Schmooples' Den! The DA News Discussion Thread

I work with the Creative Performance Team casting models to be the faces of our games, and actors to be the voices and physical performances for these characters. PCAP, MOCAP, VO, Headscans are our main focus. I love working with all different depts to be creative. @ea #mocap

There are some real genius people working here at @bioware. My mind is blown every day with the talent, expertise and creativity that everyone brings to the table. If you want to work in games, but you think it's not achievable, you're wrong! So many diverse backgrounds and ppl.

Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten
I’m going to ask a stupid question. What on earth does PCAP stand for?

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Not a stupid question! We at BioWare decided to call it "Performance Capture" when it became more than just the bodies being captured in Motion Capture. We capture body movement, facial animation and voice over all together as the actors play out an entire scene together.


If you want to get to know me, feel free to follow me on Twitter @mrscmccord for an unorganized rambling of being a working Mom, wine and occasionally a video game update or two. I am so excited for you to meet these upcoming ladies from @bioware today! They inspire me every day!

Coming up next is Emily Taylor pentapod . She is on the Women's Ultimate Team with me here at BioWare and she does SO much to improve diversity and inclusion here. She is incredible!

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Hey! I'm Katrina Barkwell (@velocitrina), I'm a junior programmer at BioWare. I'm new to the industry and if you have questions on getting in right out of school (or co-ops), programming, or POC representation in games/tech - I'm your girl.

I very purposely aimed to get into the industry since I was a kid. I have a BSc. in computer science from the University of Manitoba and through their wonderful co-op program got a internship at BioWare. Thankfully I got a full time offer at the end of my term.

I over-prepared as a kid and made sure I had a solid foundation in art, music, and programming to make my own games. I actually went with comp sci because I googled "best degree to make games" when I was 16. No regrets! I love coding and we need more women in tech and games.

Currently I'm a RPG programmer, but I started on UI (shout out to Åsa if you wanna ask her about UX at 2!). It's a common starting point for programmers as you can see exactly what your code is doing. From there I transitioned to the RPG team and am having a blast coding systems.

If you identify as female/are non-white, it can be hard to see yourself in the industry. Sometimes it can feel like you're a fraction of a fraction in tech. But I assure you it's not because you're not qualified, not a good fit, or not valuable.

So if you're interested in games, but cautious because few in the industry look like you, I promise you that we're here, we're valuable and talented and qualified, and we need you. You can always @ me on twitter or see me on panels or recruiting events

Lesbian Disaster @xespera
What languages do you suggest someone learn if they want to get into games?

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Great question! My day to day is 90% spent in C++, and a little C#. Both of these are great because they're popular in lots of game engines but really if you've learned 1 programming language, you can learn em all.


Thanks @yegfemdev for having me! Thanks everyone for chatting with me! I'll leave you in Rachel's safe hands!

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Hello, Hello ! I'm Faye, and I'm a new QV Project Lead at BioWare. My knowledge is based on my experience throughout the past 9 years working at multiple companies (big studios, small ones, 1st party and 3rd party). Let's talk about testing Games!!!

I applied for my first job as a mobile game tester at EA, not because I was a gamer, but because husband and friends loved games. I wanted to be sure that others got the highest amount of joy possible from the games they play.

Testing Video Games has many names: Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Quality Verification, Quality Standards, or just good old-fashioned Game Testing. We QV devs may have different titles, but if you break it all down, we are the voice of players who will be playing the game.

Many people use QV as a stepping stone into the industry—and that does work. I've seen testers go to become designers and producers. I decided to focus on growing within QA and took a project management course to gain team management expertise.

Jen @jhcl56
How do you keep the game “fresh,” for you to experience if you have to test the same level/quest over and over? 😊 So you don’t miss small details and such

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
It is a skill. If you are able to put yourself in a "first time experience mindset"that you will be highly valued. One way to practice is to take everything on screen at face value. You may know how to complete the level but is something on screen telling you that?

We do sometimes "cheat" as well and organize User Research groups to gain the "fresh eye" experience

Testing games has allowed me to watch games grow and change before my eyes. Each bug filed and fixed makes the game better. I love seeing the changes I helped drive in on behalf of the end user—the people who will one day play this game.

Thanks for listening, Hope something was learned or at least felt during our brief time together.

Stay tuned for Caroline and more of the awesome BioWare employees who are giving there time and energy today to support Women in Games.

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Heyo! I'm Gabe Heiland (@norseartemis), I'm a Product Management Director at BioWare. I've been in the games industry for 13 years, and a Product Manager for 8! I've been at BioWare a year and I'm excited to dig in today on how I use behavioral data to guide design! #WomenInGames

Like many people, my path to getting into game dev was fairly random! I got a degree in history, my main interest was in working in theatre (Stage Managers, shout out!). I graduated college in 2006 and had no idea what to do with a looming recession and a non-trade degree.

So my World of Warcraft guildies convinced me to move to California and try Quality Assurance testing at Sony! I tested for a few years and while I really enjoyed it, I didn't find it fulfilling as a career.

I asked my Game Lead at the time, who was a Product Manager, what I could do to grow my career - and thus I entered the sorcerous world of behavioral data!



Most of my day is spent staring at tables of numbers - or at graphs I made to try to make sense of the numbers, and that may not SOUND like the coolest job but it's basically a puzzle figuring "What Humans Do"! #MathNerd



"All my data is anonymous - I can't tell anything about who you are, and truthfully, I'm not interested

I want to know:
How fast do you level up?
What things do you spend your in-game currencies on?
Do you interact with other people who act like you?"

"I use this data to do a TON of design! I could raise the level cap, or add items, or recommend people who play like you. I am always trying to find ways to give you more of what you love, and fix what you don't like.

Jen @jhcl56
You can track how fast we level up? Wicked!

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
I like to track in percentiles! So I'll look at my data and see that the 99th percentile will hit level cap in X days, while my median are on track for Y and then I have to figure out if we have enough content to keep you ALL happy

Maximum Derek @derekheiland
Ask her about pivot tables if you wanna kill some time

Karin Weekes @karinweekes
The words "pivot table" chill me to my very core. #wordperson

Jen @jhcl56
*shudder* I’ll pass! I only use them when I must and then with great trepidation 😬 I’m more of an Access gal myself. Or Word. Anything but Excel 😕 But work requires it 😩

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
PIVOT TABLES ARE SO COOL!! Excel basically does all the work and I can just sit back and sip some coffee and pretend I'm really really smart 😉

Ha, you would be surprised how much game design we do in excel. I have had entire games that literally ran out of an excel export!

Karin Weekes @karinweekes
So what is something data has told you that will surprise the heck out of us gamer folk?

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
I can see when you're exploiting my game, KARIN. I have models that I run alongside the data so I can see when you're gaining things faster than you should be, or if you have something that you couldn't get legitimately....

Karin Weekes @karinweekes
WHAT NO I WOULD NEVER EVER

Charlie Rae Jepsen (they) @publicstilli
okay look I know I cheated a bunch to get infinite money but in my Defense! I really wanted that Armor!!

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev


Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten
I love that we have someone finding this data for us because I can use this in my designs and how we introduce players to the game.

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Yeah, fundamentally my function should be empowering all of you to be more informed! If I steer you guys correctly we can make the game better for our players

Ok, I'm at time! I'm going to hand this over to Melissa, a creature designer whose amazing work makes me jealous I can only do math.

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Hi Everyone!! I'm Jen @jencheverie Associate Producer at BioWare. I'm here to talk about how I got to where I am now (seriously, how the heck did I get here!?) and take your questions! #womeningames

I was in school studying digital media when I found out that BioWare, who made some of my favorite games, was a local studio. Wait a minute.. is this real? I love gaming! Could I work at BioWare??

I wanted to be an artist, but I knew my portfolio was a little (a lot) sad-looking. That didn't stop me from telling anyone who would listen that some day I'd be at BioWare. Eventually I met a friend who worked in QA and encouraged me to apply as a Tester.

I spent 7 years in QA, and it was AWESOME!! I got to see first-hand how a game comes together, get some technical experience, and I discovered that I really loved being a team lead and project manager.

Enabling others to succeed and seeing the progress they made was such a great feeling! I knew that this is what I wanted to be doing... but how could I do more? I started asking questions about the day-to-day of the people I worked closely with.

I encourage anyone who wants to work in games (and at BioWare!) to talk about it! Make something cool and try to meet people who are also making cool things (powerpoint decks might not be cool to everyone but that's my jam lol)

Michael Ward @mikewarddraws
What skill set would you recommend for someone interested in being a producer? What should they emphasize to ace that interview?

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Definitely organization skills, ability to understand how people work, and positive attitude! Your job as a producer is to champion the vision, which usually for me means being a champion for the team.

Production was really interesting to me. The chance to help drive the project and work with even more of the amazing people around me was exactly where I wanted to be. THROW ME AT YOUR PROBLEMS!

Zaire 🔜 ✨Train Jam and GDC ✨ @zlanier21
Makes sense! What advice do you offer to ppl looking to get into producing and maybe something you knew when you first started?

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
I knew I wanted to help the amazing devs around me when I first started, if I could give myself some advice back then, I would say to find or define the goals of what you're working on, and hold to them like they are your north star.

Producers champion the vision and goals of the game, and I really believe that these can't be realized unless the team is healthy - supported and enabled to do the absolute best work they can!

Being a champion means I do a lot of walking around, talking to people and trying to get them really excited about what we're doing. A big part of being a Producer is finding answers to the questions that everyone has so that we all know the common goal we're working towards.

Day to day I am in emails, slack, walking around, booking meetings (sorry team haha) and shifting focus to unblock my team members as soon as possible. I also do a lot of presenting, which is scary but getting easier the more I do it.

So if you're interested in working in games make sure you tell people - tell anyone who will listen! Hard work is part of what will get you there, but opportunity is a major piece of it.

The relationships you develop with the community of awesome game developers around you will help you find those opportunities. And if you do work in games, you might be very surprised at what you end up doing!

Thanks for chatting with me (@jencheverie) today, and feel free to fire any questions my way! Up next is Esther, our Lead Creature Animator!

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Hi! My name is Åsa Roos (@devilkitten) and I'm a Principal UX Designer at BioWare. I've been in the industry since 2001 at a bunch of different companies. I'm going to talk about UX design and I'll happily answer any questions. #WomenInGames (also I won't talk about pivot tables)

I started out in mobile games as a game designer, and since then I've tried everything from narrative design to production, but UX is what's closest to my heart.

UX design stands for User Experience Design and covers the way the player interacts with the game as well as experiences we want the player to have when playing. UX design leans heavily on the data that Gabe was talking about earlier so we do a lot of user testing and research.

(Still no pivot tables though.)

User experience is not the same thing as user interfaces. It has a bit to do with UIs but that's not our main job. We look at what we want the player to experience in a specific game or in a specific situation. Feel free to ask, it's a tricky job to explain!

A typical day consists of meetings, conversations about game features and making wireframes. I do a lot of prototyping, talking to other game designers and making sure we have plans for "how to enter and exit a mission with as few loads as possible."

I think the fact that there are UX designers in games is the biggest shift. When I started about 20 years ago, UX design was not a thing. I started doing UX about 8 years ago, and even then UX was fairly rare.

I think the biggest thing is that we care about the player nowadays. We want people to have a good time and we care about making that happen.

Lesbian Disaster @xespera
What's something you wish people noticed more about UX development. A pitfall or overlooked needed feature

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Onboarding and tutorials. How to teach the player the game without walls of text. If the game team puts some effort into thinking about how the game is introduced to the player, the player will have a much better time as they play.

esther ko @esssko
I have a question (as someone entirely ignorant to the inner workings of the wonderful world of UX design)! What is a wireframe?! 👀

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
A wireframe is a conceptual image of how a screen looks, meaning it roughly describes where things show up on the screen. Usually it's just a bunch of boxes with text in them. Game wireframes are a bit trickier, because we also have to show game states.

Charlie Rae Jepsen (they) @publicstilli
so is this to do with like, musical and on-screen cues type of thing? sorry if I've totally misunderstood!

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
Don't apologize! It can definitely be a part of UX, but it's not all of it. We try to look at flows through the game. How you enter a mission, how you exit it, what the game tells you and when the game tells you what you need to do. I'm sorry if it's unclear, it covers so much!

Grimothy @timthegriffith
What are some recent examples of games you think have very effective UX design?

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
That's a question that's hard to answer because if the game is giving you the information you need when you need it, it's an effective design. UX design is contextual to who the player is, what they're playing, when they're playing and why they're playing.

The easiest answer to the question is "it depends". For my personal tastes, I love the Assassin's Creed games that gradually introduce you to the systems in the game in a very soft and laid back way, never overwhelming the player with complexity.

I've been a UX designer for 8 years and I really love it, because I get to think about how the player experiences things all the time and I get to help create defining moments that resonate with players. Do you have any favorite moments you'd like to tell me about?

Ylva Grufstedt ylva_grufstedt
Hi! Can you name a skill that you find very relevant to UX design but that might be generally somewhat underrated?

#YEGFEMDEV! @yegfemdev
I'm one of those annoying people who think in systems, meaning that I follow a flow from start to finish and then find all the problems or issues with the flow. I think being able to see a whole system from start to finish and understanding it is very useful for a UX designer.

I'm not sure how to _teach_ that skill though, it just seems to be something I do naturally.

Pivot tables don't count.

Thank you for reading and if you have questions beyond this thread, feel free to send me a tweet (@devilkitten). My name is Åsa and I'm handing this off to the amazing Presley, audio designer here at BioWare.

Crystal McCord @mrscmccord
We had an incredible celebration of women today at @bioware for International Women’s Day. I am so proud of the women I am surrounded by on a daily basis and they all inspire me so much! To all the #womeningames , Moms, Grandmas, Sisters, Aunts, and Friends - cheers to you!





Jen is one of those people that I always say “I get the pleasure of working with her!” Seriously, she is so hardworking, creative, positive, forward-thinking and so much fun to be around! I just cannot day enough about how lucky we are to have her at Bioware! @scyllacosta *cough*

Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten
We’re super fortunate to have Esther as a creature animator at BioWare. Talented, smart and fun to talk to!

Karin Weekes @karinweekes
3 badass women pentapod having photo booth fun with karmaphotobooth.com/ - another local women-run business that donates 5% of its proceeds to nonprofit orgs. 💜💜 @bioware #InternationalWomensDay



Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod
Celebrating International Women’s Day at #BioWare with gorgeous (and delicious cookies from Milk & Cookies Bakeshop 🥰
And if you missed our twitter takeover earlier, check over at @yegfemdev! #WomenInGames #YEGeats #YEG

Been meandering through Artstation tonight and ran across this work done by Blackwall's original artist - Leroy Chen. This is an earlier version of Blackwall which he has since polished. What do you think...?

Again, same artist. This time Hawke...
www.artstation.com/artwork/DxldV0




... and Meredith.
www.artstation.com/artwork/qAE2dR

kinda reminds me of Ifan from Divinity Original Sin ! blackwall.

Seen the lady Hawke one before () and Meredith ones floating around somewhere before but the Cass one is new and holy shiiiiiiit

That does look significantly more like her DA2 version to me. Not that I don't love the Cass we got to death, of course. But its still interesting to see that difference.