Dragon Age Forum News

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(Originally posted by chevalier)

Here are today's BioWare forum highlights, collected by NWVault. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

David Gaider, Designer

how realistic/futuristic will the world in DA be?

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I guess since we didin't get an answer to my starting question - people are expressing their opinions.
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That's true. Opinions on how dressed characters are/should be needs to be in a seperate thread if folks wish to discuss it. As for your starting question, Lavia, the DA world will be largely similar to our own, visually-speaking. There might be some fantastical elements, but it certainly isn't going to be an alien landscape.

Percentage done?
Just to clarify:

A "mock up" is something that is done to show what the end game might look like visually when it's done... you have a GUI visible on the screen that doesn't actually do anything and everything you're seeing is essentially just art without a functioning engine behind it.

a "concept demo" like what we showed at E3 actually has some engine behind it and demonstrates the technology involved, while still being far from complete. Some elements of gameplay might work, but only those elements we intend to show and even then not final.

The artwork at this stage is also in its concept stage, meaning that we are still trying to develop the "look and feel" of the game. When the artists do concept work, they generally provide many visual options that we select from and narrow down exactly what the end game will be like. Somebody obviously had to select one style to use for the actual demo, and while it's possible that some or many of those style elements might make it into the final game don't assume that the demo is as a whole indicative of the final game's style. At this stage, we've still got plenty of options to choose from, visually. Hope that makes sense.

More:

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The one thing that gets me with this whole business with DA is why did you announce it now?
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For many reasons, some of which are business-related and not the least of which is so that we can get feedback at an early enough stage so that it isn't useless.

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Quote: I mean, didn't you guys make the same mistake with NWN and the OC blew up in your face and it was a made dash to make an OC, all the while the hype built up and up and up just to have the game disappoint withthat rush job of an OC.
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The problems we had with the NWN OC had nothing to do with how early the game was announced. And it's important for us to get the information out about a game, especially as one as different as NWN was... perhaps you may have followed its production during its entire period and then been disappointed, but that's hardly a universal attitude and considering your expectations is not something we can avoid anyhow.

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Quote: I know you guys say you have learned from the mistakes of the past, but I mean come on now. By the time 2 to 3 years come by most will be tired of the hyping.
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Every game will be hyped regardless of the time frame involved, and I wouldn't consider us to be hyping the game right now at all. Indeed, we announced at E3 and have done nothing really since... if you consider THIS to be hype than it's no wonder you go tired of it so quickly.

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As for the community contributing things, ever heard of too many chefs ruining the meal?
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Interesting point, however, the community hardly constitues the "chefs" here. IMO, the "chefs" are the relatively few Bioware developers - these are of course the ones that will make the final decision on things. The community is merely generating ideas. And I say the more ideas the better!
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Indeed. Were the game being made by committee (as some people seem to believe), then the "too many chefs" comment might apply. That's not the case. Getting feedback and ideas and community-building are not the same as catering to the whim of every armchair developer out there who has an agenda.

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Yeah, so T-man, are you going to give me those resources so I can prove to you and the world the kickarse game I could make or not.
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Actually, Hades, as I recall you've had the resources for at least two years now and at one point announced far and wide on these forums how you were going to make your own module (with a better story and implementation than Bioware could, naturally). That died out pretty quickly, with various excuses given by yourself as to why that was not possible (even though others have done it).

So if you can't prove yourself on the same, simple resources that we use, what difference would more resources make?

Now, naturally, one doesn't have to be an expert to have an opinion on what you like and don't like, but saying you can do better is quite a different story, isn't it?

More: Bring it on, Woo! I got yer mojo right here! (Just kidding. )

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Does this mean that, since the game is still in very early stages, some of the bigger ideas on these forums (like the combat system, hit point system, or magic system) might actually be implemented?
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Something that is very general, like the magic system or the general form of the combat system, is something we're already going to have pretty nailed down... we would have had to have done so or we'd never have proceeded past those points. The chances that we would go back and change something so fundamental even now is unlikely.

However, that said there are still many, many things left which can change... far more so than when a project is normally announced.

We may not be able to go around just yet and say exactly what those fundamental things are (like whether we're using a mana system or a spell slot system for magic or whatever) simply because folks would jump to conclusions and responding to that would require more details than we are not ready to give... BUT we still do read the debates and suggestions that go on here and draw from them whether you are aware we are doing so or not. As time passes we will be able to supply more info on what we do know and have and narrow down the feedback we're looking for... and I have little doubt that occasionally we'll even come straight out and ask for feedback on very specific issues in the game. In time. Hope that all makes sense.

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So a thread like "Do away with Clerical Magic" isn't likely to be relevant in terms of the stated topic -- you've already made that call -- but the specifics of how we'd like to see the system might be valuable?
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Exactly. And while you might not know just yet whether we have Divine magic or not, the comments that are made in that thread either way are ones we'll read.

I suppose it sort of sucks if you make a whole post based on a premise that we've already decided against, but until more details are available for you folks that's the risk you take.

PreReleased Content for PW builders
That's not impossible. Certainly it would be advantageous to have community content available upon release, right? But that's a decision that will be made much, much further down the line.

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Perhaps a lengthy PR plan involving:
* Release of a model viewer and periodic models. Slipping some documentation to the nwmax guys would be great too.
* Listing functions with simple code comments is extremely handy.
* Releasing a beta toolset (or at least a command-line script compiler).
* Passing out information about intro movies (e.g. Bink again? Resolutions supported? Only at beginning and ending, or any time within a module?)
* List of dialog tokens (e.g. )

Of course, all of this is a couple years away, but perhaps the subliminal seed can be planted early.
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I think such dissemination of information by PR is very likely (though the thought of surmounting such a hill likely gives folks like Tom Ohle heart palpitations). We have a much better idea now, of course, as to the sort of info the community needs from us... as do you. Frankly, I expect the later stages of pre-release to go much more smoothly than NWN's did.

Chests, barrels, etc

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A little request: Please do away with the "chests / barrles / crates everywhere" syndrome.
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We haven't done that since the NWN OC. It was a bad idea then, and we realized it, and that's why we haven't done it for the expansions or for KotOR since.

Brenon Holmes, Programmer

Chests, barrels, etc
But... crates are the foundation for a good review!