The following is a transcription of some of the texts in the chapter "BioWare Labs" within the book BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development, published in 2020 and written by Ben Gelinas. Texts not related directly to Mass Effect have been voluntarily omitted from this page.
The BioWare Labs Experiment: BioWare's Small-Games Group Thought Big[]
As the popularity of social media and smartphones exploded, BioWare assembled a small team dedicated to exploring opportunities on these emerging platforms. Working out of Edmonton as BioWare Labs, the small-games group of developers released a Mass Effect mobile tie-in and a Facebook game about a yeti in the span of six months.
Mass Effect Galaxy[]
BioWare introduced Citadel politics and galactic unrest to iOS on June 22, 2009, with Mass Effect Galaxy, a top-down shooter featuring branching dialogue and RPG elements.
Galaxy used a unique graphic art style and static image presentation common in visual novels. Players took control of Mass Effect 2 squad mate Jacob Taylor in a prequel story that saw Jacob stopping a batarian extremist plot.
The game also featured ME2 squad mate Miranda Lawson as a nonplayable ally.
Mass Effect Galaxy was the first BioWare game made for iOS. Other iOS apps using BioWare properties were later developed by other EA studios, including the turn-based casual RPG Heroes of Dragon Age. But Galaxy holds the distinction of being the only iOS game made at BioWare during its first twenty-five years.
Gift of the Yeti[]
After Galaxy, BioWare Labs set its sights on social media, releasing Gift of the Yeti just in time for Christmas 2009. The free casual game featured a story line that revealed itself like an advent calendar. Players took control of a yeti filling in at Christmas by delivering presents for a sick Santa. The game was released during the holiday season to help raise money for Child's Play, a charity that provides video games and toys for sick kids in hospitals around the world.
Upon its release, BioWare cofounder Ray Muzyka called Gift of the Yeti "BioWare's digital holiday card to its fans."
Gifts Go Elsewhere[]
BioWare Labs' research and development continued after Gift of the Yeti, but no other releases made it past pitch or preproduction. Among the ideas scrapped included a third-person space shooter called Mass Effect: Corsair and two Dragon Age titles: a strategy game and a top-down dungeon crawler starring a young Wynne from Origins.
"We did a bunch of brainstorming," then technical director Janice Thoms says. "We came up with a few proposals that we put in front of Ray and Greg. None of them ever really turned into anything."
Eventually, BioWare Labs disbanded, with some of the team moving on to larger projects in Edmonton and others heading east to help grow BioWare's fledgling Montreal studio.
Note: "The BioWare Dress Code: T-Shirt, No Shoes, at Your Service" has been omitted from this page as it is not directly related to Mass Effect.
Untitled Anecdote 1[]
The smaller screens of Mass Effect: Corsair and Galaxy gave concept artists at BioWare an opportunity to reimagine the Mass Effect universe. They used bold colors and a simplified character design style to help the games stand out from Shepard's story.
Untitled Anecdote 2[]
Mass Effect: Corsair concept artist Nick Thornborrow's first experience making art for the series. "It was such a short-lived project. It never got its feet under it," he says.
"I was really self-conscious that my art style wouldn't translate to Mass Effect. I was right about that." Nick later moved to Dragon Age, where he felt like his style was much more at home.
Note: "How to Get Hired at BioWare: The Wild Ways the Developers Got Their Feet in the Door" has been omitted from this page as it is not directly related to Mass Effect.
Bio-Trivia: Mass Effect Almost Had a Spin-Off on the Nintendo DS[]
After the release of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, the small-games group at BioWare began development on a third-person space shooter for the Nintendo DS called Mass Effect: Corsair. The spinoff featured a behind-the-ship perspective, branching dialogue, and at one point even multiplayer gameplay.
"The idea of Corsair was Mass Effect: Freelancer," says then QA term tester John Epler. "Fly your ship around. Do missions. Get credits."
The branching story in the game was there but limited. The team instead focused on a gameplay-centered experience, aiming to occupy the release gap between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 that was instead filled by Mass Effect: Galaxy.
After Corsair crashed, its developers moved on to BioWare Labs or larger projects in development at the time including Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2.
Note: the rest of the chapter has been omitted from this page as it is not directly related to Mass Effect.