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
Lengthy Twitter thread to follow. Note: I changed "dialog" to "dialogue" because that's my preferred spelling.
Mike Laidlaw @mike Laidlaw There will come a time (probably soon) when I'll feel weird talking about Dragon Age because it will be someone else's jam and I won't want to steal any spotlights, but I'm going to tell a couple stories of subtle things from Inquisition that made me really happy.
The first is in Haven, when you get a chance to walk around and catch up with all the principal characters: Cullen, Cass, Varric, etc. What I don't think a lot of people realized is that they have a lot of different dialogue depending on whether you imported a save from the DA Keep.
If you didn't import at all, their dialogue was a lot more introductory and didn't deep dive into a lot of extra questions about theprevious games. If you did import any world state, though, they had a bunch of extra things you could ask about, including previous relationships.
The reasoning for this basically was if you imported, we could safely assume you were enough into the whole "state of the world" that the extra dialogue would be rewarding and an early sign that your previous choices were listened-to and mattered.
While someone who hadn't done the import was likely a new player, or not deeply invested enough in world state stuff to want to have those dialogues. As such, we could save those folks from clicking through a ton of possibly meaningless dialogues.
Normally I'm not a huge fan of "hidden reactivity" as it often goes unnoticed, but in this case wanted it to be unnoticed. We wanted a smoother, less confusing 'on-boarding' for new players and I think in the end it was a successful endeavour.
The second thing that's subtle but so cool falls largely on the world on a few key folks in design, sound and localization.
In summary: at the very end of Trespasser, no matter how many characters are reference, no matter what languages the lines are played in, the credits scroll ALWAYS end exactly as Cass realizes "he put her in the book."
It was a matter of working backwards and the designer assigned "lengths" to every possible comment she could make (which was quite variable, as some characters could be missed entirely and never met) by language.
The total added "length" of each line that would fire was then added up dynamically for the player's specific state, and then as the credits played, they would transition from the bard songs over Trespasser's credits to Cassandra's reading at the exact moment to stick the ending.
I guess this is all to say: there were some really brilliant moments in the midst of all the bullshit, and I think every game has those subtleties and moments of real artistry.
I appreciate the teams who work so hard on them across the industry ...
... and I'm looking forward to being surprised myself sometime.
Emma Lei Wilted flower @nevarrannovice This is my formal request that BioWare give us at least one emotionally damaging romance for every Dragon Age game. Like, literally scoop my soul out and throw it at the wall with the angst. Please.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I mean I like happy romances with fun positive endings, but the customer is always right!
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes An exhausting but productive week, with a bunch of folks across the Narrative team coming together for Writer Voltron to look at some stuff and figure out how to make it better. Harder over Zoom, but worth it nevertheless.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes An exhausting but productive week, with a bunch of folks across the Narrative team coming together for Writer Voltron to look at some stuff and figure out how to make it better. Harder over Zoom, but worth it nevertheless.
Gordon Stoner @stoner_gordon Writer Voltron? Maybe I’m slow today but what do you mean by that?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes There are things writers can work on for awhile by ourselves. Followers, or individual quests. But some stuff is owned by multiple writers, so we set aside time for all of us (plus non-writers involved with Narrative) to get together and hash things out. That’s Writer Voltron.
It is mostly a TON of meetings. We go over content and see what works and what doesn’t. It’s also the time where we make big narrative decisions as a team (or make big proposals we then bring to other affected departments).
Examples of stuff we decide at things like this: - Hey, this big story element doesn’t work - How should we do romances? - Hey, this big huge thing is unclear - Does it feel like we’re all making the same game?
We have a great team. It’s positive. We’re all exhausted by Friday.
Renmiri @renmiri1 Do you guys still have Video on ? We have switched to funny backgrounds for most meetings
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes We have video on because fasciae expressions matter. Some have backgrounds, but I turn into a moss monster when I use a background.
Dumped, Drunk and Social Distancing 🐺 ⬆️ @drunkdalish I'm friends with a few writers on series. Writers' rooms are 5+ hours for them at a time, and that's so daunting. Is it like that for you guys? Hopefully not daily?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes We have a morning meeting and then lunch and then an afternoon meeting. If folks are visiting, we might do lunch or dinner as social stuff as well. (Not so much this time.)
We’ve got a great team, so it’s really positive. But yeah, tiring.
BioWare @bioware Breaking news: The BioWare Gear store is back! The long elevator ride is over. Come visit the one stop shop for all your @masseffect, @anthemgame, and @dragonage collectibles!
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod "We can't have wolves, wolves were cut." "We can if we give them 8 legs, then they're a spider." #overheardintheoffice #gamedev
Jen Cheverie @jencheverie Why is the answer always spiders!!
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod "We can't have wolves, wolves were cut." "We can if we give them 8 legs, then they're a spider." #overheardintheoffice #gamedev
Jen Cheverie @jencheverie Why is the answer always spiders!!
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod I say replace wolves AND spiders with drop-bears
Gabe Heiland @norseartemis I had to google that and I am 100% on board and will also find the data to back that our players secretly want drop bears to go with their sexy trees
Krista Parham @kpearham Cool adding this to the backlog
(งಠ_ಠ)ง punch nazis @writerphoebe You buy a fancy vase at the thrift store, then after you get home you realize its an urn with ashes in it. wyd?
A. i have a new friend now B. dump it, keep the vase
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes C) Heal the Arl and gain a bunch of approval with Leliana.
Mike Laidlaw @mike_Laidlaw D) Kill Leliana near it, then post a lot of angry things to Mike Laidlaw about her return in later Dragon Ages as recently as this month.
Mel in the Time of Covid-19 @vanishedfaces I completely missed Leliana on my first play through because the Templar at the gates told me the inn was full and I took his word for it and never went in!
Mike Laidlaw @mike_Laidlaw Yeah, that could absolutely happen. And I sympathize with the people upset about Leli showing back up, but I defend the decision because she was a rad character, tied many themes together...
...was killed in VERY few playthroughs (based on telemetry), and in the rare cases she was, it was handled in Inquistion's epilogues if you did, and she died beside the "holy grail" of all things, so I felt we could bend the rules some.
Jenny Huls @riottinybun practical game dev reasons, killing jank fan theories once again. (she says with love to the devs and the fans) now why does she look so young still, though
Mike Laidlaw @mike_Laidlaw She moisturizes!
(but if she DID die in Origins and you import that via the keep into DA:I her epilogue is very different than any other)
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah I realize that most of you are here for Dragon Age news and there hasn't been a lot of that lately... Let me just run down some things I an say:
1. We are working on the next Dragon Age 2. Yes we are working from home 3. Working from home is harder 4. We are making progress
Michael Gamble @gamblemike this is how you increase your follower count. well played.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Introduced myself to the team as Lead Writer and Dragon Romance Specialist at today’s meeting. Anybody who wants me to present something on a Friday knows what they signed up for.
John Epler @eplerjc A true inspiration.
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten Does Dragon Romance Specialist mean that you specialize in romancing dragons or that you are a specialist on dragon romances? Inquiring minds want to know.
Mostly me.
I'm the inquiring mind.
DragonMelissaBow and arrowJanowiczDragon face deedlite Life goals. I want to romance a dragon.
I'm not even kidding btw
Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten Who doesn't? One of the most influential books I read as a teenager was Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. A human witch sort of unwittingly seduces a dragon. Fantasy was never the same after that. I got spoiled by reading a book with a female protagonist that early in my life.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I had to do a short presentation to the team about having Writer Voltron over Zoom, so I made this! I'm really proud to have gotten every major character from the show into this image.
izneocomics @izneocomics To celebrate the #ComicConAtHome this year, Dark Horse's full catalog is available at 50% OFF until July 27th on izneo Collision symbol
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Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Introduced myself to the team as Lead Writer and Dragon Romance Specialist at today’s meeting. Anybody who wants me to present something on a Friday knows what they signed up for.
Kayley Jo @typeformiles You heard it here first, folks: DA4 has a romanceable dragon companion!
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Noooooo this is how I end up in gaming news articles!
Gabe Heiland @norseartemis So I didn’t want to interrupt your flow today, but which writer is the Tree Romance Specialist because I have some data driven fan fic to go over with them
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I’m torn, because @sherylchee is on vacation and can’t defend herself, but @sylvf1 is the one I USUALLY give the worst jobs that come my way.
Gabe Heiland @norseartemis What do you mean worst?
Ser T, Champion of Ferelden, Blight Fighter @imasithduh Rallying cry of the BioWare fandom.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes The horniest fandom.
Kayley Jo @typeformiles You heard it here first, folks: DA4 has a romanceable dragon companion!
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Noooooo this is how I end up in gaming news articles!
Gabe Heiland @norseartemis So I didn’t want to interrupt your flow today, but which writer is the Tree Romance Specialist because I have some data driven fan fic to go over with them
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I’m torn, because @sherylchee is on vacation and can’t defend herself, but @sylvf1 is the one I USUALLY give the worst jobs that come my way.
Gabe Heiland @norseartemis What do you mean worst?
For those snooping eyes also, that is a DA background, however my home machine is plugged in this week. On vacation playing games, so nothing special on the screen
Jos Hendriks @sjosz Justin it's supposed to be SECRET lab.
Jos Hendriks @sjosz Me needing to write a description for a thing I'm working on: "Oh cool, I get to do this thing our writers and editors always get to do!" Me needing to write a description for the 50th thing: "Oh, jeez, this is something our writers and editors have to do all the time."
(I already appreciate the wonderful writers and editors I get to work/have worked with, but today that appreciation increased)
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod This week at work is supposed to be a quiet individual project week instead of regular work so of course I’ve been putting in st least 2hrs/day more than usual and only just now wrapped up at midnight tonight... oops. Sure hope my project is useful to someone in the end!
Jen Cheverie @jencheverie That was me with the 3D work on tuesday night!! Did not make much progress yesterday but it was so much fun to do.. I will probably keep working on it after this week
