Joshua Sawyer on Armor System Design: Simple Is Easier, Complex Is Harder
A veteran RPG director publicly weighs the trade-offs between simple and complex armor systems, using two acclaimed games as contrasting examples.
Reporting from 1 sources: Automaton.
Joshua Sawyer, director of Fallout: New Vegas, discussed the difficulty of designing armor systems in 3D RPGs in a YouTube video. He praised Ghost of Tsushima for its simple, three-slot system that allows cool designs, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance for its complex, layered system despite development challenges.
Joshua Sawyer, the game designer behind Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, uploaded a video on June 13 answering viewer questions about armor systems in 3D RPGs. He described simple systems, like the head, face, and torso slots in Ghost of Tsushima, as easier for artists and players, with clear stat effects and fewer design constraints. Complex systems, like those in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, offer more customization and historical layering but require careful balancing and can cause technical issues like clipping. Sawyer noted that even cosmetic-only segmented systems still create memory and performance problems. He did not propose a single best approach, instead framing the choice as a trade-off between development freedom and player expression.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.