Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten Should I be writing about my experiences as a UX designer? From a general perspective? I’m thinking maybe I should.
So far I’ve got the following titles:
1. UX & UI - they’re not the same 2. Hello gameloop 3. Context is King 4. Edge case Evil 5. Are you my mommy? 6. “Gimme the Fortnite store!” 7. Christmas trees 8. “Yeah, but can we put it IN the game?” 9. Stop it with Minority Report already!
1. This is simply an overview of what UX does and what UI does. 2. A simple gameloop and how a UX designer would address it. 3. How does the game and players change the UX? 4. My favorite topic. User flows & what happens with users who don’t do what you expect (I.e. all of them) 5. Handholding of gamers, when it’s okay, when it’s not and how you can trick players into thinking they’re smart. 6. Cognitive bias and preferences and why not to listen to them. 7. Cognitive loads and how to handle it in HUDs. 8. Diegetic UIs and why that (almost) never works. 9. Why movie UIs and game UIs are so different and why they should be.
Autumn Witch🏴 @dragon_Age_Fans So, originally DAI was going to have a human only protagonist. Does anyone know if at that point if Solas would have not been a romance option at all or would he have been a romance option for the human Inquisitor?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Not a romance at all.
Mike Laidlaw I have no recollection of DAI's protag being human only. We'd always wanted to do at least Human Elf Dwarf, and Qunari / Kossith was added after we delayed.
The Strix @the_strix Can I just say how pent up and stymied I feel by the incredible lack of intimate sensuality there is in video games? Because of our weirdo hyper-violent/puritanical culture we get lots of murder and sexual violence narratives, but intimate sensuality is basically kryptonite!
Like, look. I am a sexual, sensual being. I love stories. I love intimacy. I swoon over sensual tension. It is ridiculous that we cannot tell stories about positive sexuality within the world's largest narrative medium.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes It’s amazing how designer guys who don’t bat an eye at discussing the specifics of decapitation and dismemberment start coughing and trying to change the subject when it comes time to discuss getting pinned against the wall by your lover.
The Strix @the_strix As a games writer, I feel doubly stymied when I write authentic characters who engaged with that part of their psyche (because they are whole people, dammit!), and it invariably gets nuked from orbit. I blame the ESRB rating system. But also Americans are just weird about this!
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes On the bright side, I’ve gotten extremely good at implying things without ever directly saying them, so anyone who gets the joke has only themselves to blame.
...
The Strix @the_strix And that's the the thing, intimacy does not have to directly equate to sexy times. Intimacy can stand on its own and has its own value.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Yeah. Some of my most vulnerable real-life moments happen during quiet talks in bed — it’s not just sexy times. It’s hard to do that when we don’t have a budget for blanket/sheet physics or a mattress that moves realistically. (Our cine folks do amazing work with what we get.)
Gareth David-Lloyd @pancheers So, just completed @dragonage What a ride!! Though I don’t think 140 hours of research is enough so on to the dlcs!
John Epler @eplerjc I hear that Solas guy shows up a bunch in Trespasser.
Cori Nicole @genevrael BUT HE STILL WON'T LET ME LEAVE WITH HIM JOHN NO MATTER WHAT I SAY WHY CAN'T WE RUN OFF AND DESTROY THE WORLD TOGETHER wait I know the answer, I was there
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes We TALKED about this, Cori. At length.
Cori Nicole @genevrael *mutters, disconsolately*
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Or disconSolasly?
Last Edit: Jan 31, 2019 15:50:35 GMT by midnight tea
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
Gareth David-Lloyd @pancheers So, just completed @dragonage What a ride!! Though I don’t think 140 hours of research is enough so on to the dlcs!
John Epler @eplerjc I hear that Solas guy shows up a bunch in Trespasser.
Cori Nicole @genevrael BUT HE STILL WON'T LET ME LEAVE WITH HIM JOHN NO MATTER WHAT I SAY WHY CAN'T WE RUN OFF AND DESTROY THE WORLD TOGETHER wait I know the answer, I was there
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes We TALKED about this, Cori. At length.
Cori Nicole @genevrael *mutters, disconsolately*
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Or disconSolasly?
Sera "Team Redeem Solas" Marlowe @thatgamermommy *tries to imagine actually talking to Patrick Weekes about Solas and every cell in her being implodes* So. Jealous.
Cori Nicole @genevrael That's only because you haven't tried arguing with him over how his lines scan in Hallelujah form.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes The expression on Luke's face as he watched you and me sing lines of dialogue to prove whether they scanned will haunt me to my dying day.
Last Edit: Jan 31, 2019 23:33:49 GMT by midnight tea
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
using blood magic to give people boners @zebstriko heyb @patrickweekes is it true that ur putting aly and aj michalka in as someone who just recently discovered them i would love this so much
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I’m not putting anyone into anything right now. But I do make note of voice actors I might be interested in working with at some point.
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
John Epler @eplerjc Still the thing I'm proudest to have been a part of.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Same.
John Epler @eplerjc That said, I can't help but see every single bug I never fixed. 😐😬😒
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes ALSO same.
John Epler @eplerjc Trespasser is a great example of what I think of as the 'DLC Paradox'. Either make it meaningful, and people will argue it should've been part of the main game, or make it a fluffy side adventure, and people will ask why they should bother buying it.
I've been involved with both - Mark of the Assassin was fun, but didn't really tie deeply into the DA2 story. With Trespasser, we decided to make it meaningful and part of the narrative through line of Inquisition.
Which is to say - I totally get the frustration of 'this should have been part of the main game!', but on Inquisition, our vague DLC plans lasted about three days after ship and then they changed. There are potential DLCs that never were, lost in the mists of time.
Trespasser came from a whole bunch of pieces and resources being on the table and us literally sitting down in a cramped meeting room with a whiteboard and saying 'okay, what do we want to build, and what do we have to build it with?'
Jaclyn Tan @electrifried Yea I'd consider Trespasser to be the proper ending of DAI, it's annoying especially if the next game jumps off from the DLC's conclusion instead of the base game. I thought the story for DA was outlined for the next 5 games or did I read the wrong info?
John Epler @eplerjc Vaguely, but even then, we adjust and shift. Even within the development of a single game, the first version of the story and what we shift are rarely the same, because we find problems/opportunities through production.
John Epler @eplerjc Trespasser is a great example of what I think of as the 'DLC Paradox'. Either make it meaningful, and people will argue it should've been part of the main game, or make it a fluffy side adventure, and people will ask why they should bother buying it.
Dóris @dordoris [...] But that is the thing. I think Trespasser is excellent, but it should be in the game, you know? Jaws of hakkon is a good example of what a good dlc is. It has a nice story, but it’s not essential. I think trespasser is essential.
John Epler @eplerjc Unfortunately, the options weren't 'Trespasser as DLC' or 'Trespasser in the main game', they were 'Trespasser as DLC' or 'no Trespasser'. That it felt essential was because we wanted it to feel meaningful - and like I said, I get that can be frustrating to players. On a personal level, I enjoyed making Trespasser a lot more than Hakkon because it felt so meaningful, and it continued the story/lore. But it's a hard line to walk because the flip side is people feel upset that it wasn't part of the main game.
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
Hannah Kennedy @hothambone Hi, it's 2019 and im still thinking about Blackwall objectively the most attractive video game boy no further questions Apparently when you disable the beard model in the game, there is another beard underneath.
Sheryl @sherylchee Emergent storytelling.
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes In long meetings with writers, editors, and Narrative Director @eplerjc figuring some stuff out this week. The tradition of passionate experts engaging in Respectful Supportive Shit-Giving continues.
Brianne Battye @bbattye Brain is full of thoughts! Mission accomplished.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I know you’re serious, because there’s a Batman pic.
Yours_Truly @ytcshepard You stand your ground on cat-girl, Patrick! Never give up! Never surrender!
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Honestly cannot tell if this tweet is urging me to argue FOR or AGAINST catgirls in Dragon Age. Dunno how we got here, but it sure is a place.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes In long meetings with writers, editors, and Narrative Director @eplerjc figuring some stuff out this week. The tradition of passionate experts engaging in Respectful Supportive Shit-Giving continues.
Gareth David-Lloyd @pancheers My wife watched me complete @dragonage trespasser last night. It obviously got to her. She woke in the night from a bad dream shouting “Ga, quick. Get my staff!”
Sanshee @teamsanshee Heads-up folks, we just updated our inventory, so a bunch of shirts are in stock again. Also, if you're eyeing a Commander Cullen Plush, I'd get one soon, because they're running low and once they're out you probably won't see them again for a while.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes More meetings! Feeling incredibly grateful to @eplerjc for amazing support as narrative director, and also to the writers and editors for the work they’ve done, especially when it involves calling out places where the lead writer was REAL dumb.
But I do make note of voice actors I might be interested in working with at some point. 
