Hey guys - Here are some of my responses to your questions:
Hyrist -- Interesting question about the room for "revisionist" development or "co-development" between fans and the game creators. My personal opinion is that these games are "authored" by a game team and the overarching plot points should be determined by the developer, not the player. The debate over the ending is no different than the debate over same sex relationships or the debate over whether BioWare is "allowed" to kill off a character for dramatic purposes.
Look at the "drama/tension" graph that is included in the App for ME3....Casey and the team wanted you to feel certain emotions at certain times while playing the game. You might not have liked those emotions, but the game made you feel something.
Casey had a vision for how he wanted to end the game, which is not unlike how an author has a vision for how they want to end a novel, or a filmmaker has a final scene they want to put in a film. We should support that vision, even if it's not what WE would have done. That said, I do think the fans have some good points about plot resolutions and inconsistencies.
Eventually there will be games with wildly branching narrative paths with emergent narrative (i.e. you truly do decide where the story goes), but our industry is not there yet.
build319 -- No I didn't get that impression.
Windariah -- I fact-checked the final story with Casey. Beyond fixing some typos (and Casey reminding me of things like how it was the song One, not Enter Sandman he liked from Metallica), he (nor anyone else at BioWare) asked for anything to be removed before or after the app shipped. I hope everyone respects how open and candid the team was about the creative process and all the behind the scenes materials they shared. Using those materials as "evidence" to build a case against them just means we may find out less about the creative process on games going forward. Why I invest in making these apps is to celebrate the best game teams in the industry, not to produce evidence that can be used against the teams by the fan community.
sadako -- I personally understand where BioWare was coming from with the ending -- it is a story of sacrifice and players felt something about that sacrifice (even if that feeling was anger). I also respect what the fans are saying. I really think one's opinion of the ending depends on who you see as the author of the Mass Effect experience -- BioWare or the player.
ZodiEmish - The mood during the final hours was a mix of everything. The entire team was working very hard on the game, and I think sometimes the fans forget that when they post negative comments online. These guys worked for nearly a decade on the series and while the ending may not have delivered what you wanted, there is so much fantastic content in the game that everyone is forgetting.
RiGoRmOrTiS_UK -- Regarding the ending, I'm not aware of anything changing in the final two months like that. I know there are more than 3 different variations of the ending in the final game -- although I guess you could debate how "different" each ending is?
DadeLeviathan - I answer this question on the website me3finalhours.com where you can also download the app for PC/Mac if you don't have an iPad. Casey and I started talking about the story about a year ago.
Hammer6767 -- As far as I know there were no major changes to the game or script after the leak. The leak happened too late in production.
J717 - I'm not sure, where did you hear that? I'll have to ask Casey, I'm not aware of a song inspiring the ending of the game.
ThaddeusPL - The Final Hours is the name of a series I've written for a long time...there is no link to the "end" of the game.
jspiess - I'm not sure who wrote the ending...BioWare is a pretty collaborative place. As the App reports Mac was heavily involved in writing the opening and closing of the game, but there's an 8 person writing team that works on the entire experience.
All Dead -- Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the app. Yes, the human element is really what I was focusing on since there is so little written about the people behind the scenes.
Balmung31 -- I haven't seen his review, sorry.
XanderCz - I'm not sure when the update will hit, I need to discuss the BioWare team in the next few weeks.
ryuasiu - You can read the text on Android via Kindle. I believe there is also a way to view .AIR files on Android (from the PC/Mac version) but I haven't tested it. Unfortunately a full iPad port to Android tablets is hard to do given the different sizes of tablet.
dointime85 -- Yep,I believe the Mac/PC version will work on Linux. I haven't tested it, but why don't you download it and try from me3finalhours.com? If it doesn't work I can refund your money.
e-t172 -- I'm free to say whatever I want, there is no NDA in place where I can't "talk about the production of the ending." The app reports what I found during my time at BioWare. I know the prevailing fan view is that the ending was somehow rushed or cut short like what happened to Bungie during Halo 2, but I did not uncover that during my reporting.
Lankist - Thanks Lankist, there are more Final Hours coming.
Dark Cider -- My take on the fan reaction is a bit of sadness to be honest. The app was meant to celebrate an amazing 9 years of work on the series, and it seems like all anyone wants to talk about is the ending of the game.
Bendok - Thanks, I tried to include a lot of the team beyond Casey. Look at someone like Preston, who doesn't get a lot of attention in the press. Or Corey Gaspur. Inevitably I can't write up everyone, but I do try to include a number of new faces so they can start to be recognized for their work.
Sequin - Casey is an extremely nice guy in person. I haven't spoken with him since the game came out. The last time I saw him was in San Francisco when we had dinner in late-February.
SolidisusSnake1 -- I don't know exactly when the end was "written" or by who. As I said above the process seems pretty collaborative, and I believe the notebook page from Mac included in the app was written at least a year before the game shipped. (I might be wrong, we'd have to ask Mac).
Stokes79 - Who said the ending was not put through a "peer review."? I'm not aware of that being the case. (Not saying it was or wasn't, but I didn't hear anything to suggest it wasn't reviewed the same way other elements of the game were).
legion999 -- Yes, the story was written during the final days of development. I took 5 or 6 trips to BioWare between early January and early March 2012.
MaskofSkin- This is a great question. Casey and the team took a risk by being more open and honest with the fans via this Final Hours app. Unfortunately a lot of the materials in the app have been used out of context to paint the team in a bad light and that's too bad.
dafangirl -- How do you feel Portal 2 was more "in-depth" than the ME3 story? Portal 2 had a particularly unique development story (i.e. the entire prequel plot). Not every game goes through as many changes as Portal 2. Mass Effect 3 had a pretty smooth development all things considered. Curious to hear more of your thoughts on this....
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