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.

Scott Greig, Project Director/Producer

Should people in DA use east London dialect? discuss
Actually the characters will be speaking with an elven accent. Well at least the elves.

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Regardless it fits well into a fantasy game and you Bioware guys should consider coming over for a vacation...er...um...field research.
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No need. I grew up in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Biggest Newfie city west of the Rock. I can summon the dialect at will, but the resulting mental trauma is rarely worth it.

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Now we know why you want to make Dragon Age cold.
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Gah! I meant too cold to be running around in your underwear, not that the game takes place in the middle of the Second Ice Age! Which would not be much unlike Fort McMurray, mind you... But m'laird tunderin' jaysus buy! How many times I gots t'be repeatin' meyelf, eh? Me nerves! Rubbed right raw!

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Quote: For some reason, I always thought you were from Grande Prairie.
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Nope. That would be James, plus several others of the original crew at Bioware.

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Question more on topic: Do you know yet if the humans of DA will be using a varient of English(common) as per this thread or a new language?
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Well, that all depends on where they come from, nation-wise.

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On a similar note, why does "Common" always have to be English?
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It isn't. Technically it's whatever language the game is translated into, isn't it? That's rather the point.

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Quote: Couldn't a form of Dwarvish be the cultural norm?
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I believe the dwarvish tongue is the norm in Earthdawn, actually. Though since it's the common tongue, naturally it is still English if you or I speak English, right?

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Quote: Humans always seem to be the people in control, and the idea seems to get a bit over used.
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One tidbit I like about how our languages are being built is with regards to the absorption of cultural-specific words into other languages when the cultures have interacted for long periods of time.

So if you have a human nation and a dwarven nation that interact and trade a lot, you might find that human tongue start to pick up various dwarven words (and subsequently start changing them to suit), especially with regards to dwarven concepts that a human society wouldn't readily have words for already (and vice-versa). Organic languages are fun!

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I sure am glad I'm not working on that language of yours for DA. Just imagine how frustrating it must be to have this new language "pick up" words from "common", which could be English, French, German etc.
Must be a real pain that one
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Heh... well, that's true. If the human nation is one that speaks the "common tongue", you're not going to be pulling much out of it on purpose. You could, however, add "common slang" words that come from other cultures. If the dwarven word for something is "bhairen" and the common tongue picks it up and turns it into "bharn" then "bharn" it is whether we're speaking English, French or German, right?

So long as the reference is explained in-game as soon as it's used, naturally.

At any rate, I never thought it would be that complex until I listened to a PhD explain what's involved. Believe me, you'll think you're plenty smart and educated until you try to follow that conversation.

Will there be a physics System?

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So, it's not just a simple matter of throwing zots at it. I think of it more as a trade off as to what's critical to making a quality CRPG.
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That would be my thoughts on the subject, as well. A full physics engine is far from an impossibility, but it all depends on where you want to spend your focus. A game like Half-Life is an excellent engine for what it does, but the reason they spend so much time making realistic physics is because that's integral to what the game is all about. Movement and combat are the priorities there.

And taking such an engine and turning it into something that can support an RPG is certainly a possibility as well. But it doesn't save us much (if any) time, to be honest, and it depends on what kind of RPG you were focusing on to begin with. There are certainly types of RPG where it could work. A multiplayer-capable party-based RPG is probably not that animal, however... at least until advancing technology and an increase in broadband use/speed makes its integration that much easier I suppose.

Derek French, Technical Producer

DVD or CD?
That would be a publisher decision, and since we don't have one yet, this not only can't be answered, but is something that needs to be looked at closer to ship.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

DVD or CD?
More and more games get at least a special DVD edition. I think The Sim 2 is going to have one as well, which might be a sign that the bigger publishers are slowly pushing for DVD distribution. But again, for DA this topic is not current for a long time to come.

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I heard EQ2 was being planned for a two DVD release.

Carl
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*Shudder*, don't want to think how many CDs that would be

More : That pretty much sums it up.

In addition, take this:
Click Here

Quick reality check:

Do you have to pay to play Unreal Tournament, Battlefield, FarCry, etc - no.

Do people that create maps/mods for those games get money from it - no.

Do people that run those servers pay for the hardware and bandwith - yes. In fact, in Battlefield you can rent servers in game - but you can't charge people for using them.

Do internet caffee's have to pay licensing fees because they make money off a product they let their users use - yes.

If you want to commercially exploit a product, you need a special license, and yes, these licenses come a bit more expensive than 40-50$.

If you think that's not justified and that you should be allowed to make money off your work, you need to redefine your definition of work, because either the game is entertainment and hobby for you, or you need to make a business out of it with all the legal and financial responsibilities attached to it.

And yes, Atari's legal department had some serious talk with some PW owners that wanted to make money off NWN - so don't think this part of the EULA is not enforced.