Former BioWare Writer Plans to Work on New RPG

[Soviet Heavy]

Gaider wrote Fenris IIRC, but yeah she took over Anders from Awakening. Also Merril.

Merrill was done by Mary Kirby. The whole "Gigglesquee" crap didn't even involve Jennifer Hepler, it came from a message board conversation between Mary Kirby and Sheryl Chee.

The death threats and harassment against Hepler was a shitstorm of epic proportions, and nobody deserves that. For one thing, unlike say Jonathan Blow, I don't think Hepler ever actively antagonized her critics. I think the worst thing she said was in a twitter post claiming that people were jealous of her for having a job in the games industry and a vagina.

That said, I am worried about her involvement in this project. She sounds awfully abrasive in her comments, dredging up the Straight White Male debacle from BSN, and then following it up with a snipe at the people who were outraged over he "not enjoying actually playing games" interview from years ago.

Right now I think she should stay quiet and just work on the game she wants to work on. Because if not fighting with forumites got her into a shitstorm, actively calling them out on a kickstarter project is going to end badly.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Oh, the shitty writer who likes Twilight but doesn't like LoTR is making another game? Well, allow me to not give a shit.

 

[LadyTL]

I don't really feel that her quote was taken out of context at all because she never actually follows up with how it's not going to be a Mass Effect clone. All she talks about is relationships but there was alot more to Mass Effect then that. If she is already thinking of it as a Mass Effect clone with better relationships then that is how she is going to write it.

I already told the people making the game, if she is on the project I won't donate to the Kickstarter because is obviously is already planning on writing for it as if it was Mass Effect. This is a shame because I would love to see them hit more of their stretch goals but if they do I won't want to play the game because of her writing in it.

Also if it took a game like this to see how she could have done the relationships in the other games better, she is a bad writer.

I know I am a bad writer and thought of better things to do with those relationships.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

"Terrible author vows: get ready for stuff that's both awkward to say and listen to."

In other news, politicians are still corrupt and Hollywood is still full of pretentious assholes.

 

[Limos]

Jennifer Hepler is reviled because her writing is shit and she doesn't actually like video games. Which I think are pretty good reasons to hate a video game writer. It's basically the same reason everyone hates Uwe Boll.

 

[Matthi205]

I like the idea of the game. I might not necessarily like the writing, but I love space opera ARPGs.

As for Jennifer Hepler: why do people think she's that much of a problem? If she isn't let near the main storyline, everything will be fine.

 

[Limos]

I like the idea of the game. I might not necessarily like the writing, but I love space opera ARPGs.

As for Jennifer Hepler: why do people think she's that much of a problem? If she isn't let near the main storyline, everything will be fine.

I suppose people would rather the developers not waste money by hiring someone who isn't actually useful for anything. We know that any characters, dialogue or plot she writes will be awful. Any design input she has will be bad. Why spend money hiring someone you know is terrible at their job?

 

[Erttheking]

Ah boy, here we go again. I swear the woman's name just needs to be mentioned before people start making pretty extreme claims that I feel warrant a massive "CITATION NEEDED"

 

[templar1138a]

Well, considering that I LIKED the writing in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games, I put them a little bit closer to their goal.

 

[Doom972]

Calling the game a ripoff isn't a very good way to sell your game. If that's how the game's writer is dismissing it, I don't see why I should care about it.

Too bad she could say much about anything other than romance in the game. Is this game about romance?

 

[kael013]

Well, I looked at the kickstarter, and frankly is looks like complete bullshit.

It promises 3D rendered full voiced cutscenes with indepth character and armour customization with English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian localizations with Mac, Linux and Windows versions with choices that actually matter (lol)... for $500,000.

I'll believe it when I see it. And at the current rate of funding, it seems like I won't.

I don't know that much about game development but they already have a working build (even if it is "pre-alpha"), so it looks like they're just asking for money to polish it up (or whatever the term is for moving through the alpha and beta phases) and expand certain aspects.

As for Hepler, I really don't care either way.She's written stuff I've liked and stuff I've hated, just like every other writer. DAO: Most of the Orzammar NPCs, the whole Anvil of the Void questline (including Branka and Hespith), the Dwarf Commoner Origin. DA2: Anders, Bethany, Leandra, Elthina, Cullen, Sebastan, and the majority of the Legacy DLC. That's all her work (DA Wiki [http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Jennifer_Hepler]) and while I don't agree with Hepler's views on game design, I have enjoyed a good portion of that list up there and at the end of the day, that's what matters.

 

[Gunjester]

You know, the whole Hepler thing leaves me conflicted.

On the one hand, the treatment she received from the "community" was absolutely disgusting. I feel ashamed to share a hobby with the people who threatened her.

On the other hand, every time she speaks, I become more convinced she's not the type of person we want in the game industry. For one, there's her statements gameplay and story segregation, which make it seem like she'd be more comfortable writing novels or screenplays than game scripts. Dismissing the importance of gameplay is not something a game writer should ever do. It'd be like a novelist dismissing the importance of word choice, or a film writer dismissing the importance of actors.

Now she refers to the game as a "rip-off" right away, and hiring her is supposed to be a bonus tied to a stretch goal?

Sorry, but that rubs me the wrong way. A lot.

While not wishing Hepler any ill at all, I remain convinced she'd be more comfortable and successful in a different industry.

This is the same position I took during the "kill her kids" thing caused her to leave, and everyone supporting her just roped me in with the psycho-trolls that threatened her.

I have no personal vendetta with this woman, I just don't want her working on my games because she's only ever been involved with things I disliked.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well I guess it's free publicity, but devs do be warned when you are signing up with someone that describes your work as "rip-off" it means they don't give two shits about what you are doing... and I can't possibly imagine how that can end well for you.
I understand you need writers, but you might want to first find someone that understands your work.

 

[LadyTL]

Hey~ the Hepler Hate Brigade's already showed up and started spewing unsubstantiated bullshit about her writing abilities and taking the word of a random news headline of a website known for picking the most attention-grabbing headlines it can over the words that she actually fucking said!

Keep up the good work guys; you're making us all (sniff) so proud.

Uh, she actually did call it a rip off of Mass Effect and never gave any reason as to how it wouldn't be. How is being concerned over that make you part of some hate Brigade? I think this game looks kinda interesting but it's clear having Hepler write for it when she only thinks of it as a copy of another game isn't going to help it any.

 

[mad825]

Looking at the Kickstarter page, they might want to include on the "risks and challenges" that Jennifer might go on a PMS rampage and quit her job...

Anyway....

SENTINEL OF KAL
=============================
BETA KEY FOR ALL FIVE EPISODES + COMPLETE ARMOR SET + DYE SET AND ARMOR SET BONUS

...You're kidding me right? There's going to be a DLC pack for a set of dyes? After Fable 3 you can go to hell.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Wait wait wait...

So, this woman is loathed and hissed at by the Escapist community for the simple fact that she herself doesn't like to play video games?

Um. Alright. How should I put this? Um, "get over it"?

I don't get it. I thought we were more open-minded about these kinds of things.

 

[LadyTL]

Uh, she actually did call it a rip off of Mass Effect and never gave any reason as to how it wouldn't be. How is being concerned over that make you part of some hate Brigade? I think this game looks kinda interesting but it's clear having Hepler write for it when she only thinks of it as a copy of another game isn't going to help it any.

Yes she did call it a rip off of Mass Effect, in a way, but, then again, ending a quote right before they say the word "but" tends to deprive a lot of fucking meaning and context out of what they were trying to say. For your, and everyone else's benefit, from post #10 of this very thread, HBaskerville providing the actual quote:

Talk about taking a quote out of context to gin up page views. This is terrible writing and bad journalism.

Here's the quote from the kickstarter page: (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aharon/ambrov-x-a-sime-gen-roleplaying-game/posts/589304)

"When Aharon Cagle first approached me about Ambrov X, I was skeptical, as I?m sure most of you are. Who was this little company making what looked to be a complete Mass Effect rip-off? And how were they possibly going to manage that on a Kickstarter budget? But then we talked, and I read the source material, and I started thinking? What if when Ash/Kaidan turn against Shepard in the Citadel coup, Shepard?s own life literally depended on convincing them back to his side? What if Hawke could have used Anders?s addiction to her life-force to keep him from turning fully Vengeance? How much more intense could your relationship be with your followers if they were more than friends, more than romances ? if they were both a part of your soul and the greatest threat to it?"

Clearly Miss Helper does not think this game is just a rip off. Far from it. Shameful that the Escapist lets this kind of writing pass on the site. Shameful.

So where is the but in that paragraph, taken straight from the kickstarter page? Where is how the game isn't going to be like Mass effect? Where is her talking about how she will help the story be different?

Oh wait, it's not there. There is no but. There is no saying the game is actually going to be different. All she talks about is relationships and then herself. Nothing about how she is going to make sure no one can say the game is a Mass Effect rip-off...Like she did.