Friday, February 23, 2007

Reader Q&A
Casey Hudson, Project Director
BioWare

Time for another update! So what’s new in the world of “Mass Effect”? Well, “Mass Effect” is really taking shape as a polished game experience, and one of the things we’re doing to achieve that are meetings that we call “dailies.” Every day, we get the leads from each of the various disciplines (around 20 or so) into a room with a big plasma TV and surround sound, and we play the game as it’s meant to be played. We have fun with it, point out areas where it needs to improve, spot bugs, and by the end of each “dailies” meeting we have a big list of work that needs to be done in time for the next one. It’s been a great way to push the quality of the game experience forward. And it’s exciting to see how every day the game gets better.

-Click here for larger image

Because so many new things go into the game each day, we often see things for the first time in the dailies and today’s meeting was pretty inspiring. The opening sequence was working better than ever before, cutting between panoramic shots of space and scenes inside the Normandy as Commander Shepard makes his (or her!) way to the bridge. Today was also the first time we’ve heard the opening sequence with the final music, which builds to a thundering power as the Normandy picks up speed.

Some of the latest improvements to the combat controls were up and running, showing how Shepard moves smoothly against cover objects, allowing you to take aim, then lean out to fire at will. The level designer controlling the game in this meeting ran through a grove of trees under a red alien sky, and dropped Shepard into cover behind a large rock. His squadmate threw a distortion wave of dark energy past him and into a cluster of flying drones in the distance, sending pieces of them flying outwards in a shower of sparks. It’s amazing that we can still be caught off guard by how cool it is when all the details of these sequences come together.

-Click here for larger image

But enough about that – let’s get to some questions. There was a lot of great feedback from the last blog, and some really good questions too. I’ll try to answer a few that I’ve seen here and on our forums at the BioWare site:

Does “Mass Effect” fit on one disc?
Yep, but just barely. This is a monstrous game. In fact, there was a time – not too long ago – when we pretty much scoffed at the idea of fitting onto one disc. But, there’s an art to optimizing the data that goes on a disc – plus we have a few programmers that seem to pull off magic tricks right when we need them.

How far can you go customizing Shepard?
Commander Shepard represents the specific kind of experience you can have in “Mass Effect”: serious situations, important decisions, and the feeling that you can kick down any barrier that stands in your way. But how you do it, and what kind of character you are is up to you. So you can be male or female, change the details of your face and hair to look however you want, and then you’ll decide what kind of character you are: soldier, tech specialist, user of dark energy powers, or some combination of those. You’ll also be able to decide what your starting skills will be. And throughout the game you’ll get new weapons and equipment that you can use, further modifying your appearance and capability. You can also buy or find mods that can be used to enhance your weapons and equipment. So your character is quite a bit more customizable than in “KOTOR” for example, but you’re also adjusting things that seem more tangible or real-world.

-Click here for larger image

Do you care if players use a custom sound track?
This is actually a controversial subject, as most game developers don’t like the idea of people replacing their carefully crafted audio experience with random songs. But of course, players don’t have to use that feature, and I think most players don’t – especially in this type of game. And if the feature didn’t exist, you’d still be able to adjust your sound settings to mute the music and play your own music on a stereo. So we don’t mind supporting it. Having said that though, my last update was all about the huge original score that’s going into “Mass Effect,” so you won’t want to miss out on that part of the experience.



http://blogs.ign.com/BioWare_Games/2007/02/23/4764...

lol, DC, you and Sath, are the kings of the ME news :PMy god....I can't wait to see and hear that...

i've said it before and i'll say it again, just give me the dame game!!!!!

Thank you =P.

Thx for the news DC.

The music is gonna be great. Not John Williams great, but great non the less.
I want samples from the game damn it.

I have to support Jay for a few days, ME love will return afterwards :PYES! I want me some samples too :/

MASS EFFECT A GAME TO RULE THEM ALL

no probs, any news is good news (most of the time anyway..)

Agreed!.

Damn my 360 is coming back this week around 2-5 days, and I am getting a new one, not my old one.

Gonna take care of it as a baby, because I be damned if it happens again on the new one.
Doesnt matter anyway though, if it happens they will send me a new one and when it arrives I send the old one hehe.

Have to put the good old back-up Xbox on its box again in this week, and play KOTOR 1 and 2 and SW Episode 3 on HD, sweet.

half way through kotor and i'm going on holiday on tuesday and all i can think about is the bloody game, i forgot how truly fu..ing great it is ;)

Hey me and you are the only ones on this forum that are biggest fan of Mass Effect, so stop talking about it, i want it as hell as it is *wink*.

well i'll be in rio... so hopefully there will be some sights on the beach that will take my mind of the game... ;)

Brazilian Females????!!!!!

Stop lying, you know you will still know if there will be new info or screenshots of Mass Effect.

If you aint back when GDC begins, which I think its March 8th then you will be late to a lot of new things, IF BioWare shows up, and I hope they do.

lol ur right i'm sure to checking into a internet cafe now and then to check emails... i will miss cdc but i will be checking online to check for info....

hmm enjoying the glory that is Mass Effect, or enjoying the glory that is Rio de Janeiro? I feel for you DC, really I do :(

lol...

Delgado, as you are the biggest Mass Effect fanboy here why you wouldnt open THE offical Mass Effect thread (as for Forza) so we post everything there.