#sci-fi horror is made for winter I don't make the rules

[pyrholidonhead]

alien season is officially upon us by the way. embrace winter with the cold terror of space, sigourney weaver, insidious corporations that want to kill you, space truckers and space marines, and your best friend the xenomorph

[felassan]

A conversation/interview video with Casey Hudson called "Casey Hudson Interview: Mass Effect Director on New Studio Humanoid Origin and His Next Game": [source and watch link] In the video they discuss topics like previous BioWare games and the early days at BioWare.

Part of video description:

"In this career-spanning interview, I talk to Mass Effect creator Casey Hudson about his philosophy on game development, projects like Star Wars: KotOR, and his new remote-friendly studio, Humanoid Origin, which is hard at work on an all-new sci-fi game IP."

Some quotes/notes under the cut:

Covid was a strange time for everyone. Casey was a studio head at BioWare when the pandemic and lockdown hit; everyone went home. this was very surreal, but he "was sitting in [his] home office as the General Manager for a studio of several hundred people", and "it kind of worked pretty well, and then it just makes you realize that if that's possible, then maybe you don't need the big infrastructure, huge studio locations, maybe there's a different way to do it."

Casey is also a concept artist. when they were starting creating Mass Effect, he was really concerned with the Citadel and what the shape of it was going to be, so he did tons of drawings trying to figure out what it would look like.

In the early days of BioWare, the old BioWare culture had devs often out dancing on Whyte Avenue. many of the devs in the early days at BW worked on Whyte Avenue. just downstairs from them is where all the bars and restaurants were, and many of the devs lived within walking distance. at that time work was most of their lives. if they wanted to meet their friends at the bar, they were just downstairs or across the street. "This is not a lifestyle that you wanna maintain into your 30s and 40s, but that's kind've what it was like at that time. But because it was so, I think it was a really narrow existence in a lot of ways and half of it is in the winter, bitterly cold outside, that we then first of all have a lot of time to focus and imagine something but also you then really start thinking of like, what does the escape look like? Where do you want to be right now? Instead of in the middle of the winter in Edmonton working 12 hours a day. Where would you, what do you fantasize about? That I think is kinda what propelled a lot of the vision for these really epic places and a sense of escapism." - Interestingly KOTOR and ME1 both have levels/scenes near the end with beaches.

It took people 15 years to notice that the sentence in the opening segment of ME1 "and the civilizations of the galaxy called it.. mass effect" was an homage to Top Gun ("the pilots call it Top Gun"). this was put in there because Casey used to want to be a fighter pilot when he was younger.

Why did they have the Reapers in ME, these lovecraftian terrifying horror things? They originate from 2 things. BW really envisioned ME as "imagine that there was a movie that came out in the late 70s or early 80s". it was to be kind of in the vein of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, or Alien, and like it was like a major sci-fi hit that just didn't get released, only now you get to play it and be in that experience. "So that's kind of where we went with, not necessarily horror, but that sort of sci-fi suspense feeling. And then I think the other piece was, we were just really swinging for the fences. like, if there's a threat, what is the biggest threat? And if you're gonna make a decision in this game, let's make them agonizing decisions of the highest stakes, and so ME kind've has this feeling like, of everything being big and important and difficult choices and huge scale. And I think that's where it came from."

99% of the creature models for Neverwinter Nights were thrown in the trash. Casey made a bunch of models over the course of a year, as a major part of his role that year. Then the D&D 3rd Edition rules came out with concepts in them for how things were supposed to look. "I believe what happened was we were asked to just snap to those concepts, so all of these character models that I had made were just never going to get used. the irony of it is the one thing that did end up getting used was the giant spider model I did in my first day or two."

(on his first day at BioWare they gave him a concept for a giant spider, and in his first week he made this spider monster model.)

early screenshots of NWN were from a prototype as opposed to the proper game engine.

the interviewer mentioned that the NWN era was a stressful time, a dark time at BioWare. the publisher was going bankrupt.

the co-founder doctors Ray and Greg were very good at providing an environment that felt stable because they were shielding the devs from a lot of the existential crisis the business was in, so it felt stable, but they also provided real stability. "The games that we worked on, for many years, everything we worked on shipped and became a good game that brought revenue into the studio and elevated our status as a developer. But I know that it was a lot rougher waters than what we experienced. I'm always curious to follow up with Rey and Greg and find out what that would have been like for them."

The interviewer then mentions that things then got a little more exploratory at the studio at that time, and the fact that there were some cancelled projects. Casey: "At that point, we were becoming larger as a studio and growing the number of projects we had at a given time. I think at one point there was just more projects than we could sustain in terms of focus and just the logistics of getting that many things out. Prior to that though we had an amazing run, it was very rare to be able to ship everything that you work on, and I think we had that for quite a while."

At that time in games development, devs just worked on the game they were working on all day. Nowadays in game development there's lots of other things they often have to do during their day at work (like instead of and in addition to). in his new studio, Casey said he wants to try and work smarter or faster, and without ending up doing crunch time, and without working on things that end up needing to be downscoped.

He also discussed the development of KOTOR at various points in the video and relayed some anecdotes about KOTOR. for example, Jolee Bindo is named after his imaginary friend from childhood that he had.

On the naming of Anthem: "So that one, I've only heard the story secondhand because I came into Anthem at the very end. I was on that project at the very, that was going to be the next full game that I was gonna work on right after ME3. We moved onto what was going to be our new IP and it was called Project Dylan at the time. I worked on Dylan for about a year before I left EA. I was at Microsoft for a while. then after a few years, that project was still going and then had actually been announced as Anthem and had its E3 debut. So they already had their name, as of that point. As I understand, that was another one where it's just, you try a number of different names, and at this point, there are just so many things being copy-written that it's really hard to find a name that isn't blocked by an existing product. But I thought that was a great name."

In the early days of BW they generally didn't have much interaction with the publisher. "It just really felt like we could just go off and design something that was true to itself and was amazing for what we were making". it's harder and harder to do this nowadays as publishers and studios get bigger and bigger.

[source]

[goodoldfashionedengineer]

That Blood of Yours

Ao3

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Chapter: 1/?

Word Count: 1,533

Summary: There is nothing about this he understood. But here Stan was, with his twin brother in his creepy house who had nothing better to do than to summon a demon. Said demon wants to rule the world and is also a huge jerk. Luckily, this time Stan calls for help. Family is the most important thing in life, they say. If that doesn't backfire. Oh well, then the Pines' siblings have a lot to recover from, what about it?

Or: Ford doesn't go through the portal, instead he is possessed by Bill. Stan doesn't like what his twin has been up to at all and calls Shermie. Turns out: The Pines' boys all have struggles they weren't aware of. Bill Cipher is not helping.

Chapter 1: The House in the Woods

There is nothing about this he understood.

Here he is, with his twin brother, whom he hadn't seen for 10 years, mind you, in his basement. The creepy house in the middle of the woods of a town which isn't even on a map gave off enough "mad scientist vibes" already. Then said twin brother talked about a hole in their dimension, whatever that is supposed to mean.

It didn't even matter anyway. Not right now. What could he say? Things had gone… a little too out of hand; they got angry and now they are both in a fist fight as if they were teenagers.

"You don't care about your family! You only care about your dumb mysteries!", Stan shouted, followed by a left hook.

Ford fell. He didn't stand up.

Oh no. Oh no no no no no. It couldn't have been that bad, right? He didn't want to knock him out! Stan knelt beside his brother, checking his pulse and looking for injuries. His own shoulder stung like hell, but Ford had priority right now. Even if he would never be forgiven.

Just when he wanted to pick up Ford's head to examine it, Ford began to shift and sat up.

"Sweet Moses, you're fine! I am so sorry, Ford!"

Ford turned his head so he could look at him. Stan jumped back. Panic and confusion rolled over him.

Ford's eyes were yellow. The grin he pulled was unsettling and inhuman. The whole atmosphere suddenly changed and the cold basement in the winter now felt like an ice chamber.

Ford started talking. "Oh, but Stanley! You have nothing to apologize for! You just helped me start my most incredible invention! We'll be famous, you and I!"

This wasn't his brother. He grew up with a pathological liar for a mother, he himself was a conman. Stan knew when someone made false statements.

"Who or what are you?", he asked with strong determination, preparing himself for a fight. This town was weirder than he thought.

That thing turned away from him, now facing the blue-glowing portal. The smile was still there. "You'll soon find out". Making eye contact with Stan again, he added, "But early introductions can't hurt. This dimension doesn't have much time left anyway. But don't worry, you'll be in the V. I. P. lounge right next to your lovely brother!"

Okay, something wants to take over their "dimension" and said something looks like Ford. In what weird sci-fi movie did he end up in.

The creature looked at him and offered its hand. Stan had to admit, these eyes were creepier than his darkest nightmares.

"Hi, name's Bill Cipher!", it greeted, limping towards Stan. Without thinking he crept backwards to the control panel.

"You don't need to be afraid of me. Your brother and I are friends! But I see you are much smarter than IQ here!", it laughed and it gave Stan the chills, reminding him of the horror films they used to watch.

Finally reaching the control room, he looked around real quick. There weren't any loose, heavy things except the chair. That will have to do.

"What did you do with Ford!", he yelled.

Deep breath. If it was Ford's body and not a clone or something alike then… a concussion is still better than being possessed, Stanley reasoned. The thing came closer and closer.

"Sixer made a deal with me! He helped me build this thing! My entrance to the party! I am just waiting until it's stable!"

The chair swung against its head and the body fell to the ground, unmoving.

He didn't feel as guilty as the first time when he knocked out his brother. The second time this day he kneeled beside him to check his pulse, much more hesitant.

Slowly he took one hand, pressing two fingers on the wrist. It's there. Faster than it probably should be, but it's there. That is all that matters.

Now the next question is: what to do next.

He didn't think this plan through.

The portal was glowing and a timer was ticking. But he had to secure his brother or his clone as well. Looking at the counter told him he still had several hours left, so securing Ford could go first. He really didn't want to meet this Bill again.

Best thing is to bring some distance between Bill and the portal. He picked his brother up and carried him towards the elevator. What the heck, Ford. Who has an elevator in their basement.

When the elevator stopped, he sighed at the sight of the stairs. His shoulder is going to kill him. Conquering them as well, he went to what seemed to be the living room once. It was full with books and papers and weird paranormal shit, but there was a coffee table with a radio and an armchair. Which also had nerd stuff on top. Great.

He tried his best to move everything from the armchair with his foot. Carefully he placed his brother on it. Now he needed something to keep him in place in case Bill decided to show up again.

After his unsuccessful search in the living room, he continued in what was probably an office. There was a desk, a couch, a bulletin board and the ugliest carpet Stan has ever seen. Wow, his brother had bad taste.

He went over to the desk, whose drawers were overflowing. After rummaging through the chaos, he finally found something that could be of use.

Back in the living room, he was glad seeing his brother was still unconscious. That didn't sound right. But it is still possible that this isn't really his brother. He just had to wait to find out.

A third roll of duct tape later, Stan considered another of his tasks accomplished. The scene now resembled a kidnapping, especially considering that they were in the woods of a dead end's town, but he had other things to worry about.

The silence was deafening. And it left Stan alone with his thoughts. His brother hated him or was impersonated by something. His brother built a portal which someone named Bill Cipher wants to use to conquer earth. And it was still on. If this is his brother, he is an absolute mess and if not, he has no idea where he is.

All in all, Stan came to a conclusion: the supernatural is dangerous.

The pain in his shoulder was still strong, so he decided that should be the next task. Less to screw up than if he tried shutting down the portal.

He went to the bathroom, which was by far the tidiest room. Which just showcased how much of a mess the rest of the house is, as the cabinet's are wild open and clothes are littered in a pile.

Stan approached the cabinet with the mirror first, in hope of finding a first aid kit there.

That's when a red stain on the sink caught his attention. His eyes went wide and a gasp escaped his mouth. Was this… was this dried blood?

Next to the sink is a small trash can, filled to the brim. Bandages upon bandages, mixed with gauze pads, all spotted with the same haunting color.

This home was a horror house and his brother can't escape it.

The anger from earlier was now replaced by worry.

There was a first aid kit, but it was empty. Maybe the wound didn't need treatment and would heal from alone. Unlikely, but still possible. So he examined it in the mirror and- ouch, that is a nasty one. It seemed leathery, but it didn't bleed. Cooling will do it.

Of course his nerd brother didn't have anything in the freezer. Creativity is man's best friend. Looking out of the window, he got an idea.

With an idea in mind he grabbed the cleanest cloth, went outside, filled it with snow and closed it up with the duct tape he put in his pocket.

Immediately his skin felt better. Back inside he went to check up on his brother and nope, he's still asleep. If he thought about it, he had to admit that he's pretty tired himself. On second thought, he doubted that he could fall asleep with all the thoughts racing through his mind, which he didn't want to unpack just yet.

Instead, he toured through the house and made some interesting discoveries. For one, the home didn't really seem like a home and more like a lab. Second, his brother had some weird obsession with geometrical decorations. If the boxes upon boxes of décor pyramids and carpets with triangles in the attic were anywhere to go by.

What's more, he felt like being watched up there. And not just there. The whole house gave him goosebumps if he didn't look over his shoulders every once in a while. It didn't make sense, because no one else lived here.

A yelp spread across the silent cabin and Stan rushed to the living room, where his brother was strapped to the chair, unable to free himself. His eyes were normal again.

They had a long conversation ahead of themselves.

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