There was a lot of great information coming out of GDC this year and much of it was in regards to SWTOR. A talk given by director of production, Dallas Dickinson and BioWare executive producer Richard Vogel brings us some interesting information about the game. First, building it was hard. There’s no real surprise there, right? Making a game of this size and caliber is certainly difficult with many, many hours put in by various team members. That’s just to launch- there is still behind the scenes workers every day to keep it running as intended. PC Gamer brings us the full story on this talk at GDC: In an hour long session, the pair took us through the production and lessons from a long and gruelling development process that saw Bioware Austin hire huge numbers of developers, outsource much of their art, completely rebuild how their team was integrated,…
Dallas Dickinson
MMORPG Dallas Dickinson Interview
MMORPG has an interesting interview with Dallas Dickinson for your enjoyment as you count down the days to SWTOR launch- coming oh so soon! This interview with Dallas Dickinson features post launch content, server announcements, empire/republic player ratio and more. Here is an interview snippet: MMORPG.com:Let’s kick things off by talking a bit about Game Testing. The last few weekend tests have seen a huge amount of players hitting the servers. What can you tell us about what you’ve learned from having so many users hitting your service? Were there any surprises or revelations in terms of what the service will be able to handle? Dallas Dickinson:There were actually, there were mostly positive surprises. There were way fewer surprises than we were bracing for. The servers actually did really, really well. Those who participated in the testing found the experience was relatively smooth. I think, the first night, we had…
Friday Update: Eternity Vault Developer Walkthrough
Today’s Friday update comes in the form of a developer walk throug of the Eternity Vault. Once again Dallas Dickinson is the host – this time of a high level Operation in Star Wars: The old Republic. During this video Dallas Dickinson provides commentary on the encounters players will face in this large endgame Raid. Throughout the video we see multiple class abilities, from the Bounty Hunter firing rockets, to what seem to be combat rez. A prison discovered buried in the ice on Belsavis is thought to house an ancient and deadly evil that could threaten the galaxy. To counter this threat, General Threnoldt dispatches Imperial forces to investigate the prison and confront the dangers within. Watch as a group of players work their way towards the prison gates in the opening section of the Eternity Vault, one of the high-level Operations in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Check…
Friday Update: Huttball Video
In yesterdays Friday Update Dallas Dickinson gave us a look at Huttball, the new warzone variety that takes place in SWTOR on a map called “The Pit”. It functions much like a game of capture the flag, the “Huttball” being placed in the middle and carried over the opposing team’s line to score points. This type of PVP is going to be really interesting if you ask me. I can imagine Entire guilds and specs will come about JUST for Huttball. “In a time of turmoil where two mighty armies ready themselves, many citizens of both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire have begun to look for an escape from the uncertainty of impending war. For many people on Nar Shaddaa this escape can be found in the gladiatorial confines of ‘The Pit,’ where two teams compete in a violent game for the amusement of Giradda the Hutt and thousands of spectators!”” Here…
Dallas Dickinson Interviews from Comic Con
There’s lots of cool stuff coming out of San Diego Comic Con this week, part of which are great interviews with Dallas Dickinson, Director of Production on Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first, with fansite TORWars, has a lot of great information. Here he discusses some of the reveals from SDCC such as the speeder bikes, the model they are based on and the fact that they are now tweaked so that the rider does not get knocked off so easily (although it is still possible to get knocked off). While he could not go into a lot of detail, he also talked about the customizable companions and teased about some new changes such as being able to interact with the companions and control them during combat scenes in the game. To what extent this will be, we do not know yet but he says it will be released…
RE-Live TV from BioWare Base at Comic-Con
Yesterday BioWare had a live Q&A with Stephen Reid, James Ohlen, Dallas Dickinson and Rich Vogel. unfortunately I was sleeping like a baby while it was on, but WeekendJedi and SoMuchMass has made sure the full Q&A is now on Youtube. Here are the highlights ( Thanks to Ask a Jedi): Collector’s Edition store is actually an exclusive location that only CE owners have access to! Items from this store however will not give people an advantage in power, though weapons and armor will be available Color Stone is gold in addition to adding effects Sharding may be used on launch day, only if absolutely necessary (the practice of creating multiple copies of the same area) Advanced Class change is in the game. 1st swap is cheap. After that it gets expensive Companion AI – off-limits for talking about! James Ohlen is in trouble. Companion customization is flexible, but you can’t…
E3: Tatooine Developer Walkthrough
So far E3 has been an explosion of new information where SWTOR is concerned, and it just doesn’t stop, thanks to this excellent walk-through video from SWTOR Director of Production Dallas Dickinson. The video takes us through the “blazing deserts of Tatooine“”, following a group of archeologists as they look for a lost research facility – and features gameplay from the level 25 point of the game. It’s exciting enough to get a glimpse of some of the story-arc, but even more so to see an early look at in-game footage of the Sith Sorceror character, as well as gameplay opportunities like personal vehicle use and the dynamics of the map. Additionally the video shows how in-mission co-op play will work in practice, as well as several of the ranged attacks available to the Sorceror and the awesome-looking ability to seeth and replenisg lost health from the Dark Side. All…
Pax east 2011: Taral V Developer Walkthrough
BioWare continued its presentation of Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) at PAX East 2011 today with the release the Taral V Developer Walkthrough video. Taral V is a mid-level Flashpoint aimed at a four player group. The video offers a look at the gameplay and story of the Flashpoint from the view of several different classes and narrated by SWTOR’s Director of Production Dallas Dickinson. If you’re curious to know how these Flashpoints will play out and see some new SWTOR gameplay,
Healing in SWTOR – What do we know?
A lot of people wants to know about the healing system in SWTOR. Will Star Wars: The Old Republic use a trinity system; the tank, healer, and the DPS class. Will the healer play a massive role, or will groups be able to go with no healing? So far Dallas Dickinson and Georg Zoeller hasn’t always agreed on how many healers their will be, and how healing works. Now the great people over at TorWars puplished a excellent article about what we know on Healing so far. A great read I encourage you to check out. Here is a snip: At this point, BioWare has made it clear that every class will have a sort of ‘second wind’ ability to add some healing and lower downtime. The devs have made it abundantly clear they want to avoid as much downtime as possible. This is a great thing. No one likes…