On Friday, in an update on her LinkedIn page, writer Mary DeMarle, formerly of Eidos Montreal revealed that she has joined developer BioWare as Senior Narrative Director. At Eidos, she built the Deus Ex universe fans know today being in charge of all of the recent Deus Ex titles like Mankind Divided, Human Revolution, and the mobile spin-offs Deus Ex: Go and Deus Ex: The Fall. Most recently, she worked on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy which won Best Narrative at The Game Awards last year.
In May, Eidos Montreal was bought by Embracer Group along with Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix Montreal from Square Enix. In addition to the studios, Embracer Group also acquired all of the studios’ IPs which include Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, Thief, and more.
We know that Crystal Dynamics is working on new Tomb Raider game. It is unclear as of now what Eidos Montreal is working on following Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Currently, Bioware is working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and the next Mass Effect. Michael Gamble, Project Director at Bioware who is leading the team working on the next Mass Effect announced that DeMarle is joining the Mass Effect team as Senior Narrative Director.
While speaking with GI.biz, DerMarle talked about the relationship between gameplay and narrative in game development. “For many, many years working in this industry, I’ve known that story is often subservient to gameplay,” DeMarle said. “But if I understand the game and what is the feeling I’m trying to evoke for players, then I can understand that gameplay is trying to do it this way, and story is here to support that or bring it forward. How can the things I write help to emphasize the things the gameplay needs, etc.? As long as you always know the game you’re trying to make and understand why, then it just comes down to constant communication between narrative and gameplay, and constantly looking and understanding it from that point of view.”