There are a team of writers for Mass Effect who share in the duties of writing every bit of information that we see and hear in the game. Oftentimes, people talk about their favorite characters having a main writer. In truth, my original post focused on the idea of writers having main portions of the game on which to focus, but looking closer at how they describe the writing process shows me that this a murky concept at best. One writer plans a level, but another actually writes the dialogue. One writer starts the development, but another finishes it. It's tempting to give all the credit to the person listed as the main writer, but that's only the part of it. I hope people keep that in mind.
So rather than split my list by writer, I'd rather split the list by article with what the developers have actually said about the process of developing various elements of the game.
I'll start with the Lead Writers.
Drew Karpyshyn, who has a website, was the Lead Writer for Mass Effect 1 as well as the Co-Lead Writer for Mass Effect 2. He is responsible for the Mass Effect novels Revelation, Ascension, and Retribution.
Mac Walters shares duties with Drew as the Co-Lead Writer for Mass Effect 2. He is responsible for the Mass Effect comics Redemption, Incursion, Inquisition, and Evolution.
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Chris L'Etoile wrote for Mass Effect 1 and 2. He mentions writing for Ashley, EDI, Legion, and Thane on his GamerDNA Blog. He has also contributed to the Mass Effect Wiki, where you can find more information on some of his specific contributions, such as providing the in-game Codexes, the galaxy map descriptions, and specific sidequest plots.
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Malcolm Azania is mentioned in this Escapist Article as having worked specifically on the Kasumi: Stolen Memory DLC.
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Brian Kindregan has a website where he mentions writing for the characters Jack and Samara as well as laying some of the initial groundwork for the recruitment and loyalty missions for Grunt.
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Lukas Kristjanson has braved these very forums to tell us that he is indeed the writer for Grunt, Jacob, and Joker. He also claims credit for Boo in another post in that same thread.
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Patrick Weekes indicates that Drew Karpyshyn was the writer for Tali'Zorah in Mass Effect 1 (3rd post down) while indicating he had taken over duties for writing her character in Mass Effect 2.
Further down the page (14 posts down), he goes into further detail about how the writers share duties in writing various aspects of the game. He indicates Lukas Kristjanson gave us the grumpy krogan yelling at the uncooperative Exogeni VI on Feros while Lukas also shared duties writing Captain Kirrahe with Mac Walters.
On this page (13 posts down), he mentions Drew writing Liara for Mass Effect 1 while Patrick and Mac took over duties for Mass Effect 2.
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Patrick Weekes is interviewed by C&G Monthly Magazine alongside Senior Level Designer Dave Feltham about their efforts in creating the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC. Patrick breaks down the overall effort in writing the game as follows:
-----Jay Watamaniuk handled most of the Illium section and the voice-work for Tela Vasir, the asari Spectre. Sylvia Feketekuty handled the Shadow Broker ship and wrote most of Feron and the Shadow Broker, the two major characters for those levels. I wrote the Liara scenes and banter across the entire DLC to make sure we had a consistent voice, and Mac Walters, our lead writer, made sure that the whole thing came together coherently and to a Bioware standard of quality.
Art director Derek Watts takes us through the creation of Thane in this GameInfomer's article.
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The OC ReMix Community interviews Wall of Sound where they break down which composer worked on which section of Mass Effect 2's soundtrack.
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From Dusty Everman via PM, quoted with permission:
-----Though no one writer can take full claim to the work, I can say that Jay Turner did the majority of Zaeed in ME2, and Patrick Weekes was the prime writer for Tali, Mordin, and Garrus
Christina Norman provides a Developer Diary on recreating Liara as a squadmate for Lair of the Shadow Broker.
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Patrick Weekes via Twitter clarifies his writing duties:
@Fredvdp3
Tali, Mordin, Miranda except on critpath, Garrus except on his missions, Illium hub, some ambients, most journals, combat barks.
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Art director Derek Watts goes into detail about creating the Collector civilization, spaceships and all.
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From Kotaku, a comment that Mac Walters wrote Garrus and Wrex in Mass Effect 1.
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Patrick Weekes goes into detail about getting the minor Mass Effect 1 quest Citadel: Family Matter plotted.
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Anyone else read an article by a writer, producer, artist, level designer, Q&A tester about the process of creating the game? Feel free to mention what you've heard, but remember [citation needed].
Modifié par Pacifien, 06 janvier 2011 - 05:52 .
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Should be very helpful for those curious of who's been working on what.
