DragonKingGaav
Game Owner
 Jade Empire:SE
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 09 Aug 2008 |
 Posted: Saturday, 07 November 2009 04:47PM | |
Does anyone know, if BioWare has said one way or anther if there's going to be a toolset for Mass Effect 2? I would really like to see the ability for the community to create mods for the game. Such as extra levels/quests. | 
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LuminousLupine
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 29 Mar 2003 |
Posted: Saturday, 07 November 2009 04:53PM |
Quote: Posted 10/25/09 20:58 (GMT) by Patrick Weekes
Sorry. I've answered this before. We don't have any announced plans for a toolset.
And it's not because we're evil or owned by EA. It's because Mass Effect is made from one engine (Unreal 3) and heavily tweaked with what I've heard the programmers call "the RPG layer" to make it do what we want to do. That combination makes it very difficult to develop for. We've got some of the best programmers, designers, and artists in the business, and if you wanted to do anything beyond "drop an item into this map", you'd have a hideously steep learning curve.
And that's before you even think about adding in conversations. The CineDesigners do an absurd amount of work just to make even baseline conversations look decent. What they do for any conversation with an emotional hook is well beyond my level of understanding -- and I'm the guy writing the conversations.
It's not like Neverwinter, where your "Guy with talking text box" is going to look just like the one we made. It's a whole lot of cinematic motions and lip-sync and... well, stuff that only a few people in the world can do. It's a cross between cinematic direction and programming, and then you've got the non-linear nature of BioWare dialog to contend with, and... so on.
So while all I can officially say is "We have no announced plans", I would be really really really surprised. For what it would take us to make you a toolset you could actually use without a degree in Comp Sci, we could make another game.
Mr. Weekes statement challenges my ego so what, so I tend not to buy that it's as complicated as it sounds.
Edit: That is I'm used to being down and dirty with the basics and working my way up, so I personally think it's just a matter of perspective. 
_________________
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth...Edited By LuminousLupine on 11/07/09 16:55 | |
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ninjakamster
Joined: 03 Oct 2009 |
Posted: Saturday, 07 November 2009 04:55PM |
I was disappointed to see that Bioware put the PC on the backburner with Mass Effect, getting another studio to port it out, no collector's edition, months later release after 360 version, etc.
So I am happy they changed and gave the PC lots of love with Dragon Age: Origins. A toolset for ME2 would be awesome and give it a huge boost over the 360 version.
We are PC gamers, not console gamers, so please don't trust us like Infinity Ward is treating us with Modern Warfare 2, we want toolsets and mods! | |
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LuminousLupine
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 29 Mar 2003 |
Posted: Saturday, 07 November 2009 05:00PM |
Indeed, I'm sure there will be so lack lust mods, but I think you'd be surprised what a community can do. Do you think the Linux kernel that is is purely the work of Linus Torvalds? (The first one is purely his work though.)
It may not be pretty for a long time, but given the standard to work with I'm sure there are enough people that can pool more information and craftsmanship together then even the honorable Bio-Ware.
Edit: I'm sure there is a Doctor/Researcher that could give the Bio-metrics for lip syncing. You want lip syncing, I'm sure there is a mathematician that can work out the algorithm for each individual vertex in the model for it. I'm sure there is a programmer that could write a object to use that.
I'm sure there another programmer that could come along later and use that object to build a interface for a wave file. It just snowballs from there.
_________________
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth...Edited By LuminousLupine on 11/07/09 17:03 | |
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wrexingcrew
Game Owner
 SW: KotOR Xbox
Jade Empire
Joined: 10 Jun 2009 |
Posted: Saturday, 07 November 2009 05:01PM |
It's actually a pretty reasonable explanation. DA:O has a toolset because it's the same toolset (mostly) the devs used. BioWare had gone to the trouble of devising a new engine for the game, and probably built it at least in part with the idea of a consumer-accessible toolset in mind.
For ME2, as Patrick said (thanks for posting that response again, Luminous) they're using a very heavily modified version of UE3. Here's the good news, though - if Patrick is overstating the complexity of what they're doing, the newly-released and free UE3 toolset should let you prove him wrong. | |
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