ケイティー @thelilwanderer Hey @biomarkdarrah theres a continuity error in The World of Thedas volume 2, page 19. Its titled "Valya's Gift" and starts about Valya but midway switches to talking about a Vanya?
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah I’m going to just have to change the entire univers to make this not an error... @patrickweekes
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Valya/Vanya’s head-skin sloughs off, revealing scales that gleam wetly in the candlelight. “Apologies are offered. It was hoped this guise would sufficiently pass inspection. Now instituting Volumetric Oral Retaliatory Execution.” Her jaw unhinges as she leans forward...
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Amazing work by @darkhorsecomics, and by all the illustrators, including @nthornborrow’s art direction. I love how they all brought this story to life.
And an update, as I couldn't find Twitter handles, but did some more digging. The illustrators!
- From a longer conversation on Half-Elves, the human traits being dominant, and Feynriel seemingly being a (slight) exception.
Malus, the Bad Apple 🍏 🏳️🌈 @smgreenapples Okay, it's in the codices. And here is where I go, but Feynriel exists in his elfy glory. Was the in-universe author of the codex wrong? Where are the other half-elves/half-dwarves? If the codex author is right, what about Feynriel? The puzzle is fun for me.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Feynriel's ears aren't pointy, though. I mean, he might be as elfy as one could look and still be human, but he's still human. (Also ignore me if me being here is not fun or helpful.)
Malus, the Bad Apple 🍏 🏳️🌈 @smgreenapples Human *how* though? Humans and elves are already close enough that they can interbreed, and except for Morrigan's dark ritual shenanigans we have no examples of half-elf/human mixes. The differences seem mostly phenotypic.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes So: appearance may be a mix, but human in the sense of "not an elf", because the rule for elves is that if an elf has a child with any non-elf species (human, dwarf, Qunari), the elf loses. And not like recessive genes, where an elf might pop up later. The elf side loses.
This would factor in for "do the crossroads look pretty for you", as mentioned in Masked Empire and shown off in DAI and Trespasser. Right now, it doesn't affect much else, that we're telling you about.
For the question of "other half-races", the answer (as I see it, at least) is that it's difficult enough to establish an identity for a made-up race like fantasy-dwarves or Qunari without also adding in stuff like how half-Qunari or half-dwarves integrate.
We have surface dwarves vs Orzammar dwarves, we have Qunari vs Tal-Vashoth, we have city elf vs Dalish elf, so we're already trying to tackle "solely in race's culture" vs "partially or fully integrating into human culture." Adding half-dwarves wouldn't help.
So while nothing is guaranteed until another game comes out, I don't see us adding half-races in. It's not where we want to go.
That does NOT mean we're opposed to inter-fantasy-racial child-having. I would love to see, for example, a dwarf-elf couple with kids.
(And in case it comes up: we are still figuring out some combinations, which is why I'm not answering everything explicitly.)
And also I'm trying to specifically say "inter-fantasy-racial" rather than "interracial", because a Qunari and a human having kids might work in some ways as a metaphor for a black person and white person having kids, but in other ways it is a terrible problematic metaphor.
(Problematic enough that even though we try to avoid it, we've agreed as a team that all race combinations can reproduce, because we DO NOT want to imply that some fantasy races produce "mules", as racist old folks used to believe black/white marriages produced.)
ANYWAY. Trying to keep going with an IP that first shipped ten years ago and was started seven years before THAT has a lot of fun complicated parts, and some stuff is gonna be messy and prone to aging poorly, and when that happens, we have to decide what should change.
And sometimes we screw up, and something one person misunderstood gets into a game, and then oops, it's canon, and that sucks, and you do what you can, change where you have to, and try to focus on making something that people have fun with.
- From a longer conversation on Half-Elves, the human traits being dominant, and Feynriel seemingly being a (slight) exception.
Malus, the Bad Apple 🍏 🏳️🌈 @smgreenapples Okay, it's in the codices. And here is where I go, but Feynriel exists in his elfy glory. Was the in-universe author of the codex wrong? Where are the other half-elves/half-dwarves? If the codex author is right, what about Feynriel? The puzzle is fun for me.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Feynriel's ears aren't pointy, though. I mean, he might be as elfy as one could look and still be human, but he's still human. (Also ignore me if me being here is not fun or helpful.)
Malus, the Bad Apple 🍏 🏳️🌈 @smgreenapples Human *how* though? Humans and elves are already close enough that they can interbreed, and except for Morrigan's dark ritual shenanigans we have no examples of half-elf/human mixes. The differences seem mostly phenotypic.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes So: appearance may be a mix, but human in the sense of "not an elf", because the rule for elves is that if an elf has a child with any non-elf species (human, dwarf, Qunari), the elf loses. And not like recessive genes, where an elf might pop up later. The elf side loses.
Malus, the Bad Apple 🍏 🏳️🌈 @smgreenapples Okay. So human culturally, that's fair. Recessive alleles I'll throw down on . Even if the alleles for elven traits are recessive, and rare, two human bloodlines with elf-blooded ancestors may have a child with some elfy characteristics. Recessives *lurk.*
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes But... that's not how it works. There's a bard in Masked Empire who gets as close as we could manage IP-wise to saying "Huh, by genetics, there should be hidden recessive elfy genes, but it doesn't happen ever ever ever. Weird, huh?"
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
Helen Rose @jeraltofrivia @patrickweekes There are *great* amount of DA theories that one has to be accurate but do you ever think "huh, I'm surprised nobody's found this hint yet"?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Not that I’m surprised by, no. There’s maybe one thing we have technically put out, but it’s suuuuuuper obscure, and I’m not surprised nothing has come of it.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Hey, everybody, Social Experiment: ... You're the control group. Please go about your business and act as you normally would.
General Manager Prinze @realfpjr Oh y’all making #IronBull requests now. Ok, my normal dumbass voice isn’t good enough for you?! Fine! We’ll play it your way ... cameo.com/jrprinze #DragonAge
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten Someone left this on my desk. I wonder if it’s a Darkspawn ruse. Or maybe it’ll work against the Donald? So many questions! #thedreadwolfrises
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod “Breaking that wasn’t an intentional decision, it must have been a side effect of someone fixing something else. They will be hunted down and flogged.” “Oh okay.” “Not really. Nobody will actually be flogged.” “Except you.” “Well yes, maybe.” #overheardintheoffice
“There’s an easier way to describe that level. Just imagine episode 3 of the latest episode of Game of Thrones.” “Um...” “But with actual lighting.” “Oh okay.” #overheardintheoffice
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes So @biomarkdarrah, my partner @karinweekes wants to know why dating-sim "Mr. Love: Queen's Choice" is showing up on our family app purchases. I explained that you made me get it, but she is SKEPTICAL.
Karin Weekes @karinweekes My app store is quite insistent that the karma needs ascending. Or something. #highlysuspicious pbs.twimg.com/media/D-fc7ilUwAAFam5.jpg
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah Its work related Karin.
Shari @shariworden So wait, no one is worried that the lead writer on Dragon Age and the executive producer at BioWare are experimenting with Japanese dating sims? No one is the least bit concerned our intrepid leaders could be influenced by these things? No one's worried about romances in DA4...?
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten How likely is it that we'll ever see Dragon Age: The Musical featuring dancing darkspawn? Maybe a swinging Solas? Asking for a friend. #TheDreadWolfRises
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten How likely is it that we'll ever see Dragon Age: The Musical featuring dancing darkspawn? Maybe a swinging Solas? Asking for a friend. #TheDreadWolfRises
seb hanlon @hanlsp Imma just leave this here
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah 1 Mar 2015 “@biowareleaks: Musical DLC? @biomarkdarrah on record saying if #DAI sells 10 million copies, the writers get to make a musical DLC” TRUE
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod I'm pretty sure programmers give things names like "DirtySock" just so that designers and artists have to tell them things like "your DirtySock broke my level" 😝 (Actually something that really happened today.) #GameDev
John Epler Retweeted DreadWolff @cuman_sara GUYS I KILLED SOLAS IN TRESPASSER WTH HAPPENED I- @patrickweekes @eplerjc what is this sorcery #dragonage
John Epler @eplerjc We can never make another Dragon Age now. You broke the franchise. Sorry that it had to be this way.
DreadWolff @cuman_sara But.. our love was real
John Epler @eplerjc and now, so is his death.
DreadWolff @cuman_sara The qunari woman that was petrified by Solas 2min ago and who's casually standing by now
John Epler @eplerjc Solas, like Kiryu, gets a lot of mileage out of ‘he never -technically- killed anyone’.
Shayna Moon @qorquiq What about Felassan? This isn't an attempted gotcha - I'm legit curious because I thought it was confirmed that the shadowy figure at the end of Masked Empire was Solas?
John Epler @eplerjc Gonna be real, I mostly wanted to make the joke about the Kiryu comparison.
DreadWolff @cuman_sara Of course, he's the good guy.
Right ?
John Epler @eplerjc I think @patrickweekes and I have nuanced opinions on this topic.
John Epler @eplerjc Best part of basement renos is all the building metaphors I can’t wait to start trotting out in meetings. ‘Sometimes, a story is like a wall. You can’t just build the ends, of it won’t be stable. You need to put in supports every 16” on centre.’
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Hey, folks! The page for my contribution to the #AuthorsForFamilies RAICES charity auction is up. Winner gets an autographed copy of my books and, if desired, a full manuscript read. Goes live tomorrow, so get ready to help some kids!
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Out for the day doing Dad Stuff, but I made time to check in on work Slack. Really excited about what we’ve got going on!
Cam Banks @boymonster What have we told you about crying demons
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Hey, this is internal shorthand for “This is going to be an emotionally engaging moment, and I look forward to giving our players an immersive experience.”
John Epler @eplerjc We're moving offices soon, and I'm really excited to start taking transit/cycling to work (current office location makes that tricky). The weird thing for me, though, is that I've been going to the same building for work for literally more than a third of my entire life.
Been at @bioware for 12 years, and I'm 34, so it's just a little odd to contemplate.
SDCC 2019: DARK HORSE ANNOUNCES PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE FOR SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2019 DARK HORSE SDCC 2019 SIGNING SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, JULY 19 12:00 PM-12:50 PM: ST - BIOWARE: Jennifer Cheverie (Associate Producer), Matthew Goldman (Creative Director), Derek Watts (Senior Art Director), Karin Weekes (Lead Editor), Patrick Weekes (Lead Writer)
SATURDAY, JULY 20 2:00 PM-2:50 PM: ST - BIOWARE: Jennifer Cheverie (Associate Producer), Matthew Goldman (Creative Director), Derek Watts (Senior Art Director), Karin Weekes (Lead Editor), Patrick Weekes (Lead Writer)
(fin)
. Even if the alleles for elven traits are recessive, and rare, two human bloodlines with elf-blooded ancestors may have a child with some elfy characteristics. Recessives *lurk.*
