A Disco Elysium writer told Josh Sawyer 'we can do better than this now'

In a recent chat with the Human Can Opener Podcast, Josh Sawyer recalled that one of Disco Elysium's writers reached out after the game came out with a proposal: an updated response to his 2012 talk about narrative choice, summed up as, "we can do better than this now." Sawyer welcomed the challenge, saying, "I certainly hope, fuckin', 10 years we can do better!" He acknowledged he doesn't have all the answers, that he's "doing the best I can," and that he hopes such conversations inspire others.

He described a cycle of critique and iteration among developers: "I look at stuff and I go, 'Hey that's cool, but I have an idea how to make it better,' and then I do something and someone sees that and says 'Hey that's cool—or it's not cool—I have a way to make it better.' This is just gonna keep going on." Sawyer pointed to branching dialogue as an example of a tradition that can feel "locked" in how it's structured, but noted it still finds new approaches.

"We just keep inspiring each other. It's not an animosity thing.

disco elysium, josh sawyer, podcast, narrative choice, branching dialogue, narrative design, game writing, game developers, critique, iteration