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Next Mass Effect abandons Shepard, but won't 'feel like a spin-off'
When the next entry in the Mass Effect franchise inevitably arrives, it will feature a brand new story unrelated to Commander Shepard and his or her crew of sexually promiscuous extraterrestrials. Mac Walters, lead writer for the franchise, was asked by Complex where BioWare plans to take the series' plot now that it's been revealed that Commander Shepard is no longer leading things. "... the idea is that we have agreed to tell a story that doesn't relate necessarily to any of the Shepard events at all, whatsoever," replied Walters. "But throughout it all, one of the key things is that it has to be Mass Effect. It can't just feel like a spin-off. It has to feel like a Mass Effect game at its heart, at its core." "Just without the Shepard character or the Shepard-specific companions," added Walters. The writer was then asked for his opinion on fan backlash toward the ending of Mass Effect 3, a response that gave Walters and his colleagues at BioWare a greater appreciation for just how much people care about the pixelated people he writes. "I think that's one of the things we really underestimated, which was how much ownership people would take over a character that they could do that," said Walters. "You know, you've been given free choice to make all these decisions with this character, with the fates of millions of people, and then, you don't get to choose your own fate." "I'm not saying that our decision was wrong or right," said Walters. "I think we just underestimated the impact that would have on certain players."
Mass Effect: Foundation comic series announced
Dark Horse Comics recently announced a return to the Mass Effect series in comic book form at Emerald City Comic Con. Mac Walters, writer for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, will write the series, which is planned for 12 issues. Walters wrote Dark Horse Comics' other four-issue comic mini-series centered around the BioWare property."Rather than going into an area where we tell brand-new stories in a universe that people know already, maybe we could find ways of fleshing out some of the stories that we've heard hints of already," Walters told Comic Book Resources. "At a high level, that's where we thought about going with 'Foundations' and that's where we went with it."Click past the break to see a page from the series' first issue, courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
Citadel sequence cut from Mass Effect 2 returns in Mass Effect 3
A segment of the Mass Effect story set in the Citadel, originally planned for Mass Effect 2, is finally being made for inclusion in Mass Effect 3, lead writer Mac Walters told OXM. "There was a Mass Effect 2 plot that was a kind of callback to the first Mass Effect that was going to be on the Citadel, and we cut it," he said. "But now it's made a resurrection in Mass Effect 3, so I'm happy, but I can't say what it is." That's right. Content that was conceived for the second game, and refers to the first game, is now in the third. And speaking of things that have been around since the first game, Walters acknowledged the difficulty of continuing the Mass Effect story after the second game's ending, which can kill off important characters. "The classic example [of a hurdle faced in writing ME3] is 'Hey, let's make the ending of Mass Effect 2 a suicide mission where all your henchmen can possibly die, and Shepard can even die!'" Walters said. "Oh right... and then we're gonna do another game after that. What the hell are we gonna do with all those guys?" Unfortunately, Walters didn't go on from there. We're going to have to wait until March to find out just what the hell does happen to all those guys.
Mass Effect getting an ongoing comic book series
It looks like Dark Horse is chomping at the bit to squeeze a bit more commercial success out of BioWare's deep space opera franchise, following the impressive sales of the Mass Effect comic mini-series, "Redemption." During a Dark Horse Comics panel at the Seattle-based Emerald City Comic-Con, it was announced that Mass Effect writer Mac Walters and John Jackson Miller, writer of the original mini-series, would be teaming up to create a regular, monthly Mass Effect comic. According to Comic Book Resources, the plot of the series will "follow the second game." We don't know if that means it will actually cover the events of Mass Effect 2, or if it takes place shortly thereafter. What we do know is that the panel also brought the announcement that Patton Oswalt is working on a Firefly comic, which takes place shortly after the events of Serenity, and that's the best news we've ever heard in our whole lives. [Via Big Download]
Interview: Mac Walters, lead writer for Mass Effect 2
At PAX, we had a chance to catch up with Mac Walters, the lead writer for Mass Effect 2 at BioWare. We discussed everything from the difficulties of penning a story for a game tons of choices to where BioWare currently stands on the portrayal of sweet, alien love-making. Joystiq: All right. So. Biggest question. We sent around email to everyone saying, "What should we ask BioWare?" Mac Walters: Right. The big question we had is, "How do you write a story where all the characters from the first game, or a lot of them, could be dead when you start out the second game?" You mean other than pulling out my hair and weeping at night, sort of, "Oh my god, how am I going to do this?" It takes a lot of planning, obviously, but essentially what we did is we looked at it and said, "Yeah we know that some of these guys are going to be dead. How do we account for that?" And the big thing was -- let's take Wrex for example -- we had to limit to some degree the roles that those characters are going to play because we have to say, "OK well they're coming back or they're not." And then we had to say, "Well what are their alternates?" So a lot of times there's characters that will fill their spot. But they don't just come in and go, you know, "I'm Wrex alternate," or something like that. It's a new character who has his own back story, who has his own role in the game and whatnot.
Mass Effect comic announced, 'Redemption' begins in January
Click image above to mass effect the size BioWare announced today that it will work with publisher Dark Horse Comics to release the comic series Mass Effect: Redemption. The first edition is set to explore the galaxy on January 6, 2010.The story is written by BioWare's Lead Writer Mac Walters, scripted by John Jackson Miller, and drawn by Omar Francia (Star Wars Legacy). The series will be released in four parts and examines the events leading up to Mass Effect 2. Walters and Francia will also be at Comic-Con to sign autographs on Friday between 4-5PM at the Dark Horse booth.
