Josh Sawyer's tweets and teasers, part IV

[illathid]

 

 

 

Josh on conversation editor

 

It always pains me a lot to see how little attention game devs give to their dialog tools. Just look at the dialog editor in the GECK of Fallout 3, etc... Seriously, seeing this garbage software makes it clear why Bethesda dialog is so god damn awful. Using this is worse than writing dialog in notepad or heck, excel.

 

 

Josh responded to a post on Twitter about dialogue tools that claims most of the industry uses excel for dialogue. Which is a bit depressing.

 

 

I'm not a big studio guy, but we certainly did use Excel in our project - however, in this case, it was mostly to export lines for translators outside the studio. It's not quite errorproof, but it's still a fast and accessible way to import/export huge dialogue databases without having to copy things by hand.

 

As for Excel being used to construct actual dialogue trees, I'm kind of surprised to hear that it's the preferred method. For instance, I'm pretty sure Unity has a boatload of dialogue creation plugins.

 

 

Yeah, I've used excel extensively in different projects, but even then it was hard to manage different dialogue trees. I can't imagine trying to do it in an AAA game.

[Enoch]

The return of the vague Tumblr hints!

 

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/175439677911/i-have-a-lore-question-white

 

 

 

Q:  I have a lore question: White March/Raedceras/Ixamitl are all north of the Eastern Reach; what's to the south on that landmass? Just the Vailian Republics?

 

A:  Directly south of the Eastern Reach (i.e., directly south of the Dyrwood and Vailian Republics) is open water.  We have not said anything about what is to the southeast of the Vailian Republics, except that there is land there.

 

There is evidence in one of the shanties about a geographical feature that sailors must navigate around to reach the Deadfire Archipelago from the Eastern Reach.  Based on where the Defiant makes landfall on Maje Island, you can make some assumptions about where it is positioned relative to that feature.

 

I think this is the relevant shanty:

 

 

Start around 1:08 for reference to what sounds like "Cape White." 

[the_dog_days]

^The White that Wends?

[InsaneCommander]

So, Eder caught three penalties today. Does that mean they are nerfing vigorous defence?

 

Edited July 1, 2018 by InsaneCommander

[draego]

Josh seems to be enjoying leaving the Pillars project  

Edited July 2, 2018 by draego

[Tick]

Josh is enjoying his leaving the project

Why is Josh leaving the project ? D: Is it completely and permanently? Is he leaving the company?

[Enoch]

 

Josh is enjoying his leaving the project

Why is Josh leaving the project ? D: Is it completely and permanently? Is he leaving the company?

 

He has said that he's stepping back from Directing any particular projects for the time being.  He's still the Design Director for the whole studio, and presumably will continue to have input on Pillars stuff from that position.  If he's planning to leave, he has kept it quiet.

 

I don't think it was ever his goal to have primary authorship of Eora stuff until the end of time.  (He has likely worked on enough IPs to know that that's a fools errand in this industry.  Plus, the D&D mimickry at the core of the setting has always been something they've done for marketability rather than something they've done because it's their creative passion.)  His "work is done here" in that he's laid out the bones of the setting and directed 2 games that have built audience interest, but left plenty of empty space for the folks who follow him to fill in. 

Edited July 1, 2018 by Enoch

[the_dog_days]

Josh is enjoying his leaving the project  

 

Tuxedo Mask strikes again!

[Tick]

 

 

Josh is enjoying his leaving the project

Why is Josh leaving the project ? D: Is it completely and permanently? Is he leaving the company?

 

He has said that he's stepping back from Directing any particular projects for the time being.  He's still the Design Director for the whole studio, and presumably will continue to have input on Pillars stuff from that position.  If he's planning to leave, he has kept it quiet.

 

I don't think it was ever his goal to have primary authorship of Eora stuff until the end of time.  (He has likely worked on enough IPs to know that that's a fools errand in this industry.  Plus, the D&D mimickry at the core of the setting has always been something they've done for marketability rather than something they've done because it's their creative passion.)  His "work is done here" in that he's laid out the bones of the setting and directed 2 games that have built audience interest, but left plenty of empty space for the folks who follow him to fill in. 

 

 

Oh okay! That seems fair and reasonable. So long as most of the creative team/creative voice at Obsidian is great and similar, and he's not doing it because of it being awful for him, that's totally fine. Not that I could do anything if those two things weren't true, but I'd be sad about it. ;p

 

Thank you for the elaboration!

[Lychnidos]

On the response, someone from Obsidian recently stated that they do actually have a complete map, can't remember who.

[algroth]

On the response, someone from Obsidian recently stated that they do actually have a complete map, can't remember who.

 

Off-topic, but I just saw your avatar and was like, "is that soldier smoking a blunt through his aventail"? Then I saw the shaft attached to it.

Edited July 2, 2018 by algroth

[topologista]

The return of the vague Tumblr hints!

 

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/175439677911/i-have-a-lore-question-white

 

 

 

Q:  I have a lore question: White March/Raedceras/Ixamitl are all north of the Eastern Reach; what's to the south on that landmass? Just the Vailian Republics?

 

A:  Directly south of the Eastern Reach (i.e., directly south of the Dyrwood and Vailian Republics) is open water.  We have not said anything about what is to the southeast of the Vailian Republics, except that there is land there.

 

There is evidence in one of the shanties about a geographical feature that sailors must navigate around to reach the Deadfire Archipelago from the Eastern Reach.  Based on where the Defiant makes landfall on Maje Island, you can make some assumptions about where it is positioned relative to that feature.

 

I think this is the relevant shanty:

 

 

Start around 1:08 for reference to what sounds like "Cape White." 

 

I was procrastinating and decided to pull up my copies of the Pillars 1 and 2 maps and made a little guess at the path from the Eastern Reach to Port Maje. obviously I condensed the distance east and north of Port Maje.

Edited July 3, 2018 by topologista

[rjshae]

Maybe Obsidian should license their conversation toolset via Unity and make a little extra dough.

[illathid]

Maybe Obsidian should license their conversation toolset via Unity and make a little extra dough.

 

I'd buy it!

[Enoch]

Maybe Obsidian should license their conversation toolset via Unity and make a little extra dough.

Didn't inXile use it for Torment: NumaNuma?  I know that they licensed some of the tools Obsidian developed for Pillars, and I recall the dialogue editor being one, but I could be wrong.

Edited July 5, 2018 by Enoch

[Night Stalker]

 

Maybe Obsidian should license their conversation toolset via Unity and make a little extra dough.

Didn't inXile use it for Torment: NumaNuma? I know that they licensed some of the tools Obsidian developed for Pillars, and I recall the dialogue editor being one, but I could be wrong.

They did, along with much of the PoE engine.

[Gromnir]

watched the recent twitch stream wherein developers were asked lore questions.  more than once, the answer to a question were a recognition that josh would know the answer to the query.

 

...

 

am hopeful josh has taken extra effort and put pen to paper so all the pillars lore is existing elsewhere than josh's noggin.  then again, perhaps josh has already done so and is simple that not even fellow obsidinaties has been able to muster the patience to read mr. sawyer design docs. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Wormerine]

watched the recent twitch stream wherein developers were asked lore questions.  more than once, the answer to a question were a recognition that josh would know the answer to the query.

 

...

 

am hopeful josh has taken extra effort and put pen to paper so all the pillars lore is existing elsewhere than josh's noggin.  then again, perhaps josh has already done so and is simple that not even fellow obsidinaties has been able to muster the patience to read mr. sawyer design docs. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

Even so, a lore unrevealed, is a lore that can be changed if a need be.

 

As someone who is more interested in individual narratives, than multiple projects spanning continuity, it is not something I am much concerned about.

[JerekKruger]

My guess would be a written form of the lore exists somewhere in Obsidian (though I'd guess Josh has a more fleshed out version in his head) but even though plenty of people working on the IP will have read it (or at least some of it) they probably don't have the instant recall on it that Josh does.

[Boeroer]

News about Pen & Paper Pillars: https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/1021899692588773377?s=20

[Frog Man]

Interesting stuff from Josh on SA regarding the ending of Deadfire (heavy spoilers here):

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/91v32a/looks_like_josh_wont_let_the_watcher_fight_eothas/?st=JK1VKKL4&sh=5bf13866

 

Makes me a bit sad to see his frustration here. Probably is time for him to move on. I’ll be eternally grateful to him for these awesome games and have a lot of faith that the talented Obsidian team will keep Eora games going for awhile.

[JerekKruger]

I like the blurb under his advert for Deadfire

[dukeisaac]

Interesting stuff from Josh on SA regarding the ending of Deadfire (heavy spoilers here):

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/91v32a/looks_like_josh_wont_let_the_watcher_fight_eothas/?st=JK1VKKL4&sh=5bf13866

 

Makes me a bit sad to see his frustration here. Probably is time for him to move on. I’ll be eternally grateful to him for these awesome games and have a lot of faith that the talented Obsidian team will keep Eora games going for awhile.

I'm quite torn on how to feel about this. On one side, I totally feel for Josh and the work the team has put in Deadfire. I like the game a lot. The quests are generally speaking, very good (faction quests in particular, Atsura is an amazing character). It took some time for me to accept that, like POE, it will take many months of patching and DLC before it's the masterpiece I wan't it to be. I'm also starting to appreciate how player agency was treated in the game, especially concerning Eothas and the Wheel.

 

On the other hand, I think the main questline wasn't particularly handled well... Between cut info that led to many thinking important lore was retconned to a short and pretty linear quest (compared to POE and the WM), I'm not super impressed by it.

 

I recently started to DM and while I'm beginning to appreciate the difficulties of crafting a good story (and no where being good at it I think), if a lot of your players think your story isn't engaging or interesting, well... maybe it isn't. While lots of posters go overboard with their criticism, I feel there is a general disappointment among the player base.

 

I'm really hoping that more effort is given to the narrative in the upcoming DLC's (especially the first and last one).

 

As for Josh, take a break, you deserve it. But don't stop making these types of games, because you're good at it.

Edited July 26, 2018 by dukeisaac

[Gfted1]

The difference between the advertisement and the actual story is probably a bit of a bummer for some players. Maybe they should hold a meeting with the writers before they release ad copy?

[Guest]

“Hunt a god. Save your soul”

 

We did both of those things