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Drew Karpyshyn

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Drew Karpyshyn
Drew Karpyshyn at Lucca Comics & Games, 2014
Drew Karpyshyn at Lucca Comics & Games, 2014
Born (1971-07-28) July 28, 1971 (age 53)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
OccupationNovelist, game designer
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy, science fiction
SpouseJennifer Karpyshyn
Website
drewkarpyshyn.com

Drew Karpyshyn (born July 28, 1971) is a Canadian video game scenario writer, scriptwriter and novelist of Ukrainian descent.[1][2] He served as a senior writer on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for BioWare and lead writer for the first two Mass Effect video games. He left BioWare in 2012 to focus on his Chaos Born novels, and returned to it three years later in 2015. On March 9, 2018, he announced he was leaving BioWare once again to pursue his independent work.

Career

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Karpyshyn was at one point employed as a loan officer.[3] Following a car accident, he quit his job and returned to college, gaining a degree in English.[4] He got his start as a game designer for Wizards of the Coast, and he also has written two novels for Wizards of the Coast, both published in 2001 and both set in the Forgotten Realms setting: Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal and Temple Hill.[3]

Karpyshyn joined the video game company BioWare in 2000.[3][5] He wrote the scenario and much of the dialogue for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,[6] for which he would share the award for "Excellence in Writing" at the 2003 Game Developers Choice Awards.[7] He was later one of the lead writers and planners on Jade Empire, and worked on several games in the Baldur's Gate series. His next major project was the Mass Effect series of games.[6] His third book, Darth Bane: Path of Destruction was published by Del Rey Ballantine Books in 2006.[3]

Mass Effect was named Game of the Year, in addition to receiving four other awards at the 2008 Elan Awards.[8]

Karpyshyn moved to Austin, Texas to help with Star Wars: The Old Republic.[9] He left BioWare in February 2012 to focus more on his own projects.[10] He returned to BioWare in 2015 to focus on the post-release development of Star Wars: The Old Republic.[11] He later started working on Anthem in 2017.[12] In March 2018, he announced that he would once again leave BioWare to work on other things, including more original novels, co-creating a sci-fi graphic novel, and freelance gaming work.[13]

Karphyshyn announced in February 2020 that he had joined Archetype Entertainment, an internal studio of Wizards of the Coast with former BioWare staff James Ohlen and Chad Robertson as studio leads. Archetype had been revealed in January 2020 and that it was working on a new science fiction role-playing game. Karphyshyn said that while his interest in video game development waned as BioWare had changed over the years, "my passion has been rekindled. The feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare; I can feel the magic in the air."[14]

Personal life

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In March 2000, Karpyshyn appeared on an episode of Jeopardy!, finishing third.[9][15] He is a fan of the NFL's San Diego Chargers.[10] He believes that in the NFL, Bill Belichick is most likely to follow the ways of the Sith, and Peyton Manning is the most likely to be a Jedi.[16] Though his musical tastes lean more to what he calls "mainstream alternative", such as the Foo Fighters and Green Day, he also enjoys Sage Francis' song "The Best of Times". He prefers to write at night without any music playing.[17]

Karpyshyn was born on July 28, 1971, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He previously lived in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, with his wife Jennifer.[4] In the spring of 2009, he moved with his family to Austin, Texas.[10]

Works

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Games

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Novels

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Forgotten Realms

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Star Wars

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Mass Effect

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Chaos Born

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  • Children of Fire (2013)
  • The Scorched Earth (2014)
  • Chaos Unleashed (2015)

References

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  1. ^ "Star Wars: Imperial City Online > Interview with Drew Karpyshyn". 2016-05-31. Archived from the original on 2016-05-31. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
  2. ^ "FAQ | Drew Karpyshyn". 2015-10-02. Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
  3. ^ a b c d "Karpyshyn, Drew". Contemporary Authors. January 1, 2007. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Drew Karpyshyn". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on March 9, 2009.
  5. ^ Gelinas, Ben (September 16, 2008). "Spinning a gripping ... game". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Pixels, Panels, and Prose Colloquium at University of Texas at Tyle April 14". US Fed News Service. April 15, 2012. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  7. ^ "4th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards". Game Developers Conference. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  8. ^ Zacharias, Yvonne (February 18, 2008). "Mass Effect dominates as game of the year: Science fiction video, made by Edmonton company, cleans up at Elan Awards". The Vancouver Sun. p. D1.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Drew Karpyshyn Creative Works". drewkarpyshyn.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c "Bio - Drew Karpyshyn". drewkarpyshyn.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  11. ^ Chalk, Andy (September 21, 2015). "Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn returns to BioWare". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  12. ^ Chalk, Andy (14 June 2017). "Mass Effect 1 and 2 lead writer Drew Karpyshyn is working on Anthem". PC Gamer. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  13. ^ a b Purchese, Robert (12 March 2018). "Writer Drew Karpyshyn leaves BioWare for a second time". Eurogamer. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  14. ^ Wales, Matt (February 12, 2020). "Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn joins ex-BioWare vets' new Wizards of the Coast studio". Eurogamer. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  15. ^ "J! Archive - Show #3577, aired 2000-03-07". J! Archive.
  16. ^ "Taking a Knee with 303: Drew Karpyshyn". 303magazine.com. September 27, 2012.
  17. ^ "A Word with New York Times Best Selling Author and NFL Fan Drew Karpyshyn". The Warren Peace NFL Report. January 14, 2012.
  18. ^ "Drew Karpyshyn's New Novel Revealed". Star Wars: The Old Republic | News Articles.
  19. ^ "Mass Effect novelizations". BioWare. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010.
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