#spikywife

[felassan]

[source]

#lgbtq #dragon age #bioware #mass effect #video games #mass effect: andromeda #vetry nyx #spikywife #jaal ama darav

[felassan]

birthday email image from the BioWare Gear store that they send, I just think it's a nice image/edit of the Andromeda crew yknow? :)

#mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #vetra nyx #spikywife #bioware #jaal ama darav #video games

[felassan]

BioWare Blog post: BioWare Developer Story – Pride Edition

Welcome to a very special entry in our Developer Story series! While previous editions have featured a single subject, in the wake of Pride Month in June, we invited some of our LGBTQIA+ colleagues to talk about what the studio and its games mean to them as queer folks. So please allow us to introduce you to Technical Product manager Lina Anderson, Technical Animator Samantha Wald, Programmer Rachel Hammond, and Cinematic Designer Mikayla Stock, who were all kind enough to share their personal histories with us.

How did you end up at BioWare?

RACHEL: Game development was something I’ve wanted to do my entire life, from when I first played with our family’s Atari and NES and on through all my childhood. By the time I got to college, I’d fallen in love with programming as well, so I joined my campus’ Game Developer Association, where I made friends and contacts who helped me land my first job in the industry a bit over 15 years ago. I worked with a few smaller companies before getting my job with BioWare 11 years ago, and I’ve been here ever since.

SAMANTHA: My path into the industry was a lot less direct! I studied broadcasting in college to get into video editing, but I eventually started rendering graphics in 3D. I was instantly hooked, and I started doing rigging for animated shows and films. But I had always been a huge gamer, and about three years ago, I realized my skills would transfer perfectly to technical animation. BioWare has always been one of my favorite studios, and I was so excited when I got the offer to come work here six months ago!

MIKAYLA: I’m relatively new to the games industry, too; I got my start working on 2D educational kids’ games after graduating with a degree in animation. I‘ve been with BioWare for a little over a year now, working on Star Wars™: The Old Republic.

LINA: BioWare is actually my first experience in the games industry, but I’ve been here for over five and a half years. I had dreamed about working in games since I was a kid and was really surprised to get in on my first attempt!

How have BioWare games impacted you as a queer person?

SAMANTHA: As a trans woman, I spent a large majority of my life being uncomfortable with who I am and how I’m perceived by society. Before I transitioned, games were always an outlet for me to feel comfortable and explore my identity; BioWare games in particular gave me that in a completely supportive, non-judgmental space, and I really don’t think I’d be where I am today without them.

LINA: Agreed. Both Mass Effect and Dragon Age were instrumental in helping me rediscover myself. I’d repressed so much over the years, and building characters that reflected aspects of me that I’d been hiding allowed me to safely explore these thoughts and feelings. I found I was able to talk about things I’d previously kept bottled up, using my characters and companions as proxies—something that I wasn’t yet comfortable enough to do on my own. Nobody batted an eye when I talked about Lady Shepard having a fling with Garrus!

MIKAYLA: I also found BioWare games—specifically the Dragon Age games, for me—at a time when I was still kind of figuring out who I was. I was fortunate enough to be raised in an open-minded household, but it’s always different being told something’s okay versus seeing it on screen in front of you, presented as being completely normal, you know?

RACHEL: Yes! Watching them start pushing for more inclusion years ago, allowing gay and bi romance options, that was a real help for me at the time. But even outside of my direct personal experience, it was so good to see that inclusion spreading through the industry.

Why do you think BioWare games resonate so well with queer players?

SAMANTHA: BioWare games have always been about playing your character however you want, so I think it’s exceptionally easy for players to insert themselves into the main character. And since queer folks have had so little representation in the past, BioWare games are likely to be the first place a lot of folks are able to see themselves reflected in media.

MIKAYLA: Right, they provide a space for players to explore their identities. There are so many well-rounded characters that it’s hard not to find a couple that resonate with you, and watching the story of a character you deeply connect with play out can be incredibly cathartic. And it’s about not being afraid to tell LGBTQIA+ stories!

RACHEL: Yes—games that try to be more open and attentive towards queer identities definitely help us find ourselves in them. But they help other people see us too; the benefit doesn’t stop simply with our firsthand experience. It also helps normalize queer identities for other players, letting others know we’re real, we’re normal, we’re part of the industry.

LINA: And the thing for me is that the games don’t just have a couple queer characters you can run into, and then you’re off shooting aliens again. These are characters that we grow with through the series, form bonds with, and can choose to be close to.

Do you think BioWare games have made an impact on the way the industry approaches LGBTQIA+ topics?

MIKAYLA: I think any exposure to LGBTQIA+ topics in games is a step towards normalizing them in the industry, and BioWare’s decision not to shy away from telling those stories, but to embrace them, was a welcome breath of fresh air.

SAMANTHA: And I think that’s really led the way in de-stigmatizing queer relationships in games. By being this inclusive in games that are both successful and popular, they made it clear that queer representation is not a detriment, but actually a positive and something a lot of players are hungry for.

LINA: Yeah, I remember seeing the original Mass Effect making waves for having a same-sex romance option. It was absolutely the first major game I was aware of where this was a thing at all, and I think that by showing you could have a gay romance between a human and an alien and not have retailers refuse to stock your games, that may have opened some eyes and made it an easier pitch.

RACHEL: That’s exactly it. The way BioWare handled inclusion rippled through the industry, leading to other studios leaning into that content, which meant that even more games were comfortable with it. It helped move everyone forward.

Do you feel like BioWare sees and supports its queer employees?

SAMANTHA: To me, the biggest thing I see BioWare doing to support queer employees has been to empower them! I have never seen so many queer people in senior leadership positions as I have in my time here.

MIKAYLA: Everyone I’ve had the pleasure of working with has been nothing but kind and accepting, and I’ve never felt the need to be anything but myself. That fosters such a great sense of communication and community. I don’t feel like I’m living inside a vacuum while I’m working; the rest of the world still exists and its impact on employees is not taken lightly.

RACHEL: I’ve been with BioWare for more than a decade at this point, and I’ve only seen the support for our LGBTQIA+ staff grow. There have been some missteps along the way, sure, but the most important thing I’ve seen is that people are eager to listen, learn, and do better. I’ve seen a great amount of work put in to ensure that happens in every circumstance. When I started here, I was not out to anyone about being trans. I had transitioned years ago but I was afraid to tell anyone. But in my time here I was given the confidence I needed to come out again, on my terms. So many other workplaces I’ve been at pushed me back into the closet, but BioWare helped me actually feel free to express my whole self.

LINA: Oh, absolutely. If I wasn’t in a place like BioWare, I probably still wouldn’t be out. Coming out as trans was terrifying in general, but knowing my manager and leadership were there for me as I announced who I really was made all the difference.

Thanks to Mikayla, Rachel, Samantha, and Lina for sharing their stories. At BioWare, we’re dedicated to a diverse, inclusive culture, and try to show that through our people and our games. Of course, we know there will always be more to learn in order to best support our teams. But we look forward to that continued growth—because while it may no longer be Pride Month, BioWare is always proud of all our colleagues.

[source]

#dragon age #bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #video games #lgbtq #vetra nyx #spikywife #jaal ama darav #long post #longpost #sw:tor #garrus vakarian #best boy

[felassan]

BioWare are hiring for the role of Associate Producer and this part of the job listing.. lmao [x]

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #solas #video games #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #vetra nyx #spikywife #lul

[felassan]

[x]

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #video games #vetra nyx #jaal ama darav #spikywife #wow cant believe Roo is 3

[felassan]

Happy second birthday, Mass Effect: Andromeda! [x]

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #feels #vetra nyx #spikywife #video games

[felassan]

[x]

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #video games #vetra nyx #spikywife #garrus vakarian #best boy

[felassan]

me: why am i single

also me: [manually adds the tag "spikywife" to 15+ pages of posts about vetra nyx]

#oh yea #thts why #scintillating evenin plans mj #classec #mj and the world #lul #vetra nyx #spikywife #bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #video games

[felassan]

today i realized their shipname is Vetroo and im slightly dyin tbh cuz thats adorable

#roo ryder #vetra nyx #mj and the world #feels #bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #video games #spikywife

[felassan]

Mass Effect: Andromeda Patch 1.06 Notes

In this upcoming patch, we continued to improve our cinematic scenes, particularly in the opening hours of the game. In addition to enhanced performance and stability, we addressed a number of player-reported issues, including a bug that caused SAM to repeatedly tell Ryder they had received new email.

Because we don’t want players to miss any of the great side conversations with their crew, dialogue options will no longer appear “greyed out” if a character has more to say.

Those of you who have the Deluxe or Super Deluxe edition will also receive two custom Nomad skins, a new casual Pathfinder outfit, and an exclusive multiplayer pack with a high chance of receiving an ultra-rare item.

We also made changes to combat and multiplayer balance, which you can read about here.

A full list of fixes is below. For patch notes in other languages, click here.

Mass Effect: Andromeda Patch 1.06 Notes

- Fixed issue that caused singleplayer difficulty to impact multiplayer

- Improved performance and stability

- Various improvements to cinematic scenes

- Fixed issue where SAM would mistakenly tell Ryder they have new email

- Conversation options will no longer appear “greyed out” if new content is available

- Improved legibility of subtitles

- Maximum Nexus Level increased to 29

- Single player balance improvements at higher difficulties.

- Fixed issues with player animations getting stuck when jumping or changing direction repeatedly

- Increased the number of autosaves allowed

- Special items will not carry over into New Game+

- Fixed issue where subtitles would not appear while waiting at the dialogue wheel if subtitles were disabled

- Fixed issue that could cause AVP to reset to zero for all planets except Kadara

- Vendors now sell fire augmentations. EDIT: Updated information from BioWare: “Correction: The fire type augmentations are NOT being added to vendors in today's patch. They're in a later patch. Sorry for confusion.” [x]

- Weapon and armor vendors now carry inventory once player reaches Level 61

- Chest armors now have level restrictions

- Bonus items—such as Pathfinder Armor—can now be deconstructed

- Fusion Mod of Resistance no longer continues to apply evade damage once unequipped

- Improved responsiveness of control sticks

- Fixed clipping issue on Sara Ryder’s casual jacket

- Added graphics options to toggle Motion Blur and Depth of Field

- Fixed issue where Remnant VI would stop attacking

- Turbocharge will not deplete spare ammo when used on a weapon with the Vintage Heat Sink augmentation

- Fixed interaction with datapad in the Search for the Remnant Drive Core mission.

- Fixed issue where squadmate could not be revived if killed by a fiend at Site 2

- Swapping a dead squadmate at a loadout will not cause them to die permanently

- Nexus tram now operates during Nexus Reunion mission even if player has not completed Prologue

- Fixed issue where player could romance both Cora and Peebee

- Fixed issue where player could romance both Vetra and Peebee

- Taking the left path in the Havarl dungeon will not block progression on Remnant Scanner mission

- Fixed issue on H-047C where enemies could get stuck inside a rock, making them unkillable

- Fixed issue where player couldn’t hide Ryder’s helmet after completing Ark Natanus mission

- Fixed broken Nomad Shield Crafting mission

- Fixed health issues with Architect’s leg that prevented completion of the fight

- Frequency mission on Voeld is no longer blocked if player leaves the area after scanning the meteorite.

- Missing Science Crew mission no longer blocked if Ryder kills the Architect before finishing objectives

- Leaving the Nomad while falling out of bounds no longer results in infinite loading screen

- Fixed issue where Nomad jump control was not remapping

- Fixed issue where Cora slowly fell back to the ground after charging an airborne enemy

- Improved performance on Eos when approaching or fast travelling to Prodromos

- Loading auto-save will not block progress after kett encounter near Site 1 power relay station

- Eliminated player fall through on Tempest after loading autosaves in space

- Reduced the cost of Strike Team equipment and improved its effectiveness

- A default Ryder name can now carry over to New Game+

- PC – Fixed issue where dialogue choices would auto-select when using mouse and keyboard

- PC – Improvements to display when running at different resolutions

- PS4 – Fixed a crash that occurred when sitting in main menu for more than two minutes

- PS4 – Fixed crash that occurred when moving from multiplayer back to the main menu

Multiplayer

- Fixed issue where player would crouch repeatedly while interacting with device

- Player’s deceased character no longer falls through the floor after an Ascendant attack in the extraction zone on Firebase Icebreaker

- Improvements to reduce lag for players and hosts

[source]

Bold emphasis mine

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #video games #vetra nyx #spikywife

[felassan]

Now in the BioWare Store: Vetra Lithograph - $40

[pre-sale]

“Making deals to get the things you want, shooting at the things you don’t. That’s me.”

Surviving the rough world of smugglers and mercenaries requires street-smarts, adaptability and cunning, qualities that serve Vetra well in Andromeda. Her experiences have taught her the importance of having someone to watch your back, and she’ll do anything for the people she considers friends and family.

100lb coated acid free paper

Signed by Artist Ben Lo Senior Concept Artist of Mass Effect: Andromeda

Limited Edition 500

Hand Numbered

18x24"

Limited 2 per person

Offset Lithograph printing process

Second in a series of three lithographs as part of a triptych.

Ben Lo’s name appears in the digitally created image, and also appears on each of the limited editions as an original signature applied by the artist’s own hand.  Ben Lo has authorized this limited edition print and has approved all proofs and impressions.

The most stringent precautions have been undertaken to ensure the integrity of the limited editions specified herein. The master used in printing these limited editions prints has been destroyed after printing the edition; the computer file from which this edition was created has been watermarked with a mark indicating the edition has been closed. The artist reserves the right to use the image on this limited edition print in any other size, medium or in any other manner whatsoever, except that no other limited edition prints in any medium will be created.

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #video games #vetra nyx #bada #spikywife

[felassan]

bought me:a yesterday after putting it off for months. my pc is below minimum requirements & i felt like it was not the right way to enjoy a new me game. but... apparently, idgaf about high quality graphics or even matching lipsynch. enjoyed the hell out of my first hours of playing. so what i wanted to ask... do you have a bro!ryder? which companions and/or love interests did you enjoy the most? any fave outfits/armor/weapons?

hi! it’s awesome that you’ve gotten the game now and I’m happy that you’ve been enjoying it so much. my graphics card is a random weird one and it isn’t up to par really, but it bothered me a whole lot less than I thought it would when I was playing, so I feel u there. saved a lot of money not shelling out for a new one too.

ooh neat questions. ok - I tried one for a bit just to see, but I don’t have a bro!Ryder no, and even my Ryder’s brother is quite undeveloped in my headcanons tbh. I’ll get around to properly playing a bro!Ryder at some point.. eventually. Vetra and Jaal are the companions and the love interests that I enjoyed the most, by far. as characters I’m also fond of Drack, Gil and Liam. my favorite casual outfits are the jacket and the athletic. armor wise I favor the angaran armor designs and the Pathfinder ones. Scavenger too. weapons: falcon; asari sword and biotic amp; reegar and piranha. sidewinder’s cool. this is just for me dicking around in SP on easy difficulties mind you! 

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #video games #mj replies #roo ryder #anonymous #vetra nyx #jaal ama darav #spoilers #spoiler #mea spoilers #mea spoiler #andromeda spoilers #andromeda spoiler #mass effect: andromeda spoilers #mass effect: andromeda spoiler #mass effect andromeda spoiler #mass effect andromeda spoilers #spikywife

[felassan]

Different Anon; for me, Andromeda's character were a LOT more interesting than those in FIRST mass effect were, by a long shot. Kaidan felt a bit boring, Ashley was more interesting, but felt like a one trick pony. Garus and Tali had their moment but they didnt shine till ME2, Liara was great IF you romanced her. Otherwise she was just a spacebabe with attachment issues. I never even bothered playing Wrex. (cont.)

[continued] Andromeda on the other hand…. I’d give my life for Vetra and her sister in a heartbeat. Bring Drak with Vetra as your squad and its a road trip party. While I had issues with some of PeeBee’s stuff, she’s also the character that made me laugh the most and I related really hard with the stuff going on with Kalinda and understood her perfectly. Liam was the best bro that has ever bro’d. Suvi’s mix of religion and science was amazing and love how cora dealt with her issues at being passed over. 

hello! I can see that. it ties into part of the OT’s advantage which is that having three games worth of time/resources in which to develop some of the characters over will naturally go some way to contributing to the feeling of them having more depth and being more interesting. comparing to ME1 on its own, it certainly felt like I had more time spent in conversations with our squad and shipmates in MEA. I think that’s surely reflected in the higher word budget/voice line counts that they said andromeda has,compared to ME1. kaidan is done a disservice being written as bland in a few places because he’s a lot more than that and elsewhere in his writing it shows, tali in particular in ME1 suffered at times just seeming like a walking quarian wikipedia. I think the OT has a bigger problem with the “if you don’t romance this character you miss out on some important interesting development for them and content just stops” issue, especially in the earlier games.same time, I still prefer ME1′s cast for the squad roster over MEA’s. the ‘why’ of that for me is multi-factorial and not just because of nostalgia and the three-games thing. but I think that veers into a topic for another post or day..In an event I don’t think the MEA chars lack depth, but not everyone is going to come away from a game’s cast with the same opinion.

I always enjoy when Ash, as an example, tells shepard what she thinks of having a multi-species crew, discussing god with her. aspects of that sort of thing seem brought forward and expanded on in some interactions in MEA. when I was talking to Suvi about her beliefs, I wondered what Ash would think of them and what she’d have to say if she was part of the discussion. pre-launch and before we knew much of anything about Drack I worried he’d be “Wrex, but old”, but the worry was unfounded, he has his own distinct personality, background and arc. Shepard and Garrus mentor/mentee dynamic in ME1 was always really important for me too.

other than ‘different strokes for different folks’ I think the difference in opinion you can see in people is also due in part to the different nature of the two games. they tell two different types of stories. one is of an established soldier and it’s a fairly classic hero-tale. the other is more personal, almost in a coming of age kind of way. reckon that the kind of story people prefer and come looking for can impact their takeaway feeling of the game. reckon as well that if MEA had been a bit more refined in the writing, general polish etc it would have gone over better for some of the folk who didn’t like the plot/writing/characters too.

this turned into a meander and I’m not really sure what my point is. I love the OT, and love ME1, and quite liked ME:A. I really enjoy reading peoples’ thoughts and opinions on stuff like this, like characters, so feel free.

[msg refs this post and this post]

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #mj replies #anonymous #video games #spoilers #spoiler #mass effect: andromeda spoilers #mass effect andromeda spoilers #mea spoilers #mea spoiler #mass effect: andromeda spoiler #mass effect andromeda spoiler #andromeda spoilers #andromeda spoiler #garrus vakarian #best boy #vetra nyx #spikywife

[felassan]

squad goals [x]

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #jaal ama darav #vetra nyx #bada #feels #video games #spikywife

[felassan]

Have you noticed there's more improvement to default Sara? I want to say they've given her makeup and her hair is a bit darker but I don't know if it's my imagination.

they’ve definitely changed her makeup. it seems more.. saturated? a comparison album was posted here from reddit. it sure looks like they made her hair a bit darker too looking at those images. feels like her face itself has been tweaked but I’m not sure if it’s just the effect of the makeup and hair change or not.

among other ‘hidden’ changes from 1.06, Vetra got a casual outfit for her romance scene (yeyy!!), they adjusted the specular on hair, and it seems like turian eyelids have been fixed.

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #vetra nyx #wooden-pallets #video games #mj replies #spikywife

[felassan]

Do you know who the writers for each character in ME:A are?

from a previous post I made, here’s the ones I’m aware of, which = the squadmates, organic Tempest crewmembers, and Reyes:

Vetra - Sheryl Chee [x] 

Jaal - Cathleen Rootsaert [x]

Drack - The bulk of Drack’s character (including his war stories) was written by Ann Lemay. Multiple writers worked on him however [x] 

Liam - Luke/Lukas Kristjanson [x] 

Cora - Jo/Joanna Berry [x]

Peebee - Neil Pollner [x] 

Gil - Neil Pollner [x]

Suvi - Sheryl Chee [x] 

Kallo - Jo/Joanna Berry [x] 

Lexi - Courtney Woods [x] 

Reyes - Courtney Woods [x]

#bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #mj replies #anonymous #video games #vetra nyx #jaal ama darav #spikywife