Jos Hendriks @sjosz Me while working on something for one of the DA companions: Yeah this character is cool, I bet people will like this character's personality and story.
Me looking at social media response to companions after the Dev Diary: Oh. Oh my.
Karin (West) Weekes @karinweekes In big games, content areas are the domain of different departments. We each work on our part of the game, & we’re not allowed to publicly discuss many parts of games in development. We’re excited to discuss things as we can, but if we don’t answer a question, there’s a reason.
It also doesn’t hurt to remember that we are, in fact, people, so kindness - or at least basic respect - goes a long way.
John Epler @eplerjc Folks, everything we say about our project and products has to go through official vetting processes.
We can talk in vague generalities, but if you're looking for a confirmation or denial of anything specific, we can't just do that.
So I would suggest appropriate and healthy skepticism.
Even if you think it should be easy for us to comment on something, there are always complexities.
To my previous tweets - that's not to say you shouldn't ask, because sometimes we can point to things y'all are saying as evidence that we should talk about something.
But I am VERY careful about everything I tweet that's even work related, because again - we have to be.
Crimson Wolf @crimson_Wolf13 I’m still convinced @biomarkdarrah is trying to kill me & every other arachnophob! Why Mark? WHY? What is this abomination? #DA4 #DragonAge4
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah But it has TEN limbs...
That's not better is it?
Amanda @amandacardinal3 DO THEY REALLY NEED HANDS?!? LIKE REALLY?! ((ShIvErS))
John Epler @eplerjc Hot take - trophies/achievements actually made games worse and largely just exist to keep you in a single ecosystem.
They encourage guide-driven play and discourage just having fun.
Lots of good responses to this!
I think there are some games with really good achievements in them.
But my personality is such that the way I play games is definitely affected by the existence of achievements.
This isn’t true for everyone! And that’s fine.
But I have actively sought out games on platforms without achievements so I don’t feel the pressure of getting them.
It’s a weird psychological quirk that probably reveals too much about my personality and brain.
Folks if you like achievements and enjoy collecting them I am happy for you.
I am merely sharing my opinion, based on how I consume games and how my brain works.
It is literally no deeper than that.
One game whose achievements I liked - FF7R, because largely you can go back and just get specific ones you missed without needing to replay the whole game.
I never have time to play a game more than once, and if I want to max out achievements/trophies, I need to follow a guide.
For me, it takes away from the feeling of discovery and I don’t love that.
‘But achievements are optional’, correct, but my broken brain disagrees.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes While you know this, and are being kind: it’s not just your broken brain, it’s how games are designed.
Anyone who says that game design can’t make them do something they don’t want to do (like feeling they have to do cheevos) has a poor understanding of how humans work.
Gabe Heiland @norseartemis *whistles innocently and tucks behavioral data away*
Liz • is 3 Trash Gnomes in a Trench Coat Mage @lizagnanoodles for instance the servant of n'zoth title I want where you turn into an assassin of your own faction is a lot of fun on an RP server (or in general). The flip to that is empty feeling achievements/trophies and collections stuff just for the sake of completion.
John Epler @eplerjc Yeah see, cool achievements that reward unconventional gameplay are great.
But ‘collect all 200 X’ is just exhausting to me.
Fortunately they have yet to make me God Emperor of games so achievements aren’t going anywhere.
You may rest easy.
noelle Snowflake @gragnolla yet. your day is coming soon.
John Epler @eplerjc tbh I have other ways i would wield that power.
BioWare @bioware In ancient times, only Fen'Harel could walk without fear among both our gods and the Forgotten Ones, for although he is kin to the gods of the People, the Forgotten Ones knew of his cunning ways and saw him as one of their own.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah Twitter says I haven't posted this month Twitter says I have to feed the attention maw Twitter says people like pictures. Here's a picture.
While it ain't about Dragon Age specifically, it was just announced that EA Play will be included along with the XBox Game Pass at no extra charge, which means those gamers with the pass would be able to access all three DA games for free.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Thing I’ve learned while working as a game writer at a studio where I have to communicate with, and convince, non-writers of stuff: you cannot demand a curriculum.
You can win ONE argument with “(story you haven’t read) does it this way.” You can’t win EVERY argument with that.
My first few years as a lead writer have been a crash course in learning how to show my work and explain clearly why a thing I want to do is the right thing to do.
If I can only do that by referencing a story someone else hasn’t read, I eventually fail as a lead.
Same goes in the writer room. MY perfect reference for a narrative beat might be something done on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, but since I’m the only writer who watches that show, I guess I better learn how to speak whatever Darmok and Jalad today’s teens use at Tanagra.
Anyways. Everyone should watch and read and generally experience both the classics in their field and the random stuff that is outside their personal comfort zone, and if you’re in a lead role and have an official required curriculum, you’d best make that clear beforehand.
Source: I have a Master’s in English. If I could get whatever I wanted by saying, “Come back when you’ve read Joyce’s Ulysses,” our games would have had a whole lot more sexy musical numbers than they’ve had so far.
Shinga - Raised fistBLACK LIVES MATTER @ladyshinga Be honest with us, @patrickweekes, how many mullets are we going to be able to choose from in Dragon Age 4
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes As a writer, I am of course one of the defining voices in determining what our hair options are.
I’ve set a clear mandate that Thedas stands for: The Hair: Eventually Dangly, Anterior Short.
The Dragon Age series is beloved for its amazing cast of diverse characters. Become reacquainted with each budding romance, snarky companion, or menacing miscreant in this jam-packed 1000-piece puzzle. Measures at 20'' x 27'', featuring the gorgeous artwork by artist Nick Thornborrow.
Publication Date: October 14, 2020 Format: Deluxe 1,000-piece puzzle, measures 20'' x 27'' Price: $19.99
Alli @jawsisinmywc I was curious @eplerjc was the infamous Solas break up scene motion captured or hand done? Every twitch of Solas' eyes and tiny flexes in the face to polish that scene to tears. It's so moving and makes me cry everytime no matter what dialogue choices.
John Epler @eplerjc Hey! So Solas grabbing your hand and taking the mark was mocapped. Everything else, I did by hand using our emotion system and animations from our library.
Gail Simone @gailsimone I have an interesting thing to say. Three times recently, I have been asked to work on IP with extensive lore and backstory that I needed to brush up on.
When I asked if they had bibles or development documents...I was told the same thing all three times...
I was told in each case that no suck official documents exist, and that they ‘just use the fan wikis online.’
Not because they are lazy or for cost-cutting measures, but because the fans ‘keep better track of this stuff, anyway.’
Now, I am not talking about some niche comic book property, I am talking about massively successful film, game and tv properties.
Some of the biggest shows and franchises you follow have zero in-house continuity documents.
They do everything off of fan wikis.
...
For some weird reason, people keep misreading this and think I am talking about comics.
I am not, comics source material is far easier to get in comics and out of six hundred comics I’ve written, I have never been sent to a fan page for resources.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes We DO have internal wikis at work, but we sometimes look at the external ones as well. The internal ones often have outdated stuff that we ended up not using. The external ones are the most reliable way to check what we actually shipped.
seb hanlon @hanlsp And then there’s @bengelinas, the Keeper of Time and Memory
PCGamesN @pcgamesn #DragonAge's representation of history is one of the best and most interesting in games pcgamesn.com/dragon-age-inquisition/lore #DragonAgeInquisition
Jon Valdes @ jon_valdes It's public now! Next month, at Digital Dragons, I'll be showing the new Frostbite hair rendering tech, along with the awesome @rtaillandier, who will be talking about our hair simulation
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Narrative Designers: You ever start to write the voice-over comment for how a line of dialogue should be delivered and then get annoyed that you can't just write, "Like how Dua Lipa delivers, 'Oh no!' in Break My Heart"?
Other things I have tried writing in VO/Cinematic notes over the years:
- While doing J-Law "Okay" face - Not TOTALLY Jake Peralta, but MOSTLY Jake Peralta - Like Eleanor saying "Okay, buddy," to Jason on the Good Place
This could just be me.
GTaichou Crown @gtpsijic May I ask why you CAN'T give this as a VO note? I am neither a narrative designer or a VA and am very curious to know more. Thanks!
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes As I understand it (VO actors, feel free to correct me), there’s a perception that by asking for a take that is “like (example),” you are effectively saying, “I wish we’d gotten (example), but we’re stuck with you.”
Which is rude to the actors and not how we feel.
Also, barring how excellent some specific line delivery will be as a meme later, it’s better to give actors as much freedom to deliver the line as you can, so they can do their best take, rather than a so-so impersonation of someone else.
What’s more useful (I think) is saying something like, “Blunt, and please hit TIME in this sentence — its a callback to an earlier conversation.”
People who have read my stuff or played characters I worked on may have noticed I occasionally do callbacks to earlier lines.
(In case “so-so impersonation” sounds insulting: I do my best writing when I’m trying to write as ME. When I try to write like Terry Pratchett or David Gaider, I never do better than a so-so impersonation of them.
Letting actors own their voices gets better performances.)
David Gaider @davidgaider Just to add to Patrick's point:
I'd appreciate someone giving feedback of "write it exactly like this" no more than a voice actor appreciates being told "say it exactly like this". Voice actors are at their best when they're permitted to be performers, not mimics.
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod Patrick's unique style of writing is at its best when they bring out the most likeable, sympathetic qualities in a complete rat-bastard character and makes you actually identify with them.
...I guess you'd call that writing style "sympatrico".
Post by ladyiolanthe on Sept 19, 2020 21:40:39 GMT
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod Socially distanced BBQ today with someone who was QA on #DragonAgeInquisition and responsible for testing the Solas romance.
“And then they started taking notes on clipboards about when I started crying, and saying yep, that’ll work”
Dieter @dieter_debaets The @frostbiteengine hair rendering tech is lit af custom compute soft raster with 2.5D binning + perfect AA + tessellation, OIT, VRS-style shading, full motion vectors, auto-LODing,.. and that is not even talking about the sim
Jon Valdes @ jon_valdes Thanks! But also, this is actually a pretty good summary of the hair rendering tech!
Mehdi @gemsmarlo Will the slides be available at some point?
Jon Valdes @ jon_valdes We'll publish the whole video "soon" (or that's what the marketing people tell me, at least). The slides are pretty useless, though. 90% of the info in the talk is either videos or spoken.
