Dragon Age 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.

David Gaider, Designer

Druids/Rangers being attacked by Animals
I assume you mean that if we had classes that resembled a druid or ranger that they would possess some kind of animal empathy ability. If that was part of that class's bailiwick.

Druids/Rangers being attacked by Animals

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If there's classes, there'd better be rangers.
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We have an opportunity to include classes that we will be certain are useful throughout the game or have niches which make them very handy. If there is a reason to include classes that excel in a natural environment, then naturally we will do so. As you yourself indirectly point out, however, there's a lot of interpretations as to just what a "ranger" is. Personally, even if we have a class that uses what are commonly perceived as a ranger's talents, the word itself might be best avoided.

Derek French, Technical Producer

Artificial Intelligence (well sort of)
KDY-Worker1138, can you give us some examples of some great AI in games that you have played recently? We are always looking to improve things and its easier to start with a common point of reference.

Artificial Intelligence (well sort of)

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The games that pop into mind are Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Invisible War. I know they aren't CRPGs but they are pretty decent where it comes to intelligent enemies, relatively speaking.
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I have played through Deus Ex around 10 times (and every time I find out a new plot point, new dialog, new something) but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. It was good AI there, but I am hoping to dig up some great examples.

Artificial Intelligence (well sort of)

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As long as I'm at this, here are some specific examples of bad AI in Bioware games:
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We are fairly well versed in our own games. I was looking for some good examples from recent non-BioWare games.

Opinion: Impossible Enemies

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otherwise limiting Save / Load in an RPG is an open invitation to being shot and ripped apart by your community.
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It can also earn you a visit from a certain Technical Producer who has no setting between Off and High

Dragon Age english version only?

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I was just wondering if it will be out translated or if we will have to wait one year before the localized version and three to sixth months for each expansion as it was the case for NWN.
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Localization is a publisher task, not a developer task. In the case of NWN the various Atari regional offices were responsible for localization. All scheduling for localization is up to the publisher. Do we wish that the game was released simultaneously? You bet, but it is not something that we have any control over.

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Quote: If it is like this it will be thanks, but no thanks. The reason is that those delays killed NWN online community, don't do that again please Bioware.
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Again, this is a publisher issue, not a developer issue. Once we have received the localized assets from the publisher, we can have a patch build and ready for testing in less than a day. All delays with regards to such things are on the publisher's side.

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Quote: And your competitors (Blizzard or SOE for example) translate the software before the release FYI, patches included.
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Just so you know, they finish the English version first, then sit on it, unreleased, while they localize it into all the other languages. There is nothing wrong with this, I just wanted to point out what is going on behind the scenes. We absolutely want simultaneous releases, but it is not something that is in our control. FYI, patches for KotOR were released simultaneously.

Dragon Age english version only?

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Derek thanks for your reply, I am glad you feel concerned by this subject. I have been in charge of the localization of some software so I know a bit how it works.
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Well, unless you worked with game localization, I would venture to say that while there are similarities, the process is quite different.

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Quote: If the translators are given the text to translate early in the development stage then they only have to translate the changes when it is finished. It takes them one to three weeks maximum, not three to six monthes.
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While an interesting assumption, we have historical fact that this is not true for past game localization.

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Quote: This is how you can sit a few days waiting for the translations.
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Heh, its never been "a few days" in any previous project, no matter what the resources exchange.

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Quote: It also up to you when you will negociate with the publisher to have deadline on translations provided you give them enough info ahead of time, as it is a two side problem.
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Even with such things in place, what happens when things are late a month? It still doesn't get the patch/release out faster, no matter what the agreement.

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Quote: If they have to wait for the product is finished before starting translation then yes, it will take time to translate.
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Correct.

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Quote: For a campaign game, like Kotor it is not a big issue, but for an online game like NWN it causes problems because it breaks communities when people are separated by software versions.
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Absolutely true and its something that we want to avoid.

Dragon Age english version only?

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If the game has to wait, when it's ready, for localised versions before release, then no thanks. For people like me who don't want it in his/my own language (or simply because it doesn't exist in his/my language), it only makes for more wait.
Apart from that, other media like books aren't realeased in worlwide translations at one time, but (almost) always first only in the language it has been written in.
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True, but when there is the issue of multiplayer in a game where English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish players can all play together on the same server, this is where the issue crops up and needs to be taken seriously.

Tom Ohle, Public Relations

Can we see the Dragon Age E3 Video?
No video of the E3 demo

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Highier prority: options and ease for fan-developers/DM's OR an awesome Offical Campaign?
I can think of serveral high quality mods and campaigns. Sure, since the toolset is quite-easy-to-use, there'e a good number of not so good or outright bad modules, but I found a good number of very enjoyable and high quality modules.

Just some of the modules I found very enjoyable/memorable (and I'm quite picky, especially when it comes to bad scripting )

Campaigns:
The ShadowLords Series (5)
The DreamCatcher Series (3)
The Lone Wolf Series (2)
The Lord of Blight Series (2)
A Call for Heroes Series (3)

Modules:
The Nether Scrolls by Papermonk
Sex & the Single Adventure
Witch's Wake I
To their Heir is human
Foreboding in Sylvani
Beerfish's Nature of a Man

All those together were probably several hundreds of hours worth in free modules, and that's only the ones I still remember playing / was able to play.

The Vault's Hall of Fame Click Here is a good start for more I guess. What is important is that while there is a lot of amateur stuff out there, there is a real good number of modules that are damn nice quality and story. I think the ratio for good modules we have compared to submitted modules is better than most FPS good maps vs submitted maps ratio, and making good modules IS damn hard.

Highier prority: options and ease for fan-developers/DM's OR an awesome Offical Campaign?

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I'd be curious how many of that 5-10% bought the expansions compared to the overall market. While they may be small in numbers I bet it woudl be a reasonable assumption to make that they are some of the most loyal and active fans. I've been an active member at Neverwinter Connections for a few yars and the expansions pretty much become required withing a month of relase. I imagine that the same is true with the PW community. How many of the 90% of SP only crowd played the original NWN oc and put it on a shelf never to look back at it again? How many of that 90% are likely to purchase products through the digital distribution?
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~90% of all people playing online very frequently bought the expansions (as you can see from the "server stats" sidebar on nwn.bioware.com)

Bad language and sex.
LOL.If the game ends up with a "M" rating, it would be because the story the writers want to tell requires it. It would not be "just because" or "just to have sex in the game". As for bad language, you might need a translator for that

I find it amusing that some of the most downloaded modules / hakpaks on the vault deal with a "mature rating", and judging from the comments on the Vault, it seems that the audience downloading this "slippery, jiggly, etc" content can not be categorized as "mature".
Be careful what you ask for, because until DA can be released a lot of things can happen (i.e. people grow up, stores no longer sell M rated games to minors, etc)...If there would be a mature theme in the story, it would likely not be of the "Mature for the immature crowd" kind

Can we see the Dragon Age E3 Video?
I'm not sure a video even exists, people at E3 probably got a live show. In any case I doubt you will ever see anything like a video of this demo in the public.

Brenon Holmes, Programmer

Parrying

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So as I understand the current thought, there are to be high bonuses To Hit for rear & flanking positions of attacker AND severe penalties for both Parry & Dodge to avoid dmg from the defender? Rather severe, IMO. While it may be more realistic, it sure seems we would be missing a lot more heroes in films, TV, and gaming too. Either allow one or the other, or lighten the numbers of both for balance. Or is the plan to allow scores of added HP to take such beatings? If so, is this not degrading the combatic realism desired in this thread more than the suggestion above? Thoughts?
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I was just thinking that shots from behind (if you're surrounded) would have an extremely likely chance of hitting the target. Whether that means a penalty to parry attacks that you're blind to in a tiered defense system (Block + Parry -> Armour -> Skin) or otherwise, it's mostly just an idea. Mostly the idea is based around some of the issues with real-time combat in general, ie: multiple creatures attacking you and attempting to have you react to as many attacks as possible while still getting in some of your own.As for representative or not, we can chat more about that sort of thing once the details are firmed up a bit more. As to the rest, I like the ideas being tossed about here (different combat strategies, hold position, aggressive, defensive)... I'll do some investigation/discussion and we'll see how things look on our end. I'm not so certain about fine control of orientation using keyboard mappings or mouse control, as I could see that being an extreme pain with a full party. Again, just a note... this is all just discussion and none of this is indicative of what the final game will be like, or even what we may or may not have planned. (Apologies, I have to say this just in case any of these comments are misconstrued)

Bad Hair Day

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I'm such a sucker for a good pun. The one from Ruri involving hoses and splash damage still gets me. Seriously though, a means for control over beards and hairstyles would be pretty interesting. For example, let's say the story involves you getting thrown into prison for several months, or even years. When the next chapter starts, after you've been in prison for all this time, your character would now have a beard and long, greasy, unkept hair. Sans beard for females, of course. I'm liking this idea more as I think about it.
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*winces* And I'd just managed to finally get over 'splash damage'... *sigh* Puns hurt my brain. For a bit more specific info, we want to include a wide range of customization options and whatnot for the characters - what forms those will take are still being firmed up. So if you have specific requests, threads like these are great.