Obsidian's Josh Sawyer frames difficulty around three RPG player types

Pcgamer reports that Obsidian studio design director Josh Sawyer, in a new video on his YouTube channel, said he views difficulty less as immutable challenges and more as anticipating what players want and responding to that. The discussion began with a viewer question about exposing extremely granular difficulty options and letting players mod game data.

Sawyer said, "If it cost nothing—which it does not—then I would say let players in-game set their difficulty options however they like," and that when it comes to exposing data tables "let 'em do whatever the heck they want." He noted older RPGs from Black Isle and early Obsidian—like Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Fallout: New Vegas—made such customization easier, and said it is now "more difficult to expose those things, especially on a data level." Sawyer also described micro-difficulty options as a relatively deprioritized part of development given limited resources.

Sawyer said he prefers designing for types of players rather than difficulty levels, breaking RPG enjoyers into three categories: Explorer—time-limited players who play for story and "don't want to redo things"; Adventurer—the median player who "wants a little more friction, wants a little more challenge"; and Survivalist—players who seek immersive, simulative mechanics.

Key Topics

Culture, Josh Sawyer, Obsidian, Modding, Difficulty Settings, Player Archetypes