Obsidian Entertainment employs an internal system dubbed the 'Karma Police' to ensure that all character skills in games like Fallout: New Vegas receive adequate attention and unique gameplay opportunities, according to design director Josh Sawyer.
In a recent appearance on the Human Can Opener podcast, Sawyer explained that the goal is to allow players to create diverse character concepts and have a satisfying experience, rather than feeling that their chosen build is fundamentally flawed. "I want people to build characters and have a good time with them," Sawyer stated. "You have to think a little bit, but I don't like it when players have a character concept that they build, and it's like 'Oh, you just built a fundamentally bad character.'"
Sawyer cited the redesign of Fallout: New Vegas's skill system, which moved away from a singular 'Big Guns' skill in favor of categorizing weapon types under Guns, Energy Weapons, and Explosives. This approach, he noted, prevents the need to support a broad skill throughout the entire game, a problem that could leave players invested in that skill without sufficient relevant content, as he described was the case with 'Big Guns' in Fallout 1.
Obsidian's design philosophy aims to make every skill "useful in a really meaningful and unique way," fostering player trust that their chosen abilities will matter. Sawyer recalled how this was established early in New Vegas's development with the design of the starting town, Goodsprings, and quests like 'Ghost Town Gunfight,' which offer multiple solutions using various skills such as Sneak, Explosives, Barter, Speech, and Medicine.
"We just wanted to set up the player to believe, however you built your character, it's not gonna be the same experience, but we're not gonna let you down," Sawyer said. "We're not gonna leave you out to dry and not give you something to be excited about."
The 'Karma Police' process involves designers periodically reviewing game scripts to tally how frequently each skill is checked. While not striving for perfect numerical equality, the aim is to keep skill usage within a reasonable range. "Get in the ballpark. You don't want to go huge stretches of the game and be like, 'Man, I invested in this skill and it never comes up,'" Sawyer explained.
Sawyer drew a parallel between this design approach and the flexibility of tabletop RPGs, where a Game Master can adapt to a player's unique character build. He believes that effective game designers, much like good DMs, strive to provide players with memorable interactions that validate their chosen playstyle, ensuring that every player feels their unique character build contributes meaningfully to their experience.