Interview with Bioware's Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk at Gamescom 2010

With Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 2 for the PlayStation 3 in the pipeline, BioWare must be one of the busiest developers in the world. And anyone who has played any of their games will testify that they're also one of the best. At Gamescom, we had the rare privilege of a joint interview with BioWare’s co-founders, Dr Ray Muzyka and Dr Greg Zeschuk, in which we checked in on the progress of SW: TOR and Dragon Age II, and discussed where Mass Effect might go in the future. This is what they said:

Q: Let’s start with Dragon Age II: how have you changed it in comparison to Origins?

Greg Zeschuk: We’ve really evolved the gameplay in a few dimensions. One of them is the narrative. It’s a framed narrative, so the character you’re playing is a hero named Hawk. His story begins during the exodus from Ostergard, and it takes from there. From that point on, really it shows the highlights, and key moments when he influences the world of Dragon Age, and over the next decade or so. It really gives you a sense of the emotional intensity of those moments. Then you see other people commenting on those moments, and saying “I heard this about that character.

Ray Muzyka: Then you get other characters saying: “No, that’s not what happened.”

Greg Zeschuk: Then you get to decide, and show through your actions what really did happen. That’s the framing of the narrative.

Q: So it’s a sort of unreliable narrative?

Greg Zeschuk: Well, yes, and you’re the reliable part, because you make the decisions ultimately, but then you’re getting this third-person perspective on what might have happened and what did happen on prior escapades. It’s actually a really fun way to play through the game, because it’s a different kind of narrative for BioWare – it’s different from Mass Effect’s first-person narrative, and it’s different from the third-person narrative in Dragon Age: Origins.

Ray Muzyka: It’s an interesting fusion. We’re taking some creative risks – we’re elevating how we approach the story-telling – that’s one of the areas we’ve improved in Dragon Age II. Another one is graphics fidelity – we’ve really amped it up and optimised it. And we’ve made the controls more responsive and fluid. There’s the same level of tactical and strategic gameplay, but it’s much more a case of you push a button and something awesome happens.

Greg Zeschuk: It’s a case of you thinking like a general and fighting like a Spartan. You really feel, from moment to moment, that the tactics you choose are visceral and right in your face, having a big impact.

Q: Has that involved changing the control system?

Ray Muzyka: The interface is largely redesigned. It’s interesting, because it has a very action-oriented feel, but also you’re managing different things. The complexity is still there. You can still pause, though. But suddenly, you’re just doing action-gaming with your guy, which feels a lot more visceral. It’s kind of a unique way of managing things , but it’s not one of those really complicated Street Fighter-type systems. You can take your time and plan out the action, but you can also play in real-time.

Q: Star Wars: The Old Republic is clearly a massive undertaking. What stage is it at now? Is it really beginning to come together?

Greg Zeschuk: Yes, it is. We’re showing here the first public hands-on, so that’s exciting. We’ve had private-public testing going on behind the scenes for the last couple of months, so we’re seeing some feedback. The vast majority of the features are in. We haven’t talked about them all, but one example is space-combat, where you can fly around in your own personalised space-ship, so it’s really getting there. We see that light at the end of the tunnel. John Riccitiello said previously that Spring 2011 is the target. We’re neither confirming nor denying, but we’re saying that’s what he said.

We’re working hard to get it done as quickly as possible but, as developers, there’s a point in every game where you can see that light at the end of the tunnel, and I think our team is starting to get really excited, because a lot of the work is finishing. But one of the key things with this type of game is that you have get the platforms and the servers right, too – you can’t just get the game right, but you’ve got to put servers all over the world, and we’re opening an office in Galway in Ireland which will help on the customer support side of things. There are many, many moving parts, but they are all in place now.

Ray Muzyka: It’s nice now, because you can play the game with friends and it’s really fun. We’re doing testing with consumers and getting their feedback. But we know the hard part is always post-launch. That’s where the rubber hits the road, and you’ve got to make sure your software has a service philosophy. As hard as the last few years have been, the most fun part – and the hardest part – is still ahead post-launch.

Q: For you, what are the coolest things about SWTOR?

Greg Zeschuk: For me, it’s the way we deliver the story – it’s not just that, but it’s the fact that it gives you one more reason to play. It’s got all the stuff a traditional MMO has, whether it’s PvP combat or hooking up with your friends but suddenly, it’s not just about enjoying the big battles, you can also explore the whole expanse of the story and, say, learn the identity of this mysterious masked villain. It’s incredible to have that kind of depth.

Q: Have you discussed the business model yet?

Greg Zeschuk: We haven’t talked about the business model yet – we’ll talk about it closer to launch.

Q: Is that something you have set in stone, though?

Greg Zeschuk: For us, on top of the complexity, that’s another dimension you can be flexible about – there are lots of possibilities.

Q: You announced that Mass Effect 2 is coming to PS3 at last. What sparked that – had the Xbox 360 exclusivity period elapsed?

RM: A lot of fans had asked for it, actually. It’s been probably the most consistent question we’ve had recently. So we’re really delighted to bring it to a new audience on the PS3. We’re going to provide a good introductory experience as well, so you get some of the content of the original Mass Effect.

Q: Can you tell us anything about future iterations of Mass Effect?

Ray Muzyka: We’ve hinted it’s a trilogy in the past, so you could guess there would be a Mass Effect 3, but we haven’t announced anything yet. It’s a long-term franchise, so we’re going to continue to support the IP, because we think the fans want that, our employees enjoy working on it and it’s a good investment for us as a company.

Greg Zeschuk: The fact that we’ve been able to launch and support successful franchises like Mass Effect and Dragon Age is wonderful. We’re taking an incredible amount of care to keep nurturing them and making them successful.

Q: Have you hit critical mass in terms of the number of teams and employees you have – BioWare must be huge in those terms these days?

Greg Zeschuk: There are nearly 800 folks working across four development locations – Edmonton, Austin, Montreal and Fairfax, plus Galway now. They are all doing slightly different flavours of BioWare games, too, which is really cool for me, as I get to go round all these different places and see what they’re doing. I think our best work is still ahead of us, actually – that’s what makes it fun.