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samurailink.bsky.social
The Shame of Serault
@samurailink.bsky.social
13 followers 21 following 21 posts
I worked on the Save Serault Project.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LypqgQd3fkVIZvpAlU2JX6Lo5f-1hbSE?usp=sharing
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montilyetweek.bsky.social
An official week has been decided! December 14th through 20th!

Prompts will be revealed in the coming weeks

#Josephineweek #josieweek #josephineweek2025 #Dragonage
September 11, 2025 at 6:46 PM
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kupogames.bsky.social
Newgrounds' approach to verifying age is interesting and transparent.
July 30, 2025 at 9:19 PM
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derytatith.bsky.social
tired pleading Lucanis for all your tired pleading Lucanis needs
#DragonAge #Veilguard #LucanisDellamorte
July 6, 2025 at 5:26 PM
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localcrabmin.bsky.social
Head still empty, only Sigrun
#dragonage #dragonageorigins
July 6, 2025 at 11:45 PM
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rich.lafferty.ca
in slightly-early honour of St Patricks Day, I will once again remind the world of the time Amazon united Ireland (and apologized for the Troubles), still one of my favourite moments on twitter
A Twitter thread. Amazon Help replies to a (not visible) tweet saying "Autumn Nations Cup coverage is available to Prime Video customers based in UK only. Prime Video doesn't support streaming content through Virtual Private Network (VPN) or proxy connections. Are you using either of these?" Chris Jones says "No." Amazon Help says "Thank you for that information. We apologize but upon reviewing your location you're in Northern Ireland. Rugby Autumn Nations Cup coverage is exclusively available to Prime members based in the UK. We don't have the rights to other territories." The thread continues. Chris Jones says "Northern Ireland is part of the UK." Amazon Help says "Many apologies, but we don't have the broadcast rights for Ireland or other territories." Another twitter user says "Northern Ireland *IS* the UK, "UK" is short for The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. (This tweet does not reflect my opinions on the matter of a united island of Ireland)" Amazon Help replies "Thank you for reaching out to us. We'll be sure to pass your feedback along to the appropriate team." Amazon Help replies to a different tweet, and leads with "Hi there! We apologize for the troubles."
March 16, 2025 at 8:23 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
My advice to EA (not that they care): you have an IP that a lot of people love. Deeply. At its height, it sold well enough to make you happy, right? Look at what it did best at the point where it sold the most. Follow Larian's lead and double down on that. The audience is still there. And waiting. ❤️
February 5, 2025 at 11:59 PM
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rajio.bsky.social
Huge congratulations to Manfred (Dragon Age: Veilguard) for winning the 2024 award for Best Little Guy In Gaming!

Thanks for all the great little guys for being part of the games we love. You all got lots of votes.
December 7, 2024 at 2:01 PM
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keyvei.bsky.social
I feel the urge to post my favorite Dragon Age art again because I added some essential details that I felt were lacking (Assan and Manfred 🥺)

Best 60 hours spent no regrets

#dragonage
Dragon Age tapestry with all the companions
November 29, 2024 at 8:38 PM
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marykirby.bsky.social
Teia is going to plan the wedding, and insist that Viago give Rook away at the ceremony. Viago will sigh dramatically, lecture Rook about it, and then spend a week picking out the right gloves to wear.
November 10, 2024 at 6:11 PM
samurailink.bsky.social
So for every year I have drawn the Cast of Dragon Age in MS Paint to celebrate #DragonAgeDay. Since the world has Migrated to Bluesky here's the whole collection!
2021 - Origins
2022 - DA2
2023 - Inquisition
2024 - Veilguard

Next year will be the cast of Awakening!
The cast of Origins, drawn especially poorly. The cast of DA2, drawn especially poorly The cast of Inquisition, drawn especially poorly The cast of Veilguard, drawn especially poorly
December 4, 2024 at 2:07 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
It's hypothetical at this point, but I suspect I would have been less willing to lose the serial killer aspect... or, at least, would have made that transition occur as part of his arc in DAI. Yet that's easy to say from this side of the divide. Who knows, really?
November 28, 2024 at 12:41 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - Day Eight: Dorian

Now this is a fun one. It's no big secret I have a lot of feelings about Dorian, not least of which because he was my first (and only) gay male companion. There's a lot more to him than that, of course (as there should be), and it was quite a trip. So let's go!
Dorian, as he appeared in-game. This was the work of U Ri So, a character artist from Korea who'd just started at the time - Dorian and Cullen were her first big tasks, and boy oh boy did she knock it out of the park. The reveal poster for Dorian, shows him casting a spell with a snowy wilderness and ruin background. I kind of love that he got the same staff here that Orsino had in DA2, which the writers referred to as "the Staff of Violation". For reasons unknown. A screenshot from one of the Dorian romance scenes, with Dorian resting his head on the player's shoulder. At the end game, I think? So cute. I think this was Sarah Hayward's cinematic work? She did such a great job, and was so committed to doing the translation of story to screen justice.
November 27, 2024 at 3:23 AM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - Day Nine: Cassandra

This is the last of the (major) characters I wrote during my time on Dragon Age. I could go into others, and considered moving onto Stray Gods... but I feel like fewer would be interested, and I honestly can't keep up the pace. So let's make this the last, for now.
A head and shoulders shot of Cassandra, in heavy armor, as she first appeared in DA2. I almost forgot she looked like this back then. Head and shoulders shot of Cassandra, as she appeared in Dragon Age Inquisition. The character artists did such an amazing job translating her into the new engine. A still from a DAI cutscene which includes Cassandra and the now-infamous "[DISGUSTED NOISE]" subtitle. Honestly, I just had in my head a sort of... short, derisive snort? But I didn't want to SAY "snort" in the subtitles because the LAST time I did that the voice actor literally snorted. As in snorted like a pig! Miranda read this line the first time and started laughing, she didn't know what to make of it, and laughed more when I tried to describe it. The result is now infamous.
November 28, 2024 at 8:59 AM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - Day Seven: Shale

Oops! I realized I'd moved on from DAO but missed one of the companions I'd written. Which checks out, honestly, because I almost didn't write Shale and, even after I'd written her, she almost didn't happen anyhow. Then she did. Prepare yourself for... PIGEON QUEST. 🦤
A screenshot from the Stone Prisoner DLC, showing Shale in front of one of the buildings in her initial quest area. A row of pigeons, up close to the camera with HVAC system in the background. Staring with their beady little demon eyes. My eternal nightmare.
November 25, 2024 at 11:39 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
If it had, if I had time, maybe I'd have re-booted him as a templar. Someone pro-templar rather than anti-mage, who could give a personal hook into Meredith and give the templars some badly-needed humanity.

But this falls into the shoulda-woulda-coulda category. I had a follower to write. Quickly.
November 24, 2024 at 10:09 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
It's why I (reluctantly) let Patrick wrest Cole from my grasp in DAI, a character I'd created in Asunder. It's also why I let Jennifer take Anders in DA2, who I'd started in Awakening.

In this instance, it meant I was left with the angry elven warrior character who nobody else appeared to want.
November 24, 2024 at 10:08 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - DAY SIX: Fenris

Now, DA2 is a story all on its own but I'm not going to go there other than to sum it up as "we had just over a year and a half to make this". It's why I only wrote one follower, Fenris, and although it'll make his fans mad: I probably shouldn't have.

Let me explain.
In-game image of Fenris from Dragon Age 2. I'd objected strenuously to the art team's plan at changing the elves to a more "distinctive" appearance. Not that I opposed the idea in theory, but I thought they ended up looking too alien, and according to the lore elves were generally considered attractive. The art team mocked and dismissed me (quite literally, I'm afraid) and the rest of the team had bigger battles to fight. For Fenris, at least, he reached a point of being kinda sexy despite the change... so not all bad, I guess? A piece of unused concept art for Fenris: bare-chested, quilted armor on the legs, giant sword on the back. I was looking through the Fenris concept art pieces online and saw this and thought "hey, this one actually looks pretty good... if you ignore the DA2 elves-are-barefoot thing". I want to say maybe this was a piece done for the cancelled expansion, for a potential Fenris model update? A screenshot from one of the DA2 conversation scenes with Fenris, in the mansion he occupies during the game. He did a lot of drinking. I got accused, at one point, of glorifying alcoholism? I mean... I don't know if Fenris was an alcoholic, but if he was the bitterness of these scenes certainly doesn't feel like glorification to me.
November 24, 2024 at 10:07 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
"He literally says the massage is sensual."
"Well he wasn't clear enough!"

This is where I first came to the conclusion that a certain number of our players just don't know how to people. And that maybe an adjustment to the way we approached the messaging (or massaging lol) of romance was in order.
November 24, 2024 at 1:21 AM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - DAY FIVE: Zevran

I was going to skip over Zevran, honestly, as I felt like I didn't have a lot to tell in the way of stories about him... but I know he still has some (ardent) fans. Plus, on reflection, I thought maybe I DO have a few things to say. 😅

Sooo we'll see how this goes.
I keep forgetting that Zevran is an elf, honestly. My mind immediately goes to "twink". DA2 Zevran. Oh god. He doesn't even have face tattoos! As soon as they cut him and Alistair getting custom face sculpts, we probably should have cut their appearances. I still remember reviewing the DAO sex scenes with the team, and noting the gender- or race-specific variations - like this one. I blushed so hard. Keep in mind we'd never done anything like this, previously.
November 24, 2024 at 1:10 AM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
That was the new Alistair: a more useful and likeable yet equally dorky version of Xander. We had very strict rules in DA about language: no modern speech styles, colloquialisms, any words that came into use in our world after 1900 got severe side eye... but Alistair? Alistair got a blanket pass.
November 23, 2024 at 12:24 AM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - DAY FOUR: Alistair

Ah, Alistair. Depending on who you ask, he's the adorable woobie with the biggest heart or the irritating, over-used man-child. Yes, he is indeed all of those things. Good characters have flaws to go with their virtues. Ugly spots. That is literally their humanity.
Original flavour Alistair, in DAO. Always with the eyebrow. We don't talk about DA2 Alistair. I actually really appreciate the artists took the time to give Alistair a unique appearance in DAI. Probably my favourite version of him.
November 23, 2024 at 12:21 AM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - DAY THREE: Flemeth

I have a type. I admit it. There are certain wells I can return to repeatedly and always find something new to explore.

One of them is older female characters. Mike used to rib me about it. Consider Wynne. Meredith. Genevieve. And, of course, the biggie: Flemeth.
Ahhh the original version of Flemeth's appearance, after we'd cut her unique model. I almost forgot that this is what it looked like. Bah, it's fine. Shapeshifter, right? We'll ignore that shapeshifters don't change into other human appearances - Flemeth is special. I remember when the artists brought me the concept for DA2's revamp of Flemeth. I was in love immediately. Hair horns? God yes. I'll do whatever I need to in order to explain this, thank you. Look at that outfit. LOOK AT IT. This is where Morrigan gets it from, clearly. "Watch me serve, daughter, but know you will never do it QUITE as well!"
November 21, 2024 at 8:43 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - DAY TWO: Kieran

(Technically this is an addendum to yesterday, but I make the rules here so nyah!)

Heading into DAI, I had a bite-sized problem on my hands. I knew Morrigan would feature. I also knew we were importing previous choices. So now I had to contend with: the Old God Baby. 🧵
Ah, Kieran. So dapper! I had a moment of "but what if the Warden wasn't, you know..." because he's SO white, but the artists just went "shhhh shhhh it's maaaagic" and I had to admit they were correct. This whole sequence had already stretched the limits of our resources and then some. The Old God soul is transferred! Only appears in one of the three versions, but such a magical moment. Ah, yes, the (awkwardly animated) Dark Ritual scene. Why didn't we just fade to black? Or move the camera to look at the fireplace or something? I'll never know.
November 20, 2024 at 9:47 PM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
It'd be difficult to see that now. The very first drafts were a lot more eccentric - more like Flemeth, I'd say, but times ten.

The feedback I got was that she's a bit too LALALULU and I had to agree (and my idea of her was changing anyhow). So that slowly got weeded out.
November 20, 2024 at 1:21 AM
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davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - DAY ONE: Morrigan

Morrigan began, waaaay back, as a bit of Morgan le Fey (hence the Dark Ritual) mixed with Delirium from Sandman. The Delirium elements subsided into more of a weird cadence of speech as my idea of Morrigan solidified - more cynical, wanting to connect but unable to. 🧵
Morrigan's original appearance in DAO. I can't help but look back on this and balk at the old graphics, but at the time I was *enamoured*. The DAI version of Morrigan - so awesome. I remember pleading with the artists: "If we put her in the Orlais plot, can we give her a dress?! PLEASE PLEASE" It almost didn't happen. Some of the first art we put out for Morrigan. I remember seeing this and asking "why does she look so YOUNG?" - that's when I learned how parts of the team thought she was, like, 18. The idea persisted for some time.
November 20, 2024 at 12:43 AM