Part 1 of 4 by Ethan Levy
Orzammar, under the mountains to the west of Ferelden, stands as one of the last great Dwarven cities. 1,000 years have passed since The Blight last drove the proud dwarves to seal their roads and abandon their fallen colonies. Though forsaken and all-but forgotten by the men and elves who walk the surface, the Deep Roads still teem with darkspawn. Amidst the rise of dark omens you head into peril, into the depths, into the Deep Roads.
And so begins Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads. Hey there BioWare fans. My name is Ethan Levy, I’m a producer with EA 2D, and I’m very proud to announce our newest game Dragon Age Journeys. At EA 2D it is our mission to create blockbusters for the browser; some will be original games created by our teams and some will be games within other EA franchises, such as Dragon Age Journeys. We broke ground on Journeys back in November 2008, and after so many months of blood, sweat and tears, we can’t tell you how excited we are to finally start talking about the game.
Dragon Age Journeys has been a collaboration between EA 2D, BioWare, and some of the hottest indie talent from the flash developer community. Over the coming days, we’ll be introducing you to the game, the talented team of developers behind its creation and some of the day-to-day craziness that goes into making a game. More than anything, we want you to get a feel for how much fun and passion goes into creating a game for the browser that can live up to the high standards set by BioWare’s illustrious history.
We have some big plans for Journeys. The first piece that we are currently building is a 3 chapter, single player, tactical rpg delivered in Flash. Right now we’re hard at work finishing the first chapter, Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads. The game will introduce you to the dwarven city of Orzammar and the Deep Roads surrounding it where the dwarves face a persistent threat from the darkspawn hordes.
BioWare has been incredibly supportive in providing us with materials to work with in the creation of The Deep Roads. They have given us pages upon pages of reference materials, story documents, concept art and screenshots. We get invaluable feedback and insight on the game from members of the Dragon Age team, including Drs. Ray and Greg. The Deep Roads features character classes, talent trees, sound effects, music and user interface taken directly from Dragon Age: Origins. Thanks to all these resources and input from the BioWare team, it will serve as a solid introduction to the world of Dragon Age.
The leading force behind The Deep Roads is Daniel Stradwick, creator of the excellent flash rpg series Monster’s Den. Art and animation has been created by the illustrious Adam Phillips of Bitey Castle fame. Additional programming is being done by Andrew Sega, who created the Magic the Gathering inspired flash card games Mytheria and the multiplayer Armor Wars. The story is being penned by first time game writer Marcelo Poppi. You’ll learn more about them and the talented team at EA 2D in future posts.