Tag Archives: Dragon Age 2

The Technology of Dragon Age II – Part 2

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.

The technology of Dragon Age II – Part 1

by Andreas Papathanasis

Technology was one of the major focus points of the programming team during the transition from Origins to Dragon Age II. After the art team presented us their vision for a rebooted art style, we spent a lot of time with them identifying the technology improvements that would best bring that art style forward.

In this post we’ll examine some of the base technology improvements to the engine. These improvements will be enjoyed by everyone who plays the game, regardless of whether they choose to play on PC with a DirectX 9 video card, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. On a subsequent post we’ll examine more advanced DirectX 11 technology that will be exclusive to higher end PCs.

Lighting

Lighting is a crucial element for the visual appearance of any game. Regardless of how detailed and unique the base art is, a poor lighting system that fails to bring out that detail will make the game look worse overall. With this in mind we spent most of our research effort into new lighting techniques and tried to identify the one that best fits the levels we needed to create for Dragon Age II.

The lighting system we ended up with is based on an offline global illumination renderer that creates higher quality lightmaps than before. Global illumination means that light bounces in the scene are considered for the overall lighting. This simulates how lighting works in the real world.

Cave levels are a great fit for our new lighting system. Light beams coming in from cracks in the ceilings scatter light around the level for a more clean and realistic lighting overall, compared to our old lighting engine.

Lighting is also a great tool to convey emotion. From the smoke filled alleys of Lowtown to the highly contrasted lighting in Darktown or the Chantry – whenever I play the game I find myself unconsciously pausing to look around in the level and how lighting interacts with each scene.

Outdoor Environments

Interesting terrain variation, dramatic vistas, impactful skies, a grand overall sense of scale are all important points for our level artists when laying out the outdoor areas of the game. We worked on more advanced terrain editing capabilities that allow more creative freedom when creating our exterior levels.

To complement the new terrain engine, our redesigned sky editing tools allow artists to easily create lit, moving layers of clouds that contribute a lot to the visual appearance of exterior levels. The team also worked on improving the water rendering technology. It now allows for physically lit water and realistic, accurate reflections from all objects in the scene:

Finally, our new fog technology now supports vertical height fog and adds an extra level of detail to many environments.

Characters

Our offline global illumination renderer works great for static unmoveable objects, but one of our key goals with the technology was to make characters and other dynamic objects moving in the scene to have similarly high quality lighting as the levels. We implemented a system that ends up working really well, where characters pick up very similar lighting as the static geometry in the world near them. This makes creatures really merge in with their environments, get shadowed when they walk in shadowed areas, get brightly lit when they’re facing the sun, and be affected by all offline lights consistently as they walk through the level.

Our character lighting is complemented by our improved runtime shadow technology, which now supports self shadowing. Besides providing a more realistic look, self shadowing is also a good tool for cinematics to improve the impact of the scene by manipulating lights and shadows.

Summary

Overall, we feel that the technology changes have empowered our content creators to create clean, pretty, more consistent, very often visually striking areas that look and flow great throughout the game.

Next time we’ll cover more advanced DirectX 11 features of the engine, how they complement the base technology and how, while not required for enjoying the game itself, should improve the visual experience for players with higher end PCs.

Thanks to our lead environment artist, Ben McGrath, for capturing the screenshots in this post. The screenshots are taken from the DirectX 9 PC version of the game, but the visual output would be almost identical on consoles.

On Templars, Raiders, City Guards and The Coterie

by Evil Chris Priestly

Hello Dragon Age fans. Today we have another Dragon Age 2 Lore update on four factions that players will encounter as they play Dragon Age 2, the Coterie, the City Guards, the Raiders of the Waking Sea and the Templars. Along with the heraldry for each faction there is also concept art of armor (often worn by the Coterie or the Raiders) and of the altar of the Chantry in Kirkwall.

The Coterie

Kirkwall is built on a solid foundation of greed and human suffering, and its underworld is a place where everything is for sale and everyone is fair game.

There are many criminal empires within the city, some of which have been around since the Imperium used Kirkwall as a hub in the slave trade. Alliances, spying, manipulation, betrayal, and open warfare is all commonplace in the never-ending struggle for power.

The Coterie is a thieves’ guild that has been around for almost a century, but until recently was never a major player in the underworld. Some twenty years ago, the strongest of the local criminal empires was an ancient guild known as the Sabrathan, but its leader was betrayed from within, and during the turmoil the Coterie made a successful grab for power.

Since then, they’ve sunk their claws into almost every level of Kirkwall, including the city guard, the Dwarven Merchants Guild, and some of the most influential citizens in the city. It’s safe to say that the Coterie gets a slice of every pie, and very little goes on in Kirkwall that escapes their notice.

—From “In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar”, by Brother Genitivi.

Kirkwall City Guard

It may surprise many to know that Kirkwall has not had an official armed body protecting it for much of its history. During Imperial times the city of Emerius (as it was known then) was guarded by the Fourteenth Cadre—more commonly called “the Black Cadre” and considered one of the worst postings within the Imperium, the sort that a soldier would get appointed to if he were convicted of a crime or otherwise became persona non grata within the capital. After the slave rebellion the city was left in anarchy, with order finally only restored by subsequent invaders and then the Templar Order when they assumed control of the fortress known as the Gallows and made Kirkwall their permanent center of power in eastern Thedas.

The Orlesian Empire was the last of these invaders, bringing an army of chevaliers to guard the city led by Sir Lumile du Marais. When he became its first ruling viscount he saw the need for an armed force of Kirkwallers that did more than simply patrol the streets. A force was needed, he said, to match the power of the templars and place the right to rule the city back in the hands of those who lived there. Thus the Kirkwall City Guard was formed in 7:60 Storm, an army that maintained order both inside the city as well as its environs and saw to the city’s defense in times of war. The fact that the City Guard still pales in comparison to the templars in Kirkwall, and something that became all too apparent when Viscount Perrin Threnhold unsuccessfully attempted to eject the templars from the city in 9:20 Dragon, is a fact that few choose to speak of.

Raiders of the Waking Sea

The Raiders of the Waking Sea, or more simply “the Raiders”, is the more commonly known name given to an association of pirates called the Felicisima Armada. Once upon a time these pirates were little more than opportunists, individual ships based out of the coastal city of Llomerryn that preyed on sea traffic and which were frequently the target of concerted efforts by the Orlesians and Free Marches cities to destroy them once and for all. After each such effort, new pirates would appear to fill the vacuum and thus the cycle continued.

During the New Exalted Marches, however, the nations of Thedas found themselves in dire need of every ship they could muster against the massive power of the Qunari dreadnaughts. The Llomerryn pirates were faced with a difficult decision: band together under one flag and fight with those they had previously preyed upon or face conversion and annihilation by the Qunari. Thus the Armada was formed. The pirates brought their knowledge of stealth and trickery to bear, plaguing Qunari supply lines and even launching seaborne invasions against the Qunari coast. For a time it was said the Armada was the premier naval power of Thedas, and after the signing of the Llomerryn Accord they maintained their association rather than disbard—much as others might have hoped.

Wealthy merchants often pay the leaders of the Armada, rather than risk having their ships commandeered and their merchandise stolen and sold on the black market. They’re hardly unified, and bloody battles between Armada leaders are frequent, but any attack by outsiders will cause them to instantly put aside their differences and close ranks… and thus the raiders have become far more of a plague in the last century than they ever were before. There are a lot of legends told about how dashing and romantic life aboard a raider’s vessel is, but don’t believe it. They are scoundrels and smugglers all.

—From “The Dowager’s Field Guide to Good Society” by Lady Alcyone.

Templars

Most people don’t remember the Templar Order as it once was. In the days when the Chantry was still young, templars were known as the “Inquisition” and combed the land in search of all dangers to humanity—whether they came in the form of blood mages, abominations, cultists or heretics. It was a dark and terrifying time in the history of Thedas, and one that only ended when the Chantry convinced the Inquisition to unite under the banner of their common faith. The name of their order changed, and their purpose because that of guardian and warden rather than hunter. As they see it, they protect the innocents of the outside world from magic… but they also protect mages from the outside world, a world that fears them for very good reasons. It is a templar’s place to watch their charges for signs of weakness or corruption, and should they find it to act without hesitation for the good of all. That this occasionally leads to charges of tyranny and abuse is, according to the Chantry, a price that must be paid for the security the templars offer.

Some are saying, however, that this needs to change. They remind the world that mages are not controlled by templars everywhere in Thedas: not among the Rivaini witches, the Dalish keepers or the Tevinter magisters… and those societies are, arguably, no worse off. The Templar Order, however, is nothing if not certain of its role. From the glittering White Spire in Val Royeaux the Knight-Vigilant commands the templars to serve the Maker’s will and keep the peace. By the common folk they are seen as self-sacrificing men and women, vigilant warriors that form the first line of defense between humanity and the chaos that once ruled the land during the old Imperium. To the mages they are often seen as oppressors, even well-meaning ones, and the gap between them is growing larger with each passing year.

“Magic exists to serve mankind, and never to rule over him.”

- From the Chant of Light

On Dwarves, Elves and Qunari

by Evil Chris Priestly

Hello Dragon Age fans. Today we are presenting some lore around the dwarves, elves, and qunari along with a few new images and heraldry to give you some insight into the different races you will meet in Dragon Age 2.

Dwarves

In Orzammar, dwarven society is divided into rigid castes with houses that compete for power and prestige. But all that is discarded when a dwarf abandons the Stone for the surface. Under the open sky, everyone is equal. Or so the story goes.

The truth is that thousands of years of tradition are not so easily tossed aside. Even though surface dwarves are officially stripped of their caste, many maintain a hierarchy among themselves along the old caste lines. Formerly noble houses are accorded more respect than casteless brands who come up in search of opportunity. The poorest “noble” dwarf on the surface looks upon the rich “lower caste” dwarves with contempt.

Upper-class surface dwarf society is roughly divided into two camps: kalnas, who insist on maintaining caste and rank (typically those from the Noble or Merchant Caste families) and ascendants, who believe in leaving Orzammar’s traditions underground and embracing life in the sunlit world.

Maintaining some tie to Orzammar was seen for generations as the only lifeline for surface dwarves. Bringing surface goods to their kin underground and lyrium and metals to the surface was not only the most lucrative means of making a living, but also a sort of sacred duty, as many surface dwarves willingly accepted exile and the loss of their caste to better serve their house or patron. In recent years, many surface dwarves, particularly ascendants, have branched out. They started banks, mercenary companies, and overland trade caravans. They became investors and speculators in purely surface trade. These new industries have proven tremendous sources of wealth, but are looked down upon by their more conservative kin.

For less-affluent surface dwarves, association with a powerful kalna can open many doors. They can get credit with dwarven merchants and are offered work opportunities by the powerful Dwarven Merchants’ Guild more readily, sometimes, than more qualified but less-connected individuals.

—From “The Dowager’s Field Guide to Good Society”, by Lady Alcyone.

Elves

The Dalish elves consider themselves the last vestiges of the true elves, or “elvhen” in their own tongue. Desperately holding on to barely-remembered ancient ways, they exist on the outskirts of human lands, constantly on the move. The clans are as separate from one another as they are from human society, gathering every ten years for the Arlathvhen, an event where each clan shares and retells the ancient stories, keeping the traditions of their people alive.

Taking their name from the second elven homeland granted after Andraste’s crusade against the Tevinter Imperium, the Dalish hold a deep resentment against the humans who drove them out. As a result, they are fiercely protective of their camps, and while they have been known to deal with humans, the interactions are always wary on both sides.

A fundamental religious divide exists between the human-dominated Chantry and the Dalish clans. Where the Chantry teaches that all existence was brought into being by the Maker, the Dalish believe in a pantheon of ancient gods. Though their gods have long since fallen silent, the Dalish keep up their observations in the hope that one day those who have kept the old ways alive will again be heard.

The Keeper that leads each clan also further increases tensions with the Chantry. Apprenticed from a young age, Keepers maintain the traditions of elven magic and pass down their knowledge in turn. The Chantry regards all Keepers as apostates, mages who operate outside of the Circle of Magi, but unlike rogue mages from human society who are quickly hunted down by the templar orders, the Keepers are not so easily taken. Pity the templar who takes it into his heart to track the Dalish into the forests, thinking to take the leader of a clan prisoner.

“In time, the human empires will crumble. We have seen it happen countless times. Until then, we wait, we keep to the wild border lands, we raise halla and build aravels and present a moving target to the humans around us. We try to keep hold of the old ways, to relearn what was forgotten.”

-Gisharel, Keeper of the Ralaferin Clan

Qunari

The people of the Qun are, perhaps, the least-understood group in Thedas. The Qunari Wars were brutal, but so was the Chantry Schism. So was the fall of the Imperium. Some of this misunderstanding is an accident of nature: The race we call “qunari” are formidable. Nature has given them fierce horns and strange eyes, and the ignorant look on them and see monsters.

Some is an accident of language: Few among the Qun’s people speak the common tongue, and fewer speak it well. In a culture that strives for mastery, to have only a passable degree of skill is humiliating indeed, and so they often keep quiet among foreigners, out of shame.

But much of it is a result of the culture itself. The qunari view their whole society as a single creature: A living entity whose health and well-being is the responsibility of all. Each individual is only a tiny part of the whole, a drop of blood in its veins. Important not for itself, but for what it is to the whole creature. Because of this, the qunari most outsiders meet belong to the army, which the Qun regards as if it were the physical body: Arms, legs, eyes and ears, the things a creature needs in order to interact with the world. One cannot get to know a person solely by studying his hand or his foot, and so one cannot truly “meet” the qunari until one has visited their cities. That is where their mind and soul dwell.

In Seheron and Par Vollen, one can truly see the qunari in their entirety. There, the unification of the qunari into a single being is most evident. Workers, whom the Qun calls the mind, produce everything the qunari require. The soul, the priesthood, seeks a greater understanding of the self, the world, and exhorts the body and mind to continually strive for perfection. The body serves as the go-between for the mind, the soul, and the world. Everyone and everything has a place, decided by the Qun, in which they work for the good of the whole. It is a life of certainty, of equality, if not individuality.

–From the writings of the Seer of Qont-arr, 8:41 Blessed.

About that phat Dragon Age Legends loot….

by Ethan Levy

For Dragon Age fans, one of the most exciting parts of Dragon Age Legends is the ability to earn unique unlock items for your hero in Dragon Age 2. We have collaborated with BioWare to develop a set of five items you can unlock in Dragon Age 2 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. We’ll let you know how you can earn each of these items in the future, but for now we wanted to explain a little bit about how these items were designed.

For the back story of Dragon Age Legends, we needed to create a hero who was a renowned demon hunter. We wanted this mythical hero, Evra, to be truly badass. So we made the request “Could you give us a ring that one would use to punch demons in the face?” BioWare did not disappoint.

Evra’s Might

When Evra gained notoriety by defeating the Blood Sisters of Vehnstel, he was wearing his signature ring. Although the massive size of the solid gold ring attracts attention, it served a more practical purpose for Evra: he used it to punch demons in the face, sometimes felling them in a single blow.

Evra’s Trophy Belt

This grisly belt is filled with monstrous teeth, chipped blades, scraps of fur, and armor fragments. Each piece is said to be a trophy collected by Evra during his many adventures.

Air of Confidence

After averting a disaster at the Circle of Markham, Evra was given this ring by the First Enchanter. Though the Air of Confidence is not as eye-catching as his other famous ring, it is said that Evra always wore it, even when sleeping. The exact magical properties of the Air of Confidence are a subject of much speculation amongst minstrels.
We wanted our other two items to tie into the fiction of our previous collaboration with BioWare, Dragon Age Journeys. These two items – the Ivo Family Crest and Dura’s Blue Flame – play a part in the narrative of our back burner project, finishing the story of Dragon Age Journeys. For fans who completed the first chapter of Journeys, you should note that we slightly changed the name of the item from “Durus’ Blue Flame” to “Dura’s Blue Flame”. It is just plain easier to pronounce.

Ivo Family Crest

Evolving over the years, the crest of House Ivo has become much more ornate than Paragon Ivo’s original design. This ancient golden amulet bears the original crest. Though the engravings are simple, the stark lines are somehow deeply stirring.

Dura’s Blue Flame

This weathered silver amulet has passed through many hands over the years. A deep blue sapphire almost glows in a certain light. Although time has faded its intricate engravings, the amulet has a certain majesty about it.

If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for the beta today. And be sure to Like Dragon Age Legends on Facebook. It will be the best way to hear about the start of the closed beta …