Dragon Age News Thread

I love DA2 so I'm not worried about it at all. It's not about the time (look at MEA) it's about how it's organized and guided. *looking at PAtrick Weekes* I wouldn't even be worried about a 2018 Summer Release.  The only reason I don't think it'll be 2018 is they supposedly would like the release of each franchise to be the same as the other Franchises (ME and now Anthem) But I don't even know why they'd care that much, as EA isn't just Bioware. They are a bunch of other games too, and releases of all their various branches are going to overlap a bit.

I liked W3, but I'm not really looking for that level of WORLD from DA4. Bioware is branching choices, companions, and relationships. That's why DA2 can have fans in spite of it's lack of WORLD. And why MEA**, with what I consider a better version of open world for Bioware, had their branching choices, companions, and relationships suffer.  Liked HZD, but there is no roleplay. Enough non repetitive world to make Bioware's characters and choices shine is their best bet, not trying to be Witcher or HZD.

**I liked MEA, but all the companions had a theme instead of being real people. Addison had more content.

The more I talk about it, the more concerned I become they're going to be spending their time filling up the world with "interesting NPCs" while our companions are shadows of what could have been.

Ah nice to see HHP doing more voice work and that DAI wasn't a one-off. I liked him as my Brit male Inquisitor. (It was fun seeing him in Downton Abbey!)

they'd have or they'd've

Sorry, absolute pet peeve of mine.

We don't know how far they are in production, though. Wasn't 2015 when Trespasser was released and it's obviously 2017. I think EA wants BioWare to be a yearly studio, so 2019 is possible. I would like them to do a Fallout 4 thing where they keep it "quiet" for as much as possible. So, they could release that same year.

We do have some idea where they are based on comments by Mike, Alexis and others which I touched on in previous posts. If there had only been a small team on the game until MEA wrapped up, the Writer's Pit just coming together this year, and what projects are in the works now, we have at least some idea where they're at.

But I think we've gone OT in the Twitter Thread for long enough.    Someone can create a new thread if they want to continue this (or resurrect one of the old ones).

Gamasutra: 5 key lessons from the candid game dev book, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
www.gamasutra.com/view/news/304602/5_key_lessons_from_the_candid_game_dev_book_Blood_Sweat_and_Pixels.php


2) BioWare designer Daniel Kading on taking responsibility for fixing bad gameplay systems


www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/news/304602/DragonAge.jpg


Playtesting on an early build of Dragon Age: Inquisition revealed that the combat system was in shambles. But rather than make sudden overhauls or throw it out and start again, Schreier reports that lead encounter designer Daniel Kading got approval to grab the whole development team once a week for an hour of combat playtesting sessions. For these sessions, he and a group of other designers devised a set of encounters and post-playtest surveys that would help them pinpoint the problems.

When surveys came back during the first week of Kading’s experiment, the average rating was a dismal 1.2 (out of 10). Somehow, that was comforting to the Inquisition gameplay team.

“Morale took an astonishing turn for the better that very week,” Kading said. “It’s not that we could recognize the problems. It was that we weren’t shirking from them.”

The experiment worked. Every week they tweaked the combat systems based on playtest feedback, and every week the rating improved. After four weeks, when the experiment ended, the average rating from the surveys was 8.8.

TAKEAWAY: When part of a game isn't coming together, it can do wonders for both team morale (and the game itself) to not only recognize that you have a problem, but also turn your full attention to fixing it.

Damn, that Varric is ugly. And the statue's pretty hideous too.

 

I hope they never do a Dorian figure. I think I might be traumatized.

He reminds me of some samurai from anime

I was so scared that this is him in DA4 . . .


Looks familiar-

Sometimes you see these and notice they don't look at all like the character they're suppose to be but you forgive them because it's such tiny detail and they manage to at least capture the general spirit of the character.

This is not one of those times.