Marauder Shields and the Marvelous Dr. Colin Dray

By the talented The-JoeBlack

It has been over a year since the release of ME3 and I have only today become aware of the unsung hero, Marauder Shields.

Mid 2012 saw me picking up an Xbox 360 controller for the first time to play a game that had been cryptically referred to on a T-shirt proclaiming, "Waiting for Kaidan. Will settle for Garrus." After countless deaths, often accompanied by hurled Oedipal accusations, by late 2012, I found myself on Insanity, first shooting Collectors and then Reapers in the face with the cool equanimity of a veteran Alliance marine. Until I came to the beam.

I had been able to dispatch that Marauder on previous iterations, having masochistically played through on Casual up to Hardcore, only to reach ME3's appalling climactic juncture time and time again. This time, Marauder Shields decided it was time to stop the Insanity.

Marauder Shields' tenacity led me to discover the artistry of koobismo and the writing of Colin Dray, who adroitly argues that BioWare's crime was a quadrigeminal violation of its core narrative and who, like me, alludes to the intellectual laziness that necessarily led to its conception.

This past week the Montréal team was in Edmonton, in all likelihood working on BioWare's next offering from the ME universe. I hope they've come up with something wonderful, I truly do. But Marauder Shields serves as a reminder to look before you leap, to be careful what you wish for, and perhaps letting the universe burn into oblivion may be the best choice after all.

Happy Birthday, Commander Shepard!

Today is Commander Shepard's birthday...141 years in the future.  Here's to one helluva woman!

TEC: The Eastgate Chronicles Researchin'

I've finally learned the meanings behind the following abbreviations:

• AD&D
• QTE
• IGF
• GDC
• PvP

And while we're on abbreviations, I've also discovered the existence of a crowdsourced game called FTL. From there, in its usual lovely and serendipitous way, the internet led me to another, called Torment: Tides of Numenera. I read about all the work they've done to get to where they are and how long it took. Me, I'm still learning Java. I'm now thinking 3 levels in 2 years might have been a little too ambitious.

In order to gain a better grasp of the various disciplines required in creating a game, I compiled a partial list of those involved in Mass Effect 3:

• Project director (1)
• Lead designer (1)
• Lead writer (1)
• Art director (1)
• Lead programmer (1)
• Producer (1)
• Development director (1)
• Character artists (7)
• Cinematic animators (16)
• In-game animators (5)
• Technical animators (3)
• Concept artists (4)
• Environment artists (22)
• GUI artists (2)
• Technical artists (not to be confused with technical animators) (3)
• Visual effects artists (2)
• Audio designers (13)
• Voice-over producer/Director and Assistant (2)
• Cinematic designers (14)
• Gameplay designers (8)
• Level designers (19)
• Writers (8)
• Editors (5)
• Producers (5)
• Programmers (41)
• Voice actors (118)
• Original score composers (5)

That's 309 people, each of whom has devoted years to their craft. And then there's me:

• Design: Need to learn about level and combat design
• Writing: Need an editor
• Programming: Need to learn Java
• Concept art: Need to learn how to draw
• Animation: Ditto for animating
• Visual effects: Need to figure out how to use Blender
• Audio: I don't even know where to begin...
• Voice Acting: Yeah, no. I'm thinking subtitles.
• Original score: Not a trained composer, either

Oy.

TEC: The Eastgate Chronicles is reunited with jMonkey Engine!

So, I bit the bullet and upgraded my OS in order to be able to use jMonkey. I was excited about learning how to program in C++ to use the Irrlicht engine, but after seeking advice and doing some research, I got the impression that just might be an exercise in frustration at this juncture, given my pitifully limited knowledge and experience.

Besides, I didn't need the latest OS release, so upgrading wasn't as costly as I had originally feared.

So far I've:

• Refined my Game Design Document by reviewing Stéphanie Bouchard's first three lectures from Introduction to Game Design
• Read the first three parts of Combat Design 101 from Adrian Sotelo
• Gone through the first 3 tutorials for jMonkey (which were a little confusing, but I eventually managed to figure out the terminology and the fact that one of the right-click instructions was probably for a previous version)
• Downloaded Blender (and instantly got intimidated)
• Located the Blender tutorials at cgcookie.com and breathed an immediate sigh of relief at the words "this tutorial series is aimed at the absolute beginner"
• Completed the basic Blender modelling tutorials on interface navigation, modelling, and animation

If the full extent of my ambition hadn't hit me before, it sure did now. And I wanted to create 3 levels by the time the next Mass Effect game was released-- Hah! O my sun and stars, what have I gotten myself into?

Happy International Women's Day!

I admire these women greatly:

Stéphanie Bouchard, Professor of Game Design, Dawson College, Game Designer at THX, Pixelles Mentor: Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skill free of charge for women like me.

Raylene Deck, Level Designer for Mass Effect 2 & 3: I bow before your talent and skill.

Sylvia Feketekuty,Writer for Mass Effect 2 DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker and Mass Effect 3: I have learned so much from you. It's best I say that here, for if we ever met, you'd find me blushing furiously and staring at my shoes, trying to stammer out my admiration. 

Jennifer Hale, Actor and voice of Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect Trilogy: Your formidable talent, versatility and professionalism continue to impress.

Ann Lemay, Writer for Mass Effect 3 DLC Omega: Your generosity towards other women is marvelous. I learned about International Women's Day from you. You also have excellent taste in cats and tchotchkes.

Jessica Merizan, Community Manager, BioWare: You are the epitome of grace under fire. And for the record, I think you're lovely.

Karin Weekes, Lead Editor, BioWare: Although we have never met, your strength of character, unabashed playfulness, and unmitigated kindness can be gleaned from what others say of you. Your friends are lucky to know you.

Speak to me, Garrus.

Why anyone would not romance Garrus, given the opportunity, is beyond me. Just listen to those words in that voice...

Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC: The Ending I Was Waiting For

The moment BioWare Mass Effect DLC producer, Mike Gamble, announced Citadel would be released at 3 a.m. Pacific time March 5th, any attempts to sleep the night of the 4th were doomed. 

Fortunately, the imps at BioWare anticipated this, keeping me entertained with side-splitting Twitter narratives from an N7 squad on shore leave (@VorchaDaddy, @De_MEL_isher, @ThisUnit1025, and @TalktotheTalons). At the appointed time, to my bleary-eyed consternation, no DLC by the name Citadel was available for download for the Xbox 360; not for Mass Effect 3 nor any other game. However, all was remedied a mere half-hour later and I was on my way to experiencing one last adventure with my Shepard and the crew of the Normandy.

After playing through three times with various team members and finding an abundance of Easter eggs (I love you, Grunt!) I can say unreservedly that the developers have exceeded all expectation with Citadel. The writing was superb, the voice-over performances were brilliant, the cinematography was dazzling, and the gameplay was thrilling. I was struck by the dizzying number of assets involved, from Shepard's apartment to the Armax Combat Arena. Last month, Patrick Weekes, a senior writer for the Mass Effect series, revealed pre-production began not long after Mass Effect 3 shipped last March, with the writing being completed by late summer 2012. In truth, Citadel felt like opening a long-awaited love letter and I have found the ending I had been searching for. Given the timing of its conception, perhaps it was the ending the developers were searching for, as well.

I know how Shepard's story ends: there is no happily ever after. But the Citadel DLC lets me freeze her in time, when she was happy, when she was loved, when she wasn't so broken down by the unending onslaught of war and suffering that death no matter how nonsensically presented)seemed a welcome release. I will not go on to Cronos station nor return to take back Earth as I have countless times before. I refuse to remember my Shepard as beaten, bloodied and forsaken. She deserves better than that.

Garrus: Best times of my life were spent on that ship. Been a damn good ride.

Shepard: [gazing at the Normandy against the morning Presidium skyline] The best.

OMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSH!

TEC: The Eastgate Chronicles and the Pixelles Game Incubator

So, one of my fellow Twits brought the Pixelles Game Incubator to my attention today. It seems there are other women (likely, much younger women), like me, who wish to become first-time game creators. These women did it in 6 weeks and a showcase of their work is taking place Saturday, March 9th at 7:30 p.m. at Execution Labs, 3863 Boulevard St. Laurent, Suite 206, Montréal.

The most generous and wonderful thing about the people at Pixelles is that they provided the information from their sessions on-line for us Joanie-come-latelys.  

I've found a mentor of sorts in Stéphanie Bouchard, a professor of Game Design at Dawson College and Designer at THX. Admittedly, the mentor-mentee relationship is rather one-sided at the moment, but who knows what the future may bring?

It's back to pre-production for TEC!

Where's THIS primate's Brazilian orange juice?

So, apparently, there's a gifted video game-playing monkey named Aurora, who gets rewarded by neuroscientists with Brazilian orange juice for performing well. And all this time, I've been playing for free. Anyone know how I can get in on this racket?

TEC: The Eastgate Chronicles and the Irrlicht Engine

So, given the aforementioned issues working with Java, I've decided to try my hand at learning C++ in order to work with the Irrlicht Engine. I've just reread that sentence aloud and, inconceivably, it sounds even more absurd than in my head. And then, I hear a tiny but vociferous voice crying out, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Fortune favours the brave! Go, confront the problem! Fight! Win!"

OK, cplusplus.com:  Let's do this.

You, too, can look like Garrus Vakarian: High Fashion Meets High Tech

Little did I know Garrus's signature visor was also a fashion statement.

Check out the models wearing Google X's augmented reality Project Glass visors at Vivienne Westwood's 2012 show during New York Fashion Week:

Alas and alack, I'm not a US resident, otherwise I'd be all over this.

Be still, my beating heart: ME3's Citadel

O my sun and stars! They've just announced the world-wide release date of the final single-player DLC for the Mass Effect series:  March 5th. Nearly 4 gigs in size! Featuring friends and romance interests! Promises of intrigue and sinister conspiracies!

And don't get me started on Reckoning, the free multi-player DLC slated for release February 26th, where the female Turian Raptor (Cabal Vanguard) makes her debut!

They say you can't place a price on happiness. I disagree. It's $14.99.

TEC: The Eastgate Chronicles Roadblock #1

So, I was incredibly excited to start working on the game.  I dutifully went to Oracle to download the Java SE Development Kit and got this:

Great.  Blocked before I'm even out of the (East)gate.  After some digging, this is what I've learned:

• I am not the owner of a 64-bit capable Intel-based computer.
• My OS is not supported by the latest JDK update.  Actually, it hasn't been supported by the last several updates.
• I am Rip Van Winkel and I've just woken up.  Are there hovercars, yet?

OK [deep breath].  I knew this wasn't going to be easy.  Take 2...

TEC: The Eastgate Chronicles

March 6th will mark one year since the North American release of Mass Effect 3. The final DLC for the trilogy will be coming out soon (I suspect within the next week) and then it may be years until the next BioWare release.

What is a neophyte gamer to do? Why, design her own game, of course.

Wait, Rora, have you even programmed before?

Not extensively, no.

What exactly do you mean by "not extensively"?

Ummm, "Hello, World!"

That's it?

Yup.

Uh-huh. Do you know anything about game design?

Well, I wouldn't call myself an expert...

Really. This from a woman who hadn't played any video game in earnest until the middle of last year...Okay, we'll bite: what would you call yourself?

Naïve and ambitious?

The good news is that there are some excellent open-source game engines out there. I've decided upon jMonkeyEngine 3.0. As recommended on various sites, I've already drafted a design document and sketched-out the storyboard for an original IP. The bad news is, not only will I have to learn Java, my artistic skills leave much to be desired. Ah, well. If nothing more, making TEC: The Eastgate Chronicles will give me a better appreciation of what goes into game creation. Wish me luck: I'm going to need it.

Mass Effect 4

The truth is, I am more inclined to be pleased than displeased when it comes to the games and DLC of Mass Effect. Yes, I may complain, but when it comes down to it, time after time, I have parted with my hard-earned cash to get BioWare’s latest release for the series without hesitation. And I never listen to “professional” critics. However, with the news that BioWare is working on a fourth Mass Effect Game as well as a new Intellectual Property (IP), given the present handling of the Mass Effect 3 ending, I am disinclined to contribute to the financial well-being of BioWare/EA until YouTube walkthroughs of these games are made available.  After countless hours of playing, I liken my relationship with the Mass Effect Trilogy development team as that with a beloved sibling: I may not always agree with their decisions, but I love them, anyway. That relationship does not necessarily extend to the new Mass Effect or toward the new IP.

If the current development team at BioWare inherited an excellent IP, only to ruin it in the end, I have little faith in their ability to create an entirely new IP from the ground up.  The fact they consider it a disservice to the new Mass Effect game by referring to it as Mass Effect 4, is a plaintive, but ultimately futile, appeal to not allow the controversy associated with the Mass Effect 3 ending affect sales of BioWare's next foray into the Mass Effect universe.  This is of particular significance since EA has most recently posted 3rd quarter losses and may continue to do so.

So BioWare, prove me wrong. Bring back the mounting excitement as we near release day and the heady feeling of extravagance as I pay full price in order to be one of the privileged to play your latest release first; because after this last DLC, I may never feel that way again.

O my sun and stars! What HAVE they done to the face on the Garrus bust?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I submit the following eight-thousand-word pictorial essay, entitled "The Devil is in the Details":

The 2011 Neil Tambini sculpt commissioned by Crabcat Industries:

Contrast this with the highly-anticipated 2013 BioWare "bust":

I don't know who has final approval on the Mass Effect bust series, but I do have a few tips for them:

Tip #1: A bust seldom extends below the upper chest and almost never to the waist. The latter comprises half a statue, which is just sad.

Tip #2:  Statuary with limbs lost to antiquity, such as the Venus de Milo, is beautiful. Half a statue in mint condition with no arms is a travesty. Asking $40 for said half-statue is laughable.

Tip #3: If you are going to commission a bust on the scale of 3 inches wide, the greatest care and detail should be spent upon the expressivity of the face; therefore, plan accordingly. In this case, no one could reasonably expect any degree of craftsmanship on a head that was necessarily 1 inch wide due to the misguided choice to include the shoulders.

Tip #4: Hand-painting does not compensate for poor sculpture. I, for one, do not want this dead-eyed Garrus on my desk. (Probably mourning the loss of his arms, poor thing.)

Tip #5: Commission Neil Tambini to re-create the Mass Effect bust series. It's not too late.

I am now officially a twit...