Ferret is a Biowarian!!

[Gromnir]

Heh, you come HERE to have discussions with OE employees?

 

Thank god Sawyer was hired!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

you know, Gromnir has never been able to decide if josh is any good at the craft of making games. circumstances has surely conspired 'gainst him, but is still hard to say much 'bout his design skills so far.

 

his portions o' iwd were ok, but not our favorites... but that were his first game.

 

HoW? we gave him some serious heat over HoW, but sounds like fergie hamstrung HoW development from day 1.

 

iwd2? never finished, but again, what fergie wanted from iwd2 were simply to get a product out the door... am recalling that josh had a single day to come up with basic story.

 

BG3?

 

FO3?

 

josh may have some good managerial skills... we assume so if fergie brings him in to try and gets nwn2 out by september, but is a shame we never has ever gotten a chance to see what josh could do with actual game design... and circumstances that not seem stacked 'gainst him.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Dark_Raven]

Mr. Sawyer is very good at his craft even though he appears to be a third edition rules fan. :ph34r:

[Gromnir]

Mr. Sawyer is very good at his craft

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based on what evidence? Gromnir likes some josh ideas, but the fates conspire to put him in a position other than where we could ever see what he does with those ideas...

 

*shrug*

 

'course it not matter to josh what Gromnir thinks of him. if j.e. peers and potential future employers thinks highly of him he gots no reason to be concerned 'bout what Gromnir and other fans thinks of his skills... am just saying that we gots very little material we thinks we can use to honestly judge his skills as being anything other than adequate... am not even sure that he would argue that.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited April 26, 2006 by Gromnir

[Atreides]

Mr. Sawyer is very good at his craft

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based on what evidence? Gromnir likes some josh ideas, but the fates conspire to put him in a position other than where we could ever see what he does with those ideas...

The fact that OE hired him after having a close work at his work at BIS and promoting him to lead on NWN2 says a lot to me.

[Darque]

Sounds like desperation.

 

I mean no disrespect by that, but the fact Ferret bolted so suddenly means they HAD to find a replacement fast. And of course they had connections with him.

 

Of course this is a feeble guess based on virtually no real info.

 

Only those involved would really know the answer.

[Tigranes]

Or maybe Ferret intended to quit a few months ago (when the rel. date was June), and when they brought in Sawyer (either partly because of htis, or for other reasons) they prepared him as a replacement. I find that much more likely than the "bolted suddenly" theory - which, of course, would suddenly gain weight if NWN2 flopped.

[Darque]

Also possible

[alanschu]

Heh, you come HERE to have discussions with OE employees?

 

Thank god Sawyer was hired!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

you know, Gromnir has never been able to decide if josh is any good at the craft of making games. circumstances has surely conspired 'gainst him, but is still hard to say much 'bout his design skills so far.

 

his portions o' iwd were ok, but not our favorites... but that were his first game.

 

HoW? we gave him some serious heat over HoW, but sounds like fergie hamstrung HoW development from day 1.

 

iwd2? never finished, but again, what fergie wanted from iwd2 were simply to get a product out the door... am recalling that josh had a single day to come up with basic story.

 

BG3?

 

FO3?

 

josh may have some good managerial skills... we assume so if fergie brings him in to try and gets nwn2 out by september, but is a shame we never has ever gotten a chance to see what josh could do with actual game design... and circumstances that not seem stacked 'gainst him.

 

HA! Good Fun!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I was referring more to the fact that Sawyer posts on this message board.

[Fenghuang]

The NWN2 forums were the bestest ever before it was actually announced.

 

Lots of crates.

 

Anyhow, I like Josh, but like Gromnir said, he hasn't done much that's actually accessible by the public. This doesn't mean he's bad, and it doesn't mean he's good, it means nobody except for Fergie and the other BIS dudes know, maybe some other industry insiders.

[Dark_Raven]

Mr. Sawyer is very good at his craft

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

based on what evidence? Gromnir likes some josh ideas, but the fates conspire to put him in a position other than where we could ever see what he does with those ideas...

 

*shrug*

 

'course it not matter to josh what Gromnir thinks of him. if j.e. peers and potential future employers thinks highly of him he gots no reason to be concerned 'bout what Gromnir and other fans thinks of his skills... am just saying that we gots very little material we thinks we can use to honestly judge his skills as being anything other than adequate... am not even sure that he would argue that.

 

HA! Good Fun!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gromnir silly man. JE is tha man here. Accept it.

[Fenghuang]

Gromnir's one of the most rational people I've ever come across on the internets.

[Llyranor]

NWN2's not going to be able to help much on that end, either, given the late entry.

 

JE was supposed to be a sub-lead designer for core game mechanics in PNJ, but I guess it's somewhat safe to assume he's focusing on NWN2 now.

[poolofpoo]

Gromnir's one of the most rational people I've ever come across on the internets.

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you know how the saying goes; being rational on one of the internets is like being a retard in one of the olympics, even if you're a retard you can still do your best and win the medal

[poolofpoo]

what did ferret ever do to become such a legend?

[metadigital]

I'm not saying they owe us anything. They don't have to tell us anything and apparently they aren't going to either. I just think it's common practice to inform the interested parties about changes within the company that can have an effect on the products they produce. Not every little change/event has to be classified as Top Secret, although that does indeed seem to be The American Way.

 

I am on this board because I recognize the talent hiding behind the Obsidian company name. I am here because I am interested in having a dialogue with the names behind the most promising RPG development team in the business today (except, perhaps, Piranha Bytes, where the language barrier is proving to be quite an obstacle.. I suck at english, but I absolutely blow at german).

 

I am still hoping that I will find out what drives these men, what their motivations are behind their design choices, the obstacles they have to face and overcome, their inspiration and muses (not sure what that's called in plural), the dynamics within the group, the reason why Duct Tape Man became the Duct Tape Man, all that sort of stuff. I even get this perverted joy from reading what these guys appreciate and dislike from other developers titles. So far it's been a disappointment, but at least I have a couple of hundred german Piranha Bytes posts to filter through babelfish. That undecipherable drivel keeps me busy during my bored moments.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think it is more to do with non-disclosure agreements when staff transfer to new companies: I can't remember too many companies that I have left that would be happy to have any of their IP even indirectly mentioned in conversations with other companies' staff.

 

It sounds pretty much like that here, although I agree I'd like to have some sort of exclusive first notice for being an active member here. Still, it's the old principal-agent problem dressed up in corporate staff colours ...