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Browser-based Dragon Age Journeys sees Electronic Arts returning to its roots
- October 22, 2009 09:46 AM PST
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New label EA 2D takes the company's original notion of 'We are an association of Electronic Artists' to heart with its new free-to-play, browser-based tactical RPG. Developed by some of the hottest indie games talent, it could change the way you feel about "browser games."
When Dragon Age Origins arrives in stores on November 3, it will not be alone as far as experiences set in BioWare's vibrant new fantasy universe. In fact, starting tomorrow (October 22) at noon PST you'll be able to play a completely original browser based tactical RPG based on the franchise from Electronic Arts' new label EA 2D called Dragon Age Journeys. If the thought of Flash-based "browser" games immediately causes you to turn up your nose and look the other way, Journeys very well may be the game to change your views. Developed by veteran games industry talent and some of the indie game development scene's brightest minds, Journeys is a fully-fledged party-based RPG that shares gameplay elements with both the Diablo and Might and Magic franchises.
Today I was lucky enough to spend some time playing the game, and to distract two of the project leads while they were in the midst of preparing for tomorrow's launch to answer some questions about the game. The EA 2D initiative was spearheaded by Mark Spenner, the group's vice president of business and product development who was previously with BioWare and Pandemic. He is joined by Pete Hawley, the label's vice president of product development. Hawley was previously the executive producer on Burnout Paradise, and has held positions as the external development director at Sony, and he was the head of production at Lionhead Studios.
Addressing the most obvious question of "why a browser game?" both Spenner and Hawley were quick to describe their vision for how the games market is evolving. "We think the browser is the future of gaming," Spenner told me. "We are not stopping at reaching 5 million players through a boxed product. Our aspiration is to reach 100 million players through high quality, accessible games available in the browser. In that sense, Journeys is very much a standalone game, not just part of a promotional drive - that's what you'd normally tend to see from Flash games based on IP, but not here."
"Our intent is to build a loyal online community for this title," said Hawley, "But that is not a distinct proposition set apart from the Dragon Age franchise. We think fans of Origins will enjoy Journeys. And, hopefully, Journeys will introduce new gamers around the world to Dragon Age and BioWare. There's cross over in the forums, and in the game." With that in mind, how involved with the game was the Dragon Age team at BioWare? Journeys has been developed by a completely different team, so are the leads on Origins overseeing this too? "They have been involved and supportive from the beginning ? collaboration is the key," Hawley insisted. "Ray [Muzyka] and Greg [Zeschuk] are some of the most innovative leaders in the gaming industry, and they share our passion for browser games." Spenner then explained that the core of the project was driven by talented indie developer Daniel Stradwick, who is best known for his Flash-based dungeon crawler Monster?s Den. "Daniel was the driving force behind the design with guidance and input from BioWare," Spenner explained. "At EA 2D, our goal is to get back to the spirit of 'Electronic Artists' and be supportive of the high quality independent developers we work with, such as Daniel Stradwick, Brad Borne, Mike Swain and Adam Phillips, we're actually just a very small production team. Daniel was the driving force behind the vision and execution of the game and Adam [Philips, best known for the Brackenwood series of online animated shorts] made the game absolutely beautiful. We built a support team around these two talented artists to make the vision a reality. When EA formed 25 years ago, 'We are an association of Electronic Artists' was one of the guiding statements. That still stands, and we love that thinking."
After spending some time playing Dragon Age Journeys, it's clear that it's far more than a brand extension exercise. While the gameplay is certainly of a different style, the exploration is done Diablo-style by clicking around a beautifully drawn scrolling environment and the combat is hex and turn based, it draws on much of the lore and story of Origins. "We tried to stay true to the incredible characters and story of Origins that BioWare developed," Spenner explained. "But we wanted to introduce these in a more accessible way, suited to the browser platform; players expect quick fun in the browser. We deliver that, but it is also awesome to watch people get sucked in and get comfortable in their seats when they realize that this is a game above and beyond what they've seen in terms of depth and progression."
"We share the Origins interface, too," Hawley added. "So players of Journeys should quickly feel at home with Origins. We've also integrated three pieces of exclusive Origins content for players of Journeys. These will be available to players of Origins on day one when they login with the same EA account they use with Journeys. One of these pieces of content we are giving to players for giving us feedback on Journeys via a short survey, we want to make this game even better in the future."
The game that launches tomorrow, subtitled "The Deep Roads" is actually the first part of a planned trilogy of single player games which will later be followed by a multiplayer game. According to Spenner, this first chapter can be beaten in about two and half hours on the easiest difficulty setting, but there's some replay value in the shape of three different (customizable) character classes. It is entirely free, which begs the question of how EA 2D plans to make money out of the project? "The first chapter is free to play," Hawley explained. "For subsequent chapters and the multiplayer version we are exploring micro-transactions. Ad support isn?t necessary for us right now, we like keeping the content pretty clean and free from outside distractions."
"The ability to entitle content in the Xbox 360, PC and PS3 versions of Origins automatically based on a players progression in Journeys is a first for EA and something we worked hard to achieve," Spenner said as our conversation drew to a close. "We think it is important to reward devoted fans of EA and BioWare games and this shouldn't be tied to a specific platform. We want strong relationships with our players. It's important to us that developers and players take these games seriously and the only way to do that is to invest in talent, production values, design, progression, longevity and persistence. But like any platform, making great games is all that counts if you actually want an audience."
You can find the Dragon Age Journeys website here, and follow the Dragon Age team on Twitter here.
