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[Lukas Kristjanson]

Youthful jubilance? Games are srs bizness. I know because of the plastic firepower flanking my monitor. On the right is Optimus Prime wielding a gunblade, with Love Boat’s Captain Stubing on his shoulder. On the left is a Sentinel with a stratocaster, and on his shoulder is HK-47 in a top hat. Srs. Bizness.

Inspiration/modding: I think several people here got their start modding. We’re inspired by other games all the time. When we’re not making, we’re playing. Especially all those other RPGs that people seem to think we’re supposed to be cage fighting. There are loads of times I’ve been deep in a game and been inspired to adapt how I do something, or thought “hmm, I would have done X.” S’all good. This industry needs quality, competition, and exchanges of ideas. A setting I would like to explore? I have a real soft spot for the post-apocalyptic melancholy of Fallout and the high conspiracy of Deus Ex.

Areas/Characters that change: Well, you can look at Matt Rhodes’ DA2 line-up for startlingly different concepts of Bethany and Merrill, as well as two pages of iterations on Jack, although all of these were part of finding looks to match direction, not changing direction. Once a character has been approved by the higher-ups they are usually iterated within a range, but don’t radically change unless something drastic happens, like a technical limitation or external conflict. For example, Qunari in DA:O were originally intended to have horns, but it raised special-case GUI and equipment concerns. We supported the change with lore, using it as an opportunity to deepen the setting. Game design is full of opportunities to do more work.

Monsters in Neverwinter: Ones we didn’t get to? I’m sure there were, there always are. I don’t remember off hand, but you could probably just flip to any page of the AD&D Monster Manual and be sure that someone here made a pitch for it at some point.

Romances in KotOR: I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest that part of the difference in how the romances in KotOR compare has something to do with roughly 8 years less experience. Because it was 8 years ago. Just sayin'.

On Jade and Sky, we asked ourselves “is this a big deal?” and decided that relative to the mountain of other things that Jade had to explain about itself, no, it wasn’t a big deal. But like any feature, it’s not always a clear-cut question. There have been no end of threads on that, though, and I defer to those.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

nerdage wrote...
Basically, was there an intentional meaning when that line was written or was it left vague for the player to fill in the gap?

We leave things open to interpretation all the time. It deepens characters if they have aspects that are not wholly defined by the immediate events, and lets the player construct personal motivations and fill out the minutia of relationships that simply can’t be represented in a game that is not expressly about that. But if you’re asking if we intended to leave room for discussing a romance between the player and his half-sister… short answer, no. Long answer, .

Random trivia: I found an old notebook of mine that covers the end of Jade through ME2. There are notes from the ME1 naming meetings, and before suggesting Wrex I apparently penciled in the alt “Morg.” How metal.

[Stanley Woo]

Ringo12 wrote...

What do the people making a game eat? I just had an image of everyone eating cup noodles and drinking 5 hour energy.

We eat the same things as everyone else. Some of us watch what they eat, some of us eat very unhealthily. Many are hooked on coffee or energy drinks or cola, some are tea fans, some drink only water throughout the day.

For lunch, some folks bring food from home, some go out to eat.

Seriously, we're not that different from everyone else.

[Stanley Woo]

Well, sure, but even during the worst of times, our friends and families aren't sitting idly by, watching us struggle and leaving us to fend for ourselves. Restaurants and supermarkets don't suddenly close when we're in crunch, and we're not chained to our desks 24 hours a day.

During crunch times, BioWare is very good to us. normally we have breakfast brought in, but when we're required to stay late, they bring in dinner as well. that would be silly.

[Stanley Woo]

Elhanan wrote...

Does Bioware still assemble the families for annual BBQ? Other events?

Yeah, BioWare still sponsors the occasional event, usually with families in mind. There are also a lot more unofficial events, get-togethers and trips.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

On Imoen: The core answerable wasn’t “Is this possible for players to imagine?” It was “Did you intend this specific meaning?” I didn’t write that exchange in ToB, but I wrote Imoen as a sister by nurture in BG1, and a sister by (admittedly weird) nature in BG2. Writing that allows interpretation is good for roleplaying, I'm all for it, but if you want to know the role that I intentionally supported, there it is.

On lyrium addiction: It remains a part of the setting, but not for the player. You wonder how would it have worked? So did we, and because initial ideas didn't seem all that compelling, it was dropped before it reached implimentation. As for rarity, lyrium in the fiction actually is expensive or hard to come by, but potions and whatnot fall under the same handwavium as the ease that you carry 20 suits of armor in your backpack--details that are glossed over until they can actually contribute to the tension of the situation instead of merely complicating it.

On family outings: We just had one a couple weeks ago, an evening at Fort Edmonton Park. It was a ye olde goode tyme. With steak.

[Stanley Woo]

blothulfur wrote...

Is it just my old punch drunk brain remembering things that never were or when dragon age was first being touted around (before the screenshots of the tribal bloke and the little sorceress were released) was there mention of commanding huge armies and aspects of a strategy game mentioned in some released info.

Might be mixing it up with the battleground infinity but I swear I read something about it.

Dragon Age went through a LOT before we settled on what it was ultimately going to be. this is the case with many big projects, particularly when creating new settings. Even in the (comparatively) short time I was on the project, the game changed significantly in some ways, but stayed relatively untouched in others.

[Stanley Woo]

Hellbound555 wrote...

wutcha guys all feel about the crew that did la noire? do u guys face the same problems? are there things in place to protect you?

Can you please clarify what you mean by this? What happened to the guys who did L.A. Noire?

As much as I want to dig a hole and give you lotions in a basket until you complete mass effect 7:destiny of ascension for 2031, I need you alive.

That explains why it got the hose again! Thank you, next time it will put the lotion on its skin.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

Yeah, getting a bit off topic for the thread, and I don’t feel I can really comment about what may or may not have gone on over there. Suffice to say that every company is different.

Another random thing from my old notebook to get this back on track: Kaidan had a block of 10 names we went through, all with similar sound beats mixed like Alexander Kalenko. The takeaway being that, like Urdnot Wrex, we approached names by first deciding how we wanted them to sound in order to support the desired tone of the character. A design detail that is thrilling to like two people, I'm sure.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

My take on names:
It’s a layer of design that shouldn't be obvious. You can name a character anything, but you get the most mileage with something that illustrates their nature either by reinforcing it or going against type, because going against type still acknowledges the type. Take Aveline, a soft name, easy to say, but it also sounds classical and several of the “A” gods of antiquity are war-focused. It’s mirrored as an in-game reference and she’s aware of the expectation it brings, which becomes a sticking point in her development.

Many try to drag names into literal reference, like the hardworking people pushing the Morgan LeFay/Morrigan, Alistair/Arthur supposed parallels, but a reference like that is far too distracting. I don’t want you thinking about another character entirely, just feeling the beats that our culture has attached to similar sounds. DA and ME both.

Also, the less you have to explain the character, the better. Costumes and body shape (mildly nsfw figure drawings) are critical, but as a writer I can only shape the intangible. I used it as shorthand in Leliana’s Song. For a DLC, I don't want to spent time introducing people, and worrying about if you “get them” or not. Sketch and Tug were conjured in the first paragraph of the pitch for their design. “She’ll need backup that feels familiar, like a twitchy mage and a fireplug dwarven tank. Like Sketch and Tug.” I used reactions and codex entries to deepen them while still avoiding talking too much, and I really like how they came out. Sometimes talking is good, but that wasn't the point of LS.
Edit: and how could I forget Commander Harwen Raleigh? I love that name, it's like it has a self-important sneer built into it.

Wrex, we had a clear idea of his role, his tone. For a name, we wanted something that sounded blunt, immovable, with maybe a snarl. It’s a statement of course, with a busload of literal added in because wrex=wrecks=Rex=seething grrr sound to say it, which led to other “action” names among the Krogan. Urdnot is “thick” and stops you, and to me it sounds like it should be an anagram of something. Makes the viewer ask “Is there meaning there?” (there isn’t, or at least, not when I suggested it. He's certainly not "rotund"). Many didn't like Wrex as a name until a month later when no one could remember calling him anything else. So it goes.

In my notes from the naming meetings Tali was initially Talsi Orah, with the intent that Orah would become the familiar one. But Talsi Orah flows oddly, feels like there's sort of a half-stop in the middle. And it’s too "soft" for where we wanted to take her.

Now, after all of the above, there’s a good chance you’re going “wow, I didn’t get any of that while playing.” Hopefully you didn’t, because if a name beats you over the head with how much "sense" it makes, it does more damage than good. Unless that's what you want it to do, and you embrace it as a tactic. Like I said, a design detail that is thrilling to like two people.

Modifié par Lukas Kristjanson, 25 juillet 2011 - 05:48 .

[Lukas Kristjanson]

On Fenris: Dave likes the wolf imagery and the uncontrollable element, which is something we adapted for the elves previously with Fen'Harel, but I don't think he intended to take much more than that from Fenrir. There's rebellion in Fenris, sure, but we don't want to bludgeon to the point you wonder why Danarius essentially named his slave "Guy who kills his master." From Danarius' perspective and imperfect understanding of elven it's probably more about being master over something "wild".

On Minsc: I enjoyed writing him and tried to give him depth beyond the obvious joke. Writers working with the actors is relatively recent. Back then we described it as best we could and fired it off into the ether while crossing our fingers. I think my character notes for Minsc included “...and a little of the Tick if he was Russian.” Loved the result. Audio has cast Jim Cummings several times, and we’ve always been happy with his work.

On ToB: We weren’t interested in another side-plot addition like Tales of the Sword Coast, squeezing another full sequel out of the same PC (or the Infinity Engine, for that matter) seemed unlikely, and Neverwinter was beckoning. How many more side plots could we possibly cram into BG2, anyway? Better to wrap up the story in a way that did it justice. Dave would know more about what specific story elements may have changed during implementation. I moved over to Neverwinter, and while I did ToB dialogues for my main characters and the various character/PC epilogues, I wasn’t on the crit path for the rest.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

Oof, big questions.

Every character has its challenges. What a cop-out answer, right? It’s a weird balance to write for, trying to mix strong characters with the goal-oriented needs of gaming as a medium. It’s easy to slip into letting the player “fix“ a character, but people don’t realistically go “huh, I never thought of it that way before” and change their nature, no matter how “right” the argument is. A smaller shift within a range is good, and results in a better and more believable arc.

The most challenging are the ones who seem the most simple, because you have to find a way to make them stand out while still hitting the role they need to fill. DA2 had some of that, I think, judging from reactions that changed depending on whether the character was kept around long enough to overcome initial assumptions.

Inspirations? Anything I can get my hands on when I'm not chasing my 4 year old around. Especially all those other games that some people seem to think can only exist in a black and white “if you love this, you must hate this” spectrum.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

Hellbound555 wrote...

so you used bodyshape to shorthand character descriptions for the characters like Sketch and Tug in the Leliana DLC? Am I getting you right? Or did am I misunderstanding?

No, the original question was about names. Because of the length of the DLC, I didn't have the bandwidth to do extensive introductions, so Leliana's party needed to be instantly recognizable, which you can do with costume, body, and (the writery bit) name. That sentence in a design doc labeling them as Sketch and Tug was almost literally the first thought I had about them, because in my head, everything about their role and relationship was instantly telegraphed. I had initially considered going back later to give them "real" names, and if they had been party members in a longer game I might have, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like unnecessary complication. Plus having them use nicknames in an intimate circle gives the player another element of their relationship. They are secondary characters, the kind every story has, but little things help make them feel like people who could exist. Their stories just happen elsewhere so they don't distract from the events the DLC needs to focus on.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

On minor names: Some of the smaller characters get names that amuse us in the moment, because their overall role doesn’t move from your immediate interaction with them. Sometimes inspiration is a thesaurus. I think Tomwise was a straight up, “we need a name, oh what the hell” nod to Tolkien.

Arthur and Boo: Minsc and Boo actually predate BG by a good bit. Much darker versions were in a P&P campaign Lead Designer James used to run years before BioWare. I wasn’t around in the before-time, so I took them in a different direction. Jim Cummings fun fact: he did voices for the Tick cartoon, including Leonardo da Vinci, who now sounds to me like an Italian Minsc.

Neverwinter tech issues: sorry, you’ll have to take current issues to the appropriate tech support forum.

World building: A big part of this job is making sure everything fits and makes sense. Just as important is knowing when you’re getting into overcomplicated detail that will bite you in the butt. You need to leave yourself hooks for future development, because if you tried to lay absolutely everything out first, you’d never ship, and worse, you've nowhere to go when inevitable changes need to be made. You need room to maneuver. The comment in those links about grabbing unused planets for TOR is the same logic for why KotOR was set in that time period in the first place: a decade ago very little material was set there, so there was room to move and still feel like Star Wars.
A new IP setting can’t match the content of a franchise that has been percolating for decades, but you can match the potential depth by being careful and establishing and sticking with rules and boundaries. If your foundation makes sense, you can continue to build on it. You can't know what you might need, but you can decide how the setting could develop without actually laying it out comepletely. If the story matches the forward thinking of the setting, you'll see things just start fitting. One or two of the “OMG they always knew!” moments over the years were woven backwards like this, because the setting had logical hooks in place. No, I won’t tell you which ones.

[Stanley Woo]

Il Divo wrote...

I know this is a departure from the naming discussion, but I did have a separate question:

how do the people at Bioware feel about the Vancian casting system for spells? It's pretty integral to the DnD experience, but I never was a huge fan and was curious if Bioware was glad to move in different directions.

You're assuming that BioWare is a singular entity with a unifying opinion on something. we have a variety of developers from all sorts of backgrounds, and I'm sure you could find fans of many different ways of dealing with magic, just as you'd find fans of many different ways of dealing with alien characters, FTL travel, dragons and ponies.

[Stanley Woo]

Genly wrote...

Sorry if this has been asked... I was playing DA:Origins again and I noticed "Brecilian" forest sounds familiar. Did it come from/suppose to remind "Brazilian forest"? Besides the pronunciation, the scenario sort of fits too (even though I'm not aware of werewolves in the Amazon forest >.>)

Probably not. "Brazilian forest" doesn't really mean anything and isn't a common combination of words like "Amazon rainforest" or "Black Forest."

[Stanley Woo]

steph285 wrote...

Here is a question, not sure if it perticully good one but:
SWKOTOR and Neverwinters sequals where given to Obsidian to make, do you think these games would be any different if the stayed in BioWare?

Sure, they would have been different. but that's to be expected, since BioWare and Obsidian are two different companies with different developers and different styles and stories and all that jazz. I couldn't say that those games coming from BioWare would have been better, or more highly rated, or anything like that. We'll just never know, and many people like the way Obsidian did things just fine.

Was there any animosity with that descision?

Not that I'm aware of. It just kind of happened and, since BioWare had other projects on the go, it wasn't a huge deal. I'm sure there was a lot more talking and meetings and paperwork at the higher levels of management, though.

[Stanley Woo]

Il Divo wrote...
This might seem an odd question, but until Mass Effect 2 came out, I noticed that BG2 was the only full on "sequel" Bioware had released thusfar. Did you guys ever give much thought to returning to any of those older series at the time?

I don't know, as I wasn't involved with any of those discussions. But I'm sure many, many ideas were discussed. Ray and Greg and the senior management were always good with making such decisions, even if a lowly peon like me didn't understand much about the business or the company at the time.

[Stanley Woo]

Zanallen wrote...

I recall some discussion of a Jade Empire sequel that was eventually scrapped.

Not a question.

[Stanley Woo]

Blastback wrote...

Has it ever gotten frustrating having a lot of your newer projects help up and compared (often unfavorably) to your old games like Baldur's Gate 2 and KotOR?

No, why would it? The fact that people are still in love with some of our older projects is awesome!

[Stanley Woo]

Doctalen wrote...

Are there any voice actors that you wish were in any of your games ot wish to work with? Probably phrased badly.

Unfortunately, I don't get to work with the voice actors, but I like the celebrities we've gotten so far. I hope we can continue this trend of getting both film and television celebrities as well as prolific and well-known voie actors. If she hasn't already worked with us, the brony in me would love to have Tara Strong and other My Little Pony voice actors work on a BioWare game.

[Stanley Woo]

Elhanan wrote...

Which of the Bioware projects has been the most fun to play; not neccessarily test?

I think Dragon Age 2 just barely edged out Jade Empire on my list of games most fun to play after i've tested them. while it wasn't a perfect game, there was enough that was good and fun about it to make it super fun. Even I haven't seen everything there is to see in that game.

[Stanley Woo]

The Human Commoner origin was always being thrown around in discussions because it was a concept that appeared very early on, kind of like the separate elven mage origin. They ultimately didn't work out.

[Stanley Woo]

You'll have to ask the writers and designers about specific characters or inspirations, since I cannot speak to what was going through their mind when creating.

[Lukas Kristjanson]

This thread lives? Someone should’ve nudged me.

• SWKOTOR and Neverwinter: any different if they stayed in BioWare? Was there any animosity with that decision?

Sure they would have been different. Impossible to say how, though. Development informs so much of the end result you can’t really predict on that scale. There was no animosity, we simply had other opportunities.

• Did you guys ever give much thought to returning to any of those older series at the time? Or were you so focused on current/future projects that the idea never came up? To an extent, I felt like the idea of sequels in Bioware games were always kind of taboo, since you always have to deal with fan worries about past actions having consequences.

We felt we had done what we wanted with the titles and were looking to new opportunities, especially developing our own IPs. Although the lure of Star Wars would prove too tempting for some. SWtoR has a dozen games worth of James Ohlen's love for the setting.
But sequels or not, we’ve never really released the same game twice. Worries about past actions are a recent thing.

• I recall some discussion of a Jade Empire sequel that was eventually scrapped.

We’ve got a concept archive of past potential projects that would blow your mind.

• Has it ever gotten frustrating having a lot of your newer projects held up and compared (often unfavorably) to your old games like Baldur's Gate 2 and KotOR?

Not really. I can compete with what I actually wrote, although it’s a little trickier trying to match rose-coloured memories.

• Are there any voice actors that you wish were in any of your games?

Sure. But you can legally jinx that sort of thing by talking about it. Some of the most fun stuff about past projects hasn’t been the big names, though. It’s been the pick-up sessions where you suddenly realize you have Buttercup Powerpuff as a player voice.

• Which of the Bioware projects has been the most fun to play; not necessarily test?

I played MDK2 on the hardest difficulty and thoroughly enjoyed kicking my own ass. Side note, BG1 was a bear to test. I remember doing 2 or 3 speed runs a day behind Scott Horner, a QA juggernaut who remains more machine than man. All respect to those crazy SOBs.

• Could you name the Cut Origins?

Stan mentioned a couple. There was a Barbarian as well, but they were all really early edits.

• Has Bioware ever considered doing an alternate history kind of RPG?

Nothing firm. Lots of wonderfully weird things that stall at the one-page pitch for various reasons.

• I'm curious, who wrote Miranda in ME2? I'm a huge fan of Yvonne Strahvoski, so I was surprised to hear her voice in that game.

Early framework was Drew Karpyshyn, but I believe Patrick Weekes became the primary. I had pieces of her in the Crit Path parts I did, along with her crisis with Jack, and I’m sure others had significant sections too. It can't help but be a collaborative thing at this scale.

• What was the inspiration for the character of Branka? Was there a historical or fictional character that influenced the conceptualization of Gregoire or Cullen?

I don’t think there was a specific cultural reference behind those three. Can’t say for certain, though. My passes though Orzammar were much later than Jennifer’s initial writing. Similar with the Circle Tower.

• Were there any plans for additional playable races during the Development of Thedas?

I think Qunari might have been considered in the super-early stages, but they didn’t get anywhere near implementation. Probably would have meant way too many tradeoffs elsewhere.

• Does BioWare use focus groups on their games/part of their games? Are there even such a thing as focus testing products in the video game industry?

Well sure. I'd say most games are focus-tested to some extent, at any number of stages. In fact, until the current stink, a common fan complaint about media of any sort would be how focus-tested it felt, because that is synonymous with watering-down and design-by-committee. Which everyone seems to hate until I guess they think their committee would be different? Like all telemetry, it has its uses.

• I've always been curious about MDK2. What made the team decide to go with something as goofball and out of the typical RPG category as that? Also, I'd like to vote for an atomic toaster as a DLC weapon.

We weren’t strictly an RPG company back then. We were ramping up to something like that, certainly, but we’d only released Shattered Steel and BG1 when we got the opportunity to make MDK2, which was also handled by Interplay. The first MDK was a real breath of fresh air, so I think we all saw interesting possibilities in the IP. We’ve always made the games that we want to play.

Speaking of atomic toasters, behold the MDK2 team gift:

Still works great!