Where did my inventory go?

Why are

ME1 & ME2

So Different?

Where Did My

Inventory Go?

Refining Gameplay in

Mass Effect 2

What kind of game is?

Introduction

What is this

talk about?

Sequel

Shooter-RPG

Mass Effect 2 Gameplay

Mass Effect 1 Gameplay

Design changes from

ME1 to ME2

http://fav.me/d2jndvd

http://fav.me/d2haio9

Action-RPG

New IP

New & Old

Fans

Big gameplay changes

But why did we change it?

What was the design process for change?

96 metacritic Xbox 360

94 metacritic PC

Selling better

than Mass Effect

http://fav.me/d2je3v9

Critically Acclaimed

What does this mean for ME3?

http://fav.me/d2hsfdq

http://fav.me/d2huj8e

Not everyone liked the changes

80+ awards

Very Different Game

Sold well

Who am I?

91 metacritic Xbox 360

My Team

89 metacritic PC

"I found myself constantly surprised...by

how much the game had been heavily

resdesigned."

--- Chris Remo (Gamasutra)

(Like the A-Team but better at design)

Preston Watamaniuk

"Nearly every major player-exposed

gameplay system from the first game

was considerably tweaked or

completely redesigned..."

-- Chris Remo (Gamastura)

Christina Norman

This too!

I worked

on this!

http://fav.me/d2j0cnc

http://fav.me/d1ajiom

Lead Designer

http://fav.me/d1nvxoo

Gameplay Lead

Jason Attard

twitter.com/truffle

Corey Gaspur

christina@bioware.com

Christina Norman

Lead Gameplay Designer, Mass Effect 2

Noel Borstad

Programmer

Many Fans

Gamer

Eric Fagnan

Designer

Geek

Asari

cosplay

FTW!

We made Mass Effect 2's gameplay, but

many other team members contributed.

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more fan art @ deviantart.com

Our Goals For

Mass Effect 2

How Do We Make

Mass Effect 2?

Review Analysis

Motivation

for Change

Example Issue

96 Reviews analyzed!

We knew we could

make a better Mass Effect

Quantitative Analysis

We knew what

we wanted to build

Qualitative Analysis

Didn't achieve everything

we wanted

Design

Documents

Reviewer and Fan

Feedback

Assault Rifle Accuracy

Designers always want

to redo everything...

Common themes determined

Planned features to

reach our design goals

Solutions brainstormed

None of these

features made

it to ship

But not how

to build it

Upgrade GUI

Prototyping

more useful

One of 4 GUIs planned

that would "maybe" fix inventory

We Wanted...

Better Inventory

More Satisfying

Combat

Equip your whole

squad easily

Real Time

Accurate, Powerful Weapons

Great GUI

Intense Feel

Useful Cover

Less "junk"

Upgradeable

Weapons

High Level

Plan

Evaluated Results

Prototyping

Using ME1

Combat?

Inventory?

Need a

Gameplay Team

Build Shooter

Combat First

Cover unimproved

Nothing

proven

F

C+

Guns better

but still not

a shooter

Bring focus to

gameplay

development

BioWare is strong

on RPG and story

Very expensive

to prototype

Can be tasked

with improving

gameplay

Other features

depend on

shooter combat

Still hard to

play in real time

Not so strong

on shooter combat

Data changes

only

Figure out what

system changes

were needed

Reponsible for

adhering to

gameplay vision

Shooter focus

reduces risk

+ Other Stuff

Squad AI

Better Balance

Balance?

Forget Labels

Make A Great Game

?

Enemy AI

Balance is part

of Quality!

Don't worry about

Shooter/RPG balance

Too early

to tell...

Frame rate

consistency

Basically ME1

with accurate

weapons

Texture pop

Quality is what

is important

Gameplay must

support narrative

Elevators

Level layouts

Many Systems need to be rebuilt.

Reward shooter

and RPG skill

Less "broken"

combos

Tutorials

Combat scripting

Overall stability

Auto-saves

Progression should

feel satisfying

Make conversations

more active

Vehicle

RPG Systems

Building for Intensity

Building Great

Shooter Gameplay

ME1 Level Up

Values

ME2 Level Up

Easy to use

not "dumbed down"

All features must

impact first

playthrough

Infiltrator Gameplay

Vanguard Gameplay

Progression should

affect gameplay

Class Design

Progression must

be meaningful

Design for 360

Every class

feel different

Level up

powers

directly

Unique

mind-blowing

powers

One class power

boosts combat

and conversation

Fixed Major

Cover Issues

"Everything should be as

simple as possible, but

not simpler."

- Albert Einstein

Even I don't know what

all this stuff is

We Analyzed

Competitors

First Step:

We Turned Off

Our RPG Systems

Player

Input Delay

Player Input

Loss

Mass Effect 2

We must learn

from great shooters

BioWare devs

lack shooter

experience

We were prepared

to cut classes

Cover is

not safe

Shooter combat must be

fun without being propped

up by RPG mechanics

Shooter players

at BioWare are

a valuable resource

Hard to aim

in cover

Slow

animations

Armor

Personalization

Research &

Upgrades

Focused everyone

on shooter combat

Most important move

of the project!

Resists

Global

Cooldown

Real-Time

Powers

Pausing deflates

intensity

Pausing should

be a choice

Cover

Improvements

Cooldown

Indicators

Binary

editing color

and pattern

most popular

Added stats to

armor based on

feedback

shown on

health bar

Upgrade gear

outside of

missions

Magic Input Test Gizmo

Fixed Major

Weapon Issues

Mapped 3

buttons for

player powers

Universal upgrades

simple way to

upgrade large squad

Mapped 2

buttons for

squad powers

Tactical

Works with

gender choice and

face customization

Easy to

Balance

Shoot enemy

to remove

resists

Control scheme

standardized

Use powers

more

Camera and

Animation

Tuning

No headshots

Couldn't tune

for feel

Aim point

preservation

No aim

assist

We found it on

the Internets

Sprint out

of cover

Aimback

http://benheck.com/for-sale

Enemies didn't

react when shot

And More!

Enemies

Regenerating

Health

E-mail

Unique Squad

Powers

Consistent

Behavior

Bonus Weapon

Built Better

Weapons

Why reinvent

the wheel?

New Game +

Encouraged

Feedback

Took 3

Months

Fast Iteration

19 weapons

Consistent

Abilities

Bonus Power

Listen to

players

Light Narrative

Dynamic

Captain's

Quarters

No need to

read health bar

Shooter combat

was good

Highly innovative!

(just kidding)

Defensive powers

sap intensity

108 Tuning

Variables

Heavy

weapons

Respec

Animations

Tuned

Watch them

play

Turned RPG

back on

No sacred

cows

Controversial Changes

Communication

With Fans

Squad

Inventory

Where did my

Inventory go?

Hard-Core Fan

Communication

Internal

Communication

Mass Effect 1:

• 5 squad members
• + Shepard
• Complex inventory

What could be

simpler than

no inventory?

Thou shalt

not have an RPG without

Inventory!

Mass Effect 2:

• 12 Squad members
• Shepard
• Managing gear must be easy

One change at

a time

Everyone assumes

the sequel will

be exactly the same

Squad members

auto-upgrade

their weapons

Stats modified

with upgrade system

Ask players

for input

Inventories lead to naked

squad members

ME1 inventory

Was Unpopular

Be Consistent

Team Demos

Honestly participate

in online communities

twitter.com/truffle

Thanks for Coming

Heat Sinks

Why is

there ammo?

Questions?

One-on-one

talks

IP explanation:

geth heat sink

technology

Encouraged using

different weapons

Encourage

evangelists

This one is

even better!

Questions?

This game

is awesome!

Hey look,

ammo!

twitter.com/truffle

Most debated

feature during

development

Stopped bullet

spraying

The IP

says no

ammo!

We could make

weapons more

powerful with

limited ammo

christina@bioware.com

Christina Norman

Lead Gameplay Designer, Mass Effect 2

Slides at

http://bit.ly/me2gameplay

Possibly the most controversial change in Mass Effect 2

No negative comments

in reviews

Class Videos

Mining

Inspired by classic

sci-fi games

Source of fan

humor/parody

Encourage

exploration

Communicate class and

gameplay changes

Lessons Learned

What are my goals for

Mass Effect 3?

Small Changes

Can Cascade

Communicating

Vision Change

Is Hard

We wanted accurate

and powerful weapons

Detailed previews and

hands-on access was

not enough!

We ended up redesigning

much of our core gameplay

Reviewers and Players were

surprised by gameplay

changes in Mass Effect 2

We Should

Improve

We Should

Keep

Listening to

reviews and fans

Richer RPG

Features

More Combat

Options

Same team

Know Your

Weaknesses

Gameplay

Focus

Improve Quality by

Designing to a

Core Experience

More Complex

Enemies

Core gameplay

We knew we

were not shooter

experts

Every feature supports

core narrative/combat

mission experience

Polish

Everything

Combat-narrative

flow

We worked hard

and studied great

shooters

Anything that interfered

with that flow was

redesigned or cut