Mass Effect 2

GDC 09: BioWare Talks Mass Effect 2 Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka dish a few details on their sci-fi sequel and the company's future products.​ March 26, 2009 - To talk all things role-playing, we sat down with BioWare bosses Greg Zeschuk (Vice President BioWare and Electronic Arts) and Ray Muzyka (General Manager and CEO BioWare, and VP and GM EA). It's a busy time for the duo, as Mass Effect 2 is expected sometime in 2010, Dragon Age this fall, and Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare's first MMORPG effort being developed at its Austin studio, slated for sometime in the future, as well as some unannounced projects. We had a chance to check in with them at the Game Developers Conference 2009 to catch up on the latest, mostly related to Mass Effect 2. So what's BioWare working on they're not talking about yet? Well, as you might expect, they're not talking about that yet. "I think one of them might be pretty soon, then maybe a little later, then possibly some other stuff a little later," said Muzyka. Would we hear something in 2009? "Maybe one of them," he said. Aside from the types of fantasy and science-fiction settings BioWare is known for building into its games, the duo commented on a few other scenarios that might be interesting. "We actually discuss that stuff a lot," said Zeschuk. "We've got other stuff that may be in other genres." "In fact," chimed in Muzyka, "it probably is." Getting back to the question, Zeschuk started up with, "A horror RPG you could do a whole kind of different ways, it's been done before by some folks but we'd probably put our own fingerprints on it. There's lots of places you could tell a story. We haven't talked much about Wild West…Victorian England. [laughter]." "I'm not sure about that last one," said Muzyka. "But you can make almost anything into an RPG." On Dragon Age: Origins, the upcoming multiplatform RPG styled after the classic Baldur's Gate PC games of roughly a decade ago. "It's always been the plan to bring [Dragon Age] to multiple systems," said Muzyka. "PC has been our leading platform and still is the leading platform in terms of the content deployment but we're actively working on the consoles now and they're coming along really well." Muzyka went on to talk about what the recent PC version delay would mean for the title now that it's shipping alongside Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions later this year. "We're looking at this as a huge opportunity to iterate and polish and make the game that much better on not just PC but all the systems. We're definitely making use of that time. If we have a week, if we have a month, if we have a day, we'll use that time to make the feature improvements and do more usability testing, focus testing, and make the game as good as it can be." On the subject of downloadable content, Zeschuk said it was becoming a fundamental part of the company's overall philosophy, as it's part of the plan with Dragon Age. He shifted gears into Mass Effect 2, the upcoming sequel to the science-fiction epic, the first part of which was released in 2008 for the PC platform, and in late 2007 for the Xbox 360. "Mass 2 is going to have some plans [for DLC]. We'll look at Mass Effect 2 differently because it's a different kind of game. It's a very cinematic action shooter / RPG and with different kinds of consumers and different kinds of likes for DLC, so that's something we're always going to be iterating on." No word yet on whether Mass Effect or its sequels will ever show up on the PlayStation 3, but will it show up on Xbox 360 and PC simultaneously when it ships next year? "We haven't disclosed that, but the development efforts are simultaneous," said Muzyka. With regards to the interface, which was altered quite a bit during the time between the release of Xbox 360 and the PC version, what can players expect with the sequel? "Every version, and this is true for Dragon Age as well, we want players to feel when they play they should feel like it was natively developed for that system," said Muzyka. "Our philosophy is to lovingly handcraft every version so that players have a different entry point, different interface, different controls that work really well. A lot people said when they played the PC version 'Wow that's cool, it's like they designed it as a PC game.' Well yeah, we did, because we made PC fans feel supported. We also made 360 fans feel like it was developed as a 360 game because it was. Both answers are true. And we're doing the same for the console version of Dragon Age and we'll do the same for Mass Effect 2." What about the technology behind the Mass Effect franchise? How does that develop and improve with the sequel? "What's interesting about making a game especially like Mass Effect one is just getting the galaxy on one disk is a lot of work. So you've worked on it for over three years and two and three-quarters of those years were just figuring out how to make it all work and then the last quarter is like ok, let's finish it all off. The great thing about a sequel is you start from the point where you know everything works, you know what the good and the bad things were. One of the big objectives we have for Mass 2 is we go through your reviews and everyone else's and…" "We made a list of the features," picked up Muzyka, "that reviewers and fans and internal people, all whose opinions we respect, thought were really important to make the game better. Then we added a bunch of cool **** on top of that." "The key thing is," said Zeschuk, "when you're working on a sequel like Mass you start from day one knowing most of the answers. And then you know what your faults were and you can address those specifically. First and foremost are things like performance and textures and everything like that. We maximized that to make sure it's hot. In some ways the problem we've had we haven't had the chance to do a sequel for like seven or eight years, we've always been doing one-offs…We've learned a lot about the technology after the first one and there's already stuff that's like wow." Unfortunately the two weren't willing to go into any specifics, not that it was really expected at this point, but Muzyka broke down a few basic categories where he asserted changes and improvements were being made for the sequel. "There's a few bigger buckets of things we're working on. One of them is the intensity of the action, amping that up so people will see this as a shooter RPG…It's going to feel like shooter fans are going to have a great experience…Another category we're working on are the moment to moment interactions, kind of grabbing control of them more, and we'll show that later as well." By later, he means later in the year. "Exploration, we're still trying to tighten up that experience," Muzyka continued. "It's still optional and there's still uncharted world that'll be optional, but we want every single one of them to feel like they're adding something important to the main storyline. So you feel yeah they're optional, but I feel like I really want to do that. So that's a philosophy change too." Was there ever a definitive word on whether you could use the same character from Mass Effect in the sequel? "We've said two things. Everything we've said in the past about keeping your saves, that's all true. Everything you've seen in the teaser is all true. What does that mean?" What does that mean? "We look forward to sharing with you guys soon what that all means." We'll have the full interview later on. Oh, and if you're wondering, no release date or pricing structure for Star Wars: The Old Republic was revealed. It's still way too early for that.

...What does that mean? ....???

 

Deze soort van zonnenschijn geklets neem ik niet snel serieus,wat ik wel heel raar vind is dat op Mass Effect 2 nu wel weer in een klap de hele nadruk ligt.Bedoel ik snap dat veel gamers op deze titel wachtem,maar Dragon age word een beetje ondergesneeuwd lijkt het nu al,in verhouding met ME 2 is over DA wel weinig prijsgegeven terwijl ik Youtube fimpjes ervan heb gezien die hier nog niet gepost zijn.Beetje vreemd vind ik zo.

 

jongens, een vraagje: hoe kom je weer bij je ship, normandy, als je op citadel zit? pff, zo simpel, maar ik vind m even niet. (sorry, dit is niet een vraag over mass effect 2 )

thnx!

 

yes, gevonden!

 

Moet je voor deze game de 1e mass effect hebben gespeeld?

thx prozaxx

 

Nee, het zal niet moeten, maar... Om de verhaallijn fatsoenlijk te kunnen volgen is het wel handig.

 

Je moet niks, maar je mag alles in games. Het verhaal in de eerste game is voor mij de hoofdreden geweest het spel te kopen en dan heb ik het nog niet eens over die galaxy map gehad waarmee je van planeet naar planeet kunt op een gegeven moment. Echt te gek allemaal!

 

GDC 09: Mass Effect 2 -- Problems Solved? BioWare shows some video and talks about its new design process. March 27, 2009 - BioWare knows there were a few technical issues with Mass Effect. Rather than putting the blinders on and forging ahead, the team took a step back and looked at what in the development process caused those problems to exist and then came up with a new process for the sequel. As Corey Andruko, project manager for Mass Effect 2 summed it up at the close of BioWare's talk on its iterative level design process at the Game Developers Conference, "We had a little bit of a hitching on the Citadel…maybe the loading on the elevators was a little long…We definitely feel we would have been able to resolve these problems." So what has been changed this time around and how will that make Mass Effect 2 a technically superior process? Dusty Everman, lead level designer, and Andruko explained just that with the help of some work-in-progress gameplay footage of the upcoming game. First, the juicy details. The two videos that were shown offered a montage of the phases of production Mass Effect 2 has gone through. The first video was all combat and began with just a blocked out level, before cycling through various levels of production until a near-final version was shown. Since everything was still a work-in-progress, it is hard to speculate too much about what was seen, but I will anyway. The heads-up-display looked different from Mass Effect, but the combat was largely the same. The player could be seen attacking a few enemies on the far side of a room with a gun and taking cover up against a few crates. BioWare conveniently didn't use the traditional Shepard model in the combat video and the teasing got even worse in the next video. This one featured dialog, but never directly addressed the hero or offered the hero himself actually talking. The generic player character was wearing an N7 set of armor, though. The only talking came from a female Asari character named Seryna. The squad was in a flying car, moving on an air-highway through a crowded city. Seryna was giving a briefing on the upcoming combat mission which would involve storming a penthouse where mercs were sure to be waiting for some action. The scene ended with the hover car landing outside of the penthouse building and the group climbing out of the car. Perhaps more extensive planets and cities will be included in Mass Effect 2 that feature multiple locations to explore instead of just one main hub. Now you may be wondering what these work-in-progress videos were used to showcase. To get there, we'll have to take a step back to the beginning. Mass Effect was created with a work-flow that began with the writer who would create both the plot and basic 2D level design. From there, production would extend to blocked out levels and then on to full production. At the end, each level would be optimized for performance. You can probably see where the issues cropped up. With everyone working in closed vacuums, or silos as BioWare described them, it forced people to focus on disciplines rather than the levels as a whole. This meant that iterations in one "silo" could produce extra work in others. This forced unplanned work to crop up, late reviews of content and sometimes caused content to be cut entirely. And as Everman explained, "...you would have intractable performance issues. It wasn't because we didn't try to fix those framerate drops... the way to do it would have been recreating entire swaths of content." As an example, Everman mentioned that the Caleston level of Mass Effect was originally supposed to be much bigger. Unfortunately, the production process caused level layout and story problems which forced major sections to be cut. With Mass Effect 2, each level moves through phases of creation. The basic premises the team is working under include having every level always be playable, always built on a foundation and always be at performance. This means technical hitches cannot persist. "When the framerate starts dipping," said Everman, you must "fix them then and there." + Gametrailers interview: HD SD​

edit: Early Mass Effect 2 Footage Leaked

 

Dat er dialogen en questen waren weggelaten in ME merkte ik al,en zo had je in de vroege video trailer een scene waar je een vrouwelijke Asari spreekt waar ze op een gegeven moment antwoord 'The machines are about to come back'.Maar was uiteindelijk niet in de game gekomen voor zover ik weet,dat vond ik wel minder.

Wel goed dat ze nu echt naar de foutjes vanuit deel 1 hebben gekeken,ben benieuwd wat ze ervan gaan maken.

 

Ziet er nice uit. Wil het nu spelen! Krijg er echt weer zin in

 

Ziet er inderdaad nice uit. Goed dat die man niet veel losgelaten heeft anders kostte het misschien zijn baan nog.

 

Dat lijkt me wel best moeilijk,maar ik vind die hele geheimhouding in games dan ook vaak wat overdreven.Net alsof het om wereldbelangen gaat,maar het zal wel aan mij liggen.

 

Hoop zo erg dat die laadtijden vooral van de rot liften echt minder is, hoef dan niet meer andere wegen proberen te zoeken. Altijd als je met je crew wilde praten en dan eerst beneden ging en dan weer naar boven grrr zwaar irritant.

 

Het ziet er idd erg goed uit, in ieder geval weten we dat nu ook het glas aan goort geschoten kan worden en ook de crates waar je in de cover zit dat is al een stuk echter vindt ik !!

 

Bidden dat Ashley leeft en niet Kaiden!!! Afhankelijk van je beslissingen in deel I natuurlijk. Kaiden is een flikker; dat kun je merken als je na Eden Prime eens met hem een persoonlijk praatje gaat maken.

 

Maar hij had natuurlijk ook zo'n moeilijke jeugd
Kaiden kon mij in de game dus echt totaal niet boeien!!

 

Mij ook niet, daarom hoop ik dat hij het dus niet overleefd. Ik zou het zelfs niet erg vinden als de Nihlus er op de een of andere manier voor in de plaats doen.

 

Op gametrailers staat een leuke video interview en beelden van Mass Effect 2.

Zeker even de moeite waard om te bekijken.

Die shit gaat zo vet worden.

 

Zeg, is dit niet precies hetzelfde interview wat je er gisteren nog zo nice vond uitzien?

 

Nee, is heel wat anders. Dit is een interview van Gametrailers, heeft niks met de filmpjes te maken van de GDC. Die gast tussen het interview door, hoe vet die concept art tekend van 1 of andere gast, erg nice, nieuwe schepen etc

En het begin van Mass Effect 2 zal meteen al verschillend zijn van bv wat je maat speelt, door alle keuzes die je in deel 1 gemaakt hebt. Wrex gaat ook terug komen als je hem niet dood hebt laten gaan. Tenminste als je een stuk concept art/sketch mag geloven, zie je dat Wrex sheppard oid oppakt en zegt "good to see you back" Dus mag je aannemen dat je gewoon weer met Sheppard speelt. Maar je zal dit deel vanuit verschillende perspectieven zien zegt die gast, dus waarchijnlijk zal je ijdens het spel ook als een andere character/s kunnen spelen.

Al hoop ik wel dat Sheppard echt je main character blijft in alle delen.

Edit:

Wat me niks zou verbazen is dat je kan switchen tussen character als je met je groepje ergens loopt. In deel 1 liep je bijna altijd met zn 3en maar kon je alleen als Sheppard spelen. Misschien dat je nu kan wisselen on the fly van character. Zodat je bv tijdens gevechten snel even als een teammate kan spelen die beter tegen bepaalde vijanden uitgerust is etc.