Interviews

BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk Talks Dragon Age: Origins

August 15, 2008

There aren’t many doctors in game development, but acclaimed Canadian developer BioWare (based in Edmonton) has two of them. Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-general manager BioWare/vice prez at Electronic Arts and Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-general manager BioWare/vice prez at Electronic Arts sit at the top of the food chain at BioWare, which Electronic Arts bought seven months ago. I caught up with Dr. Zeschuk in Los Angeles while he was showing off his company’s latest game franchise, Dragon Age: Origins.

For those unfamiliar with BioWare, they’ve never had a non-blockbuster game. Their RPG roster runs with titles like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect, you’ve played one of their epic role-playing games. Dragon Age, which isn’t due out this year, marks a return to their original franchise, Baldur’s Gate, only minus the Dungeons & Dragons license. Zeschuk discusses this latest project, which has been in development for over four years already. Hit the jump for the full interview.

Das Gamer: How do you approach an original game franchise today and think outside of the game, itself?
Dr. Greg Zeschuk: You’ve seen the Mass Effect books, figurines, and collectibles. With Dragon Age: Origins we have the same plans. The game’s not out yet, but we’re really thinking about the places we can take it. We’ve actually had the really great fortune at BioWare to have created some of the really big franchises, particularly in the role-playing game phase.

How has working outside of the Dungeons & Dragons license freed you up?
Dr. Greg Zeschuk: We couldn’t be the ones that say, “Hey, let’s do a book, or let’s do a Mensk figurine” with games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. That was always pretty hard for us. And where we are now is great, because as long as we can make a good business case for it, we can go do King Kalen figurines if we want

What were your goals heading into Dragon Age?
Dr. Greg Zeschuk: One of our goals with Dragon Age: Origin, really in creating a new intellectual property, was to have that full control over the world, the rules in it, and really tailor it to games for PCs and later on consoles. I think our real focus is to really give the fans what they want, and I think the exciting thing is that we don’t really have any constraints; we can do that better. I think our feeling is that, if we want to add something crazy to the world, we can do that; we don’t have to ask anyone.

How does this game differ from past BioWare fantasy RPGs?
Dr. Greg Zeschuk: One of the things that we’re really doing with this game being is telling people this is a gritty, realistic, tough place to live. We look at traditional fantasies and it’s hard to describe — it’s like airy faerie, bright and shiny and the elves are happy and the hobbits are jolly. That’s not the world of Dragon Age. We describe it as dark heroic fantasy. Heroic is that epic sense that great knights and great warriors are famous for. The dark part really is those gritty mature storylines. We’re writing very much from an end perspective, so it won’t be a nice, light, soft fantasy. Some of these situations are really brutal and tough and they’re quite jarring. We’ve actually launched the player right into those right when they start the game. The actual game itself is impactful. It’s emotionally jarring and I think it’s very gritty and people will see it very differently than they see a traditional fantasy game.

Can you talk about the choices a player can make to be a good guy or a bad guy in this universe?
Dr. Greg Zeschuk: We do talk about the hero, martyr, and tyrant concept, but it’s almost not as black and white as that. We’re almost taking it, in a sense, to the extremes. On the one extreme, you have the very heroic type, and the other end, there’s the tyrant who has this brutal efficiency of getting things done. We aren’t talking about that too much right now, besides the fact that the decisions you make are epic in their scope. I think it takes us back to the concept that sometimes you’re doing things that require groups of people either to live or die. It’s a very impactful thing, especially when you couple it with that sense of realism in the world.

What do you think defines a BioWare game?
Dr. Greg Zeschuk: Mass Effect was that super-cinematic emotional experience; that’s over here. With Dragon Age, we’re returning to our roots; returning to that traditional BioWare fan that loves that classic gameplay we created with Baldur’s Gate but brought up to today’s technology and is super-engaging emotionally. And then we have the handheld games. We want to kind of cover the map with different BioWare stuff that still has that same core sense of great exploration. The worlds are fun to explore in detail and they’re deep. The characters are interesting to develop and create. We offer deep progression and customization. The stories are good. And whatever the action you have in the game of combat or whatever, it’s fun and challenging and engaging. That’s kind of our whole working philosophy.

–John Gaudiosi