It can be said that Anthem is a difficult pregnancy for Bioware when they have to overcome many things, from engine restrictions to finding new things to put into the game.
Confrontation arduous
The development process of Project Dylan ( Anthem ) is relatively slow because BioWare focuses on reaching immediate milestones. First, it’s getting used to the Frostbite engine that EA “cracks” into its studios that it’s the number one choice for making games. The Dragon Age development team took years to get used to this engine, while the development of Mass Effect: Frostbite’s inadequacy and inadequacy also hampered andromeda.
EA forced all of its studios to use Frostbite.
Developed by DICE, Frostbite originated as an engine for the Battlefield shooter series. It lacks all the features needed for an RPG and forces BioWare to update the elements required to create a classic role-playing game from scratch. This engine played an essential role in the failure of Mass Effect Andromeda.
Origin of the game: Anthem – P.1 Let’s temporarily put aside Anthem’s quality issues to explore the game development process that contributes to this BioWare’s future.
During this time, Shadow Realms – the RPG title of veteran designer James Ohlen that BioWare once held its faith in – was “reworked” at BioWare Austin. The game took up BioWare about three years before being reset, then officially canceled in 2015 to make room for the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic because EA believed the launch of The Force movie. Awakens will give this MMORPG new life force. After Shadow Realms was canceled, James Ohlen was no longer allowed to make games that led him to leave the studio he had been with for 22 years in 2018.
Star Wars: The Old Republic.
While BioWare Austin made Shadow Realms and The Old Republic and BioWare Montreal struggled with Frostbite and Mass Effect: Andromeda, the team at BioWare Edmonton continued to carry out two Dylan and Inquisition projects at the same time. After Andromeda failed miserably in early 2017 (spent a series of articles on the issue of this game), Mr. Casey Hudson returned to BioWare as general manager to continue to “carry” the studio project. At the moment, the only step they can choose is to complete Project Dylan.
Learn from Mass Effect
The shooting part of Anthem learns a lot from Andromeda.
After playing Anthem, I realized that the game felt like Mass Effect, not in the context of fiction and monsters, but the gameplay. BioWare has combined the experience of developing Andromeda’s shooting and moving features with the ability to fly inspired by superhero movies to make a difference with similar games like Destiny, Warframe. , The Division. And because it is a game by BioWare, they want to add a distinctive spice to the company: deep storyline, bold RPG.
“The game may not have focused as much on the story as it currently has,” revealed producer Mike Gamble. “In the early years of development, we realized that to create a BioWare-style miracle and a story that everyone expected from us, the focus was on the idea of ‘the world in common, our own story. ” key.” BioWare wants to tell a good story that gamers can empathize with while participating in that story with their friends.
The trailer “Bio-world, own story” by BioWare.
Meanwhile, thousands of GIF images mocking Andromeda’s facial expressions made BioWare decide to invest in new technologies like Performance-capture. Ms. Cathleen Rootsaert, BioWare’s script leader, talked about the facial expressions of Faye’s character by Rochelle Neil: “How advanced technology can record such performances and bring it to Our gamers make me excited about the future of storytelling in our games. With this technology, characters have never looked better than that. ”
BioWare does not want to repeat these faces.
But the biggest challenge Anthem needs to face is not the face movement or the storyline. The balance between a co-op experience with a private storyline and the relationship gamers have with the characters. NPC supplies. Gamers were quite disappointed to learn that they can not “love” the NPC in Anthem as they “love” in Dragon Age or Mass Effect. BioWare needs to do something so that even in the absence of this feature, gamers still enjoy the game’s story and feel attached to the characters that appear in the game.
“I think BioWare’s storytelling is biased towards the characters and the world, so we focus on creating engaging characters with complex lives. The plot can always be based on that, ” said Cathleen.
Yarrow, an NPC in Anthem.
Beware of the expectations of gamers.
When Anthem was announced, gamers had doubts and concerns because it differed from what BioWare had done in the past. To help gamers know how the game will turn out and how it is oriented, BioWare has put a lot of effort into various measures. Mark Darrah, the production director of Anthem, answered hundreds of gamers’ questions on Twitter. Mr. Casey Hudson also blogs about games and BioWare on the studio homepage. And in the last month, before the game came out, BioWare opened two test runs on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
When the first test run on January 25, 2019, started quite precariously with various issues from server to bug, BioWare promptly fixed them in the trial version that took place a week later. John Warner, director of the Anthem project, said it was arduous but necessary to bring an incomplete project to the public. “For most of us, this is not just a job. This is our heart, our dream, our everything. We do not overlook the changes we made to the game or the difference between Anthem and previous titles. And we want gamers to enjoy it. ”
Inside Fort Tarsis, the human base in Anthem.
Anthem is a gamble that BioWare spent a lot of time to improve its winning rate. According to an anonymous source from the studio, BioWare himself is unsure what the game will mean to the studio. They only know that in the long run, successful or unsuccessful, Anthem will still greatly influence the future of the studio and the games they will develop after Anthem. You already know what the current game is – many issues, unattractive, and lacking in content, but at least BioWare has stepped into its gamble, and Anthem doesn’t look as bad as a complete disaster as Fallout 76.
