Eurogamer Expo 2011: Interview with Daniel Erickson
Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for BioWare on Star Wars: The Old Republic, was kind enough to grace us with a moment of his time for an interview. Along with stunning us with his striking personal appearance customization, the man of action gave us heaps details on writing for PvP, challenges when creating content around established characters, designing around story variables, and more.
Story telling in computer games seems to have a number of possibilities that more traditional story telling doesn't, like letting the player dictate the action. What new constraints does it have, if any?
Daniel Erickson: There are some constraints in an MMO specifically that we do not have in a single player RPG. The number one thing is I can't trap you. You might be off to play Hutt Ball or wanting to do the space game or whatever. I can't say, "Oh and now the evil Sith stuck you in prison, and until you figure out this puzzle, you can't go out." So you're like, "Oh yeah? Quick travel! Goodbye! Broke your game." So it actually challenges us a lot as writers to make sure that the content is appealing and players want to be going after it. And it makes us have to avoid some of the cheap outs we would use.
Is it hard not having those outs?
Sometimes when you're doing the sheer amount of content that we do. We had to do more Star Wars stories than basically all other BioWare stories put together. Sometimes, yeah, you'd like to just stick somebody in a jail cell. But no can do.
Hit the jump to read the interview in full.
The Old Republic has a unique place in MMO RPG classification mainly because of the story element that is in there. Can you speak to BioWare's approach to furthering story and war elements post release?
Can't talk a lot about what we're doing post release. Obviously we're trying to keep the focus on what's going on now. I will say that I still have a job and my team is actually growing and not shrinking.
So people out there that are aspiring writers should look for BioWare writing positions?
People out there who are good aspiring writers go to BioWare.com and look for jobs or positions.
What was the challenge in creating content in Star Wars: The Old Republic around some of the Knights of the Old Republic main characters, like HK-47 and Revan, when you have two different factions and eight different classes?
There really wasn't a huge challenge around it. It was just basically figuring out very early what was stuff that we wanted all classes to know and what were things that were better kept in particular story lines. Obviously we've got James Ohlen, who was the Lead Designer for Knights of the Old Republic, and later on in the project we actually brought in Drew Karpyshyn, who was the Lead Writer. So we had all the authority to do all the things we wanted to do. And then it was really just logistics.
What consideration did the writing team have when authoring content for the Sith Emperor?
Really for the Sith Emperor it is me. I kept full control. In fact, for a very long time I would not put the background document up that actually explained what the Emperor was or what was happening. Even in our public access for internal stuff, so people would have to come get it from me specifically. We guarded it very, very closely. And I really went and made sure that I was personally involved in shaping anything that happened there.
Will players be able to fully advance the story line of all their companion characters, or will favoring one eventually make it unable to go through the full content of the others?
You'll never actually block one. You might actually make one angry because of your attentions to another one, but that's where the gift systems are really nice. So you can actually say, "Oh yeah, sorry I two timed you with that other person. But look! Presents!"
Speaking of giving things to the companions, you released a developer video talking about companions in specific. And they were talking about adding the ability to change the look of the companion. Can you go a little bit more into that or how that works?
This was a hugely demanded feature from testing. People loved the companions, loved playing with them, loved the stuff. They really got antsy when they ran into other people that had their same companion. It is actually a kit so you can switch them out, and you can get more of them. Some of them are going in different vendors. Some of them can be done from quest stuff. There might be some that come from crafting, and other interesting things.
And you can drop a kit on and give a completely different look to your companion. So if you want to do a sort of theme for all your companions, if you guys all want to be rocking out and sort of that same feel, you can. If you just decide, "Hey, I've had enough of this particular look," or you don't like that too many people are using it, whatever. Or you just think, "Hey, I love the personality, but that's not my idea of what my hot love interest should look like," well, update.
Is that single dimension for the kit, or can you stack kits? You showed the Twi'lek started blue and then there was a red Twi'lek that had black tattoos, and then there was a green Twi'lek. Are there multiple kits or is there only one?
There are multiple kits, like there is a red twi'lek that is this and this and that. But they are all set looks. We are not opening up the bar, as we still want the companion characters to look like themselves and have an aspect. Even the more exotic Vettes are based off some piece of her personality, like some piece to where when we put her in, when we ran the VO. The alternative kits actually took a long time and most of them I did because we still had to make sure they all looked and felt like that companion. It is not a Lego set. It is a "here, you can buy this alternative look."
When we spoke two years ago, kits were used for changing abilities and how your companions work. One thing mentioned in the recent video was that there are five basic types of companions and every character will get these five, but they'll just get them in different order based on what the characters are. So what are the five different types of companions?
I am not Georg Zoeller, so this is not final and all of this might change. I believe it is: ranged tank, melee tank, ranged DPS, melee DPS, and healer. That is what makes sense running through them in my mind. That doesn't mean there are only five companions; it means everyone's going to get those roles covered. There are some companions that actually can cover more than one role in some situations. There are some fairly interesting companions that can go different directions.
You mentioned the companion kits that used to be in there. Those are gone because companions now have full classes. They go up in levels, and they get new skills. You can turn those skills on and off to actually run your own little AI programs for them. You can decide to have your companion bar up and use their entire bar of skills personally yourself just like extra skills.
We went away from the "Hey, here's a guy with a couple powers that you can switch one of them out," to "Here is a fully developed, complete character," because we finally got the tech to let you not have to worry about them if you didn't want to. Right now I'm running a tank Inquisitor, and when I use a DPS guy, I don't want him doing AOE damage. I'm trying to keep aggro on me especially if I'm running Heroics. I like to try to do the two man Heroics by myself, and that's my excitement. I'm always like, "Ooh, it is a two man! I can do that!" So I really don't want him pulling agro, and I'll go through his stuff as if to say, "Yeah, do all your big things, but don't do this." But maybe I'll go ahead and keep his AOE piece just in case I want to fire it off in a particular situation.
How complex does the scripting actually get? For example, on healing abilities do you actually set them on when my life is at less than 50% I use this heal, or is it just to use them or not?
To use them or not, and they already have rules for them that come up on the help text. Different skills will have different rules to them. It is really an on or off; it is not trying to go in and do all the complexities of the Dragon Age thing. For example, you have to remember for your healers that those rules and their AI behavior do not just have to handle you, but it has to handle your whole party. As you switch in with other people, your companions are also working off them. Which meant the amount of scripting it would take to do specifics was just yeah, it would be pages and pages if I have three people. It is much better handled by the AI.
Speaking of companions, Blizz is starting to become kind of a fan favorite. Some people are saying, "I want Blizz, but I don't want to play the Bounty Hunter." Will any of the companions have the possibility of going between other classes or are they always going to be class-specific?
All of the class-specific companions stay class-specific. They will not be jumping. There may be some additional secrets out there.
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Posted 9/29/2011 5:34:36 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/24/2011 11:36:40 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/24/2011 9:15:52 AMGAH... I hate stupid people. -_- ( I know, nothing new, it's just always hitting me in the brain :( )
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Posted 9/24/2011 8:31:05 AMEvery time a question about SGRAs is asked, the response (unless it's a planned response) seems to always be the same. No or no comment. Argh! Wish they'd just say, "f*ck the po-lice, it'll be in." Instead, they have to appear neutral so as to not aggravate either side of the issue. Le sigh.
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Posted 9/26/2011 6:58:22 AMBesides, you know how exciting it will be for those people who want it in to see a flirt option with a companion randomly. They'll flip their sh^t. haha
But honestly I think its just because its not in yet and they don't want to make promises.
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Posted 9/24/2011 4:26:36 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/24/2011 7:44:00 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/24/2011 6:15:45 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/24/2011 5:54:07 AMI knew it. This out of context quote proves it, and now we know.
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Posted 9/29/2011 2:17:46 PM*Emperor's chair slowly turns around to reveal a bald man with a portion of his robe cut out to display his rock hard abs.*
Emperor: Absolutely.
Jedi Knight: Only a Sith deals in absolutes. *ignites lightsaber*
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Posted 9/24/2011 7:22:27 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/24/2011 4:29:12 AMNot REALLY strengthening my already wavering faith, Mister.
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Posted 9/24/2011 3:38:21 AMLoved all DE's answers except the "no".
That threw me off a bit.
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Posted 9/24/2011 7:46:37 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/24/2011 5:47:28 AMThey've already said they will allow it, so we know their position. Any further discussion will just make it more and more about "this" issue and less about the game.
They kept it low key in Dragon Age too.