Dragon Age Central

Quote: Posted 11/28/06 16:43 (GMT) by Dorateen

Aye... because the player sitting in front of the monitor is incapable of creating a history and backstory and motivations of their own, to apply to multiple characters. Heavens forbid the modern day player be allowed to use his/her imagination. Oh no, thank goodness for the all creative writers of the design team to show us simpletons how much more personality their charcters have...

Oh, my goodness. How horribly misled we've all been. Why, we've so oppressed the player that they've forgotten how to use their imaginations. Alas. To make up for this terrible trespass, we shall ship an empty black cardboard box. And all players shall again be able to use their imaginations and create a brilliant world, tailored specifically for them, and it shall be the Best. Game. Ever. because everyone will get everything they want out of it.

Quote: Posted 11/27/06 23:07 (GMT) by The Seventh Arm
A parser does not promote roleplaying in any way that I can see. The NPC can still only respond to what the designers program it to respond to.

I concur.

Also, I know that if asked to write responses to keywords, I'd spend over half my time putting in strange responses to random keywords like "rabbit", "fluffy mackerel pudding" and "pyjama fairies".

Quote: Posted 11/23/06 18:51 (GMT) by Kinowek
That said, I am still convinced larger parties make for a better game, the primary reason being able to AVOID having to constantly go back and forth to a 'Character Box' to get the guy/girl/badger with X needed skill for Y puzzle.

You seem to be assuming that the puzzles we're designing have only one solution to them, making it necessary for you to retrieve a virtual lockpick from the "Character Box". But maybe, just maybe, our puzzles will have multiple solutions. ZOMG!

Quote: Posted 11/17/06 20:05 (GMT) by flem1
Oh, Illemira is you? That was a really good entry.

Or were you one of the non-winners who "won" anyway.

Uhh, no. I was already employed when the writing contest started. I was referring to someone else who seems to want to remain anonymous for now.

Quote: Posted 11/16/06 22:52 (GMT) by flem1

So, did you guys hire anyone through that writing contest?

I have it on pretty good authority that we did.

Quote: Posted 11/15/06 18:37 (GMT) by Planetus
EDIT: I've been looking through the job applications online, and they seem to be rather specific to areas. Also, many seem to require examples in the NWN toolset. I don't like the NWN toolset, and I was hoping to apply for something like Game Designer (but for Bioware, not Pandemic). Is it really as hard-set as it seems on there, or will you pay attention to other applications?

I don't think anyone in the company has the job title of "Game Designer". I suppose you could call everyone in the design team a "game designer" but we all have specific jobs.

For example, let's say we want to add Zombie Kittens (tm Maria) to the game. The writers deal with plot, character and world consistency. Who are the Zombie Kittens? Were they kittens that were zombified? Or zombies that were kittenified? What do they do in their free time? What is their civilization like? If there is going to be a lead Zombie Kitten, what sort of personality does he/she have? What motivations?

Then there are the technical designers, who concern themselves with level design, gameplay, combat encounters and things like that. So they'll be thinking about how the Zombie Kitten Slime Palace is laid out. Where will the traps be? How will the Zombie Kittens ambush and confuse you? What special abilities will Zombie Kittens have? The tech designers will also be responsible for doing the fancy scripting magic that makes the Zombie Kittens come alive.

Then there's the Lead Designer, who gets to have the final say in almost everything. In this case, he would probably say: "No Zombie Kittens in this game!"

There is some overlap, of course, but we tend to stick to our areas of expertise.

So when you say you want to be a game designer, that really doesn't tell us much. Which aspect of the game are you interested in?

Edited By Sheryl Chee on 11/15/06 20:35

Harry Potter fan fiction!

No, really. Fanfic. I have no professional writing experience, and actually never showed much of the fanfic I wrote, because most of the time, I never finished it and I hate having people see unfinished work. I cut my teeth on the mean and nasty fandom communities of LiveJournal, mostly the ones that involve poking fun at Mary Sues and canon-rape.

Then there were the NWN modules that I made, which I never put up for download. I realised quite early that making the module I wanted, exactly the way I wanted, would take months and months of work, and while I chipped away at it slowly, things like school got in the way and again, it was never finished. I applied for the job with absolutely no expectations, thinking it couldn't really hurt to try.

You have a beef with this thread?

Quote: Posted 11/09/06 22:25 (GMT) by Chris Priestly

There is no bovine conspiracy. Now mooooooove along.

Yeah, milk this cow reference for all its worth.

Quote: Posted 11/09/06 21:48 (GMT) by Melirinda

...dialogue utility was a joke, forcing the writer to write stuff out in a text editor and then meticulously copy-and-paste building dialogue trees (gods be good!).

Huh? Seriously? You had to do this? Were you using it correctly? It sucks that you had such trouble with it and that it added to your intense hatred of NWN. I never had problems with the NWN dialogue editor.

Well, not till like a couple days ago when I went back to it to do some stuff after having used the shiny new designer toolset for a while... Mmm, pretty... *pats the new toolset*

Here's more!

If DA was written by...

David Eddings

The plot would revolve around a magical rock of some kind. This rock will probably be blue. The PC will have been "chosen" by some "prophecy" to wield this rock. And by wield I mean set in some special sword. The rock will not be thrown. The rock would not LET itself be thrown, because it is a sentient rock.

All the female characters will be beautiful, and will end up marrying some NPC or other. The party will include at least one of the following: old wizard, child-like innocent, slick rogue. The only NPC that can die will be the one that enters into the story very late, and who hardly says anything, because heaven forbid you get attached to a character and then they die.

The banter, however, will be AWESOME.

Quote: Posted 11/08/06 23:41 (GMT) by David Gaider
That's my Sheryl. A dollar short and one post late.

W-well, that's coz I'm WORKING! Like, AT WORK! Not all vacation-y and watching the forums like a hawk.

Quote: Posted 11/08/06 23:32 (GMT) by LdyShayna

right, but I just took it to mean he was really fond of the wookiees. Evidently it's some pop culture reference?

OOOOHHHH. Yes... what I got from that was that it was a reference to the Limp Bizkit song 'Nookie' which goes: "I did it all for the nookie!"

Yup.

Quote: Posted 11/08/06 23:24 (GMT) by LdyShayna

And THAT one wooshed right over my head. Sometimes it's more fun to be oblivious.

It's in KotOR. I think after you do the Kashyyyk quest, you get "I did it all for the wookiees." as a PC response. Not sure though. It's been a while since I played. Have to ask David.

Quote: Posted 11/08/06 23:12 (GMT) by Mary Kirby
Sheryl and Jay restrained you? Is that even possible? Was there a total eclipse of the sun on this day? Did this occur in an alternate reality? Could someone have been replaced by an evil twin? *eyes Sheryl suspiciously*

Well, Jennifer helped. Actually, I think she was the ringleader in that particular argument.