Jos Hendriks @sjosz Gotta love the note my co-worker wrote on what the mood should be for a particular line of banter: "Some kind of "yeehaw one more of you asshats" vibe". I love working with her.
BioWare @bioware "Some of my fondest memories were found in crumbling cities long picked dry by treasure seekers. The best are the battlefields. Spirits press so tightly on the Veil that you can split across with but a thought."
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes A writer at work told me in a peer review that the way I had written something was offensive and would hurt players.
This was (while not fun to hear) good and exactly what a peer review should do, because that meant I could fix it before the rest of you had to see it.
And as a lead writer, my job is to make everyone on the team -- writers, editors, people in QV or level design or art or even people not on the project but who heard something at an all-hands meeting, feel they can give feedback and know it will be taken seriously.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Ah, it's a "This checkin fixes the thing I thought I fixed earlier but in fact made worse," kind of day.
Everyone get ready, the writer's messing around with conditionals!
Your first instinct is gonna be to brace yourself, but honestly, what you really wanna do is go limp so that my attempt at handling line logic just rolls over you painlessly instead of hitting full-force.
Tim Griffith @timthegriffith Oh no
Blair Thorburn @oiblair That's the trick, scripting is just English but like someone who can barely structure a sentence would write it.
"DO THING" Yes, and who does it? "PERSON" Uh huh, and what then? "IS MORE PERSONS? 😥" There might be, but that's ok, we can do that. "DO THING WITH MORE PERSON"
Just try and forget everything you've ever trained for and you'll be fine.
Caitie ghildirthalen PSA: BW is killing Bioware Points. Any DLC for DA/ME that used BWPoints will no longer be able to be bought, however, they can be downloaded for free on PC. I'm not sure how this effects Console users. Link to PC/Mac downloads:
It's likely that console users are just going to be SOL- So if you haven't downloaded the DA/ME DLC yet on console, now may be the time. Purchases will stop in October, I think?
BioWare @bioware For us, Pride doesn't end after June. This special entry in our Developer Story series invites some of our LGTQIA+ colleagues to talk about what the studio and its games mean to them as queer folks.
C.L.Stinnett @nukavegas @patrickweekes what would happen if Fenris were to be exposed or infected with red lyrium?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I think there'd be personality changes, and eventually Fenris would split into two Fenrises who would fight each other in a junkyard.
I might be thinking of Superman.
C.L.Stinnett @nukavegas That's a good point! We need to see Fenris in some glasses just to verify a few pieces of information
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes What if you've ALREADY seen Fenris wearing glasses and just didn't recognize him?
C.L.Stinnett @nukavegas Do glasses even exist in Thedas? Like personal use glasses? Or is everyone half blind? Either way Fenris could never hide his identity for that long he doesn't really know subtlety
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I THOUGHT we had spectacles referenced somewhere, or in one of the comics.
This is what I think, not confirmed canon, but in countries with more science/tech advancement, nobles at least could commission lenses to help their vision. Expensive and uncommon, but possible.
charlie 🌿 @eluvicn could’ve sworn varric wore them at some point
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Maybe? In one of the comics?
And yeah, I assume that "reading glasses" are expensive but common among the wealthy or people in their employ who need to read, while lenses specifically for an individual vision problem would be very rare.
But again, that's a GUESS, not canon!
C.L.Stinnett @nukavegas I picture dwarves being able to help with the finer craftsmanship of them or perhaps magic can heal eyesight? How unfortunate for a blind mage if that were the case in a non-canon and purely hypothetical sense how technologically advanced do you think Thedas is?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Okay, that's trickier. Even spirit healers haven't canonically done much except speed up the healing of wounds that could have healed normally anyway. No magic could regrow Bull's injured eye, for example.
HOWEVER, we also have, as a silly example, a potion that makes you fire-resistant, which, you know, suggests herbal treatments are a bit cooler in Thedas. So while helping astigmatism might not be possible, maybe helping cataracts would?
FINALLY, in areas that either have a lot of control over spirits or a much friendlier relationship with them than Ferelden did, I think it might be POSSIBLE for a spirit to (willingly or unwillingly) serve as someone's eyes. (If unwillingly, it's also evil AND a terrible idea!)
Shannon Miller @shannonl_Miller That Abbott lawsuit is exactly why creatives implore you not to pitch us your scripts or ideas, even jokingly. Not because we’d ever be tempted to steal your idea, but because the last thing we need is you finding a bare hint of a similar detail and getting brave with legal.
John Epler @eplerjc If you e-mail me anything that's like 'hey I had an idea' I will delete it, sight unseen.
Same if you try to pitch me something over Twitter.
I'm sure they're great ideas! But we already have plenty, and we do not need the risk of you thinking we stole from you.
Crown Laurel @crown_Laurel1 @patrickweekes I have a pressing question regarding the tea I drank this morning. Would Solas be flattered or offended that I drank it out of a cup with his tarot card on it?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Solas would a) be concerned about his image being on a cup if it suggested people were worshipping him, b ) unconcerned about the tea, because he supports your right to drink the beverages you choose, and c) guiltily hopeful that he looked good and smart in the picture.
Last Edit: Jul 17, 2022 1:10:23 GMT by ladyiolanthe
John Epler @eplerjc At some point this week I talked to someone about the difference between a jagged story and a smooth story and I cannot remember who.
Brain full. No more room for thoughts.
To that person and that person alone I apologize for my descent into incomprehensibility.
Blair Thorburn @oiblair I remember it more as a low mumbling to yourself while smearing ink on the walls, if it helps.
Corinne Busche 🏳️⚧️ @corinnebusche Fwiw I found your description brilliantly insightful, as always.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I was there, too! And honestly, for all the times I put other people through my synesthesia, it was really cool to be part of someone else's.
Jimmie Myers @jimmiemyers You could extend this analogy into even more incomprehensible territory with synthesizer waveform terminology
John Epler @eplerjc Honestly I look at this and my brain goes ‘yeah that’s exactly right’.
Someday we’re going to ship this game and my brain will do the equivalent of a fresh Windows install and I don’t know what I’m gonna do with that.
Caitie ghildirthalen It finally happened! A DA fan went on the remains of the DA ride Fantasy Island in Skegness and posted about it! https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/w0tz4e/no_spoilers_i_went_on_the_da_theme_park_ride/
The video starts in a castle with lots of grey wardens. None of them are recognisable/important. A grey warden mage with a man bun and voice I recognised (but couldn't place) tells you he's glad you've arrived and that you need to hurry. He then uses lightning magic to fly and has some kind of arcane shield around him. The chair you're sitting on moves side to side to simulate you flying from the keep and following him. There's also a shapeshifter dragon following and helping you. She turns into a woman who looks like Yavana at the end, but the mage refers to her as Valencia.
The mage first tells you to look out for darkspawn archers. There are no darkspawn, just some corpses you swiftly fly over. A horde of terror demons then attack. It took me far too long to realise they were terror demons because they looked like giant flying mosquitos. It was only after one got really close to the screen that I could recognise its face.
We're then onto the main event. A pride demon attacks and shoots fire balls at you. The chair moves to dodge them and the mage tells you to make it shoot the fade rift that's randomly there. It does, and the fade rift starts to close but pulls you in. The chair shakes a bit as you 'try' to get out and not get closed inside the rift. You escape and you're congratulated and told you saved the day.
You fly back to the keep and someone shouts that the darkspawn horde is retreating. Even though there was no darkspawn horde? The people cheer and the ride ends.
So to recap: you, a shapeshifter, a grey warden mage, (and technically a keep full of grey wardens too although you don't see them leave) are for some reason trying to close a fade rift. You fight a few demons, get a pride demon to shoot the rift with a fireball, and save the day. And someone offhandedly mentions darkspawn because grey wardens are present.
The main things that stood out to me as strange (but may not be) were flying terror demons, a pride demon (with a DAI design) shooting fireballs, flying mages, and the rift being closed by a fireball. DAI would have certainly been a lot easier if shooting fireballs at rifts worked. Not sure if Valencia is someone mentioned anywhere either so I'd love opinions on these things.
The best bit about the video was the character design. Ignoring the terror demons (which admitedly took me a while because they were so far away and moved so fast), everything was easily recognisable. The character models are a bit mixed. Some are DAI, some are not from any game, and some are from DAO. Nearly every character (except the mage and shapeshifter) had a DAO haircut and the cheering people at the end wore DAO dresses and shirts. Everything else seemed based on DAI other than the dragon form of the shapeshifter which I didn't recognise from any game.
I would recommend the ride overall. I really enjoyed it. Went on it 3 times, although anymore than that and it would have gotten tiring. Without knowledge of the games, it definitely wouldn't have been as interesting but seeing all the (nonsensical) references was great fun. The queues were also really short for the whole day so it would have been easy to go on it more times (though we purposely chose to go before all the schools ended for the summer). The ride costs a lot if you're solely paying for it, but if you get day pass wristbands it's definitely worth it.
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
"As expressed by Gary McKay, BioWare™ General Manager, “It’s always sad to see someone you appreciate go, but I wish Charles all the best in his next adventure. He leaves SWTOR in excellent hands with an incredible team that will carry forward our vision for the game. We are committed to SWTOR’s future as we continue to work on the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect.”"
John Epler @eplerjc The 'it's wrong to harass developers but here's why it's actually okay to harass developers' response is almost always found in response to stories about developers being harassed.
A) Decisions are way more complex than a single person.
Don't harass people.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah THIS!!!! I often get asked “was X the right decision?” And almost EVERY TIME, the answer to that is super complicated. Should DAI have used Frostbite? Should DAI have been open world? Should DA2 have delayed? Should Anthem have delayed? Seem easy? THEY AREN’T.
Don't harass people.