A Farewell to Licenses

Can BioWare do it again, this time without the D&D license? David Gaider thinks so.
9/2/2008 8:10 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 6

Game developer BioWare has been on a roll for quite some time. Being the creator of some of the most highly acclaimed RPGs in gaming history has a certain amount of cachet attached to it. So, when given the chance to interview the man who wrote part of Baldur's Gate II, the character HK-47 from Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age, Jason McMaster took it. In his interview, he gets a look at Dragon Age and discusses how BioWare approaches its game design and writing.

Crispy Gamer: How do you feel about this game after working with a license for so long?

David Gaider: Well, there are some good things and some bad things. With a license like Dungeons & Dragons, you have to spend no time. You can just go, boom, right into it. There's no explanation required. With D&D everyone knows what it is. Same thing with Star Wars.

On the other hand, it's really great to have a chance to build your own world. I spent quite a while, as we started production, building the world as we at BioWare decided what we wanted this to be. That was a lot of fun. So, it's good to build your own world because you feel a sense of ownership. It's also tough, because when we show the first bit of Dragon Age, you can't show everything at once and people see the fantasy setting and say "Oh, this is typical fantasy," but it's not, it's really not. Sure, we use elves, dwarves and other archetypes because if you don't, you run the risk of alienating the people who really like fantasy.

Then, when you start using those archetypes, everyone pegs you as generic. When you start developing your own world, it takes time to get below the surface. We took the basic fantasy characters and have put our own spin on them as well.

Crispy Gamer: Can you give us some backstory?

Gaider: Sure, I'd love to explain the Dark Spawn. The main story is about the Blight, which is caused by the Dark Spawn. They erupt from the surface of the world like locusts. If they're not stopped, they'll corrupt the world and make it unlivable. The organization known as the Grey Wardens were formed to stop the Blight, and that's what you start out as.

On the surface, the Dark Spawn would kind of resemble orcs, as they're an evil horde. However, there's a little bit more to them. There's the story that's told in the world by the Chantry, which is sort of the church, and the story goes that a long time ago the mages ruled. In fact, they became so powerful and proud that they opened a gateway to heaven to usurp the Maker's throne. The Maker would be their god, of sorts. Well, they did it and stepped into heaven but because of their sin, heaven was tainted and turned the Golden City (what heaven is called) into the Black City. The corruption also affected them and twisted them into the first Dark Spawn. The Maker says, "How dare you?" and throws them back to earth. Because of their corruption, they're repelled by light, so they burrow down into the earth where the dwarves live. There, they multiplied.