Search Results for: label/bioware

Star Wars: The Old Republic Introduces the Codex

Soeren Kamper

This week BioWare’s Principal Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert  introduced the Codex. If you’ve played some of BioWare’s other projects like Dragon Age or Mass Effect, you’re probably familiar with the Codex system, which allows players to discover key bits of lore throughout the game by exploring or accomplishing different tasks. This story can help enhance the lore of the world or offer additional narrative to a player’s chosen profession. This feature isn’t just about being another way to deliver story to the player. As Lead Systems Designer, I’m mostly concerned about bringing the fun. Delivering story and context isn’t enough for me – I also want to be sure that we add new activities for players to do and goals for him to achieve. In particular, we saw the codex as a way to reward exploration Here are some more of the highlights: The team had two design goals:…

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BioWare Auctioning Off Exclusive Goods for Japan Relief

Soeren Kamper

If the thought of donating to charity for Japan relief without getting something in return doesn’t really sit well with you, Bioware have you covered. BioWare is holding a charity auction, and all proceeds go to the Red Cross to aid Japan and it’s citizens in light of the recent disaster. The items being auctioned are as follows; two Dragon Age 2 custom painted PS3′s complete with signatures from the founders of BioWare Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, two Dragon Age 2 custom painted Xbox 360s also signed by the founders and ten Mass Effect hoodies signed by the team that created Mass Effect. All of these items are exclusive to the auction, so be sure to check it out and bid on these incredible items for a worthy cause. If you’d like to help out, the auctions can be found here.

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SWTOR Open Beta closing in!!! … Not!

Soeren Kamper

For 12 long hours I was so psyched! TorWars pointed me to a great interview  GameInformer.com did with Dr. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk from Bioware. The Interview was original about Mass Effect 3, but the interviewer also had some interesting questions on the chance of an upcoming Star Wars: The old Republic Beta. On this the good doctors answered in the a more possitive way then ever: “You’ll have to watch our website and see. At this point we’re still in more of a closed beta period. We’re definitely making great progress on it. The feedback’s been great. There’s always lots to do, but it’s really really shaping up. Before too long you guys will get a little crack at it. Keep an eye out for that.” What was that? Wait a second. You said what? Did I here that right? What was that again? Before too long you…

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Friday Update: Living the Life of a Live Producer

Soeren Kamper

This weeks friday update gives us another developer blog. This time it’s Live Producer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blaine Christine that shares some insight about his job. Blaine Christine has worked for BioWare for three and a half years and mainly take care of beta testing stuff right now. I imagine he is the last man who have a look at things before new patches hits the test realms etc. Thorugh out this weeks blog, Blaine Christine quotes a few beta testers with their exstreamly positive (obviously) opinions on the game. Here is the probably most interesting quotes from game testers: “The questing experience in TOR was amazing! The voiceovers and cinematics actually make me wonder how I ever survived the ‘grind’ without them.” “As one of those people who didn’t really care about story in an MMO, after playing TOR I can’t imagine playing another MMO unless…

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The BioWare Method

Soeren Kamper

At Last weeks DICE Summit, the BioWare Co-Founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka gave a presentation to attendees entitled “The BioWare Method.” In this the doctors explained how it has been a long road to get to where BioWare is today, and share some of the knowledge they have learned through out the years in business. The most important lesson in releasing a successful game is recruiting and maintaining a strong team, and BioWare’s co-founders, Dr. Greg Zeschuk and Dr. Ray Muzyka, explain how it’s done. They alsoencourage long-term and forward thinking, always play games to continue learning, and maintain a positive team culture. One of the biggest components of keeping together a strong team is communication and honesty. Dr. Zeschuk and Dr. Muzyka admitted that Mass Effect 1 DLC didn’t go quite as well as expected, so going forward the Dragon Age and Mass Effect teams worked together to…

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Facebook Image of the Week: The volcanic mountain ranges of Ord Mantell

Soeren Kamper

This week, BioWare reached 250,000 “likes” on there Star Wars: The Old Republic fan site. In response to this, the BioWare team released a new Concept Art image of Ord Mantel. As far as I can see that makes it the second largest fan page for any MMORPG on Facebook, only toped by World of Warcraft with 342,919 likes. Due to this accomplishment, a new image will be released weekly via Facebook. In “250,000 Likes!“, BioWare said: This week, we reached 250,000 likes! Were honored to have so many enthusiastic fans, and to celebrate we will begin releasing a brand new Star Wars: The Old Republic image every week just for you. Thank you all for your support, and enjoy the very first Facebook Image of the Week!

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