@AndrewFoley, I assume there were no exploding computers?
Not in the literal sense. Figuratively? The Hexxat character/story/response blew up in ways I hadn't anticipated. I'm going to be processing that one for some time, I think.
@AndrewFoley, I assume there were no exploding computers?
Not in the literal sense. Figuratively? The Hexxat character/story/response blew up in ways I hadn't anticipated. I'm going to be processing that one for some time, I think.
What section of bg2:ee did you most enjoy writing/were most pleased with?
Dorn was easily the most fun to write, which probably says more about my mindset than I'd be comfortable considering at any length.
I'm personally happiest with Hexxat's story, for a variety of reasons. I think a big one is that she was new; I didn't contribute much (if anything) to the plot or her background, but I wasn't beholden to previous writers' work on the character and so had a greater freedom in developing her voice. Also, I got to tell her story beginning to end, rather than, uh, middle to end, as was the case with Dorn and Rasaad. I suppose it's only natural I'd feel a deeper connection to her because of that.
I haven't personally gotten any death threats yet, or accusations of destroying someone's childhood, which is more than I can say for many of my game-writing colleagues. I don't know if I should consider that a good or bad thing, but I'm leaning towards good. I had Baldur's Gate 2 in my hands and managed not to ruin it for the majority of players.
There's been a couple of surprises, but overall I feel *pretty* good about the response to the new NPCs.
In broad strokes, I don't want to sound flip, but I'm happy when people say they enjoyed Rasaad, Dorn, and/or Hexxat's stories, even though I didn't plot those stories (I didn't have much of a hand in Neera's story at all -- the outline was written by Dave Gross and Philip Daigle and the dialogue by the folks at Ossian Studios). I'm happier still when they single out something I feel responsible for as something they enjoyed, a line of dialogue or some twist I managed to fit into the pre-existing framework, say.
By the same token, I'm generally disappointed to hear that people haven't enjoyed something I had a hand in. Even when they're disappointed by things that were either out of my control or that I knew in advance were bound to disappoint a certain number of people, it's upsetting to me, because there's a pathetic needy geek inside me who just desperately wants everyone to love what I do.
I know that's never going to happen and when it doesn't, the people who like something the least will come here and express their displeasure in great length. If I was a stronger person, I'd avoid this place (with the exception of this thread), but I'm not. If someone liked something, I want to know it. If they didn't, I want to know that too, and know why. You learn as much or more from what didn't work as what did, though I'd rather not fall on my face on a stage as big as Baldur's Gate.
You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. I'm still coming to terms with that last bit; at this point it's looking like that'll be a lifelong struggle. But this time around, I feel like I've pleased enough of the people enough of the time to justify my being allowed to do what I do. I can't really askl for more than that, though I continue to hope for it.
This post is already ridiculously long, so I'll answer your other question in another post later.
wow thanks for the in depth reply much more then I was expecting. I appreciate that you took the time to wright it. I can imagine the forums could probably be pretty harrowing experience at times.
honestly no one expects you to please everyone all the time, all anyone asks is that you please them all the time
do you feel extra pressure when your writing new content for such a well regarded game?
There is extra pressure writing for Baldur's Gate, but maybe not as much as you'd think, and perhaps not for the reasons one might guess.
For me (for most writers, probably) it doesn't matter if I'm working on comics, movies, videogames, tweets, the goal is always the same: I want to write the absolute best thing I can, something that accomplishes whatever I wanted it to when I started working on it. That's obviously an easier bar to clear for a tweet than a videogame, but the desire to make something I'm happy with is always there...
...Until someone decides to pay me to write something. Then I'm serving two masters: I want to write the best thing I can and also something the boss also likes.
If for some reason I have to choose, well, I have a family and bills to pay, so I'd rather the boss be happy than me. This is where I'd frequently get into a discussion about Art and Craft, but I can already tell this post is going to go long so I'll spare you that.
When push has come to shove, I've generally been able to find a way to satisfy both my employer and myself. I consider myself a lucky guy more than a successful writer, but if I was to start tossing advice around about what it takes to be a professional writer in a medium other than self-originated novels, keeping an open mind and retaining a willingness to collaborate would rank pretty highly. TV, movies, comics, videogames... in all these media, when you're starting out and probably for a good while afterwards, there's going to be someone above you in the hierarchy who you'll have to keep happy. People who can do that without causing a lot of fuss are the people the higher-ups are going to want to work with again. That's not to say you just blindly accept every half-baked idea that comes your way from an editor or producer or whatever -- but you need to know how to pick your fights, and to be graceful when you don't win them.
When you take an assignment, you're frequently taking on not just someone you have to answer to, but also a deadline. So at that point, the pressure is to make the best thing I can, that makes both me and the boss happy, inside the time I've got.
When you take an assignment in a given medium, you're generally going to find yourself constrained in some way by the medium itself. Comics aren't film, film isn't videogames, videogames aren't novels. Each one can do things the others can't. Learning to write without thinking in terms of varying points-of-view, juxtaposed imagery, and other techniques commonly used in film and comics is probably the single hardest leap I had to make when it came to writing on BG2EE. So now the pressure is to make the best possible use of the medium, make the boss and me happy, inside the time allotted.
And if that wasn't enough, I'm dealing with mostly pre-existing characters in a decades-old setting with devoted fanbase. That has its pluses and its minuses.
The second hardest thing I as a writer have experienced is finding an audience. The times I have gotten eyes on something I was doing, either the project fell through before it was completed (JEREMIAH: THE LAST EMPIRE), or the project was hopelessly compromised by factors beyond my control and I would've been just as happy or happier to have it go unnoticed (COWBOYS & ALIENS) (the comic, not the movie. I had nothing to do with the movie, other than co-writing the comic that "inspired" it) ("Inspired" means they used the title.) I've written three comics that were completed that I'm extremely proud of: PARTING WAYS, DONE TO DEATH, and THE HOLIDAY MEN. None are currently available through traditional distribution outlets. I still believe there's an audience out there that would love those books, but I was never able to reach them.
So when someone comes along with a Baldur's Gate, a project where, whatever you do, at least you know there's going to be some people looking at it, experiencing it, enjoying or not enjoying it, reviewing it, *whatever*... well, that's a huge gift to someone who's largely toiled in obscurity. I don't want to fall on my face on a stage as big as Baldur's Gate, but I'd rather do that than never even have a *chance* to fall on my face on a stage that big, you know?
So that's the good side. The flip side of that is that Baldur's Gate existed before I got involved with it. I have to work inside an established framework, with characters that I didn't create. I'm pretty happy with what I did on BG2EE (dialogue for the bulk of Hexxat, Rasaad, and Dorn, and a good portion of the plot for the backstage elements of The Black Pits 2.) I think/hope I did OK working inside the inherent limitations of the isometric videogame with the time I had. But more than that, I think I did OK writing something that fits reasonably well as an addition to Baldur's Gate.
It's unlikely that a game that isn't well-regarded would receive the kind of remastering BG1 and 2 have. But if they did and I was hired to write for them, the pressure I'd feel would be the same I felt coming on to BG2EE. I didn't just have to make something I and the boss and hopefully the fans like; the challenge was to make something that would do all that and also fit into the tapestry of Baldur's Gate. In this instance, the greatest compliment I can receive actually isn't that someone liked what I wrote (although that's something I can never hear enough), it's that the new material fit in with the older stuff to the point that someone coming to the game for the first time wouldn't be able to tell which was which.
***
Wow. It's been a long time since I gazed *that* deep into my own navel. Sorry for the rambling, folks. I'll try to get back to goofy comments about, I don't know, socks or something, next time around.
COMPLETELY unrelated, but how was working with Fred Van Lente?
I really wish I could tell you.
Because comics don't have the sort of crediting system in place movies and television do, there's no way for people to know this from reading the book, but what happened was that Fred wrote a version and then I was hired to rework it. I've often said Fred wrote an entertaining, funny script and I got hired to make it less entertaining and funny; I wish I was joking but that's actually a fairly accurate description of the job I was given. Basically, the idea at the time was that the reason the movie wasn't getting made was because Wild Wild West was a bomb and, Hollywood being Hollywood, the lesson learned was that a light-hearted sci-fi western wouldn't sell, so I was hired to revise the script to emphasize the adventure and action and downplay the comedy. It was a job, and Fred forgave me, for which I'm very grateful.
I've only ever talked directly to Fred once in my life, during an interview we did before the movie came out (nothing happened with it, as far as I know -- I suspect the interviewer thought we were more involved with the film than was actually the case) (as I understand it, even the "creator" of the book didn't really have any influence over or participation in the film). We've exchanged e-mails on occasion, and he's always been as charming and witty as you'd expect, but like I said, I've never had the privilege to actually work alongside him or even engage him in conversation for any extended period of time.
Thanks for the response! I was a big fan of his work on Action Philsophers and with Marvel on Hercules.
I look forward to checking out some of your comic work as well after playing the game. You mentioned that much of it was not available in retail. Where would I be able to purchase some? I don't want to download it illegally
You mentioned that much of it was not available in retail. Where would I be able to purchase some? I don't want to download it illegally
There's nothing at Diamond Comics, which distributes to North America's comic book retailers, but it looks like Amazon's got a few copies of DONE TO DEATH:
Phil had them made and gave them out as gifts at the Beamdog Christmas party last night. I got Hexxat, head sound designer Nathan got Baeloth, Trent got Dorn, Phil took Rasaad. Not sure who got Neera.
That Baeloth is awesome. I like the Dorn one and Rasaads tatoo. Neera looks like the courtesan from the Bridge District going through a Goth phase in high school
That looks nothing like Wilson. It's just a regular bear. Are you implying all bears look the same to you, you bear racist?
Paaaaaint hiiiim!!!!!! No, I am not racist. I only tend to kill racist people but just that do not matters. And bears tend to look the same, exept for IDK how many millions things starting with their genes and finishing with cheese.
Why do we have so many necromancers in this forum? I'm really surprised we're not fighting a horde of undead by now...
Well, a thread-necromancy is the way to see some old threads for newbies and for those who at that time for one reason or another missed those threads. It's a useful thing especially if the threads of old are good. And this one is excellent. For i.e., I somehow missed this thread completely in the past and now has been able to read @AndrewFoley 's answers only now. Better late than never
I often summon old threads in order new forum members not only see them but post their opinions. An interesting subject sometimes needs some time to be actual again xD
Comments
I'm personally happiest with Hexxat's story, for a variety of reasons. I think a big one is that she was new; I didn't contribute much (if anything) to the plot or her background, but I wasn't beholden to previous writers' work on the character and so had a greater freedom in developing her voice. Also, I got to tell her story beginning to end, rather than, uh, middle to end, as was the case with Dorn and Rasaad. I suppose it's only natural I'd feel a deeper connection to her because of that.
do you feel extra pressure when your writing new content for such a well regarded game?
I'm only "LadyRhianwriter" there because there were already a few LadyRhians on the site, but none of them were also writers.
And my real email address is LadyRhianataol.com.
There's been a couple of surprises, but overall I feel *pretty* good about the response to the new NPCs.
In broad strokes, I don't want to sound flip, but I'm happy when people say they enjoyed Rasaad, Dorn, and/or Hexxat's stories, even though I didn't plot those stories (I didn't have much of a hand in Neera's story at all -- the outline was written by Dave Gross and Philip Daigle and the dialogue by the folks at Ossian Studios). I'm happier still when they single out something I feel responsible for as something they enjoyed, a line of dialogue or some twist I managed to fit into the pre-existing framework, say.
By the same token, I'm generally disappointed to hear that people haven't enjoyed something I had a hand in. Even when they're disappointed by things that were either out of my control or that I knew in advance were bound to disappoint a certain number of people, it's upsetting to me, because there's a pathetic needy geek inside me who just desperately wants everyone to love what I do.
I know that's never going to happen and when it doesn't, the people who like something the least will come here and express their displeasure in great length. If I was a stronger person, I'd avoid this place (with the exception of this thread), but I'm not. If someone liked something, I want to know it. If they didn't, I want to know that too, and know why. You learn as much or more from what didn't work as what did, though I'd rather not fall on my face on a stage as big as Baldur's Gate.
You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. I'm still coming to terms with that last bit; at this point it's looking like that'll be a lifelong struggle. But this time around, I feel like I've pleased enough of the people enough of the time to justify my being allowed to do what I do. I can't really askl for more than that, though I continue to hope for it.
This post is already ridiculously long, so I'll answer your other question in another post later.
honestly no one expects you to please everyone all the time, all anyone asks is that you please them all the time
For me (for most writers, probably) it doesn't matter if I'm working on comics, movies, videogames, tweets, the goal is always the same: I want to write the absolute best thing I can, something that accomplishes whatever I wanted it to when I started working on it. That's obviously an easier bar to clear for a tweet than a videogame, but the desire to make something I'm happy with is always there...
...Until someone decides to pay me to write something. Then I'm serving two masters: I want to write the best thing I can and also something the boss also likes.
If for some reason I have to choose, well, I have a family and bills to pay, so I'd rather the boss be happy than me. This is where I'd frequently get into a discussion about Art and Craft, but I can already tell this post is going to go long so I'll spare you that.
When push has come to shove, I've generally been able to find a way to satisfy both my employer and myself. I consider myself a lucky guy more than a successful writer, but if I was to start tossing advice around about what it takes to be a professional writer in a medium other than self-originated novels, keeping an open mind and retaining a willingness to collaborate would rank pretty highly. TV, movies, comics, videogames... in all these media, when you're starting out and probably for a good while afterwards, there's going to be someone above you in the hierarchy who you'll have to keep happy. People who can do that without causing a lot of fuss are the people the higher-ups are going to want to work with again. That's not to say you just blindly accept every half-baked idea that comes your way from an editor or producer or whatever -- but you need to know how to pick your fights, and to be graceful when you don't win them.
When you take an assignment, you're frequently taking on not just someone you have to answer to, but also a deadline. So at that point, the pressure is to make the best thing I can, that makes both me and the boss happy, inside the time I've got.
When you take an assignment in a given medium, you're generally going to find yourself constrained in some way by the medium itself. Comics aren't film, film isn't videogames, videogames aren't novels. Each one can do things the others can't. Learning to write without thinking in terms of varying points-of-view, juxtaposed imagery, and other techniques commonly used in film and comics is probably the single hardest leap I had to make when it came to writing on BG2EE. So now the pressure is to make the best possible use of the medium, make the boss and me happy, inside the time allotted.
And if that wasn't enough, I'm dealing with mostly pre-existing characters in a decades-old setting with devoted fanbase. That has its pluses and its minuses.
The second hardest thing I as a writer have experienced is finding an audience. The times I have gotten eyes on something I was doing, either the project fell through before it was completed (JEREMIAH: THE LAST EMPIRE), or the project was hopelessly compromised by factors beyond my control and I would've been just as happy or happier to have it go unnoticed (COWBOYS & ALIENS) (the comic, not the movie. I had nothing to do with the movie, other than co-writing the comic that "inspired" it) ("Inspired" means they used the title.) I've written three comics that were completed that I'm extremely proud of: PARTING WAYS, DONE TO DEATH, and THE HOLIDAY MEN. None are currently available through traditional distribution outlets. I still believe there's an audience out there that would love those books, but I was never able to reach them.
So when someone comes along with a Baldur's Gate, a project where, whatever you do, at least you know there's going to be some people looking at it, experiencing it, enjoying or not enjoying it, reviewing it, *whatever*... well, that's a huge gift to someone who's largely toiled in obscurity. I don't want to fall on my face on a stage as big as Baldur's Gate, but I'd rather do that than never even have a *chance* to fall on my face on a stage that big, you know?
So that's the good side. The flip side of that is that Baldur's Gate existed before I got involved with it. I have to work inside an established framework, with characters that I didn't create. I'm pretty happy with what I did on BG2EE (dialogue for the bulk of Hexxat, Rasaad, and Dorn, and a good portion of the plot for the backstage elements of The Black Pits 2.) I think/hope I did OK working inside the inherent limitations of the isometric videogame with the time I had. But more than that, I think I did OK writing something that fits reasonably well as an addition to Baldur's Gate.
It's unlikely that a game that isn't well-regarded would receive the kind of remastering BG1 and 2 have. But if they did and I was hired to write for them, the pressure I'd feel would be the same I felt coming on to BG2EE. I didn't just have to make something I and the boss and hopefully the fans like; the challenge was to make something that would do all that and also fit into the tapestry of Baldur's Gate. In this instance, the greatest compliment I can receive actually isn't that someone liked what I wrote (although that's something I can never hear enough), it's that the new material fit in with the older stuff to the point that someone coming to the game for the first time wouldn't be able to tell which was which.
***
Wow. It's been a long time since I gazed *that* deep into my own navel. Sorry for the rambling, folks. I'll try to get back to goofy comments about, I don't know, socks or something, next time around.
Because comics don't have the sort of crediting system in place movies and television do, there's no way for people to know this from reading the book, but what happened was that Fred wrote a version and then I was hired to rework it. I've often said Fred wrote an entertaining, funny script and I got hired to make it less entertaining and funny; I wish I was joking but that's actually a fairly accurate description of the job I was given. Basically, the idea at the time was that the reason the movie wasn't getting made was because Wild Wild West was a bomb and, Hollywood being Hollywood, the lesson learned was that a light-hearted sci-fi western wouldn't sell, so I was hired to revise the script to emphasize the adventure and action and downplay the comedy. It was a job, and Fred forgave me, for which I'm very grateful.
I've only ever talked directly to Fred once in my life, during an interview we did before the movie came out (nothing happened with it, as far as I know -- I suspect the interviewer thought we were more involved with the film than was actually the case) (as I understand it, even the "creator" of the book didn't really have any influence over or participation in the film). We've exchanged e-mails on occasion, and he's always been as charming and witty as you'd expect, but like I said, I've never had the privilege to actually work alongside him or even engage him in conversation for any extended period of time.
I look forward to checking out some of your comic work as well after playing the game. You mentioned that much of it was not available in retail. Where would I be able to purchase some? I don't want to download it illegally
http://www.amazon.com/Done-Death-Andrew-Foley/dp/1613770553/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386648399&sr=1-7&keywords=Andrew+Foley
There's also a kindle version of PARTING WAYS there, which is... odd. I'll have to talk to someone about that.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bb0uh8zIIAEoNST.jpg:large
Phil had them made and gave them out as gifts at the Beamdog Christmas party last night. I got Hexxat, head sound designer Nathan got Baeloth, Trent got Dorn, Phil took Rasaad. Not sure who got Neera.
Neera looks like the courtesan from the Bridge District going through a Goth phase in high school
And congrats to @PhillipDaigle for giving awesome gifts!!
That looks nothing like Wilson. It's just a regular bear. Are you implying all bears look the same to you, you bear racist?
And bears tend to look the same, exept for IDK how many millions things starting with their genes and finishing with cheese.
I often summon old threads in order new forum members not only see them but post their opinions. An interesting subject sometimes needs some time to be actual again xD