Darth Hater

Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

  • GDC Online 2011: Day 2 Live Blog Coverage

    Today's GDC Online 2011 coverage kicks off with a live blog of the 'Rapid MMO Content Iteration and Validation with Spatial Analysis in Star Wars: The Old Republic' talk with speaker Georg Zoeller.



    For the live blog in full, hit the jump.

  • GDC Online 2011: Day 1 Live Blog Coverage

    Today's GDC Online 2011 coverage kicks off with a live blog of the 'Building a Bridge Between Design and Writing' talk with speakers Hall Hood, Wynne McLaughlin, and Blake Rebouche. Throughout the day we will bring you live blog coverage of all of the various talks at the event. A full schedule follows below.



    Editor's Note: The following panels are focused on the general game experience and knowledge of the following speakers. Little, if any, of the following conversations will pertain information relevant to Star Wars: The Old Republic. I implore all readers to consider this when reading.

  • GDC Online 2011: Final Details on Panels

    The overlords at GDC Online released their session schedule for the exhibition. BioWare Austin will be represented by Damion Schubert, Rich Vogel, Ken Shuck, Erik Olsen, Blake Rebouche, Hall Hood, Wynne McLaughlin and the previously announced, always entertaining Georg Zoeller. Their topics will be:

    • Blake Rebouche, Wynne McLaughlin and Hall Hood - Building a Bridge Between Design and Writing

    • Erik Olsen (with Cody Bye of ZAM, Gordon Walton of Playdom and Donovan Duncan of Curse) - Full Immersion: Taking Your Game Everywhere

    • Damion Schubert - Double-Coding: Making Online Games for Both the Casual and the Hardcore

    • Georg Zoeller - Rapid MMO Content Iteration and Validation with Spatial Analysis in Star Wars: The Old Republic

    • Rich Vogel and Ken Shuck - What's Beyond Agile?


    GDC Online 2011 will occur from October 10 to October 13 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. For the full schedule of all speakers and panels, please visit the GDC Online website.

    UPDATE: Gamasutra spoke with Georg Zoeller about his panel. Head over to Gamasutra to read the full interview.

    The description, date, time and location of each BioWare session follows the jump.

  • GDC Online 2011: Building a Bridge Between Design and Writing Panel Announced

    GDC Online is only a few short months away and the teasing of developers from BioWare holding panels is not making the wait any easier. As you heard before, Georg Zoeller will be speaking at GDC Online. However, a new panel appeared on the GDC Online page with a whole assortment of speakers.

    SPEAKER/S: Blake Rebouche (Bioware Austin), Wynne McLaughlin (BioWare Austin) and Hall Hood (BioWare Austin)
    DAY / TIME / LOCATION: TBD
    TRACK / DURATION / LEVEL / FORMAT: Game Narrative Summit / 60-Minute / All / Lecture

    DESCRIPTION: In the quest to present both compelling narratives and great gameplay, conflicts sometimes emerge between the increasingly specialized and discrete creative visions held by game writers and designers. What steps can we as developers take to bring the worlds of writing and design closer together, even as these two groups are forced into increasingly specialized roles? Join three developers from BioWare Austin with perspectives from both sides of the issue for their thoughts on the topic and a group discussion with attendees.

    IDEA TAKEAWAY: Attendees will take away from the talk a historical perspective on the core conflict between game writers and designers, an understanding of how their two roles have diverged over time due to specialization, and a collection of thoughts and best practices on how to foster healthy collaboration between them.

    INTENDED AUDIENCE: This talk is intended for game writers and designers of all experience levels who work on projects requiring cooperation and understanding between these two creative design forces. No prerequisite knowledge is required, apart from a desire to tell compelling stories married with compelling player interaction.

    As GDC Online reveals more events leading up to the date it takes place (October 10-13), you can expect us to let you know.

  • GDC Online 2011: BioWare's Georg Zoeller on Rapid MMO Content Iteration and Validation

    It is still the early planning stages but GDC Online is already showing promise for people looking to learn more about Star Wars: The Old Republic. At past GDC events, we have heard from plenty of BioWare Austin developers including Damion Schubert, Rich Vogel, and Gordon Walton among others. While GDC Online is an industry only event, it usually holds some nice tidbits about The Old Republic and this year seems to be turning out the same.

    In one of the first events announced for this years GDC Online, Georg Zoeller hosts a session called 'Rapid MMO Content Iteration and Validation with Spatial Analysis in Star Wars: The Old Republic.'

    Description: Using examples from Star Wars: The Old Republic, this lecture focuses on how spatial analysis can be used to support a rapid content iteration process during the late stages of MMO development. The lecture will show how BioWare's homegrown 'HoloProjector' spatial visualization toolkit is used in day to day development to surface user behavior metrics down to the developers on the ground for decision making and content validation. The talk will show a selection of interesting 2D and 3D visualizations, discuss lessons learned and provide information on how to get started with the topic on your own project.

    Idea Takeaway: Attendees will learn how BioWare leverages spatial analysis on user generated playtest data to contextualize and better understand user feedback and behavior and how this can be used to rapidly iterate and improve game content.

    Even though it is early, I am sure all of us would love to see this HoloProjector first hand. As GDC Online reveals more events leading up to the date it takes place (October 10-13), you can expect us to let you know.

  • GDC 2011: Damion Schubert on Designing for Soloers

    This past week saw the Game Developer's Conference (or GDC) take place in San Francisco. This unique conference is a font of information for everyone following video games. Last week we reported on one talk that might be of interest for fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Today, Jef Reahard from Massively gives us a great rundown of another talk by BioWare's own Damion Schubert about creating MMO content with solo players in mind. Hit the jump for some special excerpts from his talk.

  • GDC: Localizing Star Wars: The Old Republic

    The 2011 Game Developer Conference takes place this week and as scheduled, the first of BioWare's panels discusses Localizing Star Wars: The Old Republic called "Localization and Development: A Love Story...That Leads to Great Business!" Gamasutra brings us the details of this talk on Localization lead by Gordon Walton of Playdom (formerly Co-Studio Director of BioWare Austin) and BioWare's Localization Representative Ian Mitchell.

    "We have dedicated teams building our localization toolsets," he said. "I can't stress enough how important it is to have good tools. [If not], your process can't be facilitated and it makes it impossible" to get the development team to work with you.

    The tools are built "to empower the localization team"; it's a cross-project tool suite because this "encourages reuse and helps sharing of knowledge" He describes BioWare's localization tools as "an organic construction of tools that build on one another."

    Check out Gamasutra for the article in its entirety.

  • GDC: A Conversation With BioWare's Damion Schubert

    During our time in Austin, we had the opportunity to speak with Damion Schubert, Star Wars: The Old Republic Lead System Designer. The name should be familiar with those heavily following the game's development, as he frequently authors guest columns for Game Developer Magazine, and we watch his blog like hawks for possible clues about potential game systems. One of his past presentations to game developers inspired us to start specific forums to allow the Darth Hater community to discuss the implications to endgame design. Since Schubert is extremely busy working on the lucrative game systems we'll see in action soon, we are grateful he took the time to have his first casual conversation in over a year with us.



    What do you consider yourself in the Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology?

    Damion Schubert: I am an achiever/explorer first and foremost. The interesting thing is -- and there is probably good research on this -- that every time I took the test in my life, it moved a bit so I am fairly well-centered. When I was running my own company, Killer actually spiked to the top. Now it is back in last place again which I think means I am in a relatively healthy place again.

    Can you describe for us what you do and what you specifically work on in Star Wars: The Old Republic?

    I am the Lead Systems Designer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This means I am in charge of pretty much all of the systems in the game that don't relate to combat, the RPG, or story. That includes guilds, crafting, and some of the other systems that are coming down the pipe. Those are in my domain; imagine character creation, etc. My daily job is to interface with the gameplay programmers to get those features into the game, then iterating on them so they get to the point where they are fun, interesting, and balanced. And the team that I manage does the itemization for the game as well as creating the maps for the game. That is pretty much what my crew does.

    How big is this crew?

    I have a four person team under me. Most of our job is design documentation, itemization, and maps.

    Are these some of the people we saw in the Developer Dispatches?

    Not yet. Emanuel is currently the Associate Lead Designer. He works on basically whatever is our hottest topic is at the time, "hey, this needs to be fixed and focused on." And then Georg is Lead Combat Designer and is pretty much my equal inside the structure. He is worried about the RPG as well as the class balance and the class structure. That is what he spends all of his time focusing on, and he has four or five people under him. My team and his team sit in the same office together, so we have a lot of interaction with this because it is pretty important. The itemization speaks to the balance, and we want to be sure that crafting is important in the game. It is really important to us that crafters are a viable and important part of the economy so we need to make sure they fit into the balance there. There is a lot of back and forth between the two groups.

    Of the systems that you work on, which one is your favorite?

    We're really proud of the crafting system. We can't wait to talk to you about it, and it is going to be really soon.

  • GDC: Strategies for Successfully Running an MMO from Launch and Beyond



    The final day of GDC Austin started off early this morning with an insightful look at what it takes to run an MMO these days. The panel featured Rich Vogel from BioWare, Nathan Richardsson from CCP, EA/Mythic's Jeff Hickman, Lorin Jameson from SOE, Min Kim from Nexon, and Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel. With approximately 47 years of combined MMO experience, the panel was a fount of information on this unique gaming genre. The talk focused on maintaining games 5 years after launch.

  • GDC: Damion Schubert Q&A on The Grind

    BioWare Austin's Damion Schubert, Principal Lead Systems Designer on Star Wars: The Old Republic moderated a panel called The Grind at GDC Online 2010 earlier today in which he discussed the grind in modern MMOs. Near the end of the panel, Damion Schubert answered questions from the audience and we thought we would share a few highlights.

    Question: Is allowing players to circumvent the grind after they have done the grind once a good idea?

    Damion Schubert: It depends on the game but it certainly can be. In the case of Dark Age of Camelot for example, their secret sauce was their endgame, it was their RVR. People still talk about their RVR as some of the best PVP Combat that has ever been in a game and it was in their best interest to get people there if they wanted to be there. On the other hand, if what you are making is where you want players to experience the level up process, that might not be in your best interest. It's going to be based on the game. I do think that a lot of people are being protective of the idea of "Oh, we cant possibly do that. We would lose 50 or 500 hours of potential playtime from this player." Well I think in general it's better for players to play the game they want to play.

    Update: Damion Schubert made the presentation slides for The Grind available via his website for those interested.

    More highlights from the Q&A portion are available after the jump

  • GDC: Zam Interview with Gordon Walton and Matt Firor

    Zam has a two part interview with BioWare Austin's Co-Studio Director Gordon Walton and President of ZeniMax Online Studios Matt Firor straight from GDC Online 2010. The interview covers a slew of topics on developing MMOs and offers a rare glimpse at how the industry approaches the genre.

    ZAM: Fair enough! Gordon, BioWare has so much coming out, but the major game on most players' radars is Star Wars: The Old Republic. Can you give us any updates?

    Gordon: We are getting toward the end of it, which is the good news. BioWare is known for extended periods of polish to really make the game all it can be. What you'll see us doing between now and next year is really working on making sure that we have not just a game, but hopefully the right game that really delivers not only on the BioWare brand values but on the Star Wars brand values. The shipping window is in the spring of next year. It' been quite a challenging project. I've never done one this big, and I don't think very many people have, either. If you think about the Mass Effect trilogy of games, we're basically building eight of those in one game. We're having fun with it, but it's also extremely challenging.

    Catch the full interview in parts one and two at Zam.

  • Darth Hater @ GDC Online

    Darth Hater returns to Game Developers Conference again this week, but this time we head to Austin, TX. Below is a short list of the panels we'll attend to look for potential clues about Star Wars: The Old Republic:

    DH GDC Content




    External GDC Content




    How Online Gaming Has Adopted the Grind
    Speaker/s: Damion Schubert (BioWare Austin)
    Day / Time: Thursday 11:00-12:00
    Description: 'The grind' isn't just whacking rats in men-in-tights fantasy MMOs anymore. Like a plague, it has escaped that genre, and now infects other genres, ranging from Web and Facebook games all the way to triple-A XBox titles. This talk will explore the grind, why so many designers turn to it like a crutch, and in what situations grindy gameplay may actually improve your game.

    Lessons Learned Creating Team Cultures
    Speaker/s: Gordon Walton (BioWare Austin)
    Day / Time: Thursday 11:00-12:00
    Description: Every team has its own unique culture, and culture will have a material effect on the results your team produces. Environment and context combined with how you acculturate incoming people will affect how your team culture evolves. This roundtable is for sharing experiences in creating and shaping team cultures.

    Strategies for Successfully Running an MMO from Launch and Beyond
    Speaker/s: Rich Vogel (BioWare), Jeffrey Steefel (Turbine, Inc), Jeff Hickman (EA Mythic), Lorin Jameson (Sony Online Entertainment) and Nathan Richardsson (CCP)
    Day / Time: Friday 9:30-10:30
    Description: Launching MMOs is hard enough, much less keeping them viable after their first year. Acquisition and retention are the two most important levers that are used to keep an online game alive and viable. This panel will discuss strategies that help move these two levers. On the panel are people who have been running MMOs for more than five years. What are their secrets to successfully running and maintaining these MMOs for so long?

    You Studied Game Design, Now What?
    Speaker/s: Elizabeth Stringer (The Guildhall at SMU), Leigh Alexander (Gamasutra.com), Kyle Garner (BioWare), Jeremy Roden (Richland College, Game Technology) and Eric Weiss (Madison and Minneapolis Media Institutes)
    Day / Time: Friday 1:30- 2:30
    Track / Format: Game Career Seminar / Panel
    Description: A program of game design-related studies is only one piece of the puzzle when developing a career in games. A panel of design professors and professionals from Guildhall, Richland College, Bioware and Madison Media Institute will discuss what students need to know during and following their education to enter the game industry.

    It will be interesting to keep watching and see if Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Cataclysm release date of December 7, 2010 has any impact on Star Wars: The Old Republic's 4Q marketing or testing schedule. (thanks to TIIME for the head's up)

  • Retention as it Relates to Star Wars: The Old Republic

    We previously touched on our opinion regarding BioWare and LucasArts focusing on avoiding common MMO problems as a basis of our speculation articles. Many of the common problems relating to the retention success and failures were highlighted in BioWare Austin's Co-Studio Director Gordon Walton and consultant Scott Hartsman's GDC session, "MMO Retention -- Learning From The First 25 Years." During the talk, these industry veterans provided some insight into possible retention strategies in Star Wars: The Old Republic. We spent over a month listening to this presentation, debating all of its points, and dissecting it to find all the clues we believe are hidden within.

  • GDC: Trooper Hands-On & TOR Game Play Impressions

    Last week, LucasArts & BioWare extended an invitation to Darth Hater for another round of Star Wars: The Old Republic hands-on game play at the beautiful Presidio campus in San Francisco. Eager to take another look, Meg and I left GDC and made our way to Lucasfilm where we were treated to playing Level 6 Troopers on Ord Mantell, and also spoke in depth with Jake Neri of LucasArts and Daniel Erickson of BioWare.

  • Interview: Story In-Depth With Daniel Erickson

    While attending GDC last week, Darth Hater was fortunate enough to be invited out to the LucasArts office in San Francisco for a hands-on demo featuring the Trooper class. After finishing our time with the game we spoke with Daniel Erickson, Star Wars: The Old Republic's lead writer about the classes, their stories, and a few of the choices players will be facing in game.

  • LucasArts' Jake Neri on BioWare's James Ohlen, Endgame & Intertwining Pillars

    While talking with Jake Neri about the Trooper, we decided to use the opportunity to gather more information about Star Wars: The Old Republic. The LucasArts producer offered what limited insight he could into BioWare's James Ohlen and his recent comments on endgame.

    First, we have to address James Ohlen. First off -- he is a total badass. He probably did more really amazing RPGs than anyone around, so he is allowed to say things like that. He is allowed to think outside of what us, the rest of us normal humans, are allowed to think about.

  • BioWare's Ben Cloward on Facial Animation

    A thread on the official forums highlights a lecture by Ben Cloward, Senior Technical Artist at BioWare. The session, entitled Automated Emotion: Facial Animation in Star Wars: The Old Republic, goes into detail about the methods used by BioWare to generate facial animations for the huge amount of dialogue in The Old Republic. Calithlin, who attended the session, shared his experience with the community.

    There were a lot of topics discussed, but the main focus was on getting all the facial animation for the dialogue to be generated by software, rather than completely hand-keyed. (If done by hand, it would take four animators TEN YEARS of work around the clock, 24/7, no breaks, solid work to get it all done for every bit of dialogue.)

    More after the jump.

  • Friday Update: Belsavis, New WebComic, GDC Info

    Today revealed more tidbits about Star Wars: The Old Republic. First up, a new planet:

    Since before the Great War, the ancient Rakatan prisons of Belsavis have been maintained by the Republic and used to incarcerate some of the galaxys most dangerous Sith lords, Mandalorian warriors, and ferocious aliens. Having recently discovered the location of this Republic super prison, the Empire is determined to see its allies released.

    Access the HoloNet to learn more about the ancient prisons of Belsavis, and the horrible secrets contained within its vaults. View the glacial world of Belsavis in this video and visit the media section for never-before-seen screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers depicting the setting and the struggle of Belsavis.

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