'Felt Like I was Making a Game Worse to Appeal to Audience,' Josh Sawyer on Pillars of Eternity
Josh Sawyer, lead designer of Pillars of Eternity, reminisces years later about working on a series that, despite some flaws, has developed quite a following. 'It was a very weird experience, but I'm still proud of the games," he says.
Both installments of Pillars of Eternity are still, to this day, RPGs appreciated by the fan community. No wonder, since Josh Sawyer himself - the lead designer of, among others, Fallout New Vegas and Icewind Dale II worked on them. As it turns out, when designing PoE the man had to make many compromises. All because of fan expectations.
Josh Sawyer candidly on working on Pillars of Eternity
An interview with Josh Sawyer and other experienced developers is the latest initiative of PC Gamer. During the interview, each participant was able to talk about their experiences in game development. The question, "How much influence did the fans have on their design," was answered by Josh Sawyer as follows:
"(...) the most compromised games I worked on were Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2. (...) they were crowdfunded games and the audience was like, 'No, we want D&D, we want exactly the same experience as the Infinity Engine games [e.g. Icewind Dale II or Planescape Torment - editor's note],'" recalls Savyer
To understand the situation during the creation of PoE, it is worth outlining the background of events. Icewind Dale is an iconic isometric RPG. Savyer knew his trade - he translated his experience with the D&D system into work, and as a result, he was quickly promoted at Black Isle Studios, eventually becoming the lead designer of Icewind Dale II.
"I've been playing D&D since 1985 and other tabletop roleplaying games along the way. When I got into the industry in 1999 the first game that I got to work on was Icewind Dale, and so I was like, 'Yeah!' I was so stoked," Savyer says
He changed his place of employment frequently, until he ended up at Obsidian Entertainment in 2005, where he served as lead designer of Neverwinter Nights 2 and Fallout: New Vegas. Sawyer's good fortune lasted until 2012, when the company teetered on the brink of financial disaster (by laying out money for Stormlands, which was canceled).
In 2012, Obsidian launched a fundraising kickstarter for Pillars of Eternity, during which nearly $4 million was raised. Savyer had planned to translate his experience with developing D&D games (after working at Black Isle) into a new title, but the community that put up the money for the game had the final say. And it had different expectations.
"(...) also I felt like I was making bad design decisions ultimately, like I was making a game worse to appeal to the sensibilities of the audience that wanted something ultra nostalgic. It was a very weird experience, but I'm still proud of the games," explains Savyer
What is Savyer up to these days?
Pillars of Eternity II was Obsidian studio's last project before moving under the wings of Microsoft. The acquisition did not affect Josh Sawyer's activities - he is still actively working at the studio as a lead designer. In 2022, the team released the warmly received Pentiment.
