Josh Sawyer of Obsidian Entertainment has one of the more robust CVs in game design: Iceland Dale 1 and 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2 and most recently, the highly-praised historical role-playing game Pentiment.
We focus on various aspects of the production of Pentiment: avoiding burnout, drawing from meticulously-researched historical material, dealing with religion (both as a nexus of temporal power and a daily spiritual presence in peoples lives), as well as covering gameplay and narrative aspects.
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:00 - Life post-Pentiment, comparison with the aftermath of Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire
00:04:20 - Managing production stress and preventing burnout, for individuals and for teams
00:06:50 - Balancing personal vision, and the requirements of publishers. For their next project, team morale will be the number one priority.
00:08:30 - Allowing team members to play to their strengths.
00:11:30 - Dealing with history and religion as opposed to fantasy worlds. Engaging with "microhistory" as opposed to top-down, ruler-first historiography; examining the daily lives of the people of an era.
00:16:56 - The difference between taking inspiration from history and literature, as opposed to games that draw primarily on other games.
00:21:26 - Religion in Pentiment: "I consider myself an atheist but, like, who cares." The personal nature of characters’ engagements with God, the Devil, spirituality, and the church as a political entity.
00:31:41 - The politics of power in Pentiment
00:43:02 - Gameplay and narrative consequences in Pentiment - major (plot-altering) and minor (aesthetic, dramatic, personal)
00:50:50 - Contrasting this kind of design in Pentiment with consequences in the final act of Deadfire
00:51:50 - Dramatic immersion in Pentiment: keeping the dramatic intimacy through rituals and role-playing mini-games.
