chevalier
Mon, 29th May '06, 8:52pm
Here are today's Dragon Age forum highlights, taken from the Dragon Age Official Forum (http://forums.bioware.com/viewforum.html?forum=84). 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.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">James Henley, Designer</font>
Fran Gaulin Interview (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=481937&forum=84&sp=0)
<hr />Wait, "Fran" is a he?<hr />
Yes indeed.
Bioware is neglecting us a little (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=482112&forum=84&sp=60)
<hr />I cannot express to you how much I hate console games. I cannot explain how much unbelieve I had when I found out that Jade empire only came out on console. I seldom come to these boards now because there is no news to be found. I used to read daily.<hr />
BioWare/Pandemic is in the business of making games. The key word there is "business." There's no reason that we shouldn't work to extend our reach into other potential release platforms in the continuing effort to support and expand this business and the community that has grown around it.
<hr />To close the gap Bioware will convert jade empire to the pc. I do not know to smile or to think why did they not do so earlier?<hr />
There are solid reasons for every decision made, public knowledge or not, and that's really all there is to it.
We know we can't please everyone, but BioWare/Pandemic will continue to produce titles of both the PC and console varieties.
More:
<hr />Mass Effect -> PS3 or to PC would work for me. I'm pretty leery on the 360 though. Maybe after a price drop things will look more appetitzing.<hr />
Well, Mass Effect is an Xbox 360 exclusive title.
As for a price drop, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft lowers it just a tad around the release date of the PS3 to make that monstrous price gap even wider, and thus make the 360 more appetizing (and my 360 is daaamned appetizing).
NWN Modules and DA (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=482935&forum=84)
I imagine that just about anything we play/view will, in some small form, influence the projects we work on if only by virtue of having been experienced. It's not necessarily something that you consciously decide upon.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">David Gaider, Lead Writer</font>
Fran Gaulin Interview (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=481937&forum=84&sp=30)
It can be a fine line between the mingling of creative juices and creating something by committee. We've found that there's a number of things, both in the realm of writing and artwork, where restricting the number of heads involved leads to a better artistic vision.
Of course you don't want to have creators working in a vacuum, either, and sometimes you can get a lot of good things from the sharing of ideas.
So where does one start and the other begin? It's a bit of a weird process, and perhaps one better left to the individual artist to determine when they need which.
NWN Modules and DA (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=482935&forum=84)
I would agree with James. Even if we don't get to playing all the community modules ourselves, we do hear about them when they get discussed here. And of the ones we do play, we take a certain amount of that away with us to digest and work into our personal philosophy -- just the same as engaging us in conversation here amounts to a certain indirect influence on what we do.
Though I would be cautious about believing that many fan-made modules have elements that would make good candidates for transition into an official title (not saying that you do, of course). The thing about a lot of fan-made stuff is that, by nature, it's very niche and can specialize itself for a small target audience. That small audience will love it to pieces, of course, but such niche elements don't always transfer well to a project that must be broader in scope.
As a for instance, there are a couple of really excellent NWN modules that focus entirely on the main character being a paladin, thief or necromancer -- these are wonderfully done, but could we put out a title that had such a narrow scope, no matter how well done? I doubt it, though that doesn't mean there aren't some things that we could look at in such a module in terms of how it was done and maybe take that away with us.
Instead of ancient ruins ... (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=482254&forum=84&sp=45)
I think it can be fine, and like most things that some folk off-handedly dismiss as cliche depend a lot on how well they're implemented.
Using "ancients" as a crutch where their ancient tech or magic is automatically the solution to any crisis or the cause of the current one is a bad implementation, sure. But I think that, with some thought behind them, by-gone civilizations that leave evidence around of a Golden Age that no longer exists -- I actually like that idea. I like the idea of the Dark Ages, and it's one that comes directly out of our history, though certainly not all things need be more primitive or hopeless. The struggle continues and people advance. Lore might be lost, but that doesn't mean that the current era of magic or technology might not contain stuff that is just as potent -- if different.
<hr />Do you think that a new, growing city could give you fodder for stories?<hr />
I guess. Sure. Why not?
I would point out, though, that very few cities are "new". They normally start out as villages and grow when conditions are right. So you could have a city going through a growth phase -- but I'm not sure that I would pick that as being a theme, per se. But whatever.
More:
I remember the old topic where I said that I didn't think that there was any lost lore by a fallen civilization that was superior to what was known today.
Then Daniel reminded me of something specific and I came back to that thread and said that, okay, I was an idiot and never mind what I said. There was some lost lore which is considered superior, though it is quite literally being explored and attempts are being made to replicate it.
I guess a more specific qualification, according to this thread, would be to say that nowhere is ancient magic which breaks all the rules pulled out as a plot convenience. Thedas is simply a world where a lost has been lost, but where the struggle continues -- I would consider "massively powerful ancients" to be a fantastical element, and Thedas uses those only sparingly. I guess the proof of the pudding will be in the eating when it comes to judging whether Thedas is as logically sound as I claim, of course.
The other stuff you say there is mostly pretty accurate, though. Solid conjecturing.
Dungeons, caverns, towers etc (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=482986&forum=84&sp=0)
No sewers in DA, period.
As for dungeons, DA isn't very dungeon-centric but what we do have is pretty large and story-based.
Though I would also say that random dungeons don't have to be pointless. I remember the random dungeons you could come across in "Blade of Destiny"... they were all very realistic in their purpose and use, right down to the bathrooms.
More:
I didn't mean that they don't exist in the world, just that we don't make you go inside the in DA.
NPC/Romances Part 5 (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=482491&forum=84&sp=30)
We got gifts.
You can give gifts to any party member, which become their personal property once given, and the party member appreciates it more or less depending on the gift's value and their personal motivations.
You also can be given gifts by your romance character, varying from the sentimental to the actually useful.
More:
<hr />What happens if you want to take the gift back?<hr />
You can't. If you gift it to them... as opposed to simply equipping them with something... then it's theirs.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Brenon Holmes, Programmer</font>
"You Must Make Haste" (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=479244&forum=84&sp=30)
It's probably pretty doubtful that we'd end up with time-based failure for a quest. People like to play at their own pace, and unless there's a damned good reason I don't think we'd want to force them to hurry through an area. (Indiana Jones huge *** boulder rolling after them, for example...)
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">James Henley, Designer</font>
Fran Gaulin Interview (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=481937&forum=84&sp=0)
<hr />Wait, "Fran" is a he?<hr />
Yes indeed.
Bioware is neglecting us a little (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=482112&forum=84&sp=60)
<hr />I cannot express to you how much I hate console games. I cannot explain how much unbelieve I had when I found out that Jade empire only came out on console. I seldom come to these boards now because there is no news to be found. I used to read daily.<hr />
BioWare/Pandemic is in the business of making games. The key word there is "business." There's no reason that we shouldn't work to extend our reach into other potential release platforms in the continuing effort to support and expand this business and the community that has grown around it.
<hr />To close the gap Bioware will convert jade empire to the pc. I do not know to smile or to think why did they not do so earlier?<hr />
There are solid reasons for every decision made, public knowledge or not, and that's really all there is to it.
We know we can't please everyone, but BioWare/Pandemic will continue to produce titles of both the PC and console varieties.
More:
<hr />Mass Effect -> PS3 or to PC would work for me. I'm pretty leery on the 360 though. Maybe after a price drop things will look more appetitzing.<hr />
Well, Mass Effect is an Xbox 360 exclusive title.
As for a price drop, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft lowers it just a tad around the release date of the PS3 to make that monstrous price gap even wider, and thus make the 360 more appetizing (and my 360 is daaamned appetizing).
NWN Modules and DA (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=482935&forum=84)
I imagine that just about anything we play/view will, in some small form, influence the projects we work on if only by virtue of having been experienced. It's not necessarily something that you consciously decide upon.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">David Gaider, Lead Writer</font>
Fran Gaulin Interview (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=481937&forum=84&sp=30)
It can be a fine line between the mingling of creative juices and creating something by committee. We've found that there's a number of things, both in the realm of writing and artwork, where restricting the number of heads involved leads to a better artistic vision.
Of course you don't want to have creators working in a vacuum, either, and sometimes you can get a lot of good things from the sharing of ideas.
So where does one start and the other begin? It's a bit of a weird process, and perhaps one better left to the individual artist to determine when they need which.
NWN Modules and DA (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=482935&forum=84)
I would agree with James. Even if we don't get to playing all the community modules ourselves, we do hear about them when they get discussed here. And of the ones we do play, we take a certain amount of that away with us to digest and work into our personal philosophy -- just the same as engaging us in conversation here amounts to a certain indirect influence on what we do.
Though I would be cautious about believing that many fan-made modules have elements that would make good candidates for transition into an official title (not saying that you do, of course). The thing about a lot of fan-made stuff is that, by nature, it's very niche and can specialize itself for a small target audience. That small audience will love it to pieces, of course, but such niche elements don't always transfer well to a project that must be broader in scope.
As a for instance, there are a couple of really excellent NWN modules that focus entirely on the main character being a paladin, thief or necromancer -- these are wonderfully done, but could we put out a title that had such a narrow scope, no matter how well done? I doubt it, though that doesn't mean there aren't some things that we could look at in such a module in terms of how it was done and maybe take that away with us.
Instead of ancient ruins ... (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=482254&forum=84&sp=45)
I think it can be fine, and like most things that some folk off-handedly dismiss as cliche depend a lot on how well they're implemented.
Using "ancients" as a crutch where their ancient tech or magic is automatically the solution to any crisis or the cause of the current one is a bad implementation, sure. But I think that, with some thought behind them, by-gone civilizations that leave evidence around of a Golden Age that no longer exists -- I actually like that idea. I like the idea of the Dark Ages, and it's one that comes directly out of our history, though certainly not all things need be more primitive or hopeless. The struggle continues and people advance. Lore might be lost, but that doesn't mean that the current era of magic or technology might not contain stuff that is just as potent -- if different.
<hr />Do you think that a new, growing city could give you fodder for stories?<hr />
I guess. Sure. Why not?
I would point out, though, that very few cities are "new". They normally start out as villages and grow when conditions are right. So you could have a city going through a growth phase -- but I'm not sure that I would pick that as being a theme, per se. But whatever.
More:
I remember the old topic where I said that I didn't think that there was any lost lore by a fallen civilization that was superior to what was known today.
Then Daniel reminded me of something specific and I came back to that thread and said that, okay, I was an idiot and never mind what I said. There was some lost lore which is considered superior, though it is quite literally being explored and attempts are being made to replicate it.
I guess a more specific qualification, according to this thread, would be to say that nowhere is ancient magic which breaks all the rules pulled out as a plot convenience. Thedas is simply a world where a lost has been lost, but where the struggle continues -- I would consider "massively powerful ancients" to be a fantastical element, and Thedas uses those only sparingly. I guess the proof of the pudding will be in the eating when it comes to judging whether Thedas is as logically sound as I claim, of course.
The other stuff you say there is mostly pretty accurate, though. Solid conjecturing.
Dungeons, caverns, towers etc (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=482986&forum=84&sp=0)
No sewers in DA, period.
As for dungeons, DA isn't very dungeon-centric but what we do have is pretty large and story-based.
Though I would also say that random dungeons don't have to be pointless. I remember the random dungeons you could come across in "Blade of Destiny"... they were all very realistic in their purpose and use, right down to the bathrooms.
More:
I didn't mean that they don't exist in the world, just that we don't make you go inside the in DA.
NPC/Romances Part 5 (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=482491&forum=84&sp=30)
We got gifts.
You can give gifts to any party member, which become their personal property once given, and the party member appreciates it more or less depending on the gift's value and their personal motivations.
You also can be given gifts by your romance character, varying from the sentimental to the actually useful.
More:
<hr />What happens if you want to take the gift back?<hr />
You can't. If you gift it to them... as opposed to simply equipping them with something... then it's theirs.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Brenon Holmes, Programmer</font>
"You Must Make Haste" (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=479244&forum=84&sp=30)
It's probably pretty doubtful that we'd end up with time-based failure for a quest. People like to play at their own pace, and unless there's a damned good reason I don't think we'd want to force them to hurry through an area. (Indiana Jones huge *** boulder rolling after them, for example...)