Josh Sawyer: Obsidian's 'Karma Police' ensure every skill has meaningful use in New Vegas
On the Human Can Opener podcast, Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer explained how the studio prioritizes balance so different character builds get interesting options and reactivity in Fallout: New Vegas. He cited skill checks in dialogue and weapon-skill design as examples of that approach.
On the Human Can Opener podcast, Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer discussed how the studio handled balance in Fallout: New Vegas, especially making sure different skills and character builds had cool, unique uses. "Some people think I'm preoccupied with balance," Sawyer said. "I want people to build characters and have a good time with them. You have to think a little bit, but I don't like it when players have a character concept that they build, and it's like 'Oh, you just built a fundamentally bad character.'" Sawyer noted Obsidian's long history of letting odd skills influence dialogue and the world—such as recruiting Primm's sheriff with Science, Barter, or Speech—and pointed to removing a separate Big Guns skill and splitting those weapons into Guns, Energy Weapons, and Explosives as a way to support build diversity. He argued designers should support a tagged skill throughout a game, contrasting that with earlier examples like Fallout 1.
