I hope everyone had a wonderful 2010.  So many Friday Updates, so much information, so much story.  Even though I haven’t been doing the updates that long for Torocast its been brilliant.  Everyone here has been fantastic so thank you all and I hope for an even better 2011.

Now onto todays update which is:

Cinematic Design

(link)

As with all Developer Blogs Paul starts off with a little background of his experience and his love of Star Wars.  Playing with Star Wars toys and a video camera (youtube please).

“Playing director in the Star Wars™ universe is one of the coolest jobs anyone could wish for.”

Paul Marino also worked on the very successful and fantastic game Mass Effect 2.  Surely a good sign for The Old Republic.  Once his job was done he was asked if he would like to work on TOR.

“Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to be a part of the team!”

So, what is Cinematic Design?

I honestly wish I could re-write what Paul said but the explanation is so good I just have to copy and paste.

“To put it simply, Cinematic Design is using cinematic presentation to facilitate narrative and gameplay, and heighten emotional involvement. By the use of a directed camera, we’re able to make the story real to the player, allowing them to get involved with the characters and make meaningful choices.”

What Bioware has continuously stressed is that what brings TOR apart from other MMO’s is that instead of a “text-driven narrative” is part of a “dynamic plot”.  Choices matter in TOR and cinematic’s are a brilliant way to show that.  Where characters interact with one another the choices that you make are seen.

“Do we kill the Sith acolyte? Do we spare him? Will he show up later in our character’s path to be dealt with? Or will he fight alongside us, supporting us in the most crucial of times?”

All these choices are presented in a cinematic scene.  So instead of many just skipping through quest text and not being engaged in the story, through the use of the cinematic scene the player has too choose what is being said and thus live with the decision they make.

Paul Marino continues explaining how they introduced cinematic design into group play.  Everyone in the group has a say on the direction of the conversation.

“A young exile takes an adversarial tone with the group, and challenges them to a duel. Your Sith Inquisitor grows impatient with him and chooses to detonate some nearby explosives – but will it be overruled by another who votes to fight him?”

This extends the gameplay experience in conversations.  Players will vote roll for the outcome of the conversation.

(Video Soon)

A Day in the Life of a Cinematic Designer.

Paul Marino continues and takes us through what he has to consider when creating a cinematic.  He gives us a few examples like a Jedi Consular.

“It will most likely be a quiet, emotionally-centered setting, focusing on the difficult choices ahead.”

Another example is with the Bounty Hunter talking to a “obnoxious nobleman”. The Bounty Hunter can choose which way to deal with this character and find out the information.  Safe to say you don’t want to annoy a Bounty Hunter.  He continues to say that every scene is done like a “live-action shoot.” The Cinematic Designer will review the script and also consider the location and actors within the scene and answers the most important question.

“What does the player need to know once the scene has ended?”

(Video Soon)

The Cinematic Designers also work very closely with other departments.  Paul gives us a few examples of searching out for the writing team to ensure that the characters portrayed are behaving accurately.  Or perhaps seeking out the animation team to get a specific animations for the scene.  I guess having “a large range of world-class talent” a stones throw away does have some advantages.

Now the next part makes me particularly jealous.  The Cinematic Design team has access to a large array of Star music and sound effects.  (Its so unfair)  The also have one of the largest animation libraries in gaming history and the most voiceover dialog ever recorded for an entertainment project.  And its up to Paul and his team to put them all together to create the cinematic scene we will see in TOR.

Paul Marino’s job is mainly that of a Director however due to the complexity of the cinematic scenes in TOR he has to take up multiple roles.  As a filmaker, game developer and a gamer.

“Each conversation we produce is considered from all three points of view.”

Director:

• How to shoot the scene.
• Does the location support the action that needs to take place.

Game Developer:

• How the scene works within the game around it.

Gamer

• How does this fit within the larger context of my game experience.
• Is this scene memorable.
• Do I understand what’s going on.

“Each of these perspectives help craft how the game’s narrative is presented and remembered. Creating these moments for the player is probably the most rewarding part of being a Cinematic Designer on The Old Republic.”

Conclusion

“As I mentioned earlier, the cinematic presentation of narrative can turn the simplest event into a pivotal moment. It’s this crafted layering of camerawork, performance, direction and gameplay that allows us to emotionally invest into the characters and the world around them. To put a romantic spin on it, the Cinematic Design team members are the visual composers of this chapter of the Star Wars universe, developing scenes that players will remember for years to come. We hope you enjoy what’s in store as much as we enjoyed telling it.

Thanks for reading and may the Force be with you.

Paul Marino 
Lead Cinematic Designer”

I thought it important to add this because this paragraph sums up the importance of cinematic’s in TOR.  As Paul says that just by replacing the age old text quest can give life and enjoyment in obtaining and completing quests.  Many people have asked what is it that makes TOR stand out of the rest.  It is Paul Marino, his team and the work they complete that will make TOR stand out like the Death Star firing its big laser.

Thank you all for reading.  The video’s will be up shortly.  As always if you wish to read the full Friday Update please head to here.

Also a thread will be popping up shortly on the Torocast forums.  Please feel free to join our fantastic community in discussing the game we all love The Old Republic.

Until next time.

Ta ta

When I was younger, pretty much all through grade school, I would listen to a running shower and pretend it was rain. I wasn’t taking a shower mind you. I was already clean enough to eat off of if you closed your eyes and didn’t mind I was ticklish. I would just run the shower. I found it soothing to just curl up in a bed of towels—clean towels, I’m not a savage—and revel in the sound of water falling.

My mother would wonder at our water heating bills. “You don’t take long showers, do you?” she’d ask.

“No,” I’d say. “No.”

“I just don’t understand why this should be so expensive!”

“I dunno, Mom. Democrats? Somethin’.”

Of course, it was “somethin’.” It was me. I was hooked on the sound.

Now, I have not done that in a long time. It was rather infantile, maybe a little weird, and in high school I was too busy for idling time away like that what with all the girls I was dating and serious studying I was doing to improve my grades and—wait no I mean video games like Doom, Quake, and the original Team Fortress. And I guess I was busy with some sports if you count the bench. But I remember that feeling of calm and coziness, and I still savor the sound of rain against the windowpane when it’s storming. I never run the shower sans reason anymore, but sometimes I do wonder how the fiance’s chihuahua likes having her little doggy bed next to the bathroom.

One important point to note is the difference between sound effects and music. Music is an important part of any cinematic experience and is generally considered to be the central audio component of a game, but it serves a different purpose from sound effects. Sure, music sets the atmosphere and plays with the emotions of a scene but it’s less integrated into the core experience of the game. By comparison, general sound effects are one of those things that tend to go unnoticed the better they’re executed. It’s not something most gamers think about. I’ve found myself listening to a number of video game soundtracks over the years outside of games—Chrono Trigger, Streets of Rage 2, and just about anything from the Final Fantasy series are good—but while actually playing most games I tend to turn the music off. I want to feel immersed in the journey, I don’t want to feel like there’s a traveling band of minstrels following me all over the jungles of Alderaan.

But other than music—and skipping voice over, as we’ve heard enough about that already—why are the sound effects important? I mentioned immersion previously, and that’s because sound has a lot to do with a sense of verisimilitude within a game. Not “realism” of course. The ground crunches when you walk. The leaves rustle when you pass through them. The water burbles along a stream as you pass. Lava crackles and hisses. Does it matter if these sounds are entirely accurate? Heck no. I have no idea what lava sounds like. I have a general concept of what I’d accept however, and if flowing lava sounded like an air horn in SWTOR it’d feel pretty incongruous. My point here is not that if they’re going to accurately portray the flower-jungles of Felucia they need to go out and record drops of rain striking orchid petals. That doesn’t matter. My point is that when I’m walking through Felucia that there should be a batch of unique sounds that mark it as Felucia and feel appropriate. Just as a unique planetary color scheme can set that atmosphere apart and make it identifiable, unique sounds can do the same. The blowing snow of Hoth, the rustling sand on Tatooine, the distant sounds of traffic on Coruscant, these sounds are important to bringing these locales to life.

There’s also the matter of branding with sounds. Star Wars has some unique audio cues without which it could hardly be called Star Wars. The sound of a lightsaber alone is incredibly iconic and identifiable in pop culture. It wasn’t incidental, it was crafted:

Ben Burtt, sound designer: “…the microphone passed right behind the picture tube and as it did, this particular microsophe produced an unusual hum. It picked up a transmission from the television set and a signal was induced into its sound reproducing mechanism, and that was a great buzz, actually. So I took that buzz and recorded it and combined it with the projector motor sound and that fifty-fifty kind of combination of those two sounds became the basic lightsaber tone.”

{Star Wars Trilogy: The Definitive Collection}

The same can be said of the sounds R2-D2 makes, or the sound of imperial TIE fighters in flight. These sounds embody Star Wars. When my cellphone goes off and Chewbacca starts howling, there’s almost always somebody around who recognizes it, even though it’s not the Imperial March or the title theme.

Orion Kellogg, Audio Producer, LucasArts: “When you consider the legacy of Star Wars™, what you hear has indeed moved and excited its fans: the orchestral score, the Cantina music, Chewie’s roar, and the pew-pew of a blaster rifle instantly take us to a galaxy far, far away. Developing sound for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ requires that we bring together the talents of dialogue writers, cinematic designers, voice-over actors, musicians, engineers, and production teams at both LucasArts and BioWare. It’s our job to create an audio experience that enhances the emotional experience of the game and reaches the quality level expected of the Star Wars franchise.”

{SWTOR.com: “Sounds of the Old Republic”}

As expected, most of this article talks about the tremendous effort involved in voice over. Though an interesting topic, I’m sure I initially dismissed this article because of it as we’d already heard so much about it. However, it also has a section on “combat sounds” that sheds more light on our topic:

Orion Kellogg, Audio Producer, LucasArts: “As rewards and character progression are tied so closely to the gear that you’re picking up, it’s vital that an early-level weapon sound substantially different from a punchier later-level version of the same. The sheer volume of different items and the player demand for weapons that will stand out from the pack has also given us the creative freedom to augment our traditional “pew pew” blaster rifles with more outside-the box variants that will surprise players and intimidate their foes.

…

“We’re taking traditional sound effects and then tweaking them in dozens of different ways, pulling the most out of the source material provided by KOTOR veteran Julian Kwasneski and taking the sound variety to a new level.”

{SWTOR.com: “Sounds of the Old Republic”}

I find the above interesting because it shows two things about their approach to sound design. First, it says that they have a lot of leeway to add new stuff. That they’re excited by the scope of the sounds that will populate the game is good, but they could’ve still  been limited strictly to iconic sounds and variations on those. Instead it seems that we’ll be able to get all new auditory delights from SWTOR that will expand the library of Star Wars noises. It’s nice to know that, while I love the Wilhelm scream, we won’t have to hear it again and again.

5. EA Louse

The EA Louse blog is likely to be regarded as one of the lowest points of the year for not only SWTOR, but the gaming industry as a whole. For those who somehow missed it, the EA Louse blog was a blog post written by a disgruntled Mythic employee who wanted to air some of EA’s dirty laundry, specifically targeted at Mythic. Many of you I am sure know the failings of Warhammer Online and this gentlemen felt he had all of the answers to its apparent failure.

Now I am sure you are wondering why this is on a list about SWTOR, well, Louse also felt the need to take a stab or two at SWTOR:

As you can see Louse was ready to fan the flames in any direction he could. This blog caught media attention all over the gaming media world. It didn’t take long for people to come to the defense of not only Mythic but also those specifically mentioned within. In the end the whole blog turned out to have an interesting conclusion.

4. The Hope Trailer

This year at E3 BioWare came out swinging with an amazing followup to last years “Deceived” trailer with “Hope.” This trailer acts as a prequel to the events of Deceived and the Sith sacking of Coruscant. The Hope trailer follows Darth Malgus and a band of Empire forces as they assault Alderaan. There they are thwarted by the actions of a Trooper and a Jedi Consular.

I have never been the kind of player to get excited about cinematic trailers. To me, they rarely ever show anything useful about gameplay, which is what I actually care about. However, Blur Studios made me care about a cinematic trailer last year and they sure as hell did it again. “Hope” is just so bad ass that you cannot help but love it. Everything about it screams epic and leaves you wanting more, and in this case, more means SWTOR.

3. Space Confirmed…

Without question, the most controversial Friday Update that has ever been released by BioWare. Prior to the announcement of their “tunnel shooter,” many people in the community, TOROcast included, often joked about the inclusion of space in the game. Few of us actually believed BioWare would make the push to get space in at launch, in any form. The problem, as you can see in this poll, is that BioWare seems to have misjudged how their community would have wanted space combat in SWTOR.

A lot of the feedback pointed to one consistent theme, people wanted Star Wars Battlefront II, which simply meant they wanted space off the rails, they wanted free roaming space. Since their announcement of space we have heard next to nothing about it, which makes me wonder if we are still in store for a few more changes. Possibly based on the feedback of the community.

I personally love space just as it is. This is an MMO, not a space based shooter. What they presented is a beautiful and fun mini-game which I am sure both you and I will waste many hours playing, regardless of your love or hatred for its design.

2. PAX Prime

PAX Prime in Seattle was not only a highlight of the year for SWTOR, but a personal highlight as well, here is a breakdown of everything that made PAX amazing.

• Seattle has always been the American city I have wanted to visit more than any other and I was not disappointed. For anyone who has never been able to go there I highly recommend it, especially the over 21 crowd! It is an amazing place which I hope to visit again soon.
• I was able to finally meet two people who I have been friends with for quite some time. Ryan (CypheR on the forums) has been a friend of mine for many years and we have played many games together. He lives in the area and was able to meet us and help with some coverage. Those of you old school fans may remember him from one of our very first shows when we talked about the Hero Engine! Secondly, I was able to meet the world famous, two-time Emmy nominated Brandon “b-slice” Miletta. It was great to finally meet these people in person.
• PAX Prime was slated to be SWTOR’s “biggest event of the year” and honestly, I think BioWare let everyone down with a fairly lackluster announcement. Revan and HK-47 are in the game and have some relevance to the lore of the game. Pretty sure everyone already knew that.
• BioWare set up something that I have never seen another game company do before, allow an on-stage playthrough of a flashpoint, and the players? Their very own community fansites, including TOROcast. Brandon did a great job representing the team on stage as the Jedi Knight!
• Most important to me and the reason it is number two on this list, I got to play SWTOR for the very first time. I won’t bore you with the details, you can read all about my experience here, all I can reiterate is that this game is incredible and has the potential to be one of the best MMO’s ever made.

1. “It’s Always Spring Somewhere”

Sadly, the number one spot on this countdown is not dedicated to good news but it certainly is the announcement that was at the forefront of every gamers mind who follows SWTOR. The announcement that SWTOR would not be released in this fiscal year, meaning we would not see the game until the soonest of April 1st, 2011. Like many of you, I have clearly been following this game for quite some time and the idea that I would need to wait many more months just to play the game was painful. Even more so after having the chance to play it and realize how great of a game it can be. So here we are, playing the waiting game until 2011.

In three days we will be in 2011, which puts us that much closer to playing SWTOR. It seems ridiculous to say, but starting with January 1st I almost feel like I can start counting the days until release, assuming they stick to the Spring release window.

Tell me, what was your favorite moment of 2010? What was your most hated moment? Head on over to the discussion thread, comment below, or email me at musco@torocast.com. Thanks for reading, have a safe and happy New Years and I will talk to all of you in 2011!

-eric