Dragon Age – The Revelation comic

March 1, 2010 by BioWare

by Evil Chris Priestly. A collaboration with Ideas by David Gaider and Art by Aimo.

We are very pleased to bring you an awesome new Dragon Age: Origins comic strip jointly created by one of the members of our Community, Irma Ahmed who is better known by her artist name Aimo with assistance from Dragon Age: Origins Lead Writer David Gaider. If you have not yet had a chance to see Aimo’s art, you should check out her personal art website here: Aimo Studio Fortunately for us, not only is Aimo/Irma a very talented artist, she is also a huge Dragon Age fan. She and David were talking one day and… actually, I think it would be better if Mr Gaider explained in his own words.

David Gaider – “I’ve always been a big fan of Aimo’s art – she has an incredible ability to capture the emotions of her characters. So I started chatting with her a bit back in January, and the idea came up for us to maybe collaborate on something. I mentioned a cutscene we had considered doing prior to Morrigan’s offer in the climax (*spoiler alert* for anyone who hasn’t played that far in Origins) but which had been left on the cutting room floor along with so many other scenes. This one in particular was hard to cut, because it was supposed to give some context to the player who romances Morrigan or who had become really good friends with her that what she was about to do was causing her conflict. As is pretty typical for game development, however, you have to work with the resources at hand… but this comic will maybe allow some people a brief glimpse into the “might have been” that was. Naturally Aimo’s efforts here were ten times mine… all I had to do was write up the scene from memory and then she proceeded to sketch it out over the next few weeks. Pretty awesome, if you ask me. Hope you all enjoy it!”

Check out Page 1 below and then click the links to see the full 8 pages.

Dragon Age: The Revelation Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Aimo, real name Irma Ahmed, has been playing Bioware games since the days of Baldur’s Gate II. Dragon Age:Origins is her current gaming ambrosia, which has inspired many fan creations on her part such as artworks, comics, and even storyboard animatics of party banter. She credits the game for unearthing an affection for the Dwarves, as evidenced by pro-dwarf themes in her tributes.

When she’s not juggling game time between a Dwarf Princess, an Underdog Elf, and a Noble Whelp, she is a professional sketch card artist. Her work credits include traditional medium art for card companies as Topps, Upper Deck, and Rittenhouse Archives on properties of Lucasfilm, New Line Cinema, and Marvel. She intends to sit down and start working on that one great comic opus in the near future.

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Awakening Lead Writer Ferret Baudoin discusses NPC Sigrun

February 19, 2010 by BioWare

Ferret Baudoin questioned by Evil Chris Priestly

I recently stole a moment with the Lead Writer of Dragon Age: Origins Awakening, Ferret Baudoin, to ask him a few questions about the recently revealed Sigrun character. If you haven’t yet learned abotu Sigrun, you can check her out here: SIGRUN

Hey, Ferret — can you tell us a bit more about the background of the new character Sigrun?
Dust Town. The mean streets of Orzammar. That’s where Sigrun hails from. As was seen in Origins, Dust Town is an oppressive place where people do whatever they can to survive. Sigrun was no exception. She was an accomplished thief and unwitting killer who was eventually caught. She was given a choice: immediate execution or join the Legion of the Dead. She chose the Legion.

So Sigrun went to her own sparsely attended funeral and joined her new brothers and sisters in the Legion. Everyone in the Legion is considered dead already. And for many, the formality becomes actuality in rapid order. The Legion goes far into the Deep Roads, in places no sane dwarf would dare to venture, killing darkspawn by the score. Sigrun found redemption in the order, camaraderie, and time to be retrospective about her misspent life.

So she travels with her unit, knowing that one day death will claim them all. But deep inside, she struggles against the hard won street wisdom of Dust Town: “survive at any cost.” And that makes it hard for her to stoically embrace the honorable death that must great all members of the Legion.

What is her personality like?
People picture the Legion of the Dead as fatalistic warriors who are grimly eager to impale themselves upon a darkspawn spear. Sigrun defies that. She’s perky, upbeat, with a macabre sense of humor. As bleak as her life is in the Legion, it’s actually a step up from her threadbare existence in Dust Town. So she has that going for her. She also has a fascination with the world above, which she has never seen.

About the only thing she has a proper legionnaire attitude about are the darkspawn. She was initially afraid of them, but as new comrades and friends die one-by-one, it stokes her hatred. Now it burns very bright indeed.

Why would you want her in your party?
As a legionnaire scout, Sigrun has access to abilities which make her very durable in a fight. She’s a dual-wielding rogue who is adept at hiding and sneaking. With a few good runes on her weapons and some of the new epic rogue abilities, she can be a damage-dealing machine who strikes suitable terror in her foes — especially when she strikes from behind, where her quick backstabs add up to impressive numbers.

What inspired the team to make this character?
There are many things in Thedas we want to explore, but the Legion of the Dead is a very intriguing part of dwarven culture, a group of walking “dead” bent on redemption for their scandals, crimes, or atrocities. Grim heroes of the deep. We wanted to explore them more in depth and tie them into the story of Awakening. Having a legionnaire companion is a chance to humanize the Legion and delve into what they’re about. And as far as Sigrun’s charmingly off-beat personality, that’s all thanks to writer Sheryl Chee.

Ferret is the lead designer of the Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening expansion pack. He has been at BioWare since 2006, and throughout his career has worked on games like Dragon Age: Origins, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Knights of the Old Republic 2, among many others. His interests include travelling the world, playing games (duh), and plotting against the poor helpless denizens of Thedas (they had it coming). This is world-traveler Ferret at Karnak in Egypt

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Thinking About Running a Tabletop Game…

February 19, 2010 by BioWare


Part 1 of 1, by Jay Watamaniuk

The last time I ran an actual tabletop game myself I was in university I think. I held the reigns for about three session while the regular GM took a break. Recently, two stellar GMs (one being the fellow with lots to say on Respecting the Character) in my circle of gaming friends, finished up their games creating a void of tabletop adventuring. I play in but one game at the moment run by a groovy fellow named Scott (founding member of iVardensphere) in which I created a fine character. I am used to being a player in two or three tabletop games at a time so things seemed a little lacking.

Last year, I made the switch from Community Manager to joining the design team on Mass Effect 2 as a writer. I have a whole lot to learn about writing for BioWare games, and even more to learn about writing, but I thought one way to get my creative brain going was to try and run a game myself for some of my friends. I began to think about what sort of game I would want to run. Some big questions need to be addressed before I sit down with some sweet graph paper:

1. What is the tone of the game? Serious, silly, something in between?
2. Main theme and setting? Superhero, Sci-fi, fantasy, steam punk, horror, western or a mix of something?
3. Rule set? A tough one. I am not much of a rules guy, and I know that the GM should have a good grasp of how it all works. From D&D to Fudge rules and everything in-between.
4. Players? Both number and who exactly. I have a large gaming group to call upon and certain people play in certain ways. What mix would I want considering I am a new GM.
5. Length of game? I suspect I will elect for a 3-6 episode game to get some experience before committing to a full campaign.

Some of the questions are easier to answer for me. I know that in a game I run it will range from deadly serious to super-goofy. I know the players will insist on it, and so I should count on just that. My friend, Jackie ran a Ravenloft game that was, of course, very serious but people are people and the characters found humor here and there along the way as real people often do even in very bleak circumstances.

Main theme? Tough one. I keep coming back to a Cthulhu-type investigation theme but something isn’t quite right about it. More thought required. I love horror games ) but I know running a game based in horror has its own problems as you cannot sustain that tense, on the edge feeling over the long haul. Fear is a thing to be handled very carefully and I have seen GMs get frustrated because the players were not into a scary, atmosphere walk in the Horrorville when they wanted a Buffyesque episode of hi-jinks and witty banter.

Ruleset? I like the FATE. rules but they are also somewhat without foundation that can lead to players feeling ineffective. I don’t think I want to run something as tightly controlled as D&D or Shadowrun but something in-between. I am unsure about trying out a new rule set but I just might. I had heard Unknown Armies was a good one…but trying out an unfamiliar rule set seems like a bad idea if I’m new to this GM thing…

Players? A tough one. I have a lot of gaming friends but each will bring a certain energy and personality to the game. I would need to think of who would compliment a new GM. I want to keep the player number small in order to help me address each player personally. In my new job, I am getting used to thinking of a plot or character concept and watching it evolve through feedback into something else; similar but different. I can see how that applies directly to running a game. The game must have focus, but it also must allow for evolving on the fly according to the players.

Length of game? Yup, 3-6 with maybe the idea of hitting about 4. Enough time to establish some characters but also short enough in case of catastrophic failure I need only weather the shame for a short time.

How did you get going on a new tabletop? How did you decide on setting and rule set? What basic questions am I missing that need answering?

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Female Shepard is Awesome

February 16, 2010 by BioWare

The Mass Effect 2 launch trailer redone with a female lead:


Video taken from spigyboy’s YouTube channel .

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Equipping Your Squad

January 15, 2010 by BioWare

by Christina Norman

With up to 10 squad members, equipping your team in Mass Effect 2 could have been a daunting task. To make this task manageable we’ve made two inventory advancements: squad inventory, and auto-upgrades.

Squad Inventory
Whenever Shepard finds an upgraded weapon he scans it with his omni-tool, uploading detailed data to his ship. Using that data, this ship’s armory can replicate the weapon, making it available to any squad member trained to use that weapon type. For example, if you find a superior shotgun, your armory will fabricate copies, making that shotgun model available to any squad member with shotgun training. This gets rid of tedious inventory management tasks, like unequipping and transferring items between squad members.

Auto-Upgrades
Squad members will automatically start using upgraded weapons when they become available. Combined with squad based inventory, this makes managing your squad’s loadout very easy.

Let’s say you find an upgraded sniper rifle. You scan it and upload the data to your ship’s armory. The armory immediately starts fabricating copies. Thane, back on your ship, grabs one from the armory and starts using it. All this is accomplished without any manual inventory management.

Customizing Your Team’s Loadout
You can customize your team’s loadout. At the start of every mission you’ll be given a chance to set weapons for your squad. At this point you can override any choices the auto-upgrade system has made. This is also your chance to customize Shepard’s weapons, including his heavy weapon.

Unique Weapons
While most weapons are shared, some are so advanced or so personalized to an individual that they can’t be easily replicated or transferred. These unique weapons will automatically be received by a specific squad member. This approach helps differentiate your squad members, and creates opportunities for individual progression. Since these weapons are tied to a specific squad member, they work with our auto- upgrade system. Your squad member will start using their new weapon immediately once you obtain it.

This is the second in a series of blog posts by Lead Gameplay Designer Christina Norman on the RPG systems of Mass Effect 2.

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Enemy Defenses in Mass Effect 2

January 6, 2010 by BioWare

by Christina Norman

One area we wanted to improve in Mass Effect 2 was enemy power resists. In ME1 enemies would sometimes resist your powers, but it wasn’t clear when they would, or why. More importantly, if your enemy was resisting your powers, there was nothing you could do about it.

For Mass Effect 2 we’ve combined enemy resists with defensive shields, armor, and barriers. These defenses are displayed in a bar over the enemy’s health bar. As long as the bar is visible, your target is resistant to powers, but all powers deplete his defense bar. Once the defense bar is gone, he is vulnerable to all your powers. Only powerful enemies have a defense bar, weaker enemies are always vulnerable.

Shields: The most common enemy defense is the kinetic barrier, or shield. Shields are effective at blocking most powers, but are vulnerable to rapid-fire weapons like submachine guns and assault rifles. Shotguns are also effective as they launch many projectiles with each blast. The best way of getting rid of shields is using disruptor ammo, or the engineer’s overload power.

Armor: While most enemies will wear light tactical armor, only enemies wearing the heaviest or most technologically advanced armor will have an armor defense. Armor is effective at blocking most powers, but is vulnerable to hard-hitting weapons like sniper rifles and heavy pistols. The best way of breaking through enemy armor is using incendiary ammo, incinerate, or warp.

Barrier: Only biotic enemies like vanguards can generate defensive biotic barriers. Like shields, barriers block most powers, but are vulnerable to rapid-fire weapons. The best way of getting rid of a defensive barrier is the warp power, but the soldier’s concussive shot is also quite effective.

Defenses add significant tactical depth to combat. While weaker enemies can be defeated with powers alone, strong enemies require teamwork to drop their defenses so they can be finished with powers. This adds depth to character progression for you and your squad: It’s important to invest in both finishing-move powers like throw and cryo-freeze, and defense-killers like warp and overload.

Christina Norman is the Lead Gameplay Designer for Mass Effect 2. This is the first in a series of blog posts Christina on the RPG systems of Mass Effect 2.

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Dragon Age: Origins Ebay auction for Child’s Play Charity

December 15, 2009 by BioWare

by Evil Chris Priestly & Kevin Loh

BioWare and the Dragon Age Team invites you to bid on our uber lot of Dragon Age goodies. You’ll receive a giant banner signed by the whole team, signed copies of each Collector’s Edition of Dragon Age: Origins, signed lithographs, a shield, a limited edition hardbound comic by the Penny Arcade Guys, novels, and much much more!

Become the owner of many one of a kind items from the top selling and award winning hit game, Dragon Age: Origins! All of the proceeds of this ONE TIME ONLY auction will go to the Child’s Play charity. A similar auction lot at the Child’s Play Charity event in early this month fetched thousands of dollars, so get your bid in early! This NO RESERVE auction for Charity will start at $0.99!

Check out the full list of items available and make your bids today over at the Dragon Age: Origins Ebay Child’s Play Auction page HERE

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Dragon Age: Origins wins both RPG Game of the Year and PC Game of the Year at Spike TV’s Video Game Awards!

December 14, 2009 by BioWare

By Evil Chris Priestly

On Saturday night, Dragon Age: Origins took home 2 incredible awards at this years Video Game Awards on Spike TV winning both RPG Game of the Year and PC Game of the Year.

Dragon Age’s Executive Producer Mark Darrah, BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuck and other members of the Dragon Age developement team were on hand at the awards show and Mark Darrah winded up being the man to go on stage and claim the 2 trophies from the presenter rapper Snoop Dogg.

We want to take a moment to thanks all of our great Dragon Age: Origins fans who voted for us. Winning awards is always excellent, but when it is the fans who buy, play and enjoy our games, it makes the awards even sweeter. Thanks to everyone who voted for us.

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BioWare, Child’s Play and the Gift of the Yeti

December 4, 2009 by BioWare

The Holiday times are on us once again, and this year to help everyone feel good about the holiday season, you can help BioWare donate to Child’s Play. For those of you who do not know, Child’s Play is the “geeks charity of choice” and does great work trying to raise money to help fund hospitals for sick kids around the world. This year, BioWare is going to try to raise a donation of up to $10,000 with the help of our new Facebook game Gift of the Yeti and our fans.

Gift of the Yeti is a fun and fast-paced social game for people of all ages., Available now as a free Facebook app, the game has been developed at BioWare by the studio’s new R&D group, BioWare Labs. In the Gift of the Yeti game, players have a chance to help a sick Santa by delivering gifts on his behalf. Facebook friends can compete to beat each others’ high scores. The backstory of the Yeti will unfold through a clever Advent day calendar, with each day revealing a new piece of the storyline. Gift of the Yeti also allows players to choose from a variety of different gifts that they can send to their friends to invite them to save the day for Santa, and support the Child’s Play organization.

For every play of Gift of the Yeti, BioWare will donate a minimum of a penny, up to a total of $10,000 to the Child’s Play charity. Child’s Play is a community-based charity grown and nurtured from the video game culture and industry, distributing toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals worldwide. Originally supported by Penny Arcade, more information about Child’s Play can be found HERE

“Gift of the Yeti is BioWare’s digital holiday card to its fans. We use social networking as a powerful tool to connect meaningfully with our tremendous fan community,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare and the Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group at EA. “Gift of the Yeti is a fun, engaging holiday present from BioWare to our fans, the first in a series of compelling social experiences from BioWare Labs.”

“Child’s Play draws the bulk of our support from video gamers and the games industry, and we are honored to be part of BioWare’s Gift of the Yeti campaign,” said Kristin Lindsay, Program Coordinator, Child’s Play. “Now gamers can help support pediatric hospitals in the US, Canada and worldwide simply by playing the game and having fun! When gamers give back, it makes a big difference.”

You can check out Gift of the Yeti, and help BioWare donate to Child’s Play by visiting our Facebook Gift of the Yeti app HERE

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Dragon Age To The World!

November 6, 2009 by BioWare

Our Fans

First, thank you to all of our fans around the world for making Dragon Age: Origins a crushing success. BioWare and EA are thrilled to have now launched Dragon Age: Origins worldwide. Customers, fans and critics alike love Dragon Age: Origins and are having a great time playing it as well as using the newly released Dragon Age Toolset. Fans are using the BioWare Social Network to discuss the game on our forums, uploading screenshots to their profiles and blogging about their experiences in game.

Here are what a few of our critics are saying:

Gamespot.com – Score: 95 -
“…The fantasy RPG you’ve been waiting for…”
Game Pro – Score: 100 -
“BioWare has once again struck RPG gold”
GameZone – Score: 99 -
“This game is of a level that has never been seen before. It is the new benchmark.”
Game Informer – Score: 90 -
“…one of the most addictive and expansive RPGs of its kind.”
1up.com – Score: 100 -
“It’s the best RPG of the year — and maybe the best of the HD era.”
USAToday.com – Score: 4/4 -
“…Dragon Age: Origins, a masterfully crafted adventure that offers a lot of bang for your buck.”

While most customers have been playing Dragon Age: Origins without any problems, a few customers have experienced issues that have prevented them from fully enjoying the game. As you already know BioWare has always been committed to providing high quality games to its fans and we are just as committed to providing an ongoing gaming experience free of quirks and hiccups. With that said we would like to announce our Patch 1.01 which you can find here. We really appreciate the feedback we have been getting from fans and encourage you to let us know of any anomalies you find with any part of the game or our website. Your help allows us to build stronger patches to release on a regular cadence. You can keep us informed and get help using the following links:

Patch:
http://social.bioware.com/game_patches.php
Dragon Age Customer Support:
http://help.dragonage.com/
Dragon Age: Origins Technical Support:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/58/index
BioWare Social Bug Report:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/6/index
BioWare Points Bug Report:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/59/index

Thanks again to all our fans for making this such a successful launch!

Derek Larke
BioWare’s Online Marketing Manager

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