Gabe Heiland @norseartemis As some here have learned, my job is data and giving the team feedback on what the people crave. So I feel like I should find out, do you want to date the tree?
1. Yes, the tree is hot! 2. If it has a tragic past 3. Tree & I are just friends 4. Rivalmance only
BayconByte @bayconbyte I'm sure I'm not the first to ask. But have BioWare ever considered making a DA strategy game? I firmly believe the world and lore would make for a great Grand Strategy Game. A great example would be @cagames 's recent Total War games in the Warhammer universe.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah One of my most viral tweets ever was a poll by me asking about different styles of strategy game and the DA franchise.
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod "I did not imagine yesterday that today I would type "spicy tragic treemance" but that happened" #overheardintheoffice
Black Disabled Lives Matters @chaosfay what's your favorite class to play in DAO, DAA, DA2, and DAI? I find it so interesting how drastically the classes changed between games. For me it's mage, mage, dual blade rogue (took down the arishok in less than a minute), and archer.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes DAO/DAA: Mage DA2: Dual-wield rogue DAI: Assassin Dual-Wield Rogue or Knight-Enchanter Mage
I love swashbuckling and mobility. It’s far more important than direct damage for me.
(That’s in singleplayer. In co-op, I like support — Dalish Mage or Volus Engineer, for example!)
Rami Ismail @tha_rami OK, Twitter, I have a curiosity for you: reply with your job/discipline/creative medium and one highly specific & concrete piece of advice/wisdom/experience/reference that you feel might help someone like you one day. Please feel free to go super niche or specific.
Jos Hendriks @sjosz Level design: The design of a level is highly contextual to the kind of experience you're building, and level design as a discipline is different across lots of companies.
In my experience, a level designer is the central touchstone for most disciplines contributing to a level.
And if a level designer is the central touchstone for most disciplines contributing to a level (including QA!), facilitate that. See the problems coming down a mile away, and relay information across individual contributors.
A level is also one of the main ways contributors can make and show cool stuff. Everyone contributing wants to make a cool thing. The more you can facilitate, within the vision of the level, people getting to do their cool thing, they can help you get the best possible level.
A level is also never something made by a single person. A level designer may hold the vision for the mission, but everyone who contributes makes it better. Lean into that. (and, level aside, makes for a more inclusive team dynamic)
Second, not a single level is at its best on the first iteration, nor the second, nor the third. Iteration is your friend, and building something simple, fast, so you can start playing through and identifying where you can improve is very helpful in working towards a great level.
Third, every level, and this is maybe more applicable to linear SP experiences, serves a role within a greater whole of levels. Knowing where your level fits in the arc of the story, and in the arc of gameplay/systems will inform what to build towards.
Example: A level near the start of the story/gameplay arcs should not contain the most challenging gameplay sequences. This can be combat encounters, puzzles, traversal sections. Each of these can wildly differ based on how challenging the level needs to be.
Fourth: Fatigue in the player experience. Asking a player to do anything in your level/game for long enough without variation, they are going to get fatigued, which is friction point that can push players to disengage with the game. A level designer can greatly impact this.
It depends on the intensity of the activity, but you will want to balance the experience as much as possible to avoid fatigue and keep a player interested and engaged. Breaking up your level's pacing between traversal, combat, conversation, and other gameplay mechanics can help.
John Epler @eplerjc Just realized I’ve been at @bioware for literally a third of my life.
Wild!
Here’s to running that number up.
I plan to be here until, and including when, I’m a brain in a jar.
Blue Asari (Clan Lavellan Wolf face☕Flag of Slovakia) @asarisolavellan Sorry I had to Smiling face with open mouth and cold sweat (update from Futurama)
Jos Hendriks @sjosz *Discussion of problem that needs solving in a mission I'm building* *I offer a ridiculous joke solution* *others in the call like it and start discussing it seriously*
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite Thinking about how this may eventually indirectly affect me like
MistressTrevelyan @muirnara All hands meeting you say?
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod It's a regular thing, don't get too excited No sexy gloomy tree romances were discussed
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten If you want to get picky, we did mention the gloomy tree romance in the slack channel. Or at least @norseartemis did.
Gabe Heiland @norseartemis The fans said they wanted the treemance and my job is to stand up for the data. So.
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten It's not JUST the fans. Give a BioWare dev a romance option and.... you know. I just hope our dear writers are prepared for dendrophiles.
Sheryl Chee @sherylchee We're always prepared. The writing team celebrates love in all its myriad forms.
John Epler @eplerjc Our writing team is never afraid to branch out.
Gabe Heiland @norseartemis Dammit, you woke the writers again! We just stemmed the tide of puns.
Destroyer of Fictional Worlds! And so damn tired. @arone_le_bray It's okay, their bark is worse than their bite.
Jos Hendriks @sjosz In a shocking twist, I have found a level design problem I might solve *without* explosions. I will, of course, still add explosions anyway to avoid my co-workers' suspicions.
(this is a joke tweet both because not nearly as many level design problems are solved with explosions, AND because solving level design problems without explosions is great and a completely valid approach)
Karin (West) Weekes @karinweekes You know I am sad if a minimum explosion level is not maintained...
Jos Hendriks @sjosz Karin I would never deprive you or any other explosion-oriented individual.
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
Comic writing team behind Blue Wraith and the minis that lead up to it allude to what they have coming next: "We hope you like the next few minis - Deception and Blue Wraith. And we hope you read through to what we have coming next, because that will bring things full circle with Knight Errant in some ways."
BioWare @bioware 25 years of adventure, conflict, and companionship. Share with us your favorite moments from the worlds you have helped us build. #BioWare25
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Does anyone know of a decent videos showing overheard conversations as you walk by in Dragon Age: Inquisition? Stuff like in Haven, the healers talking, or Charter smacking down the young idiot guy?
Unexpectedly, the world seems to have not recorded them all.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes "This presentation is about ideas and themes. It shouldn't need a lot of pictures to sell it, just simple bullet points."
