Obsidian's Josh Sawyer's Thoughts on Creating Engaging RPGs

from Game Maker's Notebook · host The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Josh Sawyer, Studio Design Director at Obsidian Entertainment. Together they discuss his thoughts on developing RPGs; what he learned from working at legendary studio Black Isle Studios; how to successfully adapt Dungeons & Dragons to video games; writing for games with dialogue stacks; parsing and implementing feedback while keeping true to your creative vision; and balancing RNG to improve player experiences. This episode is supported by Xsolla iam8bit Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

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This episode was published on November 17, 2025.

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