Empires to Ages: Storytelling Lessons Learned in 14 Years at BioWare

[@NeverduskX]

When he mentioned Jade Empire, I felt some burst of nostalgia. That was such a fantastic game. Mass Effect was phenomenal, but I really believe Jade Empire had some of Bioware's best worldbuilding.

[@sub-jec-tiv]

I really wish they’d do a new version, it was a great game with great gameplay and story. Of course they’d have to make a bunch of changes to keep from being shouted at on Twit-er by the extreme left and right, both of which sound suspiciously like the Puritans lately.

[@gordo6908]

interesting, but wasnt expecting a presentation on workflow and production

[@JustJunuh]

Really great talk. We need more talks from guys like him: people who have worked in the industry for over a decade and have a lot to say about how they made their games great. He gave a lot of professional, actionable, production-ready advice.

[@SunnyValleyStudio]

Great talk. The way Mike presents is awesome. I love how in around 30 minutes he told everything, it was to the point and Greta to listen to. I have learned a lot. I need to learn how to present like this :)

[@KimboKG14]

I'm just a hobby coder fumbling around making something kinda gamy.... but this feels like one of the most usefull talks I have watched so far.

[@yrussq]

Beautiful talk! Very down on Earth as many people just don't understand producer's work and how all the things should be driven and controlled on projects.

[@kobiianardo]

5:18 not that universe exploding is ever cheap to realize, but i'm wondering if this is more of an issue now because the only acceptable visual solution tends to be the realistic/representational one, which translate directly to a problem of finance. in the world of realism are there ever times when you creatively consider stylistically harmonizable solutions to do something "very expensive" or "impossible" to cut down costs. //endnonenglish

[@Komagb]

This guy is amazing, he's so REAL, and a good communicator.

[@voneror]

Great talk, but the title is misleading.

[@dailyraven3241]

Mike is my idol. His passion for games and stories is so inspiring. He used to stream on twitch.

[@healwithjaniele]

Wow, I came for storytelling wisdom and got a blessed with an additional dose of guidance on how to be a leader who uses vulnerability as a superpower✨🙏🏾

[@thezyreick4289]

Is there a decent place to go to get in touch with people interested in game development? this may sound like a redundant question especially being asked on a channel focused on that topic lol. However it is a serious question I have, I have been obsessed with video games since I was young, when I was 15 instead of worrying about who is going to the school dance, I was sitting behind my laptop at home researching how to program and create AI. I do not personally think I am a good programmer, on the contrary I think I am very novice as there are many things I am constantly learning. Just recently I have finally been able to afford a computer of higher processing power and capable or raytracing, and am trying to get more into game development than I currently am, and at the point where I am trying to learn the professional grade processes and earnestly dive into creating a game to release to public. The biggest issue is I personally know that my skills are not good enough to pull off that kind of project myself, and realistically I cant learn said skills (such as art design, graphic design, advanced programming) in a relevant time for what I am wanting to do in the next few years with my time. So I guess what I am getting at is I am earnestly trying to find people to get with where I can collaborate with them on a project or even just help them with theirs while learning advanced techniques I do not know yet hands on. I am always eager to learn, further my knowledge, and humbly improve my skills and approaches to solve problems. I know my methods are rough and am trying to refine them, but do not know where to go to in order to start.

[@thezyreick4289]

Do you use discord?

[@Vesperitis]

No wonder 'The Dawn Will Come' was the best moment in Inquisition. In the darkest moment, when all seemed lost, faith was truly born then, even for those without faith. I am Frank watching Mac dance. I get it now.

[@shawn1651]

That was really fascinating and inspiring to hear, thank you for your talk

[@JoonasSariola]

Nr. 1; people really care about ending.

[@cargorunnerUK]

Really interesting talk and I can now see why the writing in the early Bioware games is so good. I would love to know if the writing teams in most AAA games are forced to make the story dumbed down and generic to appeal to a mass market. Just like some of the summer block buster movies seem designed to have dumbed down writing and simplistic characters. Bethesda Game Studios is a prime example of the writing in each new fallout or elder scrolls game getting more dumbed down and generic. It's not because they don't have the talent, time or money to develop deeper characters and story. And surely it's not because Bethesda Game Studios have not thought of good working practices like you suggest. Personally I only seem to find interesting, memorable writing in video game in Sony flagship games, CD Project Red games and smaller indie games. Sorry and sad to say I don't think that Bioware are up there any more.

[@JediWarrior2007]

Sam Lake and Remedy have some really awesome writing in games too. Loved Control, Alan Wake and Max Payne (1 and 2)

[@FaeranJourneys]

Wow... Awasome chat!... Origins int one ho mi favorits game!

[@mistyfiedwhisper5321]

this was awesome to listen to... (yes I love Anders LOL)

[@SDKSeizO]

Question for future devs/writers: Why make N major NPCs and force the player to pick two of them and balance the game for three person group? Replay-ability? Tech issues? It becomes a clusterffff in combat? I am not having five runs just to experience all the banter and side quests. Allow me create a big party and enjoy the clashing personality. Create NPC "teams" based on preferences. This is almost always fixed with custom mods after release. Why don't you implement it?

[@tescobramley2759]

I can't speak for BioWare's intentions, but I always found that making the player pick and choose between major NPCs gives the player a sense of authorship over the story. The player essentially acts as their own narrative director and determines which characters should appear in certain scenes based on their interpretation of the plot/characters rather than exclusively mechanical sensibility.

[@crysicle]

0:23 thats what she said.

[@mohokhachai]

😂

[@0gasior]

Amazing content

[@chyra451]

This was great

[@TESkyrimizer]

Not many useful tips for indie devs or individual writers tbh. Eh.

[@brokengames9020]

Bioware tragic.

[@KryyssTV]

Now, I'm going to say something very unpopular here but hear me out. Bioware make good games, but they will never make great games because of this 'Hollywood' approach to development. They come up with a narrative and build the game around it but this creates the workflow problem discussed in this talk. The solution to both this workflow issue and Bioware's limitation of just being a good studio is to begin with the game play mechanics and then build a story around them to have the story enhance the activities the player is doing. Did you know that Nintendo have done this for years? They have a team specifically dedicated to researching and producing game mechanics. As a former toy manufacturer this approach is why Nintendo's in-house games are so good. They build a 'toy' and then ask themselves what IP do they own would make best use of this new gameplay mechanic. For example, the mechanics for Splatoon were not designed for any particular game. But it was very fun, yet did not fit with an of their existing IPs. So they build a new IP, new characters and a whole narrative around the mechanics.

[@nerdydrow]

You give Bioware too little credit, they did shape the western RPG genre for years, how they look and how they play, for example, how multiple choices in dialog work, what choices should be given, are they controlled with skill or classes, or how quests work, or companies work, these are all mechanics that shape the narrative, that they designed (they don't necessarily work all the time, but neither does Nintendo).

[@KryyssTV]

@@nerdydrow Bioware didn't shape the Western RPG genre. Wizards of the Coast defined the Western RPG and Bioware just used those systems in their games. Bioware made their name for titles like Baldurs Gate, which ported the 2nd edition AD&D rulesets into the game. Neverwinter Nights used 3rd edition AD&D rulesets and KotR was Bioware's first attempt at being creative as they developed their own d20 ruleset. One of the reasons why Bioware has fallen on such hard times is that EA pushed them away from making CRPGs into ARPGs which they simply are not as good at. It does not surprise me that many Bioware veterans left to form Avatar Studios and teamed up with WotC to return to their CRPG roots.

[@RawdgeYT]

@@KryyssTV I apologize for the pedantry, but a minor correction: Avatar Studios is a sound recording studio in NYC. Archetype Entertainment is the game dev shop that's formed by BioWare alums, and partnered with WotC. Only reason I bring it up, is because I hadn't heard of a company called Avatar partnering with WotC, and took a few minutes of Googling to figure out what the story was. I'm not nitpicking, just trying to save some folks a few extra keystrokes if they wanna check it out as well. o7

[@KryyssTV]

@@Visigoth_ I would argue that neither if those fields of study can be fully applied to game development. So to say that either of them are valid would be dismissing very fundamental features unique to this form of entertainment. The enjoyment of an expertly written story can be ruined by poor gameplay and vice versa. Building a game around a story has the innate limiting factor of making 'fun' a byproduct of the narrative when it should be the other way around. People play games because they want that interaction, if they only want a good story they'll watch a movie or read a book. Further to this, any writer knows that pacing and timing are critical to making a great story but these things are under the control of the player, not the writer in games. So what works well in a screenplay or book will not work as well in a game unless you take control away from the players - and players don't like being 'on rails'. Also, from a workflow perspective gameplay driven narratives are less expensive. The developers come up with something fun for players to do and the writers figure a way to incorporate that into the narrative. Maybe they need to re-record audio but it is far easier than a writer coming up with some wild idea and expecting the programmers and visual artists to make it work.

[@madturtle84]

This explain why Nintendo makes great games but never makes great stories.

[@bobbykanae]

Bioware's former creative director is an ESTJ, who knew? I've always found them to be strange storytellers, although listening to him I get his process better... They always want to know what others think.

[@mithrylmoonlight]

(Sees Bioware) (Sees a title concerning story) *GDC Talks Taken Moments Before A Disaster*

[@Hello.Sailor]

No wonder so many video games are so poorly written.

[@VideovigilanteUSA]

Anyone want to make a Corona Virus, board games..real Time story line? Writers, artists, game designer..

[@jiaolong5143]

Unfortunately I can't take a game designer seriously who couldn't even make a simple UI,inventory,crafting system. ''DA:I'' was an abomination in that regard.

[@mithrylmoonlight]

(Sees Bioware) (Sees a title concerning story) *GDC Talks Taken Moments Before A Disaster*

[@ApologyforPepology]

Care to elaborate?

[@Daishi0861]

@@ApologyforPepology I would imagine they are referring to Bioware's Anthem.

[@ApologyforPepology]

@@Daishi0861 Yeah but moments before a disaster? This talk was recorded in early 2018. Bioware didn't release anything in 2018, so I was wondering what he was refering to.