BioWare has a lot on its plate at the moment.
Along with a Star Wars: The Old Republic and Command & Conquer, there are rumblings of a new entry in the Dragon Age series. But of its numerous projects, arguably none garners as much attention as Mass Effect 3.
The third, and supposedly final chapter in Shepard's story, stands to be the studio's most ambitious yet with new multiplayer modes and a new focus on action driven gameplay.
We had a chat with Michael Gamble, producer at BioWare Edmonton, and discussed how the studio is juggling projects, approaching multiplayer and crafting an experience that everyone can enjoy.
Throughout the game's development, we've been sharing responsibilities between Edmonton and Montreal. The game is completely developed - multiplayer, singleplayer, all facets - between the two studios. The Edmonton studio's a bit larger, but both studios have complete skill sets.
Is BioWare doing too much at the moment? Do you feel like you're spread too thin? Dragon Age, Star Wars, C&C, Mass Effect, and now multiplayer Mass Effect as well as single-player.
We have an amazing set of teams. Obviously, teams on different projects help each other out when they can, but we all keep busy, we make sure we're passionate about the project we're on, and, if you love a product enough, you don't mind keeping on working on it.
The challenge of a story-led series by the third instalment is kind of weird, right? Nobody says, I hear that's a really good book, I'm going to start reading at the last chapter.
That is completely dependant on the story arc that you're telling. Some game series continually build a narrative throughout the games. For Mass Effect, we're in a unique position where we've continually been talking about this Reaper war for two games now, and finally they've arrived. Mass Effect 3 immediately turns into a war story: that impending threat turns up, attacks, and you have to deal with it all within the course of a single game.
If, in some alternate universe, we'd done the trilogy differently and the Reapers had attacked Earth at the very beginning, that would have been really different. For us, giant sentient robots attacking Earth, Commander Shepard has to rally the truth: that's a good place to jump in.
We knew the overall arc, we knew Shepard's story from the beginning. How each story gets developed, the individual missions come out of their specific developments. We also listen to feedback from fans all the time. The audience, when they give us feedback in terms of being inclusive of this element, or combat stuff that doesn't work - we bring all that in. And, to be honest, you're crafting your Mass Effect story as much as we are anyway.
Comments
20 comments so far...
phate666 on 6 Feb '12 said:
Weirdly still undecided on this. Some of the stuff I read, I like, and other things I'm just not sure...
ingy on 6 Feb '12 said:
"creating a sequel everyone can enjoy"
This for me is why modern games are failing, rpg's appeal to fans of rpg's, driving games appeal to their fans, and so on.
By trying to appeal to everyone's tastes, we end up with lots of watered down genres, resulting in pretty, but ultimately shallow and dull 'me too' titles.
stevienet on 6 Feb '12 said:
Does anybody know, will Mass Effect 3 reflect decisions made in Mass Effect 1?
I've not played the first but have completed Mass Effect 2.
syz81 on 6 Feb '12 said:
apperantly if you have carried over both mass effect 1&2 saves over then yes it should some way or another..
budge on 6 Feb '12 said:
I hope it's not via e-mails on your personal terminal saying "Hi, remember me from ME1? Okay bye." That was a bit naff.
billysastard on 6 Feb '12 said:
yes it will load in your me2 save
phate666 on 6 Feb '12 said:
Something about a hammer, a nail and a head.
ingy on 6 Feb '12 said:
Explain please?
ensabahnur on 6 Feb '12 said:
I think he's saying you've got it spot on.
divinebeetle on 6 Feb '12 said:
Well I'll be getting this whatever, to see how the trilogy ends, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up
*Remembers DA2*
PMIKE5 on 6 Feb '12 said:
While people complain about bioware not making a proper RPG, I think they're doing the right thing in expanding what an RPG could be. Sure you could go down the safe route of making it a stat-em-up, but if it was JUST that, the game wouldn't be quite as deep. Bioware are lucky in that financially they're in a place where they CAN experiment with the genre and have accumilated ten years of knowledge to make this game what it's supposed to be.
phate666 on 6 Feb '12 said:
I think he's saying you've got it spot on.
I was!
BenThomasFoster on 6 Feb '12 said:
The more I hear the more I have faith in the game. If ME2 had a better story and less leaks + not so pointless customisation then I'm sure it would of be a vastly better game overall. eitherway I want to finsih the brilliant story arc.
Legend Turtle on 6 Feb '12 said:
I played me 1, played through me2 twice, and I think me3 will be good. It may not be as deep as some in stat and/or loot terms, but the galaxy is interesting, and the combat and powers have enough variety to sustain a lot of hours.
silent moose on 6 Feb '12 said:
@ PMIKE5
your delusional
rhyfel on 7 Feb '12 said:
i cant wait for mass effect 3 its been one of the best series in gaming history but why do the game publishers always want to turn there games into shooters, sometimes story is best imagine mass effect as a full blown RPG like skyrim in space?.
IndySandbagT on 7 Feb '12 said:
ME3's worked it so that if you did play ME1/ME2 it has all that good stuff (I love all the references to past goings on, since I have played the first 2 games about say... 8 times each lol) - and if you didn't play the first two (no save game import) it leaves those references out... sorted!
Manjushri on 9 Feb '12 said:
Is it me or does ME3 sound more and more like a Gears of war clone?
I thought they watered it down quite a bit with the second one, but this just sounds even more stripped.
motoshoro on 27 Feb '12 said:
Enemies really should be more clever now. Otherwise it resembles those old-tart games of the 90's..
Gatix on 27 Feb '12 said:
AI is better in the demo. They actually flank and that's deadly.