BioWare - Interview with Patrick Weekes

aries100

SasqWatch
Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
2,147
Location
Denmark, Europe
VGS has an interview with Patrick Weekes about how you get into writing for videogames.
Things talked about cover the subjects below - and more:

- His origins
- Training the player to do the wrong thing
- Looking at the evolution of the media comparing it to the beginning of film
- It's harder now to get a job than ever before, focus on the nonlinear narrative
- Get the application called TWINE! Get a job.
- Weekes talks extensively about the HORROR of "Peer Reviews"
- The most common mistakes that still happen in the writer's room
- Key piece of advice "Make sure the player knows where to go next, and what he has to do when he's there"
Thanks to Capone666 at the Bioware forum for making this interview.





More information.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,147
Location
Denmark, Europe
this is cool but how about
- read a lot
- play a lot
- analyze a lot



I always liked the advice uncle Ken gave to Michael Kirkbride about worldbuilding

First tell God's story... then tell farmer's story... then hear to what the dog has to say
 
Joined
Mar 9, 2015
Messages
2,714
It's sunday you should be a bit positive today. :p

For example:
- Key piece of advice "Make sure the player knows where to go next, and what he has to do when he's there"
Mhmkay… This does work in linear phonegames but I really really don't want to see this in adventures, puzzlers and hell exploration RPGs.
Handholding dumbed down our games. Hint or two, good, but more than that, please just don't.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
- Key piece of advice "Make sure the player knows where to go next, and what he has to do when he's there"

Have to say I agree with joxer. This works for Bioware/EA because they make linear games that don't utilise a wide range of mechanics. Combat and conversation persuade is about the extent of what you can do.

But what would Bioware/EA do if the player could a)pickpocket a key b)poison the guard c)persuade the guard d)burn the house down e)bribe the mortician etc. Possibilities mean not explaining them to the player unless you mean to explain every option every time - which would be stupid. Instead trust that the player has some intelligence and will figure things out for themselves.

Thats the mass market problem because EA/Bioware are aiming for a casual audience. Got to get those Skyrim numbers!
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
9,312
Location
New Zealand
One thing is handholding and another thing is lack of focus or direction. This is why I've enjoyed very much games like Baldur's Gate or Torment, but got bored of others like Skyrim or Fallout3+. Most of IE games were open and left the players to their own devices, but had focus, a clear goal, and a direction in which the player had to advance.

Knowing what's your goal and what are you after is for me a key aspect even in exploration games where the player doesn't want to be handheld.
 
Joined
Apr 11, 2015
Messages
138
One thing is handholding and another thing is lack of focus or direction. This is why I've enjoyed very much games like Baldur's Gate or Torment, but got bored of others like Skyrim or Fallout3+. Most of IE games were open and left the players to their own devices, but had focus, a clear goal, and a direction in which the player had to advance.

Knowing what's your goal and what are you after is for me a key aspect even in exploration games where the player doesn't want to be handheld.

I agree that you need to know what your general objective is but not be told how to complete it. IE games were pretty good on that score, ie. baldurs gate 1 had a quest to infiltrate the bandit camp but you were not told how to do it. You got some hints here and there from different characters but you had to discover what would work for yourself and your party. Needless to say there were many potential avenues to accomplish this.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
9,312
Location
New Zealand
Patrick is right to say that the player should know where to go and what to do once there. The basis of a quest is where (place I have to go to advance the quest), what (the objective or how do I advance the quest) and when (at what point do you get the quest). None of that needs to be super detailed, but you need enough information to know what you are supposed to be doing.

The problem today is that most game developers turned quest text like "I need to find Joe south of City02 and find where are the stolen goods" leaving managing the options to resolve the quest to the player into
"Find Stolen goods"
- Talk to Joe (marker on map south of City02)
- Pickup stolen goods (follow the marker)
optional
- look at Joe's papers (marker of a different color show up on the map)
- blackmail Joe
 
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
7,313
If they've got such good writers who can give out advice, why are side-quests in Inquisition and SWTOR so repetitive and boring? And in SWTOR even characters are all bland, repetitive and boring, so you don't even remember what you did and with whom you talked right after you did it. Or in the process. Seriously, I had to look up the summary of the quest in the mission log each time just to remind myself where I'm going right now and why. And many times it would slip my mind again when I'm there just because they're so repetitive it feels like I'm doing the same thing over and over, and for what reason this time, again?.. This is atrocious, and then they give advice.

Normally I'm a fan of Bioware, but I've been playing SWTOR and they made me utterly angry at them. An all-inclusive philosophy? Sorry, women, only male players get to flirt 50% of times when they speak with female characters (but a female Jedi Knight, for example, can't flirt at all), get many flings (and you get none, sorry gals) and more characters to choose from for serious romance (you get just one, ladies, we had to throw you a bone). And after the game existing for quite a long time, they didn't address this in any patch. This isn't even a lack of resources matter, how hard is it to rewrite a few lines and add a few here or there? Just plain sexism, as shocking as it sounds from Bioware.

What pisses me off even more is that their desire to cater to men blinds them even as far as doing business in concerned. Who're the consumers of romance novels and movies? Right. Who plays Sims? Right. A lot of romance for women + advertisement = more female players = profit. If they absolutely needed to discriminate, they should've discriminated against men, at least that would be profitable. Instead, they gave them content that they'd never appreciate as much as women do and wouldn't cry much if it wasn't there for them, but royally pissed off us. For us who appreciate such content a lot more it's a very big loss. No way I'd ever be a continuous sub for this game, you guys do not deserve my money after giving men a much better game than I've been playing.

Unless someone was standing with a shotgun at their face telling them to discriminate against women by forcing the writers to not give a damn about quality of their dialogues for female players, I'm not a fan anymore. And he even dares to give others advice about writing. He should share how to first utterly bore and then piss off your own playerbase with your writing.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
Back
Top Bottom