Beneath a Starless Sky: Pillars of Eternity and the Infinity Engine Era of RPGs

by David L. Craddock

Dungeons & Dragons became a cornerstone of gaming culture by providing players with dice, sheets of paper, and guidebooks that teased the imagination—all the tools they needed to build their own worlds. Influenced by all-night D&D sessions, the video game developers at Black Isle Studios and BioWare had a thought: Leave the dice-rolling to computers, letting players focus solely on creating characters and embarking on unforgettable adventures.

The result was Baldur’s Gate, a computer roleplaying game (CRPG) featuring breathtaking scenes, compelling characters, dozens of quests, and deep tactical battles. As financial turmoil plagued their parent company, a small team of developers broke away from Black Isle and set out to create unforgettable adventures of their own.

From the early days of Fallout and Baldur’s Gate, to the formation of Obsidian Entertainment and the company’s fateful crowdfunding campaign that averted financial ruin, Beneath a Starless Sky explores the making of the Infinity Engine CRPGs and the critically acclaimed Pillars of Eternity franchise.

•Based on over 40 hours of interviews with developers from Black Isle and Obsidian
•Go behind-the-scenes to witness the creation of the celebrated Infinity Engine CRPGs: Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Baldur’s Gate II, and Icewind Dale II
•Relive the dramatic moments that led to Obsidian’s record-setting Kickstarter, and the making of 2015’s Pillars of Eternity and 2018’s Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
•Sit in on a discussion of the past, present, and future of roleplaying games with Obsidian’s co-founders, writers, and directors

Genres: Video Games, Nonfiction

732 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 26, 2019

About the author

David L. Craddock lives with his wife in Ohio. He is the bestselling author of Stay Awhile and Listen : How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video-Game Empire - Book I, and Heritage : Book One of the Gairden Chronicles, an epic fantasy series for young adults. Please follow along with him on his website/blog at DavidLCraddock.com .

Reviews

[Thomas Henshell · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent inside scoop

I run an independent rpg studio and found plenty to learn from in Craddocks chronicles. It’s people speaking (mostly) honestly about their craft. The weirdly inserted chapters about writing gave me something to discuss with my narrative team.
Disjointed, but all good!

[Jonathan Lee B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beneath a Starless Sky: Pillars of Eternity and the Infinity Engine Era of RPGs is having a bowl of soup topped off every time you take a bite.

[David]

(I wrote this book, so I won't cheat by leaving a star review. At some point I'll backtrack and add some information on writing it in this spot. Check out the Amazon page here: https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Starle... )