Dragon Age News Thread

Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod
SO FULL OF CHILI from the 2nd annual holiday cook off today. So many talented cooks at BioWare! 😋 ❤️
... now to nap for 3 hours like a snake that’s digesting a sheep-sized chili bowl ... 🐍

Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah
CCCCCOMBO!



alias SabuChan 💃🏾 🍸 🎉 @quiproquo28
1st, @gamblemike posts a poll about #MassEffect and 10 minutes later you post a GIF about #DragonAge.
Ok. What is going on? 🤔🤩😁

@gamblemike @gamblemike
we don't coordinate. we don't even sit near each other anymore

Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten
So there’s a theory in game dev that goes players need three things:
1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Relatedness

Autonomy is the ability to make your own decisions.
Mastery is being at the level of skill you need to execute the decisions.
Relatedness is the relationships built.

One thing that always amazes me is that game devs _know_ about this and still can’t see that it’s related to work as well. I need to feel that I have control and can make at least some decisions around my work. I need to feel that my skill set is being used, pushed to the limits for me to find the elusive state called flow. But I also need to feel that the company cares for me as an individual, because that will make me care for the company.

This is just something that struck me when I was reading all the articles about the state of the industry.

We’re good at figuring out what players need. Workers aren’t all that different. It’s all about intrinsic motivation.

James Berg @jamesbergcanada
It's not actually from gamedev, we borrowed it from mainstream psych - Self Determination Theory (SDT)

Mastery is typically talked about as Competence, and is (imo) the key piece to flow, as you said. (Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow is the predominant touchpoint there).

Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten
I know, I was just putting it in a game dev context for the purpose of being more... succinct 😊

Or maybe “on topic” if you will. It’s amazing to me that we have such a hard time looking at things from a holistic point of view. We’re really good at figuring out what players want. Why is it so hard to figure out what we need? You know?

RaeAnn @thebaby209
I needed to smile. @imtrick #cullensnort #cullenrutherford #DragonAge



Patrick Morris @imtrick
Whoever put that snort in the script is a genius! @patrickweekes ?

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes
Cannot remember if me or @eplerjc, who did the cinematics and worked with me pretty closely on scene flow.

Joshua Stiksma @joshstiksma
Y'all know this is true. #CurrentMood



It's incredibly important to have self-discipline in the final stretches. I find myself struggling with this every time, but know that I'll get way burnt out and possibly even jeopardize ship dates if I try for all those sweet low priority bugs.

For those unfamiliar, it's something like this:

P1 = fix immediately (crash, data corruption, major cert issue)
P2 = must fix (progression blocker, minor cert issue)
P3 = want to fix (negatively affects player experience)
P4 = nice to fix (aesthetic, non-intrusive to gameplay)

As such, a lot of the visual and "feel" stuff ends up as P3 and P4.

Hard to take in, but important to accept:
- P1/P2 ships the game.
- P3/P4 make it better, but don't matter if you didn't ship the game.

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes
Just call me the eff out, why don't you

David Mergele @elegrem
Where are those sweet, sweet workflow bugs I needz to fix in this priority list?

Joshua Stiksma @joshstiksma
Workflow bugs are cursed while closing out games.
Don't worry though, we'll totally prioritize them for <insert_sequel_name_here>!

David Mergele @elegrem
Straining to resist replying...

Kotaku: The Past And Present Of Dragon Age 4
kotaku.com/the-past-and-present-of-dragon-age-4-1833913351

Jason Schreier @jasonschreier
Please do keep in mind that nobody, including the team behind Dragon Age 4, knows what Dragon Age 4 will ultimately look like. It's changing every day, and the negative reception to Anthem (plus EA's awful recent track record) might have a very real impact.

I mean, hell, maybe the Dragon Age 4 leads will gather all the negative reactions to this article, put them into a PowerPoint presentation, and use them as leverage against EA's pressure. Stranger things have happened.

user to Jason:
Why call out EA? Sure, they have been partially to blame for Visceral and BioWare. But reading your articles the bigger issues are with the dev leadership. EA didn't make Henig micromanage and alienate her team. EA didn't cause BW's leaders fail to set a vision/make decisions.

Jason Schreier @jasonschreier
Dragon Age 4 being a "live service" game is 100% mandated by EA - that's what I'm referring to here

another user:
Isn't Sims 4 also termed as a "live service" game by EA? And it can be played offline. Just kinda confused cus your article makes it seem like always online and live service are the same thing.

Jason Schreier @jasonschreier
It's kind of a nebulous concept, but I think any game built for long-term "engagement" and monetization is a "live service" game

John Epler @eplerjc
I am pretty sure 70% or more of my best* ideas come during my commute home
(* - best subject to interpretation)

John Epler @eplerjc
I am very glad you realized it as soon as you did, I would've covered the entire thing and then had a very bad time.

Ben Gelinas @bengelinas
#myfirstgamejob was at @bioware Edmonton, building a wiki to document and keep consistent Dragon Age’s massive n far-reaching lore. Much of that work became the World of Thedas books we made with @darkhorsecomics



MistressTrevelyan @muirnara
What I wouldn't give to see you and @davidgaider return to @bioware. That'd be a dream come true for DA4.

Ben Gelinas @bengelinas
It’s in great hands tho. @patrickweekes, @eplerjc, and other weirdos who sure predate me are on it.

David Gaider @davidgaider
Indeed. They'll do a fantastic job, of that I have no fear.