Comments on: The Long Road to BioWare: A Designer’s Origin Story, p3 http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/ A look at story-based gaming Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:04:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dave Feltham http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-477 Dave Feltham Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:57:29 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-477 Hey Stephen, To put it simply, programmers are my enablers. Without them building the basis for what I do, or helping along the way, I wouldn't be able to .... well do anything at all really. Our coders provide tools for the game to be made, whether it's helping Designers make enemies or refine combat, to providing support on our internal tools, to doing something as simple as giving me a Kismet action that makes my life a whole lot easier. While they aren't necessarily intricately involved in the day-to-day creation of a level, a level designer is inherantly indebted to them. That's just a given...but something I should have called out in my article. Hope that answers your question. Hey Stephen,
To put it simply, programmers are my enablers. Without them building the basis for what I do, or helping along the way, I wouldn’t be able to …. well do anything at all really. Our coders provide tools for the game to be made, whether it’s helping Designers make enemies or refine combat, to providing support on our internal tools, to doing something as simple as giving me a Kismet action that makes my life a whole lot easier. While they aren’t necessarily intricately involved in the day-to-day creation of a level, a level designer is inherantly indebted to them. That’s just a given…but something I should have called out in my article.
Hope that answers your question.

]]> By: VadimP http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-476 VadimP Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:15:09 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-476 Oh, whoops, I didn't see the link to Part IV. My bad. Oh, whoops, I didn’t see the link to Part IV. My bad.

]]> By: VadimP http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-475 VadimP Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:12:41 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-475 This is all an excellent read. I am a Level Designer for a mod myself, and I can relate to some of your experiences. Although I have to admit that mod-work is still fairly different due to the fact that our members come from all over the world, and we never had a chance to meet in person. We also work with the Source engine, whose production pipeline is quite different from UE3. Can't wait for Part IV. This is all an excellent read. I am a Level Designer for a mod myself, and I can relate to some of your experiences. Although I have to admit that mod-work is still fairly different due to the fact that our members come from all over the world, and we never had a chance to meet in person. We also work with the Source engine, whose production pipeline is quite different from UE3.

Can’t wait for Part IV.

]]> By: Top Posts « WordPress.com http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-474 Top Posts « WordPress.com Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:28:20 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-474 [...] The Long Road to BioWare: A Designer’s Origin Story, p3 Part 3 of 4, by David Feltham So what does a Sr. Designer on Mass Effect 2 do? Well for one, I write blog articles [...] [...] [...] The Long Road to BioWare: A Designer’s Origin Story, p3 Part 3 of 4, by David Feltham So what does a Sr. Designer on Mass Effect 2 do? Well for one, I write blog articles [...] [...]

]]> By: BioWare Blog: The Long Road to BioWare: A Designer’s Origin Story (Part IV) http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-473 BioWare Blog: The Long Road to BioWare: A Designer’s Origin Story (Part IV) Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:38:00 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-473 [...] http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/ [...] [...] http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/ [...]

]]> By: Daniel H http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-472 Daniel H Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:50:45 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-472 This is fascinating. I'm really interested in becoming a writer for games so it was helpful to see where they interface with other people. What kind of background do the writers normally have and what kind of qualifications do developers look for in writers? This is fascinating. I’m really interested in becoming a writer for games so it was helpful to see where they interface with other people. What kind of background do the writers normally have and what kind of qualifications do developers look for in writers?

]]> By: Gregor Lamche http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-471 Gregor Lamche Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:55:09 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-471 I may can answer that: Sometimes you want stuff in your level that is quite unique. Unique not in appearance, but in behaviour, like a river, with its little waves, water splashes, etc. A river is nothing special (in there of occurring in nature), so there might be a tool already to us, But if you now want a wizard to be able to create waves in a special way (like to create a pentagram shaped wave) you will have to talk to a software engineer to create a special tool, only for that one moment in the game, to use, for example, a texture for wave creation. In that case you also would have to communicated to him a lot of stuff like do the waves move away from the wizard? Are they affected by the flow of the river? If the wizard turns, do the shape have to turn too? etc. Hope that helps. Greg I may can answer that:

Sometimes you want stuff in your level that is quite unique. Unique not in appearance, but in behaviour, like a river, with its little waves, water splashes, etc. A river is nothing special (in there of occurring in nature), so there might be a tool already to us, But if you now want a wizard to be able to create waves in a special way (like to create a pentagram shaped wave) you will have to talk to a software engineer to create a special tool, only for that one moment in the game, to use, for example, a texture for wave creation. In that case you also would have to communicated to him a lot of stuff like do the waves move away from the wizard? Are they affected by the flow of the river? If the wizard turns, do the shape have to turn too? etc.

Hope that helps.

Greg

]]> By: Destenoth http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-470 Destenoth Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:34:45 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-470 Fascinating. I now have a better understanding of what goes on behind those doors... Thanks a lot Dave :) Fascinating. I now have a better understanding of what goes on behind those doors… Thanks a lot Dave :)

]]> By: Stephen http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-469 Stephen Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:40:19 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-469 Great post, Dave - I find it very interesting to see what goes into the creative content side of a large budget game. I'm a software engineer for 3d training simulations, and I can definitely relate to the iterative testing cycle you speak of. Playing with toys is great, scrutinizing them can be time consuming. Out of curiosity, where do your software engineers fit into this? I understand you are based on the UT3 engine - do they just provide you with the correct content delivery tools such as level editors and the scripting language, or do they do custom hard coded development for some level sequences. I'm mainly curious because the software guy seemed oddly out of the loop with your list of people that are involved in a level. Great post, Dave – I find it very interesting to see what goes into the creative content side of a large budget game. I’m a software engineer for 3d training simulations, and I can definitely relate to the iterative testing cycle you speak of. Playing with toys is great, scrutinizing them can be time consuming.

Out of curiosity, where do your software engineers fit into this? I understand you are based on the UT3 engine – do they just provide you with the correct content delivery tools such as level editors and the scripting language, or do they do custom hard coded development for some level sequences. I’m mainly curious because the software guy seemed oddly out of the loop with your list of people that are involved in a level.

]]> By: Adam http://blog.bioware.com/2009/06/22/the-long-road-to-bioware-a-designers-origin-story-p3/#comment-468 Adam Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:17:15 +0000 http://blog.bioware.com/?p=1852#comment-468 Interesting read, I like to know how my games are made. And keep up the great work as well! Interesting read, I like to know how my games are made. And keep up the great work as well!

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