BioWare - Shortcomings & Using Heatmaps

Steve Burke of GamersNexus is back again with a new industry article this week about BioWare's shortcomings, and using heatmaps to study players from ECGC 2015.

The annual East Coast Game Conference -- a 1500-attendee attempt at GDC-style development gatherings -- welcomed Mike Laidlaw of Bioware for its keynote today. The Bioware Creative Director has been tasked with oversight of the company's Dragon Age product line, drawing from his experience to discuss world design and storytelling at the conference.

Laidlaw's presentation spanned behind-the-scenes aspects of the development process, including unique considerations taken into account when producing a more open-world title. Throughout the keynote, Laidlaw made playful jabs at Bioware's own shortcomings with Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, often referencing the Hinterlands and player defiance for migration.

More information.

The heatmaps thing was legit interesting but that was it, then it concluded with this.

' “It was a big game,” Laidlaw concluded, noting that development often followed a path of “here's a stone – try hitting things with it and see what breaks.” '

Not much revealed here but this analogy was terrible; a stone - really? More like my head against a stone while playing. I guess that explains DAI. Apologies to those that like the game but this made me chuckle.

As much as I enjoyed Dragon Age: Inquisition his last quote does sum up the game perefectly. They just had to add a few cinematics, and plenty of voice-overs.