Today was my last day at BioWare: Austin. It was a distinct pleasure to work at one of the finest game studios in the world for 8 years of my life. In particular, shipping Star Wars: the Old Republic has been the highlight of my career. It’s hard to leave, and I’m leaving some incredible talent behind, but for me, it’s the right thing to do.
Oh, and I’m pretty happy about all this.
How will this affect Shadow Realms and/or Star Wars: the Old Republic?
Pretty much not at all. I’ve spent my last year or so working on ‘other things’. These games remain in very capable hands. In particular, I have to give a shout out to the SWTOR team for their recent announcement of the next expansion: Shadow of Revan. It looks great, and the fan reaction to it has been fantastic. I can’t wait to see how it comes out.
What will you do next?
Well, my immediate goal is to do as little as possible for a couple of months. I may do some writing and some design consultancy, but the latter may fight with my immediate goal to wear pajama pants for as many days as humanly possible. Also, I have more Civilization: Beyond Earth to play, and I’ve signed up for my first NaNoWriMo, although this has been going terrifyingly slow so far.
I’m in no great rush – so I’m going to take a little time in order to find the actual perfect next gig. What that means, exactly, I don’t know yet, but there seems to be more than a little interest out there in starting a new studio in Austin, either an all-new studio, or a satellite of an existing company. So I think I’m going to spend a little time exploring this option, and see if there’s traction.
Interested parties should watch this space. VERY interested parties can contact me through this blog’s email. Especially those capable of writing very large checks.
Does this have anything to do with GamerGate?
No. I actually was coming to this conclusion around the time that GamerGate was just heating up. I will say that the fact that I knew my time here was coming to a close gave me more freedom to speak my mind. I certainly would have been a lot quieter if this reality was different.
Being between gigs will give me a lot more freedom to talk about this stuff, since no one can attempt to silence me any more with threats of boycotts for merely disagreeing with them. However, truth be told, I’ll be really disappointed with myself if I let this controversy devour my first ‘summer vacation’ in many years.
Anything else you want to say?
Just one: If you’re not spending your days doing something that you really love, then why not? And then, how do you get there?
welp
Onward and upward! I also am looking forward to the new SWTOR expansion – and also, giving existing players insane XP to level old characters was a masterstroke. It’s kept me and a lot of my friends playing SWTOR because MUST FINISH REST OF STORIES.
Best of luck with whatever you work on next!
Good lucky in your future projects.
Good luck and all the best for future projects.
“I will say that the fact that I knew my time here was coming to a close gave me more freedom to speak my mind.”
I don’t think you ever had anything to worry about. These “opinion” pieces put you so far up corporate game development ass you could use them for resume stuffing. I don’t think anyone would ever mistake them for actual heartfelt responses.
From someone who bugged you with annoying questions at fan summits and conventions, thanks for everything you did for SW:TOR, and look forward to what you’re up to next!
Bill
(from Ask A Jedi, back in the day 🙂
Best of luck! I hope your novel goes well. I tried and failed nanowrimo. I did do a 24-hour comic once, but it was mostly just jokes about how bad I am at drawing ;).
Wish you best luck with your writting and for any future project.
Good Luck Damion, it was a pleasure working with you during my time there. I really wish you the best and look forward to seeing what you do in the future.
I’ve done Nanowrimo three of the past four years, and it’s been a blast. Good luck at it, and have fun!
How do you get there?
All the best with your future endeavours 🙂
Mentioned briefly in 140 characters on twitter, but it was a pleasure working with you just in a pre-release capacity giving feedback on SWTOR while it was in development.
Good luck on your future stuff and I’ll be following at the very least 🙂
WTB: Meridian 60