Sawyer grew up in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and is the son of Linda Sawyer and sculptor Gerald P. Sawyer. He is of German ancestry. He earned a BA degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. In addition to being a history major, Sawyer participated in the theatre (including mounting a production of Assassins). After Lawrence, Sawyer moved to California.
Career
Starting as a web designer at Black Isle Studios, he quickly worked his way up the ladder to an associate designer position and then lead designer on Icewind Dale II.
While at Black Isle he was known for coming up with the "Ex-Presidents" project naming system. When Interplay closed down Black Isle Studios many team members ended up at Obsidian Entertainment, which would eventually come to include Sawyer.
In November 2003 it was reported by Tor Thorsen of GameSpot that he had abruptly quit his role as lead designer of Fallout 3 to pursue other projects.
From Twitter questions: BG3 features I like, more Pentiment-esque games, my process for building stories and characters, how theatre affects my work, the appeal of spy games, did the Pentiment team read all of the reference material.
The audio popping was due to some settings interfering with Nvidia Broadcast. It should be fixed for the future.
published: 28 Jan 2024
Mixing History and Fiction in Pentiment
This is a talk I gave at Game Developers Session in Prague. I thought it might be useful to a wider audience, so here you go.
published: 18 Dec 2023
On Powergaming in Baldur's Gate 3, D&D 5E, etc.
Some thoughts on Robin Valentine's PC Gamer article about powergaming and min-maxing in Baldur's Gate 3.
Edit: Updated the thumbnail for maximum lols.
published: 22 Jul 2023
Josh Sawyer Twitch Stream Fallout New Vegas part 1 (Reupload)
Originally uploaded by "Lie Low"
Josh's socials:
https://www.twitch.tv/jesawyer
https://twitter.com/jesawyer
https://www.youtube.com/user/fancytyme/featured
published: 15 Nov 2021
Josh Sawyer - I Will Always Love You, a Tribute to Pale Shelter
As promised, Studio Design Director, Josh Sawyer, is here to sing his rendition of the great Dolly Parton's 1973 hit, "I Will Always Love You." This tribute is in honor of Riccardo "Pale Shelter" Novello being the twelfth person to complete Deadfire's The Ultimate challenge, and for doing so with the unprecedented multi-class build of Troubadour Chanter/Psion Cipher.
Thank you to our Deadfire community. You all are the best community we could have asked for.
Music by Tony Blackwell
Original music by Dolly Parton (songwriter) and Bob Ferguson (Producer)
If you would like a chance to play Pillars of Eternity and/or Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, you can do so on Xbox Game Pass as they are included with a subscription.
published: 16 Nov 2021
Josh Sawyer - Breaking the Mold RPG Evolution
Speech Description
This post-mortem of Deadfire will examine the assumptions the team made between the first game and the sequel, how expectations changed through the public beta, and what lessons they learned after the game was released. The talk will focus on narrative design, combat design, the ship combat system, and the decision to fully voice all dialogue. The end of the post-mortem will deal with post-launch support, including patches, features, and other DLC content.
published: 06 Jun 2019
Armor Clash: Mistrials and Mishaps on the Road to Better Armor Systems
A talk about armor systems and mechanics found in CRPGs from the past ~25 years.
published: 23 May 2022
Josh Sawyer Hates J.J. Abrams
Recorded on Feb 15 2022
published: 03 Mar 2023
Josh Sawyer on Pre-Order DLC | Fallout: New Vegas Designer
Title says it all.
published: 29 Jul 2021
Reputation Overload - The Evolution of RPG Reputation Mechanics
A presentation on how WRPG reputation mechanics have evolved from the early 90s through 2020.
From Twitter questions: BG3 features I like, more Pentiment-esque games, my process for building stories and characters, how theatre affects my work, the appeal...
From Twitter questions: BG3 features I like, more Pentiment-esque games, my process for building stories and characters, how theatre affects my work, the appeal of spy games, did the Pentiment team read all of the reference material.
The audio popping was due to some settings interfering with Nvidia Broadcast. It should be fixed for the future.
From Twitter questions: BG3 features I like, more Pentiment-esque games, my process for building stories and characters, how theatre affects my work, the appeal of spy games, did the Pentiment team read all of the reference material.
The audio popping was due to some settings interfering with Nvidia Broadcast. It should be fixed for the future.
Originally uploaded by "Lie Low"
Josh's socials:
https://www.twitch.tv/jesawyer
https://twitter.com/jesawyer
https://www.youtube.com/user/fancytyme/featured
Originally uploaded by "Lie Low"
Josh's socials:
https://www.twitch.tv/jesawyer
https://twitter.com/jesawyer
https://www.youtube.com/user/fancytyme/featured
Originally uploaded by "Lie Low"
Josh's socials:
https://www.twitch.tv/jesawyer
https://twitter.com/jesawyer
https://www.youtube.com/user/fancytyme/featured
As promised, Studio Design Director, Josh Sawyer, is here to sing his rendition of the great Dolly Parton's 1973 hit, "I Will Always Love You." This tribute is ...
As promised, Studio Design Director, Josh Sawyer, is here to sing his rendition of the great Dolly Parton's 1973 hit, "I Will Always Love You." This tribute is in honor of Riccardo "Pale Shelter" Novello being the twelfth person to complete Deadfire's The Ultimate challenge, and for doing so with the unprecedented multi-class build of Troubadour Chanter/Psion Cipher.
Thank you to our Deadfire community. You all are the best community we could have asked for.
Music by Tony Blackwell
Original music by Dolly Parton (songwriter) and Bob Ferguson (Producer)
If you would like a chance to play Pillars of Eternity and/or Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, you can do so on Xbox Game Pass as they are included with a subscription.
As promised, Studio Design Director, Josh Sawyer, is here to sing his rendition of the great Dolly Parton's 1973 hit, "I Will Always Love You." This tribute is in honor of Riccardo "Pale Shelter" Novello being the twelfth person to complete Deadfire's The Ultimate challenge, and for doing so with the unprecedented multi-class build of Troubadour Chanter/Psion Cipher.
Thank you to our Deadfire community. You all are the best community we could have asked for.
Music by Tony Blackwell
Original music by Dolly Parton (songwriter) and Bob Ferguson (Producer)
If you would like a chance to play Pillars of Eternity and/or Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, you can do so on Xbox Game Pass as they are included with a subscription.
Speech Description
This post-mortem of Deadfire will examine the assumptions the team made between the first game and the sequel, how expectations changed t...
Speech Description
This post-mortem of Deadfire will examine the assumptions the team made between the first game and the sequel, how expectations changed through the public beta, and what lessons they learned after the game was released. The talk will focus on narrative design, combat design, the ship combat system, and the decision to fully voice all dialogue. The end of the post-mortem will deal with post-launch support, including patches, features, and other DLC content.
Speech Description
This post-mortem of Deadfire will examine the assumptions the team made between the first game and the sequel, how expectations changed through the public beta, and what lessons they learned after the game was released. The talk will focus on narrative design, combat design, the ship combat system, and the decision to fully voice all dialogue. The end of the post-mortem will deal with post-launch support, including patches, features, and other DLC content.
From Twitter questions: BG3 features I like, more Pentiment-esque games, my process for building stories and characters, how theatre affects my work, the appeal of spy games, did the Pentiment team read all of the reference material.
The audio popping was due to some settings interfering with Nvidia Broadcast. It should be fixed for the future.
Originally uploaded by "Lie Low"
Josh's socials:
https://www.twitch.tv/jesawyer
https://twitter.com/jesawyer
https://www.youtube.com/user/fancytyme/featured
As promised, Studio Design Director, Josh Sawyer, is here to sing his rendition of the great Dolly Parton's 1973 hit, "I Will Always Love You." This tribute is in honor of Riccardo "Pale Shelter" Novello being the twelfth person to complete Deadfire's The Ultimate challenge, and for doing so with the unprecedented multi-class build of Troubadour Chanter/Psion Cipher.
Thank you to our Deadfire community. You all are the best community we could have asked for.
Music by Tony Blackwell
Original music by Dolly Parton (songwriter) and Bob Ferguson (Producer)
If you would like a chance to play Pillars of Eternity and/or Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, you can do so on Xbox Game Pass as they are included with a subscription.
Speech Description
This post-mortem of Deadfire will examine the assumptions the team made between the first game and the sequel, how expectations changed through the public beta, and what lessons they learned after the game was released. The talk will focus on narrative design, combat design, the ship combat system, and the decision to fully voice all dialogue. The end of the post-mortem will deal with post-launch support, including patches, features, and other DLC content.
Sawyer grew up in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and is the son of Linda Sawyer and sculptor Gerald P. Sawyer. He is of German ancestry. He earned a BA degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. In addition to being a history major, Sawyer participated in the theatre (including mounting a production of Assassins). After Lawrence, Sawyer moved to California.
Career
Starting as a web designer at Black Isle Studios, he quickly worked his way up the ladder to an associate designer position and then lead designer on Icewind Dale II.
While at Black Isle he was known for coming up with the "Ex-Presidents" project naming system. When Interplay closed down Black Isle Studios many team members ended up at Obsidian Entertainment, which would eventually come to include Sawyer.
In November 2003 it was reported by Tor Thorsen of GameSpot that he had abruptly quit his role as lead designer of Fallout 3 to pursue other projects.
White Flag Written by: Josh Auer Hey it isn’t ok To raise the white flag this round And hey we’re all to blame We’re held slave to our choices Ignoring the voices Yeah we’ve got much to learn Ooo Ooo We’ve got much to learn Hey this isn’t a game It’s a full house you’re dealing with And the thoughts that float in your head Will soon be on your shoulders We’re getting older But we’ve got much to learn Ooo Ooo We’ve got much to learn Love won’t stand by forever And watch us destroy it Love won’t stand by Yeah we’ve got much to learn Oh we’ve got much to learn We’ve got much to learn
teams with winning records.” ... “Some key underclassmen include, but definitely not limited to, DrewCole, JoshShea, Isaac Abney, Baylor Nolin, Jaylan Hortenbury, Sawyer Yates, Nicholas Bryan and WyattWard,” said Paris... 5.45 p.m ... Josh Shea ... Sawyer Yates.
The development of Balatro began in December 2021 as a hobby project for LocalThunk, who was working in IT at the time ... New Vegas director and CRPG veteran JoshSawyer says burnout has "replaced crunch as the primary hazard of the game industry." ... ....
The event, which runs for 3-7 p.m., is sponsored by JoJo’s Pizza and Pasta... .@GoBubblers Track and Field’s Josh Plante and SawyerYoung talk improvement, plus some Pulp Fiction pic.twitter.com/dkSis3GUcT— Dan Sostek (@dan_sostek) March 4, 2025.
to 7 p.m ... .@GoBubblers Track and Field’s Josh Plante and SawyerYoung talk improvement, plus some Pulp Fiction pic.twitter.com/dkSis3GUcT— Dan Sostek (@dan_sostek) March 4, 2025. View this post on Instagram ... View this post on Instagram ... ....
He also teamed with Cole Stevenson, Charlie Christianson, and Josh Seluzhitskiy to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1.28.06 and with Matthew Weeks, SawyerWells, and Leo Ni to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3.11.81 ... The Adams vs.
Addressing the matter, the co-founder says the "rumored situation at NetEase" isn't a problem ...JoshSawyer says there's "a lot of people" at Obsidian who want to make a Pillars of Eternity Tactics game after Avowed, but the "fanbase is not humungous".
New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and Pentiment director JoshSawyer has once again talked about the possibility of making a tactical strategy game set in the fantasy world of Eora, explaining that ...
