It was a cold September lunch when Casey Hudson sat down with his bosses, Greg and Ray, to
discuss his new video game project.
But Casey was more ambitious than Greg and Ray had presumed.
He wanted to make his very own, brand new gaming trilogy.
Greg was so surprised that he burnt his tongue on his soup.
BioWare was gaining momentum.
The studio had started life when Greg and Ray had started making role playing games
in their spare time, and their little team had gone on to create licensed RPGs using
the Dungeons and Dragons branding.
They’d cemented their fame within the games industry, and now everybody knew that if you
wanted a well build, story driven RPG, BioWare was the place to go.
The studio’s crowning gem was Knights of the Old Republic, a roleplaying game set in
the Star Wars universe.
The team had worked closely with Lucasfilm to produce an original game story that didn’t
tie in to any existing property, and gamers had fallen in love with their immersive, choose-your-own
adventure storytelling.
At the head of the project had been Casey Hudson, and Greg and Ray were now willing
to let him dream up his own new idea for a game.
Casey was tired of making games based on existing brand properties.
He wanted to make something new, and fresh, that took elements from his team’s work
on Star Wars, but that told a completely original story.
His plan was to create a trilogy of games in a brand new science fiction setting, merging
elements of the Star Wars universe with the combat and feel of the Halo franchise.
It would be the one of the biggest, most epic game stories in the history of gaming, and
it would shape the future of BioWare forever.
Greg and Ray weren’t sure how to react, after they’d mopped up spilled soup.
After all, the company was still only small, and committing to a trilogy of science fiction
games meant risking all of their capital on plan that could take a decade to see fruition.
Casey had never steered them wrong before, though, so the pair tentatively accepted.
Casey’s project, titled SFX, was given the greenlight.
But where to start?
In truth, at this point, Casey didn’t exactly have a solid plan in mind.
His game didn’t yet have a story, a main character, or much of anything beyond a single
page document with vague ideas on it.
Casey got together his writing team.
The group had worked together on Knights of the Old Republic, and were already very familiar
with science fiction storytelling.
Casey explained to everyone the exciting plan that he had for his games, and how they’d
all link together to tell a huge, branching story in this fantastic original sci-fi world.
One member of the team, excited by the prospect, began doodling a dinosaur holding a laser
gun.
This was it: the first tiny idea that the game would grow from.
Together, the team began brainstorming their game world, coming up with character ideas,
and creating a universe that could support a trilogy of games.
At this point, the actual game itself was of secondary importance – the team wanted
to get their setting sorted long before actually deciding on what their game would focus on.
This worldbuilding stretched on and on, as, for over a year, the team did almost nothing
but refine their game world.
Slowly, this new fictional universe took shape.
Aliens, heroes, villains, and the game’s central plot were all fleshed out.
There was just one problem: the game didn’t have a name.
The team tried everything they could think of, in an effort to find something that perfectly
described what their epic story was about.
They just couldn’t decide on a name that worked.
One day, Casey had a bolt of inspiration.
He rushed into work, telling everyone that he’d decided on what to call the game.
They all listened eagerly, as he told them his genius plan.
They would call the game, “Rainbow”.
Rainbow?
That didn’t seem right.
Whoever heard of an action game called Rainbow?
Ah, said Casey, but what about Rainbow Six?
The team did admit that, yes, there was a popular shooter series with that name.
Casey explained himself: it didn’t matter what the game was called.
Eventually, gamers would come to associate their name with the game, no matter what title
they gave it.
With the pressure to find the perfect name relieved, the team settled on Mass Effect,
a reference to the science fiction concept at the heart of their characters’ biotic
powers.
The game was formally announced with this new title, but Casey was getting worried.
The first game’s deadline was drawing nearer, but his team had spent so long worldbuilding
that they’d neglected the actual game itself.
The team entered a period of intense work to get Mass Effect ready for its release date.
Casey found himself filling in the cracks wherever he was needed, writing code in some
places, patching up lines of dialogue, and even taking photographs in his basement to
create the game’s dream sequences.
It broke his heart a little bit, but a lot of Casey’s favourite ideas, such as online
resource trading, had to be scrapped in favour of focusing on the core gameplay.
Casey had to make hard choices as to what went into the game, and what was left on the
cutting room floor.
Finally, Mass Effect was released, and the entire team breathed a sigh of relief.
Casey was conflicted, though.
The first entry in his epic science fiction trilogy felt unfinished, and he wished he’d
had more time to complete the game.
BioWare’s fans didn’t see it that way, though.
Gamers played Mass Effect in their thousands, embracing the game’s exciting story, wonderful
science fiction world, and its memorable characters.
These key story elements went on to serve as the basis for two more games, which did
just what Casey had imagined.
They built a longrunning interactive story, where player decisions impacted later games.
The characters and setting that Casey’s team had created went on to become some of
the most beloved icons in video gaming, and Mass Effect propelled BioWare further into
mainstream, popular gaming.
The moral of the story is this: be ambitious.
It’s easy to think, when you have a fantastic idea, that you won’t be able to achieve
your goal.
You could feel anxious in inadequate, and find yourself doubting whether you can really
succeed at the things you care about.
Be brave.
You can only succeed in life if you take that first step, so don’t worry about if a challenge
feels unbeatable – with the right planning, you can accomplish anything.