X06 Story Telling panel featuring Peter Jackson...

[Morgoth]

Click here you dork. No here!

 

It's a 40 min long video where Dr. Greg (Mr. President of BioWare Corp.), Peter Molyneux (Dungeon Keeper, Black & White) and movie director Peter Jackson (Heavenly Creatures, LoTR, Big Ape Kong) discuss about story telling generally and on teh Xbox 360.

 

Very interesting what Greg mentioned about Dragon Age is that they prototyped the story in NWN first, played, refined and improved etc. and then brought it to the DA engine.

 

Even more interestingly, Jackson got a bit boring of making movies, because it's always the same structure and experience. He don't see the X360 necessarily as a gaming device, more like a "piece of technology", a choice for entertainment where he can bring his own ideas (and narrative) to it. So, no movies for the X360, but no games either. That's what the Japanese already do all the time, like bringing a musical or Karaoke to their Playstation.... well that's just one example, but still I like that approach. Even though publishers may totally disagree, I say more power to people who don't think so constrained in genres and A to B solutions!

 

Discuss. Maturely, of course. "

Edited September 29, 2006 by Morgoth

[kirottu]

Very interesting what Greg mentioned about Dragon Age is that they prototyped the story in NWN first, played, refined and improved etc. and then brought it to the DA engine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That explains why the very first screenshots looked like NWN. I just hope that they try to do it differnt enough from NWN.

[Morgoth]

No, they'll just make NWN with updated graphics. Uh-huh.

[Arkan]

So, NWN OC was a prototype for Dragon Age? No thanks.

[Deraldin]

So, NWN OC was a prototype for Dragon Age? No thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Haven't actually watched the clip, but from this quote:

 

Very interesting what Greg mentioned about Dragon Age is that they prototyped the story in NWN first, played, refined and improved etc. and then brought it to the DA engine.

 

I thought he was saying that they basically created a new campaign within the Neverwinter Nights engine before they ported everything over to the new DA engine, not that they just ported the NWN OC. I could be wrong though.

[Arkan]

So, NWN OC was a prototype for Dragon Age? No thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Haven't actually watched the clip, but from this quote:

 

Very interesting what Greg mentioned about Dragon Age is that they prototyped the story in NWN first, played, refined and improved etc. and then brought it to the DA engine.

 

I thought he was saying that they basically created a new campaign within the Neverwinter Nights engine before they ported everything over to the new DA engine, not that they just ported the NWN OC. I could be wrong though.

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.

 

Hmm...possibly. That still sounds weird, though.

[Deraldin]

Hmm...possibly. That still sounds weird, though.

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I'm not disputing that. It does sound odd, but at least I think it makes more sense. "

[butterfly]

Hmm...possibly. That still sounds weird, though.

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Not really , this way they could already start designing the campaign before the engine was finalised.

 

Qwb,

[Arkan]

Hmm...possibly. That still sounds weird, though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not really , this way they could already start designing the campaign before the engine was finalised.

 

Qwb,

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That requires them to build it in the NWN engine first?

[butterfly]

Hmm...possibly. That still sounds weird, though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not really , this way they could already start designing the campaign before the engine was finalised.

 

Qwb,

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

That requires them to build it in the NWN engine first?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Dialogue, quest design, area layout and prolly other stuff could be prototyped in the nwn engine before stable tools for the da engine are available.

 

qwb,

[Morgoth]

*sigh*

 

From the Bio boards:

 

Quote: Posted 09/29/06 16:10:50 (GMT) by Cat Lance

More than likely they used the NWN engine for storyboarding because it allowed movement and pacing in a way a drawing on a peice of paper cannot.

 

Dave Gaider says:

 

That's pretty much it. You have to ignore what you're seeing as far as levels and models and such, as well as the overall gameplay. What it's for is to give us an idea how the dialogue and story flows -- because just reading it all in the editor doesn't tell you have it plays. And that allows us to get feedback from each other before everything is nailed down.

 

The storyboarding in NWN has, in fact, allowed DA's story to be much more critically examined than any other game I've worked on so far -- to its benefit. There isn't a single time we've revised a plot or a chapter without it turning out better. With previous games, plots were often only playable once they were near their final state -- and revisions at that point become painful as well as costly, and sometimes simply couldn't be done for the sake of expedience even if we really wanted to.

 

The downside is perhaps that it's really hard to ignore the graphics and gameplay. Sometimes you don't like something and you have to sit and ponder whether it was because the story wasn't right or because the prototyping was what made it not right. But otherwise I'd say it's totally an advantage.

 

Now, everything clear?

[Volourn]

No. Everyone now knows that DA's story is an exact replica of NWN OC. Arkan said so, and he's the law.

Edited September 30, 2006 by Volourn

[Llyranor]

*sigh*

 

From the Bio boards:

 

Quote: Posted 09/29/06 16:10:50 (GMT) by Cat Lance

More than likely they used the NWN engine for storyboarding because it allowed movement and pacing in a way a drawing on a peice of paper cannot.

 

Dave Gaider says:

 

That's pretty much it. You have to ignore what you're seeing as far as levels and models and such, as well as the overall gameplay. What it's for is to give us an idea how the dialogue and story flows -- because just reading it all in the editor doesn't tell you have it plays. And that allows us to get feedback from each other before everything is nailed down.

 

The storyboarding in NWN has, in fact, allowed DA's story to be much more critically examined than any other game I've worked on so far -- to its benefit. There isn't a single time we've revised a plot or a chapter without it turning out better. With previous games, plots were often only playable once they were near their final state -- and revisions at that point become painful as well as costly, and sometimes simply couldn't be done for the sake of expedience even if we really wanted to.

 

The downside is perhaps that it's really hard to ignore the graphics and gameplay. Sometimes you don't like something and you have to sit and ponder whether it was because the story wasn't right or because the prototyping was what made it not right. But otherwise I'd say it's totally an advantage.

 

Now, everything clear?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've read about this a very long time ago.

 

Given how they can prototype the design and see how it actually works on the fly, it's pretty cool.