What's Next For the Director of Dragon Age: Origins
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Dan Tudge played a pivotal role in making Dragon Age: Origins one of BioWare's finest achievements, so the press release earlier this week announcing his involvement with a new RPG alongside other ex-BioWare folks at n-Space is certainly intriguing. And that's the basis of this new interview on GameSpot that catches up with him and the CEO Dan O'Leary about their roles at n-Space, their collaboration efforts with Digital Extremes, why we should be interested in the RPG they're working on, and more:
Tudge sees the independent method as an opportunity for them to give passionate fans what they really want, rather than what publisher's believe will sell the most games. "I also think that independent developers like ourselves can market to niche markets with our product and speak directly with consumers now, creating products that fill opportunities that the traditional publishing model ignores these days. I think that there will continue to be big publisher kind of business models, but the opportunities that they pass by are right for independent developers and other kinds of collaborations, like what we're doing with Digital Extremes."
Given that three out of the five leaders on the project are ex-BioWare leads, I had to know: does the new game look and feel like a BioWare game? O'Leary mostly deflected the question, but he's honest about the potential for BioWare-esque traits making an appearance. "We can't really say at this point, we really can't talk about it. We can tell you that it's fantasy, and it's a beloved franchise, but really it comes down to the DNA that's in the studio here, and in the DNA of the influx of BioWare staff, and that DNA really is focusing on making the game that we've always wanted to make, both with n-Space and with the ex-BioWare guys. That DNA that we've injected has been focused on quality and great storytelling, and those are things that we'll definitely be bringing to the title."
Tudge followed up O'Leary's statement, detailing the role and pedigree of the team's leaders. "I was the director of Dragon Age Origins and I worked at BioWare for several years. People like Ross Gardner, who's the tech director, he was on the original Baldur's Gate. He scripted the first sequence in Baldur's Gate 2, he's been involved in Neverwinter [Nights], and even the Old Republic. Of course, he was my tech director on Dragon Age Origins. You've got Jay Turner, who wrote with me on Dragon Age Origins, he's been involved in Mass Effect, and he also worked with me at EA. That's three out of the five leads on the team, and I think that's really obviously going to influence the creative title, but I will say that there are definitely a lot of new, fresh, and innovative ideas that n-Space has brought forward. They certainly have an extensive background, certainly in loving RPGs and making Heroes of Ruin and some of their previous titles, so there's some really unique and exciting things that, blended together to make what I think is a really new and innovative approach to your classic RPG."
