Edmonton. The Lion's Head Pub. Several drinks in, I find myself in a conversation with Dragon Age: Origins lead designer Mike Laidlaw about the standards Sir-tech set with Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. As the drinking continues, we exchange stories about battling 99 berserkers in The Bard's Tale, interacting with Zombie #1201 in Planescape: Torment, and which characters voiced by the late Tony Jay had the most impact on us. Not your typical bar conversations, in other words.
But it was this dialogue that spurred me to seek Mike out the following morning so that we could continue our RPG chat - only this time, we'd be zeroing in on Dragon Age: Origins. Linearity was at the top of my list:
GB: From what I've played so far, the game is very linear, at least during the first few hours. At what point does it open up to free exploration?
Mike: Yeah. Whereabouts are you?
GB: I just drank the darkspawn blood to become a Gray Warden.
Mike: Oh, yeah. You've got one dungeon, and then you get the world back. It's going to open up a lot. The reason we have a linear opening is largely for a couple of reasons: one, to establish the setting and story. Because it's a brand new IP, if you just drop people into a world they don't know, then there can be kind of like a degree of confusion.
And we're trying to build a story that's got its own dramatic, you know, impetus, and that kind of stuff. So I think a linear opening causes people to kind of understand, okay, here's the role. Here are the events that lead to me becoming a Grey Warden proper, which you just did.
Then you basically get to see how that plays out. And at that point, what you're about to come to the realization of is that I’m going to need to gather an army. And at that point, it's up to you. How are you going to do it? Because you basically take charge.
GB: So when the world map opens up, is it in traditional Baldur's Gate style, where you have something like 30 locations, and only certain ones are available depending on what you’ve learned or explored previously?
Mike: Yeah. We mark your map. You can see your progression as you move through it. You reach locations, and then you go back into another one, and away you go. You can have random encounters on it as well. You can run into roving groups of darkspawn, that kind of stuff.
GB: Okay. So if you find yourself needing to gain experience or more coin, can you travel back and forth to different areas in order to take advantage of the random encounters?
Mike: Yeah. Actually some people – we don't want people necessarily just grinding, or just infinite respawn kind of stuff. It's a closed economy, by deliberate choice, because there comes a point at which, you know, people are like level 99 and the game's trivial.
Or you have to balance the game to the point where you run into the problem with everyone having ridiculous equipment that they are like, “I’m a soldier of the banner!” And the people are like, “Why are you wielding that glowing three-handed sword?” So – I mean, yeah. We try to keep it within a range.
But at the same time, yes. A lot of people actually will go through and do part of a quest, pause, and then go back and do part of another quest, then go back as well, because it lets them kind of gather items and equipment from some of the easier frontends, and then they dive into the deeper dungeons. It's really up to you.
GB: So once it opens up, I would assume that there are some story-driven elements where for periods of time, you have to go through this path or that path to progress the story. But what percentage of the game would you say is opened up to free, non-linear exploration?
Mike: Eighty.
GB: Eighty?
Mike: Eighty. And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "I've just went through a fair amount." But the thing is, it is a big game.
There is an awful lot of game where you are completely in the driver's seat. And there are parts where – what I see is that people get in that head set where they're like, "Oh, my God. I have to do this." And you don't. Like you could turn around and leave, and come back later.
But they go through the Brecilian forest. They go to the West Brecilian forest, and they go to the East Brecilian forest, and then they go back to the West, and they complete this quest. And then they go into this dungeon ruin. Then they go to the next level, and the next level, and they like never turn back, because they're kind of excited to see it play out. And that's pretty cool to me.
It's like when you feel like you just want to know how it turns out, and it pulls you in. I hope no one gets frustrated by it, because they certainly have the option to U-turn, and take a little break, go hit a shop, go back to camp and heal, all that kind of stuff.
GB: Interesting. Now, there are conflicts with the protagonist and particular followers over different decisions you have to make in the game... but are there ever conflicts amongst the followers themselves? And can it result in a battle to the death, or anything else extreme in nature?
Mike: We moved away from any that are kind of outside of your influence. But [the GamesCom demo] you'll actually see tomorrow, there’s a conflict with followers where they turn on you. So I think that's what you're looking for there. And yes, there are instances of that.
There are instances where they’re threatening to abandon you, that kind of stuff. And the approval system is part of that. I don't know if you're far enough, but if you check out Alistair, he's got an approval button that determines how he feels about you. You know, your choices you made in the Korcari Wilds, so did you kill the soldier or heal him? Alistair has approval that reacts to that.
GB: I also remember reading at one point that the approval rating even affects your followers’ performance in battle. So if you’re a good-natured character taking the righteous path in the world, that makes certain followers in your party more powerful in combat... but what about the more nefarious you are? Are there characters that respond to that?
Mike: Morrigan's general opinion is that every mage in the tower should be put to the stake. That's not the nice guy route, but it's what she thinks should happen.
GB: So if that’s the route you take - if you just cut them down, that will improve your standing with her, and, ultimately, her combat performance?
Mike: That's right. Now how is everyone else going to feel about that, including the circle mage, who could join you? Not so good.
Yeah, there are definitely conflicts in terms of morality and goals between the party members, and they make it pretty clear. And there are times when, you know, they're like, "What the hell are you doing?" They actually just stop you in the middle of a big decision. And you can try to talk them down, but often, you just watch your approval dip by 20 points. And you're like, "Oh, God. Okay. They didn't like that."
GB: Speaking of which - have you announced the total number of followers in the game?
Mike: No. Not the total. Because there are some surprises in there.
GB: So that’s something that you're just going to leave for people to find out for themselves?
Mike: For a little bit, yeah.
There are some surprises. And honestly, the neat part is that there are followers you could miss, depending on your actions. Followers you could eliminate before they even join your party. Generally, you can tell, but you know, if you want to do that, then go for it.
GB: So between all of these followers, do they provide every spectrum of what your party might need, regardless of which origin story and class you took for your protagonist?
Mike: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. You are never going to be left with a, “Oh, God, I have nothing but mages. I have no one who can take any hits.” No. You're never going to end up in that situation.
And the best part is, once you get them, you can build them however you like, so you know, maybe they’ll join at level 6, and you've got 14 or 15 levels to customize them from there on out. So you say, “I get what your thing is for your type of magic, but you're also going to start healing now.” Sure. You know, you're not going to be locked into it. They're not going to level up on their own unless you want them to.
GB: I only ask because in the Neverwinter Nights 2 adventure pack Mysteries of Westgate, there is no mage you can recruit into –
Mike: Oh, dear.
You are missing a significant chunk of the D&D ruleset then.
GB: Exactly.
Mike: Yeah.
GB: Alright, moving on... Dragon Age has a massive history behind it, a history that you've put years of work into. How do you keep track of it all, and make sure that none of the designers or other team members are accidentally breaking something that isn't supposed to be broken?
Mike: Right. Making sure that you have people that are immersed in the IP, the intellectual property, and having really good and empowered leads and sub-leads that kind of understand what the goals of the game are from a high-level view. So when we talk about broken, there's the history of broken, like, “Well, hold on, you don't do that with magic in this world.” Right?
That's largely handled by the writers and the editors, and we have a full team that works on that, Dave Gaider being the lead writer for the game, who then wrote the novel as well.
And so you have this watchdog element, and they're doing most of the writing, so most of the factual stuff is either in the codex or the journal of what people say. So as long as that team's all on the same page, and I'm on the same page, then we're all in pretty good shape there.
For keeping the game itself functional, in terms of how it runs, that's where the programming and art come into there. The technical designers will build the levels, construct them. And they all understand, by working directly with the writers and the artists, what the goal of the level is, and what the overall theme is.
So that's where you get things like, “Well, it would be cool to have a dragon there!” But this is a subtropical climate or whatever, and that's not where dragons live. So what else can we do?
It's funny. The goal is to have a big fight here, so what can we do, the equivalent of that?
GB: So how do you police that with fans who are going to be creating modules for the game? How do you keep them from stepping out of your boundaries – or do you not care if they skew your history?
Mike: You basically have to accept that if it's going to be fan-made, and they're just going to work, it's going to be non-canon. You know, it's kind of like fanfic, right? You accept it. I remember reading one where someone had taken the Jade Empire ten years later, or what would happen if you hadn't come back, or you died, or a number of different elements like that, and they explored that space.
I mean, it's written, and it's there, and you know, it's cool, but it isn't the canonical version of what happened. If people want to try and build it to be as accurate as you can, our goal is to try and support them, and give them the info they need. But at the same time, unless it's an official licensed product then there’s not much we can do.
If we do a licensed one, well, then, it's basically up to us to make sure the documentation's there, and then we have someone that can go through and just check what they have.
GB: So you’ve considered the possibility of licensing Dragon Age out for some type of module program?
Mike: Well, we don't have any specifics announced on licensing deals and that kind of stuff. But you can already see the intent in doing the pen and paper role-playing game, which is your first example of something beyond pure BioWare tearing into the Dragon Age universe. And it's been really cool. I mean, it's really neat to kind of go from a company that takes pen and paper and turns it into video games, to a company making video games that get turned into pen and paper.
So that's a beginning. Where it goes from there, we'll have to wait and see.
GB: I did an interview with Chris from Green Ronin on that, too. It’ll be interesting to see the final product. Where does that project stand, and do you see that releasing in the same schedule, or at least around the same schedule, as Dragon Age?
Mike: Yeah. That's the intent.
GB: Do you plan on expanding that into adventures, modules, and that sort of thing?
Mike: I'm hoping. I think that'd be great.
They've been quite good to work with. Certainly pretty true to the lore, doing their best to pull in the elements that kind of explain the whys, that the game maybe doesn't go into detail, because in dialogue, people don't go, "And here is why I'm doing that." Right? So yeah.
GB: Is it difficult keeping that project on track to make sure that the ruleset and everything that they're describing matches up to what you want to do with Dragon Age the video game?
Mike: No. Not terribly. And I think honestly the key is strong upfront communication, and saying, “Here are our big goals for Dragon Age as an intellectual property. These are the themes that we explore, and that we want to continue to explore. And do you guys feel that you can work with me on those specs?” And if they say yes, then, you know, we can basically come to an agreement to be true to the spirit of the thing.
You know, the exact rules don't have to be the same, but I mean, they have all the spell lists and all the data. They understand the how and why of the way it works in the video game, and then from there can extrapolate out to the how and why of the RPG. And the rules can be different, as long as the intent and spirit of the things are the same.
