Mass Effect 3 Interview: BioWare Talks Shepard, Kinect, RPGs

Mass Effect 3 has had fans speculating since it was announced, with the future of Shepard - and the galaxy - hanging in the balance once and for all. In our exclusive Q&A, Casey Hudson, Executive Producer for the Mass Effect franchise discusses Kinect, Final Fantasy, Cloud Gaming, the mechanics of the sprawling Mass Effect universe and the future of Shepard.

We've seen the Kinect features demoed (dialogue, squad commands) - were any other ideas discussed? Are there more to come?

No, a total and fundamental integration of Kinect would really require us to design a game from the ground up specifically for that experience, and with the 3rd title in a series it wasn’t the time to re-invent how people play our game.  But we did see the voice control as a definite value-add, and with Kinect it’s relatively easy for us to implement.

Expect more set-pieces than previous Mass Effect outings

Much is made of the information ported in saves between games - how significant are those profiles in Mass Effect 3 and how do you ensure things like DLC packs have an impact even though not everyone plays them?

We designed ME3 to be able to handle all different kinds of player backgrounds, whether you’re totally new to the ME universe or you have played every game and DLC so far.  Each experience, and the choices inside it, simply set different situations and outcomes that you’ll experience in ME3.  The result is that if you have had a deep experience with decisions in past games, you’ll see those having real impacts on the ME3 storyline.  But if you’re coming with no prior experience with the series, ME3 introduces itself to you in a way that’s custom-designed for you.

Star Wars:The Old Republic producer Daniel Erickson told us a while back that his game benefitted from using BioWare's tried and tested dialogue system. Has Mass Effect 3 looked to any internal/external games for mechanics or inspiration?

At this point we’re mostly incorporating a blend of things we want to do and things fans have asked for, to get closer to the vision of Mass Effect that we all share.  I think Mass Effect players know exactly what the experience should be about, and we’re using that as more of an inspiration than looking to other games, which in general are trying to solve for very different design goals.

Combat is unlike any other game says Hudson

What do you see as the biggest, or perhaps most unexpected changes in Mass Effect 3 compared to the original Mass Effect?

The feel and intensity of combat is one of the things people will take people by surprise.  I think we’ve come full-circle in terms of capturing an amazing 3rd person shooter experience in a game where you also control a diverse squad and have access to spectacular powers.  There’s really nothing in the world like ME3 combat.  We also are going places in the story that are bigger, more shocking, and more emotionally powerful than we’ve ever done before.  It’s a pretty amazing range from gigantic action scenes down to the most delicate personal moments, and I think players are going to have an experience unlike anything they’ve played before.

Jesse Houston recently talked about 'past mistakes' with regard to customisation options, and melee attacks - are there any other areas in which fans have directly influenced features in Mass Effect 3? How do you go about floating new ideas to fans during development without giving them away in full?

Ultimately there is a bit of a dichotomy in game design, regarding feedback.  On the one hand, we must listen to the millions of players around the world who know what it’s like to play our games even better than we do.  At the same time, we must still be game designers - we can’t simply implement all requests exactly as described by fans.  So to continue to surprise and entertain players, we need to interpret the feedback, and convert the countless requests, criticisms, and hopes into elegant and innovative designs.

Is Mass Effect an RPG?

What do you see as the current holy grail for RPGs right now?

To be honest, I don’t know.  I never consider myself an RPG developer, and I don’t really worry about traditional genre conventions other than our own goals for making a great game. Typically our goals - creating interactive story, compelling progression, intense combat, and exploration -result in games that are classified as RPGs. But my intention is always to make the best possible story-driven games, and for me and my team, the next great design that we’re excited about is what we’re doing with ME3.

BioWare recently noted FF: The Spirits Within as a visual inspiration for Mass Effect - what about the games? Are you influenced by any other Japanese culture?

We have many sources of artistic inspiration, but we mostly look to the real world for inspiring reference on architecture, clothing, weapon design, etc. One of the things that really helped us actually is that when we started ME1, we essentially condensed our various inspirations down to design principles.  Designs consisting of the spaces created by long arcs and straight lines, costumes generally being comprised of two main color tones, weapons typically having two barrels, etc.  We built an entire guide book on how everything should look.  With that in place, and an entire game of designs to support it, we’ve established an aesthetic that can now easily be applied to new designs.

A Mass Effect MMO isn't in the works (yet) and the future of the series is currently being considered - you must have loads of ideas?

We obviously have a lot of great opportunities to develop aspects of the Mass Effect universe, but certainly our focus for now is creating a tremendously satisfying experience with Mass Effect 3.

BioWare knows what fate awaits Commander Shepard

Shepard's story could finish its arc in Mass Effect 3. Do you think it will be the last we see of him?

I know the precise answer to that, but can’t tell ya.

What was behind the idea of using the female Shepard to promote Mass Effect 3?

It’s more of a community initiative – something we can do to reflect the support for the female character experience that fans have expressed.  We saw that there were some fun things we can do for players to view the game as one that stars a female character, through alternate box art etc.  It was amazing to see the reaction of the audience at Comic-Con, where we revealed possible options for the female character that will be used by some of our marketing material going forward.

Mass Effect 2 was recently demoed on Gaikai - do you see cloud gaming taking off?

Yes, games will transition to “the cloud” as time goes on, much like the transition to streaming movies on Netflix etc. There are some severe technical hurdles in the short term, but I remember when the idea of streaming movies over the internet seemed ridiculous.

Mass Effect 3 could be on its way to the cloud in future

Wii U was announced at E3 - what are your views on the console? Have you got any ideas about how you'd make the most of its unique features?

It’s an interesting system.  One of the challenges and opportunities with that kind of device is that it takes a while to really figure out what the amazing forms of gameplay will be – but it also has enough flexibility to potentially do things that are totally unprecedented in games.  It’s very exciting, but I definitely need to think more about it and spend more time with the actual hardware.