David Gaider: RPG Design Is About Degrees of Consequences

Dragon Age II was seen by some fans of the series as a smaller, less complicated video game than Origins, the first title in the series, but one of the leading developers working on the game says that the main principle behind the way the experience was designed was creating degrees of consequence for all choices.

Speaking to Gamasutra David Gaider, the man behind the narrative of the Dragon Age series, has said, “The guiding principle is degrees of consequence. You can actually split choices up into several categories. Many are going to be flavor. You're asking the player to make a choice, but either there is no 'real' effect, or it's immediate. The player doesn't necessarily know that, however, and for them the fact they're being asked to decide something gives it weight.”

He explained that the team takes care to balance the small choices that offer immediate effects in a small location and the big ones, which take time to play out and affect most of the game world.

Gaider added, “What's important is that there's a balance. Not necessarily balance in the number of choices, but more that you have a spread among the types of choices. Too many flavor, or local, choices, and the player begins to lose a feeling of agency.”

Dragon Age II restricted the action to the town of Kirkwall and its surroundings and focuses everything on the character of Hawke and his interactions with the world.

Some fans of the series have said that the focused experience was a welcome change while others have complained that the game failed to show them the impact their actions would have on the wider game universe.

BioWare is currently working on Mass Effect 3, the conclusion of its space-based role-playing and action mix, which will be launched in early 2012.

A Dragon Age sequel is also probably in development.