First, thank you to all of our fans around the world for making Dragon Age: Origins a crushing success. BioWare and EA are thrilled to have now launched Dragon Age: Origins worldwide. Customers, fans and critics alike love Dragon Age: Origins and are having a great time playing it as well as using the newly released Dragon Age Toolset. Fans are using the BioWare Social Network to discuss the game on our forums, uploading screenshots to their profiles and blogging about their experiences in game.

Here are what a few of our critics are saying:

Gamespot.com – Score: 95 -
“…The fantasy RPG you’ve been waiting for…”
Game Pro – Score: 100 -
“BioWare has once again struck RPG gold”
GameZone – Score: 99 -
“This game is of a level that has never been seen before. It is the new benchmark.”
Game Informer – Score: 90 -
“…one of the most addictive and expansive RPGs of its kind.”
1up.com – Score: 100 -
“It’s the best RPG of the year — and maybe the best of the HD era.”
USAToday.com – Score: 4/4 -
“…Dragon Age: Origins, a masterfully crafted adventure that offers a lot of bang for your buck.”

While most customers have been playing Dragon Age: Origins without any problems, a few customers have experienced issues that have prevented them from fully enjoying the game. As you already know BioWare has always been committed to providing high quality games to its fans and we are just as committed to providing an ongoing gaming experience free of quirks and hiccups. With that said we would like to announce our Patch 1.01 which you can find here. We really appreciate the feedback we have been getting from fans and encourage you to let us know of any anomalies you find with any part of the game or our website. Your help allows us to build stronger patches to release on a regular cadence. You can keep us informed and get help using the following links:

Patch:
http://social.bioware.com/game_patches.php
Dragon Age Customer Support:
http://help.dragonage.com/
Dragon Age: Origins Technical Support:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/58/index
BioWare Social Bug Report:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/6/index
BioWare Points Bug Report:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/59/index

Thanks again to all our fans for making this such a successful launch!

Derek Larke
BioWare’s Online Marketing Manager

Part 3 of 4 by Ethan Levy

Dragon Age Journeys

At its heart, Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads is a tactical RPG. We employ a hex based combat system reminiscent of the classic Heroes of Might and Magic series, but instead of giant armies of units, you control up to three heroes with stat systems and talent trees taken directly from Dragon Age: Origins. Over time, these heroes gain experience, level up, learn new talents, get new loot … all the familiar RPG elements. This allows you to take on bigger and badder enemies from the Dragon Age world, such as darkspawn monsters Genlock Alphas and Ogres.

The hex based combat system took great inspiration from the classic Heroes of Might and Magic games

In each battle, units take turns moving across the field, using ranged and melee attacks, casting spells, drinking potions and using talents. The basics of the combat system have been set since early in the project, but we were feeling that our combat wasn’t deep enough and didn’t force you to work strategically. So, we took the time to iterate on this system and eventually hit the sweet spot where there’s a combat system that is both tactical and engaging.
It wasn’t any one major feature, but a number of small touches stacked on top of each other that resulted in the recipe for success:
• Monster Secondary Attacks: We added two special attacks to each type of enemy, so that they were no longer only using a basic ranged or melee attack.

Ogre Charge and Slam

• Movement Rules: We changed the rules of movement. Previously, on your character’s turn, they could move once and then attack, use a talent, drink a potion or end their turn. Players would frequently make a misstep and wish they were able to undo their move. Now, on a character’s turn, they can move freely anywhere within their walk radius before using talents or attacking.

• Talent Animations: We pushed the talent effects and the animations further, so there are more options and the results pay off in spectacular fashion.

Bard’s Song of Valor

• Obstacles and Line of Sight: Throwing randomly generated obstacles onto the battlefield, combined with line of sight rules for ranged attacks, forced players to move around the field strategically, instead of getting into a base line duel.

Game Changing Obstacles

• Back Stab and Flank: We added damage bonuses for performing backstabs and flanking maneuvers, further emphasizing the importance of strategic placement of characters.

All the little things added up to create a deep, tactical combat system

By combining all of theses features together, we ended up with a deep, strategic combat system that really delivers on the potential that Dragon Age Journeys has shown all along. We are confident that with this game, we are taking a huge step forward compared to previous flash-based RPGs.

Join us in “The Deep Roads”

Part 2 of 4 by Ethan Levy

Dragon Age Journeys

One of the two leaders of our group here at EA 2D is veteran super producer turned VP of Development Pete Hawley. Pete’s career highlights include being executive producer of Burnout Paradise, serving as development director at Sony, heading production at Lionhead and producing Driver. Simply put, Pete is one of the most accomplished producers in the game industry.

We recently had to decide on a name for the game, as the placeholder Dragon Age 2d wouldn’t hold. As we were clearly banging our heads against the wall, Pete told us a story about the naming session for Lionhead’s flagship franchise. At the beginning of the night that with a gang including Hawley and Peter Molyneux, Pete and a few others made the suggestion that they go with the short, simple descriptor that fit their storybook heroics, Fable. As with any meeting that involves a handful of creative friends working on a problem with no clear solution, the night went long, and soon the clock read 3am and then someone says, “Enough. I’ve got it. Jesus 2000. He’s back, and this time, He’s pissed!” But the answer had been staring them in the face all along.
Our naming session began with Dragon Age: Journeys as one of the top contenders. But the naming session stretched on, we got increasingly exasperated and our suggestions became a string of gaming nerd in jokes, such as:
• Ages of Dragon Age
• Dragon Age: Origins’ Origins
• Dragon Age: Origins: Origins
• Dragon Age: TitNS (This is the New Sh*t)
• Heroes of Dragons and Magic
• Paper Dragon Age
• Dragon Age: Tactics Advance Online
• Dragon Age: Sexy Browser Adventures
• Dragon Age: Age of the Dragon
And of course:
• Imagine: Dragonz Age Fun Time Babyz Party

But, the more we went back to it, the more true Pete’s advice rang and the better Dragon Age: Journeys started to sound. The problem was that we already planned on releasing three separate chapters of single player gameplay to start, and more in the future. How would we differentiate each forthcoming chapter?

The solution was simple. We had to move the colon. Dragon Age Journeys was our brand name. It’s the umbrella under which we’ll release all of our browser based offerings. This freed us up to give each chapter a name indicative of its story, and gives us the freedom we’ll need for our future plans.

Part 1 of 4 by Ethan Levy

Orzammar, under the mountains to the west of Ferelden, stands as one of the last great Dwarven cities. 1,000 years have passed since The Blight last drove the proud dwarves to seal their roads and abandon their fallen colonies. Though forsaken and all-but forgotten by the men and elves who walk the surface, the Deep Roads still teem with darkspawn. Amidst the rise of dark omens you head into peril, into the depths, into the Deep Roads.

Dragon Age Journeys

And so begins Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads. Hey there BioWare fans. My name is Ethan Levy, I’m a producer with EA 2D, and I’m very proud to announce our newest game Dragon Age Journeys. At EA 2D it is our mission to create blockbusters for the browser; some will be original games created by our teams and some will be games within other EA franchises, such as Dragon Age Journeys. We broke ground on Journeys back in November 2008, and after so many months of blood, sweat and tears, we can’t tell you how excited we are to finally start talking about the game.

Dragon Age Journeys has been a collaboration between EA 2D, BioWare, and some of the hottest indie talent from the flash developer community. Over the coming days, we’ll be introducing you to the game, the talented team of developers behind its creation and some of the day-to-day craziness that goes into making a game. More than anything, we want you to get a feel for how much fun and passion goes into creating a game for the browser that can live up to the high standards set by BioWare’s illustrious history.

We have some big plans for Journeys. The first piece that we are currently building is a 3 chapter, single player, tactical rpg delivered in Flash. Right now we’re hard at work finishing the first chapter, Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads. The game will introduce you to the dwarven city of Orzammar and the Deep Roads surrounding it where the dwarves face a persistent threat from the darkspawn hordes.

BioWare has been incredibly supportive in providing us with materials to work with in the creation of The Deep Roads. They have given us pages upon pages of reference materials, story documents, concept art and screenshots. We get invaluable feedback and insight on the game from members of the Dragon Age team, including Drs. Ray and Greg. The Deep Roads features character classes, talent trees, sound effects, music and user interface taken directly from Dragon Age: Origins. Thanks to all these resources and input from the BioWare team, it will serve as a solid introduction to the world of Dragon Age.

The leading force behind The Deep Roads is Daniel Stradwick, creator of the excellent flash rpg series Monster’s Den. Art and animation has been created by the illustrious Adam Phillips of Bitey Castle fame. Additional programming is being done by Andrew Sega, who created the Magic the Gathering inspired flash card games Mytheria and the multiplayer Armor Wars. The story is being penned by first time game writer Marcelo Poppi. You’ll learn more about them and the talented team at EA 2D in future posts.

***UPDATE***
Servers are melting… if you are looking for other download spots try here:

Atomic Gamer

or

File Planet

So if you haven’t heard already we are releasing the Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator TODAY! What is awesome about this little tool is that it was extracted directly from the game and any character you create can be saved on your PC and loaded into the actual game.

If you dont have the Character Creator yet you can get it here:
EN – FR – RU – PL – ES – IT – CZ – HU – DE

As a little bonus we are also giving away an exclusive in-game item for those folks that upload their newly generated character into BioWare’s new community platform: BioWare Social Network. Upload your character and come Nov 3 Get ready to slip on The Lucky Stone:

Lucky Stone

This old stone, set in a golden ring, has been an aid and companion to dozens of adventurers across innumerable years. Its trip to Ferelden was long and convoluted. Some say it has a life of its own.
Stats:
~ Adds +1 to all all stats.

You can check the new BioWare Social Network here: http://social.bioware.com

~dlarke

by Evil Chris Priestly

Recently Gamespot did a 5 part series of Documentary videos on the making of Dragon Age: Origins. Each part is a video interviewing members of the Dragon Age team about some of the different elements that have gone into making Dragon Age: Origins. They have kindly allowed us to post them here in the BioWare Blog in one handy location for our fans to watch.

Writing an Epic

In this video members of the Dragon Age: Origins team discuss the writing that has gone into making the game. Project Director Mark Darrah, Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw and Lead Writer David Gaider discuss what Dragon Age is and why Dragon Age is both familiar and unique for the fans.

Music of Dragon Age

This documentary features the music featured in Dragon Age: Origins. Composer Inon Zur, Vocalist Aubrey Ashburn and BioWare Studio Director Simon Pressey talk about how the music helps set the darkness and how epic the score really is.

Creating a Living World

This video explains how the development team has brought something new to the Fantasy genre through the art and level design. Senior Concept Artist Matt Rhodes, Art Director Dean Anderson and Lead DLC Designer Ferret Baudoin show off some of the amazing art even showing some of the original concept work done in the Neverwinter Nights engine.

Creatures of Dragon Age Part 1.

In Part 1 of the feature on the Creatures of Dragon Age Senior Concept Artist Matt Rhodes, Senior Artist Matt Goldman, Lead Character Artist Shane Hawco and In-Game Animator Clove Roy show off the concept art and animation process for creating the evil creatures encountered throughout Dragon Age.

Creatures of Dragon Age Part 2.

Part 2 of the Creatures of Dragon Age explains more about the process from concept art through animation till the creature is complete. Senior Concept Artist Matt Rhodes, Senior Artist Matt Goldman, Lead Character Artist Shane Hawco, In-Game Animator Clove Roy and Lead In-Game Animator John Santos illustrate their discussion with the fearsome darkspawn ogre.

Part 1 of 1, by Sheryl Chee and Mary Kirby

Q: Hi there. Thanks for giving this interview.

Wynne: It’s a pleasure.

Sten: Am I to understand that an “interview” is an occasion set aside for the sole purpose of asking questions?

Q: Yes.

Sten: If this turns into another discussion of cat-girls, I’m leaving.

Q: Why don’t you introduce yourselves? For the benefit of the people who haven’t kept up with the website?

Wynne: I am Wynne, a mage of the Circle of Magi.

Sten: I am Sten of the Beresaad.

Tower Guard: My name’s actually Walter. I’m—

Wynne: You should use a coaster.

Tower Guard: What?

Wynne: A coaster. For your drink. It’s sweating and leaving water rings on the table.

Tower Guard: It’s just water! It’s just—

Sten: Do what she says. She’s a mage. She’s liable to snap and kill us all if you annoy her.

Wynne: Sten, you annoy me frequently, and I haven’t killed you yet.

Sten: Yet.

Q: Let’s move on. Now, Sten, what do you say to the allegations that you are a big softie?

Sten: I am not a “softie”. “Big” is, I suppose, harder to dispute.

Q: Uh-huh. But you like cookies. What do you think that says about you?

Sten: That I have sound culinary judgment.

Q: Does it bother you that your love of cookies seems to be the only thing that interests people?

Sten: There’s little point in being bothered by it. Humans are silly creatures, easily amused by shiny things and quickly moving objects. You might as well ask if it bothers me that dwarves are short.

Q: What makes you an interesting person then?

Sten: To humans? I suppose the fact that I make sudden movements and loud noises helps.

Q: What was your childhood like?

Sten: Brief and easily cured.

Q: Are you reading anything right now?

Sten: In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar by Brother Genitivi. It’s good if you have an uneven table leg to stabilize.

Wynne: Oh, I haven’t read that one yet. His Tales of the Destruction of Thedas wasn’t bad, though.

Q: Tell us your favorite ice-cream flavor?

Sten: Butter brickle. Feel free to obsess over that, too.

Tower Guard: What’s ice-cream?

Wynne: I prefer lavender.

Sten: I thought that was a flower?

Wynne: It is. And it makes a lovely ice-cream.

Q: Wynne, tell us about yourself. What was your childhood like?

Wynne: Filled with wonderful discoveries about magic. And templars. I mean… there were always templars about, not that I made discoveries about them.

Tower Guard: I was dirty a lot—

Sten: What a surprise.

Wynne: Though there was that one man… we discovered that he actually had a peg leg under his armor. It was fun trying to throw him off-balance.

Q: So, about your magical bosom—

Wynne: Maker. Not this again.

Q: Is it really magical? Inquiring minds want to know.

Wynne: And by “inquiring minds” do you mean Zevran? Did he put you up to this? Oh, we are going to have some words, Zevran and I.

Q: What words? Words like “magical” and “bosom”?

Wynne: No. Words like… “I am” and “going to string you up” and perhaps “by your ears”. Next question.

Q: But we’re not done talking about your—

Wynne: Next!

Q: Um… what would you say to the people on the forums who dismiss you as “one-dimensional”?

Wynne: (sighs) What does one say to that? I suppose I could be facetious and point out my “magical bosom”, which is anything but “one-dimensional”.

Q: What are you reading right now?

Wynne: From the Shower to the Battlefield: A History of Bards. Fascinating read, especially the chapter on Orlesian bathroom construction.

Tower Guard: I can write my name! Want to see?

Sten: The Fereldan people continue to astonish with their accomplishments.

Q: This one’s for everyone: Would you rather be a small fish in a big pond, or a big fish in a small pond?

Sten: I would rather not be a fish.

Wynne: Small fish, big pond.

Tower Guard: I fell into a pond once…

Sten: Did the experience rob you of the ability to answer questions with something relevant?

Q: Okay, so Jane Austen and Beatrix Potter are fighting to the death. Who do you think will win?

Sten: Austen. She’s much more cut-throat.

Wynne: I don’t approve of blood sport. In the dwarven lands they have the Provings. The fights are often to the death. It’s rather barbaric, really. Am I to conclude, from your question, that you have a something similar in your culture?

Q: Well, there’s hockey…

Wynne: Hockey?

Q: It involves men with large beards and sticks fighting over a cup.

Wynne: Ah, I see. It sounds very dwarven, doesn’t it?

Q: That was fun, but we’re almost out of time.

Tower Guard: Oy! What about me? I paid three sovereigns for this interview. They said if I got my name out there, I could maybe get promoted to Castle Guard, or… or something!

Sten: Are you even in this game? I don’t remember you.

Wynne: Oh, he is, but he doesn’t make it out of the Prelude, poor thing.

Tower Guard: WHAT?!

Wynne: It’s best if you don’t dwell on it.

Q: Before we go, is there anything you want to say to the fans?

Sten: Are we done yet?

Wynne: “Get off my lawn!” (whispers) I’ve always wanted to say that.

Tower Guard: (sobs) I don’t want to die…

-END-

Sheryl Chee is a professional Minion of David Gaider, and came to BioWare from a faraway land, packed in a small styrofoam crate marked “Perishable”. She has a philosophy degree, which trained her for a career of making things up. In her spare time, Sheryl enjoys killing zombies, and knitting. She is often mistaken for a random number generator.

Mary Kirby possesses a degree in Creative Writing and the nigh-superhuman ability to make a turkey sandwich on sourdough in under thirty seconds. She came to Bioware hoping to get one of those awesome steel travel mugs. After working as a writer and professional Minion of David Gaider on Dragon Age: Origins, she still doesn’t have a coffee mug.

Part 3 of 3, by Jay Watamaniuk

That would be Dragon Age Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw on the left, myself as the space bellhop and Dragon Age Brand Manager David Silverman on the right.

Part 2 of 3, by Jay Watamaniuk

Yeeowsa was it busy on Saturday for day 2 at PAX. I am still waiting on the official numbers but the crowd was huge. I was very fortunate to have some time before the public arrived to see some of the show floor because all is fire and chaos once the fans arrive.

I got a chance to check out that little up-and-comer Diablo III as well as play around with the new goblin and worgen races in the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion.

The wait for these games was pretty astronomical when the fans had arrived, but I think the wait for Dragon Age: Origins was even longer. We had taken the approach of providing a closed, personal environment to show off Dragon Age properly. It is always a difficult thing to explain a BioWare game in two minutes or less, let alone provide a show floor demonstration that encompasses the complexity. The cost of providing this 25 to 30 minute personal time with Dragon Age was a very short list of people who could get in to play. This made for line-ups of several hours. I salute the hardcore resilience and dedication of everyone who waited it out for a chance to play.

To add a little spice to the booth visit we encircled the whole experience as a challenge. Mike Laidlaw, dressed in full chainmail, welcomed the fans and spoke for a short time about Dragon Age in a closed off room when fans had finally got inside the booth. He introduced the game and showed off a video of some of the key ideas. Mike then detailed how the fans had less then 30 minutes to complete the joining and become a Grey Warden in the game. This involved sitting down to learn how to play the game, venturing into the untamed Korcari wilds, dealing with Morrigan and returning to base to perform the joining ceremony.

If you were successful, then not only did you get a fine Dragon Age t-shirt that was better than anything your friend ever got for Christmas, but you also got yourself a picture geared up in front of the Archdemon statue out front announcing you are now a Grey Warden with blood smeared across your forehead. Here at BioWare we don’t just make games, we make awesome.

Mass Effect 2 had a far more open booth with 12 stations that were packed to the space-gills with fans waiting to play through the run and gun battle to acquire the galaxy’s most dangerous assassin: Thane. They were also treated to a surprise visit by some crazy in his space pajamas.

The day continued with Mass Effect 2 Lead Writer, Mac Walters and Dragon Age Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw (I’ll let you decide who is who- note some suitable clues in the pictures) both doing on-camera interviews with G4 T.V.

And finally, Mac signed many, many covers of the comic series he is creating with Dark Horse comics. Is it just me or is that the most epic-looking Salarian you have ever seen?

Part 1 of 3, by Jay Watamaniuk

I’ll keep this short as I am currently not on the show floor as I should be and am risking getting a spicy face slapping from the lovely and talented PR goddess Heather.

I arrived in town Thursday to a maelstrom of setting up activity. Forklifts, cables, men shouting, computers sparking, babies screaming, monkeys running around- it was all chaos. The work continued long into the night and even early this morning. BioWare staff needed to be on the floor at 8am to get everything ready and switched on for the parade of press that were due to arrive at 8:30am. The press did arrive (having been forced to wait in a looooong line outside the doors until 8:35 if you believe that.

I grabbed a bunch of shots that Evil Chris will get up on our community Flickr account when he can be spared from tossing out inflatable swords to the massive throngs that poured in the doors at 10:00am this morning. And throngs they were that came pouring through the doors. In my experience Friday is busy, yes, but Saturday is usually the crazy day. I think that idea has been thrown out the window. I cannot image how you fit any more people in the conference centre show floor. I’ll be sure to post up some great shots I got while standing on atop the two-story tower in the Dragon Age booth.

The show this year feels bigger. I grabbed a few minutes to walk around and what sort of booths were on display this year. Wow, bigger, better and certainly more money. It really looks like PAX has grown by leaps and bounds even from last year.

BioWare is showing off Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins this year for fans. Both are playable and both will certainly make you a better person all around.

As a side note, the booth gods have blessed us at the Mass Effect 2 booth as we sit right beside a very fine looking dance game on the Wii. This is significant to all of us at the Mass effect 2 booth because the folks over there were thoughtful enough to hire presenters that all can show off the game’s signature dance moves. I suspect that might prove to be a little distracting during the next three days.

Lots more to come folks as BioWare staff report from PAX 2009 showfloor!