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My Interview with Mass Effect 3 Producer, Jesse Houston

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Hi there! I’m Erika, the social media coordinator at BioWare. I sat down with Jesse Houston yesterday to ask him some of the burning questions fans had about Mass Effect 3, the co-op addition, and the new features we are all excited to hear more about. Check out the full interview below:

Will decisions made in ME1 & ME2 affect Galactic Readiness level?
In the Galaxy at War system, the Galactic Readiness Level is affected by multiple things. The choices from ME1 and ME2 will have an effect of the overall Galaxy at War system, but not directly on the Galactic Readiness level.

Does Multiplayer affect the success of my Shepard in the main story?
Absolutely. Multiplayer will definitely have an effect on your SP experience through the Galaxy at War system, so as you play the MP and the Co-Op and the more successful you are, the more that will affect your Galactic Readiness level which will then affect your end game result.

How do SP and MP work together/complement each other?
They complement each other really well in that the Galaxy at War System takes the actions played in MP and pushes them to your SP achievements. The SP elements will dovetail really nicely into those and both those actions will allow your Shepard to have a different ending depending on those actions. That said, SP can still be played all by itself without any kind of multiplayer or third party and you can still get the absolute best ending. This just gives you new options to be able to get that ending.

Which classes/races can you play as? Can you be a geth?
We haven’t given the full list yet. But as an example, you can totally play as a Krogan, as a Drell, as an Asari. Beyond those, I can’t give away all of the details, but I can say there will be a lot of interesting races that you may not expect to be able to play as because they wouldn’t normally be looked upon as characters who are for the fight normally. That said we’ll be releasing more and more characters through DLC later.

How does leveling up work in MP?
As you complete objectives inside of the co-op experience you are going to be leveling up similar to how you would in an RPG. You gain experience points and those experience points go toward your level and you spend points exactly how you would as a SP and each character is its own so you could theoretically have 10 or 20 characters going, each leveling up independently.

Will player-kicking be supported to deal with any idiots you may team up with?
We will have systems in place to deal with “griefers.” The nice thing is that the overall design isn’t conducive to griefing so there isn’t much value in doing kicks. How and when you’ll be able to do the kicks is still being worked on so I don’t want to talk too much about it. But just know that we are putting systems in place that will let you deal with people that you don’t want to be playing with.

Will Kinect still work in MP, and will using a headset to talk with teammates cause any interference?
The overall and general design of Kinect is such that it is about squad command and interacting with the world. Contextually speaking that doesn’t work as well with MP because those squad commands are your friends so we’d want you to yell at them and not your TV. So with that in mind, Kinect will not work in MP and therefore will not cause any interference.

If it’s a separate story campaign, are our multiplayer characters playing their part in dialogue scenes or is it more of an environmental storytelling?
While it is separate to the main story they will never be involved in the actual campaign of the main story. It’s more like a side mission to the SP. We don’t want to create situations where MP players have something that SP players couldn’t otherwise see.

Will there be dialogues, and how will they be handled?
All dialogue is done ambiantly, for instance the commander will be giving you orders through your headsets.

Will there be any form of in-game communication system (ie quickchat) with team mates?
All the main communication systems that we are putting in will allow you to speak to your team mates through the normal communication systems like your headsets.

Exactly who will we be fighting for? Citadel Defense Forces, Mercenary Groups?
At a high level, Shepard is marshaling the troops on behalf of the Earth Alliance so you are technically fighting for the Earth Alliance. From a story perspective, a lot of these groups have come together as a loose fighting force to stop the reapers therefore they don’t fly the same type of banners that would have existed in pre- reaper invasion days.

Will there be a match-making service, or a generic waiting room in which players can assemble and then form teams? Or will they have to plan out the teams in advance?
Given the general theme of us giving you the choice, we like you to plan your teams out in advance or if you prefer you can go in a quicker custom match and it will find people who are of similar skill levels to you.

Will there be leader boards?
Yes!

Will there be squad banter?
Yes!

Can friendly fire from powers/weapons be an option?
When we ship, we don’t believe it will be in there as an option but possibly at a later release. In the context of co-op we didn’t believe it added a lot to the co-op experience. You have a lot of pressure to succeed in the co-op and accidentally shooting your friends didn’t seem like a good experience. Maybe later as some sort of modifier to the game, but not at release.

Will we be able to further customize the armor and/or weapons on MP characters through in game challenges that award points or credits?
Why yes you will! We have slightly different armor and weapon customization system in MP. It still feels along the same vein, but in many ways there are more customization options for the MP armor side and it’s very similar on the weapon side. They are structured differently so stats don’t play the same way, so SP guys have something that feels better for SP and MP guys have something that feels better for MP.

Will co-op have its own disk, and/or executable? If not, how much space will it take up?
It will be included on the main disk. As for how much space, I’m not sure at this point. It’s mainly content so it is somewhat sizable but not so much that it affects the SP experience.

Will MP achievements be separated from SP achievements, or will they all combine together into the overall score?
Each game in general is assigned a certain number of achievements that they are allowed to give. We are required to have a broad selection of achievement types so there will be some MP achievements, there will be some SP achievements. What the ratio is, we are still trying to work out. And they ultimately accumulate to that 1000 point score or that platinum trophy.

Will BSN track co-op statistics? ie: classes played, enemies killed, wins, losses etc?
We are investigating this right now. There will definitely be a lot of BSN integration. What the final list of things is, we don’t really know yet.

Will co-op have its own disk, and/or executable? If not, how much space will it take up?
It will be included on the main disk. As for how much space, I’m not sure at this point. It’s mainly content so it is sizable but not so much that it affects the SP experience.

Will ME3 require an internet connection for each launching of the SP game, or will it retain ME2′s single verification method?
Mass Effect 3 PC will require the internet connection when you initially launch and authorize it but then you will no longer require the connection.

How does earned experience work with the different class choices?
Experience is gained through objective gathering not necessarily class choices. Each class earns achievements at the same pace, but separately. So if I play a soldier, the soldier earns the experience and my vanguard won’t until I play that vanguard. If I got to level 10 as a soldier, my vanguard would still be at level 1.

Will local co-op be supported? (ie local split screen, PC-LAN)
At the time of release, no. However it is definitely on the table as something we might add.

Is there a sunset plan after you decide to take the servers down in a couple of years.
Yes, absolutely. We won’t be taking the servers down until we realize that there aren’t enough players playing to warrant keeping them up and when we do take them down, we will make sure there are options so the players who are playing don’t feel abandoned. If anything is a good example, you can see today that Never Winter Nights is still supported and we’ve kept a lot of our servers live on it. So I wouldn’t be too worried about us taking down the servers anytime soon.

Can we create our own server (or do offline co-op), especially important for those in bandwidth-poor countries?
Because of a lot of the match making systems are quite server intensive, we have no plans anytime soon to allow the creation of an offline server. However, our servers themselves are quite bandwidth friendly and most of the MP elements involved in that are peer to peer based. So if you are in a bandwidth poor country, and you are playing with your friends you are still going to find it to be a relatively good experience.

Thank you so much for your time, Jesse!

Dragon Age Legends Comes to Google +

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by Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare, and General Manager of the BioWare label

I’m very pleased to announce that Dragon Age Legends is available today on Google+! At BioWare, we’re always looking for opportunities to bring our franchises to a wider audience, whether it’s through movies, comics, novels or through extending our games to different platforms.  Our teams continue to innovate in the social gaming space with Dragon Age Legends – providing our existing fans a new way to enjoy the universe of Dragon Age, while also introducing the franchise to millions of new players on Google+ and Facebook. Legends can be played cooperatively as you explore the Free Marches and progress your hero, or competitively against your friends in the Guild PVP arenas; I can attest that however you choose to play it, it’s a fun and highly addictive game :)

Another reason we’re excited today is because the BioWare studio family is growing. EA2D, the team behind Dragon Age Legends, has recently joined BioWare and become BioWare San Francisco. We’ve worked with this talented team closely in the past on Dragon Age Journeys and Dragon Age Legends, and they are passionate about quality – smart, creative and highly innovative. I couldn’t be happier to bring them on board within the new BioWare Label. We’re working with the team at BioWare SF to explore new ways to bring high quality games to social networks, and we’ll be sharing more news on their cool new projects with you soon.

I look forward to seeing you online in Dragon Age Legends, and other great BioWare titles in the future!

Ray

Google+ FAQ

Are there any differences in content between the Google+ and Facebook versions of Dragon Age Legends?

No. The content of each version of the game is identical, and game updates will launch simultaneously.

Can I import my Dragon Age Legends hero from Facebook to Google+?

No. The Facebook and Google+ versions of Dragon Age Legends are completely independent of each other. If you’ve already played the game on Facebook, you’re able to create a brand-new hero on Google+. Try playing as another class for a very different DAL experience!

Can I summon my Facebook friends into battle using Google+ and vice versa?

No. If you’re playing Dragon Age Legends on both social networks, you will have two separate friends lists.

Can I share crowns between Google+ and Facebook?

No. You maintain a separate crown balance for each social network.

How do I purchase crowns on Google+?

Google+ uses Google Checkout, a service included with your Google account. Google Checkout accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover credit cards.

Note: PayPal cannot be used with Google+.

If I’ve already unlocked the Dragon Age 2 items on Facebook, do I have tounlock them again on Google+?

No. Both games are tied to your EA account, so once you unlock the Dragon Age 2 items on either network, you do not need to unlock them again.

Do in-game redeem promo packs work on Google+ — like the Mass Effect 2 and Dead Space 2 gear — even if I’ve already redeemed them on Facebook?

Yes. Any of the promo packs you can earn in Dragon Age Legends on Facebook can be redeemed on Google+ — even if you’ve already redeemed them on one social network. That means, for example, you’ll be able to wear the Mass Effect armor on both Facebook and Google+.

The only exceptions are items earned by playing Dragon Age Legends: Remix 01, which currently can only be redeemed on Facebook.

For more information on redeeming promo packs, please see this section of the FAQ.

BioWare Ireland, the newest of the BioWare Studios and BioWare’s first European Studio, is now hiring!

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BioWare Ireland has a variety of opportunities available across the following teams:

  • Customer Support – at all levels
  • Training
  • Knowledge Base
  • Terms of Service
  • Quality
  • Fraud & Risk Prevention
  • Desktop Support

If you have what it takes to work for BioWare and are eligible to work in Ireland without Employer Sponsorship then please log onto our website to apply, www.bioware.com/careers

The Technology of Dragon Age II – Part 2

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by Andreas Papathanasis

In the Part 1 of the Technology of Dragon Age II blog we covered base improvements to the Dragon Age II technology. In this article we’ll examine how higher end PC GPUs can enable additional visual features which further improve the overall visual quality of the game.

One of the major goals of the team was to make the game look great on all platforms. Having accomplished that, we started researching what additional features we can offer to our users that have invested on higher end PC hardware. The latest PC GPUs that have been recently released on the market are very powerful. DirectX 11 technology is a great way for us to target this advanced GPU hardware, as DirectX 11 is fully backwards compatible with DirectX 10. So if you have a video card that supports DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1 or DirectX 11, and Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7, you’ll be able to benefit from additional technology features as described in this post.

Dynamic Lighting

As we already mentioned in the previous post, the base lighting system was designed to work well with all the systems the game runs on. On high end PCs, we can take advantage of the extra power of current generation GPUs to do more.

The game has hundreds of spell effects, the rendering of which is greatly improved on high end PC video cards. On the high detail setting (requires DX10 or better hardware), the game will smooth particle edges so they blend better with the environment (without hard edges at the contact point).

One of the major features of the DirectX 11 version is that the dynamic lighting for spell effects has been completely redone. While our base rendering technology supports 2-3 dynamic lights per visual effect, the DirectX 11 renderer supports hundreds of dynamic lights. Our artists have used that feature to great extent by attaching numerous small lights to spell effects that are expected to emit light (for example, fire and lighting effects). This is a great feature that significantly improves the visual impact of some of the most important spells in the game.

In addition, certain lighting effects will also add additional shadows to the scene. For example, when casting a fireball to a group of enemies, players will see shadows from all enemies. This looks great especially on indoor scenes.

On exterior levels, moving cloud shadows add an extra layer to the visuals.

Most of the dynamic lighting features, including cloud shadows and the extra lights on spell effects, will work on DirectX 10 hardware. The extra shadows from dynamic lights require the very high detail level (which is only available with DirectX 11 hardware).

Tessellation and additional geometry details

Tessellation is a major feature of the DirectX 11 API. Dragon Age 2 uses tessellation on the terrain to smooth out shillouette terrain edges that can occationally look sharp on DirectX 9. In addition the Dragon Age 2 engine supports displacement mapping techniques to increase the detail of certain surfaces like walls, floors and pillars. This feature adds microscopic details and makes those surfaces look much more detailed and textured.

Screen space ambient occlusion

Screen space ambient occlusion adds self shadow details to all objects in a scene and is a great complement to the base lighting system. It looks particularly good when combined with varying city architecture, and because Dragon Age 2 is focusing on the city of Kirkwall, there are a large number of areas that take advantage of this effect throughout the game.

Diffusion Depth of Field

An optional visual feature for players with DirectX 11 hardware is our new diffusion depth of field effect. This effect is active during normal gameplay and it is used to blur objects very close to the camera, as well as put objects in the distance slightly out of focus. Visually this works great with distance fog, and gives vista shots a more convincing look.

Facebook Friday Week 11 – Heather Rabatich

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by Evil Chris Priestly

Hi everyone, and welcome to another BioWare Facebook Friday.

So did you hear about the two BioWare developers who got engaged through the game Minecraft? Well, for this week’s Facebook Friday update, I asked the recipient of the Minecraft proposal to give us an look into her life and job here at BioWare. I’ve known Heather Rabatich since her start in teh PR department here at BioWare. Since those days, she has moved on to the Dragon Age team and, among other things, met her future husband here at BioWare. She’s a great person and it tickled me to no end to learn that it was Heather and Joel that were the “2 Minecraft proposal” devs here at the office.

I should point out that no matter what Jimmy Fallon thinks, I doubt this will be their first dance at the wedding.

Name:

Heather Rabatich

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan but now call Edmonton home.

Favorite movies:

I have always had a love for the fantasy realm and typically those are my old stand bys when I go to re-watch old movies. I got my nerdish leanings from my Dad who at a young age introduced me to classics like Dune, Blood of Heroes, LadyHawke and Dragonslayer. I’m pretty sure I was the only 10 year old girl in my neighbourhood who knew who Rutger Hauer was.

Favorite TV:

We don’t have cable at home so I rely on the internet to tell me what I should be watching these days. Typically, I tend to lean towards bizarre/funny/fantasy and have been watching True Blood and Damages. My favourite series will always be The Kids in the Hall. I also love cooking/eating shows like Shopping Bags and No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. I love cartoons too and enjoy the Venture Brothers, Clone High and Futurama.

Favorite books:

I have a pretty diverse book collection with roots again in sci-fi and fantasy, Enders Game is a probably the most re-read book I have, as well as Dune, the Hobbit and more along those veins. My favourite author is Anita Diamant who has written The Red Tent and The Last Days of Dogtown. I also collect cookbooks and cooking magazines. I have a cookbook that was my Gramma’s in the 30’s and it has recipes that teach you more ways to suspend food bits in gelatin than I ever dared dream.

Favorite pizza toppings:

I want a question where gravy can be the answer. This should be changed to what is my favourite mashed potato topping.

Job or title at BioWare:

Associate Producer

How long have you worked for BioWare?

I just passed the 4 year mark at the beginning of February.

What does an Associate Producer actually do?:

The really rewarding work comes with working alongside the creative teams. I currently work with the tech design and level art groups as well as on the downloadable content teams. To work with such creative and passionate people is a really inspiring part of the job here. I love getting to be a part of the teams who are crafting the gameplay design. Sharing ideas and going through plot flow and the story/lore connections with some of the greatest minds in the industry is more than I could ever ask for in a job.

What is your average day like at the office?

Meetings. Typing. Talking. Planning. Reviewing. Updating. Documenting. More Talking. Brainstorming. Debating. Problem Solving. Counseling. Laughing. More Meetings. Pint-Drinking. Repeat.

Favorite BioWare moment Game related/thing you are most proud of at BioWare:

I have been here for 4 years and had in that time, 3 totally different jobs. Each role has been rewarding and I have gotten to learn so much about the games industry because of these internal career changes. Thanks to my time in Public Relations I have been able to meet fans of BioWare from all over the world. I have been so fortunate to get to hear first-hand about the emotional experiences of people’s playthroughs. On a recent trip to Australia I got to promote Dragon Age 2 as a dev for the first time and I had no idea how much I would end up talking about Dragon Age Origins while I was there. I felt so proud to have worked on that game and so honoured about the kind words from the people I met. It was awe-inspiring to hear about the commitment people had made to their Origins experience and one of my best moments as a developer to date.

Favorite BioWare moment not game related:

The coming of age saga of a low poly cheese wheel…Oh and I guess meeting my future husband while making coffee one day in the office kitchen. That’s turned out pretty ok. What I want to say and what I am supposed to say can be very different things.

What do you do to relax/do you have any hobbies:

I love painting, right now I’m working on a portrait of Joel wearing an ascot and holding a giant ragdoll cat to hang over his exercise equipment (he asked me to do this, I swear). I’m also a summer person but with only 35 minutes of summer a year in Edmonton I can’t do the activities I enjoy year round, but I love to canoe and camp and sit around a campfire and drink beer. I know, it’s such a prairie stereotype, especially when I bring a pil cube with me in the canoe (it just fits right under the seat!). Cooking is probably my favourite thing to do though it’s my ultimate zen time after a long and stressful day.

What game are you losing sleep for right now (that you are not working on)?

I’ve been playing Titan Quest the Immortal Throne with Joel a lot lately and I’ve just gotten into Drakensang – The River of Time. Goodbye friends and family, hello alchemy.

What is the most “nerdy” thing about you?

Right now, I would say being the girl that was proposed to in Minecraft is up there as it went surprisingly viral. But we’ve got nothing on that drunk Las Palmas baby.


If you didn’t work in video games, what would you be doing?

I would own a little café with my own comfort food creations, good beer and wine selection and my favourite music playing all day. In this daydream I am also independently wealthy.

What do you want people to know about you?

I appear smaller in real life than I actually am.