151 réponses à ce sujet

[Mike Laidlaw]

Brockololly wrote...

Mike Laidlaw wrote...
In an example like this, a scene that can only be viewed by human noble females who have successfully had a romance with alistair AND who chose the ritual represents a reasonably small portion of the audience. Therefore, the effort could be better spent on a scene that, say, 90% of people will see instead of 10%.

Ok, I understand that logic. Fair enough.

But, with the whole "no canon" approach, isn't this sort of thing going to be problematic as the series goes along if you're importing choices? In that, if my Warden did the DR and made the Old God Baby with Morrigan while some other Warden went the Ultimate Sacrifice route, those are 2 very disparate outcomes. So would the resources be bothered to be put into continuing the DR plot with OGB amounting to more than a cameo or codex entry, given that some percentage of people might not have that because they did the US?

Its scenes like that wedding one that should be the unique reward for those people that made those choices to get to that point. But you guys likely have a good idea going forward as to what choices were most commonly made,so I guess that would help in determining how many resources to allocate to things going forward with the whole "no canon" approach.

Yep, we do. We also know what kinds of things were memorable, and stuck with people. I suspect there will be things in DA II that you would never have expected to see us reference, and things that you'll wonder why we didn't reference them.

There are always ways to make something into a big deal, if we choose to. Not everything can be, for reasons we have outlined, but for something like Morrigan, of course we'd be prepared to account for differences. For other things we can only do references, and other things must fall by the wayside. Rest assured that these are artistic choices, usually made to support the themes of the game in development, though a few are there because they damn well make us chuckle.

[AnimaTempli101]

So that's a no to the Dr Evil-esque schemes?

[syllogi]

That mod looks awesome, and I'm going to have to dust off my FemCousland save to try it out.



It would be great if we could have endings like this, but I don't mind at all that it ended up being a mod, which is one of the many reasons I hope and pray we get the updated toolset for DA2.



Mr. Laidlaw, please consider that mods like these add tons of replayability and depth to the game, and having an interactive, creative element like the toolset keeps fans coming back.

[Mike Laidlaw]

TeenZombie wrote...
Mr. Laidlaw, please consider that mods like these add tons of replayability and depth to the game, and having an interactive, creative element like the toolset keeps fans coming back.

Well said, and absolutely considered!

[jackkel dragon]

Mike Laidlaw wrote...

TeenZombie wrote...
Mr. Laidlaw, please consider that mods like these add tons of replayability and depth to the game, and having an interactive, creative element like the toolset keeps fans coming back.

Well said, and absolutely considered!

[Merced256]

You're still not getting it.

[Faz432]

Mike Laidlaw wrote...

Faz432 wrote...

Does it take infinite time, money and energy to create something like that?

You are missing my point. I suspect deliberately. Let's try another way, shall we?

Origins was made with a team of, let's call the average, 100 people. Over 6 years, or 72 months, there were 7200 man-months of effort put into Origins. (Not real numbers, but nice and round.)

Let's say half a million people have access to the DA toolset. The game
has been out for 10 months. Therefore 5 million man-months of effort
could have been generated by the community.

So why haven't the community generated 694 games in this time? HUH?

Perhaps because those half a million people have chosen to do other things! They have prioritized something else over making a video game. Just as we prioritize, say, Riordan's leap over a wedding scene that very few players would see.

As to making a custom ending for every possible outcome in Origins, we would have not been able to make a game. It would have been all ending, becuase by the logic being presented, we would have to have made multiple weddings for Bann Teagan, among hundreds of other possible outcomes.

OK fair enough you can't possibly create all the extra content that a large dedicated fan base can just on sheer numbers (although I doubt half a million is accurate) whether it be through hours or ideas, but what about the content that is community made that aren't extra content, like patches? Which should be quite high on the priorities list?

4 days, 4 days after the release of Awakenings, Mad Method released a patch to transfer DLC items over to awakenings.

1 month, 1 month after the release of patch 1.03, Qwinn released a patch to resolve many of the bugs caused by it.

This month,(this is a bit slow I guess) but this month, TerraEx fixed the Silverite mines bug. Which is extremely game breaking by my definition, in that this is what cast a shadow over DA for me and probably made me sell immediately after forcing my way through to Awakening's completion. Have Bioware yet to address this?

My main point and the reason for the way I responded in my first reply is that modders don't seem get the appreciation and dare I say respect, from particular staff (perhaps not you) and instead of holding your hands up and saying 'fair enough that's good work and we probably should of done that', it seems to be all excuses.

If it comes across that I'm trying to have a go at you then I apologise. All my concerns, whether it's this subject or anything else, are born out of what I consider genuine concern and/or confusion from the information I recieve.

Modifié par Faz432, 24 octobre 2010 - 01:58 .

[Dave of Canada]

Faz432 wrote...

*patch thing*

FROM WHAT I GATHERED:
I suspect it's because the modders who work on these patches fix the code up, add in extra code and see if what they wanted works. However, they don't have to test the entire game and see if it broke anything else. Q&A would have to replay everything in DA:O to make sure nothing is broken for a patch.

[ejoslin]

Dave of Canada wrote...

Faz432 wrote...

*patch thing*

FROM WHAT I GATHERED:
I suspect it's because the modders who work on these patches fix the code up, add in extra code and see if what they wanted works. However, they don't have to test the entire game and see if it broke anything else. Q&A would have to replay everything in DA:O to make sure nothing is broken for a patch.

Not true.  Maybe some modders don't check, but many modders do. I know I have replayed the game, and many aspects of the game, many times just to make sure I didn't break anything.  And the few times I did break something, I was able to get a fix out immediately.

Of course, I have the advantage of having the flexibility to do this.  I don't have a boss to report to, and people volunteer to beta test.  It's a different thing entirely.

Modifié par ejoslin, 24 octobre 2010 - 01:36 .

[Faz432]

Dave of Canada wrote...

Faz432 wrote...

*patch thing*

FROM WHAT I GATHERED:
I suspect it's because the modders who work on these patches fix the code up, add in extra code and see if what they wanted works. However, they don't have to test the entire game and see if it broke anything else. Q&A would have to replay everything in DA:O to make sure nothing is broken for a patch.

I'm not sure about the other 2 but what I can gather from the DLC to Awakenings patch, it is just a batch command to copy files into a new/different location.

[Morrigans God son]

Mods are gods. Some Mods are even better than DLC, even without the actual voice actors. Consider that. BOOOOOOYAH.

[CoS Sarah Jinstar]

Dave of Canada wrote...

Faz432 wrote...

Really?? quantify 'large'.

Can't find the DA:O statistics but for Mass Efffect 2 (for example), only around 50% of people finished the game.

Two completely different target demographics, you're comparing apples to oranges.

[Templar_Avenger_1]

AnimaTempli101 wrote...

So that's a no to the Dr Evil-esque schemes?

its not a no.... its a maybe... it'll be a yes if i get to control the sharks with fricken  lazers on their heads!!!!!!  :D:D

[AnimaTempli101]

I like you. I like the way you think. 

Modifié par AnimaTempli101, 24 octobre 2010 - 01:48 .

[Templar_Avenger_1]

aweso..... wait.... which one of us is to be mini me?!

[Dave of Canada]

CoS Sarah Jinstar wrote...

Two completely different target demographics, you're comparing apples to oranges.

Oh? But ME is quite shorter, appeals to a large enough of the Bioware community group. I'm unable to find it but the stastistics for DA:O weren't that very different either.

[Kaiser Shepard]

Mr. Laidlaw, could you kindly tell us why there wasn't a story-justified reason for allowing to import an Ultimate Sacrifice Warden into Awakening? I know the amount of players that actually went with the US path can be considered a minority, only being around 20% of the player base. But this group, minority or not, was the result of the making of a single large choice -quite possibly the largest- in the game, not some combination of multiple decisions such as a Human Noble Female marrying Alistair at the end.

I truly love the series so far, but this little fact has been irking for quite some time now.

[Dave of Canada]

Kaiser Shepard wrote...

Mr. Laidlaw, could you kindly tell us why there wasn't a story-justified reason for allowing to import an Ultimate Sacrifice Warden into Awakening? I know the amount of players that actually went with the US path can be considered a minority, only being around 20% of the player base. But this group, minority or not, was the result of the making of a single large choice -quite possibly the largest- in the game, not some combination of multiple decisions such as a Human Noble Female marrying Alistair at the end.

I had honestly hoped the US Warden would've been replaced by the Orlesian and people would still reference the Warden's actions.

[mellifera]

simfamSP wrote...

hmmm...I hope for DA:2 the toolset will be used for other things than head morphs...God I want to rip them apart, after the 100000th Lelianna Morph I nearly cried!

This was a very nice touch, alot of emotion and drama into this, it was really well done. Bioware can't put everything into one game, remember who is their publisher? Be thankful it's not Lucas Arts, we would get KOTOR II instead of DA II.

Then don't download?

[Seb Hanlon]

Kaiser Shepard wrote...

Mr. Laidlaw, could you kindly tell us why there wasn't a story-justified reason for allowing to import an Ultimate Sacrifice Warden into Awakening? I know the amount of players that actually went with the US path can be considered a minority, only being around 20% of the player base. But this group, minority or not, was the result of the making of a single large choice -quite possibly the largest- in the game, not some combination of multiple decisions such as a Human Noble Female marrying Alistair at the end.

I truly love the series so far, but this little fact has been irking for quite some time now.

I'm not a writer, but I suspect an Ultimate Sacrifice warden being deceased at the time the events of Awakening take place may play a large part in this.

edit: I think I misread your post initially and was a little quick on the Send button. You're asking why there wasn't a storyline justification for allowing players to import a deceased warden into Awakening. If I recall correctly, it was felt that allowing people to knowingly choose to play their warden was worth the continuity hitch. As for why we didn't come up with an in-story explanation for the continuity hitch -- I don't know.

Modifié par Seb Hanlon, 24 octobre 2010 - 02:07 .

[Dave of Canada]

Seb Hanlon wrote...

I'm not a writer, but I suspect an Ultimate Sacrifice warden being deceased at the time the events of Awakening take place may play a large part in this.

But the Orlesian could've stayed in the Warden's "universe" instead of being a story on his / her own.

[Faz432]

Seb Hanlon wrote...

Kaiser Shepard wrote...

Mr. Laidlaw, could you kindly tell us why there wasn't a story-justified reason for allowing to import an Ultimate Sacrifice Warden into Awakening? I know the amount of players that actually went with the US path can be considered a minority, only being around 20% of the player base. But this group, minority or not, was the result of the making of a single large choice -quite possibly the largest- in the game, not some combination of multiple decisions such as a Human Noble Female marrying Alistair at the end.

I truly love the series so far, but this little fact has been irking for quite some time now.

I'm not a writer, but I suspect an Ultimate Sacrifice warden being deceased at the time the events of Awakening take place may play a large part in this.

I think he's asking why you were allowed to import a dead warden into Awakenings and there not being a real reason explaining it.

e.g. Wynne did something to resurrect you.

[ladydesire]

Kaiser Shepard wrote...

Mr. Laidlaw, could you kindly tell us why there wasn't a story-justified reason for allowing to import an Ultimate Sacrifice Warden into Awakening? I know the amount of players that actually went with the US path can be considered a minority, only being around 20% of the player base. But this group, minority or not, was the result of the making of a single large choice -quite possibly the largest- in the game, not some combination of multiple decisions such as a Human Noble Female marrying Alistair at the end.

I truly love the series so far, but this little fact has been irking for quite some time now.

I know I'm not a Bioware Employee, but I thought they said back when we were told that the US Warden would be alive again for Awakening that it was because they couldn't get the import system to work as they wanted it to (the way DA2 will work). Hopefully Mike or someone can clarifiy this.

[Seb Hanlon]

Faz432 wrote...

Seb Hanlon wrote...

Kaiser Shepard wrote...

Mr. Laidlaw, could you kindly tell us why there wasn't a story-justified reason for allowing to import an Ultimate Sacrifice Warden into Awakening? I know the amount of players that actually went with the US path can be considered a minority, only being around 20% of the player base. But this group, minority or not, was the result of the making of a single large choice -quite possibly the largest- in the game, not some combination of multiple decisions such as a Human Noble Female marrying Alistair at the end.

I truly love the series so far, but this little fact has been irking for quite some time now.

I'm not a writer, but I suspect an Ultimate Sacrifice warden being deceased at the time the events of Awakening take place may play a large part in this.

I think he's asking why you were allowed to import a dead warden into Awakenings and there not being a real reason explaining it.

e.g. Wynne did something to resurrect you.

Sorry, I was too quick on the Send earlier -- I've patched my earlier response. As I said in my edit, I suspect we just made the metagame decision of allowing people to continue playing with their Warden regardless of how they ended DAO. If the player wants to knowingly cheat the timeline, in this case, we chose to allow it. I wasn't in the meeting(s) where it was decided, though.