Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Dragaros]

https://blog.bioware.com/2023/06/27/bri ... for-swtor/

[[ Hello, It’s been a little while since I’ve checked in, and as you might have heard, there’s a lot happening here at BioWare.

Almost 12 years after launch, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ remains a fantastic success, continuing to welcome new players to its vast galaxy and entertaining veteran players with its evolving content. It’s the longest-running live service Star Wars game ever and we’re enormously proud of the work the team has done in creating, expanding, and maintaining this incredible game. We’re delighted to have grown such a dedicated and passionate community through all these years. The future of the game and the community continues to be very bright.

I’ve been working closely with Keith Kanneg, who leads the SWTOR team, to give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve. And so, while EA will remain SWTOR’s publisher, development of the game will move to our partner and friends at Broadsword, a boutique studio with expertise in managing online games. Both the Broadsword studio and SWTOR team members will be joining forces and working tirelessly to support “every player, every day,” ensuring that these worlds and these communities continue to thrive and grow. Their Founder and President, Rob Denton, even has direct experience with SWTOR, having helped lead the team during the development and launch of the game during his time at EA.

So what does this mean?

Well, most importantly, it means that players will continue to enjoy the SWTOR they know and love, and as Keith mentioned in a recent community post, all current plans are still in place. There are also exciting new features planned that the team is not quite ready to talk about yet, but suffice it to say that players can expect improvements and new content into the future. This is a company that will give SWTOR the room to grow and flourish, with the continued commitment and full support of Lucasfilm Games, and the continued partnership with EA.

No big change comes without challenges. Among them is the fact that most of the current team will be invited to accompany the game on its move to Broadsword, though unfortunately not every role will make the move. This is the hardest part of this transition, and these decisions were not made lightly. We are of course doing everything we can to support the affected team members, who have an opportunity to find new roles within EA. In addition, we’re aware that the team members who are being asked to move to a new studio will also be adapting to change, and we will be working with Broadsword to make the transition as comfortable as possible.

In the long run, though, we are confident that this is the best decision for the game and its community. We at BioWare will miss being a part of SWTOR’s story going forward. But we also know that it will be in very good hands.

As we look toward the future, BioWare is focused on being a leader in developing immersive, emotionally charged, single-player games, with teams primarily in Austin and Edmonton. This means a renewed focus on our two key franchises: Dragon Age™ and Mass Effect™. For Dragon Age, we continue to build, polish, and tune an exceptional experience we know our fans will love. We can’t wait to share more on this soon. For Mass Effect, we continue pre-production with a core team of veteran storytellers who are bringing the deep franchise history forward in a spectacular new way.

I’m excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, and Keith wanted to share his own thoughts about the transition.

Stay well,

Gary McKay
General Manager, BioWare

////

Hi folks!

I’ve been a part of SWTOR since well before launch and it’s been an incredible journey. I ended up taking on many different roles on the team over that time, so I’ve seen this game from just about every different angle there is. And honestly, I absolutely love this game—not to mention the people who continue to make it fun. Even after almost 12 years, I see so much room for growth and so much potential in SWTOR.

I know decisions that impact our people are the hardest part of change and evolution, but I believe Broadsword is the right studio to continue to enhance and modernize our game—and also expand the number of people who can play it.

Of course, I’m also very glad that I’ll be moving over with key team leaders and continuing to work with most of our current team. This team has never stopped excelling, even proudly delivering an amazing update 7.2 Showdown on Ruhnuk over the holiday break—along with technological improvements like our new fast launcher, 64-bit client, and Cloud Game Servers. I can’t thank them enough for their passion and dedication in bringing these experiences to life for our players.

I also want to thank EA and BioWare for all they have done for me and this team, not to mention all our friends at Lucasfilm Games, whose support and collaboration have helped make all this happen for us. They’re the best, and I look forward to continuing to work with them.

We are excited about the future of SWTOR, and once we get our feet firmly planted at Broadsword, we look forward to sharing plans for game direction and improvements. Until then, rest assured that all the current plans are still in motion!

As examples, we just delivered our largest story update in months, and a new story flashpoint with Game Update 7.3: Old Wounds, taking us back to the planet Voss, which we haven’t visited since our KOTET expansion back in 2016. We will also be rolling out Game Update 7.3.1, which will contain our next Galactic Season, in the coming months. And stay tuned for details on Game Update 7.4, where players will see the story continue following the events of Old Wounds. And there’s even more on the horizon. We will continue to publish communication on swtor.com and the SWTOR forums, as we always have, so you will be hearing from me again soon.

No change is easy, but it certainly helps that we’re all excited about the future of this very special game. We look forward to seeing that vision become reality alongside all our players and fans.

May the Force be with you,

Keith Kanneg
Executive Producer, Star Wars: The Old Republic ]]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

You don't say?

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaabjrmrt58

[Mazder]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UxVekZRIWyg

[Dragaros]

https://gear.bioware.com/products/mass- ... lithograph





”LET YOUR IMAGINATION TAKE FLIGHT: Step into a visual voyage that marries the artistry of Japanese illustrator Kento Iida with the captivating world of Mass Effect. The Mass Effect Normandy Lithograph displays the legendary starship front and center as it hovers above a lush forest canopy. In the distance, a glimpse of nearby planets hints at endless possibilities. Inspired by the art of screen printing, Iida's digital paintings exude a whimsical charm that breathes life into the Mass Effect universe.”

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSreyldvpVA

[[ "Jade Empire was BioWare's first new IP since Shattered Steel (right at the start of the companies existence). While I was a lead on Baldur's Gate 2, Jade Empire was the first time I did things like scheduling and triage. Early in the development of Jade Empire, I was pulled onto Neverwinter Nights to build the DM client for that game as it closed in on ship.

Chapters:
0:00 Impact
0:50 Five Fingers of Death
1:24 Paper Prototypes
3:01 Neverwinter Nights
4:45 Scheduling
8:51 Tools
11:34 Consistent Fidelity
13:16 XBox and Memory Hacks
14:42 KOTOR
16:19 Tho Fan and Alien Languages
17:42 Balance != Fun
18:54 Focus on Shipping
21:03 Jade Empire 2 and Jade Modern
25:03 Stream Arquitect and Nintendo DS
25:58 Kung Fu Panda
27:49 Jade Empire 2 / Jade Remaster" ]]

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_nYhZrjY8w

https://www.rpgsite.net/news/14478-long ... emo-shared

"Long-lost Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic E3 demo shared: Documentary and game history channel Noclip has released a new video from a long time ago, recorded in a galaxy far, far away (read: Los Angeles, California). The team obtained a video recording of the E3 2001 presentation given to journalists by BioWare for none other than Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Noclip obtained the archive on physical media, then digitized it and uploaded it to its Noclip Game History Archive sub-channel on July 4, 2023.
BioWare showed the above presentation to press and industry representatives two years before the game was released in July 2003. It shows never-before-seen concept art and in-development gameplay footage, and even design concepts from that stage of the game's gestation that were later abandoned for various reasons.
For example, BioWare initially intended for players to be able to select from three Star Wars races and six classes. By the final game, these would be narrowed down to three class archetypes, with the player limited to being human.
Other tidbits included plans for there to be more fully-realized space combat mechanics. BioWare implied that space races and dogfights would be supported. It showed early concepts of the ship that would become the Ebon Hawk, the player's home freighter.
BioWare also showed off animation loops for what seems to be an early version of Jedi character Bastila Shan. An early version of the Tatooine map was also showcased, with BioWare talking up the number of NPCs, and their ability to "recognize" a player's actions.
BioWare closed out the 18-minute presentation with a teaser cutscene that was eventually removed from the game, showing the player confronting the character who would later be known as Darth Malak on what looked to be an early version of Taris.
The demo has never before been shared publicly."

[Dragaros]

"Veteran writer Jay Watamaniuk leaves BioWare"

https://twitter.com/JayWatamaniuk/statu ... 3118180353

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jaywatamaniuk

[Dragaros]

"20 Years Later, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's Lightsaber is Still Burning Bright; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is 20 years old today, but despite its age, KOTOR still remains one of the best Star Wars games ever made."

"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Is Still Blowing Minds, 20 Years Later; io9 talks to project director Casey Hudson about the influential BioWare RPG and shares some exclusive concept art."

[Dragaros]

https://www.dualshockers.com/bioware-so ... ever-made/



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0RKj6vFe3k

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKGDZhoaCf8

""Choice and Consequence" is a phrase often used by videogame marketing. It is used to say "what you do will matter". But often it is demonstrated poorly. And often it is even poorly understood by the devs as well. "Choice and Consequence" isn't 2 things, it's 4."

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nqBtKJjtE

[Dragaros]

These little fan polls don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but its always amusing to see Team Dextro come out on top.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znvHzYvg_W8

Heh. Best Girl wins again.

[magnuskn]

These little fan polls don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but its always amusing to see Team Dextro come out on top.

Yeah, too small a sample size, but all the same, Team Dextro go!

[Vol]

I am the sample size! Wait, wrong franchise. But yes, never got into Garrus like basically everyone else did, but I'll rep Team Dextro when it comes up, fo' rizzle.

Though it has been fascinating seeing how Tali has pretty steadily become the (nearly) uncontested waifu over the last decade. While Liara might've been the more classic space waifu tale, and Miranda/Ashley were the familiar hometown option, Tali's really worked the best with the setting. To be totally unbiased, of course.

[Vol]

Tali was, is, and will always be best girl btw.