Jason Schreier @jasonschreier Time for some news that is going to make BioWare fans really happy.
Following the success of Jedi Fallen Order and the failure of Anthem, EA has allowed BioWare to make the next Dragon Age a single-player RPG. Previously, it was planned as a service game.
Jason Schreier @jasonschreier BTW I should elaborate on one thing. Although some people within BioWare have been pushing for this, as the story says, there are also people at BioWare who very much wanted DA4 to be a multiplayer service game. Reality is never as simple as "EA wants X; BioWare wants Y."
Jason Schreier @jasonschreier Time for some news that is going to make BioWare fans really happy.
Following the success of Jedi Fallen Order and the failure of Anthem, EA has allowed BioWare to make the next Dragon Age a single-player RPG. Previously, it was planned as a service game.
Jason Schreier @jasonschreier BTW I should elaborate on one thing. Although some people within BioWare have been pushing for this, as the story says, there are also people at BioWare who very much wanted DA4 to be a multiplayer service game. Reality is never as simple as "EA wants X; BioWare wants Y."
As I already said in another tread. This gives me some hope for the next Dragon Age. I really hope this news is not followed up by some peddling back afterwards. Personally I think Bioware is not a company that should flirt with the whole GAAS debacle. They should deliver a solid full playable game, and not a skeleton with the promise to grow some meat on it later on.
For now I give them some credits, but these will be gone the minute they use words as multiplayer and GAAS in combination with Dragon Age ever again.
It's sad to say, but I believe it when they deliver, and not anytime sooner.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Prime Posts: 3,912 Prime Likes: 9733 Posts: 2,894 Likes: 12,961
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
In the period before DA was named, they had a HTML script which randomly created potential names as potential ideas. the script would put nouns and verbs next to one another, as an example (for the purposes of explanation, not a real example) "Black Death". "Bone Wind" is one of the wildest potential names that were created as a result of the script, and the devs (as shown above) always remember it lol
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod Working in the game industry means you can have entire conversations about why and how a person may be chasing the dragon, and literally be talking about chasing dragons without any non-work-appropriate implication
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod #TFW you're making a flow chart for TOTALLY VALID work purposes and can legitimately include a "smooches" heart as part of the flow
John Epler @eplerjc For all of the awfulness, one thing about 2020 that still brings me joy is seeing my name in a real book. I wrote two things that other people can read!
Andarateia Cantori andarateia Happy 10th Birthday, Dragon Age II! Partying face
DA2 is well-loved for its character-driven plot and diverse cast of lovable companions. What is your favorite thing about Dragon Age II? Or tell me about your Hawke in the comments Downwards arrow
Thank you @bioware for making such wonderful memories!
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman 10 years already? Thank you andarateia
That was a fun project - like an extremely long game jam.
Varric and Cassandra Great Villains and Boss Monsters There's lots I like
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) @igda Our next #IWD2021 highlight is Karin Weekes (@karinweekes) - she just passed her 15 year service mark as an editor at @bioware, having worked on many games such as Dragon Age (Origins, 2, Inquisition), Mass Effect (2, 3, Andromeda), and more!
Sanshee @teamsanshee A new and mysterious nug has made an appearance in our shop! We've never seen anything like it... Click the link to bring one home before they disappear!
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby Wow, it's the tenth anniversary of DA2's launch? I don't have an impossibly-broken flowchart for this one. But I will celebrate by raising a glass for the Pirates-versus-Qunari-versus-Zombie-plague plot I never got to write for the expansion.
Aimee H Rainbow flag @aimemerights Mary, you're killing me.
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby I mean, its primary feature was going to be giving Isabela an EXTREMELY fancy hat. Also, I guess a fleet of some kind.
Ringo Law: 私は思い出にはならないさ @rinjirenee ANOTHER thing about this expansion that I would have loved?!1111111
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby Someday, somehow, I will get a boss fight on the deck of a burning Qunari dreadnought. Someday...
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes (takes notes furiously)
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby I THINK I STILL HAVE ONE OF THE POWERPOINTS FOR THE PITCH SOMEWHERE, I CAN JUST EMAIL IT TO YOU.
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby Wow, it's the tenth anniversary of DA2's launch? I don't have an impossibly-broken flowchart for this one. But I will celebrate by raising a glass for the Pirates-versus-Qunari-versus-Zombie-plague plot I never got to write for the expansion.
David Gaider @davidgaider You could also raise a glass to the entire Coterie plot arc which you DID write. Less exciting than zombies, perhaps, though.
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby I almost forgot about that! I think parts of it were even recorded before it was cut.
John Epler @eplerjc I legitimately don’t remember what we shipped and what we cut for DA2. It’s all one big mess of ‘shit that happened that year’.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah Here’s what I remember about Dragon Age 2: We went into a board room in late 2009 to find something to cover for SWTOR slipping and then we shipped a game in March 2011...
Oh, and I wanted to call it Dragon Age: Exodus. Which we SHOULD have.
The characters are excellent. The writers did a great job.
seb hanlon @hanlsp stupid Varric and his stupid custom everything (he shares no combat animations with anyone else in the game because Bianca is in his rig)
lesson learned: don’t make the first level of the game and the level you use for all the demos the first level you build.
Marco @wtfman999 I just remember disliking re-use of environment & enemy waves but combat, story and companions were top notch. Wondered what 6 more months of dev time could have done.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah The lessons on the area reuse: 1. Don't make reused areas too specific looking. The novelty works against you. 2. Don't claim the same area is a different area. You aren't fooling anyone.
Michael LoCoco @michaellococowi And yet it features my favorite antagonist (arishok), favorite mechanic (narrative time skip) and favorite thematic choice (small setting character focused game set in a developed world) of any of the DA games. DA2 is probably my fave in the series.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah Constraints can lead to creativity.
Antifa Temptress @mackenzieiyer So because SWTOR was delayed EA needed a different game to fill that slot before the end of fiscal?
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah Basically. It's more messy then that (as always)
Hel Thomson @helalost I’m embarrassed to say you fooled me! I get turned around so easily that I didn’t even realise until towards the end of the first playthrough that the caves were all roughly the same. I actually thought I was somehow getting better at navigating.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah They are EXACTLY the same. Except we block off some paths. There's the one shaft of light area that gives it away. Varric makes a joke about "all caves looking the same to him" DAI. META!
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby Wow, it's the tenth anniversary of DA2's launch? I don't have an impossibly-broken flowchart for this one. But I will celebrate by raising a glass for the Pirates-versus-Qunari-versus-Zombie-plague plot I never got to write for the expansion.
David Gaider @davidgaider You could also raise a glass to the entire Coterie plot arc which you DID write. Less exciting than zombies, perhaps, though.
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby I almost forgot about that! I think parts of it were even recorded before it was cut.
Skolia @_skolia_ Is there anything you can share about the cut storyline? Just curious about it.
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby You could join the biggest thieves guild in Kirkwall and either take it over, or work with the city guard to destroy it from the inside.
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby Wow, it's the tenth anniversary of DA2's launch? I don't have an impossibly-broken flowchart for this one. But I will celebrate by raising a glass for the Pirates-versus-Qunari-versus-Zombie-plague plot I never got to write for the expansion..
Liana Ruppert @dirtyeffinhippy Uh, hi! I would love to pick your brain about this for Game Informer, if you're free at some point today? I'm pretty much going to obsess about this forever now haha
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby Aww, I would love to, but I don't think I should. It seems kind of cruel to describe the amazing hypothetical cake I *would* have baked for you, which *of course* was a thing of transcendental beauty, untouched by the cold, unfeeling light of game development.
Plus, while we didn't need a plot to acquire a fleet in DAI, maybe we will in the future? I ALREADY HAVE MY PLOT DOCS WRITTEN so... someday, I will get my burning dreadnought fight. I hope.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah Here’s what I remember about Dragon Age 2: We went into a board room in late 2009 to find something to cover for SWTOR slipping and then we shipped a game in March 2011...
Oh, and I wanted to call it Dragon Age: Exodus. Which we SHOULD have.
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman Shoulda stuck with "NugStorm" the one and only code name ever struck down for being too awesome.
Mark Darrah @biomarkdarrah Do you still have the "box art"?
Matthew Goldman @sergoldman Beautiful, bold, vibrant, art work @tobiofish
Dark Horse Comics @darkhorsecomics New #DragonAge comics collection brings 5 series together in 1 paperback. Collects The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak, Until We Sleep, Magekiller and Knight Errant.
By David Gaider, Alexander Freed, Greg Rucka, Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, @sachinteng, more! With @bioware.
Sorry that wasn't clear.
