The company was aware of the friction and attempts to fix it had been ongoing for years, mainly by shuffling staff between the teams more often. Yet this didn't really solve things, and I had no idea until I got to the Dylan team. The team didn't want me there. At all. - ThreadSky

davidgaider.bsky.social • 2 days ago

The company was aware of the friction and attempts to fix it had been ongoing for years, mainly by shuffling staff between the teams more often. Yet this didn't really solve things, and I had no idea until I got to the Dylan team.

The team didn't want me there. At all.

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davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

Worse, until this point Dylan had been concepted as kind of a "beer & cigarettes" hard sci-fi setting (a la Aliens), and I'd been given instructions to turn it into something more science fantasy (a la Star Wars). Yet I don't think anyone told the team this. So they thought this change was MY doing.

davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

I kept getting feedback about how it was "too Dragon Age" and how everything I wrote or planned was "too Dragon Age"... the implication being that *anything* like Dragon Age was bad. And yet this was a team where I was required to accept and act on all feedback, so I ended up iterating CONSTANTLY.

nichole-louise.bsky.social•2 days ago

marmarris.bsky.social•1 day ago

I don't want to make any assumptions, but I always wondered why ME had so much worse representation than DA, even though the games were coming out at more or less the same time. ME felt like sci-fi for serious gamers and DA was always more queer coded, niche and personal/intimate.

davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

I won't go into detail about the problems except to say it became clear this was a team that didn't want to make an RPG. Were very anti-RPG, in fact. Yet they wanted me to wave my magic writing wand and create a BioWare quality story without giving me any of the tools I'd need to actually do that.

sasquatchsightings.bsky.social•2 days ago

Anytime I see ex-BioWare people talk about Anthem, I can’t help but wonder if that game should have been axed early on - it never felt much like a BioWare game, even in the marketing. Or would you say that the game itself could have been fine, but it was the management of the IP that was the issue?

davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

The initial version I worked on still had some RPG in it, but you could see where the winds were blowing. I think the team leads just convinced themselves it was good and would all work out somehow. Through “BioWare magic”, I guess.

dawidrobaszkiewicz.bsky.social•2 days ago

Could you elaborate on the anti-RPG sentiment? Was it like the team didn't want narrative choices or game mechanics that affected dialogue? Did they even want dialogue choices?

davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

There has always been an element within Bio that quietly resented the idea we could never quite get away from being a studio that "just" made RPG's and that our writing was more celebrated than our action. So, yes: more action, less story, less cinematics, and less dialogue all around.

nocatsnomasters.bsky.social•2 days ago

That is super-weird to me as an outsider. My entire social web (inevitably self-selected, of course) sees Bioware as "that place that makes games where you talk to all your teammates and do loyalty quests and romance one of them". Hasn't it been that way since Time Immemorial?

davethomer.bsky.social•1 day ago

Meanwhile, I'm playing through Mass Effect 1 and 2 for at least the tenth time, having played KotOR and Jade Empire at least half a dozen times, wondering if any studio is going to pick up that mantel since it seems BioWare and EA wasn't interested in it anymore.

mario98.bsky.social•2 days ago

Was there ever any pressure put on the DA team to move away from RPGs?

davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

Not initially. Initially Ray & Greg said they were fine with having two different styles of RPGs. After they left, there was pressure to emulate ME more and more because, again, it was the “future”.

davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

I saw the writing on the wall. This wasn't going to work. So I called up my boss and said that I'd stick it out and try my best, but only if there was SOMETHING waiting on the other side, where I could have more say as Creative Director. I wanted to move up.

I was turned down flat, no hesitation.

charleymander.bsky.social•5 hours ago

This absolutely slays me to hear, David. Your writing is what made me fall in love with these games and I almost mourn what could have been for the series I love with you in a CD role there, but I’m super happy to see you thriving and creating with Summerfall. Looking forward to Malys! 💖

davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

That... said a lot. Even more when I was told that, while I could leave the company if I wanted to, I wouldn't have any success outside of BioWare. But in blunter words.

So I quit.

stillicides.bsky.social•2 days ago

jesus fuck that is a revolting way to treat any employee

gimelresh.bsky.social•2 days ago

wow that's some bullshit

moah3.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is the worst kind of management there is.

themoonis.gay•2 days ago

God, it's so insidious that they do this. I've been on a team like this, they try to make you believe you'll never have it better.

ltcolinsane.bsky.social•2 days ago

Gods that is some really shitty corporate culture to say 'You'll ammount to nothing outside of Bioware!'.

davidgaider.bsky.social•2 days ago

Was it easy? Hell no. I thought I'd end up buried under a cornerstone at Bio, honestly. I LIKE security. Sure, I'd dreamed of maybe starting my own studio, but that was a scary idea and I'd never pursued it. I had no idea where I was going to go or what I was going to do, but I wanted OUT.

dhampirvampire.bsky.social•1 day ago

I often heard rumours of the contention between the ME & DA teams and it always makes me sad to see it confirmed again.
I'll be honest, DAO is what put Bioware on the map for me, personally, and I had a hard time getting into ME simply because I played DA first and LOVE IT So... Thank you, David ❤️

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