How the game "Dragon Age: Origins" was created: 17 interesting facts about the cult game (16 photos)

Dragon Age attracts fans of all ages. Some are interested in the spirit of dark fantasy, while others like the down-to-earth nature of the world created by Bioware.





1. The idea to create a fantasy game in the spirit of "The Lord of the Rings" was born during a conversation between two employees of the company "Bioware" - James Ohlen and David Gaider back in 2002. Ohlen was a game designer who had worked on other games for the company, such as "Baldur's gate", "Newerwinter Nights" and "Star Wars: KOTOR", while Gaider worked as a scriptwriter. But they both agreed that they loved fantasy, so they decided to start their own project.



David Gaider

And, in their opinion, it should not be a standard and cliched fantasy game, but something more. As a result, over time, not only the style of "The Lord of the Rings" began to appear in the game, but also notes of "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George Martin (many watched the film adaptation of this book - "Game of Thrones").

2. According to Gaider's original idea, magicians were not supposed to have any freedom of action at all. In order to use any spell, permission from the circle was required. And society generally perceived magicians as some kind of vampires.





But later it was decided to abandon this idea, and make the mages a little more free, although not uncontrolled. The guys were just afraid that such a situation would scare gamers away from choosing this class.

3. Also, initially they wanted to include something like the great horde as the main villainous force. But Gaider considered that such a technique would be too cliched, so he and Olen agreed to introduce into the game a certain terrible event called the Blight, which occurs once every few hundred years. And instead of barbarians and orcs, it was decided to create new antagonists, which were called the creatures of darkness.4. It was then that the idea arose to create a special so-called unit that would deal with the fight against the creatures of darkness. This is how the order of the Grey Wardens was invented.



Moreover, the name "Grey Wardens" was not invented right away. Initially, the developers thought about such names as "Brotherhood of the Blood Knights", "Lords of War" and "Disciples of Pain". But when the name "Grey Wardens" was announced, the largest number of employees voted for it. And in principle, I agree with them. This name is more interesting and not so theatrical.

5. Initially, it was planned to make a standard choice of character race in the game, but then the developers thought about it and decided to move away from another cliché. They decided that it would be much more interesting not only to give players the opportunity to choose a race, but also to create a separate game background for each of them.



So, for example, if you want to play as a human, then you will have access to two backgrounds (a nobleman or a circle mage) and three classes (a warrior, a robber and a mage). If you want to play as an elf, then here you will have a choice between free Dollian elves or city elves. Well, there is only one story for gnomes, although there are two classes.

But the most important thing is that each character from each background has their own reasons for joining the gray guardians.



By the way, initially the developers created as many as 12 backgrounds, which they created on the Neverwinter Nights game engine, to see how they would work. And in the end, only five were selected.

6. Initially, the developers planned to introduce a person from the wild Avvar tribe as one of the characters. But after thinking a little, they came to the conclusion that it would be difficult for a savage to navigate the world of the game, so they decided to abandon this idea.



7. The first main characters of the game were Morrigan, Alistair and Loghain. The developers called them key, so they were given special emphasis. The rest of the partners were invented much later.

By the way, the developers put a lot of emphasis on Morrigan. Moreover, her appearance was not created with a generator, like other characters. She has a completely unique look, which, by the way, was borrowed from the American model Victoria Johnson. However, I personally do not see much resemblance.



And yes, at first it was even planned that the story would be told from the perspective of the elderly Morrigan, but then they abandoned this idea.

8. When the game world was already worked out, the developers sat down to come up with a name. In the end, they agreed that the game should be called "Age of Dragons". And everything seemed fine, but then two nuances arose. In order to justify the name, it would be necessary to introduce many more dragons into the game, and according to the plot, they practically died out. And secondly, this name turned out to be too cliched and resembled other games. Just remember "Age of Empires" or "Age of mythology".



Then friends simply rearranged the words, and thus came up with a very unique name "Dragon Age".

9. The game's development began in the first half of the 00s, but due to constant delays and the employees being busy with other projects, the process was greatly slowed down. Only in 2007 was the company able to move to the active development phase, and the release itself was planned for the first half of 2009.

But during the development, something was constantly removed from the game and something was added, so the release date was constantly shifted. There were even plans to introduce a storyline with the Empress of Orlais, who ended up in Denerim during the siege. But due to the fact that her storyline was difficult to fit into the plot, it was abandoned.



As a result, in order to release the game in 2009, the developers hastily came up with an epilogue, which they later regretted greatly, since they did not even think that there would be talk of a sequel.

10. Despite the fact that Ohlen and Gaider were worried that their project was coming out a bit raw, viewers were delighted with the game. In the first few months after its release, 3 million copies were sold. Also, the success of the game was supported by the global DLC "Awakening" and several additional small DLCs that expanded the game's lore.



11. Over time, the game's scriptwriter David Gaydr wrote three books that further expanded the lore of the "Dragon Age" universe. The book "The Stolen Throne" told about the future king Maric's acquaintance with the young Loghain. And the second book "The Calling" told about Duncan's youth and how he joined the gray guards. Well, the book "The Mask of the Phantom" talked about the rebellion of the magicians after the death of the circle and about an invisible killer who could only be seen by a magician named Rhys.



12. The developers also decided to differentiate representatives of different nations by their dialect. For example, the Orlesians speak with a pronounced French accent, the Fereldans with a British accent, and the Antivans with a Spanish accent.

The dwarves were originally going to have a German accent, but later this idea was abandoned, making their dialect similar to American English.

13. The name of the continent Thedas was not chosen by chance. The phrase "THE Dragon Age Setting" is encrypted here.



14. Ferelden was based on a typical feudal system and Anglo-Saxon culture. Only the titles here were replaced with others, such as earls and banns.15. The game has many references to other famous works. For example, when Zevran suggests counting the dead, this refers us to the second part of "The Lord of the Rings", where Gimli competed with Legolas in the number of orcs killed.



Although, in general, the game has many references to "The Lord of the Rings". For example, one of the dwarves in Orzamar says the phrase "Now this, my friend, is a real pint."

If Leliana is present in your team during the meeting with the demon of sloth, she will say the phrase "You have no power over me." This is a direct reference to the film "Labyrinth".



Also, in the game you can stumble upon a random encounter and witness a meteorite fall. Two farmers will run up to it, and one of them will say: "It's a boy, Martha, ten fingers on his hands and feet. God answered our prayers!" Of course, this is a reference to "Superman".

16. The game has 4 partners with whom you can start a relationship - Alistair, Morrigan, Leliana and Zevran. Moreover, Zevran and Leliana do not care who exactly to start a romance with - a man or a woman. But Morrigan and Alistair adhere to the traditional orientation.17. If you choose the noble path, Sir Gilmore will say the following phrase: "Giant rats? As my grandfather used to say, every bad adventure begins with this!" This is a reference to the games "Baldur's gate" and "Fallout".