Interview
Many BioWare and Star Wars fans are familiar with your work. Could you please give us a brief rundown of the titles and IPs you worked on as an introduction?DK: I started at BioWare in 2000. I came in right at the tail end of Baldur's Gate II, and I was a writer on Baldur's Gate II, Throne of Bhaal, and the Neverwinter Nights series. I was the lead writer on Knights of The Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Mass Effect 2. And I have a few books out: some Mass Effect novels, some Forgotten Realm novels, and the Darth Bane Star Wars novels set in the Old Republic.
So to recap, what did you guys reveal at the panel?DK: Today we did reveal that there is going to be space combat in the game; we didn't give any details about it but you can learn more about that in the
upcoming PC Gamer. But the other thing we talked about was multiplayer story, and how we're going to do story with multiple players of the same faction enjoying the story.
During the panel you mentioned that the Mandalorians will be a part of the Bounty Hunter class story line; how involved will they be? Also, can you give us any more information about how prominently they will be featured in the over arching galactic story?DK: We obviously can't go into too many details, but the Mandalorians are an integral part of the Bounty Hunter class story. They are also, as the Mandalorians are wont to be, a very powerful faction in the galaxy. They like to get their gauntlets in everyone's business, so they will feature quite prominently in Star Wars: The Old Republic. And if you are a fan of the Mandos, I think you are going to really like it.
We know that each class story will vary greatly, dealing with different areas of the galaxy and different objectives. We know the Mandalorians, the Hutt Cartel, Jedi Council, House of Organa, etc. are integral parts of the game. What are some of the challenges writing with established faction or group lore in mind?DK: One of the great things about Star Wars is that you have this deep rich history of established conventions and groups you can refer to. But one of the challenges of working with those groups is that you still have to respect them. Treat them with respect... treat them in a way that is new and fresh but doesn't change them from what the fans know and expect. And we have a little bit of a different challenge because we're set obviously before the movies. We have a long time period of about 3600 years, so we're able to get away with some stuff we couldn't do if we were set ten years before the movies. But we can't wipe out House Organa, for example: they still need to be around. So we always have to be aware of the consequences of what we're doing in our story and how it will impact down the road the story that people love from the films and other works.
Can we look forward to any other familiar factions or groups as part of either another class story, something more faction specific, or world story arcs?DK: One of the things we do at BioWare is take what we call "touchstones" from the Star Wars universe, and we like to play on them, add to them, make them fresh. One thing we're trying to do is bring back some of the familiar stuff from Knights of The Old Republic. It is set 300 years later, so not everyone survived, but... let's say that some of the people might have survived. I can't go into specifics, but fans of the Knights of The Old Republic will encounter things that they have seen before in new ways and see how things have gone. I think they'll really enjoy it. So you're going to see a lot of stuff you've seen before in new ways, and I think you'll really like it.
We also learned that space combat will be in Star Wars: The Old Republic. From a writer's perspective, did you encounter any new challenges or surprising freedoms when weaving space combat into the omnipresent story focus of The Old Republic?DK: We announced it today, but we've known for awhile obviously. And it is one of those things that we weren't one hundred percent sure, but as writers, we knew it was an integral part of the Star Wars universe. You can't have Star Wars and not have space travel. So we always were writing with it in the back of our minds and working it into the stories. A huge part of Star Wars is going to all these locations, and everyone that watches the movies knows you don't just jump in the Millennium Falcon, fly to your destination and get out. There is trouble along the way. So we incorporated that into some of the stories and into some of the Flashpoints. We were working on it, and now we can finally officially say it, and release the reins to let it run.
The Star Wars universe is extremely deep and diverse with years of canonical history. Most single player games are only able to show players a relatively small narrative slice of such an immense story. How is working on a massive title like The Old Republic different from a writer's perspective?DK: One of the big things is that you get the good and you get the bad. We have this huge established universe. You don't have to spend time explaining how a lightsaber works because everyone knows. They know the things you can do with a lightsaber. The flip side is that you want to present something fresh, so if you're going to do something with a lightsaber no one ever saw before, you better make sure it fits into the established continuity and established rules of the universe. And let's be honest: everyone knows the Star Wars fans take it seriously. You can't play fast and loose with the rules. Because it is such a huge universe, we're never going to be one hundred percent. There is all this different media working, and sometimes you get these little conflicts that have to be retcon'd. But we do our best to make sure we respect what is established, respect the work that is done before, but still give you something fresh and new. That is one of the great things about working in the Star Wars universe.
Keeping with this massive theme, you worked on both Mass Effect games and wrote three novels set in that universe, the third of which "Mass Effect: Retribution will be released next week. Has the experience of expanding the history and lore of Mass Effect altered how you write large scale history and plot lines, such as the ones we will see in The Old Republic?DK: It is a little bit different obviously, because Mass Effect we started from the ground up. But we spent the first year establishing this baseline trying to create what already existed in Star Wars, which is this sort of existing history, existing culture, and existing knowledge that fans bring into it. So the first Mass Effect game, we had to establish that. But once we got to the second game, it felt very much like writing in the Star Wars universe where we have all this stuff we've set up and people understand it. Now we run with it, we build on it, and that is really where the fun begins. It is fun to build a world, but personally, I have more fun -- once it is built -- playing inside that world. Because that is what we want the players want to do too... play inside the world.
Story as the "fourth pillar" was the leading charge of the original marketing behind The Old Republic. What difficulties or differences can you tell us about crafting a high quality story for a massively multiplayer game?DK: I can't honestly think of a more difficult way to tell a story. Let's be honest: it wasn't easy. It is a challenge we love. One problem is just scope. There is so much content in a massive multiplayer game. BioWare games are known for their massive amounts of story and dialog, but we had to do ten times as much as any game we've ever done to fill up a massive multiplayer universe. Second thing is that you don't have one single player making decisions. You have thousands, hopefully millions of people making decisions in this universe. We have to find a way to control it so that you feel like your decisions have an impact, but you don't want to ruin it for everyone else, and two, we don't to lose control. So those were some really unique challenges that we never encountered... certainly on that scale in any of our other work. I like to think we pulled it off, but it was hard. It was really hard work.
