Most of the content of Dragon Age Central has been developer posts to the official Dragon Age forums, first opened in May 2004. But all things must come to an end, and these forums were shut down on 2nd November 2009, the day before the game’s release in North America.
Since I haven’t had time to add much other content to the site for most of 2009, I’ve decided to also shut down Dragon Age Central as it was, leaving it here as an archive.
The new Dragon Age Central is now a much simpler (and fully automated) website dedicated to making developer posts to the new official forum (on Bioware’s social site) easier to find and search through.
It’s been interesting running this site, and in a way I’ll miss it... but hopefully I’ll be too busy finally playing the actual game to care :)
Dragon Age Central
Updated: Monday, 02 November 2009 02:07PM | Synced: 389218 mins ago
Forum posts were made by game developers. Please do not take posts out of context. While these individuals will have special insight into certain game-related questions, they are by no means the final authority. Please read the full topic and all its replies before forming an opinion. Remember, all things are subject to change.
-{ 2005 }-
Interview Article
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author: Andrew Park interviewees: Ray Muzyka ~ CEO Greg Zeschuk ~ CEO Categories: Quality:
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Source: BioWare talks E3 2005, Xbox 360
Date: Friday, 27 May 2005 01:40AM
[...]
RM: Like Dragon Age! We are taking the features of Neverwinter [nights], including online multiplayer and content creation, with the kind of single-player story arc from Baldur’s Gate, and combining those together. [...] RM: There might be some of each. For instance, with Dragon Age--the first iteration of it, anyway--we’re focusing on making it the most ambitious PC RPG we’ve ever done at BioWare. It’s a franchise we own, so there will be other versions that will be on other platforms. And there are other titles that are designed for a console. We certainly want to support our PC audience in the future too. We’ve got both a console community and a PC community, and we recognize there’s overlap between them, but we also recognize that there are design preferences that are different between the two. The interesting thing is that with next generation, [hardware platforms] are evolving together, but they’re also staying separate, so we want to make sure we accommodate both audiences and make games that are going to be seen as platform-defining games, no matter what platform they’re on. [...] GS: But it’s safe to say that Dragon Age will have a toolset that players will make modifications [to], as well as other content, long after the game has shipped. RM: That’s one of our goals, yes. It is the spiritual successor to both Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, so it’s got to have some of the best features of both. [...] |
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Tim Smith ~ Programmer Categories: Quality:
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Thread: Ooutsourced Toolset Design [+2]
Date: Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:38PM    Traditionally, internal tools have always been of questionable quality. The "just good enough to do the job" philosophy is very common. However, that isn't what we are doing with the DA toolset. We our treating our internal people as first class citizens and providing them with the best toolset we can create. I think a lot of the confusion lies with statements such as "The toolset won't be easy to use." 1. Given the parameters of what the toolset has to do, it will do well and will be as easy to use as it can be. That is just in my own best personal interest. Hard to use programs just lead to unhappy user and mistakes. The less mistakes the designers make due to problems will reduce the amount of tech support I have to do internally. Also, the happier the users are with the toolset, the more friendly the interaction will be when there are problems. 2. The focus of the toolset is to produce a game. Features that are not required to produce the game will not be included unless the kickbacks are large and direct to my Swiss bank account. This is the source of the "The toolset won't be easy to use." comment. Some things will be harder to do not because the toolset makes them hard to do, but because those features were not required to produce the game and thus they will not be directly supported by the toolset. That makes doing those things harder. |
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Darcy Pajak ~ Associate Producer Categories:
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Thread: Religious Beliefs [+2]
Date: Wednesday, 06 April 2005 05:43PM
The cool thing about our world is that we can fit all sorts of religious beliefs into it.
Each culture can have a diffrent opinion of creation, heaven, and the afterlife, and we get to make them all up. |
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David Gaider ~ Lead Writer Categories:
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Thread: Making Dragon Age the best it can be: A list of suggestions [+6]
Date: Friday, 01 April 2005 06:52PM
Possible lack nothing. There are no monks, not like you're suggesting. Guess you won't be buying the game, then. Pity.
That's not a bad idea, so long as the story allowed for it or centered around it. This sort of thing wouldn't work for all sorts of stories.
As someone else said, this isn't an RTS game. There's only so far you can go with this. But I think it would be cool.
Which is what? How to interact with a spreadsheet but still feel important? To be serious, I didn't mind the organizations myself, though I found them pretty much the same overall. Again, in the right kind of story it would work. It worked in Morrowind, I think, because the whole game revolved around you being dropped into a world simulation where you had no pressure to continue the story. I know how much that presses your button (and many others who also thought Morrowind was keen)... but once again I will say that that's simply not the kind of game we're doing. Period.
Yes, we tried this. I've got two words to say regarding this: Aribeth and Aarin Gend. I'll probably just get a "oh, but you didn't do it right" kind of response, but I think it's pretty universally acknowledged that the romances suffered by not having the characters adventure with you. You can't have a romance in a CRPG that exists only in narrative... doesn't work that way.
This isn't a new request, but it's a good one.
So you want us to do the Ladyhawke soundtrack? Ummm... yeah. Next.
Christ on a pogo stick, there are no monks already.
So all specialized or strange classes are bad except for the monk. Yeah, okay. That doesn't sound narrow-minded at all.
There's bold and then there's having warriors who look like drag queens with a prom dress fixation. Floral patterns? Big hats? Big hair? Did you direct an Elton John video, perchance?
This we're doing, pretty much. One of the benefits of more advanced graphical tech. Check out Jade Empire and you'll see what I mean.
Oh, but we never do that. Ah. But I see we're supposed to do this, just no overdo it? So... what? You want witty Monty Python banter? Pie-in-the-face stuff? Sexual innuendo? You seem to be pretty specific on what you find acceptable, so it's probably best for me to ask.
So long as they're monks, right? Because we never make diverse or unusual characters that aren't Jar Jar. 
Because it fared so poorly? What are you, on crack? If you're going to present a slanted argument, at least mention a crappy TV show. Like, I don't know, Three's Company.
So... now you're advising us of stuff we'll do anyway? Well, gee, thanks for the tip.
We'll just stop right there.
Or, ummm, maybe KotOR? Regardless, I sure as hell hope not. I hate minigames. Mainly because they rely on player skill rather than character skill. Consoles can keep 'em.
Keep up with current events. You will have a party in DA. And, yes, there will be conversations with them. There will not, however, be animal companions or familiars, whether people want them or not.
This sounds like one of them oxymorons.
That was a demo for the technology, not the clothing style or artistic style that DA will have. But even if it was... dignity? Come on, really?
Umm... if there's a level cap, it's there for a reason. Removing it isn't freedom. And to advocate removing a level cap before you even know what the system involved is remotely like strikes me as more than slightly premature.
Ah, yes. So you can max out those levels you just uncapped. I get it.
Daggerfall also didn't have a party and showed everything from first-person view. There's a reason why FPS games have this as a standard, because moving about in the environment is 75% of the game.
Well, if the level cap is removed, you're already more powerful than that. And if you're a monk, too, WATCH OUT!
Err... there is no connection between NWN and HotU. Some people took their NWN character into HotU anyhow and then complained about it, but whatever.
Because looking good in a sparkling turban while climbing a wall and listening to 80's tunes is what roleplaying is all about. Choices. Immersion. Feel the burn. Anyhow. That took longer than I thought it would. Whew. Back to work, now. |
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David Gaider ~ Lead Writer Categories: Quality:
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Thread: Yet another question from yours truly... [+2]
Date: Thursday, 31 March 2005 03:14AM
If you want to compare the two, the ToEE vignettes were pretty short. Pretty much it just set up a quick backstory for the party that gave them a reason for coming to Hommlet that conformed with their alignment. The DA origin preludes are much, much longer. Unique areas. Plot. Combat. Lots of dialogue. Essentially a small chapter. They also have a big affect on the rest of the game, both in terms of dialogue as well as plot (like, say, characters from your past showing up later on). They are also not the tutorial. Not except in the story sense in that the world is introduced to the player therein. |
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David Gaider ~ Lead Writer Categories:
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Thread: Time travel....Yes, time travel..... [+2]
Date: Tuesday, 08 March 2005 12:32AM
There is no time travel, nor magic that affects time directly. Just like there is no teleportation (not even for NPC's), no dimensional portals and no resurrection. Zounds! Amazing, I know.
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David Gaider ~ Lead Writer Categories:
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Thread: Bioware languages article in Edmonton Journal [+0]
Date: Thursday, 03 March 2005 11:02PM
The "common" tongue spoken is English (in the English version of the game anyway, yes) and it is a human tongue. It is also spoken by the other races of the area for economic reasons (in addition to their own, generally speaking). There are other human tongues, however, such as the one that was described as "Imperial" in the article. There are in-game reasons why we needed to develop the Imperial tongue for this title. Other languages might be visited and developed later. |
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David Gaider ~ Lead Writer Categories: Quality:
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Thread: Races of Dragon age [+2]
Date: Thursday, 17 February 2005 11:01AM
There will be less races, not more.
The trade-off is that being that race will have an actual effect throughout the game. If you are an elf and you meet other elves, they treat you differently... perhaps have entirely different dialogue or plots. Since all dialogue is recorded, it isn't enough to just insert a <RACE> token into a line anymore. |
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Brenon Holmes ~ Programmer Categories: Quality:
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Thread: Constant HP system proposal [+5]
Date: Sunday, 13 February 2005 06:33PM
How would you tell if you're winning a fight? Regardless of how *long* a fight lasts (parrying, dodging, etc...) how does a player tell (visually) who's winning a fight?
Watching the ebb and flow isn't realistic for a full party... you wouldn't be able to track all the occurances of a parry or dodge - and that sill doesn't give you any indication of the likelihood of victory in a given engagement. So what do you do? If a hit has a very good likelihood of doing serious damage, then you're essentially not too far away from a vitality point system (like World of Darkness) which works very well for PnP as the hits can be quite srious... but not so well in a real-time simulation (even with pause). In (WoD) PnP, you can stop and reflect on each hit and decide what you want to do... are you going to do the same in DA? Stop everything every couple seconds (per character) to figure out how you're going to react to the current state of the fight? Like it or not, hitpoints and the "whittling" process (gradual decline of HP) gives the player excellent feedback about the eventual outcome of a fight. My hitpoints are going down faster than the shrieking were-turnip's, I'm probably going to lose! Time to form Voltron... etc In your system, (if I've understood it correctly) the fight is more parries, evasions with the actual hits a bit more decisive... so when there *is* a hit/critical it has a great likelihood of being fatal or at least serious. Because of the sudden nature of critical hits, there's no way to predict them or the outcome. As such, you can't plan for them or react to them. Fighting the shrieking were-turnip... fighting the shrieking were-turnip. Parry parry. Dodge dodge. Oh no! He hit me, and criticalled! An abdominal wound! My guts are leaking! The wound has gone septic... smells like almonds! I'm done for... tell Jimmy... I tried... *choke* *gasp* *thump* A better way would be to think of the little bar by your portrait as something else... not a measure of life, but a measure of vitality or strength to keep fighting. Sure, your character's health is a component of it - but all of it. Anyways, I just woke up and am having a hard time thinking of anything else relevant to post... so I'm going to go and have a shower. 
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author: Doug Trueman interviewees: Unknown Categories: Quality:
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Source: E3 2005 Game Guide: Dragon Age
Date: Saturday, 01 January 2005 12:00AM
[...]
Dragon Age is an open-ended RPG which features a top down party-based "combat mode" and a third person camera exploration mode. The game contains both single player and multiplayer campaigns. BioWare states that the storyline in Dragon Age will change the game’s opening chapter and thus the subsequent missions and quests that are available to the player. Like many modern RPGs, the player’s actions will affect how the game develops. Players can choose to either liberate hapless peasants from the oppressive rule of malevolent dictators, or they can enslave the people themselves and spend the game fending off and quashing rebellions. The developers are going to such lengths to create an original world that they’ve even enlisted the help of a linguist to create a language and a backstory that predates the player’s adventure by five thousand years. [...] Warfare in Dragon Age will take place in real-time and will feature party-based combat and is based on a proprietary set of rules created by BioWare. You will be able to choose traditional races (elves, dwarves, humans, etc.) and customize your character’s sex, class, abilities, magic and weaponry. [...] |
-{ 2004 }-
Forum Post
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Stanley Woo ~ QA Ninja Categories:
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Thread: Give us a v.3.5 game. [+9]
Date: Wednesday, 24 November 2004 06:57PM |
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Edward Bolme ~ Designer Categories: Quality:
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Thread: The Writers and designers of Dragon Age [+49]
Date: Friday, 29 October 2004 09:42PM
I just have to take a break here. My world is getting more unreal by the day.
I just finished a conversation tree with ten different starting states... for a dog.
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David Gaider ~ Lead Writer Categories:
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Thread: Romance options [+4]
Date: Friday, 24 September 2004 10:43PM
I really doubt that the translation is quite so neat. It takes more than just us not writing romances to add hours to gameplay. Regardless, there are going to be romances. Some people may not dig them, but a whole lot do... and by "a whole lot" I mean much more than just a dismissive "segment of the player base". For those who don't like the romances, you'll be happy to note that we intend for them to be primarily player-driven this time around. Whereas before the romance track began just by having the character in your party and you would have to actively discourage it, this time we intend that romances will have to be pursued in order to even begin. As was mentioned, we also intend to have other types of relationships with NPCs, as well, such as friendships (indeed my plan is to make it possible to decide to be friends with an NPC that you could otherwise romance... I know, what a concept, eh?)  |
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Georg Zoeller ~ Designer Categories:
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Thread: An easier toolset [+8]
Date: Thursday, 23 September 2004 04:09AM
I wouldn't count on the Toolset to have a significantly lower entry level of the NWN Toolset, for it's power the NWN toolset was already quite easy to use and I think the trend for DA is more toward "powerful" than easy. Should be easier to use than UnrealEdit however
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Georg Zoeller ~ Designer Categories:
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Thread: Script and Custom Content Compatibilities [+4]
Date: Friday, 10 September 2004 07:26AM
I don't see any official content compatibility, or discussion about content compatibility and
such due to licensing issues. DA script will not compile in NWNScript and vice versa since some core systems i.e. how events are handled, type of events, object sets, etc are largely different in both engines. While the language syntax will be similar, there will be significant differences in commands, actions, events, scripting techniques and even datatypes. DAscript will have much stronger access into the game, which will make it more powerful but also more dangerous (i.e. not necessarily the "scripts should not be able to crash the game" premise anymore). I expect models/animation to work quite different in DA and don't see any chance for an easy way to convert stuff between those games. A skilled modeler might be able to do it, but it's not going to be easy. I mean, think of facial animation, lip syncing, etc. Monster skins - I assume textures - who knows, but I assume they would look crappy as DA will have state of the art graphics when it will be released, which means it will make old NWN content stick out (put a NWN orc next to some normal mapped doom3 monster to get an idea ))Maybe have a look at this jade empire footage http://www.xboxyde.com/news_1014_en.html - and then think about how some NWN placeable would look in these scenes And then think about how games are going to look like on high end PC cards in a couple of years.Don't get me wrong, there is some amazing NWN content (just check out the dla screenshots) and NWN had it's own graphical progression (i.e. HotU graphics update), but it's still a game released in 2002 and any content created for it will look outdated by the time DA hits the shelves. But fan content will evolve as well, so I have no doubts we will see some pretty amazing things for DA when it is out. |