2 will have stealth puzzles:

Design and script engaging combat encounters and challenging stealth puzzles
 
Last edited:

Flou

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:lol: None of their current writers are qualified for the position. Great job, Absurdian, great job.

Carrie Patel and Megan Starks already work as Lead Narrative Designers. Promoting someone else for the job would create a void into some other project. Jay Turner and Paul Kirsch meet the requirements and probably few others as well (cba to check). It's a chance to get some new high(er) level talent to the company.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
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Messages
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Carrie Patel and Megan Starks already work as Lead Narrative Designers. Promoting someone else for the job would create a void into some other project.

Patel's Avowed's project director, not narrative lead. Boyarsky's the creative lead on The Outer Worlds 2. Grounded has Michael Chu (Michael Who?) and Sawyer's keeping to himself on Sediment. Seems pretty bad to have to go through all the effort to find and hire someone outside the company after years of development (hence why they gave it to Dollarhyde when Soulban jumped ship). As Sawyer himself put it:

Sawyer said:
i mean that kinda shit happens. like once the game is "done" when it comes to Golden path(aka main storyline), the narrative director moves on, forced or other wise.
This is not true in any RPG I've ever worked on or seen the development of.

Sawyer said:
I've worked on one game that had a 6 month turnaround following the removal of two creative leads (Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows). It only shipped because the game's features and content were gutted and Midway death marched the team (then shut the studio down immediately after).
 
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Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
https://www.obsidian.net/careers/open-positions/design/8Kaq9UUCp8-lead-narrative-designer

Obsidian is looking for a Lead Narrative Designer to join the development team making our next great world-class RPG.

The Lead Narrative Designer is responsible for advocating for the audience's best narrative experience. They must possess excellent communication and organization skills as well as the ability to negotiate with peers in a goal-oriented way. They will have perfected balancing a game director's goals with the needs of narrative design teams and the expectations of the game's expected audience.

This position requires the ability to work onsite or in a hybrid capacity at the Obsidian Entertainment office in Irvine, CA.

Responsibilities
  • Working with the Game Director, Region Directors, and Narrative Designers to execute on the game's story beats across content
  • Reviewing writing for the project and providing guidance based on the established style and specific aesthetic
  • Writing some portion of dialogue and additional game text to have a basic understanding of the game's pipelines and to help establish expectations for the other Narrative Designers
  • Working with the Audio Director, Narrative Designers, external voice directors, and voice actors to help coordinate VO sessions (preparing character sides and scripts, providing guidance and context, etc.)
Requirements
  • 3+ years of professional game writing experience with at least one shipped game
  • Experience working as a writer on at least one shipped game with branching dialogue
  • High working knowledge of RPG conventions
  • An active gamer with a passion for making games
  • Experience working with dedicated dialogue tools for game development
Pluses
  • Experience in a management/lead role
  • Experience working with scripting languages
  • Familiarity with the Unreal Engine
Portfolio Requirements
  • Please attach three fiction writing samples that are representative of your range and skill as a writer
  • Samples may include game writing, short stories, novel excerpts, screenplays/script excerpts, graphic novel excerpts, or video links to cutscenes/dialogue sequences you have written
  • At least one sample must demonstrate your skill with character dialogue
Obsidian Entertainment is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Please, no phone calls or drop-ins. We only accept electronic applications.

:lol: None of their current writers are qualified for the position. Great job, Absurdian, great job.

Edit: Unrelated, but there's also an area designer position open that mentions that either Avowed or TOW 2 will have stealth puzzles:

Design and script engaging combat encounters and challenging stealth puzzles
They should hire Avellone.
:troll:
 

Late Bloomer

Scholar
Joined
Apr 7, 2022
Messages
2,956
This time around, I believe Obsidian will achieve at making a game on the same "quality" as Skyrim.

They should be so lucky. Obsidian is trash. Always has been. FNV was an anomaly. They needed to copy the entire framework of previous Bethesda games to accomplish even that.
 
Last edited:

Flou

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 23, 2016
Messages
869
Location
Hellsinki
Carrie Patel and Megan Starks already work as Lead Narrative Designers. Promoting someone else for the job would create a void into some other project.

Patel's Avowed's project director, not narrative lead. Boyarsky's the creative lead on The Outer Worlds 2. Grounded has Michael Chu (Michael Who?) and Sawyer's keeping to himself on Sediment. Seems pretty bad to have to go through all the effort to find and hire someone outside the company after years of development (hence why they gave it to Dollarhyde when Soulban jumped ship).

Patel has previous credits as narrative lead and since she is already directing the project she can't narrative lead it as well. At least they've learned from their previous mistakes on burdening the narrrative lead / project director. I said Starks, not Boyarsky.

I'm quite amazed that they promoted Dollarhyde to begin with. She didn't have the same experience as some other people as Obsidian. Who knows, maybe Kirsch turned down the position. Turner hasn't been there that long and rest are mostly fresh hires.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
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Messages
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I said Starks, not Boyarsky.
My guess is that they either decided she's unfit for this specific role after the Dollarhyde Experience or they asked and she turned it down because she wants to be with her best buddy Boyarsky and not deal with Feargus's trademarked meddling (and I wouldn't blame her).

I'm quite amazed that they promoted Dollarhyde to begin with. She didn't have the same experience as some other people as Obsidian. Who knows, maybe Kirsch turned down the position. Turner hasn't been there that long and rest are mostly fresh hires.

Like Starks, she was a narrative lead on Outer Worlds DLC. Turns out being a lead on a small DLC doesn't entirely prepare you for the responsibilities of being a lead on a big title (for one thing, Feargus doesn't pay too much attention to DLCs :P).
 

BlackheartXIII

Educated
Joined
Mar 18, 2022
Messages
84
https://www.obsidian.net/careers/open-positions/design/8Kaq9UUCp8-lead-narrative-designer


Obsidian is looking for a Lead Narrative Designer to join the development team making our next great world-class RPG.

The Lead Narrative Designer is responsible for advocating for the audience's best narrative experience. They must possess excellent communication and organization skills as well as the ability to negotiate with peers in a goal-oriented way. They will have perfected balancing a game director's goals with the needs of narrative design teams and the expectations of the game's expected audience.

This position requires the ability to work onsite or in a hybrid capacity at the Obsidian Entertainment office in Irvine, CA.


https://gamejobs.co/Lead-Narrative-Designer-at-Obsidian-Entertainment
Responsibilities
  • Working with the Game Director, Region Directors, and Narrative Designers to execute on the game's story beats across content
  • Reviewing writing for the project and providing guidance based on the established style and specific aesthetic
  • Writing some portion of dialogue and additional game text to have a basic understanding of the game's pipelines and to help establish expectations for the other Narrative Designers
  • Working with the Audio Director, Narrative Designers, external voice directors, and voice actors to help coordinate VO sessions (preparing character sides and scripts, providing guidance and context, etc.)
Requirements
  • 3+ years of professional game writing experience with at least one shipped game
  • Experience working as a writer on at least one shipped game with branching dialogue
  • High working knowledge of RPG conventions
  • An active gamer with a passion for making games
  • Experience working with dedicated dialogue tools for game development
Pluses
  • Experience in a management/lead role
  • Experience working with scripting languages
  • Familiarity with the Unreal Engine
Portfolio Requirements
  • Please attach three fiction writing samples that are representative of your range and skill as a writer
  • Samples may include game writing, short stories, novel excerpts, screenplays/script excerpts, graphic novel excerpts, or video links to cutscenes/dialogue sequences you have written
  • At least one sample must demonstrate your skill with character dialogue
Obsidian Entertainment is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Please, no phone calls or drop-ins. We only accept electronic applications.


they opened this position in 12/5 on a day after that Dollerhyde anncouced her discharge (11/5), the quitting was not planned.
https://gamejobs.co/Lead-Narrative-Designer-at-Obsidian-Entertainment
 
Last edited:

Berengar

Learned
Joined
Sep 5, 2021
Messages
219
Was Dollarhyde responsible for all the
ejhChv3.png
style writing in Outer Worlds?


If then I wish her the best with other work but I can't say I'm gonna miss her...
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,835
they opened this position in 12/5 on a day after that Dollerhyde anncouced her discharge (11/5), the quitting was not planned.
https://gamejobs.co/Lead-Narrative-Designer-at-Obsidian-Entertainment
Thanks, but of course it wasn't planned, see the Sawyer quotes I posted. Also Avellone from last year https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/1432977854535376896
It’s generally unusual for people to quit in the middle of a project, it’s generally not well regarded in the industry unless there’s mitigating factors (family sick).

In this case it's "I'm quitting to work on 'personal creative endeavors' because this job has become miserable." :lol:
 

Drop Duck

Learned
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Dec 22, 2020
Messages
687
My guess is that they either decided she's unfit for this specific role after the Dollarhyde Experience or they asked and she turned it down because she wants to be with her best buddy Boyarsky
Sparks and Boyardeesky should be a creative couple.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,835
Does Parker also involved in avowed production?
Nope, he was kicked off and took a long vacation. Microsoft installed a babysitter to ensure that the meddling would come to an end but it looks like he may not have been paying attention to the writing (normal according to Avellone, publishers don't care about writing in games).
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
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Messages
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Someone poked Avellone and he's claiming that Charles Staples left too. :M



Remember when ChrisAvellone stated there were a lot of high-level departures on Avowed? Only for one person to say nuh-uh without receipts and everyone believed that over the LinkedIn pages? Well, the narrative lead just left the studio.
Lead Level Designer for #Fallout New Vegas just resigned, too. Hope everything is okay. :(
 

Duraframe300

Arcane
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
6,395
Carrie Patel and Megan Starks already work as Lead Narrative Designers. Promoting someone else for the job would create a void into some other project.

Patel's Avowed's project director, not narrative lead. Boyarsky's the creative lead on The Outer Worlds 2. Grounded has Michael Chu (Michael Who?) /QUOTE]

Wait, Chu is working at Obsidian again? Thought Grounded was paid remote work.
 

Roguey

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Messages
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Wait, Chu is working at Obsidian again? Thought Grounded was paid remote work.
I just went by what the credits said on MobyGames. Apparently he wasn't there for very long.

Story Michael Chu, Adam Brennecke, Mitch Loidolt
Additional Story Sean Dunny, Roby Atadero, Kazunori Aruga, John Lewis
Writing Michael Chu
Additional Writing Mitch Loidolt, Adam Brennecke, Andy Artz, Jerrick Flores, Jeff Husges, Sean Dunny

Not a very narrative-heavy game so.
 

Duraframe300

Arcane
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
6,395
Wait, Chu is working at Obsidian again? Thought Grounded was paid remote work.
I just went by what the credits said on MobyGames. Apparently he wasn't there for very long.

Story Michael Chu, Adam Brennecke, Mitch Loidolt
Additional Story Sean Dunny, Roby Atadero, Kazunori Aruga, John Lewis
Writing Michael Chu
Additional Writing Mitch Loidolt, Adam Brennecke, Andy Artz, Jerrick Flores, Jeff Husges, Sean Dunny

Not a very narrative-heavy game so.

Yeah, IIRC it was only some side work after leaving Blizzard.
 

The Wall

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People on high level positions who are healthy, not conscripted into war or their entire family got drone striked, do not leave their high paying jobs on high profile projects. They just don't. UNLESS said project is in serious trouble and stress is not worth any money

That's d truth. Everything else is just cope
 

The Wall

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Someone poked Avellone and he's claiming that Charles Staples left too. :M
Good for him. There's nothing left for the old school designers at Obsidian anymore.
Holy Roman Empire had more to do with Roman Empire then Outer Worlds Obsidian has with Fallout:New Vegas Obsidian. Obsidian is dead, all we are waiting for is Josh Sawyer's gender change announcement
 

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