Damion Schubert - Gaming the System for well over a decade (Pic from AskAJedi video)
Gather round one and all. It’s time for another exclusive TORWars chat with the developers who are hard at work creating Star Wars: The Old Republic. Today, we’ve dragged Principal Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert away from his holo-desk and asked him some burning questions about the game. We received a few of the expected “Not talking about that” responses but we also got some hot, new reveals on just-added features. Read on!
TORWars:
Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Damion. What system are you most looking forward to watching a million players get their hands on and why?
Damion Schubert:
By far, Crew Skills. Making the crafting system take advantage of the existence of your companions has been an extraordinary success, and allowed us to do some neat things under the hood. Also, we have a couple of twists that we’re pretty sure are going to surprise people in the amount of depth and extensibility they bring to crafting.
TORWars:
What game system has been the most challenging to get just right? Did any system come together more easily than you expected?
Schubert:
I had no idea when I signed up to do the maps how major an enterprise they would be – or for that matter how important they would be for the game to play well. Our world designers are fiendish geniuses who do awe-inspiring work, but a lot of the stuff that makes these worlds so cool make them difficult to map using a traditional map system. Being sure that a player can still figure out where they need to go on a world map when Alderaan is several times the size of maps from other games was one that took constant iteration to get right.
As for easy successes, there are so many small ideas that had large impacts. The story-so-far text sums up your story as you’re logging into the game, making it easier to catch up with the flow off things after a long period not playing. The codex is a staple of all BioWare games, but ended up being an incredibly powerful and flexible tool for us, both for encouraging explorer gameplay but also helping explain lore and game mechanics that are otherwise obtuse. My favorite might be the holocalls, which allow players to take part in group conversations with NPCs even if they are on the other side of the planet.
TORWars:
Could we get some more information/clarification on the way the individualized loot bags work in Flashpoints and Operations? Is there going to be any sort of a no-trade system or is everything (barring story items) going to be tradable?
Schubert:
Not ready to talk about this yet.
You'll thank Schubert and his team every time you open a map
TORWars:
Can you touch on any of the end-game activities (aka money sinks) that will be available to players other than crafting? Will we see any “Daily” quests that are geared towards earning credits and/or factional favor?
Schubert:
More news on endgame crafting is coming soon!
TORWars:
Any update on the Twi’leks as armor-wearing classes? We heard about issues with lekku and helmets. Is creative lekku tucking being implemented? What’s the verdict?
Schubert:
The artists are still determining the best way to address this.
TORWars:
Are you considering any built-in functions for Twitter, Facebook or other social media?
Schubert:
Not ready to talk about this yet.
TORWars:
Will there be naming rules and will they be enforced? Will we be playing alongside “IPwnzJoo,” “Drizzt666” and “XplaguesX”?
Schubert:
There will definitely be naming rules that will be automatically enforced (first letter only capitalization, no numbers, for example). Profanity will be weeded out, and our customer service staff will also be working to weed out offensive names that manage to get by our automated filter. That being said, everyone has a different idea on what constitutes a cool, stupid and/or roleplaying-appropriate name, and so we probably won’t try too far to make judgment calls beyond ‘offensive’. My advice for players of any MMO is, if naming standards are important to you, find or form a guild with likeminded people who share your standards.
Schubert in the Fan Summit spotlight (Pic TORWars)
TORWars:
Have any fabulous ideas been moved from the “Wall of Crazy” recently and made their way into the final game? If so, please do tell!
Schubert:
Well, sure. To give some background, the ‘wall of crazy’ is a wall full of post-it notes where we put up features that we are considering adding to the game – sometimes for launch, sometimes in our post-launch patch schedule, and sometimes for expansion or beyond. It’s important to realize that these games have a life far beyond the ship date, and that we’re already planning on how to grow and evolve the game.
That being said, some of the ideas that were planned for post-launch got raised in priority, based on feedback and metrics from our testing. Nothing’s set in stone until we hit launch day, obviously, but we’re aiming to get more into launch now. Of particular note, the dressing room made it in (alt-rightclick to preview an equipment piece’s appearance on you or your companion). The ability for group leaders to mark targets with symbols his party members can see just went in. We also have a couple of minor features we’re putting in designed to make it easier for players to find and form groups – features I’m more willing to talk about once we’ve vetted them as improvements to the game in general.
As the game barrels towards shipping, additional features that come in are going to be extremely targeted towards having maximum impact for a minimum expenditure of programming time. It’s really an exciting time as a systems designer to determine what those big bang features are going to be, but at the same time, our top priority above all else right now is getting this experience into the hands of the players.
TORWars:
Great to know helpful features like Dressing Rooms and marking targets are now in the game. And anything that makes grouping easier will be most welcome. Thanks very much, Damion!
***
(Top, D. Schubert photo source)
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These questions got answers I haven’t heard before. Keep up the good work guys!
Always will, sir!
Just a little disturbing that marking was just now added. But some definently interesting stuff mentioned.
ya, i was thinking the same thing. they definitely take a ton of stuff from wow, even alt-right click is the same right? but to not have marking is kinda wild. dps woulda been out of control probably
Correction, WoW took a tone of stuff from games before it. Stop thinking WoW was the first ever MMO.
Nice bit of info on the dressing room and target marking! I’m curious if the dressing room could be a lead in to an appearance tab. While SWTOR doesn’t truly need it, it wouldn’t hurt to have the ability to save some old piece of equipment and wear it cosmetically.
With the mod system they have in place so that you can mod up a piece of low lever gear from 10 to 50, I doubt that they will ever add in an appearance tab as it doesn’t seem needed at all.
Mods will keep older equipment viable for additional lvels, but the end-game gear will still be superior. Most likely, these will have set bonuses too. At that point in the game, I can see a lot of people looking quite similar. I despite looking exactly like someone else!
No, the Dressing room is not a direct lead to an Appearance tab.
Hopefully, appearance tab like features will never find their way into the game. If you want to look a certain way, you’ll have to suffer the quality of those chosen items.
Otherwise, everyone will be running around in the same black hood and curved saber hilt.
Wow, you have THE worst logic I’ve ever seen in my life.
So, by your staggering lack of common sense, freedom of choice in how you look, will lead to MORE clones. All because you can’t imagine anyone having different tastes.
Rather than having no choice, and using BiS slot items. Which always leads to everyone in the same clothes. Nice job! /thumbs up
Are you insane? Do you even try to think, before you spout opinions this ignorant? I’ve yet to see a clone in LotRO, that wasn’t wearing the base equipment.
You only want no tabs, because you’re probably a terrible “WoW generation” PVPer worried you may accidentally stumble into a fair fight by assuming you’re about to gank someone in low level gear.
You’re selfish and myopic. People like you need to stay out of the creative process.
I can’t imagine a game WITHOUT an appearance tab. It’s absolutely essential imo. The appearance tab gives the player the control over how their character looks, which to me is just about the most important thing in an mmo. If I want to wear my level 1 Jedi robe at 50 I better be able to without taking a stat hit. LOTRO has just about the best system around for this and it’s such a great part of the game. The diversity of character appearance in that game is amazing.
I don’t really like the sound of the “mod system” described above. If I can equip a piece of equipment and I like the look of it I should be able to make my character look that way period without any hassles. It’s all about putting the power in the hands of the player.
My .02
Excellent work! I am really looking forward to the Crafting info – and love that they got the Dressing Room feature in! Thanks for all of the info you got for us here – and I look forward to seeing more.
ADT they added the raid marks. +1 BWA.
<3 u TORWars!!
Terrible, what a bullshit article nothing was really answered. Game is launching this year but you cant talk about 99% of the stuff.
What, exactly, is the 99% of stuff that can’t be talked about? I’m coming form the opposite perspective. I feel like everyone about the game is known, except these two little details about the dressing room and target marking. Those two things weren’t in the last build, and they were very much needed.
I only recently got into testing, but before I was in I pretty much knew what to expect just from watching videos, reading everything bioware said, and studying the publicly available information.
Actually, I think I can answer the questions for you based on what I know from in-game:
More info on loot containers?
There are no loot containers in game yet. Ask again when we’ve actually made them.
End-game money sinks?
There are none in beta currently. Ask again when we’ve actually made some.
Twi’leks in armor?
They aren’t even testing twi’leks in armor, so no, there will be none.
Twitter Integration?
No, there’s none.
Well, now that I sit around and think about it for a sec, it’s possible the purple artifact mission case’s could be considered loot containers, but they’re not called that and are more a reward you get from stuff like treasure hunting and slicing.
I supppose for end-game money sinks you have missions skills, which get really expensive and learning the advanced speeder riding skills (it costs money to ride a nice land speeder, lots of it)
And perhaps for some reason I made it sound like I’m dissatisfied with what’s in TOR currently. Despite missing features I would consider standard like target-of-target and appearance tab, it’s still one of my favorite MMOs of all time.
I’m pretty sure you just broke the NDA
So did you.
Finally – Dressing room and Target Icon confirmation. Woot!
May the Force bless you Torwars!
Art, there were people who have played the game that ate up this post. What on earth do you mean nothing was really answered? You’ll get your answers soon enough.
I don’t know about your guys, but I’m still hella curious as to what’s exactly on the almighty “Wall of Crazy.” I’m under the impression it will actually make our brains explode in a shower of gummy bears….with lightsabers.
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This comment suggests design decisions still being made and implemented.
That is NOT “Beta” at all. That’s Alpha
He explicitly says that game is still to have new features.
Not just features but “big bang” features – still to be added.
His words not mine.
The in house testing – then out house testing and tweaking for those features, and the list of stuff he hasn’t designed yet.
Man – people were thinking October/November (i.e between 2 and 9 weeks)
Forget it. March 2012 at the very very earliest.
His quote…
“additional features that come in are going to be extremely targeted towards having maximum impact for a minimum expenditure of programming time. It’s really an exciting time as a systems designer to determine what those big bang features are going to be”
The game is not going to launch as a “finished” product. It will be launched as a polished product, hopefully. It’s an online game, hence there will always be content getting added in and changes being made. That will happen right up until launch, and every week after launch things will be changed.
Adding a dressing room and marking targets are such small features in comparison to all the content that’s already in the game. The main systems are in place, the class balance has been iterated upon. The fact they are working on features that were previously intended for post-launch patches speaks to that. No need to go chicken little.
[...] Read On [...]
Personally I think they could ship November 2011, but I think it’s more of game of chicken with Blizzard.
EA and Blizzard are watching each other to see who will give first. With big titles like SC2 X and Diablo 3 on the horizon neither company want to give each other the edge.
I’m sure they’ll be missing features from TOR when it finally releases, but as far as games go – from what I’ve seen from footage, etc I think it’s good to go.
It’s all a matter of business at this point, not “polishing”. I’m sure Bioware is making use of the waiting time however, until EA’s big wigs give the green light (or rather Blizzard annouces something at Blizcon)
Blizz also has ” TITAN ” in the deck of cards too. I think Blizz has more cards right now.
An MMO is never finished. This all boils down to getting the game as full-featured and polished as possible while still capitalizing on holiday dollars. There will be plenty of room and time for more features and content down then road. This game isn’t going anywhere any time soon, so buckle up and enjoy the last mile before launch.
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Dressing room. Neat. Though it’s interesting to me how much stuff the developers are still not willing to talk about.
Schaiben haisen tequila hössen schmössen sprechen mutchos gracias?
Puhumme myös suomea.
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Great questions and great answers! I love having the ability to try on armor, but the best reveal was having the ability to mark targets. WOW!
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