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[upsettingshorts]

Blood-Lord Thanatos wrote...

Was the concept for Anders in Awakening done by Mary Kirby? I can't seem to remember.......

Pretty sure DA:A Anders was written by David Gaider, and in DA2 by Jennifer Hepler.

[upsettingshorts]

I'm not sure if this qualifies for "older game" but I'm curious as to who wrote Tali in ME1-3, and the Geth/Quarian plots in general.

[Blastback]

Upsettingshorts wrote...

Blood-Lord Thanatos wrote...

Was the concept for Anders in Awakening done by Mary Kirby? I can't seem to remember.......

Pretty sure DA:A Anders was written by David Gaider, and in DA2 by Jennifer Hepler.

I'm almost positive your right.  But that said, writing the character doesn't nessecarily mean coming up with the concept right?


On the who wrote what note, someone should just make a list of who wrote each character in a Bioware game.  Since that seems to be one of the most popular questions. 

Modifié par Blastback, 02 avril 2012 - 12:53 .

[LTD]

Anyone have time and desire to talk about storyline and player character of Baldur's Gate? What is the birth history of the whole Children of Bhaal - setting? Did you ever throw around some really wild/tame/good/bad alternatives to this?

Modifié par LTD, 02 avril 2012 - 04:47 .

[Lukas Kristjanson]

• This might sound silly but will there ever come another SS? I really liked the story behind it ( yeah it had a story if you paid attention to it). when it comes to mech games SS and Heavy Gear are my favorite ones.

You never say never in this business, but I'd put a Shattered Steel sequel in the highly unlikely column. But there was a time when it was investigated. Much like how our own fantasy pitch became an opportunity to work with the D&D franchise, I think our action craving helped secure the opportunity to work with MDK. They don't seem alike, of course, but it filled a similar need at the time.

• Was the concept for Anders in Awakening done by Mary Kirby? I can't seem to remember....... Who Wrote the story behind Warden's Keep?

Pretty sure it was Dave who did the majority of that for Awakening.

• I'm not sure if this qualifies for "older game" but I'm curious as to who wrote Tali in ME1-3, and the Geth/Quarian plots in general.

Chris L'Etoile did a considerable amount of work on the Quarians, but I think Drew was ME1 primary on Tali. Patrick Weekes was the primary for Tali through ME2 and 3.

On identifying who writes what, I prefer to leave that to others unless it's ancient, mentioned elsewhere, or I clear it personally. But it's not actually a clear-cut question. That's why I say someone was the "primary" or whatever, because deciding what role a character fills is collaborative, or maybe it's coming from a particular need of the plot or game or franchise. And everyone on the writing team writes some of everyone. One person owns the "voice" and the bulk of their plots, but generally we all know the characters and can riff on the themes. And if not, we turn around and ask. A few times a player looking for someone to praise-blame has said they liked writer X better than writer Y, and the examples quoted were actually both me. I mean Z.
And then someone else jumps into the thread and says that Y is better than X and that the other player doesn't know anything about writing. You kind of just shrug and get back to work.

• Anyone have time and desire to talk about storyline and player character of Baldur's Gate? What is the birth history of the whole Children of Bhaal - setting? Did you ever throw around some really wild/tame/good/bad alternatives to this?

James Ohlen was the primary architect of the setting, drawing on years of tabletop DMing. Many NPCs were adaptations of characters in his games. James pitched a number of story ideas for BG1 up the line to TSR, because as the owner of the IP they had veto. One was actually a proto-version of what eventually became the story for BG2. This sort of thing is why we don't generally talk about early development or reveal undeveloped concepts. Things change all the time, and you never throw anything away because it can come back in surprising ways when circumstances change.

[Blastback]

I suddenly have a desire to have Ohlen be my new DM....

While there was an obvious Highlander vibe in the Baldur's Gate series, I'm curios as to what other stories influnced the game.

Have the King Arthur legends ever been an influence, aside from the Holy Grail connection to the Urn of Sacred Ashes?

How did you all come up with the twist that the PC was Revan in Kotor?

And who/what did you right in KotOR Lukas?

[robmokron]

First off, finding this thread, i think its wonderful that Lucas and Stan are taking time to answer questions to the best of their ability. Thank you Bioware for connecting with the fanbase.

I had one question about KOtor/Swtor and it has turned into a couple (reading through your guys answers just made me so excited!!!)

1. Why didn't you do KOTOR 2? (i think you already have said the answer, other projects) and Was obsidian's story direction or gameplay direction something they took from you? For example; was the 3 sith lords a concept that HAD to be there cause Bioware/LucasArts said so?

2. Oh geez new question formed form the last one.. Did Lucas Arts have anything to do with Kotor's setting? Revan, the jedi civil war, anything?

3. Was Kotor 3 ever considered? If so, why was it scrapped? I understand that Tor is Kotor 3, 4, ,5 etc, however, was there ever consideration of another single player KOTOR and if so, did those concepts (story, or whatever) make it in either the book about Revan or SWTOR itself to explain what happened to Revan in the past? I mean, 300 years after KOTOR is a alot of time to be able to mess around with the lore and skip alot of unanswered questions.

Sorry for the questions that just got longer and longer, just wanted to be fully understood. =) You guys are awesome

[Lukas Kristjanson]

• I'm curios as to what other stories influnced the game.
• How did you all come up with the twist in Kotor?
• And who/what did you right in KotOR Lukas?

Inspiration is a mishmash of everything we've ever seen. We've drawn on classics, sure, but if it's conscious I try to mix and match so the result isn't "on the nose." Unless I'm doing a tribute or reference of some kind, for whatever self-indulgeant reason I use to justify it. Sometimes it's just unconscious, and players work way too hard to imagine connections that were never intended. You can feed that fire just by not contradicting something, you don't actually have to make the reference at all. It's also fun to do with internal lore. And no, I won't say if or where I've done that.

I can't take credit for the KotOR twist. We tossed around a number of ideas internally before sending things up to LucasArts. Some were too big, some weird. I don't know who pitched the one we went with, but everyone worked on the crit path in one way or another. I think Drew was primary on the core stuff, though.

I did miscellanea where needed on all the planets, but I was main on Tatooine and Kashyyyk, so I got to introduce HK and Jolee and do Zaalbar's stuff. So yeah, I'm to blame if you get tired of chatty wookies. And who doesn't, really?
I had the opportunity to do some deep lore delving on those planets, so that was fun.

• Why didn't you do KOTOR 2? Was obsidian's story direction or gameplay direction something they took from you?
• Did Lucas Arts have anything to do with Kotor's setting?
• Was Kotor 3 ever considered? Did those concepts (story, or whatever) make it in either the book about Revan or SWTOR itself?

It's great getting to play in a world you've loved since you were a kid, D&D and Star Wars both, but eventually you want to try new things and maybe work hard for yourself and your own properties. And that's not just about the IP owner saying "no" to something off the wall. If you know and love the IP you are working with, you also know when you need a new home. I don't think we dictated anything to the Obsidian team. I imagine they did much the same as we did, and pitched a number of ideas up the chain. Those talks were nowhere near me, though.

I don't think there were many changes from LucasArts once the main story was approved, so long as the universe could eventually sync up with established events. Again, back then there was very little set in that time period, but we referenced the hell out of what there was, so there was a lot of indirect influence. Some of what we did has also spread to other parts of the IP. Dave wrote the Sith Code, for example. The hardest part was trying to avoid contradicting EU things that weren't out yet, but would be soon. That was a strange minefield because they couldn't tell us specifics. We also backwards-referenced things, like borrowing elements from the Millennium Falcon to make the Ebon Hawke, so it would look like an early model that might have come from the same factory that would eventually make the Millennium Falcon.

I'm sure there were talks about KotOR 3 at some level immeasurably above me. Wookiepedia says more than I knew at the time. We were deeply committed to our own IPs, so I imagine it would have been a painful non-starter for Ray and Greg even if it had been offered to us. But we couldn't say no to the possibility of returning to the setting with SWtoR. There's a lot of lore in there that continues what we started, and many familiar faces (or their progeny). My meatbag Bounty Hunter got her butt handed to her by a certain assassin droid the other day. That made me smile.

Modifié par Lukas Kristjanson, 06 avril 2012 - 12:40 .

[Il Divo]

Lukas Kristjanson wrote...

I did miscellanea where needed on all the planets, but I was main on Tatooine and Kashyyyk, so I got to introduce HK and Jolee and do Zaalbar's stuff. So yeah, I'm to blame if you get tired of chatty wookies. And who doesn't,

Not me. There's little in KotOR that I get tired of. You guys set yourselves apart with that game, which says alot considering the impressive list of titles under your belt.

[Fenton]

I have three questions that I hope it doesn't bother you all to answer. So here goes.

This first question is an Baldur's Gate Series one. Who created one of the greatest thieves in fantasy history Iomen and how did you get her lines? Many of em were classics in my mind.

How did you reacted when the community fell in love with the NWN toolset?

In DA:O who came up with Oghren's lines and will we ever see him again?

That is all and keep on making those games that I love.

[Blastback]

Lukas Kristjanson wrote...
It's great getting to play in a world you've loved since you were a kid, D&D and Star Wars both, but eventually you want to try new things and maybe work hard for yourself and your own properties.

How could you ever loose the desire to work in the Star Wars universe?  *Remebers New Jedi Order* Er, how could you ever want to stop making D&D games? *Looks at 4th edition handbook* Ah....

So, Jade Empire.

[Blood-Lord Thanatos]

Lukas Kristjanson wrote...

 Dave wrote the Sith Code. My meatbag Bounty Hunter got her butt handed to her by a certain assassin droid the other day. That made me smile.

Tell Dave he is my Evil Hero! A Loyal Servant of Darkness approves of this contribution to the Dark Side.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

• Who created Imoen and how did you get her lines?
• How did you reacted when the community fell in love with the NWN toolset?
• In DA:O who came up with Oghren's lines and will we ever see him again?

James decided Imoen was needed and I think named her after a character in his tabletop campaign, but I wrote her, so thank you. There's an interesting story about her creation here. As for lines, as a writer I get a solid grasp of a character in mind and then I let them talk. That's a good place (and possibly the only place) to look for relatable stories: take interesting characters and hurt them in interesting ways, then see what happens.

How did we react? Relief, probably. But it wasn't all sunshine and bunnies at the time. The tools were the easiest we had ever used, but that was still far more complicated than most players were prepared for. They are the actual design tools for the game, so while almost anyone could bang out a basic hack-fest, understanding the real potential took considerably more. A small core found a home with those tools and many never left, which is very gratifying.

Oghren was mainly Jay Turner, polished by Sheryl. Will he show up again? Can't say one way or the other. He's a pretty resiliant SOB, though.

[Fenton]

Thanks for the answers to my question Lukas. Wow Iomen was an late addition that paid off. I still have fond memories of her and Keldron and Her and Aerie.

As for the toolset it was awesome seeing so many community made levels but still glad it was an success.

As for Oghren still wait for him to have an Mabari chariot. I want to thank Jay and Sheryl for giving me Oghren and leaving my PS 3 alone just to see him react to different party members. I'm still waiting for his return to help out in the next Dragon Age.

[Foryou]

-How is the ME3 development team taking the "fan" feedback
-Would it be possible to "Shadow"(Like an internship, but not paid and temporary) at Bioware, I want to go into writing but I don't know if I want to go into game design so I thought shadowing would be a good idea

[Lukas Kristjanson]

• How is the ME3 development team taking the "fan" feedback
• Would it be possible to "Shadow"(Like an internship, but not paid and temporary) at Bioware.

There are more than enough threads on the ME stuff. I'd like to keep this one on topic.

Also off topic, but we do indeed have intern programs, and several people have trained that way and then returned as full time employees. You'd have to have your school contact EA about their Intern and Co-Op programs.

[Blood-Lord Thanatos]

Who Wrote the Architect, and who voiced him?

What is the character that you feel most embodies the spirit of the Developer team of Bioware?

[Foryou]

Coke or Pepsi?

[Homebound]

Post deleted.

Modifié par Hellbound555, 20 avril 2012 - 05:09 .

[Dominus]

The tools were the easiest we had ever used, but that was still far more complicated than most players were prepared for. They are the actual design tools for the game, so while almost anyone could bang out a basic hack-fest, understanding the real potential took considerably more. A small core found a home with those tools and many never left, which is very gratifying.

I hear that. I'd tried some of the modification tools for Frictional's Amnesia: The Dark Descent... pulling off anything near the calibur of official content takes a considerable learning curve.

I did have a Baldur's Gate 2/NWN question. After finishing off BG2, were there any particular aspects learned from that project(either from official critics, fan feedback, or yourselves in retrospect) that greatly affected the direction for Neverwinter Nights?

Modifié par DominusVita, 18 avril 2012 - 12:12 .

[Foryou]

Lukas Kristjanson wrote...

• How is the ME3 development team taking the "fan" feedback
• Would it be possible to "Shadow"(Like an internship, but not paid and temporary) at Bioware.

There are more than enough threads on the ME stuff. I'd like to keep this one on topic.

Also off topic, but we do indeed have intern programs, and several people have trained that way and then returned as full time employees. You'd have to have your school contact EA about their Intern and Co-Op programs.

Well this is off topic forum . I looked on it and I didn't see where to contact if I'm still in highschool (old enough to be on the forums though).
My "on-topic" question is which character that you created did you feel the most attached to? And who came up with the Revan plot twist in KOTOR1

[LiquidGrape]

Since I'm about to start my very first proper playthrough of Baldur's Gate, might I ask to what particular parts of the game Mr. Kristjanson contributed?

I'd like to draw creepy, stalker-like parallels to his work on the Dragon Age series, see.

[mesmerizedish]

LiquidGrape wrote...

Since I'm about to start my very first proper playthrough of Baldur's Gate, might I ask to what particular parts of the game Mr. Kristjanson contributed?

I'd like to draw creepy, stalker-like parallels to his work on the Dragon Age series, see.

He has a gravestone in Nashkel.

I think he wrote Minsc?

Other than that, I have no clue.