Posted by Lethality in News | 2 Comments
Alexander Freed: Alien Species, Post-Launch And More BioWare MMOs?
BioWare Senior Writer Alexander Freed spent some time talking with VideoGamer.com recently about the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, as well as some of the design process. In particular, Freed responded to a question of interest to many players: why can’t I play a more alien-looking alien? Some hope, perhaps:
VideoGamer: Would you be excited by the possibility of bringing in new playable alien races, as right now you’ve stuck to rather humanoid looking races without touching on the likes of Wookiees or Sullustans?
Alexander Freed: So, again I can’t speak specifically for future content. You know, the reason for our humanoid range of species, it’s a matter of relatability to a large degree. The further you get from human the more difficult it is for players to get into their mindset, the more difficult it is for all the other characters in the game to relate to them the same way. There are enormous technical obstacles, there is building all the lip synching, all the emotion into the face of the human is incredibly difficult and time consuming, doing that for something like a Wookiee – and we couldn’t half do it, we couldn’t let Wookiees be only a third as expressive as humans. At that point we’re just giving up. We’re building a game designed to do these things, we can’t do it in half measures. Same with customising appearances. Adding one dramatically different alien, we still need as much variety as we would need for humans. Between the relatability aspect and the technical aspect it seems best to focus on what Star Wars has always done best which is people who look like us.
Freed also a question about post-launch plans. Though not giving any direct answer, the spirit of the answer is exciting!
VideoGamer: What sort of plans do you have post-launch?
Alexander Freed: Right now I can’t talk in detail but lots of stuff! It’s an MMO. MMOs live and die based on content and we have people working constantly on that sort of thing and we have post-launch plans that I can’t talk about!
Head on over to VideoGamer.com for the full read w/ Alex, including the unsurprising possibility for more MMOs from BioWare in the future!
BioWare Senior Writer, Alexander Freed
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His comments on expressiveness of alien faces is true… however I think they could have done better in this regard. Cathar are extremely humanoid in terms of facial features, but there are a few subtle differences that makes them distinctly non-human. Or, weequays. These are both already in the game, in fact. They are also both very facially expressive, but definitely different than the “Humans With Green Skin” i.e. Mirialans.
Personally I would love to see Togruta and Cathar included at some point. They are imo two of the most visually appealing species, and I don’t believe there would be issues with relatability. On the technical side, all you would need are a few new head models. Facials and VO can carry over easily.
Let’s say you wanted to at some point add one new race to each class, in order to make things fair. I would suggest the Cathar going with knights and the Togruta going with consulars.
Also, racial bonuses at some point, please.