Connor Martyn @connor_martyn 9 Months? For real? [To build DA2]
John Ebenger @ebengerjohn Basically. There were some people on it longer than that, but the bulk of production was around that time frame iirc.
Connor Martyn @connor_martyn This sounds like a mad crunch for 9 months...? Surely that amount of time doesn't include conception/prototyping and pre-prod?
Tyler Lee @tylerd_lee The way I remember it, we were leaving for our Christmas break, the project was announced to the team. (At this point it was a standalone expansion) Writing was going to work over the break and would tell us the story when we got back. We shipped March the following year.
John Ebenger @ebengerjohn Yeah, I finished Mass 2 DLC in Sept. or Oct. and moved up to DA for the final 6 months there. Things had definitely been built at the point, but the bulk of the work was still to be done.
Mr.Wallace's right arm @jaayytteeezzzay I feel like Dragon Age: Exodus would have been a much better title. Still a great game regardless.
John Ebenger @ebengerjohn Yeah, a lot of us felt that way, but sometimes brands gotta brand.
Milly #blm @foxesforsale Still my favourite Dragon Age game. Felt like I was pivotal in a history changing moment. DA1 felt epic but contained, DA2 felt redefining for Thedas. Loved it, flaws and all.
John Ebenger @ebengerjohn Yup, I loved a lot of things about this game, broke some fresh ground as far as the scope of a DA story.
Very Games Michael @cromwelp A lot of people don't know that the "dialogue wheel" is actually patented by BioWare and none other than famous UI artist @mike_Laidlaw is credited as an inventor patents.google.com/patent/US20070226648A1/en
This is one of my favourite facts because you can roll into any production meeting for any B-tier RPG, drop that fact, and watch people shit themselves
Mike Laidlaw @mike_Laidlaw Aside from the UI Artist bit, this is true.
Very Games Michael @cromwelp A lot of people don't know that the "dialogue wheel" is actually patented by BioWare and none other than famous UI artist @mike_Laidlaw is credited as an inventor patents.google.com/patent/US20070226648A1/en
This is one of my favourite facts because you can roll into any production meeting for any B-tier RPG, drop that fact, and watch people shit themselves
Mike Laidlaw @mike_Laidlaw Aside from the UI Artist bit, this is true.
John Wayne Tracey @tankiesanders Congratulations on inventing talking Mike.
Mike Laidlaw @mike_Laidlaw I’ve often said that talking wasn’t going to invent itself.
Sylvester Folks @sylvester_Folks Did you come up with the concept of how many letters each dialogue description would be?
Mike Laidlaw @mike_Laidlaw No, that was just UI driven. iIRC each paraphrase could be 25 characters.
Sylvf @sylvf1 It was 30 on DAI, which I never thought I'd be grateful for. (Honestly can't recall if ME2/ME3 was 30 characters now. I THINK so?)
GraveyardBabe @theg0rewh0re ...please..i need just crumb of DA4 information, but enough to sate me for another 2 years..please just one tiny trailer or leak..
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes One of the current plot names is a Muppets reference that Mark hasn't noticed yet, or at least hasn't made me change.
GraveyardBabe @theg0rewh0re ...please..i need just crumb of DA4 information, but enough to sate me for another 2 years..please just one tiny trailer or leak..
Jon Renish @jonrenish We recently completed an engine integration.
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten I snort laughed!
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite I made a scary thing go smashie smashie today
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes WHOAH HANG ON SAVE SOMETHING FOR THE DEV INTERVIEWS, JANOWICZ!
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite No, the public deserves to know this epic scoop!!!
It also made a lot of grunts and screams!
Presley Hynes @phrequencies I made things make sound.
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite Its true - without her im relying 100% on stock sounds and my untrained ears and trust me when i say we dont want to live in that world lmao
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Remember the very brief period when I did storyboards?
When we ship, I want to show my work to everyone who doubts that story artists are trained goddamn professionals.
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite Aww! It couldnt have been that bad...
The story and concept artists we have are so phenomenal. I would happily pay for a book just outlining storyboards and concept art vs final scenes for this game tbh.
GraveyardBabe @theg0rewh0re ...please..i need just crumb of DA4 information, but enough to sate me for another 2 years..please just one tiny trailer or leak..
Allan Schumacher allanschumacher I made a thing show up on a webpage today. It was very exciting.
Chris Anderson @postmodernlocke I tracked down a set of IDs needed to make a thing build, then wrote a bunch of documentation.
Chris Anderson @postmodernlocke I maintain the worst part of my job is being unable to talk about all the cool stuff I see everyone working on, and the occasional fun thing that I get to do.
Presley Hynes @phrequencies But the fun part is coming up with ways to talk about it online without giving anything away
Chris Anderson @postmodernlocke My goal in life is to be as good at teasing things as Mark.
ladyiolanthe ladyiolanthe It is also fun for us fans to try to figure out your enigmatic posts! Well, for this fan, at least. ☺
Allan Schumacher allanschumacher My favourite was on BSN during DAI development where I had made a post where I used every nickname Varric had for the companions in it (no one knew the nicknames yet).
And then a few months later in that same (very long...) Solas thread, I let people know XD
GraveyardBabe @theg0rewh0re ...please..i need just crumb of DA4 information, but enough to sate me for another 2 years..please just one tiny trailer or leak..
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes One of the current plot names is a Muppets reference that Mark hasn't noticed yet, or at least hasn't made me change.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah You forget that I tried to get ALL the plots in DAI named after power ballads... Wayward Son ... Anyway, Luke said no
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten I made a flowchart!
GraveyardBabe @theg0rewh0re ...please..i need just crumb of DA4 information, but enough to sate me for another 2 years..please just one tiny trailer or leak..
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Remember the very brief period when I did storyboards?
When we ship, I want to show my work to everyone who doubts that story artists are trained goddamn professionals.
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite Aww! It couldnt have been that bad...
The story and concept artists we have are so phenomenal. I would happily pay for a book just outlining storyboards and concept art vs final scenes for this game tbh.
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite I just saw @patrickweekes artwork and it's honestly changed my life. Their work is so raw and intense.
V E N G E N C E
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Melissa's specific praise was, "These belong in a trapper keeper with some math problems and notes about being angry at your dad," which I kind of want to frame and put it on my wall.
Michael Ward @mikewarddraws Seems like a tease not to post a picture.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I'm trying to figure out what I can post without spoiling stuff!
Kadie @keida_Lavellan I didn’t know you draw. I want to see something
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I DON'T draw.
It is objectively terrible. It looks like it was drawn by a very excited ten-year-old. But I wanted to give people who COULD draw a sense of what I was going for, and I did. Badly.
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite I'm just saying I would happily take a zine full of Patrick's drawings for my collection. It was so raw, totally feels like it has a lot to say.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
I think he must have deleted that tweet after realizing his mistake. There are enough "fans" on twitter who can be rather unpleasant to devs on their personal twitter accounts that it's totally understandable why some devs prefer not to put "I work at BioWare" in their profiles and would much rather remain anonymous.
GraveyardBabe @theg0rewh0re ...please..i need just crumb of DA4 information, but enough to sate me for another 2 years..please just one tiny trailer or leak..
.
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten I made a flowchart! It was a flowchart with multiple colors and a bunch of arrows and yes, I think they liked it.
Scylla Costa @scyllacosta and boxes too.
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten Yes! Boxes are the biggest feature of the flowchart. Thank you for reminding me.
Scylla Costa @scyllacosta I may have played a video from @harryconnickjr during a team meeting with the entire studio. I can't 100% confirm or deny this information.
Karin (West) Weekes @karinweekes I tracked down a bunch of old things to use for reference when making new things. Maybe.
John Epler @eplerjc Doing Zoom presentations in the world of WFH means at least part of your presentation will be spent apologizing for your cats having their morning freakout behind you.
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten It was an adorable freakout if that helps.
GraveyardBabe @theg0rewh0re ...please..i need just crumb of DA4 information, but enough to sate me for another 2 years..please just one tiny trailer or leak..
Jon Renish @jonrenish We recently completed an engine integration.
Jiggsy @jiggsy hey bioware hurry up with dragon age 4 i need an rpg to play
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Were we supposed to be making an RPG?
(Slides “Dragon Age Nug Riding Racers” design documentation discreetly offscreen)
Katie Kelly @kqtiekelly Can.. can this be a part of the da4 game? Where you get to be like leliana and raise nugs and give them cute names and outfits and unlock 'rare or limited' color breeds????
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes As a writer, I am SUPER far down on the list of people with the power to make that happen, but I’ll throw it into the hat of silly ideas.
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod Damnit, does this mean my pitch for “Dance Dance Halamshiral Revolution” is out too?
Mike Jungbluth @lightbombmike But we already shot all the mocap for that. If we change direction now, we will have to start from scratch
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod maybe it’s for the best, the Dread Wolf moves were over powered anyway
Paul Jason Meyer @mulwin444 Damn, dude, if we don't get a Nug Racing game now (shakes fist at the sky)
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I always worry I'll run out of ways to disappoint our fans, but I keep finding new ones.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
