Interviews// BioWare’s Dr. Ray Muzyka

SPOnG: There’s been a lot of discussion about deep storylines and cinematics in games, particularly RPGs as they are arguably the most story-heavy games out there. How do you guys make the balance between providing a great gameplay experience and telling a story through Hollywood-style plotlines?


Ray Muzyka: That’s a good question. It’s almost the difference between linear storytelling and non-linear storytelling. It’s actually tough to make the leap from linear to non-linear, because you have to allow the player to make a choice, and you have to show the consequences of the choice.

Because in games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic we offer players a lot of choice - more than what we’ve done in our past games - it makes threading those stories together, and making those choice elements feel like they have credible consequences, pretty challenging.

But you plan it all out, account for different story paths, accommodate different styles of play, think about players bringing squadmates to help in missions and how that can impact the story path... We look at non-playable characters (NPCs) as a big part of method of storytelling. They’re like the lens through which you see the world and the mirror for your actions. So we really make a point of reflecting those consequences back at you through NPCs and make you aware of the emotional intensity that comes with making your decisions.

Having said that, there are many ways to tell a great story. The environment can tell a story, for example a game like BioShock has a different style of storytelling to a BioWare game. And I think it’s a great example of telling a story, and we’re actually looking to bring some of those elements from other games in that have other ways of telling BioWare stories in the future.


SPOnG: I hate to lower the tone, but games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age allow you to take on the world as you see fit, and there’s a bit of sex involved.


Ray Muzyka: If you so choose. But it’s never casual, it’s meant to be... the relationships you build in our games you have to invest time in. Romance is just one possible outcome of your actions in investing character relationships, but it’s not the only outcome. It’s all about reflecting emotional intensity, and really making an emotionally engaging experience.

If you invest your time and attention in a relationship with a character and you want it to lead to romance, then we try and reflect that. We need to do that to provide a transparent and engaging product. Ultimately though, it’s optional.


SPOnG: Not to bring up old news, but I think that’s what a lot of the mainstream media didn’t really understand back when the original Mass Effect was being criticised.


Ray Muzyka: Well, with the Fox News story that ran the controversy piece about Mass Effect - the irony of all that is that they were showing on national television, to anyone who was watching, the entire sequence in a video behind them. And they were implying that there was a lot more to it than that, but they showed the entire scene as they commented on it!

They clearly hadn’t played the game, to understand how you even get to that point. But even then, the love scene is about the same level of exposure as a Hollywood movie. And clearly it was fit for national television, because they were showing it. It was absurd, it was just a reflection of them not understanding the medium they were trying to comment on.