Show Us Your Rig: Pillars of Eternity's Josh Sawyer
Show us your rig
Josh Sawyer, project director on Pillars of Eternity, is clearly a man who loves his art.
Each week on Show Us Your Rig, we feature the PC game industry's best and brightest as they show us the systems they use to work and play.
Josh Sawyer, project director on Pillars of Eternity, is clearly a man who loves his art. With an office that looks more like an art gallery, Josh has dressed the walls around both his home and work set-ups to the point where you could convince me there wasn't any wall behind the frames at all. He was gracious enough to take some time and tell us about his computers and the well-decorated areas he works and plays in.
What's in your PC? Dell XPS 8700 Motherboard - Dell OEM CPU - Intel i7-4790 @ 3.60 GHz RAM - 12 GB DDR3 @ 1.60 GHz Video - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 Power Supply - Delta Electronics 460W Displays - Dell U2412M, 2407WFP, 2408WFP
I do a lot of Inspector window comparisons when I'm working in Unity, so having three monitors comes in handy. I use a Das Keyboard Ultimate, it's good for forcing touch typing but has a goofy quirk where it will double input some letters when I'm using the keyboard for the first fifteen minutes every day. It makes logging in an adventure. These monitors are so crazy bright that I have to use f.lux to dim them in the evening. to dim them in the evening. I use a bigger, older Wacom at work. I'm not a good artist, but I can do enough in Photoshop to illustrate examples, mock up interfaces, and Photoshop our CEO's head onto a t-rex body.
I'm still using a Microsoft Intellimouse on this machine and will probably never stop using my IBM Model M keyboard with WordPerfect color coding. I have a tiny Wacom Intuos5 Touch hidden away for Photoshop time. The monitor is rotated so I can reference .pdfs more easily - specifically, Ars Magica rulebook .pdfs.
My desk is this clean for about 2 weeks out of every year. For a true picture of what it normally looks like, scatter bills, tiny notebooks, loose change, and small bicycle parts over every open surface.
I use an iPad 2 for English tutoring and sketching. The case is a Portenzo. I recently stopped using my noble Toshiba netbook because 1024x600 doesn't cut it for any serious typing (it has a really nice keyboard, though). The MacBook Pro is great for writing and it has really nice battery life. Mac OS continues to drive me insane, but I can deal with it. I ride my bike a lot and often take either the tablet or laptop when I go, so I like that they are both relatively light.
What's always within arm's reach on your desk?
At home, there's always some RPG rulebook on or near the desk. I try to keep up to date on new RPGs and every once in a while I'll pull an old book off the shelf to refresh my memory. I recently revisited Cyberpunk 2020 and Over the Edge, those were wild. Now, I'm reading through the D&D Next/5th Ed. player's handbook, The Burning Wheel, and various Ars Magica supplements. The home computer's guardians are two ceramic cats my girlfriend found somewhere (one repainted to look like my cat), an odd Japanese cat tape dispenser, and a wooden whale whose sole purpose is to hold my little space pen.
At work, there's always a tiny Field Notes notebook, a bunch of dice, and, sadly, a Coke Zero in reach. Various dictionaries and grammar books also get desk duty. Under the main monitor, Grand Wizard Cartman, a tiny model BMW Isetta, and a mini Eames elephant keep watch.
What are you playing right now?
Papers, Please. I think it's a great game, and it does a fantastic job of merging mechanics with the themes of the story. We've been playing some Tribes at work but, unfortunately, I'm no good at it anymore. I'm a little way into Child of Light, which is also pretty fun but unusual for me, style-wise. The combat system is enjoyable and the art style is beautiful though. Unfortunately, I only have about an hour in on Divinity: Original Sin and Wasteland 2 is coming out next week. My go-to quick game is still Hitman: Blood Money, I never get tired of goofing around on those maps.
I honestly haven't played it recently, but I have to recommend Kentucky Route Zero. I don't care if it fits a universal definition of "game" but it's enjoyable and really well made.
What's your favorite game and why?
I still go back to the original Fallout, Pool of Radiance, and Darklands. The last in that list may be my true favorite just because it's the most obscure of the three and the one that helped generate my interest in history. It was an extremely unusual RPG for its time and still is, even now. It opened my mind to different ways of playing with common RPG rules and concepts.
We also interviewed Josh about Pillars of Eternity recently, watch the full thing below:
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