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[Apollo Starflare]

Sheryl Chee wrote...

Anarya wrote...

Every time I hear "the writer's pit" I picture this dusty gladiatorial pit with like a portcullis and blood stains and everything. 

It's not nearly that interesting. It's mostly a room with a big "NSFW" sign on the door.

This doesn't surprise me, I imagine writing steamy Varric related love scenes makes the atmosphere in there highly charged to say the least.

[Eudaemonium]

Mary Kirby wrote...

Sheryl Chee wrote...

Anarya wrote...

Every time I hear "the writer's pit" I picture this dusty gladiatorial pit with like a portcullis and blood stains and everything. 

It's not nearly that interesting. It's mostly a room with a big "NSFW" sign on the door.

Well, there's also the "Scorpions... or candy?" box. And Luke has a robot playing guitar. So... that's sort of like a portcullis and blood stains.

Is that "sort of" as in "not at all"? ;P

Modifié par Eudaemonium, 23 août 2010 - 10:56 .

[David Gaider]

Mary Kirby wrote...

Sheryl Chee wrote...

Anarya wrote...

Every time I hear "the writer's pit" I picture this dusty gladiatorial pit with like a portcullis and blood stains and everything. 

It's not nearly that interesting. It's mostly a room with a big "NSFW" sign on the door.

Well, there's also the "Scorpions... or candy?" box. And Luke has a robot playing guitar. So... that's sort of like a portcullis and blood stains.

To be fair, ours is the room with the conversations most likely to make random people stop in the hall and do a double-take. I'd say that satisfies several definitions of epic.

[Anarya]

Sheryl Chee wrote...

Anarya wrote...

Every time I hear "the writer's pit" I picture this dusty gladiatorial pit with like a portcullis and blood stains and everything. 

It's not nearly that interesting. It's mostly a room with a big "NSFW" sign on the door.

Oh a secret room in the Bioware Evll Missile Silo Base. I get it.

I guess you guys won't be needing these loincloths I swiped from the Spartacus set then?

[Eudaemonium]

Anarya wrote...

Sheryl Chee wrote...

Anarya wrote...

Every time I hear "the writer's pit" I picture this dusty gladiatorial pit with like a portcullis and blood stains and everything. 

It's not nearly that interesting. It's mostly a room with a big "NSFW" sign on the door.

Oh a secret room in the Bioware Evll Missile Silo Base. I get it.

I guess you guys won't be needing these loincloths I swiped from the Spartacus set then?

Personally, I think these should go to the model designers. They might create better underwear.

[Anarya]

David Gaider wrote...

Mary Kirby wrote...

Sheryl Chee wrote...

Anarya wrote...

Every time I hear "the writer's pit" I picture this dusty gladiatorial pit with like a portcullis and blood stains and everything. 

It's not nearly that interesting. It's mostly a room with a big "NSFW" sign on the door.

Well, there's also the "Scorpions... or candy?" box. And Luke has a robot playing guitar. So... that's sort of like a portcullis and blood stains.

To be fair, ours is the room with the conversations most likely to make random people stop in the hall and do a double-take. I'd say that satisfies several definitions of epic.

Yes I imagine the specifics of Dwarven romance has that effect on people. Riiiiight, David?

[Anarya]

Actually though, a serious question for David:



You mentioned that you were managing a hotel and kind of stumbled onto your writing job. Has writing always been something you did or did you just pick it up as a hobby at some point and discover you had a talent for it?

[Merllle]

That was a very fine read! Thank you for sharing!

It's also always nice to read news about the infamous writers pit at BioWare.

/me throws various multi flavored rainbow candy, falling amongst the bloodstains and NSFW signs

Modifié par Merllle, 23 août 2010 - 11:02 .

[Risax]

Ehm... This might be a bit of topic but, are the characters from Dragon Age: Origins written by a single person? Like David Gaider has some characters and Mary Kirby has some characters.



Or are characters co-written, if thats even a term...

For example Duncan, was he written by one writer, or did everyone ad something?

[Kaiser Shepard]

So that's what David looks like, not quite how I imagined him. Always expected him to have some kind of large wizard beard. Now I'm wondering what Mary and Sheryl look like...

[andar91]

Risax wrote...

Ehm... This might be a bit of topic but, are the characters from Dragon Age: Origins written by a single person? Like David Gaider has some characters and Mary Kirby has some characters.

Or are characters co-written, if thats even a term...
For example Duncan, was he written by one writer, or did everyone ad something?

Good question.  I always figured they collaborated, but I don't think we really know.  About the giant bucket of coffee reference made earlier: I bet the whole pot goes to Mary.  Or is it Sheryl?  I can't remember, but one of them is a coffee fiend.  I'd always imagined that if they don't get their coffee...let's just say the result was inspiration for the Ogre's opening roar at the top of the Tower of Ishal.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Kaiser Shepard wrote...

So that's what David looks like

Not really.  As mentioned, that's a very old picture.

[David Gaider]

Anarya wrote...
You mentioned that you were managing a hotel and kind of stumbled onto your writing job. Has writing always been something you did or did you just pick it up as a hobby at some point and discover you had a talent for it?

I'd always written-- but I never entertained notions of doing so professionally, at least not insofar as video games went. I wasn't even aware that was something you could do. To be honest, prior to starting with BioWare I was more interested in being a comic book artist, and created RPG games as a hobby.

James liked what I'd written and decided to give me a chance to prove what I could do on BG2. It was a bit of trial by fire. Seems to have worked out okay.

Risax wrote...
Ehm... This might be a bit of topic but, are the characters from Dragon Age: Origins written by a single person? Like David Gaider has some characters and Mary Kirby has some characters.

Or are characters co-written, if thats even a term...
For example Duncan, was he written by one writer, or did everyone ad something?

A writer will generally do the majority of writing for a character and be responsible for their voice-- but other writers will always do some writing for those characters in part, especially when that character takes part in something that they're otherwise responsible for.

Modifié par David Gaider, 23 août 2010 - 11:17 .

[David Gaider]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...
Not really.  As mentioned, that's a very old picture.

Umm... yeah. That's about 100 pounds ago or so. Gosh.

[andar91]

David Gaider wrote...

Anarya wrote...
You mentioned that you were managing a hotel and kind of stumbled onto your writing job. Has writing always been something you did or did you just pick it up as a hobby at some point and discover you had a talent for it?

I'd always written-- but I never entertained notions of doing so professionally, at least not insofar as video games went. I wasn't even aware that was something you could do. To be honest, prior to starting with BioWare I was more interested in being a comic book artist, and created RPG games as a hobby.

James liked what I'd written and decided to give me a chance to prove what I could do on BG2. It was a bit of trial by fire. Seems to have worked out okay.

Seeing as how I consistenlty see it on lists of the best rpg's of all time, I'd say it was one hell of a debut!

[David Gaider]

andar91 wrote...
Seeing as how I consistenlty see it on lists of the best rpg's of all time, I'd say it was one hell of a debut!

I don't know if that's necessarily because of the writing, and even then not necessarily because of my writing (I was just a junior writer at the time), but thank you.

[ErichHartmann]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

Kaiser Shepard wrote...

So that's what David looks like

Not really.  As mentioned, that's a very old picture.

Well it's not hard to imagine how looks evolve as people age.  Unless Mr. Gaider had radical plastic surgery.

[Anarya]

David Gaider wrote...

James liked what I'd written and decided to give me a chance to prove what I could do on BG2. It was a bit of trial by fire. Seems to have worked out okay.

So you draw too? Huh, I never knew that. Do you still draw in your spare time? I used to think I wanted to be a comic book artist but then I realized I'm terrible at sequential art.

[Kail Ashton]

lol oohh somebody likes uncharted 2 i see, was it weird hearing Steve Valentine & Claudia Black play opposite roled charecters from Origins who were also a couple? (all be it vaugley so)

[David Gaider]

Anarya wrote...
So you draw too? Huh, I never knew that. Do you still draw in your spare time?

Not much anymore, I'm way out of practice. All I do now in my spare time is write, when I'm not at work... writing.

Hmm. Maybe I should pick that up again.

[andar91]

David Gaider wrote...

andar91 wrote...
Seeing as how I consistenlty see it on lists of the best rpg's of all time, I'd say it was one hell of a debut!

I don't know if that's necessarily because of the writing, and even then not necessarily because of my writing (I was just a junior writer at the time), but thank you.

Every gear in the machine helps make it work.

Do you think you could have a look at the question posed by Risax if you haven't already?  I'm curious as to how characters come into being when working on a team.  Or are they dictated to you?  Another thing I've always been curious about is how you reconcile what you want to write, character-wise, and what the game demands in terms of balance (for example, you really want to write a mage, but you already have three mages written and the game needs a warrior).  Situations like that.

[Apollo Starflare]

David Gaider wrote...

Anarya wrote...
You mentioned that you were managing a hotel and kind of stumbled onto your writing job. Has writing always been something you did or did you just pick it up as a hobby at some point and discover you had a talent for it?

I'd always written-- but I never entertained notions of doing so professionally, at least not insofar as video games went. I wasn't even aware that was something you could do. To be honest, prior to starting with BioWare I was more interested in being a comic book artist, and created RPG games as a hobby.

James liked what I'd written and decided to give me a chance to prove what I could do on BG2. It was a bit of trial by fire. Seems to have worked out okay.

Risax wrote...
Ehm... This might be a bit of topic but, are the characters from Dragon Age: Origins written by a single person? Like David Gaider has some characters and Mary Kirby has some characters.

Or are characters co-written, if thats even a term...
For example Duncan, was he written by one writer, or did everyone ad something?

A writer will generally do the majority of writing for a character and be responsible for their voice-- but other writers will always do some writing for those characters in part, especially when that character takes part in something that they're otherwise responsible for.

As an aspiring writer it's always good to read interviews like this, appreciate the insight into how you ended up at Bioware as well Mr Gaider.

[Dave of Canada]

David Gaider wrote...

Anarya wrote...
So you draw too? Huh, I never knew that. Do you still draw in your spare time?

Not much anymore, I'm way out of practice. All I do now in my spare time is write, when I'm not at work... writing.

Hmm. Maybe I should pick that up again.

Would be interesting if you drew concept art, to be honest. You'd be able to share you vision even more!

[Merllle]

David Gaider wrote...
I'd always written-- but I never entertained notions of doing so professionally, at least not insofar as video games went. I wasn't even aware that was something you could do. To be honest, prior to starting with BioWare I was more interested in being a comic book artist, and created RPG games as a hobby.

That touched me kinda deeply because I identified horribly with it, except that I'm in my twenties and completely lost in life. It's amazing how life works - and in your case, David, reading how you described it happened, it really sounds like fate in motion. I find that really amazing