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">David Gaider, Lead Writer</font>

If DA was written by.... (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=514930&forum=84&sp=30)

If DA were written by...

Piers Anthony (yeah, I know, I just can't stop picking on him):

The player would be essentially clueless (and short), yet mysteriously he would be surrounded by female NPC's who were not only far more intelligent and competent than he is but who would all also fall madly in love with him (though he would never realize it, and their strange actions would baffle him until finally someone simply told him outright). One of these female NPC's will be suspiciously young. Perhaps she is an elf, so she only looks eight years old, but is really three hundred and quite serious and annoyed when people treat her like a girl. The player will eventually have sex with all of them, and several other characters aside, but only in awkward situations where he is forced into copulation by circumstance.

There will be at least one extended sequence in the game where the entire party has lost all their equipment and clothing and travels naked. If not, there will be at least one society for which nakedness is a standard. Preferably both. The player will be the only character that considers this to have any sexual connotation.

After a long and arduous journey filled with puns and the player stumbling about cluelessly and getting by on pure luck and the skill of his female companions, the player will finally meet the Dragon of Dragon Age -- and it will be tiny. And it will talk, and moan about its bad reputation. And the player will go back to his people and tell them that wee l'il Dragon is not such a bad guy, and so the plot shall be solved in an unexpectedly clever way. And then someone will have sex with an animal.

NPC relations (civilised thread) (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=518804&forum=84)

<hr />It's already been discussed for PC-NPC romances, but what about the relationships between NPCs, including the non-joinables?<hr />
It depends on the NPC in question. There are no romances with non-joinable NPC's, though, if that's what you're asking. Not that there couldn't be, I suppose, but we're devoting plenty of time to the ones who join your party -- you can develop friendships, after all, and not just romances.

<hr />Will there be gay or lesbian NPC couples to encounter in the game, as well as cross-special relationships with the troubles that that may induce with regards to the discrimination, possible leading to a romeo and juliet type situation?<hr />"Cross-special"? Such relationships aren't out of the question, but no -- we don't have anything like that in the game that I'm aware of. Not that we're avoiding it, however, we've just done other things. I'm not particularly sure that basing a quest solely on the same-sex or inter-racial nature of someone's relationship would be particularly interesting to write -- it's not really a theme of the game, after all.

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<hr />I mean more between 2 NPCs - will every house you enter be occupied by a male-female couple of the same species with option kids, or singles, or will there be more variance in the game world?<hr />Why? Do you intend on taking a survey? Not every house will contain a nice and neat nuclear family, but we are neither trying to represent every house in Ferelden nor are we trying to represent every family model. The sexuality of most of the characters you'll meet in the game are quite beside the point -- I suppose I'm simply not sure what the point of encountering two characters who go out of their way to identify themselves not only as homosexual but also as a couple would be other than to establish "variance".

If I felt inclined to include such a couple in a plot, that wouldn't be a big deal. But making the plot about their sexuality or unusual arrangement? Not really interested.

<hr />Such a quest could be used to highlight the presence of discrimination in the game world, aside from offering the player the ethical choice of protecting both NPCs with their relationship together or driving them apart.<hr />
That's fine, I suppose, though there are plenty of other sorts of discrimination in the game world that we're already covering.

<hr />It may not really be a theme of the game, but do all quests necessarily have to fit closely to the general theme of the game?<hr />
No, not necessarily, but if it's not related to the theme there's also no reason to expect it, is there?

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<hr />I only suggest it because I think it does add something to the game - if done the right way, anyway.<hr />
I just want to say that I don't disagree, necessarily. The point where it makes my nose crinkle is the idea that it must be singled out in some effort to... what? This isn't a platform to address social injustices in the real world, after all, and while you say it could add to the game it could also detract from it.

Ultimately if we thought it fit into the world and the situation, then no problem. If I don't add it in, it's for the same reason that I don't add in plots about flying spaceships -- I have a vision of what the story includes, and putting in stuff outside of that scope would require a pretty specific inspiration.

It certainly could be what you're describing... but forcing it in for the wrong reasons would be, I think, the "wrong way".

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So we must simply be homophobic? That is what you're saying, yes?

Well, that explains it then. If I think heterosexual relationships are both an appropriate theme and an expected world standard, and that sprinkling alternative relationships throughout the world just for the sake of doing so is not only PC (what other reason to do it?) but also doesn't make for interesting plots on its own, it must be because I don't want to write "that type of thing".

I can see where this topic is headed... which is where it usually does. Thanks to the original poster for the suggestion: we do include gay characters and will no doubt continue to, and even if I don't think that plots based on the alternative aspect of a relationship alone makes it very compelling, that doesn't necessarily preclude plots including them that are compelling for other reasons. And I'll end it there.

New Age...........perhaps new weapons and armor? (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=507824&forum=84&sp=30)

Yeah, personally I found that there's a bit of a gap between the rationale behind magic and its implementation via the rules... because at some level you're going to need magic that can be used quickly in combat via players using the UI no matter what. Style counts for a lot at that point, I figure. If magic has a cool rationale and it's been implemented with some thought to the aesthetics, a lot can be forgiven.

Or this is my hope.

"How the heck did we get here?"... (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=520549&forum=84)

While there are transitions from area to area on the world map, the current thinking is that most of the outdoor areas would be very large and have lots of exploration area and side-areas to explore -- as well as the main "feature" of that area, if you will.

So you might travel to an area which represents a region of the map -- and, upon arriving, come over a hill to spot that lake in the concept art and Kinloch Hold (the tower depicted) off in the distance. But you can travel around and explore the lake region, perhaps popping in to that fishing village or whatever, getting to Kinloch Hold if and when you feel you have business there.

I think the idea is to model the places the player needs to go without actually creating the entire land -- while at the same time preventing the world from feeling very small by doing only what's needed (which would be going to that area and popping out right in front of Kinloch Hold).

BG2 isn't a bad example -- we didn't create all of Amn, but the areas you could go to were pretty large on the whole. I don't know if the DA areas will be larger or smaller in the final cut, but I think what we're aiming for is a bit more compromise between channeling and exploration than we've done in titles like, say, KotOR or JE.

Or, I should say, that's the plan.

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Yes, you would click on "Volcano Lake" or whatever the region was called... and then appear near the edges of that area with the idea that you have traveled the intervening distance over however much time had passed. You would still need to travel the remainder of the distance to Kinloch Hold (if that was your destination, and it's most likely the most important feature of the region) but we're not dumping you off right in front of the tower and there's more than likely lots of side nooks and crannies (and quests) to explore elsewhere if you desire.

<a href="http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=515977&forum=84" target="_blank">Did NWN2 decrease your wiggle room?
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In what way would NWN2 decrease our "wiggle room" to be unique? I don't get it. It's super that their campaign turned out to be a good one. That's wonderful for Obsidian. How does it affect Dragon Age?

Writing Experience (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=520672&forum=84)

I was just wondering what kind of experience some of the writers had before they started working at Bioware.

Writing experience? Do you mean professionally? If so, none. And I've no post-secondary education that would apply, either.

Mind you, I wouldn't suggest my entry path into game design anyway. I kind of fell into it bass ackwards, if you know what I mean.

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No, I didn't write fan-fiction until after I started working for Bioware. And even then, we're only talking some occasional stuff for BG2 and then that KotOR bit -- I wasn't writing slash or anything.

No, I used to manage hotels for a living. I did some personal writing, like short stories and such, but that was not a serious endeavour and in fact it's not what got me the job.

In fact, what had happened was that I'd written a set of rules for a combination strategy/LARP game. It was pretty complex -- essentially all the players were the nobility of a fantasy kingdom where the King had died without an heir and they were all struggling to assume the throne (with the LARP element being an in-game meeting once every three turns). The players all enjoyed it a lot and it was a lot of work -- and it turned out that one of them worked for Bioware, though back then I had no idea that they were the ones who were working on BG (which had not come out yet, though I'd heard of it).

That player submitted my rulebook to James Ohlen (without telling me) and so I was called in for an interview. From my rulebook and some examples of my writing, and a common interest in RPG's and DM'ing (DMing experience being, incidentally, a very common background for writers who are able to grasp non-linear dialogue and plot fairly easily... understandable, I guess, if you think about it), they offered me the job.

Which I refused. Bioware seemed very fly-by-night to me, and I already had a career. And who the hell makes computer games in Edmonton? Plus, it was something like a 50% pay cut. So thanks but no thanks.

Then the next day I went into work and the hotel I was working at got taken over, and as the GM I was let go with severance. So as I'm walking out the door with my box of stuff from my desk, a bit stunned, I thought... hey, what the hell? I'll give it a shot. So I sent Bioware an email asking if the offer was still good, and it was.

--

So, no, I wouldn't suggest my path to anyone. But it does illustrate that experience, at least insofar as design goes, is not necessarily what we are looking for. Having university degrees and such will give you a better chance of being noticed and perhaps interviewed... but talent trumps experience every time. My connection inside Bioware got me the interview, but it didn't get me the job. You want to work as a designer? Practice.

Show us you have what it takes to do level design. Write a design document for an interesting plot, like a D&D module even. And by interesting I don't mean you most gushing fanboy fantasy idea... I mean a workable plot that shows us you know the nature of the mechanics involved, something that could actually be implemented and yet is still interesting and witty.
Or show us you can write good dialogue. The NWN toolset is great. You don't need to be a perfect scripter -- we've hired people based on dialogue they have written entirely in Word, so long as it shows they grasp the concept of non-linear dialogue. Have multiple paths that are coherent, allow for different styles of player responses, show that you're aware of the type of dialogue that we write at Bioware and we'll pay attention.

And if we didn't look at your submission, try again. If we look at it and didn't like it, take our feedback and try again. Persistence is key.

And that's really all the advice I can offer.

--

Incidentally, yes, I am quite aware that I have what some would consider a dream job. Sometimes it's just work and I can forget that. My favorite thing, I would have to say, is that my Mom used to come across me and my friends playing D&D way back in the day and she would get irritated and say, "You can't make a career out of playing your D&D, you know!" And now she has to take it back. A lot. Because I remind her of it, like, all the time.

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And, no, it doesn't have to be in NWN. But the NWN toolset is pretty close to the stuff we actually use, so it serves as an excellent example of what you know. If you can write dialogue in Word, after all, but aren't interested in writing it in a proper dialogue editor you're not going to be of much help to us.

At the most fundamental level any submission just needs to be able to show us what you're capable of. Some things are simply better able to do that than others.

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<hr />Interesting story...but it leaves me wondering: if you knew back then what you know now, would you still have refused, or would you have taken the job immediately instead of the day after?<hr />I would have taken the job immediately. Bioware has been very good to me, no PC-osity required. I'm not a religious man, but there was a point back then where I honestly felt like something was telling me, "No, you idiot, go THIS WAY."

<hr />How is that handled? Do some of the writers have the judgement of incoming employee-wannabe dialogue scripts as part of their job description?<hr />Those candidates who get short-listed often get distributed to all the senior designers, who review the submissions and submit our opinions. Ultimately it's the decision of the design head, however.

<hr />So you'll seriously look at the 342th submission of the same person as well, or is there some point where you advise people to stop trying again?<hr />I guess it would depend. If someone kept trying and was good enough for us to look closely at what they were sending but wasn't responding to our suggestions on successive submissions we might tell them what the issue is. I'm not sure -- we get a lot of submissions, after all, so we can't possibly give them all personal attention. Sometimes people submit stuff that has potential, however, and those are the ones we encourage -- and sadly most of them never try again.

<hr />Distance, mainly. As fun as I expect it to be to work at Bioware, I prefer working in my own country, close to home and family. How many people that do not speak english as their first language currently work at bioware, I wonder? How many people with significantly different cultural backgrounds? I'm curious.<hr />We don't get a lot of people we're interested in hiring because they just don't want to move to Northern Canada, sure. Or they're happy in their current job. Or they have familial obligations or school or whatever. There are a lot of people who do come from far and wide.

Snappy comments to wrap up a conversation. (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=523623&forum=84)

While I like the idea of injecting more personality into PC responses in concept, the problem with it that we find sometimes is that the more individual you make the PC the more you encounter players whose reaction is "but my character wouldn't say that."

For those who think their character would say that, you're golden. But suddenly you're faced with either putting in a lot more responses to cover all those other characters or essentially telling a bunch of players that they will have to accept what they're given in the name of snappy dialogue and be done with it.

I don't know. Is that acceptable? You tell me.

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Yeah, we do stick them in from time to time. Every now and again a line just begs a certain snappy response. The funny thing is, from internal feedback it seems that these lines are often liked but rarely are they actually selected. Which presents a bit of a conundrum, writing-wise.

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That is exactly the point, however. In the recent Bard's Tale, you are supplied a character with his own personality. If I was giving you a set character, I too would opt to make him as memorably written as possible. When you start supplying dialogue for a broad range of intended characters (an almost impossible task in a way, though that's another conversation entirely), just how individual do you want the responses to be? It's a legitimate question.

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So, what? 10 to 15 PC responses on every node? Are you joking? That's simply not going to happen under any circumstances, I'm afraid, and certainly not just for flavour.

At some point you have to accept that pre-written dialogue is simply never going to cover every possible character variation. And while I'm not suggesting that one should just give up and make all the responses bland and generic (I don't think I do that), I think at a certain point trying to cover all those bases is going to become counter-productive.

Having the occasional snappy response is one thing, and can keep things lively even if players rarely pick them, trying to accomodate all variations of personality with a mountain of dialogue is quite another.

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I'm not giving up on anything. I think I actually put such things into my dialogue occasionally as it is, in fact. A little flavour goes a long way. I just happen to think (from the writing point of view) that the idea of making this a larger feature is one of those things that sounds good in theory but doesn't really work in practice, that's all.

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Yeah, I liked the playful stuff in KotOR and I want to continue writing like that. Friends tease each other sometimes, and lovers even more so. Supposedly this person likes you for who you are, right? So if you can't laugh or have an argument or two, then what's the point?

And if the occasion should come when you say something that hurts them, you should get the chance to apologize -- at least once.

And so that's how it's going to be. 'Cause I said so.

Dragon Age Featured in Games for Windows Magazine - includes time frame of release (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=508236&forum=84)

<hr />I like what I saw, gotta admit that, but I am leery of the ME conversation style.<hr />I'm not really sure why it says that. Other than being more cinematic, the two dialogue systems don't have a lot in common. I guess it depends on what Scott meant by "modified".

<hr />but it's making me afraid that the UI will be based on controlling one character (a la every RPG since NWN ) instead of the tactical party control UI style seen in the Infinity Engine games.<hr />Don't be afraid of that. The way the camera system works at present (and that may change) it looks like the screenshot when you're moving around and switches to the BG-style overhead view when you're in combat. There may be modifications, of course, and no doubt there will be options for those who want a different view.

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I believe the lighting system in the engine is far from finished at this point, so what you're seeing in that screenshot is rudimentary at best.

So if it's so early, I suppose the question is what have we been doing for the last three years? The answer to that is that the various Dragon Age teams have been working on pieces of the engine (and art and design) seperately, and the milestone that we're passing is that it's finally all being put together. So what you're seeing is a really early version of something that you can go into and run around in and actually play -- but functionally at this point it's still two steps forward and one step back. There's a lot of pouonding out of the kinks before all the content that's been in the making can be put into the engine and all the bells and whistles worked out.

We certainly could have waited until all that was done before we started putting out a peek of the game, sure, but when would that be? Regardless of how much remains to be done, it's really satisfying to see it actually coming together.

<hr />Does the engine support 8bit alpha?<hr />I can't answer that, as I've no idea. Sorry.

<hr />Will Dragon Age be moddable, incidentally? And by that I mean 'can anyone other than a programmer insert new content?', not 'will it come with an easy-to-use, full-featured toolset?'<hr />The plan is that, yes, Dragon Age would be moddable and that our tools would be available to the end user without prettying them up like in NWN (where accessibility was key), but that plan is completely subject to change. Since putting out a toolset is not part of the project goal like with NWN, it will get looked at more seriously later than other features... so the answer right now is that it's not set.

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While I can sort of see how these comments apply, it could lead to easy misinterpretation. "Good/evil choices" makes it sound like KotOR... which it most definitely is not. You are making morality choices, but they are story-related and do not affect your character like with alignment or the dark/light side meter.

And, yes, some of those choices affect really huge things in the world. The "which race survives" thing is part of the outcome of a specific plot, however, involving two racial groups... you're not making a choice of genocide (which that comment could easily be interpreted as).

Beyond that, it sounds good. Twitch.

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Yes, as we've always done it in other past games. Upon reading the article, what Scott was referring to insofar as the Mass Effect dialogue goes is the use of facial animations in conversations.

No More 3D graphics please (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=516883&forum=84&sp=30)

Superior gameplay? Maybe.

Nostalgia's a funny thing.

I remember having a discussion with someone not all that long ago who said, with certainty, that the dialogue in BG2 hasn't been exceeded in quality since. Which I found interesting, as I am equally certain that the dialogue in BG2 was pretty primitive on the whole and sometimes even cringe-worthy when I look back on it... perhaps what they meant was that they liked the characterizations or the plots or even the sheer volume?

But, no, they said they liked the quality of the dialogue and its complexity, period.

To which I can only go "oookay". Nostalgia has a way, I've noticed, of getting people to not only forget all the things they didn't like when they actually played the game, but to actually turn "I liked this game" into "I liked everything about this game". That rose-coloured hue tends to wash over everything, I suppose. And they're not wrong. Such perspective is always going to be personal, but such is human nature.

Things I dislike in nwn2 to avoid in DA please! (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=516617&forum=84&sp=45)

Your PC doesn't have to be a "frontliner" when it comes to combat, but he will indeed be the main "chatter". Why? Because he's the protaganist, that's why.

Not to mention that if you choose to focus on skills other than those usable in dialogue, why would you simply assume that such choices can be made irrelevant simply by taking on a more social party member? Even if you did expect that, it's not going to happen. They're your sidekick, not the other way around.

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And should you ever get the chance to run a nation instead of a party, sending out others to act as envoys on your behalf sounds like an excellent idea.

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Small? We're talking about characters that often have their own speech idiosyncracies, never mind their own opinions on what should be done in any given situation.

That could be done for very short and specific sections of the game, perhaps, but for the entire thing? No, that's much more than a niggling problem. Please spare the kittens.

You want to feel like you're part of a team? That's super. This is, however, a game with a protaganist -- you're calling the shots as the player and you don't get to play your party members, only your PC. Your party members get to react to your decisions and interject into your dialogues. That's how it works.

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I would also point out that part of the gameplay that we've established is that the party members interject frequently during dialogue to object or agree with your decisions... it's the primary way that their attitudes toward you change, in fact.

How are they supposed to be interjecting if they're the ones who could be doing the talking?

Whether or not a party member can use their Persuasion skill on your behalf during dialogue is quite a seperate thing... if they did, it would be an engine thing where, say, the party member with the highest Persuade skill was used whenever it was called for in dialogue. The PC, as the protaganist, would still ostensibly be doing all the talking and deciding because that's the way it has to be.

Just because one can imagine a narrative, after all, does not make it a good idea. You may be able to imagine the Fellowship from Lord of the Rings and decide -- hey, other characters sometimes did the talking there, and if you can't do that in Dragon Age that means you can't have the Fellowship and that would be bad! Except that Dragon Age party members do plenty of talking. And while they may not be making decisions and be spokespersons, one would still have to realize that 1) Lord of the Rings is a novel and movie and not a game and 2) Lord of the Rings, unlike a game, does not have a single POV or single protaganist.

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<hr />Does this mean that if you're talking to a merchant, a party member with a high appraisal skill (or whatever)could speak up and inform you if you are getting ripped off?<hr />Possibly, but I was just using that as an example. Most merchant-related stuff isn't going to occur in dialogue, though, anyhow.

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<hr />Ah so even though the protagonist is talking, other chracters "social" skills are still taken into account. So far i was getting worried that any social skills on any character other than PC would be wasted.<hr />IF we did that. IF. Once again, I was just using that as a possibility (which apparently I should not do). We could do that, and have discussed it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's in the works.

6 Person Party. (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=519612&forum=84&sp=30)

Exactly.

I get the whole "I like 6-person parties because I liked it in BG". There's no reason for someone to think otherwise because the only basis they have for comparison is the D&D model. So I completely understand.

The only issue I have is when some people can't divorce their like of a game from an objective examination of its features. Not that everyone does it, of course, but I think far more are doing it than are aware of it. There is a tendency for people to think, "I liked this game so therefore X feature that it had is a good one". You may have liked it despite that feature, after all, or it may have only been as good as it was while supported by other features or (in this case) with a specific ruleset.

Or maybe a 6-person party is intrinsically better. I've yet to hear an convincing argument to that fact. The only thing I've seen from personal experience is that when it comes to banter opportunities you don't want any less than 4 and probably the ideal is 5. "Tactical opportunities", however, seem to rely primarily on the ruleset involved. And regardless, these two factors are far from the only consideration in deciding how big the party should be.

And that's all I really have to say about that.

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Riiight. Well, let's try that again.

Did I say "I'm right and you're wrong"? No, I did not. Most of you are using BG2 and D&D as the basis for your comparison and that's understandable. You don't know anything about our system and we're not talking, yet, and replicating BG2 in DA is not our goal.

And while "satisfying everybody" would be a great argument for putting almost any feature into the game, as I already said we have more things to consider than what would be nifty keen to the largest number of people. You think that large parties are required no matter what the system, and that the D&D party roles are the only way it could possibly be an RPG without being dumbed down? That's super. You go ahead and believe that, but when I say that a great number of you are unwilling to move from the D&D mentality whether you're aware of it or not I think it's pretty self-evident and not me "covering" for anything.

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<hr />How far are you guys from being complete enough to even begin talking about the game in more detail?<hr />
Still quite a ways. At this point many big things could potentially still change depending on how they play in the final engine.

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<hr />PLEASE lean towards 5+ person parties! RTS Style control!<hr />I doubt that particular element will change, which is one of the reasons it's been mentioned. The reason for that is, as I've said, that the decision was made for more reasons than ruleset and implementation alone. We'll see, however.

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Games are always assembled in parts and then put together in the "final engine". The fact that the final is coming together is a good thing, it means we're well on our way. But it's at this stage where lots of stuff can change. No plan survives contact with the enemy.

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No... once you have enough party members to even fill out your party, nobody is forced to accompany you after that point. If you don't like one of the plot-crucial NPC's, you leave them at camp.

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Yes, the two companions who are required to be with you are there for good reason. And even so, you're under no obligation to treat them nicely or take them into your party much.

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They react to actions you take while they're in the party and also things you say to them, so they may just develop a dislike for you which will eventually hit critical mass. There are also things you can do in the plot that are so horrible that it's make-or-break time for them, yes, just like in JE.

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One of the ways that your relationship can change with a party member is when they object to something you've done. A patricularly persuasive PC can mollify their anger or even turn it into something positive. Or you can say, "mind yo own biznatch!" and maybe make it worse.

You're not going to be able to explain away everything, however. And interjections aren't the only way that your relationship levels with party members can change. I wouldn't call it "influence", either... as it's not really the same as what Obsidian is doing. We track how much they like you (or not) and any influence you might choose to wield over them (or be able to -- not all party members are equally malleable) is seperate.

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Chris Priestly, Community Coordinator</font>

Freedom of Universe (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=517752&forum=84)

It is still too early to be planning for sequels and what may or may not get made and by whom. But I know Scott G and the team are making a fully realized world with history, separate regions, and the potential to allow for sequels and future developement.

In the end it will come down to how much you, the fans, like what they come up with. Hopefully you'll all play DA and want more.

If DA was written by.... (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=514930&forum=84&sp=30)

If Dragon Age was written by Johnson & Johnson:
Apply Dragon Age directly to player.
Load, Reload, Repeat.

1Up.com secretly tours Dragon Age (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=519701&forum=84&sp=15)

<hr />Who are the alleged gentlemen in this non-existent footage?<hr />
If there were any alleged gentlem... oh forget that.

The BioWare people you see are "tour guide" Scott Greig (the person describing the art on the walls) and sitting in Scott's office holding the hammer is his officemate Trent "Strength of Thor" Oster. The narc at the end of the video is our PR director Erik Einsiedel.

<hr />So you get to wear t-shirts to work and have original concept art of Aribeth on the wall? Hmm. *Checks out supply of Thieves' Tools +10*<hr />
Yep. Basically we have a very lax dress code here. T-shirts and jeans are very normal. Bathrobe and slippers or a sarong and flip-flops less so, but not unacceptable.

And we have many of the walls decorated with promo-art for past or upcoming games (like DA and Mass Effect). Usually whichever "wing" of the office you are in will put up it's promo art to decorate the walls and brag about what they are doing for passing non-team members. We also have old art from the BG series or MDK, game posters and stand ups from our titles, awards we've won or news articles about us and other such things to spruce up the halls.

Did NWN2 decrease your wiggle room? (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=515977&forum=84)

No, not really. We want NwN2 to do well for a number of reasons such as we have a great community of NwN1 players who want a good sequel and another good CRPG helps the industry as a whole.

But in the end, the success or what is done by NwN2 doesn't really affect what our team is doing with Dragon Age. We're still setting out to make an event title with our own IP world. Although we wish Obsidian/Atari great success with NwN2, it doesn't really change what we're doing with DA.

Dragon Age Featured in Games for Windows Magazine - includes time frame of release (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=508236&forum=84&sp=15)

Well, I think that was more of an estimate on their part. I've said this in another thread, but it bears repeating.

We don't know the release date yet. Heck, Mass Effect is going to be coming out quite a bit before Dragon Age and we don't know the release date for that either.

The team is working really hard and you're starting to see what they are coming up with (which looks fabulous imo), but we won't have a set release date for quite some time yet. Stay Tuned.

<a href="http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=521111&forum=84" target="_blank">Why you should buy the Games for Windows Magazine:
</a>

Now THAT's a demon. But I'm not mentioning what sort yet.

You also missed describing some of the DA pics, like the other plate mail wearing "creature" armed with sword and shield, the wizard's laboratory on Ray's forehead, and, if you look carefully over Greg's right shoulder, another Dragon picture with a human in the picture to show scale.

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Stanley Woo, QA Ninja</font>

Freedom of Universe (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=517752&forum=84)

<hr />Do we get to see all of it?<hr />Heck no! The world is huge!

<hr />most of it?<hr />Probably not. As I said, the world is huge! How much of the world did you see in Jade Empire or NWN? Only a few locations.

<hr />hear rumors of some of it?<hr />Very likely.

If DA was written by.... (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=514930&forum=84)

An excerpt from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of TheDAS:

I am the very model of a DA forum devotee
I've information posted in the BioBoard community
I know the game developers and crazy moderators, too.
Like Mary Kirby, Sheryl Chee, and David G. and Stanley Woo.

I've speculated on the animation and the combat styles
I'm rather bored because the game will not be out for quite a while
I eat up ev'ry morsel of the subject matter served up here
Like player backgrounds, permadeath, same-sex romance and throwable spears

Despite my sometimes trollish posts, I really am a pleasant sort
I flame all those who disagree because I find it quite the sport
In short, although sometimes I'm banned from posting, temporarily
I am the very model of a DA forum devotee

NPC relations (civilised thread) (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=518804&forum=84&sp=15)

Really? What about the lone dude standing in front of a tree? Doesn't he provide good opportunities for side-quests and ethical choices? And he doesn't even have to mention his name, race, religion, sexual orientation, favourite colour, or political party affiliation to do it. Total absence of guys standing in front of trees aren't noticeable simply because there's no expectation that there will be guys standing in front of trees, let alone that they are important.

The same goes with any character trait. Nobody cares whether Peasant #1 is gay or straight, just like nobody cares whether a quest giver is Gorbarian or Schmenkril. Unless that information is important to that character ("We Gorbarians hate Schmenkrils, so that's why I want you to steal John Schmenkril's gold") or quest ("Please find me a pure orchid so I can give it to my boyfriend."), it doesn't matter a whit.

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And the first thing I would think upon entering such a house is that they're sisters or otherwise family, not a couple. To show them as a couple, you'd have to explicitly make their dialogue to mention it, and that, more than anything (in my opinion), sounds unnatural/illogical. Again, unless it's part of their quest or important information to give the player.

And if it doesn't add anything to the game, why expend the resources? I mean, really, how many people do you meet in a day that tell you what religion, sexuality, political party, race, or social standing they are? How much of a difference does that make in how they treat you, or you treat them? Hopefully, it doesn't make a single bit of difference.

So why make a big deal about it in the game?

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Is there a place for it? Sure, why not?

Will we necessarily include all possible relationships in the game or even show things that "might be?" Probably not.

New Age...........perhaps new weapons and armor? (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=507824&forum=84)

Sure we are. I don't think any other game has had authentic Ferelden arms and armour before. And I'm pretty sure the minerals on TheDAS are wholly unlike the minerals you'd find anywhere else!

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I was only teasing you, Juhy, because your comments were easy to misinterpret. Also, it's fun.

I've often found that when someone is looking for something "different," what they really mean is "something I haven't seen before." This is fine, except that what I've seen before and what you've seen before aren't necessarily the same things.

the kinds of magic I've seen in games: powered by the elements, powered by "mana", powered by will, powered by an object, granted by gods, granted by demons, granted by dragons, powered by life energy (usually plants), innate abilities, learned skills, element-based, animal based, nature based, totem or spirit-based, rune or symbol-based, astronomy-based, death-based, darkness or shadow-based, technology-based. And that's just to name a few!

So after having seen all of those different kinds of magic, and hearing someone say they want something "different" or that they want "new" spells, I have to ask: what's left?

Did NWN2 decrease your wiggle room? (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=515977&forum=84)

AS long as it doesn't make Dave wiggle, I'm fine with NWN2 and happy for Obsidian's success! Still has nothing to do with Dragon Age, though, except for the Dave wiggling bit, in which case I will stab myself in the face.

Once you see that, you can't un-see it.

Writing experience (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=520672&forum=84)

A lot of people think that working in the videogame industry is somehow different and more magical or more highly specialized than other tech jobs. I tell you now that this is not the case.

Like any other job, you need to show potential employers that you have the talent, the dedication, and the skills required to do the job and do it well. Several of you in this thread have remarked that it's a dream job and you wish you had it. Well, what's stopping you?

Like Dave said, practise is key. The more practise you have, the better you'll get. Get used to asking for feedback and having an sudience critique your work. Get used to re-writing things over and over until the audience is happy with it. Challenge yourself to get your work seen by more than just a handful of people: get published, even if it's just online.

And above all, don't treat it like you'll be playing or designing videogames for a living oh boy now I'm living on easy street giggle giggle I am the envy of my friends. Until my friends heard about the 17-hour work days, the 91-hour work week, the months of crunch time, and the soul-sucking monotony that is QA sometimes, they thought that I had the dream job. Ooh, playing videogames for a living. Sure, I love my job, but that's because I accept the checklists, the test plans, the bug reports, the meetings, the critiquing sessions, the long hours, the hurry up and wait, and all the other things that go into making the games you see on the shelves and finish in a week and moan and complain about in forums.

I kid, I kid. It's a great job, and I'm doing what I love, and I work with some really great people (and Dave).

So get yourself some experience and education. In other words, stay in school, kids. And write as much as you can, hone your craft, and you too can do what you've always wanted.

the more you know.

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Lots. If you want to get technical, English is my second language. I just haven't had many opportunities to speak my first language regularly in quite some time.

As for employees with significantly different cultural backgrounds, there are quite a few. We have in the company native speakers of everything from Malay to Russian to German to Korean to Hebrew, among others.

Dragon Age Featured in Games for Windows Magazine - includes time frame of release (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=508236&forum=84&sp=105)

But short of letting you type in a question and have the game understand you and formulate an adequate response based on such unquantifiable terms as personality, motivation, and tone of voice, that would be nigh-impossible.

There is a world of difference between a human-guided PnP game with your friends and a fully "programmed" conversation system in a CRPG, regardless of how many options you have.

<a href="http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=494004&forum=84&sp=60" target="_blank">Huge Request for a Linux/Mac version
</a>

I would have to disagree with you, Sage. I have not made any statement one way or the other on whether Dragon Age will be available for Linux-native machines, or, even, whether one is possible. I am careful not to speak out of line here because I know full well how comments can be misinterpreted by those who really, really, really, really, really, want the game to turn out (or not turn out) a certain way.

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I cannot apologize for what people perceive, as I did not at any time call anyone "silly." If that's what you read of my statement, you should wonder why I would call someone "nebulous" as well. What I can apologize for is giving the impression that I was disrespecting Linux users or an individual in particular.

For giving that impression, I do so apologize. It is never my intention to cause grief or to alienate the community that I've been a part of for the last five years.

As for your alternative, unless we are ready to announce one way or another, we will not do so merely to assuage anyone's hurt feelings or feelings of disappointment.

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Indeed. So why get on my case for saying that, regardless of your OS preference, it won't change whatever decision we have made or will make? A user's choice of OS doesn't determine what game a developer makes, just like a consumer's brand preference doesn't determine the product's placement in the store. The game is made, the product is placed, and (I cannot stress this enough) it is the consumer's choice whether to purchase that product.

Let me say that again, because consumers in this thread, this forum, and this past-time sometimes forget. It is your choice to purchase this game if it doesn't appear on Linux. It is your choice to purchase a Windows machine or emulator or whatever you need to do to play this game. It is also your choice to support BioWare, this game, or ths videogame industry in general.

I, as a "lowly QA engineer" (which I'm not, I'm just a QA guy) do not determine what you choose to buy or how you play the game. Threatening to not buy the game if your choice of operating system is not supported, or intimating that your choice of operating system is entitled to be supported, or that because your choice of operating system is better / faster / more user-friendly / less evil it should have the game--that is the sort of "OS pride" that I'm calling "nebulous and silly."

Not you, Sage, or any other individual who has chosen Linux or Mac or Windows or any other operating system. You are free to choose whatever system is right for you. I respect the freedom of choice, and I respect those individuals like you who have made that choice. I've certainly made my choice.

I'm sorry to be so emphatic about this; I didn't want to be misinterpreted this time. Thanks for reading and for giving your feedback. We (and I) appreciate it.

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I don't think anyone is saying that it's not possible, Michael. It's altogether possible, and if there is enough demand and we decide to do one, we will find a way to make it happen.

Unfortunately, I doubt BioWare "does business" over the forums. You would have to talk to the powers-that-be in the normal fashion if you're interested in doing business with us.

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Right, a claarification. BioWare doesn't tell you what OS to use, just like it doesn't recommend a brand of mouse or size of chair or placement of your computer. What it does do is develop games and these games are released on certain platforms.

The platforms for which our games are released and the OS you choose to use are not dependent on one another. That's what I meant.

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<hr />It's Bioware's choice as a supplier whether or not they want to allow an alternative to a third-party software platform that their product runs on to get my sale.<hr />Actually, the publisher might have some input into this decision.

Things I dislike in nwn2 to avoid in DA please! (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=516617&forum=84&sp=45)

Except in this team, there is an "I," as it should be in party-based RPGs. I want the PC (a character that I create, I modify, and with whom I likely identify the most) to have the biggest role in things.

6 Person Party. (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=519612&forum=84&sp=75)

What if your diplomat/thief/support skill X guy/girl/badger also happens to be a wicked fighter? You're assuming that someone can't be both skilled and deadly.

Maybe being a skilled diplomat/thief means you have to have sneaky killy combat skills. Or maybe to become a Cleaver of Doom, you need 14 ranks in the Intimidate/Persuade feat.

Personally, I think a lot of the "you have to have 166 party members" and "don't force me to have any party members" arguments are born of a vacuum that doesn't survive contact with any finished game product. Personal preference, on the other hand, generally keeps people liking the 4-8 range, since most of us are PnP gamers from way back.

Me, I like party members so I can banter with them.

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I didn't. If they wanted to talk to me, they could have just started talking, and you can either continue the conversation or shut them down. Instead, there was a vague hint that "Bastila looks like she wants to say something." When the party members actually phrase it as a question or sound like they actually want to talk to you, I don't mind so much. "So, can we talk about the behemoth now?" or "Hey, can we talk?" or "I need to get something off my chest." or "How come we never talk anymore?" are all okay, in my book.

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Sheryl Chee, Writer</font>

If DA was written by.... (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=514930&forum=84)

Ooh ooh! Can I play?

If DA was written by...

A Harry Potter Fan-Fiction Writer

The PC would start out in his home, where he lives with his abusive guardians. The player can decide if the main character will turn into an angsty goth, s8erboi, tattooed freak, or remain angelic throughout his trials and tribulations. At this point, the plot will break off so the PC can sing a song by Nine Inch Nails/Linkin Park/Tori Amos/Avril Lavigne and muse about how much the song describes his life and feelings.

Once the plot gets going, the PC will be joined by several NPCs, up to and including a greasy mentor-figure who outwardly hates the PC but feels some sort of obligation to help because he

1. Loved the PC's mother
2. Loved the PC's father
3. Loves the PC, even though he is fifteen.

Over the course of the plot, two of the NPCs, the bookish girl and the spunky redhead, will suddenly and for no apparent reason, get makeovers. The bookworm will become a ***, straighten her hair and start dressing like Paris Hilton. The redhead will start shopping at Hot Topic and become an angsty goth. Much dialogue will be devoted to describing their clothing.

In the end, the PC will grow wings and discover he is half-demon, or maybe half-angel. He will also impregnate one of his male NPCs, possibly the blond one who has always been his nemesis.

The writing will also be peppered with lots of spelling and grammar errors. If the devs are criticised, they will write about how cruel the world is on their LiveJournals.

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Here's more!

If DA was written by...

David Eddings

The plot would revolve around a magical rock of some kind. This rock will probably be blue. The PC will have been "chosen" by some "prophecy" to wield this rock. And by wield I mean set in some special sword. The rock will not be thrown. The rock would not LET itself be thrown, because it is a sentient rock.

All the female characters will be beautiful, and will end up marrying some NPC or other. The party will include at least one of the following: old wizard, child-like innocent, slick rogue. The only NPC that can die will be the one that enters into the story very late, and who hardly says anything, because heaven forbid you get attached to a character and then they die.

Did NWN2 decrease your wiggle room? (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=515977&forum=84&sp=15)

Huh? Seriously? You had to do this? Were you using it correctly? It sucks that you had such trouble with it and that it added to your intense hatred of NWN. I never had problems with the NWN dialogue editor.

Well, not till like a couple days ago when I went back to it to do some stuff after having used the shiny new designer toolset for a while... Mmm, pretty... *pats the new toolset*

Writing experience (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=520672&forum=84)

Harry Potter fan fiction!

No, really. Fanfic. I have no professional writing experience, and actually never showed much of the fanfic I wrote, because most of the time, I never finished it and I hate having people see unfinished work. I cut my teeth on the mean and nasty fandom communities of LiveJournal, mostly the ones that involve poking fun at Mary Sues and canon-rape.

Then there were the NWN modules that I made, which I never put up for download. I realised quite early that making the module I wanted, exactly the way I wanted, would take months and months of work, and while I chipped away at it slowly, things like school got in the way and again, it was never finished. I applied for the job with absolutely no expectations, thinking it couldn't really hurt to try.

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I don't think anyone in the company has the job title of "Game Designer". I suppose you could call everyone in the design team a "game designer" but we all have specific jobs.

For example, let's say we want to add Zombie Kittens (tm Maria) to the game. The writers deal with plot, character and world consistency. Who are the Zombie Kittens? Were they kittens that were zombified? Or zombies that were kittenified? What do they do in their free time? What is their civilization like? If there is going to be a lead Zombie Kitten, what sort of personality does he/she have? What motivations?

Then there are the technical designers, who concern themselves with level design, gameplay, combat encounters and things like that. So they'll be thinking about how the Zombie Kitten Slime Palace is laid out. Where will the traps be? How will the Zombie Kittens ambush and confuse you? What special abilities will Zombie Kittens have? The tech designers will also be responsible for doing the fancy scripting magic that makes the Zombie Kittens come alive.

Then there's the Lead Designer, who gets to have the final say in almost everything. In this case, he would probably say: "No Zombie Kittens in this game!"

There is some overlap, of course, but we tend to stick to our areas of expertise.

So when you say you want to be a game designer, that really doesn't tell us much. Which aspect of the game are you interested in?

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Mary Kirby, Writer</font>

If DA was written by.... (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=514930&forum=84)

I can't possibly equal Sheryl's contribution, but:

If DA was written by. . .

The people who write the IKEA furniture assembly instructions

The PC would be mute. All the NPCs would communicate with the player by picking up random objects and pointing. Sometimes they would point at the random objects, sometimes they would point at the PC, sometimes they would just point at a speck on the ground, or possibly a small animal. The occasional circle would be involved in this.

The story would detail the epic struggle between the PC and an army of tiny wooden pegs, and would end with the PC, exhausted and suffering multiple little bruises to the hands, picking up the phone and calling IKEA – which would be tragic, as the PC would remember at the last moment that he was mute.

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If DA were written by. . .

C.J. Cherryh:

The game would be no less than 300 hours long. The first 100 hours would be devoted to the PC traveling somewhere overland. During this trip, absolutely nothing would happen. Although the player might spend 50 or 60 hours trying unsuccessfully to follow/strike up conversations with birds, trees, furry woodland creatures, or inanimate objects.

The second 100 hours would consist of signs and portents and weird happenings all of which would be related in some way to a nebulous, shadowy enemy that you wouldn't actually see. These portents would include, but not be limited to: windows/doors slamming, leaves blowing in the wind, candles going out, butter churns being knocked over, or a shadow on the wall. The player would be joined intermittently by an inhuman companion who would only stick around long enough to make fun the of the PC and possibly get him into/out of trouble before vanishing.

At some point, the PC would feed the birds.

The love-interest would have uncontrollable magical powers of some variety, a mysterious origin even he/she didn't know about, or would be undead. In fact, almost every character of any real importance to the story will be dead.

The climactic battle at the end would take up the remaining 100 hours, and would end with the player breaking the shadowy enemy's spells either by walking slowly forward or staring intently at a spot on the wall or possibly both at once, assuming the PC has high enough dexterity not to trip.

The epilogue would make it clear that whatever it was you thought had been going on all this time, that wasn't really the truth.

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Okay, one more, and then I swear I’ll stop. . . for a while.

If DA were written by. . .

Clothing catalogue writers

TheDAS would be a cozy, bright, and whimsical land. Everything would sound as though it were meant to be edible, although it clearly was not a form of food. The mud streets would be described as mocha. Bruises would come in plum and blueberry. The flames consuming that nearby village would be cinnamon or candy apple. Any NPC using the names of primary colors would be hunted down by secret police and never seen again -- though the player might later find an arm or leg stuffed into a complimentary gift bag.

There wouldn’t be a story, but new installments of the game would come out seasonally anyway. Occasionally, a plot would be hinted at, involving a mysterious NPC named Victoria and her unfathomable secret, but the player would never find any evidence of this plot anywhere.

Periodically, the PC would find that one of his followers had spent all of his gold on performance fleece.

[Suggestion] Voice for protagonist, without voice over hassle (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=515862&forum=84&sp=15)

Regardless of what it would sound like, it would still be the case that the player would select a line written and appearing in English, but the character would speak a line of nonsense. And the NPC characters would not be speaking the PC's almost-english language, they'd be speaking English. That's what I'd be tempted to make fun of in such a system. It is not the same situation as The Sims -- nobody speaks anything but gibberish there. It's not the same as the city ambient noises -- those are actually words, but generally meant to sound distant and indistint. If I, sitting at the computer playing the game, hear the character speak, but can't figure out what the player character is saying, but I understand everyone else I'd feel complelled to make jokes where the NPCs accuse the player of mumbling, tell him not to talk with his mouthful, try to give him speech lessons, or outright mishear what he said.

New Age...........perhaps new weapons and armor? (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=507824&forum=84&sp=15)

I like more subtle magic spells, personally. I still think probably the single best example of magic at work I've ever seen was in the book A Wizard of Earthsea when Sparowhawk defeats the army invading his village with fog. But I generally think that spells like these examples work so much better in pen and paper than in video games.

That "make target cough mud" spell is most likely never going to work when I really want it to -- say, on a boss-type guy. He'll probably either resist it or be immune to the creep-out factor. It inevitably winds up being the sort of thing that you can use once via a dialogue option somewhere and then never again. "Turn sword into snake" is great. . . but only works against an opponent weilding a sword. What about axes? Hammers? Giant spiders? Dragons? Mobs weilding pitchforks? In pen and paper, the GM can give you more situations to use that cool spell you learned, or let you use it in situations that weren't specifically designed with that spell in mind.

Personally, when I play a caster in a video game, I hate getting spells that only work on certain specific types of enemies, or under certain conditions. I don't have a ton of time to pick which spell I'm going to cast before I get ground into a bloody pulp -- I don't want to sort through fifteen spells that would be great if only I were fighting humanoids instead of giant earwigs, or if only the earwigs weren't immune to stun effects, or if only they had a sense of humor. If my sole effective weapon in combat is magic, and my magic isn't going to apply to this situation I'm going to feel really cheated.

Did NWN2 decrease your wiggle room? (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=515977&forum=84&sp=30)

Actually, you can have dialogues with the player and multiple NPCs. Every NPC line in the editor is assigned a speaker. You can assign any NPC in the vicinity lines in a conversation. You can include as many characters as you want in a conversation -- it just might get a bit confusing to keep track of all the speakers.

You can also do the dynamic strings with custom tokens. Though that does get into that whole, "it takes a lot of scripts to make it work," issue, which is certainly true.

You can also return to a question hub after an answer if you make the NPC's line introducing the hub something vague enough that you can use it in more than one place (which, I admit, is pretty awkward to do in itself sometimes) and then copy it and paste it as a link at the end of the NPC's answer.

Writing experience (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=520672&forum=84)

Er. . . my qualifications include having a Creative Writing degree, working briefly in customer service for a cell-phone megacorporation, and spending three years as the chief sandwich-maker and barrista at a Panera Bread. I can make a turkey on sourdough in under thirty seconds -- you can probably imagine how well that skill translates to every other aspect of my daily life. I got this job under circumstances too strange to be repeated, so I can only suggest that if you think you want to apply for a game design job, give it a shot. Weirder things have happened.

Things I dislike in nwn2 to avoid in DA please! (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=516617&forum=84&sp=60)

<hr />No. When speaking to NPCs, the party should present a unified face. It says what I decide it says. But within the party, the party members can banter freely.

There's no reason why a party membe can't offer an interjection to the rest of the party while I'm using her to chat up the town watch.<hr />

This exchange happened entirely inside my head when I read this statement:

Goody-two-shoes Party Member: So, let me get this straight, since I'm a bit confused. You burned these people's village to the ground when they asked you to save it from doom?

PC: Right.

Goody-two-shoes Party Member: And then you decided to come back here to collect the reward from the now-completely-homeless townsfolk?

PC: Right.

Goody-two-shoes Party Member: And you want me to explain this to them?

PC: Right.

Goody-two-shoes Party Member: Begins working on her resume. . . . don't pay me enough for this. . . coulda had a career in food service, but nooooooo. . . I had to be an adventurer. .

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You're right. . . to a point. There's only one thing that your companions do on their own: speak for themselves. Take that away from them, and they cease to be characters at all, becoming walking compliations of stats.

6 Person Party. (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=519612&forum=84&sp=45)

<hr />If I have a D&D mentality, then every developer has it, because I haven't played any RPG that doesn't have classes identical to the D&D ones.<hr />
Well, they are certainly the majority, but there are a few games I can think of. Suikoden, for instance, is almost classless. Most characters are sort of default fighters but can be made into healers or spellcasters by giving them runes. Of course there are *coughs* some people claim JRPGs aren't really RPGs, but that's a different argument.

I had mostly played these sorts of games as a kid, and I remember being completely baffled the first time I played a D&D-inspired game (Wizardry 5). "What's alignment? Why am I picking my race? Why do I need to make all these characters I can't even see? Where's the story -- Oooh, puzzles, nevermind."

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Most of the party members are optional. You never have to recruit them at all. And if you do recruit them and then upset your companions badly enough, they'll leave, and never return.

<a href="http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=521111&forum=84" target="_blank">Why you should buy the Games for Windows Magazine:
</a>

Technically, I don't think that "snake creature guy" is undead. He's. . . well, something else.

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Ferret A. Baudoin, Senior Designer</font>

Writing experience (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=520672&forum=84&sp=15)

Listening to the others experience, well... they're lucky. I slogged through many years of QA hoping for a chance to make it into development. I think what landed me my first design job was my extensive GMing experience, maybe even some of my live game stuff (which was nowhere near as intricate or cool as Gaider's games), and by then my years of being in the industry.

I think pure writers can totally fit in a game company if they grok how games work and how you'd have to adapt your style to fit an interactive story. I think being a hard-core DM that loves delving into deep stories, characterization, and intriguing plot is a great fit, too, if you have the writing chops to pull it off. Many designers I've talked to in the industry have had really fun journeys to get where they are now.

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">James Henley, Designer</font>

Writing experience (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=520672&forum=84&sp=45)

The short version is that I went to college to study computer programming, left before finishing my degree, modded Neverwinter Nights for a future setting, and decided to use that material as the basis of an application. Now, here I am.

These days I'm on Mass Effect, rather than Dragon Age. My stint on the latter was mostly spent writing documentation and consulting for cinematic systems.

The long version is, well, longer, but nowhere near as amusing as David's.

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Brenon Holmes, Programmer</font>

What language was the game engine developed in? (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=517035&forum=84&sp=15)

C/C++

More:

We use .NET, most of the utilities and tools are created in-house with the odd bit licensed if it suits the needs of the project

AIPU/PPU and Dragon Age (http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=518023&forum=84&sp=15)

While they (AIPU/PPU) might be useful, I'm not sure how relevant it is. With the addition of more and more cores to PC systems and consoles these sorts of specialized chips probably aren't necessary.

With a sufficient number of cores, we can have a core specifically dedicated to physics (assuming there's a need for that level of physics computations), and another for AI (given the same requirements). With the added benefits of being able to reuse those additional cores for other tasks should the need arise, as well as not adding additional costs to the consumer for additional PCI cards to expand your gaming "experience".