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Dragon Age Forum News (Nov. 09, 05) Pt. 2

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by Eldular, Nov 10, 2005.

  1. Eldular Gems: 10/31
    Latest gem: Zircon

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    Derek French, Technical Producer

    Elevation, BioWare, Pandemic joining forces
    Gah. BIO is no longer an independent company. The two doctors now have to ask what the other companies feel they should do. Meh.

    Outside of pure capital this is bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.
    I have to go check the Volourn Doomsayer Pool and find out who won. I think it was Robin.

    More:
    BioWare = NwN, KotOR PC, Dragon Age and continued support for NwN through digital modules. Pandemic = Full Spectrum Warrior PC and Star Wars Battlefront I and II for PC. Sure we also make console titles like Jade Empire, or Destroy All Humans, but I don't see how this is a bad thing for PC gaming? :evil:
    NWN - Fine.
    Kotor PC - Fine
    Dragon Age - If you guys give us more info on the game like you did with Mass Effect, then I'm fine with this too. What's been going on sends a different signal to me. ME was announced 2 months ago, DA was announced 2 years ago. Has the world turn upside down here?
    Continued Support for NWN - Fine, but I don't play modules of any RPG.
    Full Spectrum Warrior - Puzzle Game. Xbox port.
    Battlefront I - SW Battlefield wannabe with a console twang. PC version is there for an afterthought.
    Battlefront II - Idem

    Next...
    Nothing much else to say. You don't believe us. Fine. That is your prerogative. You say we are abandoning the PC (which we have been accused of for the last 5 years) and you dismiss the PC games that we are currently doing. Meh.

    Oh, and ME has a publisher, DA does not. That might explain some of the informational difference. But then, what do I know?

    More:
    Nothing much else to say. You don't believe us. Fine. That is your prerogative. You say we are abandoning the PC (which we have been accused of for the last 5 years) and you dismiss the PC games that we are currently doing. Meh.
    I think Deed speaks the loudest, Mr. French. I don't accuse you from the last 5 years, after all.
    Ahhhhhh, yes, the "I challange you to prove something that isn't going to happen in the near future, therefore I am right!" argument. I love that stuff. :)

    More:
    Well guys to be fair, right now you are working on one PC game and another console game (DA and Mass Effect)
    DA is not a console game.

    More:
    They're "abandoning" PC game (which I never said BTW) because they don't have any retail PC-focused games to speak of since NWN.
    Yeap, definately time to stock the BioWare Store with Tinfoil Hats.

    More: And that's the awesome part of this partnership. We have a bunch of people with solid industry experience that want to work with us and Pandemic and make some really fantastic games for the future.

    There has been a lot on nay-saying, but listening to our new friends speak, they are just as excited as us about the new oppourtunities and are very respectful of the accomplishments of the past for all of our companies. They want us to make great games, which, coincidently, is what we want to do, too.

    Sweet! [​IMG]

    More: And don't forget the "OMFG", either.

    Georg Zoeller, Designer

    Elevation, BioWare, Pandemic joining forces
    Those who are part of this industry or have a good insight in how things work understand why we say that this is a very good thing(tm).

    I think it doesn't really matter what we would say, PC conspiratists would always find a way to read it in a way that supports their fears.

    As the press release says, both studios "will retain their separate brands and creative teams, and continue to operate in their respective cities".

    Bottom line: If you believed before that BioWare was leaving PC gaming, ignoring our comments, you will probably keep believing it and read any event in a way that supports your views.

    BioWare makes PC and console games. We have been doing that since MDK2. We will keep doing that. Support for either system does not imply we plan on abandoning the others. Period

    More: I get the feeling that certain people actually WANT the game to appear on consoles too so they can continue to complain about the decline of PC gaming. Funny thing that.

    Brenon Holmes, Programmer

    Elevation, BioWare, Pandemic joining forces
    How long do you think the average dev cycle is for a console game (for us)?

    How long do you think the average dev cycle is for a PC game (for us)?

    Figure that out and you'll probably stop running for the bomb shelter. :)

    More: My point is that since console games tend to have a shorter dev cycle, and assuming we're still split between console and PC development you will obviously end up seeing more console games... makes sense... ne?

    More:
    But all my radiation proof blankets are there!

    More seriously, it can be hard to judge these things. Even were one to say how long one thinks NWN and BG to be made, there are other questions. At what stage of development is DA in now? For how long has it been in the works? Is it fully staffed now? And, the big fear of many I think, will it remain fully staffed?
    I can definetly sympathize. DA is not fully staffed right now (there is a fairly sizeable team currently though), we still have a few things left to sort out before bringing some more folks onboard. When we're capped out I would guess we'd have around half of the available resources allocated to DA and DA related stuff.

    It's the speculation of that final one that divides people into the optimistic and pessimistic camps, I think. How important is this project to all of those people we don't see talking about it anymore? Will someone say, "Why spend so much time and money on this when we could release this other type of (cheaper? faster?) project instead"?
    Personally, I think it's because the potential rewards are higher.

    I fall on the optimistic side, usually :p, but I certainly sympathize to a degree with the pessimists.

    I will be happier if this clears the way for a publisher deal on DA. I think that might settle some of the question marks anyway.
    I know administration has been pretty busy with things of late, I'm sure they'll have a bit more time to start working out some details on that front. :)

    Makes sense, Brennon. Thank you.
    I heard the rumor of personnels diverted from DA to ME; if it's true then would the situation become more detrimental to DA development?
    If that were true, I would be concerned. However, as Chris mentioned it is not. :)

    The only personnel who has been 'diverted' that I'm aware of was Paul, who is currently consulting on ME on a temporary basis. He should be sauntering back over any day now though... :)

    Jay Watamaniuk, Community Manager

    Elevation, BioWare, Pandemic joining forces
    The staff here are very excited about this opporunity. I don't know about you but the quote from Greg "Fans are the real winners in this deal, because we will now have the resources and creative discretion to make the right decsions for our products." Man it is difficult to stress the importance of saying something like that. Not having enough resources be they time, people, or technology are the reasons for games not being what they were originally envisioned to be. It is such a huge thing for fans in terms of what games will be like coming out of this new duo of developers. :)

    More: I'm sorry Torlack your bar must wait until my Elvis-style rotating bed with the faux Leopard print sheets gets shipped in.

    More: I was just in DC for the last three days. Nice city. I have had the chance to visit there quite a few times because I have friends from Japan who live there.

    First things first before we take over the East coast. That shall be our next stop toward world domination. :)

    More: Sales goes hand-in-hand with a quality product, awareness and knowing who your audience is and where your expertise is. BioWare can now consult with Pandemic because they have a different expertise then we do and vice versa but we are both going to keep making games by building off of our past work and always improving. That is not going to change and I assume the reason this deal happened is because the stakeholders recognize the value in what BioWare and Pandemic does and would be more than hesitant to fundamentally change things.

    More: Who knows actually? This is all pretty new to us. I think we are going to take a breather from trying to predict what the best course is and get back to being focused on the games in development..with a wee bit less pressure to be sure.

    I think you ask some great questions but I'm sure that we don't have any firm answers at this point. I know from my end of things I'm spinning with ideas on how this affects the community and the ideas are nothing but positive. Bringing two groups together, helping to build a bigger and better community, exchange of ideas and resources. Very bright future indeed.

    More: As mentioned before BioWare is working on DA which is looking pretty sweet for the PC. After this brief flurry of media attention the dev teams are letting the marketing folks take care of this while they get back to work on all our titles still in the shop.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2018
    Eldular, Nov 10, 2005
    #1
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