Matthew Goldman @sergoldman Blood magic works out just fine in the end, right? Right?
“The Gibs Golem”, one of our grossest-ever creatures, from the mind of Jae Keum. Jae also came up with the Architect design. Check out his at Artstation.
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman At one point DA2 was 3 games in our financial system! First codename "NugStorm" - someone thought that was too dumb and added a rival: "Armageddon"! We parried. "EXODUS"! - that makes sense after Origin. Confusion reigned.
Anyhoo,
Autumn Witch @dragon_Age_Fans Nugstorm does sound like title of a book written by Varric.
Brigid Pride @petrastan93 What genre would it be though?
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman That sounds like the tale of a lonesome Dalish hunter, grimly patrolling some dusty plain on a quest to save the rare speckled nug from poachers. Or possible an amphigory.
InquisitiveCommander @talon42 And the other titles work as sequels!
Nugstorm: Armageddon Nugstorm: Exodus
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman Nugstorm: Armageddon 2 Armageddon Again!
Derek W. @deremix Hi everyone. I am EXTREMELY ELATED to announce that in October I will be joining the team at BIOWARE as a Cinematic Designer for Dragon Age!!! This is, quite literally, a DREAM come true.
Of course, I am very sad to be leaving the team at ATVI. But I can't pass up a dream. ❤
the soft rains @thesoftrains Now hiring a drummer for my lyriumcore dwarvenmetal band, ŊUGSTØRM. Please attach a cover letter and 16 bars of scream. Maul experience a plus.
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman Is your demo on bandcamp? I'll check that out!
Autumn Witch @dragon_Age_Fans Nugstorm does sound like title of a book written by Varric.
Grumpy0lLady @vortexwx38 It sounds like a Sera grenade to me. The chaos!
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman I've spent YEARS arguing for a mage spell : cone of nugs. Obviously an ultimate. Possible a legendary wand. Alas, no success.
ArkytiorGrowing @arkkombellarkru Ever since I heard someone suggest it I've been madly in love with the idea of DA2 being called Dragon Age: City of Chains
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman I like that one too. Sounds SO METAL! The argument against is that there is a City of Chains in Planescape. That's my favorite DnD setting btw.
Rowan Kaiser @rowankaiser I've seen a few games advertising themselves by saying how much "lore" they have and it infuriates me every time.
Lore is a necessary consequence of complex stories and settings and not inherently a good thing at all.
John Epler @eplerjc I have a lot of feelings on lore in general, but largely it comes down to - lore is something you accumulate by necessity, but it should never be the end goal.
If compelling narrative and lore conflict, a compelling experience should almost always win.
I say 'almost always' because there are some third rail lore issues that, if you violate them, you will absolutely distract your longtime players too much to enjoy.
But beyond that, things need to work well enough to get you to the next story beat.
erin ⁷@erifaerie_ (Jun 20, 2020) I think people don't quite understand that most of the time, the game dev teams hands are tied by NDAs :/ It would be totally different if the decision to share was solely up to the dev team.
That being said, I do have a question. Are you excited for what you've been working on?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes (Jun 20, 2020) I keep trying to answer vaguely and then realizing I’ve still said too much, so: yes yes yes very.
Pedro @blightedboy I wonder how their excitement has changed since last year
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I mean, I am dealing with health issues and a global pandemic and political poopstorms from multiple countries, so I'm kind of stressed in general all the time. But on the work front? Still yes yes yes very.
Unofficial Dragon Age Day @unofficialdaday The Dragon Age Day website is live! Visit dragonageday.com and check it out!
(PSSST - you can sign up for newsletters this year to get the scoop on DA Day festivities - scroll down to the bottom of the webpage and hit the subscribe button. ~ladyiolanthe)
Last Edit: Sept 28, 2021 3:49:24 GMT by ladyiolanthe
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
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman We are having our house fixed up. The ideal was a more Gray and Pointy theme, but obsidian is very hard to get right now what with COVID.
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman We are having the inside fixed up to! Maybe some welcoming bas-reliefs in volcanic basalt? You could collect these in DAI but probably 99% of people haven't seen the whole collection. Designs by my good pal Marc Taro Holmes:
ryan @uniparalum @davidgaider was Hawke meant to the be Inquisitor in DA:I, originally? Replaying it, it almost feels that way. I do wish that had been an option. I feel like I’m one of the few who adored DA2.
Thanks for helping to make a world I enjoy so much!
David Gaider @davidgaider No, that was never the plan. We did recycle some elements of the canceled DA2 expansion, however, so that’s why the connection might seem stronger.
6ft3 Goose @newtypeneophyte So @davidgaider weird question that I've been holding onto for about a decade, but what happened to the Ash Warriors of Ferelden? We meet them once at Ostagar in DA:O, and outside of a few mentions in Stolen Throne and The Calling, they just POOF! Gone.
David Gaider @davidgaider I imagine they’re still about. They just never came up again.
Anna Brandberg @annabrandberg Great explanation of many of the different roles in #gamedev within the context of The Door Problem™.
And if I were to add UX Designers to it (after the Researchers) — "Our playtest showed that most players struggle to be able to walk through the door. Could we make it wider?"
David Gaider @davidgaider I still remember the time the Dragon Age Origins team almost made all doors double-wide across the entire world because they feared Shale would clip when walking through them, and battle lines were drawn over it.
Jay Watamaniuk @jaywatamaniuk Feeling slightly guilty about writing missions where you maybe, kinda have to murder a few NPCs along the way after watching Freeguy. #gamedev
Derek W. @deremix Today marks my last day at Activision. It was an incredible job, with an amazing team - one of the best I've ever been part of. But, I'm off to chase my dreams at BioWare! Keep an eye out for those Dragon Age 4 cinematics.
blakey @nevarros garrett (definitely not a blood mage) hawke #DragonAge
Jesper Haglund @kajehase Gah. Now I want them to make a DA2 series with Richard Madden as Hawke.
David Gaider @davidgaider Ironically, Madden was *almost* cast as the VA for one of the DAI followers.
Annia of Ferelden @angstyhedgehog Who?
David Gaider @davidgaider I'd really rather not say, in deference to the actor who did get the role. I doubt you'd want to hear how someone else almost got it.
Arch @archaeologuy For one week when I started at BioWare (only there for 1 year) I was loaned to the Dragon Age team and I have a story that feels a lot like this but it’s too long for Twitter so if we meet in person and you’re interested in hearing this one very nerdy story just ask me.
John Epler @eplerjc My main DAO QA accomplishment was beating the fight in the Tower of Ishal (the one you’re supposed to lose) and then just wandering around the map because the next beat never spawned.
John ‘Hardcoded strings’ Epler @eplerjc If I could distill every lesson I've learned as a lead into one sentence, it's 'Happy people do good work, so your number one focus needs to be keeping them happy.'
Everything else boils down to that.
Or even more succinctly - care about your team.
That doesn’t mean you have to be their best friend, but you need to care about them as more than just a number.
Gonna actually call out @patrickweekes as someone who does this exceptionally well, and who I'm always learning from.
Blair Thorboorn Ghost @oiblair
As someone who has had the unfortunate luck of half a dozen bad managers, it was always down to this.
If you're ever feeling lonely, just ask social media if you should play 'Dragon Age'. You'll have more friends with opinions than you could ever imagine.
(The actual article isn't as harsh as the title suggests...)
Mike Jungbluth @lightbombmike Hey hey all of you wonderful technical animators! You should come work with @jillithe @elenatchii @stephensonpsean & the rest of the amazing tech anim team here at BioWare! Come help us bring to life diverse characters to smooch & wild creatures to pet!
