Ep. 27: BioWare Stories Part 1 - Releasing the BioWare Community and Neverwinter Nights

Today’s episode is part one of two where I talk to my good friend and colleague Craig Miller about BioWare. Craig and I have now worked together for almost 25 years since we first met at BioWare.

If you play video games then you probably know BioWare. The game studio was responsible for bringing some of the most renowned Dungeons & Dragons computer games to life including Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 and Neverwinter Nights, the most beloved Star Wars game story of all time in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the space opera trilogy of Mass Effect and of course the high fantasy epics of Dragon Age. The Mass Effect franchise alone has sold over 30 million copies. Over the years the staff who have worked at the studio have entertained millions in producing some of the most critically acclaimed story-based computer and console roleplaying games in history.

If this podcast glorifies the idea of words creating worlds, then BioWare and all its people are masters of that phrase. But it takes more than game developers to bring a game out the door; there’s a supporting cast of hundreds and I was lucky to be one of them for some years between 2001 and 2007.

A few years ago BioWare celebrated 25 years and produced an amazing book with artwork, stories and photos. But you can’t tell all the stories, especially all the crazy and geeky ones in a single book. So I thought it would be great to sit down with some former BioWarians like Craig to talk about those old days. This interview is quite geeky; it goes into what Craig and I were doing there helping to build, launch and run the BioWare Community.

In many ways, this is a love letter to all the people we worked with. I’m sure most gamers that recall games such as Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire don’t know all the stories behind how a small crew managed to keep those games alive or get those games out the door.

I hope you enjoy our stories.

Some photos and videos

And finally see the crazy habit trail we talk about… c. 2002-2003.

There are many people we didn’t name in this podcast: We can’t there’s too many, just open up the credits on any BioWare game and every person there is a hero! However, thank you to Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk for bringing us all together once upon a time.

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