Game Idea: Andromedan Instant Messaging Follow-up (Deus Ex Kinda Did My Idea!)

Back on the old BSN, I made a thread about the possibility of BioWare maybe implementing some kind of in-game instant messaging system, to supplement the regular conversations we have with our companions/supporting characters. It'd replace - or at least operate alongside of - the old email system, and give us the chance to actually interact with the characters we've run into on past missions - the kind who'd send 'thank-yous' and such via email in ME2/3 - who generally wouldn't merit a slice of the voice acting/animation budget. It'd also allow us to get to know our companions better, as we'd be able to have more conversations with them than would be possible if every single conversation had to be voice acted and animated. An economical path into more of that juicy, juicy dialogue.



Well, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (kinda) did it! They used the system very differently, of course - it was more of an extra means of gathering information/gaining an advantage from hacked computers - but the basic concept - supplementing cinematic conversations with a lore-consistent, text-based alternative - was there, and it worked. The implementation - basically, just take the game's regular dialogue wheel minus the voice acting - is pretty much exactly what I had in mind, too. (Though, obviously, BioWare's dialogue wheels function quite differently from Deus Ex's, in practice.)

Of course, Deus Ex giving it a go doesn't really have any bearing on whether BioWare might try it, but still, it was super cool to see that an actual game developer had a similar idea, and thought it was genuinely worth implementing. It gives me some hope that we might yet see something similar in Andromeda, or perhaps a future BioWare game.

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To be absolutely clear, I am in no way suggesting Eidos Montreal actually got the idea from me--that'd be utterly ridiculous. I just thought it was cool that a recent game had actually tried something similar. (Alpha Protocol had another take on the concept, with emails, but that was years ago, and a lot of that game's great ideas kinda got buried in the jank, so it rarely seems to influence anyone.)