Dragon Age Forum News (Apr. 07, 06)

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Here are today's Dragon Age forum highlights, taken from the Dragon Age Official Forum. 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 Meadows, Programmer

DragoN Age & E3 2006

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Smeadows is to the complex creation of Dragon Age what a janitor is to higher education at a university.

Smeadows?

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Well even though I don't agree with this analogy, I will use it for Chris' benefit since it is all he could come up with on such short notice.

Without us "janitors" the university would be really dirty and clutered and people would be complaining all the time that they can't get around and running into things.
Also all the pipes and wires would be breaking down with no-one to fix them.
Doors and glass being broken.

Now I would have to say that Chris would be akin to the students running around, partying, breaking things, always trying to push the professors to the brink of mental breakdowns and ridiculing us "janitors" for the "menial" work we do.

So you see, everyone has a role in the making of games even us "janitors".

Chris? :evillol:

Chris Priestly, Quality Assurance

DragoN Age & E3 2006

Wow! Only 18 hours. Your lightning fast comebacks are getting quicker.

I kid him cuz he beats me at Texas Hold'em. Smeadows (and the rest of the tools team) are possibly the most essential guys on the project. What they create is what everyone else uses to create their stuff. They are the mortar the builds the castle. The rivets that hold the bridge together. The plates at the start of the buffet line. Etc. Etc.

There. I said something nice. Now fold next time I raise.

James Henley, Designer

Rolling Stats

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I know that the argument against them is that people will sit there for hours trying to get the perfect score. Well that same person will edit the game to give himself high stats anyway.

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I'd have to heartily disagree. I spent quite a bit of time rolling for my Baldur's Gate characters, but I can't say I was ever inclined to edit the game to give myself high stats.

Personally, I prefer point-buy systems. Not only are they better for balancing purposes, but they also add a degree of strategic preparation to the character creation process. I like knowing what I have to work with, and figuring out how best to use it to my advantage.

Brenon Holmes, Programmer

The usefullness of stats

Yes.

David Gaider, Lead Writer

Teleportation Revisited

And I feel compelled to point out, as well, that just because magic isn't capable of teleportation that doesn't necessarily mean that something like fast travel wouldn't be implemented. The no-teleportation thing is a a world consistency issue -- as long as the travel system was plausible (ie. you're not actually magically jumping from place to place, but rather skipping time in a narrative fashion) it'd be fine.

Same thing for resurrection. If your allies didn't actually "die" in combat when they went down, but were merely critically wounded and could be revived after the battle is over, then you wouldn't need to break the world rule of bringing them back from the dead somehow.

Not that these are things that DA is doing, necessarily, and I think that there are good and cheesy ways of doing both, but I mention them in the vein of this being a flavor and consistency issue and not one that needs to impact overly much on gameplay itself.

Drugs!

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Oh btw, wouldnt it be great if the Potions (like Potion of Power +3 strength or whatever) would be considered drugs? Like Fall Out, if you use it to many times, you get addicted.

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Or maybe something like a mana potion?

Just sayin'.