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Next Mass Effect snags Halo 4's lead writer, gets concept art
The next Mass Effect game from BioWare is being written by Chris Schlerf, the lead writer of 343 Industries' Halo 4. BioWare revealed Schlerf's role for the game today in a blog that introduced a few members of the its development team. The lead writer for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, Mac Walters, is staying on for the next installment as the game's creative director. Schlerf joins the team as lead writer following the departure of the series' creator and executive producer back in August, Casey Hudson. In celebration of "N7 Day" today, BioWare hosted a developer roundtable via its Twitch channel to reveal pieces of concept art for the upcoming game and discuss the developer's visions and ambitions. Shying away from calling it "Mass Effect 4," the next game will emphasize space exploration and features the return of the series' much-maligned vehicle, the Mako. The team also noted that the game's protagonist will not start the adventure with "legendary status" like the previous hero, Commander Shepard. Check out our slideshow of the concept art shown during the livestream below, which certainly beats the teasers shown by BioWare last year. [Image: BioWare]
The next Mass Effect might be about you and yours
The next Mass Effect will not revolve around Commander Shepard and crew, according to a BioWare Comic-Con panel. However, Phil Hornshaw of GameFront tweeted that the game's hero will have "something to do" with N7, the military designation for special forces soldiers with the highest levels of proficiency in badassery, which Shepard was a part of before becoming savior of the galaxy. So if the game isn't about Shepard, who is it about? Andrea Rene of The Escapist snapped some offscreen pics of a customizable hero labeled "your hero," as well as a picture of a new version of the Mako landrover from the original Mass Effect. Interestingly, this Mako was referred to as "your Mako." Does the "your" imply customization options? Are we playing as ourselves? Unfortunately, such questions won't be answered for awhile, if ever. Hornshaw reports that the BioWare panelists caution that the game is years away, and things can change between now and then.
EA's BioWare touches on new Mass Effect, new IP at E3
Fans hoping to learn more about the new Mass Effect didn't have much to go on from EA's E3 conference, although BioWare did reveal it's working on a new IP. In a short video on the sci-fi follow-up, BioWare devs talked about new worlds, characters, and potential lovers in a "whole new region of space," rendered by the power of the new consoles. While BioWare Montreal is working on the new Mass Effect, the team at BioWare Edmonton is developing a "completely new IP." Again the discussion was nebulous, but the studio said it wants to take on "very contemporary stories" while realizing worlds that compare to the scopes of previous BioWare games. Along with those two projects, BioWare also has Dragon Age: Inquisition in development, and it's set to launch on October 7.
BioWare offers coy tease of next Mass Effect
BioWare celebrated its self-imposed Mass Effect holiday "N7 Day" yesterday with special Mass Effect 3 multiplayer sessions and livestreams. The game's developers also took to Twitter, compiled in one Storify post, to tease the next game in the series. There are five teaser images in total, though gameplay designer Manveer Heir noted on Twitter that there are "10 other pics on the internet from BioWare devs." The images show developers working on the next game's character and location designs as well as omni tool equipment. It's hard to glean anything worthwhile out of the images other than a reminder that another Mass Effect game is definitely in development and we should all be excited for that.
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."
