BioWare Interview
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IG: Right, whether with Mass Effect or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you guys have been designing games that show consequences for some time, and there have been more and more games that incorporate this like Fable, BioShock and others. Do you feel that game designers perhaps have a moral responsibility to create games that do show the consequences of your actions?
Zeschuk: It's interesting that you mention that. I'm not sure how much you follow the ratings board in Germany and the challenges there because they are very strict on violence in video games but one of the things in Germany is if you actually show a consequence for a bad behavior it's more acceptable for consumption because it does have that underlying message for players. I think it depends on what you're building though. If you're creating a total bubble gum game where you're blowing things up like in Serious Sam, then there are no consequences, but I think when we're trying to create a more engaging experience where you want to play a role and have some kind of realistic relationships, both with the characters and the world, then [consequence] is a good thing to have because it rounds out the experience. ... It's exciting from a designer's perspective because we can always try new things. In Dragon Age for example we have this approval system with your party members where they each individually comment on and evaluate what you're doing. Effectively, they're always watching you and either happy or unhappy with your actions. On the happy side, it can lead to romances or they'll share tricks or techniques or tell you where treasure is; and on the unhappy side they can even attack you or leave your group. So it's an interesting way to do it I think the designers like to have that challenge of figuring out how to measure these things.
Muzyka: For us, the engagement of the emotional part of the experience may not be feasible without having consequences for the choices you make, because those lead to an emotional engagement or reaction. That's a core part of our vision and our game design as a studio. Not all developers embrace that, but we think it leads to a more powerful experience with our audience.
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IG: So is it safe to assume that in the not too distant future we will finally see a Wii game from BioWare?
Muzyka: We'd be intrigued by the idea of developing on Wii but we have nothing to announce right now. We do have some unannounced projects that we're not ready to talk about yet, and they are different from some things we've done in the past... Our goal, really long-term, is to broaden our base and continue to differentiate and have diversity of choice on different platforms, because we know there are different audiences on platforms like mobile and Wii, and different geographic markets and distribution and business models. It's exciting, but you can't do all things at one time.
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IG: So what do you feel is the next step needed to advance storytelling in games?
Zeschuk: I wish we knew. [laughs] It's a continuous evolution. It's hard to describe but I feel like we're always looking at new stuff. Some of it is just the quality of the acting, and how much non-verbal stuff you can do [with animation].Secondarily, we talk about narrative living in different spaces, not necessarily just the story in the game, but also the action what's the story of the battle you just had? So I think [storytelling] is expanding and with Dragon Age: Origins we're trying to pull that personal experience you have and surface it onto the community sites so people can share each other's journeys it's like the Facebook of role-playing. ... It's about getting people connected. That's one of the exciting things about where we are right now; more and more we're living in this highly connected world, so every game you make has to consider that. That's the big thing, that concept of narrative among different people and how they share it.
Muzyka: The social narrative outside of gaming is exciting because it affords you having a longer term connection with your fans, whether that be sharing what they're doing with one another, multiplayer, downloadable content that you can sell to them, or getting them engaged in being co-creators of the experience with toolsets.
