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Josh Sawyer

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Josh Sawyer
Born
Joshua Eric Sawyer

(1975-10-18)October 18, 1975(age 48)[1]
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
NationalityAmerican
Alma materLawrence University
OccupationGame designer
EmployerObsidian Entertainment
Known forIcewind Dale,Neverwinter Nights 2,Fallout: New Vegas,Pillars of Eternity,Pentiment
ParentGerald P. Sawyer (father)

Joshua Eric Sawyer(born October 18, 1975), more commonly known and credited asJosh Sawyer,J.E. Sawyer,orJSawyer,is an Americanvideo game designer,known for his work onrole-playing video games.

Early life and education[edit]

Sawyer grew up inFort Atkinson, Wisconsin,and is the son of Linda Sawyer and sculptor Gerald P. Sawyer.[2]He is of German ancestry.[3]

Sawyer majored in history atLawrence UniversityinAppleton, Wisconsin,after initially starting out as a voice student. Sawyer continued his involvement in theater and music, including directing a production ofAssassinshis junior year,[4]and minored in theatre.[5]He also began learning web design andAdobe Flash,which sparked his interest in joining the game industry out of college.[6]

Career[edit]

Starting as a web designer atBlack Isle Studiosin 1999, Sawyer quickly worked his way up the ladder to an associate designer position and then lead designer onIcewind Dale II.[7][8]While at Black Isle he was known for coming up with the "Ex-Presidents" project naming system.[citation needed]

In November 2003, Sawyer announced his departure from Black Isle to pursue other projects. He had been working as lead designer of the eventually-canceledFallout 3(codenamedVan Buren) alongsideChris Avellone.[9]Interplay went on to close Black Isle two weeks after Sawyer's departure.[10]

On July 19, 2005,GameSpotreported that he had left Midway'sGauntlet: Seven Sorrows,and was accepting a position atObsidian Entertainment,a studio founded and staffed by many veterans of Black Isle. His first role was as the lead designer forNeverwinter Nights 2.[11]

He later acted as the project director and lead designer ofFallout: New Vegas.In December 2011 Sawyer publicly released aNew Vegasmod designed for his own personal use adding a large variety of small tweaks to the game ranging from rebalancing the karma of certain characters to slowing down the level up speed.[12]As of November 2012, this mod has been updated to version 5.1.[13]

He also served as the project director and lead designer on theAliens RPG.[14]Sega,the game's publisher, subsequently canceled the project, resulting in layoffs at Obsidian.[15]According to Obsidian CEOFeargus Urquhart,the game - titledAliens: Crucible[16]- "looked and felt like it was ready to ship".[17][18]

In 2012, with Obsidian on the brink of financial disaster after the cancellation of another project by a publisher, Sawyer proposed the company return to its design roots by making an isometric RPG in the style of those created at Black Isle. Arguing there was a market for this type of game among fans, Sawyer suggested turning to the platformKickstarterto secure funding for development without a publisher. He succeeded in persuading company leadership, and the resulting game,Pillars of Eternity,met its Kickstarter funding goal of 1.1 million dollars in 27 hours. It ultimately raised nearly four million dollars, setting a Kickstarter record at the time.[19][20][21]Sawyer later served as director and narrative designer on its sequel,Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire,which was also crowdfunded and released in 2018.[22]

Sawyer's next project was a departure from fantasy CRPG games. He pitched a smaller project that is more focused on history, inspired by tales about 16th century German artists likeAlbrecht Dürer.[23][24]The game is calledPentiment,and focuses on a murder mystery in 16th century Bavaria. The player takes control of the main character Andreas, a young artist working in a monastery.[25]The game was released on November 15, 2022, forXbox,Xbox Game PassandWindowsplatforms.[26]

Games[edit]

Year Title Role
2000 Icewind Dale designer
2001 Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
2002 Icewind Dale II lead designer
2005 Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows
2006 Neverwinter Nights 2
2010 Alpha Protocol designer
Fallout: New Vegas director, lead designer
Fallout: New Vegas: Dead Money lead systems designer, narrative designer
2011 Fallout: New Vegas: Honest Hearts project director, narrative designer
Fallout: New Vegas: Old World Blues lead systems designer, narrative designer
Fallout: New Vegas: Lonesome Road
Fallout: New Vegas: Gun Runners' Arsenal project director
2015 Pillars of Eternity director, lead designer, additional writing
2018 Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire director, narrative designer
2022 Pentiment game and narrative director

References[edit]

  1. ^"J.E. Sawyer".GiantBomb.RetrievedFebruary 19,2016.
  2. ^Daily Jefferson County Union.January 14th, 2011. Liedtke, Carolyn. "Sawyer sculpts success throughout Wisconsin". p. 3.
  3. ^"J.E. Sawyer".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-04-12.
  4. ^"@jesawyer tweet, 2023-02-19".
  5. ^"@jesawyer tweet, 2023-07-11".
  6. ^Berthiaume, Ed (January 18, 2023)."Lawrence expertise fuels historical role-playing game that's drawing rave reviews".Lawrence University News Service.
  7. ^Ooi, Will (September 25, 2011)."An Interview with JE Sawyer - game developer, biker, and cat lover".Gamasutra.UBM TechWeb.RetrievedSeptember 26,2011.
  8. ^(July 2005). "The Arcade Classic Is Back, and It'd Better Be Good",Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine(94): 38.
  9. ^Thorsen, Tor."J.E. Sawyer bolts Black Isle".GameSpot.RetrievedJanuary 30,2017.
  10. ^Thorsen, Tor."Interplay shuts down Black Isle Studios".GameSpot.RetrievedJanuary 30,2017.
  11. ^Thorsen, Tor."J.E. Sawyer off Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows".GameSpot.RetrievedJanuary 30,2017.
  12. ^Kayatta, Mike (December 30, 2011)."Fallout: New Vegas Project Director Releases Personal Mod".The Escapist.Defy Media.Archived fromthe originalon October 22, 2018.RetrievedMarch 8,2015.
  13. ^"JSawyer.esp - v5.1".
  14. ^"SEGA Signs Obsidian Entertainment To Develop Alien Title For Next-generation Systems".Archived fromthe originalon 2009-04-28.Retrieved2008-10-10.
  15. ^Faylor, Chris (25 February 2009)."Aliens RPG Cancelled, Says Ex-Obsidian Staffer".Shacknews.RetrievedJanuary 30,2017.
  16. ^"Here's What Obsidian's Cancelled RPG Aliens: Crucible Looked Like".GameSpy.RetrievedJanuary 30,2017.
  17. ^Purchese, Robert (20 February 2013)."Obsidian's canned Aliens RPG looks finished in new gameplay video".Eurogamer.RetrievedJanuary 30,2017.
  18. ^Purchese, Robert (29 April 2010)."Obsidian: Aliens RPG was" ready to ship "".Eurogamer.RetrievedFebruary 9,2017.
  19. ^Schreier, Jason (8 July 2015)."How Kickstarter Saved Obsidian".Kotaku.RetrievedJanuary 30,2017.
  20. ^Purchese, Robert (December 4, 2012)."Project Eternity crowd-funding ends, grand total now $4.3 million".Eurogamer.Gamer Network.RetrievedJune 29,2015.
  21. ^Purchese, Robert (December 10, 2012)."Obsidian renames Project Eternity, releases a proper video".Eurogamer.Gamer Network.RetrievedJune 29,2015.
  22. ^"Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire".Fig.Obsidian Entertainment.January 26, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 14,2022.
  23. ^"Josh Sayers's Recommended Reading list for Pentiment".10 November 2022.
  24. ^"How Obsidian's Latest Game is Inspired By a Medieval Theory About God and Worms".14 November 2022.
  25. ^Krishna, Swapna."Pentiment May Be the Best New Game You've Never Heard Of".Wired.
  26. ^"Obsidian's old-timey Pentiment gets a November release date".24 August 2022.

External links[edit]

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