Dragon Age News Thread

Can You Pet the Dog? @canyoupetthedog
You can pet the dog in Dragon Age: Origins

Mike Jungbluth @lightbombmike
AHHH! The animation team has had so much cool stuff to show off and review today! I have had so many "OH THAT IS SO AWESOME/GROSS/WILD!" that this is now me after every call.

I this video (which I don't believe has been posted here before), David Lam (Bioware) & Olga Kotyukh (Sperasoft) talk about Sperasoft's work on DA:I for BioWare. I thought it was interesting as we don't know a lot of specifics about the companies BW outsources work to, and what they do. I'm only partially through it myself, but here it is:



Key topics include how their teams dealt with change and the pros and cons of a 3 year development cycle. Additional areas include the clear definition of team roles, Frostbite integration for high-volume of content, standardized vocabulary for asset production, aligned documentation, backlog planning for uninterrupted production, maintaining a healthy and sustainable working relationship, and a litany of lessons learned along the way.

In Sperasoft's case, for DA:I they contributed:

240+ characters and skins
58 creatures
424 props
395 animation clips

Here are a couple of animation demo reels from Sperasoft:




BW worked with 3 external partners: Sperasoft, EA Shanghai, and Original Force.

Matthew Goldman @sergoldman
Dwarves. AMIRIGHT!?
Dwarves are kind of my go to: Drunken Singing.
Plus Beards. Plus D&D CON bonus. My mom read me Tolkien when I was a kid. I named my teddy Gimli. He had a cool chain around his neck.
Dwarf Origins in Dragon Age were my favorite.

Varric's Great Grandad:

BioWare @bioware
We‘re celebrating our 26th year! Here’s to the exciting future and more adventures!

(The Hard Drive is satire.)

Hard Drive @harddrivemag
BioWare Reveals Cryptic Teaser to Tease Employee Layoffs

thehardtimes.net/harddrive/bioware-reveals-cryptic-timer-to-tease-employee-layoffs/

Matthew Goldman @sergoldman
Kickass character: Commander Meredith.
The Gallows fight is definitly my fav.
She brings some friends along.
John Santos brought this great creature to life.
Can you spot the difference with the one in-game?


Gallows Gate Guardian - my favorite boss battle in DA.
Spot the Difference between the concept and THIS video:)

Imperator Furiåsa @devilkitten
"What if you change your sword to a tentacle sword and it attaches to your enemies?"
"That would suck."

#overheardintheoffice

Matthew Goldman @sergoldman
More airplane inspiration ! Hercules firing IR decoys turns into....


... The Dragon of Tevinter

The idea is that someone could inscribe this scary warning symbol in a few swift strokes to warn of nearby Tevinter slavers.

Matthew Goldman @sergoldman
Thank you Mark. I will miss working with you more than a lot.

WE WILL TRY TO KEEP IT REAL

Matthew Goldman @sergoldman
Day 5/12 - all DA!

#WorldWorthSaving

Nature Shows are cool, especially those episodes where the watering hole keeps getting smaller and smaller.
Those are like psychological dramas.
Here's our version from the DAI dev vault:



This video is from May 2012, to be clear.