Guild Chat - Episode 100

The following is an unofficial, player-written transcript of the episode. The accuracy of this transcription has not been verified by ArenaNet.
The 100th episode of Guild Chat aired on May 29, 2020.
Transcription[edit]

Introductions (6:20)[edit]

Rubi Bayer: Hi Tyria! Happy Friday and welcome to Guild Chat! I'm your host Rubi and this is our 100th episode of Guild Chat. Um, we are super excited about that. It's not really what I envisioned for our 100th episode, but as we [static] make it work, thanks to all of you for sticking with us for a 100 episodes, thanks to all of the dev guests who have come on for a 100 episodes and huge thanks to Mark for making this happen behind the scenes and making it so we can bring this to you from home. Um. So, speaking of making things work - we released episode 3 of the Icebrood Saga this week and we are gonna talk with a lot of the dev guests who made this happen today. So, why don't we get started, with our three. Why don't you guys introduce yourselves and talk about what you worked on for No Quarter? And since we're not in the same room and we've already – cough – experienced bumping into each other... Kirk, you go first, then Tom, then Novera. [laughs]
Kirk Williford: Alright, hey everyone I'm Kirk Williford, I'm a senior game designer at ArenaNet and I was team lead for No Quarter.
Tom Abernathy: I'm Tom Abernathy, I'm Studio narrative director and franchise narrative director for, Guild Wars 2 and, I watched Novera and the other writers do amazing things.
[Rubi and Novera laugh]
Novera King: Hi, uh -
Rubi: That sounds incredibly creepy!
[all laugh]
Tom: Well I mean, they knew it. They knew I was there, it wasn't like I was eavesdropping.
Novera: It's getting.. it's getting weirder. Um. [laughing] I'm Novera King, I'm a senior narrative, designer at ArenaNet and, narrative lead over living world and, I was the head writer on No Quarter.
No Quarter (6:20)[edit]

Rubi: Alright. So, first of all, congratulations all three of you for getting this out the door. I know we had a special set of challenges or ten. So, do you guys.. do we want to start there, with what were some of the biggest challenges in working on this episode. Obviously creating and shipping it from home. And now you guys run free and talk over each other.
[all laugh]
Novera: You know -
Kirk: Novera -
Novera: I was actually thinking about this a little bit, Kirk because.. I think that, you know, working from home has become... the big thing in the forefronts of our mind. But, we had done so much work on this episode before the pandemic hit, um, that, you know, it's.. it's easy to say that, like, the biggest issues were, you know, wrapping up the scripts and doing table reads from home and then, like, doing all of our playthroughs and how we're gonna ship with no VO, and... you know, trying to coordinate our collaboration in a whole new manner so far from each other, and I feel like that's probably made all of any other challenges, like, quiet down, but I'm sure there were other challenges, Kirk, what were they?
[Kirk and Tom laugh]
Kirk: Yeah there was quite a few and, you know, the start of No Quarter was a lot different than some of our other episodes, our content releases. Novera and I from... spent many many hours in a room trying to figure out exactly what we wanted to do with this episode, both narrative and design wise. You know, there's a lot of.. a lot of challenges that were coming around based on some, you know, trying to iterate on previous designs and what have you and where we wanted to take the story and just being able to do that was interesting and a little different. Trying to do it, you know, in... in a time that we were given, you know. And then obviously then the big one was when that call got made of “Hey, we're, uhh, we're gonna try and work from home.”, you know. And
Novera: Right...
Kirk: I remember it all happened so fast and it's like what.. what do we do? [laughs] How, how
Novera: I feel like we just -
Kirk: - are we gonna make this work, you know.
Novera: Right? And I feel like we just kept rolling though, that was it, I think.
Kirk: Yeah.
Novera: It's a testament to the, the team that put this episode together and, I mean, I've gotta say that like, having Kirk as a partner on the design side, like, it made it so much easier than it would have been. You know, like, I think by the time pandemic hit we had sort of hit this, like, psychic connection. Kirk and I had built a little bit, so that it made it a little bit easier, um, in terms of rolling into it. But, uh, this whole episode, I think we approached it very differently -
Kirk: Finishing each other sentences.
Novela: Yeah, you know, that kinda thing.
[Rubi laughs]
Novera: Um. This episode we had.. we approached it in a very different way. Because we were telling this Charr civil war we knew we had.. it was a different type of content and a different feel that we wanted to give, the story than we had done in the previous episodes of Icebrood Saga. And I think that part of that players are experiencing that a little bit and might not be realizing what that is, you know, how much story is actually told in... through the meta, through the open world events that are happening. Like, we didn't have as much separation between golden path story and the rest of the episode as we might have in previous episodes. So that was new and challenging, how to approach that and how to make it feel cohesive, but also let each piece still stand on its own a little bit, if that makes sense. So it's... it was a little bit of a new experiment I feel like.
Kirk: Yeah it was definitely different because, oh I'm sorry, go for it.
Tom: I was just going to say, that's the thing that, that, that you guys started in the prologue episode I think in bound by blood and it was remarkably effective, I thought, in terms of building mood and intention and all that kind of stuff and yeah you run with that ball farther in this one but I think that I think the whole.. during the icebrood saga, Novera and the designers and other writers have been sort of exploring this kind of idea of doing storytelling in the meta and in the open-world as much as on the Golden Path, so that the entire world is telling the story and you know you're getting a sense of everything but it's less linear in some ways and more just sort of the thing that accrues.
Note: The text below hasn't yet been converted from raw subtitle text into pretty print like above.https://youtu.be/Ldc6YxTVw5k?t=772
  yeah for sure
something that was different about this
episode compared to you know at least
the last couple you know is this this
was essentially an extension of what we
started seeing amongst the char in in
bound by blood right whereas you know we
took a little bit of a detour away from
some of them the more nor and or Meg
focus story bits you know and
transitions back into what what has
Bhangarh been up to you know what has
his force has been doing since we've
really seen him last being trying to
figure how to make that work and tell
those stories in context of a a map wide
meta you know which we haven't done in a
while you know so it's just different
challenges and trying to find a way to
make that feel cohesive and tell a you
know a fluid story while maintaining you
know the key beats that we do in in
story instances and you know our
cinematic and things like that it's also
super dark right I mean like like when I
saw the the first version of the script
and and you know the first thing that
happens in it is is that you watch motor
executes deserted and and it gets darker
from there I mean like you know so I I
loved it like right out of the box it
says things have gotten very bad you
have no idea how bad bad they've gotten
right yeah and you're about to find out
that's right the other thing I want to
toss in talk just speaking to the
original question was obviously we had
mocap for the cinematic right we were
that is a thing that had been done with
Maddox about an episode ahead of time so
we had the the cinematics team had done
the mocap before we all got sent home
but we didn't have vo for anything
except an early version of the cinematic
and so when it became clear that we
weren't going to be able to record the
actors because of the lockdown in Los
Angeles we had to think about what that
meant and what the
thing to do moving forward was and lots
of reasons but particularly given our
cadence and the fact that we don't want
to miss uh you know giving our players
content when they've come to expect it
we made a very difficult decision to
obviously to release this episode
without voiceover but since we had an
early version of the cinematic already
in the can from the previous episodes
recording we realized that we did have
that that last line that that Ryland
says in the cinematic when he when he
says I trusted you we had that for me
kamati and so so we thought well that
would be cool if we drop that in and
otherwise you know an episode that
otherwise doesn't have video it's sort
of like Marcel Marceau saying the only
line of dialogue in silent movie Mel
Brooks's film right
but I loved that was really effective
and I love that we're able to do that
yeah go ahead no fair go ahead I was I
was gonna say um what made me happy
about the fact that we could use that
line is that not just that we had a line
recorded from ek as Ryland but that that
line carried so much emotional character
content that and it kind of summed up a
lot of dynamics from the episode that
sort of Civil War you know family like
relationships on opposite side and all
that that using it there just felt it
just makes me really happy it makes me
really really happy that we were able to
I think if somebody said to us you get
one line just one you can pick it mm-hmm
which one that would be the line we
would have chosen yeah yeah I remember I
remember when that started getting more
finalized that cinematic we were you
know I would get messages people only
are you do you know that there's there's
still view and that last part of the
cinematic yeah you know cuz the everyone
was under the assumption that the entire
episode shipping you it was like yes
you know in fact and everyone is just
like man I hope we're not removing that
it works so well it's very you know
goosebumps every single time and even to
to you know
launch day when I ran through it you
know it just it hurts
yeah it does and giant props to the
cinematic team Chelsea and he asked
everybody who worked on either the
performances the facial performances
that those guys get out of char right it
blows my mind to look between Krisha
after she's put the shield up between
her and Ryland is just is as emotionally
impactful as anything you would ever see
in live action and it's amazing work
that they do they really did an amazing
I think it's interesting it some things
about the way that we have shipped this
episode has just drawn back the curtain
on our process to players even if they
don't really realize the fact that we
usually are beginning the cinematics
process on an episode during the episode
the previous episodes Bo recording right
so we have to we use the cinematic is
usually the first thing we write in an
episode no matter where that's animatic
Carlos in the episode right that we that
that's that's a huge part of the process
but also on the voice acting side that
that everything in a games in an episode
of living world is collaborative like
there is no one to plant that is the
only one roof that are the only artists
that touch that piece right so and I say
that to say that what we write on the
page script wise we there's another set
of artists the vo artists are going to
step in and they're going to add
something and and the flavor that they
give and the way that they bring their
characters so like we expect but our
words are going to evolve way through
their voice acting through the direction
through the performances and that's
something that I think when we finally
do have EO and we release is going
people are really
to see that oh it's still a
collaboration it's still it's not like
we writers write something and it's like
that's it I'm out I'm done you do me
like ask you know I mean like it's
perfect and sometimes there's a lot of
things that we write that'll be really
like the line itself on the page is very
simplistic and there's a reason for that
because the nuance will be added by the
actor right and like we want to leave
room for that and then space for that so
it's interesting to see you know how
people are sort of reacting to that that
portion yeah I think it's really true
because we more than from games we go
hey a lot of tension
the subtext right rather like we put as
much focus into subtext as we do into
text and that's I think somewhat unusual
in in this medium and so without the
actor sort of supplying it if you're
just reading the line you may not
necessarily get it also will be fun to
see that see if people perceive certain
things differently once once their voice
yeah I wish that we could have put it
like little like within the line like a
little asterisk someplace it's like
here's the parenthetical of emotion we
would give you know we would tell the
actor this is said with derision and
then the actor would decide what what
sounds the most derisive to that right
so there's that side well that's part of
it um know that you're you're fine this
is this is the world we are in for these
right we talked a little bit about
nuance and the actor delivering that and
the amount of takes that a lot of these
lines get like no Vera said it's not
just right the line ship it to the actor
and they do it can you talk a little bit
about the extreme back-and-forth for so
many of these lines when they're getting
recorded and the care put into that sure
yeah so some people know I started out
many years ago more than I'm going to
say as an actor director and and getting
to work with actors in the process of
making our content is one of the parts
of our job that I love the most just
because it reconnects me with that very
long ago those very long though
experience
and I've occasionally directed some of
our sessions most the time they're
directed by a guy named Chris paella
who's terrific and but but where we're
always in the room or usually in the
room you know sort of helping to make
sure that both the director and the
actor have sort of the full sense of
context for each line Chris is a
longtime Guild Wars 2 fan so he knows
our IP and now which is very helpful in
recording sessions and you know the
actors to become because of the nature
of our content the fact that we put out
releases with voiced content every
couple of months um you know we
basically have like a sort of repertory
company of actors because they're all
well you know many of them are coming in
you know on a regular basis Morrison and
that's why they also frequently the they
will do other NPC voices for us just
because they're there and we can have
them do that other than the PC actors
you know a lot of our actors do do that
but they're also so we have an advantage
that that the majority of them really
know their characters well the things I
have learned from Steve Blum frankly
about Whitlock would take me half an
hour to talk about and and they get they
get material ahead of time and and study
it which is also unusual in our medium
and and I'm grateful to them that they
they appreciate the material to that
extent that they want to really look at
it and be prepared when they come in we
frequently will show them the cinematics
in in whatever current form they are
which is often raw but can be very
helpful I remember when we were when we
were doing I guess it was whisper in the
dark that has the the cinematic with the
frame here I think right and yeah yes
yeah we had Deborah Wilson come in first
and du jour mag and then Fred town
ashore came in to do the fray near and
he endeavor very good friends and so he
was really excited
the idea that he was gonna have to
listen to her delivery and sort of match
her rhythms and and all that kind of
stuff and you know if you obviously if
you if you played it if you've seen it
it's really spooky and and effective but
you know the our actors are so good that
a lot of times they you know they'll
give us what we need in no more than
four or five tanks at most when you're
really into meaty stuff though there is
it starts becoming a little more of a
process of no very made reference to our
parentheticals in the scripts which is
basically for people who don't know
anything about screenwriting it's it's
just a parenthetical is a direction
basically in in parentheses below the
character's name and above the lines of
dialogue and we on our team have a very
specific approach to parentheticals we
don't use adjectives generally because
we'd only be prescriptive to the actor
in that way but what we will do
frequently is give subtext so for
example if you had somebody you know you
have a character saying go to your room
at the parenthetical or sorry let me
switch that around now a character
saying I'm done here and parenthetical
might say go to your room and so that
that just gives me actor a kind of sense
of the flavor that we want out of it but
we will do you know with important
dialogue with important scenes we will
spend a good bit of time really working
it sometimes Chris or I will actually
act the other characters with the actors
so that they have something to sort of
react to because you know what you want
when out of an actor out of multiple
actors is energy being thrown around
like a ball and so I've found that
really enjoy and it improves what we get
out of them if Chris or I is thrown that
ball of energy back and forth with them
and reading the other side of the scene
and all the kind of stuff they are all
so good and so talented and and so never
fail to come away as the Varys
you know with colors and dimensions and
and hidden you know nuances that we
never anticipated as writers I mean
Italy is a multi-stage process and a
script is just a blueprint um
the work of everybody else does to sort
of bring that to life is like I said for
me it's one of the absolute best parts
of what we do and it never fails to just
put a giant smile on my face and that's
so cool
thank you for diving into that a little
bit if we can before I have I have
another couple of questions that I want
to ask you guys but if we can look back
up a little bit and talk about telling
the story within the map um a lot of
this might be for you Kirk but the thing
that I was thinking about you you were
talking about this open world map wide
storytelling and I will talk to you in a
little while we're having just an
unrelated conversation the other day and
we were talking about the the how far
we've come and the extent to which we've
gone from hey we have we're able to put
like this little bit of story into the
open world - now we're here in May of
2020 and we're telling we're continuing
this whole story through the open world
and bringing it map wide what's that
process and like I mean what what were
some of the big successes in bringing it
this big so Kirk's just like I'm
overwhelmed it's all it's a lot of stuff
I think in the pro in in bound by blood
Eric who will be joining us later made
some new tech that we call an impostor
tech and in that in that episode it was
used for when you are following Bram
around the jail and essentially it looks
like Bram to you it does not look like
brand other people and that is used here
as well and in no quarter in the case
where that when RIT lock is following
you that is something up until recently
was
anyone floated that idea and they'd be
called crazy you know it is not easy to
pull off two open world still
storytelling in that context especially
in an MMORPG and so having that kind of
ability for us really opens up the
playbook quite a bit you know it just
comes down to figuring out exactly we
want to do with it now I think about it
it might have been used
last season episode four of last season
and actually with bullish following
there was anyway yeah they look like a
prairie dog yeah
prairie dog and bullish that's that
often is one of the internal struggles
is what do we have this be for people
who are not on the step or that you know
that isn't can't be real offer you what
the heck you know so in this case it was
a United legions combat devourer Annie I
think was the one who built that and it
looks awesome
it's adorable when you get the
the air bubble around their head when
you go underwater but you know things
like that is just it allows us so much
more freedom and open open world
storytelling and we also can do things
like have NPCs or props or you know any
kind of visible thing not appear the
same for one players that does for
another and those are some some other
things that really didn't exist that way
or at least in the same like context or
as as well at least as they did
previously in the game so just being
able to use all of that and have it come
together really allows us to do a lot of
really neat things it just comes down to
you know framing it all and making sure
that we're still giving things room to
breathe because you know opens
open-world scenes obviously can have
other players in it you know I'm trying
to do a really important store bit and
someone it turns into a chair right in
front of me you know or a tree and it's
like well that kind of changes the
context a little bit but you know some
there is some kind of that freedom as
well that it makes a little some of
those moments feel a little unique and
sometimes a little more lighthearted if
they need to be if a player runs by just
guys does
you know at dole yak cub baby don't yak
or something you know but yeah it's
always really fun seeing those come
together it's it's challenging to get
those to work in a way that you know
feels good but when we do you know I
think it works really well some all
right so what were some of what was what
were some of your favorite things to
work on this episode what were some of
the best things to speak alive and you
can have a favorite yeah for me one of
the big ones is probably an air dropping
that was something that I you know we
were trying to think of a way to have
movement around the mat feel good what
without using waypoints because those
are various era you know those are kind
of have their own context and that
didn't feel very thematic to the episode
and then you know we we were talking
it's like what what if you could fly a
helicopter there it's like well let's
see what we can do and we got the air
drops working and you know the we one of
our prop artists got a parachute effect
that looks great you know and it just
kind of went from there and it's just
really fun and satisfying and you know
you can glide out of it you can mount
mount up from it you know and it's just
really fun and satisfying way to explore
the map and kind of get to and from the
other one I think that the big one would
just be I think the reward coordinator
system that we were able to bring back
the for those who are familiar with the
the way that supply drops work in no
quarter every 10 minutes you get a
Supply Drop based on what control points
you hold essentially so if your your map
holds all six of them you'll get six
chests if you have five of them you will
get all the makes the the fort you know
or whatever what have you from what you
own or don't own I'm that's using a
system called reward coordinator that we
had used previously and heart of thorns
and it's been all since we we've tried
to bring it back and I think this is
actually the first time in PVE since
then
simply because there's that system was
designed to work one way that you know
works in heart of thorns but
systematically wasn't really applicable
to a lot of our pieces of content but
Eric our our programmer did an awesome
job of kind of reconfiguring it in
exposing a lot of values to designers to
make it provide a lot you know to work
contextually in in no quarter in the
context of what's going on in the map
and I think it worked really well
you know making sure players are still
rewarded and it's a big group efforts
it's a big civil war everyone is working
towards the same goal you know so even
though I'm not on that other side of the
map I'm still getting rewards from it
you know I think that is incredibly
helpful and you know helps really nail
down the theme of the map which just
helps with the storytelling you know
like no her and Tom were saying earlier
so it all just comes together right and
that's I always love when that kind of
stuff happens yeah I agree with that I
think that like seeing all of our sort
of collaborative efforts come together
and all the little bits that you know I
feel like every not just design and
narrative but also audio and aren't like
all of the things that we all the
intentions that we had and you know
having a very focused goal of like
making this a civil war making like what
does that entail all the way through and
having all those little tiny tidbits
come together that work within those
things that for me is really rewarding
you know seeing them map Tracy West did
a freaking amazing job with this map and
also just the the the lighting that the
feel of being in this war on different
fronts of this war on different lanes
for the meta I think was great to see
come to life and I think seeing the
steel war band now as our and like our
antagonist was really rewarding for me
having people talk about what that feels
like to now fight people that you are
fighting beside bring
the player experience it aligns the
player experience with what we want what
we're saying with the characters with
the Chara feeling on the frontlines
fighting against their own war bandmates
like how you should feel somewhat
conflicted somewhat saddened by the fact
that you know you like me
these guys like ah the still more band
is Quan crop sukwon he did such a great
job you know in visions of the past deal
and fire of laying the foundation or
those steel war band mates Rylands you
know family basically siblings that they
were so much fun to spend time with and
to write that like it is bittersweet
that we were like now we got off them
like you know dick mean it like what
what that you know that process though
knowing that that even when steel and
fire was happening that we were going to
be doing that you know because we plan
we don't plan just episode 2 episode
we're looking at the iceberg saga all
the way down the line
um and how we're going to to build this
for you it's been it's been kind of
wicked awesome said pretending I'm
Bostonian for a minute it's been wicked
awesome those characters it was when we
decided that we're going to use them as
as boss encounters I remember you know
that was a the first thing that we did
was reach out to the designers from
steel and fire to you know learn more
about those characters and what they did
not just their stories but you know
mechanically what are they known for and
what can we do to kind of take that to
another level
to make that you know a satisfying it is
bittersweet yes they are you know that
they serve as the antagonist for the
open world but we want to do them right
right we want to make their encounters
fun we want to really show them doing a
lot of fun unique things that really
play up their character you know I think
we settled them a lot of really cool
unique stuff right you know really
drives his giant tank around or her
giant tank around I'm sorry VY Shen you
know deploys decoys and one shots people
you know they they both they all have
their strengths and weaknesses and but
when they come together it's just
complete it's you know they have
domination and they can take you out if
you're not careful and then nicob are
just up top watching and keeping keeping
an eye on on his buddies you know
through the entire final fight is just
it's awesome in really satisfying in a
bittersweet way but also any like yeah
you know I understand kind of way at
least personally real quickly I did one
more shout out I'm sorry go for it no go
ahead go ahead
okay one more shot out of a thing I
wanted to mention that is really cool
and one of my favorite things that we
were able to ship is the map reset
mechanic which is just the the air raid
sirens and the complete destruction of
everything bombs going off airstrikes
going off base is getting recaptured
audio the audio team took that and ran
with it in a way that I never could have
imagined and it is so terrifying the
first time that I heard that when Chris
Burgess sent me the audio clip for that
I'm like oh my gosh this is this is
perfect and it works so well so it does
I hate it it's wonderful we want to look
at that real quick because we do have a
video of like the layering that audio
did oh nice
is that cool can we do that mark yeah
normally I would just like look at mark
and okay
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
[Music]
you
[Music]
you
[Music]
[Music]
yes I just so much yeah it does it's
terrifying
I will never unhear the squeaky door but
somehow it doesn't every time I'm just
gonna shout conch time all right we need
we need just like a little conch in the
next episode somewhere as a little yes
so huge huge thanks to our audio team
for providing that yes and for making
the map just feel so so very char you
know like ice we'd saw that is also a
charged story it's not just new
Noren even though you know people think
i snorin drawer mag the point of this
saga is that it's both you know and yeah
they will see more of that in the future
but like right now really letting the
bar be like the spotlight for this
episode like kudos to audio they really
hit it very much so so tom how about you
what were some of your yes so I'm gonna
make her ears turn right but I want to
talk about nubira
[Music]
[Laughter]
her vision as the lead for living world
or this season or what this story is was
going to be about it is not just
brilliant but also know very as a as a
writer as a thinker
dives very deeply she and I have two and
a half three our conversations on a
fairly regular basis where we just talk
about characters and and and dives super
deeply in them and the thing that I have
loved about all the episodes of the
iceberg saga but particularly this one
is the depth of richness to the
complexity the insistence on sort of
adopting as a as a general philosophy
that nothing is black and white nothing
is simple that there are multiple sides
to everything that everybody has a
perspective and that you know the way
that she and the other riders have sort
of really grabbed these complex and very
political and and socio-political issues
and and you know done written amazing
things that that flesh them out and
brings life is is astonishing to me and
and I've loved being a part of the
process of bringing the room and seeing
it all unfold but particularly I want to
point to the parler scenes and also the
conversations between the Imperator's
when the island isn't present um because
those you know when they first came in
were long they're not short now but they
were real straps are and you know cuz
you've got five or six or seven
characters all arguing and expressing
here for you without this stuff and the
idea is that they are articulating and
and the the passions that they feel are
very deep and rich and dense and
complicated and it's not easy
in the end of dramatic format to get to
that kind of depth and particularly when
you're sort of wielding as big a cast as
we have in this
just in terms of people who are who are
in jeans together you know we we most of
our it seems most the time it's like
you'll have three four people talking at
the most and in some of those seams like
I said you've got six seven maybe more i
am i think i think there's peachy I was
watching PG stream or PG in and she said
something about it in a very pleased way
she's she's like it's so political and I
was like that's exactly yes
now if we're selling that then we're
we're doing something right and I know
that's you know what no Vieira's vision
for it was and so my favorite part of
this process has been just watching that
deep and complex and rich sort of story
and and themes come to life and in a
very dark episode for sure but one that
is that just has so much to think about
and feel about in it and I have I have
bad news if you don't like that cuz it's
only gonna get more so that sounds like
good news to me
I appreciate it quite like nivara are
your ears red yet are you like on fires
I'm touching them in there like my arm
actually you can't see cuz I'm brown but
I'm very red under the brown saying I
I'm gonna actually say that like none of
that would have been possible that sort
of the the depth and complexity that tom
is talking about if like if Kirk hadn't
been along for the ride from the get-go
like the first time I wheeled my you
know my my white board of crazy into a
small room and pulled Kirk in and was
like how do you feel about this you know
what I mean like he's just been yeah
that's the first version of the white
boy go crazy and then it just gets
progressively Creed so yeah so when
we're yeah yeah that's oh yeah we're
gonna now we're getting into it just to
explain to folks at home the process
sometimes of like breaking an episode
and like breaking it down to
you know each chapter and then the
scenes within chapter and the beats
within that scene and and how is that
going to flow and where's the gameplay
involved all that goes into it and
sometimes things are changing constantly
or like design it's like no you can't do
this we need to do that or or or you
know some other needs come up so having
it be on a whiteboard allows me to be
like oh well we can just erase it and
like write over it and I can change the
colors and look like a madman but it
makes sense to me like if it's in red it
means that's the emotional core of the
scene if it's in green this is the
action that they're doing yeah yeah
totally makes sense
unlike then after that's all locked I
can like put it to paper and we can
refer to what the themes and everything
are but I've literally like at one point
pulled Kirk into a room and he was like
yeah sign off and then I just wield the
whiteboard and she worked there and I
was like okay guys like this is the
pitch for this episode you know feedback
let's see is this really flowing and
that kind of thing so it just gets
progressively crazier and it becomes the
Bible or that episode for me even when I
go to like write script pages so that
board doesn't get touched by anyone like
I basically just like a LoJack the board
that was saying yeah yeah Vera will cut
you yeah it's the thing I take it
seriously I'm very curious as to whether
you wrote that or if someone else wrote
that from experience I wrote it because
I liked them okay I keep their warning
you know yeah I know I I think you know
that collaboration Kirk early on ablai
working on the whiteboards was a
highlight I think of this process for
sure for me yeah and that that was
maintained throughout the development of
the episode you know that was to always
act accessible to design and narrative
as we you know would have questions me
like let's consult the the magic board
you know what what did we you know if we
needed a reminder because there's so
many layers of depth to what's happening
in the map and what's going on in the
story you know
so it's just a nice thing to have around
and it was it was mobile to with as an
overhead which was very helpful so we
listened to the board that's assist the
board that's currently in your home or
is that a different board there's a
different board because once we were
locked at home for stay at home orders I
was like well I have other episodes that
need work so have you know white board
legit episode fives white board right
now haha telling you anything but this
white board is much smaller than y1 in
the office so like I have to keep like
writing on and then erasing it and then
taking photo taking photos and erasing
and start over I'm like over and over
again so yeah oh no I probably need to
get you more white boards all right so
everything else it's just the walls are
now white boards so is there anything
else you guys want to touch on before we
move on to our next round of guests cuz
I I noticed we've taken up almost an
hour and it feels like 15 minutes to me
because you guys are fascinating I feel
like there was something that we wanted
no no I I feel like there were I wish
that they were I knew what players were
thinking about some of the characters so
that we could sort of touch on some of
our intentions around that I know I do
oh go ahead tom I mean I've seen a lot
we'll talk about small yes and why he
does what he does and and and why seems
in some ways to be behaving a little
differently than we've seen him do in
the past or maybe you can speak to that
yeah you know smaller is an interesting
character and in in some ways parallels
the kind of stuff we're doing with
Bhangarh in that you know sometimes when
a character earlier on in their career
in a sort of political realm in this
realm of power is doing things for us
with a certain intention behind it and
not that that's a negative intention
it's the best of intentions likes motor
brokered the ebon Hawk treaty that's
very true
motor is also at heart 100% a politician
and you know it makes no bones about the
fact that he wants things like sitting
on his desk like who does that
you don't I mean like so there is what
we're seeing right now is now that
Bhangarh is off the table in terms of
legitimacy as an imperative the legions
of of a legion motor just assumed oh I
can step in I'm Conor and that's not the
case there are there's a new generation
which Krisha very much represents and to
a certain extent the steel war band
represents of like there are others who
have a say and what the charr going to
be and how they're going to move forward
and we're not just going to you know
step back motor and let you decide on
all the things because you did this this
admittedly thing what they have in hoc
treaty will depending on your point of
view you did this thing and that that
was really like impressive but like mal
says you bring that up all the time like
what have you done lately you know I
mean like I think that there is an
aspect of that too and like motor is
what we're seeing is someone who's
watching some of his power a road a
little bit and he has a very specific
point of view about how to deal with
defectors how to deal with traitors he's
also been on the the front lines of
dealing with renegades for a very long
time all of that is in firming whose
motor is and why he takes the actions
that he takes and and also informs
people like Ephraim ephram's been
watching hate tear the char apart and
even the flame Legion to a certain
extent apart for a very long time and so
his reaction to that you know the idea
that this civil war is not just about
numbers it's not just about like how
many troops is Bhangarh have on his side
it's also about what does it mean to be
char who are we after this you know it's
not like we can still be warriors who
have value in how we love our war
bandmates
like we're band equals family the char
not heartless and I think that when
people talk about the char and they're
like oh they're going softer but if
they're not going soft they're nuanced
they're
yes warriors they will take you down
which we see quite a bit like Krisha
doesn't want to take nobody on the other
side wants to take out all of the steel
band you know more abandoned they the
respect their respected like ease young
up in commerce have done amazing things
on the opposite side of the battlefield
like Krisha folks are acknowledging that
right they have value what we want is
for them to come to the right side of
this choice of this line in the sand but
if they don't whatever we'll cook them
out because that's what's necessary
that's what's needed to that's what
needs to happen because there is a right
side of this and there's a wrong side of
this and it's sort of building on when
we were setting up in the prologue which
was you know bang gars being the
propaganda machine that he's that he's
spouting is all about Chara above all
and that's really what the line in the
sand is about right like this when we're
saying the civil wars about the sole of
the char or the char going to move
forward into a future where they are
espousing this char above all sort of
nationalist viewpoint that's very much
based on like hatred and fear of others
or are they going to have a different
future that might be working with others
and still being proud of being char
right and and so that I think even
within the Imperator's it's what we see
with smote err and how you know there's
a question about what direction does he
want to be in right now he just wants to
take out beggar because he wants to be
yeah thank you all right what his
motivation is yeah exactly curtain like
who are you young whippersnappers and
even malice is gentler than he is liked
by a lot so there's an aspect of that
yeah mm-hmm-hmm I really appreciate your
note about out there not heartless there
there no others more to them um
something that I see a lot of in in all
games is there's this there's this
feeling of I don't I know that I want I
don't know how I feel about
characters talking about their feelings
and their lives and all of this but well
we don't want I feel like are just paper
mache figures with guns that won't push
this toy soldier forward and have him
shoot the thing and I feel like the jar
more than that of all of our races are
more than that absolutely absolutely and
I think that like you know an older
version you know in gw1 when you were
this story was the human story and we're
looking at the char through a very
particular lens like like yeah things
were bad like right things were rough we
were at war they you know committed
atrocities we committed atrocities like
we as humans on the GW one side and so
you know once we have altered UW to
where there are now a playable race
we're immersing in that culture
especially in high screwed saga but get
to know the other sides of that and I
think that that's really important and
you know I think that was smote er motor
has he is a very he's an older school in
a similar to Bangor has an older school
view of what's acceptable because they
lived through very specific Wars right
and so I think that even the war crime
because it is a war crime thats motor is
completely aware of the fact that he's
about to ask you to drop this grenade
and he knows it's a serum grenade right
like that's part of the thing and that's
part of ephram's attitude about some
motor in the end too because you know
ephram's like you cannot choose to have
my people be party to that like that is
not your decision to make
right even in wartime so I I hope that
he even asserts that level of dominance
I'm sorry no no go ahead Kirk I just
gotta say even a search that kind of
dominance over the over the commander
right like he knows dang well what he's
sending you out to do and how it is you
know the
the meaning of what he's having you do
which is essentially some of his dirty
work right you know that is very
intentional and he is it is a power move
for him to do that and ask the packed
command well be commander the Dragon
Slayer what have you to do that event
ask when he has people could do that you
know right right
I mean it's to him it's just what we
need to do in order to win you know it's
a battlefield decision I don't think
that's motor morally and anyway thinks
of himself as the bad guy in that
situation like they need to take back
the territory they need like they have a
kind even in killing cinder to him it's
like why are we negotiating with these
kids anymore like we've taken the
territory let's keep pushing let's go
get Bhangarh right like to smote her
that's all legit to us to Krisha to you
know to rile it there's there's lots
there right like we're not just on the
other side why are they on the other
side what are they looking for you know
all that kind of stuff so um I hope that
we'll have conflicting feelings about
smote er about how we approached it like
I if people feel impassioned and they're
having impassioned conversations about
our treatment of characters in this
episode like then we've done our jobs
right I want people talking at char 100%
agree with that and and I to tie back to
what you were talking about what though
is still war been before - it was we
didn't decide to have you play as Ryland
and to spend time with the steel Morgan
and it's given fire for no reason we
made that decision because we knew what
was going to happen in this episode and
we wanted players very much to feel like
they understood and like Ryland and
understand and like cinder and Bachchan
and rinoa and Nicobar and and see them
as people see them as individuals and
and really bond with them so that when
they are killed and especially cinder
who's who's the one that's closest to
Riley
that that we all you know that we as
players feel something you know and and
feel the outrage ats motor doing what he
did and and understand you know how
Rylan feels when he when he says to
Krisha I trusted you and then leaves
because because in that moment what he's
basically saying is you know this is
broken beyond repair and you know where
that's going to send us is you know like
I said forty is darker even than this
and it and we want like you know I told
the story I think in the last field chat
I did about about David Simon the oral
history of the wire where there was an
actor on the wire his character got the
script and his character was getting
killed off and he went to David Simon
said why why are you coming off
everybody loves my character name times
that that's why I had to kill you off
because it'll hurt me most of its you
and and and yeah we we it matters to us
a lot that our characters are not paper
then you know people just run around
with guns like Ruby said that that they
are three-dimensional human beings are
the equivalent of hearing people they're
dimensional people and yeah and and that
that you see them as such and you
understand them that's part of and
that's part of the richness and
complexity that Nogueira is so good at
that is just a baked into how she does
what she does and and and the other
writers did a great job with it too um
and yeah I mean that's what we want yeah
everybody's part for everyone else and
Aaron and Aaron and Shane Michael are
two new writers who did the events and
the ambience which you know I hope
everybody is enjoying and when there's
vfo you'll get more ambient like they
this was their first content released
for us and they knocked it out of the
park so yeah there was a lot of new
blood involved with Newton a new quarter
and yes kudos to all of them they did a
fantastic job yeah as always this is
this is a small representation of a huge
team
work together really really well so
congrats and thanks to everyone on there
all right well thank you guys very much
for your time I appreciate it um Kirk
please don't leave we need you for this
next segment all right stay forever
please stick around for just a few
minutes guys and we'll be back with the
a a little bit more of the no quarter
team bye guys all right are we good
hi guys welcome thank you for hanging
out a big patient yeah why don't I have
the two of you introduce yourselves and
talk about what you worked on for this
episode first a knee then Eric hi I'm
Anna Vandermeer I'm a senior game
designer I worked on chapters 2 & 4 and
some smatterings of the open-world stuff
like the the caravans and the hungry
centuries and such I'm Eric I'm a senior
software engineer now or realistically
eternally in a Content program which
means I'm a programmer and designer kind
of equal parts and I worked on some of
the tech stuff to make the some of the
well this work in PvE a Kirk mentor the
reward a turn and then there's no like
sector L has the stuff I do the vistas
and then I did rinoa the to grow of
pieces in the lighthouse and then in
this part of the meta finale fight and
then I did the final chapter the turn
about was I didn't do the boss fight as
Justin but everything else that advances
and chapters 2 & 4 that was
shoulder-to-shoulder and distract
destroy and distrust right correct
those are your two okay awesome well
let's talk first about bringing Eric you
mentioned working on bringing some of
those weather elements over to this PvE
map do you want to talk a little bit
about that uh yeah well too bad well it
was when
came in it was like I think we can just
do most of this stuff so I can't take
too much credit
most of the feel of a push-pull hold a
sector kind of thing comes entirely from
well design side so like Kirk's brain in
the open world people I'm not part of
that the reward coordinator is the
system I actually built that long time
ago for our thorns and had very specific
uses on a couple of apps we kind of like
curse and move in a different direction
and then somebody came to me a coder who
doesn't work anymore like he wanted to
use it in love WA so it sometimes used
there some UI so it's like my baby has
changed and I need to change it again to
make it work for this new map with our
new needs there so I mean that wasn't
too bad it was mainly like Kirk said
just kind of exposing more knobs there's
a lot of a lot of programs work is just
taking a thing that happens and behind
the scenes and making it happen a little
bit more in a place where designers can
mess with it so once we got that there
was a lot of like Oh clever use of
existing technology by the design side
to get to you like all if you hold this
face you get these rewards you know this
basic at these so yeah we just found a
good way to kind of make use of you
either already UI is actually really
tough it takes a very long time so we
didn't have to do too much good the
other part of the sector outlines that
was harder than expected but it reads
pretty well people get it pretty quickly
and I think it immediately visually says
you're in a bubble map it's like what
we're training so that was kind of a
very early request we Kurt identified
that very early on we need this so it
wasn't too bad but just kind of poring
over my stuff and well but I've never
seen more but that's most of programming
is like well I don't know what this is
what's the effects to it yeah one of the
one of the goals with drizzle would
Coast as a map you know was trying to
have the world versus world experience
have a little bit different context and
so but while maintaining as much as that
messaging as we can and that includes
things like you know the iconographies
try to try to be consistent constants
like you know the the supply caravans
these that the sector outlines though
the reward track you know as much as we
can that wave for players who aren't as
engaged with world versus world maybe
they play a drizzle wood coast and like
hey you know this is this is actually
interesting maybe I want to give this a
shot you know and vice versa
to make sure that you know we get more
visibility in those kinds of mechanics
in messaging in order to you know maybe
get some people to step out of their
comfort zone a little bit
and get something new a shot if they
hadn't yet sure well what we're akyuu
talked about I'm sorry Kirk you talked
about this some in the last segment but
the other two of you Eric and Annie what
were some of your biggest challenges and
getting this episode live yeah right
away for getting rid luck to follow you
he's stubborn dude and setting up pretty
late scripting yeah I know you wouldn't
have gotten that from any part of the
game the the scripting to get him to do
stuff to follow you to behave properly
was was very complicated and required a
lot of work and I really got a like hats
off to Carson and to the testing team
because a lot of these things were
things that just had to be tested and
multiplayer and that's not something I
can do on my own as a designer and that
if there's a bug I can't find and murder
myself that makes me very vexed so so
having to track down stuff like that
there was also unique just to figure out
storytelling in the open world with that
particular mechanic what could we do
what couldn't we do just it was a lot of
jumping in like welcome back after seven
years jumping in on the deep end like
this is all the things that have changed
there's a whole heck of a lot you know
and it was just really complicated but
fun to jump into and and try to figure
out and be as as clever and a stubborn
is possible to try to get stuff working
and I really relied on a very patiently
and in a very very patient team to help
me out with a lot of that stuff because
it was it's it's got some big complex
guts it sounds like it
so before I before I ask Eric more I'm
curious about the reluctance Oh what was
he doing what was happening oh gosh well
for one thing there was there the
imposter system that was yeah about
deciding had to change that and there's
some weird if I if I explained it in
detail that would put everybody to sleep
there's some weird there's some weird
ways in which stuff has been you know
when you're when you're dealing with a
game that has so much like technical
history to it there are these ways that
things have been done for a reason
way back when that that that structure
remains and so suddenly thinking about
storytelling in a new environment goes
well okay we can't we can't have this
guy say this scene and unless it's in
this spot but we can't have him do this
yeah it was a lot of really crazy
complicated stuff and it felt like
trying to unpick a just like a a massive
chords and just trying to find out which
went into what and what was possible
what was like potential and trying to
get trying to make sometimes very
triaging assessments about like well
we'd like him to do this sort of thing
would like you to be able to do this
kind of thing with them but it's going
to take X time and we only have half x
time like we do this cleverly is this
gonna cause too many bugs like there's
there's always an element of triage to
desire that could be a heartbreaker that
makes that makes sense you're building
on seven plus almost eight years of
layers of game and there are a million
moving parts anyway so yeah I can
absolutely see that and you're trying
not to have seven
favorite locks running around a feature
good if it were lux
how about you Eric yeah the I think I'm
gonna actually play the devil's advocate
for me kind of because the timing of the
pandemic hi by the time we were sent
home I was kind of it was really well
defined went to pieces I was gonna own
one most of these sort of big unknown
like tech pieces were in place and so it
was kind of just like you know heads
down work on this boss fight to boss
dies horribly and this instance so like
at being able to log in quickly and do
some work was actually really useful for
me I didn't have to drive into the
office or stay late or something um I
can justify I had idea about how it
should work
let me try it actually helped me I will
say my instance mayest but turn about
there's I mean it's very cinematic just
cuz like it has a synthetic but there's
a lot of dialogue and we getting people
to know what's going on when their eyes
are drawn to like the chat log or the
speech bubbles while also paying
attention to like pretty frantic couple
of beats I guess I should spoiler
warning if I'm gonna talk about
innocence that's entire show or long
past that 15 15 minutes in by the way
everybody's entire show massive spoiler
but I so for instance a good example
would be when you chase Ryland that's
supposed to be like you're just hearing
these conversations you're not just like
reading them and then very carefully
like there's complicated scripting into
the fireman zones that Tracy put in we
build up the fog as you make progress
down this way but actually is very
complicated to do and that's tough of
you if you're having to read the
dialogue especially cuz these people are
following used a lot on the behind you
so like best
I'm just gonna have to shine better when
the vo comes in but an example of
something where work better
I actually after work with no beer so
most people probably don't remember but
there's a beat in the hallway in that
instance a few get send her out you're
walking down it you encounter Ephraim
taking some owner to task for the Syrian
crystals thing it's a cool beat I really
like it and like there's a lot of cool
staging in there you know it's slaughter
doesn't he doesn't get down to like
fight he stands up and results poetry
the way I was supposed to play out they
have their they have a conversation you
know smart is like guys if you've got
the clause and at that moment you're
supposed to go break it up that's not
how it plays in the in the final but
that was the script he pressed the
button to break it up and then Whitlock
says something it was a little weird
from a gameplay perspective I hit break
it up in gridlocked Iseman but more
importantly because we didn't have vo
relock was behind you and most people
didn't even seem it the speech bubble or
he could tell that he was talking to
smote her when he says you know I close
my eyes East I'm just like banger so I
worked with movi receive like hey you
know could we switch this up and there
were a couple things we tried and the
simplest we came up with just had writ
like step forward and join them we
actually called them to the email for
the angry Chara power triangle where all
three of them are like against each
other's faces and then you do the break
it up so like we had to think about
those things to make sure like hey
people need to see this there's no vo to
cue them in like through their ears so
how do we get around that because that
instance had to be very synthetic
feeling because there's not that much
gameplay until the big fight the end we
really had to pay a lot of attention to
that so like that was a challenge but I
felt like some of the we had to build up
this way work from home infrastructure
and like really intentional channels the
communication among team members some of
that stuff actually helped facilitate
answering those questions and let me
actually get two really cool details in
that instance boobs tank which I don't
think anybody seen yet it's nothing the
hill but he runs off during the fight
the hot fog reveal a lot of stuff it
really helped to have work from home
alright that that absolutely makes sense
being able to and I I do appreciate I've
said this before I do appreciate that my
commute is like 40 seconds now and I'm
sure that helps yeah
shipping without vo is something I feel
like we've we've talked about it a lot
just because we've been talking about it
for so long
Reed chatting about this for several
months but if you guys can just talk a
little bit about how a little bit more
like what Eric was talking about how you
communicated things knowing we didn't
have that we weren't going to have that
at first and we aren't going to have it
until we can get everybody back in there
yeah challenges it was interesting yeah
I still remember when that that call was
first made you know no Vera and I were
talking to me sure I was like can we do
this like can we ship a living room
episode without vo is that even possible
like we're such a voice heavy game you
know and then it kind of we kind of
realized well we we don't really have
much of an option here you know we have
no idea when this is going to calm down
so what do we do like how do we action
this and you know a big strike team was
essentially formed of what can we do in
the time that we have to kind of
mitigate this the best way possible
right that included many different
options some of which we were able to do
some we weren't some provided their own
sets of challenges right you know some
things we took for granted like what
Eric was saying with the text bubbles
you know you don't really have to worry
about those as much when you can just
hear relock talking behind you but now
we don't have that okay what can we do
about that you know huge kudos to the
audio team for for putting together the
the set of grunts is what we kind of
were calling them you know we have a big
library that they were able to make very
quickly for all of the race gender
combinations and then essentially what
we had to do from there is a big group
effort to come together and analyze
every single line in the entire script
for the entire episode and on a
one-by-one basis say hey is this is this
line what is the emotion of this line is
it an angry reaction is it sad what what
emotion is it trying to portray right
and that isn't something you can just
run a script and have a general
so that is something that the entire
team had to come together across an
audio narrative and design and figure
out like what are our standards here how
do we make this call what should this
sound like you know and that was
incredibly challenging but also really
it was really nice to see everyone come
together because we wanted to do
whatever we could because yes we know
you know we want vo too and that's why
when we are able to record we're gonna
put it in but we also want to have new
content out there for our fans right so
figuring out as much as we could do and
in doing so we found a lot of things
we're just like what what can we do here
that's just a general quality of life
improvement you know for those of our
players who are hearing-impaired you
know how do we make life better for them
in our game you know and so we have a
bunch of stuff that we learned coming
out of this process you know and who
knows how long this lasts but you know
maybe we can put some more thought into
it and who knows where we go from there
but you know it was definitely a huge
learning experience and but everyone
came together so quickly with the the
common goal of let's do what we can to
mitigate this and still have this feel
really good and I think it was
tremendously successful given this you
know the circumstances and some
decisions were made you know like the
generic MPC talk lines that were
pre-recorded have been in the game
forever when you talk to some NPCs they
still won't they still are there they're
there lines when they engage you in
combat or you kill them or they kill you
they're still there your character
saying I can outrun a centaur is still
there you know the things that that
would be even stranger to not have them
so I think those help carry a lot of the
burden along with the grunts conveying
some of those emotions first are more
significant you know lines to all come
together and work in a way that I felt
was successful yeah I think I think
there was a strong element just from the
conversations that I participated in and
from what I've seen after the episode
was life and even as it was being
developed that the whole that the whole
feeling was okay yes we don't have vo
but we have a lot so let's see what we
can do with let's do the absolute
maximum that we can do with what we do
have instead of just oh well there's no
vo there's literally no point I mean I
like everybody forward such a good
effort
no go ahead yeah I had full confidence
in in the the nonverbals at least like
being functional doing the intended
thing working well because the we knew
that we were going to be having to
basically get the player to look around
a whole lot more and with the situation
where you can't necessarily see the
speech bubbles if you're too close and
ambient's aren't printed I think of the
chat log so having you know hearing
spatially where stuff is with grunts
just as like a quick sort of reference
like I'd worked on stuff before that
didn't have a nice juicy vo budget and I
had to rely on stuff like that and
knowing that that had that kind of level
of functionality to do the basic level
of what we intended that would at the
very least make sure that the player
didn't miss anything important that made
me feel confident about that and also
excited to see all the stuff that's
added and what people suddenly notice
and like the nuance and all that
glorious stuff that the vo is going to
add what do you find what gets in so I'm
looking forward to that yeah for sure a
lot of that is a lot of the stuff that
we all said you know is harder to notice
but you also just come to kind of expect
it now so like we we used a lot of our
announcement tech you know to say
so-and-so is being attacked
you know this base is under attack this
base is captured you know just doubled
it doubling down on message messaging in
that way but we also have things like
you know a lot of the times when you're
in one of the bases and you're doing
something an event might start and if
you're busy and you might not notice
immediately so we said hey hey audio
team what can we do about this you know
and they made a bunch of really cool
like drums that play in warhorns that'll
that'll go off
you know I think when a defender vent is
active a mortar shell shoots up into the
air like a little flare and emergency
flare you know little things here and
there just to get your attention either
through audio or visual just to draw
your eyes as much as we can
since we don't have those video
call-outs you know so it's all been
really yeah Klaxons make everything
better in the best way you know the end
of the use this word plays I thought I
would blunt it eventually and and
knowing there was a squeaky door no it
still just means that the world's ended
you need to leave now like it never got
better for me I've actually had to turn
it down it's awesome yeah no no it is it
is terrifying in the best possible way
it's one of those like really good
scarce and like I said in the last
segment even knowing the squeaky door
it's not gonna help it's still terrible
because our audio team is too good yeah
they are yeah so again shout out to
everyone who worked on this and we
haven't we haven't done this yet we've
talked about it a lot but I want to take
a second for a huge thank you to our
voice actors who took the time to help
us deliver that message we're not gonna
be able to do this everyone who
participated in letting us know letting
the players know this is what's
happening is fantastic and I think we
all really appreciated that yeah so do
you guys do you just want to talk about
some of the some of your biggest your
favorite things in this episode some of
your biggest triumphs especially getting
just the one right luck yeah we all went
a lot even though we all went fifty it's
doing I'm gonna go on for a while so
Eric you definitely go first so for me
it was so I had my two big two big
pieces of content and I think for the
instance it
is there really like I said cinematic
feel especially the end the fog reveal
we weren't sure that was actually gonna
work Tracy put this giant environment
zone which just means this area of the
map is foggy and then lets me play with
the knob that determines how foggy and
it didn't like it was a bug with it that
we didn't know that so until near the
very end that like moment of hey wait
it's too quiet
can't see anything the curtain lifts
fairly organically naturally it wasn't
working I have to rip this out how we
need the script work we fixed the bug
and not that's work and like oh man that
people really have that reaction to
watching streams and something like
Justin for the boss fight it has this
sort of Thunderdome of fog and locks you
in and we got perinea to jump in we got
two tanks there's a the frost legion has
a tank and actually slower if you
watched motor he says I'll take the high
ground it goes off to the left most
people don't notice cuz they're busy
fighting he goes off to the left and
he'll jump up and run up the ridge and
then he has his tank roll and when you
call in the SAS button it fires could
see it
so like touches like that I think I
don't really care if people see or don't
see all pieces what I really want to
hear is oh when people hit those beats
and so like when the fog lifts a few
kill veridia and the new tank is there
that the frost they join is rolled
forward the frost legion guys are all
doing their customers loads that i built
and it says retreat people and then the
fog slowly swallows all that like to be
continued in a later episode that
feeling I thought really came off and so
I was I was really pleased that people
weren't kind of scared and I say all
that it was probably just that stupid
siren but whatever it was yeah it's fine
yeah we may talk about fairing later but
he was the other my boy fare and a beer
because I kill him a lot we have to talk
about that after any but I want to hear
what any thank you so by the way that
there are plans set up where it was like
oh yeah the the crap that's motor has
you get the beginning of I just noticed
like chapter four becomes that tank so
he is
making you like do his shopping so I
being being me I like a dramatic thing
in kind of a a nostalgic thing dramatic
thing I really liked was the sequence
with the the grenade that was that took
a lot of time not because it was like
that complicated but because there was a
lot and just getting it right and I know
that there's moments where players kind
of feel like they're in a bad situation
where they're kind of frustrated with it
because nobody likes to be put in a
point where they have no choice but it
is that kind of level of desperation in
the situation and I like that right
Locke's reasoning for first stepping
forward and when you actually go into
that bunker and see how horrific it is
although I because I'm terrible I did
really enjoy making it art request that
was like impaled char oh oh no I'm
horrible I'm a horrible person
so you know when to that way and I mean
I had so much fun talking with no beer
about it and really like trying to find
the pathos in the moment and like being
like what what is this place
specifically it's Rd oh I bet this motor
would take it really personally if this
is a lot of iron Legion people like if
his some of his best and brightest
defected and this is where they're
working on stuff where he'd be angry
enough to just want to want to blow that
up like he's he has his reasoning it's
all like logical but he is a kind of a
spiteful character and that makes sense
for him to to do that and scripting the
whole situation where you go in and you
investigate stuff over it Locke is doing
his CSI thing over in the corner and
examining the yeah it was really great
luck see as I examine the body
that that took a lot to get right and it
was really enjoyable to be able to dive
into that level
nuance and the other one the nostalgic
thing is Starlin Gleaner back and their
couple and yeah I'm not glad I think bad
happen to them I've pretty much like
that I the charkh have always been my
babies I really loved those two and I
actually like crawled through a bunch of
different reddit threads and stuff just
as I started to look for what people's
favorite NPCs were what ones they were
missing and those two hadn't been around
for ages and I thought that their Ark
was really interesting and the fact that
at the end of the personal story they're
saying oh well you know we obviously
feelings for each other but we can't get
together because we're different legions
like now that there's been dragons like
oh god got killed a lot has happened
that makes that kind of like well but we
live in different cities kind of things
seem so small and and in Chapter 2 and
where they they're featured you see a
lot of blood and ash actually working
together very well and there's sort of
this exemplar of that and that's a huge
contrast to chapter 4 where smote er is
just ordering you around going need to
know need to know nice no and talking a
bunch of crap at the the poor flame
Legion rep that's they're like ephram's
not they're ephram's on the field doing
stuff and motors just telling people
what to do and so the the big difference
between the two of those was was fun to
underline and also let me bring in my
favorites from back in the day I think
you're allowed I think that's okay and I
think well you know go ahead I think a
lot of people like seeing those not
necessarily callbacks but these familiar
faces coming back so yeah that was
something that was really important in
developing HR episode right and we try
to do that with bound by blood as well
just the char are a race that in the
game that we don't have as much focus on
or haven't in the past and our living
world episodes so we
wanted to use both down my blood and
this episode you know to really do them
justice and and Annie was amazing at you
know bringing up characters that we
could reuse or beets that were important
you know and making sure that we're
doing our due diligence on them right
I can't one of our QAM beds was also
pointing out a lot of that kind of stuff
which was both of them were incredibly
helpful and making sure that we could
have those little payoffs wherever we
had the time to do so I can see Kent
doing that he is awesome alright so Eric
Eric we we mentioned Ferren and how is
how its Ferren involved in this episode
exactly yeah crash Fork it working on a
boss fight especially a lot of what you
develop our skills what we call
basically things that a character can do
and these are not born like on the
battlefield if you don't start in the
middle of the encounter you start like
on a test map where as much as possible
you're in a controlled environment so I
was working on the heart pruning skill
that is super complicated we wanted to
make sure we brought it back because it
was in the previous incarnation of
pinellas tank but we wanted to be a
little bit upgraded and I want to see
what he was about tag so supposed to
spear you and pull you in and well
there's a lot of pieces to that so bit
by bit we build it up the way that works
for me is you spawn a tank in and then
you spawn in a target and I always my
starting point is always at mooks I
don't know why Randy
programmer here a while ago taught me
moose so most but Musa they don't have
all the same animations as characters so
it's not a permit starting point plus
they were very ornery but I had the
velocity wrong on the launch to the tank
so it's just rocket in the air
alright I'm done with the ghost I'm
moving on so what I needed better a like
a character targeted mimic a plate or
better I just like the first name that
came to mind was Lord Ferrand
so I
had it spawn a lord fair that I got hit
him like getting speared and is awful
and like stuck on the tank and then
launched off and then there was a bunch
of ferren's I learned he's a very dodgy
fellow like not in the nominative way
you know forum says any he dodges all
but he was fair is that kid around but
when I turned off his ability to do
anything it was much more doable and the
thing so there's like there's like 20
fair ins they give speared and they
pulled on and they get washed off and
then I didn't have a great way to you
know if you want to try again like okay
I saw that round but I got to see what
it's doing in slow motion make sure
they're right no I didn't a great way to
respect him but I had a great way to
murdering because we have these tools
for killing bad guys quickly so I was
just waited this like rain of fairings
would follow me like guys that look good
good job shafts murder and then I
apologize linearity he then was my
target later for developing all the
other skills the rifle so he's been shot
many times the run over so he's been
flattened too many times and then the
burn I hear that there's a there's a
bouncing like fire grenade thing that
she shoots and that I learned he has a
very loud scream when he goes I
apologize personally because there's
like horrible yeah I look good but you
know he helped me out a lot
this episode is in part brought to you
by lore fairness many of them anyway so
but the thing that you did in all of
this that I like best is that she
captured some video of it I I did so if
you have this we can look at it yeah can
we
yeah yeah I love in the first you missed
one and he's just standing over here
like don't move he won't notice yeah so
but it it works better than the moose so
now you have to keep doing it yes but
this boss but he came back and he's
still rich you know so alright well we
are we are getting on to 40 minutes so
we have some more time but I want to see
what else you guys want to touch on that
you especially enjoyed or that you
especially like seeing the reaction to
once it went live yeah yeah uh or or
peachy's reaction at the grenade was an
actual drop jaw and I was like yeah that
was that was a really dirty trick so in
the Kudus yeah oh my god and also audios
work on just that Clank Clank Clank of
the the grenade going at before like
chaos and disaster erupted was like oh
this is good
death screams oh yeah very well in my
line off camera yeah I feel like it's
super strong because it you your mind
fills it in and then we fill in for you
later but yeah the it doesn't
work without the audio I think giving
you that sort of foretaste it's like the
thumbs to dress apartment like you Oh
something's bad is happening and then me
and I I'm with you I watched several
streams and I kind of cut often I cut to
the big moments and so many people I
mean roaches stops this is I'm not
throwing that down others were just oh
and they would cause they just wouldn't
close their windows they didn't know
what it's like no war sucks man
yeah I find it conveyed that pretty well
like like having moments that the just
straight players are nowhere in there
like where did this come from I have to
make this kind of decision now like game
with awesome cat monsters in it like no
we're asking you tough questions
you have to you have to think about this
now and you have to you're a part of
this you're in here so thank you guys
too for dragging us all in there in the
best way all right Kirk do you have
anything else Kirk's like I'm here I'm
just you know the reaction to the meta
and the push/pull feel the map is I'm
personally very happy that people are
enjoying it you know a lot of work went
into all that you know it's a lot of
people have correctly identified that it
is reminiscent of some of the early pit
bits from like Doric Eric and I both
worked on like Doric you know so there
are roots all around and this is you
know it's a good example of us just
trying to iterate as much as we can and
take and learn from every release and to
find ways to make it all better and you
know more enjoyable as much as possible
you know I'm glad that people are
enjoying the little hidden things in the
map you know that the including the
tangu or a tengu spoilers in this
episode was important to me because you
know
we this this area if you familiar with
guilders one did have a tribe of tangu
in it and that tribe is also one that we
saw in heart of thorns and their status
of what they had as a home here was up
in the air
and I wanted you know to make sure we
could try to find a way to clarify that
as much as possible and you know when it
it goes to show that the the charr
campaign through this area the Dominion
campaign wasn't it's not just char that
are losing their homes or losing their
lives from it right you know the the
more native species in the area
yeah have have fallen victim as well you
know the tangu were driven out of here
by bang gars forces you know just little
hidden bits and pieces here and there i
think really helped ground the episode
and in the map in in the context of
what's happening throughout the course
of the world so indicators that this
isn't happening Rach you exactly I got
to bring back chair trail signs which is
a thing that I got to to make back in
the original campaign that I I really
loved and it's like mmm here's a
suitable place for it for Ashley agent
to communicate stuff and was overjoyed
to be able to bring that in because I
had so much so much fun making it
initially which was back in the day it
involved me pulling an artist in Matthew
Medina into a room taping 10 whiteboard
markers to my fingers and just clawing
on a whiteboard like how would char do
this and like I wanna keep that
ridiculous that's going for as long as
possible
again game development that's what's
involved
sometimes it's Ludacris wipe work
shenanigans
I like it seems to have worked out there
was many time where Eric Annie
myself Paul Raymond the entire team
would often just turn around when we're
all still in the same office and just be
like this is this may be crazy but what
about this
what way is this gonna work what a crazy
idea but it always ends up well maybe
this isn't as crazy as it sounds you
know maybe we have a tank that you know
harpoons you maybe we have a helicopter
that picks you up plate and picks up a
giant tank and flies around with it you
know maybe we bring back these really
cool little hidden things and you know
maybe main players notice maybe they
don't you know just like so many
different voices in the room in so many
different perspectives so awesome well
thank you guys so much for your time I
appreciate it I appreciate you helping
us make this work from our respective
homes yeah thank you guys all for no
quarter watching all of you guys
watching thank you for spending some
time with us too
thank you for a hundred episodes of
guilt chat because wow how did that when
did that happen yes we'll have Kermit
arms and we are owed I think we wrote a
lot of parties at this point but we are
out of party for this so thank you all
for watching thank you guys for spending
some time with us and we will see you on
the next skill chat
External links[edit]

Guild Chat Episode 100 - Icebrood Saga Episode 3, No Quarter on ArenaNet's official channel on YouTube
Guild Chat - Episode 100

Contents

Transcription[edit]

Introductions (6:20)[edit]

No Quarter (6:20)[edit]

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