An Outline of the Bioware Formula
Laying out the tenets of design for the classic RPG developer.
Consider this a version 0.1 of sorts. Writing down what I consider to be the Bioware Formula has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long while. While I consider myself knowledgeable about the studio, and a relatively articulate critic, there are a number of reasons for this not being a full 1.0 release of my thoughts on the matter. Firstly, I am not by any means an academic in any field, especially games studies. I’m also not much of a game developer myself, having only fiddled around with simple tools. I am however someone who likes to analyze media, and have learned how to do so from far more skilled people than myself. What I do know is that my work on the Bioware Formula has, and will continue to be evolving. As I continue to revisit — and play for the first time — games that in some way engage with the core tenets, my understanding of those tenets changes. Someday I hope to have this all better thought out in a formalized fashion. Until then, these blog entries will have to suffice.
I. Introduction
Bioware began in 1995 in the Alberta, Canada basement of co-founder Greg Zeschuk along with fellow medical doctors, Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip. With Trent and Brent Oster, as well as Marcel Zeschuk, the initial team was formed. Their first title, a mech simulator, Shattered Steel released in 1996, but their first claim to fame came with the now classic PC RPG series, Baldur’s Gate. The first was released in 1998 and the second in 2000. These titles cemented Bioware as one of the premier RPG developers. Throughout the early 2000’s Bioware would continue to release RPG titles. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was the first big splash in the console market that propelled the developer to becoming a mainstream hit producer.
With the arrival of the seventh generation of consoles, Bioware had scaled significantly. They were be purchased by EA in 2008, as three projects in particular became massive hits from 2007–2011. Those being the Mass Effect trilogy, the first two Dragon Age titles, and the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.
It’s shortly after this time where things begin to get far more dicey for Bioware. Leadership changes came, including the departure of the remaining founders. EA scaled the studio even further, expanding the number of studios and projects under Bioware. Dragon Age: Inquisition — the third in the series — released to sales success, despite an increase of criticism from some corners. Then came Mass Effect: Andromeda in 2017, and the end of Bioware’s golden era was evident. The game was largely criticized for not only being a step down in quality, but it’s broken state of release. Anthem of 2019, was also another massive disappointment. While not completely dropping RPG ties, the transition to a looter shooter was much maligned. Bioware eventually abandoned plans for Andromeda’s DLC as well as support for Anthem beyond keeping the servers up and running.
Bioware now sits in a precarious position. The fourth Dragon Age has had a deeply troubled development cycle, and leadership continues to be a revolving door. Mass Effect Legendary Edition — a remaster collection of the original trilogy — did restore some faith, but the question surrounding the upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect installments remain.
II. An Expansive Journey
It’s common for Bioware plots to have enormous stakes. To save the world, or galaxy, you’ve got to travel it. Let’s take a look at Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic to break down the basic progression.
The player begins in a tutorial aboard the Endar Spire. It quickly runs through not only how to play the game, but the smaller scale stakes as opposed to the galactic civil war laid out in the opening crawl. Upon completion you end up on the planet below, Taris; a tiered city world. This is where the game makes its first of two reveals about its scope. This is a non-linear world made up of multiple layers and sub-areas within with both main and side quests taking place throughout. Then you leave that world with a newly acquired ship, and head for Dantooine, which has its own story and side content. Then the second reveal comes nearly ten hours in. The player is given their mission by the Jedi Council and upon returning to their ship they can open the galaxy map and select one of the four planets to head to. All of which are mandatory to complete the main quest, but the player can tackle them in any order. These planets, like Dantooine and Taris all have their own lore, culture, and both main and side quests to be completed. Only upon completion of all four planets does the player then head into a string of final locations that are more linear, which serve as the endgame.
Mass Effect has obvious parallels, given its also a sci-fi title where you travel the galaxy and complete planets in whatever order you choose. In the case of something more terrestrial such as Dragon Age: Origins, there may be no spaceship, but there is still that point where the world opens up and you get to choose what order you wish to complete main quests and fleshed out locations in. Instead of individual planets though, it’s mage towers, deep forests, and other such fantasy locales.
Not all games follow this formula, and all have varying degrees of differences. The Baldur’s Gate series which predates Knights of the Old Republic is more immediately open and less obvious in its structure. Meanwhile, Dragon Age II places the player in a singular city for much of its runtime.
III. A World With History
Key to a Bioware RPG is getting players invested in their worlds. For much of Bioware’s early history where they could rely on already established IPs ample lore and their per-existing fandoms. Their later work often ventures into original properties. For this section we’re going to look at the Mass Effect series.
In Mass Effect’s version of the Milky Way galaxy, humans are the newcomers to a galactic community made up of numerous planets, governments, and alien species. Bioware smartly takes advantage of the player’s role as a human to educate the player and their character — Commander Shepard — at the same time. Both are stepping into a universe where histories between its people are long and storied. At the heart of the galactic community is The Citadel, an ancient and highly advanced space station where the diversity of the galaxy is ever-present. The Citadel is also home to the ruling government of a significant chunk of the known universe called Citadel space. Every alien species that is a part of Citadel space has a representative ambassador. Three species in particular sit upon the Citadel Council who are the leaders of government. There are the Asari, a mono-gendered species that lives roughly 1,000 years and are generally the most attuned biotics in the galaxy. Biotics being people who manipulate fundamental scientific principles. In a lot of ways these are Jedi force powers. Then there are the Turians who have a militaristic culture, and with that, one of the most powerful navies. Lastly, the Salarians who are a reptilian like people with relatively short life spans, but have secured their influence throughout the galaxy via advanced sciences.
Despite the general peace between each species, there are tension underneath based on years of bad blood. Lets focus on the specific example of the Krogan, whose culture revolves around a warrior society and have a particularly fraught place in the galactic community. Initially, the Krogan were not a space-faring people until the Citadel Council decided to help them be such. In part because the Council wanted soldiers in a war against another alien species known as the Rachni. The Krogan were able to survive in the Rachni homeworld and proved to be key in the Rachni’s near extinction. However, afterwards the Krogan turned their gazes elsewhere and began expanding throughout the galaxy with ease. The Turians were able to put up a fight, but the Krogan reproduced rapidly. This is where the Salarians come in with what is known as the genophage. A biological warfare weapon that drastically dropped successful pregnancy rates. The consequences of such were not well thought out by the Council and Salarians, leading to the Krogan race falling victim to a slow genocide, which is well underway by the time humans arrive to the galactic community.
This is but one example of the deep lore in Mass Effect that is expanded on through sizable codex entries in each game, dialogue with dozens of characters, and visiting locations with ties to such as the player goes on the expansive journey.
IV. Small Party Combat and Exploration
The bulk of the player’s time is spent in exploration and combat. At any locale you walk around, find items, quests, see the sights, and then get into some fights. These have both evolved over the years. The Baldur’s Gate series and even Dragon Age 2 have a foundation in the rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Stat based combat where invisible dice rolls determine the success of each action taken. Then you have something such as Mass Effect that is more of a third person cover-based shooter. There are stats and skills, but it’s far more real time as opposed to resembling MMORPG combat such as Final Fantasy XIV or Bioware’s own, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Exploration varies a great deal too. Look at a game like Jade Empire and it’s a series of linear locations that are all relatively small areas connected via narrow pathways. Compare that too Dragon Age: Inquisition or Mass Effect: Andromeda, both of which are far more open world in design.
No matter the differences there is one constant; companions to follow you around. The party sizes vary. Including the player character, Jade Empire allows two people to a party, while Baldur’s Gate allows six. Combat also varies in the degree of control you have. Jade Empire only lets you decide if your single companion will be in an attack or a support role. In the Dragon Age series you can not only choose from several different roles, but change out gear and make minute details in their A.I.. You can program them to heal an ally when they are at a certain amount of health or use a specific skill if an enemy uses a different specific skill. No matter what, companions fighting and exploring alongside the player is key.
When it comes to exploration things have remained a little more static. While out and about your companions will comment on the world around you. They may talk among themselves too. In specific quests, they’ll even chime in with their opinions on what choice the player should make. Your choices will then feedback into how much a companion likes the player character and could have ramifications on their part in the story. We’ll get to all that in a later section.
V. Home Spaces
These are the places the player and their companions call home or take a little well deserved R&R between quests. In Knights of the Old Republic, this is the space ship known as the Ebon Hawk. In Dragon Age: Origins, it’s a humble campsite. In the Mass Effect trilogy, it’s the highly advanced warship, the Normandy.
These spaces are at their best when environmental details are plentiful and truly make the space feel like somewhere for the characters to relax. Placement of companions and personal items can be done so with intent. For example, Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins has spent much of her life living alone with her mother in the woods. She’s also an apostate, or an illegal, mage. Therefore she sets up her tent and fires off to the side away from the rest of the party. For most part, party members remain fairly stagnant in their placement. Over the years this has changed though. Scripted cutscenes playing out when you enter the Ebon Hawk are one such exception. In Mass Effect 3, companions will chatter via the ship comms outside of scripted cutscenes that are triggered when the player enters a specific room. Sometimes you might find someone at the ship’s bar or a few others playing cards at a table in the rec room. On occasion you might just find companions in each other’s specific spaces. Then in Mass Effect: Andromeda this is taken a step further as the characters will act out conversations with two or more people in any given room. These moments are animated and scripted cleverly to give the player a sense that they’re walking in mid-conversation. Some games have more than one or treat friendly locations as secondary home spaces where you can find your companions out and about.
This is where much of the getting to know your companions happens too. You can chat them up through dialogue trees and affect their relationship to you. More on that in the next section though.
If you’d like a more through breakdown of the Normandy as it evolves over the course of the trilogy as a home space, I have a video on the matter.
VI. Dynamic Relationships with Party Members
Each and every companion can be “befriended” through spending time with them and selecting the appropriate dialogue or through your actions during quests. Conversely you can have an antagonistic relationship or somewhere in between.
This is also where a key part of Bioware’s staying power comes in. Where the fandom runs wild with all sorts of fan creations over their favorite ships. Not only can you befriend a companion, but some are available to be romanced. Each game approaches this differently. Some are more open about who can romance who. This depends on the player character’s gender and the sexuality of the companion.
While this has led to Bioware having a reputation for being more progressive than a lot of other developers in the game industry, at least during Bioware’s golden age, there are still limitations worth noting. Character creation varies throughout the games, but they all adhere to a gender binary. Depending on who the publisher of a game is, and what the general sense of progress on LGBTQ+ issues are in the wider world, also plays a factor. For example, in Jade Empire it is possible to have same sex romances. However, the base game of The Old Republic, which was released roughly six years later, has no options for such. It is understandably a complicated subject that will get more specific discussion game by game.
The types of relationships have evolved as well. Earlier on, they tended to be framed by very traditional ideas. Again, this is another area that has waxed and waned. At times casual hookups are possible as early as Dragon Age: Origins. Andromeda meanwhile allows there to be even more nuanced possibilities.
VII. Choice Driven Narrative
Arguably the most iconic part of the Bioware Formula is player choice. In many of their games, morality bars are a common feature showing the player character’s nature as good or evil. Based on choices made with both big and small thought quest and dialogue, the tracker will shift to one side or the other.
This has faded over the years, but player choice still remains. They can have an impact on the story and characters within. The Mass Effect trilogy is arguably the most ambitious example of such. Player saves can be imported through the entire series and the choices you make in the first game can come back in each sequel in significant ways. These choices also play a role in who lives and dies among your companions. Mass Effect 2’s finale known as the “Suicide Mission” can end very poorly depending on the player’s actions. It’s a combination of how focused you have your team, how well equipped they are, and tactical combat choices made throughout the hectic combat. It is possible to get just about everyone killed. It’s also possible for them all to live and a variety of combinations in between. Of course who lives and who dies plays a role in Mass Effect 3 as important characters may not be in the game at all if they died on the “Suicide Mission.”
Player choice takes on many permutations, as everyone approaches a game in their own way. You may be trying for optimal play to get the best ending where everyone not only survives but is happy with the outcomes of their lives and the world around them. Some may lean into playing things out as they envision their character. Other players may approach their role in the story as not only the player character, but a co-writer on the game itself. Directing the story in a way they find interesting, even if the means unpleasant outcomes.
VIII. Conclusion
As I have mentioned, all of these features have changed over the years. There is no right or wrong way, necessarily. It’s more so a matter of execution on whatever the idea is to prove its value. Each game, whether it be developed by Bioware or some other developer, has their own success and failures.
My approach for this series of work will be a long and multi-stepped one. I will not be going in release order. In fact, I will be starting with Jade Empire. The reason for this is simple. It’s the one I had most recently finished when I finally decided to commit to this project. While it is undoubtedly valuable to track the evolution of a developer or style of game design through the years, for practical reasons, that isn’t possible here. I am familiar with all Bioware titles. I’ve played most of them and those that I’ve not, I’ve read about, watched playthroughs of, and have been attuned to their communities for quite some time.
I see this as a project that will be tackled in phases and each phase will have its own status of publication. For starters, I’ll write lengthy articles on individual games and publish them here. At a later date — after more research has been conducted — I would like to make videos for each piece. Maybe someday down the line, when I’ve completed each piece for each game, I’ll compile them in some fashion. It’s an ambitious project, and one that — if I actually follow through on — will take years to complete.
As I stated at the start, I do not have an academic background. I am also not the foremost mega-fan of any of these games or Bioware as a whole. I am knowledgeable though, and have a great deal of appreciation and fascination with the Bioware Formula.
