As one of the masterminds behind games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, Dr. Ray Muzyka from BioWare knows a thing or two about crafting a great RPG. The Edmonton-based developer’s first Xbox 360 game may be their most ambitious yet, featuring an innovative dialogue system, real-time combat, and jaw-dropping graphics. We had a chance to sit down with the good doctor at D.I.C.E., where he was happy to tell us all about the new game. This is only part one, so be sure to check back Monday morning for the rest of the interview!
So how’s Mass Effect coming along? What’s the status of the game?
Ray Muzyka: It’s going really well. We haven’t announced a final release date for it yet, but the team’s entering the final push. We’ve got a great team, they’re working really hard. There are 120 or 130 people working on it right now, and they’re working really hard on it. They’re committed, they’re passionate, they’re hard working. It’s an honor to work with them, they’re doing some great stuff. I just saw a video today of some of the near final levels and some of the gameplay stuff that we had recorded, that you guys will probably see. Hopefully we’ll show some of that very soon to you guys. It’s looking absolutely stunning, it’s the best stuff we’ve ever done at BioWare. I can say that with complete confidence. I think that it’s potentially the best game we’ve ever done. It’s an amazing game. It’s got exploration of all of these uncharted worlds, it’s got beautiful, beautiful characters. I think the way we’re doing dialogue and story is really accessible, and yet the depth is there, too.
So, it’s got tremendous depth in terms of the way the progression systems work, and customization, it flows naturally from dialogue to story to exploration to combat, back and forth. And I think it’s very fluid, very accessible in real time. But it’s going really well, we’re in the final push.
How is working with Microsoft? You’ve worked with them before, and you’ve done a lot of different projects with different groups.
Ray Muzyka: I have nothing but good thing to say about them. They really do care about the games developed for the system that they want to be showcases. They want them to be stand-out titles, and they’re doing everything they can to support us. They contribute resources on the dev side to help us get the max out of the hardware. The marketing and PR folks are working hard to maximize the outreach, and that’s going to ramp up really big in just a short period. The fans are going to start seeing more assets and cool stuff. I think they’re a great publisher. The good thing about being first-party is that you have the commitment from the hardware manufacturer themselves to maximize the return on the game.
You look at what they did for Gears of War last year, and they’re planning a sort of similar thing for Mass Effect this year, and it’s great to be part of that.
You mentioned the exploration elements of the game, and how you can go and find all of these uncharted worlds. What’s the breakdown going to be between the core storyline and just exploring the universe?
Ray Muzyka: Yeah, that’s a good question. I mean, it really depends on just how much you want to do on the uncharted worlds. I think it’s going to be about 40 hours or so for the main story, so it’s going to be a good-sized BioWare RPG just for the core part. Off the beaten path, there’s probably another 20 or 30 hours or so of stuff, or more, depending on how much you do and what order you do it in and all of that. It’s this non-linear exploration of uncharted worlds. You’re flying around this vast universe with hundreds of locations, where one’s a derelict spacecraft from which you get this distress call. Another might be an uncharted world with a full backstory, multi-hour storyline that you’ve got to explore and go on the surface and sub-surface and explore and find some new locations that send you off to a new location. You might be flying through space on your primary quest when you get this distress call or you hear some message. The planet’s on sensors, so do you want to explore this now or do you go back later? It’s all non-linear. The gameplay’s there for people who just want to have some fun for a couple hours and go off the beaten path. You know, upgrade the character, get in the rover, explore the world, get out of the rover, go find some quests or some combat, get some new items. Then you can go back to the main game and find a rich, compelling, deep storyline with amazing characters and incredible, beautiful graphics.
Are you still planning on Mass Effect being the first part of a series?
Ray Muzyka: That’s our goal. We’ve always thought of the storyline as part of a long-term franchise, and that’s actually more challenging for our writers, because they’ve got to think long-term. They’ve got to not only build the underlying foundation, kinda like an iceberg, where there’s so much of the base that you don’t see. But that gives the IP a weight, a gravity that makes it feel more real. And the same thing is true here. Downstream, you’ve actually got to plan out where the storyline is going. It has to be a really satisfying, climactic conclusion to the main game, but then there has to more beyond that for the second or third game. And also the episodic content between installments. Post-release content, we’re planning that as well.
How does this compare as a project to the previous games you’ve done?
Ray Muzyka: Out goal at BioWare is pretty simple. Our fans are really smart, and we always want to make something that’s better than anything we’ve done before. As a goal, that’s simple to state, but hard to achieve. We’re always trying to make each game better than the last, and we’re always trying to innovate. So Mass Effect is pushing what we’ve done in every sense, in every area. Exploration, for instance. We’ve never done exploration to this extent before.
There’s a huge universe to explore, an epic place with hundreds of locations to go to. The storyline itself is a refinement of everything we’ve done before. If you liked the storyline in Knights of the Old Republic, a lot of the same writers and designers that worked on that game are working on Mass Effect, and they’ve learned from that experience. There’s tons of stuff that they’re like, “What if we could do this?” Well, they’re doing it in Mass Effect, everything they could think of. Because our turnover is really low, all of the guys who worked on Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic, and their ideas cross-pollinate.
Every game that we release, we try to make the best possible and use the best people. Digital actors, and the way we’re conveying the story, and the dialogue system itself is different than anything we’ve done before. Digital actors really push the envelope, it’s seamless how they convey emotion and use facial expressions and gestures, well beyond anything we’ve ever done. The dialogue system, the way you choose the dialogue and go in a certain emotional direction. If you want to play it and choose angry responses, you can do it. If you want to play the nice guy, you can do that. Or if you want to mix it up, you can, or just skip past all of that if you want to get back to the storyline and the action.
Source
So how’s Mass Effect coming along? What’s the status of the game?
Ray Muzyka: It’s going really well. We haven’t announced a final release date for it yet, but the team’s entering the final push. We’ve got a great team, they’re working really hard. There are 120 or 130 people working on it right now, and they’re working really hard on it. They’re committed, they’re passionate, they’re hard working. It’s an honor to work with them, they’re doing some great stuff. I just saw a video today of some of the near final levels and some of the gameplay stuff that we had recorded, that you guys will probably see. Hopefully we’ll show some of that very soon to you guys. It’s looking absolutely stunning, it’s the best stuff we’ve ever done at BioWare. I can say that with complete confidence. I think that it’s potentially the best game we’ve ever done. It’s an amazing game. It’s got exploration of all of these uncharted worlds, it’s got beautiful, beautiful characters. I think the way we’re doing dialogue and story is really accessible, and yet the depth is there, too.
So, it’s got tremendous depth in terms of the way the progression systems work, and customization, it flows naturally from dialogue to story to exploration to combat, back and forth. And I think it’s very fluid, very accessible in real time. But it’s going really well, we’re in the final push.
How is working with Microsoft? You’ve worked with them before, and you’ve done a lot of different projects with different groups.
Ray Muzyka: I have nothing but good thing to say about them. They really do care about the games developed for the system that they want to be showcases. They want them to be stand-out titles, and they’re doing everything they can to support us. They contribute resources on the dev side to help us get the max out of the hardware. The marketing and PR folks are working hard to maximize the outreach, and that’s going to ramp up really big in just a short period. The fans are going to start seeing more assets and cool stuff. I think they’re a great publisher. The good thing about being first-party is that you have the commitment from the hardware manufacturer themselves to maximize the return on the game.
You look at what they did for Gears of War last year, and they’re planning a sort of similar thing for Mass Effect this year, and it’s great to be part of that.
You mentioned the exploration elements of the game, and how you can go and find all of these uncharted worlds. What’s the breakdown going to be between the core storyline and just exploring the universe?
Ray Muzyka: Yeah, that’s a good question. I mean, it really depends on just how much you want to do on the uncharted worlds. I think it’s going to be about 40 hours or so for the main story, so it’s going to be a good-sized BioWare RPG just for the core part. Off the beaten path, there’s probably another 20 or 30 hours or so of stuff, or more, depending on how much you do and what order you do it in and all of that. It’s this non-linear exploration of uncharted worlds. You’re flying around this vast universe with hundreds of locations, where one’s a derelict spacecraft from which you get this distress call. Another might be an uncharted world with a full backstory, multi-hour storyline that you’ve got to explore and go on the surface and sub-surface and explore and find some new locations that send you off to a new location. You might be flying through space on your primary quest when you get this distress call or you hear some message. The planet’s on sensors, so do you want to explore this now or do you go back later? It’s all non-linear. The gameplay’s there for people who just want to have some fun for a couple hours and go off the beaten path. You know, upgrade the character, get in the rover, explore the world, get out of the rover, go find some quests or some combat, get some new items. Then you can go back to the main game and find a rich, compelling, deep storyline with amazing characters and incredible, beautiful graphics.
Are you still planning on Mass Effect being the first part of a series?
Ray Muzyka: That’s our goal. We’ve always thought of the storyline as part of a long-term franchise, and that’s actually more challenging for our writers, because they’ve got to think long-term. They’ve got to not only build the underlying foundation, kinda like an iceberg, where there’s so much of the base that you don’t see. But that gives the IP a weight, a gravity that makes it feel more real. And the same thing is true here. Downstream, you’ve actually got to plan out where the storyline is going. It has to be a really satisfying, climactic conclusion to the main game, but then there has to more beyond that for the second or third game. And also the episodic content between installments. Post-release content, we’re planning that as well.
How does this compare as a project to the previous games you’ve done?
Ray Muzyka: Out goal at BioWare is pretty simple. Our fans are really smart, and we always want to make something that’s better than anything we’ve done before. As a goal, that’s simple to state, but hard to achieve. We’re always trying to make each game better than the last, and we’re always trying to innovate. So Mass Effect is pushing what we’ve done in every sense, in every area. Exploration, for instance. We’ve never done exploration to this extent before.
There’s a huge universe to explore, an epic place with hundreds of locations to go to. The storyline itself is a refinement of everything we’ve done before. If you liked the storyline in Knights of the Old Republic, a lot of the same writers and designers that worked on that game are working on Mass Effect, and they’ve learned from that experience. There’s tons of stuff that they’re like, “What if we could do this?” Well, they’re doing it in Mass Effect, everything they could think of. Because our turnover is really low, all of the guys who worked on Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic, and their ideas cross-pollinate.
Every game that we release, we try to make the best possible and use the best people. Digital actors, and the way we’re conveying the story, and the dialogue system itself is different than anything we’ve done before. Digital actors really push the envelope, it’s seamless how they convey emotion and use facial expressions and gestures, well beyond anything we’ve ever done. The dialogue system, the way you choose the dialogue and go in a certain emotional direction. If you want to play it and choose angry responses, you can do it. If you want to play the nice guy, you can do that. Or if you want to mix it up, you can, or just skip past all of that if you want to get back to the storyline and the action.
Source
