Interview with J. E. Sawyer

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(Originally posted by Darien)

J. E. Sawyer, Co - Designer on both Icewind Dale and IWD: Heart of Winter, was recently interviewed by Computer Games Online. Although they couldn't seem to get his name right (J.D.?), the interview is nonetheless a good read. Here's a short excerpt from this entertaining interview.

What is the biggest misconception that the general public has regarding the game making process? What was your biggest misconception when you started working at Black Isle?

I think the general public often has a skewed perception of the reasons behind developer choices. I also think that the general public perceives too much power in the hands of game designers. We often get credit for things we weren't responsible for. On the flip side of the coin, we often get blamed for things we weren't responsible for. Part of the difficulty with this is that designers have different roles and responsibilities at different companies. At Black Isle, designers are responsible for the story, characters, items, game system, and so on -basically, game content. We don't program anything and we don't illustrate anything that goes into the game.