How do you make sure that the largest BioWare/LucasArts game ever made happens on time, at the level of quality that people expect from BioWare? Various members of our team have said this in the press before, but I think that folks have generally thought we were being glib. Let me be clear. We aren’t kidding. Building Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is essentially building Star Wars™: Knights of the Old Republic™ (KOTOR) 3 through KOTOR 10, and then shipping them all at once. There is as much story content here as in all BioWare games combined. As you might imagine, making sure this content all gets done, tested and tuned is a massive undertaking, and it requires the dedication and focus of everyone on the content team to make it all happen.
Our Content Team actually consists of many sub-teams: Writing, Worldbuilding, Scripting, Environmental Art, Combat Design, Combat Art (animations and f/x), Combat Programming, Gameplay Systems Design, UI Art, Gameplay Systems Programming, Audio and of course Quality Assurance. Each of these teams has a huge amount of work to get done, and they all need to coordinate on a per-planet basis. We are very committed to early playability and testing to make sure we are making a fun, complete game.
For instance, the planet of Korriban (home world of the Sith) went through the following process:
- First the Writing team researched every single detail about Korriban. Having the lead designer from KOTOR as our lead designer helped a great deal but there’s been plenty of fantastic fiction written about the planet since then and it’s important to our fiction teams that we are accurate and embrace the legacy of the great content creators that came before us.
- Reams of history and look & feel documents in hand, the Writing team then set out to create the basic stories and quests for the planet. This involved first a high level overview document that detailed exactly what was happening politically and socially on the planet, as well as what experience we wanted the Players to have and what Classes were going to be adventuring there.
- After the prep work came the real writing, rewriting, peer reviews and more rewriting until we knew Korriban was exactly what we wanted it to be. Good writing comes from rewriting and the same fearless commitment to quality over ego that the entire creation team has to have. Though we knew more changes would come later, we finally had something to start the rest of the process with.
- Next the Concept Art team painted concepts for all of the major areas and art assets for the planet. Every single piece of Korriban from the furniture to the interrogation rooms has to have a particular look and the Concept team worked tirelessly to make sure they had captured the essence of the Sith Empire and what their most sacred planet would feel like.
- While Concept was working the Scripting team hooked up the stories and quests in a basic, box test level, so that a first round of feedback could be assessed. Revisions were made for pacing and structure. Interactive storytelling is far more than dialogue writing and at each stage we have to reevaluate how the experience feels.
- Once we were happy with the test level scripting, the Worldbuilding team laid out a simple version of the planet in our game engine (basic look, proper layout and size), ran through the grey world to plan game flow and visual storytelling. Again there were many revisions and whole sections of Korriban that needed to be rearranged because they didn’t pass muster. Only then was it handed off to the Environmental Art team.
- The Environmental artists then took that simple grey planet and lovingly painted it, filled it with objects, created the terrain and brought it to life, finally lighting it to match the concept art exactly.
- Then came the Combat Systems team (design, art and programming) to build and test all of the character classes (abilities, combat effects, pathing, NPC behaviors, etc) that would be on Korriban and make sure they specifically played well on the planet that had been built. Spawns were moved, skills adjusted, to make the experience the best it could be.
- At the same time the Gameplay systems team (design, UI art and programming) built all of the complex RPG systems you would expect (looting, inventory, quest journals, maps, etc) that make it a complete game.
- Once everything was running as expected, the Audio team had to come in and add the sound effects and music that give Korriban its mood and style.
- And finally, the QA team had to play through the game at every single step and make sure it was all functioning as designed—despite all of the groups above tweaking with things constantly. That’s a huge job by itself.
All of this has to happen at essentially the same time, and it has to be done in a way such that a) nobody is stepping on anyone else’s toes and b) the end result is a complete, playable experience that we feel comfortable putting in front of people who weren’t working directly on the game. And did I mention that this is just one planet? We have multiple planets being worked on at any given time, so that we have a constant flow of testable content finishing up every few weeks for internal testing.
This is what my job entails. Luckily, it also means that I “have to” play the game a lot. I’m thrilled to be a part of a company with the legacy of quality that BioWare has. On top of that, to be working on a project that is the successor to KOTOR is like the icing on the cake.
Dallas Dickinson
Senior Content Producer
dallas dickinson | developer blog | senior content producer
COMMENTS
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All i can say is content. Being a wow player i have seen some people go through sleepless nights and in 2 weeks or less max out there level only to ask "where is there stuff to do?". Many a MMO has come and gone due to the fact that there was not enough diversity. Not enough places to visit, areas to explore, missions once you reach max level. I truly hope that the developers know this. Being a SW fan since I can remember I truly want this game to reach greatness. |
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Please make it so we can customize the body so we can play fat Jedi or totally ripped or total body builder like pro bodybuilders and don't tell me they don't have training facilities in the star wars universe for there Troopers etc or the technology to body build . And yes that bounty hunter looks big but hes not ripped like a pro bodybuilder and not half the size of one either. |
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I'm curious if they will give players the ability to have their own starship or star fighter like KOTOR did. |
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They have decided that Player-owned starships are necessary, but they aren't sure whether they'll integrate from the beginning of the game, or as a content update. |
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I hope there will be a massive amount of character customization. It would break my heart if everyone ran around looking the same, like in WOW. |
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Bioware is renowned for their character creation systems in Mass Effect or Dragon Age. I think for them to not include such detailed character creation would be a step back. |
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hopefully they do it like in Aion and let you edit literally everything about the charactor |
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Hey I don't really get it! How can there be stories in an MMO if a fat kid from Bahamas calls you n00b? How could this surpass KotOR? Cause if that's true, then how will battles be? If I'm a Jedi, for instance, Plz reply! |
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i could not agree more iRoid, i hope they go crazy with customization in every way |
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i couldnt say it better. character customization needs to me a HUGE part. i really hope character customization is a huge part of this. |
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i just hope its affordable, and easy on ur comp. but take as much time as you need, make it good.>=) |
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A lesson is to be learned from Age of Conan... if you add too much pretty graphics, crazy combat system, and features like dismemberment... you cannot have nearly the amount of audience you want. not everyone has brand new video cards with a pure gaming computer. I just hope you guys dont overdo it, and make it so that only a select few can play. my computer handles LOTRO fine, and WoW great. but i would lag like hell on AoC. i hope you bring the right kind of look, without bringing so much that it becomes top heavy and falls over. i expect this game to have the second biggest MMO population within a year. if the graphics and shiny buttons are too amped up, no one could play smoothly. and if you are lagging every two steps, graphics dont make it look any better. |
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All I can say is...wow.Stupendous.Insane even!This will be perhaps the best new MMOrpg game out there.I'm so happy I could dance- and get all the clones to join in too :P Keep up the good work Bioware and LucasArts. May the Force be with you..always. -El |
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We aren’t kidding. Building Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is essentially building Star Wars™: Knights of the Old Republic™ (KOTOR) 3 through KOTOR 10, and then shipping them all at once. There is as much story content here as in all BioWare games combined. Man I like the sound of that! And wizz on consoles! Go play your HALO and Crysis, and leave TOR to the big boys. |
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couldn't of said it better myself! if i wanted to play an FPS i'd play an FPS, i for one like immersion i like to have a reason for killing NPC's.. i feel guilty for slaughtering NPC's i feel for their families back home. (strange i know but to me thats the sign of a EXCELLENT game because it makes you feel sad, i'm the same when i squah a fly i imagine the baby flies crying lol) |
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Pay-to-play? that totallly just ruined it for me(as well as everyone else). just come out on a console and be done with it.. |
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The monthly payment is for the game developers. It allows them to continue to expand and enhance their game even after release. Xbox Live is fine for what it does, but consoles are very limited machines compared to a PC. If you have a steady income, $15 is, in my opinion, a worthy sacrifice. |
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Pay to play, yer concerned about price??? This could be the best game ever. I suppose you want BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, & Lamborghini to make their vehicles all as affordable as a Ford...write this down ( YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! ) Games that NEVER end are obviously going to cost more, but I suppose you pay for dial up internet services too, no, how much do you pay for that high speed internet connection to play X-Box Live?? That's what I thought....Ignorance must be bliss... -The guy who's willing to pay $20/month to play this baby... |
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okay how often do you waste 15 a month? lets say on snack foods? soda? magazines? eating out at mc donalds? you expect them to make a game bigger then all their other games and pay 60? why wouldnt they mak a kotor 3 with the same amount of content as the last ones and make money. because making an MMO takes massive amounts of money. so instead of crying over 15 bucks that you could waste every month think of it this way. how many people play nothing but wow 90% of their gaming time. alot. not out of all gamers but alot of ppl addicted to mmo's well those people are saving money. i used to buy about 2-3 games a month on pc or xbox or ps3. so i was spending anywhere from 120-180 bucks a month on games to play them for 3-4 days fully beat them then be done with them. as apposed to paying 15 and being so into the game i dont play much else. its to each his own but dont cry about 15$ a month when you know you spend your 20 allowance on candy and comic books little timmy. |
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i think swmtormaster has a point. |
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Look, I am a poor Hungarian guy, we are making our living out of 40-50 thousand Hungaian Forints per month, that's 203-254 USD! I will play with the game, even if I am poor, I am a STAR WARS fan, a Sith fan, and I don't give a @#˛% about money, if it comes to STAR WARS, and a real girlfriend needs only your company, your love, and your caring, if the only thing that matters to her is money, than you sould dump her, you know, it doesn't really matter how hot she looks like, the important thing is her soul, because she can be smokin' hot but she also can me still a moron, think about this, my friend... All hail the SITH EMPIRE, and it's superb wisdom! :P |
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lelouchiszero
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this is off the topic of the page but hopefully the developers will read this. i would like to ask if ther is going to be a certain pilot class or will any body be able to fly a ship? and how will ships be aquired? will they be like mounts on WOW or will they be perchased when you aquire enough money? and will you be able to fly others around? and if so will there be a limit to how many people that you can fly around like only members in your party or in your guild or possibly a "raid" type party to attack the opposing force? or will it be limited by the type of ship you have can you only have certain types of ships for certain classes? can only smugglers have "ebon hawk" type ships while bounty hunters are stuck to smaller ships and troopers have LAAT gunships. or can you choose to buy whichever one you want? and if so how will they be priced and can you have more than one? will there be pirate npc's or pc's? can you beat a fighter in battle and take supplies from ther ship or there ship? if its all about choice couldnt you change sides and be a bounty hunter that becomes a tool of the republic or a sith that converts to the light side?(sorry off even my own topic now) back to the ships can republic buy empire ships from neutral worlds? and vice versa? there are many possible choices to make when it comes to ships. will ther be space battles? and if so on how large of a scale could you perchase complete battle stations? could that be a guilds home? (if anybody has played dot.hack sign/ then you know where i get this idea( maybe if if if battle stations out in space are guild "homes" then maybe a member could invite another person to get temp access to it with say a pass made by the leader so that guild leaders( from diff guilds) could meet in places that random annoying players wouldnt bother them and possible be able to set up tournaments or game challenges that they could submit to the developers to "write in existance"(btw game writers literally get to play god lol and people tell me im crazy when i say that people play god and get away with it all the time haha im slitely crazy) and maybe it could occaionally put up pay touney or event to help make it woth the extea time.) and will your ship ever go through battle and if you get beat would you have to wait til someone answers a distress call and maybe have to buy a new ship if it goes boom? well i would like to hear feedback from everybody that has the patience to read this and hopefully the game developers read and consider my ideas. so comment on this and let me know what you think and anybody that thinks im insane lets be friends. |
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Hey guys, do you remember the writer of this blog entry, Dallas *****inson? He is the one who said gamers were happy with New Gaming Enchantmens of Star Wars: Galaxies. In other words, he was one of the guys (if not he is 'the one') who ruined SW: Galaxies. And Mr. *****inson worked on The Force Unleashed too, which simply sucked. HE RUINED THESE GAMES, HOW CAN BIOWARE LET THIS GUY WORK ON THEIR BIGGEST PROJECT?! "On top of that, to be working on a project that is the successor to KOTOR is like the icing on the cake." He means ruining the successor to KotOR I think. I'm getting really worried about this game. Please, please do not ruin this game too, Mr. D. |
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Oh by the way he only said players were happy with it, doesn't mean he personally designed it, it was sony who NGE'd swg in the face and made it horrible, as they do with all their games. |
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I agree, they NGE'd sw galaxies in the face and made that game horrible.. But I personally liked the force unleashed, it was a good game. |
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I'm sure it will be fine the game will be epic! |
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You got to also understand that he is "working with" the bioware team. BW Has a long history of making things right and im sure that if something goes against there better judgment, they'll make sure that their voice is heard. In a game like this where you have a team of writes from both sides. Lucasarts and BW they will work together to accomplish whats they want. After all this im sure LA wont wanna lose BW over a writing dispute. :P |
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Personally i really liked force unleashed. never played SW galaxies but only herd a few good things. SW galaxies was one of his stepping stone to get here. I assume he has leaned from his mistakes and will only help cover us in the SW universe. |
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lay off on the guy im sure he is very intelegent and able to make this game trully epic . you could mabey send him an email with some helpful ideas or things you would like to see in the game |
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Hey, I wrote his surname and the site censored it. Interesting... |
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This developer blog in particular really caught my interest. I've always wanted to know how developers actually created a game. They start by researching, then scripting, followed by world layout, then the environment is "painted", and finally comes other stuff like UI, interactive gameplay, and finally music and dialog. Wow I'm impressed, Bioware. These guys did a great job with KOTOR 1, and after gaining experience from that, TOR ought to be a real treat. :) |
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There is no Dark Side, nor a Light Side |
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I'd really like to see as much diversity as possible fromthis game... lightsaber techniques/hilt styles (design/single/double/dual weild)/blade colors/crystal variations/force powers/facial morphing... also, the ability to mix different clothing/armor, being able to put different shoulder pads on an outfit, or a different cloak, or boots... I'd like to be able to make a character that is unique, I'd hate to see someone else running around looking exactly like me... anyway, I'm liking what I'm seeing so far... it looks amazing |
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i dident really read it but so......... not sure what they mean..... forget that'' Any ways when does the game come out? |
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Probably early 2010(january-march?) |
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Working with Lucas Arts on any Star Wars project is always a huge undertaking. The amount of detail and teamwork needed is just staggering. I think we as players take companies like BioWare for granted to often and are quicker to point out flaws rather than compliment. As part of the gaming community i would personally like to thank everyone involved in SWTOR for their dedication and hard work in order to bring us one kick @#$! experience. |
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Things I know about you 1. Your reading my comment |
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lol clever stuff |
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XD now I can stay in contact with my nerdy friends and parents without the boring myspace and phone! |
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I AM SOOO PSYCHED FOR THIS!Sounds soooo awesome! |
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Were not Nerds Werre Just Starwarz JuNkies. Trekkies Now theres sum Nerds :) |
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All of that work, it shows some commitment. I've been so excited for this ever since I saw the title. It looks amazing. I hope your using some of the content based off of SWG though. I like in SWG how there are combat classes, but there are also non combat classes for that different kind of gamer. ----- |
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This is what I like to call a team! People really must work toghether to achieve results here! |
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as a game design student? reading stuff like this makes me grin. can't wait to be in your position of keeping the whole thing running smoothly. Best of luck guys :) Simmonsj |
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amazing,maybe a character creation vid would be nice to see, for me that is everything, its my favorite part of online gaming but probably won't appear until every class is revealed looking forward to seeing how the soldier/trooper type class will play as well (kinda just guessing) but you guys are doing great and keep up the awesome work.0xxxxxx}=================> |
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I have heard people talking on player housing. Not sure there is going to be player housing in the game. in fact I would rather they not have it or at the least keep it simple. Also wondering if there will be trophies for accomplishing really difficult quests. I know some people would not care if they don't add some kind of "Trophy" system into the game but I think it is cool cause then you can see what people have done in the game. I know it helps people make a name for themselves. Since this new Bounty Hunter class has been revealed I am also excited to see if they add a kill sheet to them. Bounty Hunters are supposed to be feared. How better to fear someone then to see a long name of people they have killed. Just some thoughts for people to rattle around in there heads. |
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Also AGAIN, why do you people keep asking for it to be/if it will be on the xbox? 1. MMOs cant platform over to console for live |
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I been waiting Patiently for a while now and still no making of Korriban or anything involving sith. You made the Jedi Planet Tython now give us Sith something to Drool over. I am a little Irritated atm and frackly you give the Jedi some love but not the Sith? Not a good start Bioware. You should have done Tython then Korriban not The hut planet after tython. Give Us something to Drool on Hell i don't care if its new pictures of korriban than a making of it like you did with Tython but give us something. anything, The 3 page webcomic that comes out every 3 months don't cut it either. You guys have a lot of people working on this. And Your Guy's Jobs is to Appeal to ur Customers. And The Customer is always right. I am sorry as i said i am a little Irritated right now. But Seriously u are Being so dang Vage on everything your putting into the game its annoying And your holding stuff back. Hutta could have waited its not as important than Korriban In story or any other sense. I Could rant longer but there wouldn't be much point i said all i needed to say, So Please Do give us something anything about Korriban, Making or new pictures , (hopefuly making) Otherwise you guys are doing a good job and keep it up thx -Kioth |
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ffxi was for ps2 and 360...im just saying.. |
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Remember they are making multiple planets at the same time. They are just controlling info and adding suspense to what they put out next. Korriban is going to be amazing. They always put out stuff about the good guys first, then the neutral aligned, and then they put out the stuff on the evil in the shadows before they strike. I can't wait to see the screen shots of the Sith home world. I know it is not very sith like to be patient and wait for it but your going to have to be cause you have no choice. So do what a sith would do. Pace back and forth with a grumpy look on your face until they release the info you are waiting for. :P |
AUTHOR
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SeanDahlberg |
| Other Posts | Date |
| Developer Blog: Creating Ord Mantell | 04.24.2009 |
| Developer Blog: Creating the Bounty Hunter | 04.03.2009 |
| Developer Blog: Creating the Polluted World of Hutta | 03.06.2009 |
| Developer Blog: Mark How | 01.02.2009 |
| Developer Blog: Welcome to the Community | 10.21.2008 |
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