Interview Christina Norman, Lead Gameplay Designer

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: BioWare; Mass Effect 2

<p>Christina Norman, BioWare's Lead Gameplay Designer on the Mass Effect series, <a href="http://blog.bioware.com/2010/11/05/facebook-friday-week-5-christina-norman/" target="_blank">gets introduced on the BioBlog</a>.</p>
<p>I know she's responsible for the planet scanning bullshit, but let's give her a fair chance:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>How long have you worked for BioWare? </strong><br /> 5 of your &ldquo;earth years&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>What does a Lead Gameplay Designer actually do?</strong><br /> My team builds all the gameplay systems for the Mass Effect series of games. What is a gameplay system? It&rsquo;s basically anything you can do in more than one place, like fire a gun, or level up, or use a power, or enter cover. We micro-polish each of these activities until they are ridiculously fun!</p>
<p>...</p>
<p><strong>What game are you losing sleep for right now (that you are not working on)?</strong><br /> Fable 3 and The Old Republic (which I&rsquo;m an alpha tester for) are my main obsessions right now. I also just finished playing Game Dev Story a really awesome iPhone game.</p>
<p><strong>What is the most &ldquo;nerdy&rdquo; thing about you?</strong><br /> Wow what isn&rsquo;t nerdy about me? I spend all my time playing games, posting to twitter, watching anime and programming.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lol, she said "earth years". Yet, she must be lying because women can't code. Anyway, since she's an obsessive <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Turdle</span> Fable 3 fan, I think we can expect Mass Effect 3 to introduce the gameplay the series was genuinely lacking: kicking space chicken and farting on aliens' heads.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com/?rwsiteid=1#16106">RPGWatch</a></p>

 

[DalekFlay]

Lost me at Fable 3.

Which is sad, because I remember this girl being quite nice and informative on the forums compared to other B-ware devs who just yell at you for being critical.

 

[markec]

She said that she is playing Fable 3 not that its best game ever, really you people get butthurt about anything.

 

[Scream Phoenix]

Hahaha! What a cool nerd! Truly she shows that us nerds can be cool too. Heh. Us nerds. Right? Us nerds.

 

[DalekFlay]

She said that she is playing Fable 3 not that its best game ever, really you people get butthurt about anything.

She called it an obsession, I assume that means she likes it a lot.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

How many cocks have you sucked to get the position?

 

[MetalCraze]

Well that explains why Mass Effects are so simple and shitty. Women cannot into complex things.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Well that explains why Mass Effects are so simple and shitty. Women cannot into complex things.

As opposed to Dragon Age/Oblibion/Insert newgame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Brathwaite

 

[Cenobyte]

Too chubby. Not sexy.

@ Blackadder: Yeah, Brenda Brathwaite and Linda Currie of SirTech. Now that are female game designers.

 

[Excommunicator]

This fits the profile of the kinds of people I would imagine to be in charge of making Mass Effect the "RPG" that it is.

If they had provided this bio about the lead designer before the game came out then I would have been able to predict exactly how it would turn out.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Well that explains why Mass Effects are so simple and shitty. Women cannot into complex things.

You make Terri Brosius sad

 

[Overweight Manatee]

The obvious follow up question that should have been asked is: Will Bioware's newest offerings surpass such incredible games as Fable 3?

 

[racofer]

Every game developer in the world should be policed by at least one Codexer with the authority to change anything, fire anyone and condemn the most stubborn and stupid employees to capital punishment without human rights intervention. We would control the gaming industry with our own laws and no strings attached to any government or independent agency.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

How many cocks have you sucked to get the position?

Witty.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Jesus Fucking Christ

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ian Currie

Fixed.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

How many cocks have you sucked to get the position?

Witty.

Answer the question.

 

[Dantus12]

The most stupid thing She ever said was about non togglable helmets in ME2,Shepard drinks with a helmet on,practically thru it,or kisses Liara.

She said:"It`s working as intended"

 

[Excommunicator]

Every game developer in the world should be policed by at least one Codexer with the authority to change anything, fire anyone and condemn the most stubborn and stupid employees to capital punishment without human rights intervention. We would control the gaming industry with our own laws and no strings attached to any government or independent agency.

Although I think this would be a promising way for the world to go, I think that all the Codexers would soon be arming their devservants like medieval soldiers to do raids on nearby Codexers for the rape and lulz.

And my pity goes to the studios that are matched with Volourn or Andhaira

 

[racofer]

And that's a bad thing because....?

 

[Excommunicator]

No fucking RPGs.

 

[racofer]

It would be the most epic LARPing ever. Who needs RPGs?

 

[Excommunicator]

I would send my dev warriors straight after you for being a LARPer

 

[Melcar]

God damn women.

 

[CraigCWB]

Well that explains why Mass Effects are so simple and shitty. Women cannot into complex things.

As opposed to Dragon Age/Oblibion/Insert newgame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Brathwaite

Sorry, but she used to do their game manuals. Not the development. When she did move into game design (because the founders of the company were busy smoking crack presumably) her mots notable effort was that "Druids" monstrosity. I'm not sure if she's the one responsible for shelving work on Wizardry 8 for almost a decade or not, but since the owners were absentee I can't think of who else could have been at fault. If they let her work on whatever she wanted - and she chose that Druids thing then she could have said "I'm doing Wizardry 8!" instead.