<strong>[ Person -> Interview ]</strong> - More info on <a href="http://wikipocalypse.duckandcover.cx/index.php?title=J. E. Sawyer">Person: J. E. Sawyer</a>
<p>Seems like RPG Codex are doing a similar thing to NMA's developer
profile deal they did a few months back: going through ex-FO developers
and asking them questions (in some cases, the exact same questions that
NMA did - see below :D). Anyway, this time it's <strong>Josh Sawyer</strong>, and maybe it's just me but I didn't find the <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=127" target="_self">interview</a>
very interesting (which is why I couldn't be bothered to post it until
now). At least it didn't come accompanied with Van Buren screenshots.</p><p>Anyway, the best part of the interview is the final question:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em><span class="postbody"><strong>13. Long time ago, answering a question about
the future of RPGs at NMA, you said that they are going "straight to
hell" and that "Troika is one of the last pure PC RPG developer in the
U.S." How would you answer the same question today?</strong>
To my knowledge there are no pure PC RPG developers left outside of very small outfits like Spiderweb Software.
Welcome to hell!</span></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It's pretty bleak. But I'm not so concerned about PC vs console now,
for some reason. It's more about the developers who are prepared to
take risks: <a href="http://www.doublefine.com/" target="_self">Double Fine</a>,
run by Tim Schafer, did Psychonauts which sold terribly but was pretty
awesome, and they're now making a new game that promises to be even
more inventive. In fact, <a href="http://www.working-title.de/artikel.php ... =76&page=1" target="_self">here's an interview with Tim</a> - who is the guy behind Monkey Island, in case you didn't know. Here's some food for thought:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em><strong>Majesco, your North American publisher, had to shutdown part of
its business a few weeks ago. Can't a company which publishes mainly
titles like Psychonauts survive in today's market? If so, how is Double
Fine holding up?</strong>
Oh sure, it’s possible to make money with games like Psychonauts. It’s
just a lot easier to do something else, so that’s why a lot of
publishers stay with safer bets. For them, “Why risk it?“ us a valid
question. I don’t really fault them too much for that. Because for
Double Fine, we know the answer to that question. Why risk it? Because
making games that are original and unique is what we are interested in
doing. It’s not worth it to me if you’re doing less than that. </em>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I hope they survive. Psychonauts wasn't a great platformer
technically, but its levels were incredibly creative and interesting,
among the best I've ever seen. I highly recommend it to people looking
for something different. What was this news item about again? Ahem.
</p>
Josh Sawyer interviewed at RPG Codex
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Mr. Teatime
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