8 ответов в этой теме

[LPPrince]

http://blog.bioware....the-dragon-age/

 

Have fun ladies and gentlemen

 

 

 

[Allan Schumacher]

fall is so far away

 

I think it's coming up pretty quickly!

[Jessica Merizan]

 Hey guys! Just popping in to say I'm really excited to see all the chatter about the video. I know everyone has been anxious to hear more details and *see* more content related to the game, and the team is really glad to be able to share this piece with you all. We're really putting our heart and soul into Dragon Age: Inquisition and you'll see more and more information as well as in-game content as we get closer to launch! 

Thank you again for your comments, feedback, and discussion. We're reading it (as we work on getting the game finished haha) and it's all reminders of who we're making this game for  

[Jessica Merizan]

The video was really great and I enjoyed seeing the varied locations and the different weather conditions. But please populate it more! The ball really stood out on how sparse it looked compared to everything else. The NPC models looked low-poly to me. So, those are my only critiques about the video. Everything else was rather good and I can't wait to explore it all.

 

Do we have an idea on who the composer will be this time around?

 

Ah, as it states on all the screenshots "pre-alpha work in progress". The game is developed through a series of milestones and sprints, so you just have to keep in mind that some aspects of the game are in a different cycle than others. It all comes together like a very well coordinated dance at the end (not an intentional pun on your mention of the ball). 

It was pretty difficult for me to play the game builds when I first started at BioWare because I had a hard time visualizing things that were not yet in the game when other aspects were there etc. But it's pretty cool now that I've gotten the hang of it, and we have Sprint Review Day to see everyone's work in other teams as they progress! 

 

(Actually, my team - Online Development - is ending our sprint tomorrow so I'm going to be working late tonight! lol) 

[Allan Schumacher]

...they still keep calling everything pre-alpha when it is clearly not pre-alpha. I feel like this is a new way of tempering excitement while also building unwarranted excitement for games. 

 

"This game already looks amazing and it's pre-alpha?! No way! Pre-ordered!"

 

There's no real consistency on what alpha means.  I learned in school (University of Alberta, BSc Specialization in Computing Science) that alpha was when no new features are intended to go into the game.  Wikipedia defines alpha as when it is ready for testing (although I consider that outdated, since agile development involves testing from the first day, which would mean the entire project is effectively "alpha").  It also defines pre-alpha as:

 

Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project before testing. These activities can include requirements analysis, software design, software development, and unit testing. In typical open source development, there are several types of pre-alpha versions. Milestone versions include specific sets of functions and are released as soon as the functionality is complete.

 

I agree with everything except for the first sentence, because agile development specifically negates it - testing starts in earnest before lines of code are even written, starting with defining and reviewing feature acceptance criteria between developer and customer (in my work, usually a producer or designer is the customer) to make sure all parties are clear on what the feature request entails.  As the developer iterates on the feature, I provide white box testing to the system to ensure that it's in alignment with what the customer wants, and then provide QA verification that the task satisfies the specified acceptance criteria.  The task is considered complete when all parties agree.

 

 

This continues and eventually we create "alpha signoff" checklists.  I have fellow QA staffers now that are literally creating those lists for their respective scrum groups.  Some of them are done, depending on the feature, but for example Luke Barrett is creating the one for Combat with our scrum master/producer (I also work a lot with the combat team - usually the programmers).  They do this so we can agree that the features of the game have been implemented and are reasonably working.

 

We don't spend much time in "alpha" because we'll then transition to beta testing, with the features being feature complete and polish/bug testing being applied.  In super rare instances, new features get added/removed, but decisions like that are heavily triaged with the potential risk factors assessed.  They are literally approved/rejected by Mark Darrah at that point.  In fact, all bugs at this point tend to get approved by senior leads, ensuring that the team is getting the most benefit out of their effort (which means that something that can fix a lot of minor bugs can still be approved if it is done small enough).

 

 

The game is definitely still pre-alpha.  I know for a fact that we're actually waiting for a code drop from the frostbite time to help with rendering, so it's entirely possible that we'll still see incremental improvements in graphics (which is primarily what was shown off today with the environments).  Our goals are to hit alpha soon, enabling us to focus on stability and polish down the stretch leading up into release.  So yeah, in that sense it's "not as pre-alpha" as stuff we may show a year ago, and it's certainly closer to "almost done."  And we'll have an inclination to show levels that are the most done, so I wouldn't expect a world of difference between what you saw today and what will see at release, but things are still not fully locked in for a lot of things yet.

[Allan Schumacher]

The generally accepted definition is like I said above. I know quite a few game developers through one of my jobs(working for a popular gaming podcast) and key gameplay mechanics being in place is the norm for being in alpha.

 

Sorry.  At this point all I can say is you have zero visibility on it.  It's pre-alpha.  We don't show off the levels that aren't finished yet, for example.

 

I'll defer to my professors, colleagues, internship mentors, and a host of other individuals over your supposition on what you think something is based on what we selectively decided to show off for a marketing video.  You don't even know what "key gameplay mechanics" even means unless you're actually a part of the production cycle for a particular project.

 

And some of the key rendering improvements we're looking for are still in the upcoming integration from Frostbite.  But if you feel you have an idea what the "key gameplay mechanics" are, as well as apply outdated, waterfall development methodology.  All "key gameplay mechanics" means is you have an unfalsifiable and unverifiable thing that you can artificially measure against what you think things must be like.  I mean, do graphics even factor in for "key gameplay features?"  What exactly are "key gameplay features?"

 

For example, being able to "proceed from the start of the game to the end of the game" such as in our christmas build is referred to by us as "narrative complete."  That means that as you proceed through the game, you'll get things like "TEMP: Cinematic here with the Inquisitor doing blahblahblah" with combat often being completed by us firing off an equivalent to "kill all hostiles" because a lot of the time the combat simply wasn't playing properly.  But in your imagination, it means "key gameplay mechanics" are complete.  When all it means is "the narrative is in place and plot mechanics are set up."  It says nothing about the state of combat, what the level up progression is like.  Those are all things that you fill in the blanks about, because you have zero visibility on those things when you hear "play the game from start to finish."

 

I literally told you what our internal measurement for alpha is.  And we're not there yet.  This isn't going to go anywhere and I'd strong encourage us to agree to disagree with respect to this, since we're simply not going to agree.

[Allan Schumacher]

Sorry, but this tangent dies now because it's not going to go anywhere.  Future posts on it will possibly be removed.

 

Without visibility, you're only going to guess what "key gameplay mechanics means" and it's not like we're showing off the stuff that isn't done yet.

[Allan Schumacher]

It's certain a valid concern.

[Allan Schumacher]

So it is save to say that there is a good chance we see this game next year? I mean there seems to be alwful lot of work to still do and summer days are not the best time in my opinion for working. Apart from that, when did you know that you were not going to release in 2013 ? Because if it was post E3, or some time around it, you were about to release another DA2 ( maybe even worse)

 

I'd say there's an excellent chance this game is released this year.  Yes there's still a lot of work to do, and it's going to be busy.  But it's always going to be busy.  One week before DAO was due for certification, I was thinking "no way we can ship this game!"  1 day before, I was like "Holy crap... we did it!"

 

As for when I knew, I did know before E3 (we announced at E3 2013 that the game was being delayed, so it's certainly NOT post-E3).  I don't remember precisely when, but yes we knew before everyone else did.  It's a complicated situation due to the fact that we're a publicly traded company and that sort of information needs to be communicated in a specific way.  Which is a bit unfortunate, but that's the way it is.  And I recognize that that means you may look at my statements here and wonder "Is Allan telling the truth?"

 

 

 

From what i know - you tell us that gameplay mechanics are barely worked on, you do not have inquisitor's voice actor. Even if it is that voice from the trailer, you must voice another 7 protagonists or maybe we get the same voice for every race. I personally hope this is some random narrator, because in my mind it does not suit a protagonist at all. The man sounds too old.

 

Mike mentioned on twitter that it's a voice for the Inquisitor.  I like the voice personally.  Not everyone will I suppose, but maybe it works better when being spoken by the character rather than as a narrator?

 

 

 

 

I refuse to believe that you undersood you are not launching the game in Q2 2013, because that would mean you would ship even unpolished game than DA2, because as you tell us gameplay mechanincs are barely scratched.

 

I'm not sure I follow this statement.  You refuse to believe that I knew that we were not going to release in 2013 in Q2 2013?  I'm also not saying "gameplay mechanics are barely scratched."  I'm saying that there's still work to do that is beyond simply bug testing and polish.  We mentioned at E3 2013 that the release was Fall 2014, and that means that we're still probably 6+ months away from release.  That's still actually a good chunk of time remaining.

 

 

 

And lastly...i personally prefer that you delay the game again. Witcher 3 is coming, risen too... , you seem to be in early stage of development. In my opinion you show good stuff, but if you rush it to the finish line 1 spoon of honey mixed with one spoon of ****, gives 2 spoons of ****. Better delay the game, than to deliver sth like DA2. Because let me tell you sth, if you do the DA2 mistake again - i assure you for DA4 BSN will be empthy. Nobody would care even if you do 10/10 game in every aspect, people would never believe in you again. It will be just like the boy who cried wolf, if you understand what i am saying.

 

Sorry, is "sth" shorthand for something?  I'm not familiar with the term.

 

But no, we are emphatically not in the early stage of development.  We're close to feature complete.