Obsidian Entertainment
CompanyUnited States
Documents about Obsidian Entertainment
Article
Bungie, Obsidian, Riot, and Xbox Devs Reveal Their Annual Pay
The gaming industry has seen a surge in pay transparency initiatives, driven primarily by developers in the United States and Canada utilizing the social media hashtag #GameDevPaidMe.
- The #GameDevPaidMe social media movement has gained traction as a tool for industry pay transparency, with developers across North America publicly disclosing their compensation packages.
- Senior-level roles in software engineering and design command high salaries, such as a $213k annual salary for an Obsidian design director and $155k plus a 15% bonus for a senior software engineer at Demonware.
- Compensation for quality assurance (QA) roles varies significantly, ranging from $20k for a tester at Playground to $105k for a quality engineer at Xbox as of 2021.
Game World ObserverDec 2021
Game Developers Conference29 min
AMA: Q&A with Obsidian Entertainment's Carrie Patel
Carrie Patel, a game director and senior narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment, outlines her approach to narrative design and game development, drawing on her experience with the Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds franchises.
- Obsidian Entertainment integrates narrative design early in the development process, with writers and narrative designers serving as the same role to ensure world-building and systemic elements like item descriptions remain cohesive.
- When designing open-world RPGs, developers must account for diverse player psychographics—specifically those who prioritize combat, exploration, or deep character-driven storytelling—by providing multiple ways to engage with content.
- Narrative structure in open-world games cannot rely on a rigid three-act model because players may skip intended story beats; designers must instead focus on high-level narrative phases that remain engaging regardless of the order in which players encounter them.
Game Developers ConferenceApr 2021
