Why was Sawyer given free rein with POE?

[roshan]

OK, so something I don't understand. It seems like Sawyer was given almost free rein to do whatever he wanted with the POE project, even really controversial (and stupid) ideas such as scrapping XP for combat. Why was this the case? Why didn't Feargus or any of the upper management step in to set the project back on the right path?

 

[tarasis]

Presumably because they have faith in him, and it was his project. To be fair I am happy with the no XP for combat, it was something different for a change.

 

[Somberlain]

Fuck You: Suck My Dick: Josh Sawyer's Personal Dream RPG Experience

 

[roshan]

Presumably because they have faith in him, and it was his project. To be fair I am happy with the no XP for combat, it was something different for a change.

Well, why was he even assigned the project, given that he didn't even like BG2? I mean he may have backtracked with his recent comments but he is on the record bashing the game in the past.

 

[Bleed the Man]

Because he was the project lead?

Also, they have confidence in Sawyer as a designer. I mean, he was given leadership of big franchises like Baldur's Gate and Fallout (both in Obz and Black Isle) while he was pretty much a noobie as a designer, is obvious that the people he works with think highly about his abilities and it's no surprise that he was the man to go.

 

[Starwars]

To spite the bitter cunts at the Codex, surely.

 

[Infinitron]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas

Director(s) Josh Sawyer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas#Reception

As of November 8, 2010, the game had shipped 5 million copies worldwide,[87] achieving revenue of $300 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas#Development

The game had a somewhat short development cycle of 18 months.

Any questions?

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas

The game had a somewhat short development cycle of 18 months.

Any questions?

So he's good at modding existing systems not creating new ones?

 

[Infinitron]

According to some, that's exactly what PoE is though

 

[Crooked Bee]

He is also the only person at Obsidian who tries to think deeply about RPG systems, to the point of overthinking it perhaps, even if his preferences and the conclusions he reaches - or even his approach as such - may not be to everyone's liking. The way he's knowledgeable about it should look pretty impressive to the rest of Obsidian employees / his bosses, too.

MCA and Tim Cain seem more "old school" in the sense of "let's do whatever sounds like fun" - an approach I tend to prefer myself - while Sawyer seems more methodical/systematic in this regard, and as a result also more "dry."

 

[Infinitron]

We don't really know what Tim Cain's design philosophy is like these days, I think.

Avellone, OTOH, seems like he wants to be more Sawyer-like, but just can't stop himself from being a pure content creation blast furnace.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Avellone, OTOH, seems like he wants to be more Sawyer-like

Where do you get that feeling from? Because I can't recall MCA ever (attempting to) approach systems the way Sawyer does. MCA seems purely content- / fun-driven to me (wouldn't it be fun if...?), and self-consciously so.

As for Tim, that's the feeling I get from the things he suggested during the PoE kickstarter.

 

[Infinitron]

Where do you get that feeling from? Because I can't recall MCA ever (attempting to) approach systems the way Sawyer does.

Well, not really explicitly the way Sawyer does, but he often expresses admiration for games with a more systems-centric approach to design. And talks about how everything he does ideally has to interface with the game's systems. Stuff like that. It seems like he's a bit in awe of that sort of approach.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

 

[Crooked Bee]

Ah, right, I agree with that. It's the usual thing, admiring something you know you lack.

I'm also not sure that's what Sawyer's approach is about, personally (I mean, making everything in the game part or extension of the core gameplay systems), but I admit I'm just not knowledgeable enough about it. That sounds more like Looking Glass' or Larian's (taking just D:OS here) approach to me. Both are systems-driven obviously, but they're still not the same. I'm not sure I can formulate the difference off the top of my head, though.

The way MCA has been talking about Bioshock etc. makes me think he has LGS' approach in mind, not necessarily Sawyer's.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

We don't know what Tim Cain's design philosophy is like these days.

TimCain what is that philosophy?

 

[Vault Dweller]

OK, so something I don't understand. It seems like Sawyer was given almost free rein to do whatever he wanted with the POE project, even really controversial (and stupid) ideas such as scrapping XP for combat. Why was this the case? Why didn't Feargus or any of the upper management step in to set the project back on the right path?

Are we talking about the game that got 90 on Metacritics (most US reviews are 95-100, 8.5 user score)? Yeah, why didn't they stop this madman? WHY?!!!

 

[Cazzeris]

Metacritic should never be used as an argument. It represents videogames' journalism as a whole, and we all know that it's one of the most retarded collectives to ever exist.

 

[markec]

OK, so something I don't understand. It seems like Sawyer was given almost free rein to do whatever he wanted with the POE project, even really controversial (and stupid) ideas such as scrapping XP for combat. Why was this the case? Why didn't Feargus or any of the upper management step in to set the project back on the right path?

Are we talking about the game that got 90 on Metacritics (most US reviews are 95-100, 8.5 user score)? Yeah, why didn't they stop this madman? WHY?!!!

And Oblivion has 94 on Metacritic.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Metacritic should never be used as an argument. It represents videogames' journalism as a whole, and we all know that it's one of the most retarded collectives to ever exist.

Still better score than 84, y'know.

 

[Infinitron]

Nowadays the most important thing may be a game's Steam approval score, which is at 91% for PoE

 

[Somberlain]

Metacritic should never be used as an argument. It represents videogames' journalism as a whole, and we all know that it's one of the most retarded collectives to ever exist.

And Oblivion has 94 on Metacritic.

Obsidian is a business, so if Sawyer can design games that score very highly, I don't know why they wouldn't let him continue. I don't think these companies care about how retarded game critics are.

 

[markec]

Metacritic should never be used as an argument. It represents videogames' journalism as a whole, and we all know that it's one of the most retarded collectives to ever exist.

And Oblivion has 94 on Metacritic.

Obsidian is a business, so if Sawyer can design games that score very highly, I don't know why they wouldn't let him continue. I don't think these companies care about how retarded game critics are.

I do understand that every dev wants their game to have high scores even from retarded game critics, but that doesnt mean that high scores equals a good game.

 

[Somberlain]

but that doesnt mean that high scores equals a good game.

It doesn't, but I don't think anyone was implying that it does.

 

[markec]

but that doesnt mean that high scores equals a good game.

It doesn't, but I don't think anyone was implying that it does.

Well VD mentioned high scores the game has on Metacritic in response to a post being critical of how game turned out, seems to me he implied that its a proof Sawyer did a good job aka made a good game.