Edited By Skyblade12 on 09/07/09 14:42

Quote: Posted 09/07/09 14:39 (GMT) by Patrick Weekes

At this stage in the project, writers get to do a lot of things.

1) Bug fixes. It's a big game, and we're catching things now that we missed before. It's tough to make big changes at this point, so in many cases we have to cut or move lines in order to alter the story without adding or changing the VO. This takes a lot of time and is the vast majority of what we're doing.

2) Systems. Some writers are working on planet descriptions or codex entries. I'm working on a Paragon/Renegade pass (putting in all the "you get a small bonus here" actions on good lines). I'm also working on the sound sets (the ambient barks that bad guys use in combat). What we have now is good, but some lines fire way too often or way too close together, so the combat team and I are working on probability tweaks to get the best possible experience.

3) Downloadable content. And that is all I can say about that.

4) Many writers are on different projects now, like Dragon Age 2 or the MMO.

5) In our spare time, we playtest like mad. We're the ones who know the story the best, so while we may not be the best at firing combat bugs, we're great at catching, for example, when lines that should have fired didn't.

Quote: Posted 09/07/09 14:42 (GMT) by Skyblade12

What happens if you guys spot an error in the game script (a plot inconsistency or line that wasn't spoken the way you feel it should have been)? Do you redo the line or cut it?

Quote: Posted 09/07/09 14:54 (GMT) by Patrick Weekes

Quote: Posted 09/07/09 14:42 (GMT) by Skyblade12

What happens if you guys spot an error in the game script (a plot inconsistency or line that wasn't spoken the way you feel it should have been)? Do you redo the line or cut it?

First we swear. A lot. Then some of us drink.

Then we figure out what to do. Sometimes that means going into the raw sound files and looking for an alternate take. Other times, it means having the sound guys chop off the front or back of the line in order to remove the offending bit while still keeping the part we need.

A lot of the time we have to cut the line, and then we get to figure out how to make it work without new VO. Can we jump over to another section? Do we just lose an entire part of the conversation? Is there somebody who hasn't been recorded yet who we can write in as saying a line there so that it makes sense?

It is a fun and exciting opportunity for problem solving. You've heard of thinking outside the box? This is thinking inside the box. And the box is shrinking.