BioWare Forum News

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(Originally posted by chevalier)

Here are today's BioWare forum highlights, collected by NWVault. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

Scott Greig, DA Project Director/Producer

Single Character or Party Based?

Let me toss my two cents in...

One of the earliest things we did on the project was to examine how people played our previous games. Not surprising, we found that the number of different play styles was quite large. That said, it did become apparent that all the play styles had something in common.

It was the fact every play style actually had two game play modes: Explore and Combat. The explore mode was when the player was exploring the world, engaging in conversations and/or performing character maintenance (ie. leveling up, inventory etc). The combat mode was obviously when the player was in combat. The interesting thing was that some of gameplay styles of our previous games were better suited for one or other when you started to look at the needs of each mode:

Explore mode needs:
- Should be immersive
- Should be easy to control character/s travel
- Party members should be accessible for character interaction but don't need to be finely controlled
- Party members shouldn't wander off and trigger combat

Combat mode
- Should have good tactical awareness
- Should have precise control over party member placement
- Should have tight control over party member actions (or at least the option of)

At this point it seemed like a good idea to try to use the Kotor style control (explore mode) for exploration and the BG style for combat (tactical mode). Of course there was big concern about how jarring the transition would be, so we built a proof of concept test to try this out.

What we found was that the two systems worked pretty seamlessly. What I was surprised about was the fact that I was engaging in combat in explore mode for some of the easy battles and using the tactical mode for the more difficult ones. I personally find the explore mode the best for, well, exploring and tactical mode for combat.

We will have the option for both manual and automatic switching of the camera modes so you will be able to play the game exactly like BG or Kotor if you choose, but I think that most of the people will play it in the hybrid mode.

David Gaider, Designer

Does your own IP speed things up or slow them down?

Much quicker in that things don't need to be constantly approved by twelve different vice presidents or hung up by cautious lawyers who don't want to set any kind of precedent that would lose them control over the license. We can change plans and make decisions much, much quicker... something that should make the support we can provide after release a whole different ball-game than what you're used to.

In the meantime, however, all the usual work still has to be done and there's plenty of it to do, so you won't be seeing it any sooner per se.

Is it more fun? Well... I imagine many of you out there have created your own world for your campaigns. What difference does that make to you?

What does "Dragon Age" say to you...

I hope the title stands for the age when dragon/dragon-kin rules the world

As I said in another thread, dragons do appear in the game but they are not the primary focus. 'Dragon Age' is akin to Iron Age and Ice Age in that this is the period that the world is in, the dragon meant to conjure up associated fantasy imagery such as magic, spells, swords, knights... as well as dragons, though the plot does not revolve around them.Better, we thought, than to name the game after a specific place or something tied to this one story and then have it lose meaning should we decide to do other stories.

run away!

Actually, on this one I would have to agree with LdyShayna. Even if I would prefer it otherwise, players have proven to us time and time again that they do not run away.

Even surrounded by a horde of enemies unbeatable at their level, which you think would be a clear indication to the player that fighting is not an alternative, the average player will stand and face them down. And die. And die repeatedly. And then get angry at the makers of the game for having such an impossible combat.

This is NOT to say that I think there can't be more alternatives to combat in the game, more peaceful solutions, ways to trick your enemies and so forth. But having it so that the smart solution (never mind the only one) is to run away? That just never seems to work unless you have them do it through a cutscene (in which case you are taking control away from the player... a solution that is still less than optimal).

Must have flying

If dragons aren't the primary focus, then you should get a better name for the game.

'Dragon Age' is meant to represent the period that the world is in... an age of dragons and magic and swords, things of fantasy, just as in our world there was a Stone Age and an Ice Age.This does not mean that dragons are the primary focus of the game, though they are present as I said. If we had a game called 'Ice Age', does that mean it must be all about ice? No, of course not, though ice would obviously be a factor.We want to bring the imagery of a dragon to mind and all it represents. As a name, isn't that better than tying it to a specific place or to this one official campaign story?

Coversion tools or is it wishful thinking

Unfortunately the problem with converting NWN modules to Dragon Age is licensing issues. It's simply not feasible, I'm afraid.

Must have flying

It does sound like flying won't be in though.

I never said that. I was intrigued by said stated necessity, that's all. For some things it is too early to say one way or another and that is why we will not answer questions regarding them now.

Must have flying

I think pretty much if your gonna call the game "DRAGON AGE" you're gonna look pretty foolish if the dragons don't fly. "Worm Age" might be a better choice if that is going to be the case.

Keeping in mind that while there are dragons in the game, they are not the primary focus.

Scripting language - OO?

Yeah! Retraining designers == bad.

Instanced dungeons support

The only reason one might need instanced dungeons is for massively multiplayer games where you can expect to have numerous groups running about and taking the same quests. In normal multiplayer you still just have one group.

Bracers, Gloves, Rings and Things

Yes, much more important to make sure that a character can have a complete set of bracers, gloves AND up to eight magical rings (ten if you count the thumbs!). I can see the frustration of forcing you to have less than that.

Must have flying

Oh, I'm quite willing to bet that flying will be implemented. A true z-axis is one of the things that will most certainly be included in Dragon Age.

Just to play devil's advocate, but why exactly is flying something that is certainly included? I mean, unless flying is central to the game it's certainly not a necessity. Like cloaks in NWN it would be great to have, but I think you'd be surprised how many other things would be missed that much more if they were not present.Not to put too fine a point on it, it's not as if a genie came along, wrinkled his nose and POOF suddenly everything that anyone could ever want in the game is now easy to do, fits with the concept and is within our resources to provide, is it? Do you really think we would rend heaven and earth to provide the ability to fly just because a lot of folks think that would be nifty? Again, just playing devil's advocate.

species: open vs. closed

Can we have Elfs instead of Elves, please?

No.

Now when you say non-linear story...

Will you be including "The Evil Option We've Never Been Able to Do Before"?

Whether we do or not, it will be our choice and will be based on how it affects the quality of the game.

so, about these 'origin' stories...

my follow-up question is: how many of the origin stories involve the PC having amnesia/parents killed by orcs?

None.

Now when you say non-linear story...

"Linear" is one of those words that is essentially useless, in my opinion, because it has come to mean so many different things to the gaming community. Without going into detail, I will say this: structurally, a certain amount of linearity is required to have a coherent story. The SP campaign has a strong story, and that's intentional... I honestly doubt we will ever do a game where you can forget that there's a plot and just wander about the world going la-la-la or what-not (not that someone couldn't make such a game with the toolset, I suppose). There are going to be stronger elements of multiple story paths, multiple plot solutions and multiple endings in our campaign than we have attempted previously, however, so I daresay the replayability factor will be high. We consider all that essentially non-linear gameplay... how it sits on your linearity meter is up to you.

Darcy Pajak, Assistant Producer

Changing the rules

Yeah, it is really to early to discuss if the rule system will be implimented in such a way that the user with a toolset could change them.

Somethings may be hard coded to work with another system (animation, client/server), we have a pretty good idea of what that is, but until we start testing them out we may run into some huge issues which cause us to go oneway or the other.

Combat System Question

As combat is the most common event that will take place in most CRPG it is vital that we get it right. (and right means more fun, and less suck.)

Things that suck are when the combat is so complicated it's too hard for someone to manage, or it's too long, or too short, looks boring, easy to exploit, and other sucky things.

The rule system was one of the first things the designers started on, and I'm sure it will be tweeked, tuned, and fiddled with up unill the end.

As we start to lock down bits and pieces of it, we'll start releasing more detailed information about it, but understand that it could change at anytime.
We reserve the right to fiddle with the "suck less" dial.

Ross Gardner, Programmer

Game UI requests

Thanks for all the requests so far. We are reading them and will be considering any valid suggestions as we design and implement the various UI systems. So keep em coming ...

Jay Watamaniuk, Community Manager

DA system style

I remember playing the first Marvel superheroes game way back when they had weapons doing automatic damage. i.e. a club did 10 always, a pistol did 15 or something. I thought it took a lot of the tension out of the game knowing there is no luck role to save me or finish my opponent. I like a bit of unknown.

Don't make too many clothing items visible.

I think you will find two very passionate camps on this issue. I was at E3 recently and got the question asked several times if my character's weapons would be visible when not used in Jade Empire.

I am of the opinion that being able to affect changes on your character like KotOR and NWN is very cool...but I also want a great looking character. I wore certain pieces of armor and items because they looked good and not because they were best thing I could use. Who the heck would want to wear bright yellow leather armor when your trying to hide in shadows?

DA system style

Keep in mind that while we are all huge fans of D&D (I play in 2 PnP campaigns myself) that the rules were designed for PnP. Sometimes a few things do not really work in the video game world- worse yet PnP fans may resent any changes that need to occur to make the translation to video game.

Dragon Age will be designed from the ground up to be a video game. This does not mean it would not work as a PnP system but our first priority is making the compuetr game aspect clean, seamless with all the features you need for a great RPG.

Character Generation

Quick poll:

What things do you like to see when you create your character for an RPG?

new monsters

It has a certain appeal to us as well.

I have been able to take a look at the early concept art that was submitted by a large group of people here at BioWare in order to generate ideas on what sort of style Dragon Age should have. It is pretty cool to seen all these very talented people take the lid off their creativity and see what they come up with.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Must have flying

Why: Because a dragon needs to be able to fly."But dragons in NWN don't fly."My point exactly (and, *wanna bet*?)Does that make PC flying "necessary"? No.

We are in "teasing" mode today Robert, are we?

Will you do NPC Scheduling?

Without talking about Dragon Age, doing schedules was possible in NWN, through a bit painful due to auto AI level changes done by the engine to preserve processing power.

As for schedules adding to gameplay: They are adding in the sense that your world appears to be more living, breathing, immersive - they are taking away because you need to spend a not insignificant amount of time of making them work correctly (that could be used otherwise) and deal with all the problems they are creating (i.e. quest NPCs not being accessible).

Personally I like schedules, but I think a lot of the stuff that can be done through them can be achieved by other means as well that are less time intensive (i.e. a reactive system - it begins to rain, people take cover, someone with a sword runs through the town, people try to avoid him, etc)

Again, I'm not on DA, so I don't know if there are plans for scheduled NPCs or not, just my personal .02$ here.

Instanced dungeons suppor

Which means it would be good for persistant world support. Unless you aren't planning on this engine supporting PW's that is.

I think you know the answer to that...

Game UI requests

Two words: Custom. Skins.

I think one of the expansion packs for Dark Age of Camelot added the ability to create custom skins for the GUI using XML.

Forum Rules:

Translations for the non english market is usually dependend on the size of the target market and the publisher of a game. BioWare does not handle translation internally, decision about the if's and how's for translated versions are up to our publisher Atari. If Atari finds a certain market to be large enough to justify a translated version, they will certainly do so.

As for the use of spanish on this website:
a) We provide a spanish version for most of our pages if you switch your language setting to Spanish

b) We do not provide nonenglish forums. You can create threads in nonenglish language here, as long as you respect our forum rules. (So, please spare your sarcasm, it is directed into the wrong direction).

So, about your specific concern here: You can post in your native language, yes. However, if one of moderators feels that your post may contain content that is violating our board rules, they will have to lock it/move it until someone who is capable of reading in that language clears it. So, to prevent misunderstandings, it is very recommended but not mandantory to use English in your posts.

More:

This is a private board. Participating here is your privilege, not your right. If you violate the rules we established for using our boards, we handle this on a case by case basis. In this case it was removal of offensive content. In case of repeated offense, this might result in temporary or permanent removal of the privilege to participate on our boards.

Yes, you are right, I agree your thoughts are free, but there is a difference between thoughts and content written on a private board on the internet. As for deleting your post so nobody else can read it, that's the point. If something is violating our board rules we have the option of moving, deleting or locking it. Locking would have damaged the original thread, so I decide to delete it. The decision to do so is with our forum moderators, not with the "public". By signing up for your account, you agreed to those terms of service.

Lastly, if you have any trouble with a decision made by BioWare officials or our moderators here on this board, please do not create posts in threads but instead use the private message system to resolve them, as this prevents the thread to slide even more offtopic. You are always free to contact our community manager Jay Watamaniuk via PM if you disagree with a moderator or developer action on this board.