Clarification on SWTOR's Development

[KeithKanneg]

Hi folks, 

I wanted to hop in here and clear up some of the misconceptions that we’ve seen in the forums and in other spaces players frequent. Some of this is based on folks misinterpreting what I've communicated in the past along with a limited knowledge on how our game development process works. 

Since we began The Legacy of the Sith, we had planned for a number of updates to tell the entire story while also bringing in a variety of gameplay, events, adjustments, and even new features, like the recent Venture System.  So, it is fair to say that before we transitioned to Broadsword, a large part of our design direction was made while the team was at BioWare/EA.  

But, everything we are doing now and have been doing for some time is completely new and developed here at Broadsword. There seems to be some perception that what is currently being developed is somehow different from what we've done in the past.

When we work on an expansion and the on-going updates related to it, we have a firm understanding of the direction we want to take the game. As a live service, we are in a constant flow of creation and production. The shortest and simplest way to think of this is we plan, we scope, we develop, and then we deploy. 

A more detailed way of understanding this flow is that we are always in pre-production, production, and retrospective all at the same time across multiple Game Updates. We have outlines for future content and then bring relevant plans for the next update into sharp focus, detailing out what is needed and what is involved with said content. And of course, player feedback is another important factor that plays a part in SWTOR’s development and allows us opportunities to reassess plans or make adjustments.   

In reality, the same folks who developed SWTOR in the past, most of whom have been here for 5-10+ years, are still here and working hard to deliver, to expand and wrap up our current storylines, adding new Cartel Market items, new ways to interact with the game, and much more.

I also understand that there has been feedback about the story content in the last couple of updates, and I want to give the floor to Ashley so she can address said feedback. 

-Keith

[AshleyRuhl]

Hi there,

To reiterate what Keith said, the team working on SWTOR at Broadsword is largely the same team that was at BioWare. Same folks, different banner. This includes the narrative team, who have been authors in this story arc since the beginning. The "Legacy of the Sith" narrative has a high-level roadmap that has not changed. But as we put each chapter into active development, we must be agile enough to accommodate big changes (like our move to Broadsword).

As our team size has changed, so has our development. We pivot, we scope, and we strategize to bring players the highest quality content that our current team can produce. To that end, starting in Game Update 7.3, we adjusted our delivery of narrative content, particularly cinematics, in the main story. As we've established a rhythm over the last few updates, I want to give context as to why we vary our cinematic scene style in crit path story content, and where you can expect it.

Currently in SWTOR story content, we have two main scene types. Our "Standard" scene type has voiced lines for the player character and the NPC characters in the scene, and dialogue choices are limited to 3 choices. The staging, animation, and camera work is more complex, requiring a lot more time from our cinematic team to build complex choreography. These are our highest effort scenes, so we reserve them for the biggest impact moments, like action scenes, romances, and important choices.

Our second scene type is "KOTOR" style. These scenes have voiced lines for the NPCs, but player lines are unvoiced and only appear as dialogue choices. The dialogue choices in these scenes are expanded beyond the 3 choices in a Standard scene, giving the player more response options. The staging and cameras are simplified, which puts less pressure on our cinematic team, and means scenes can potentially be longer/more branchy since they reuse much of the staging setup. This means KOTOR scenes can have MORE conversational depth than if they were built as Standard scenes. We use KOTOR scenes when we have conversational interactions, and we leverage this design to include additional player lines specific to the player's class, romance, and previous choices.

The mix of Standard and KOTOR scenes ensures that we can produce enough story content for the scale of each update, while also not overloading our current narrative team. It's extremely important to me, and the rest of the leadership team, that our content plans fit within our team's scope, and maintain a healthy work/life balance. While I know this is a different style than previous game updates, we are still enthusiastic about building a story that feels emotionally impactful, dynamic, and personal to as many player stories as possible.
 

[LtGeneralGezlin]

45 minutes ago, AshleyRuhl said:

a story that feels emotionally impactful, dynamic, and personal to as many player stories as possible.
 

I wish we got this last year after 7.3, when we started seeing this, or even a mention in a livestream... but better late than never. And while I try to be positive on the game, especially after the transfer to Broadsword, seeing the KotOR Dialogue style pop up more and more in main story content is something that I find hard to like.

I don't know how if I agree that the KotOR Dialogue style is "contributing to a story that is "emotionally impactful, dynamic, and personal to as many player stories as possible." Is it nice to see more mentions to our character's class and romances? Sure. But, half the reason I got into TOR was because I felt a connection to my characters, because they actually were part of the story, and it didn't feel like they were just standing there (Like in other MMOs).

With the KotOR dialogue, my character just stands there as the story plays out around them, and it just isn't as fun for me. If it was one or two cutscenes, or side stories like events or the Lane Vizla story, fine. But, in 7.5, it was half the cutscenes. Half the story was told to my Smuggler (Such as speaking with our faction leaders, or meeting with Sa'har on Mek-Sha. Those should have been a standard cutscene), instead of him experiencing it. And when the game doesn't actually register the dialogue choices I make from one cutscene to another, as reported here in 7.5, it gets even more frustrating.

I get the need to use resources smartly, and a good work/life balance, so I understand the real-world reasons behind this choice, it's just frustrating that the choices of which cutscenes are in which style seem so arbitrary, and how jarring it is to go from SWTOR Style to KotOR Style, then back to SWTOR Style.

PS. When will Zash come back for those of us who sided with her over Khem in Khem's companion story? The entire Darth Nul story would be a prefect chance to bring Zash back!

PPS. Can we get more music released on YouTube? We still need the new music from 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 & 7.5!

[MaximusRex]

I 100% support a healthy workplace with a healthy work/life balance, but KOTOR style dialogues are not it, and more needs to be done to increase SWTORs income and budget. 

[miiinaa]

I agree with having a healthy work/life balance and I get limited resources, but... is this scene mix really the best use of them? I don't really agree that it adds to the player story, in my opinion it takes away from immersion. I'm willing to start paying for expansions again rather than subscribing and gaining access if it means a budget increase and team size increase and the return of standard scenes 100% of the time. The game kind of falls apart without the voice acting, because that's what it has been since the beginning and what sells a lot of players on investing in it.

[supertimtaf]

1 hour ago, AshleyRuhl said:

The mix of Standard and KOTOR scenes ensures that we can produce enough story content for the scale of each update, while also not overloading our current narrative team. It's extremely important to me, and the rest of the leadership team, that our content plans fit within our team's scope, and maintain a healthy work/life balance. While I know this is a different style than previous game updates, we are still enthusiastic about building a story that feels emotionally impactful, dynamic, and personal to as many player stories as possible.

I think that we all more or less understand the "need" for the Kotor-style cutscenes. But I'm still fairly sure that you guys could improve the presentation of these scenes a bit more. I get the nostalgic aspect, but the "visual appearance" of the kotor scenes feel "dated". The black bars aren't that pretty, and the whole scenes feel pretty "stiff", with our character not even having an idle animation most of the time... It feels very kotor, in both the good and the outdated way. Maybe it'd be best, if you guys intend to continue on that path, to try and give the whole thing a more "modern" and "dynamic" look, even if it's just little changes. While it's a nice improvement from a "narrative choice" standpoint, it feels too much like a visual regression, and I feel that this is the primary issue most of us have with these scenes. They feel too much like a downgrade rather than a "fair trade" for now. But I'm sure you guys will handle that fine

[Xerekfell]

1 hour ago, KeithKanneg said:

Hi folks, 

I wanted to hop in here and clear up some of the misconceptions that we’ve seen in the forums and in other spaces players frequent. Some of this is based on folks misinterpreting what I've communicated in the past along with a limited knowledge on how our game development process works. 

Since we began The Legacy of the Sith, we had planned for a number of updates to tell the entire story while also bringing in a variety of gameplay, events, adjustments, and even new features, like the recent Venture System.  So, it is fair to say that before we transitioned to Broadsword, a large part of our design direction was made while the team was at BioWare/EA.  

But, everything we are doing now and have been doing for some time is completely new and developed here at Broadsword. There seems to be some perception that what is currently being developed is somehow different from what we've done in the past.

When we work on an expansion and the on-going updates related to it, we have a firm understanding of the direction we want to take the game. As a live service, we are in a constant flow of creation and production. The shortest and simplest way to think of this is we plan, we scope, we develop, and then we deploy. 

A more detailed way of understanding this flow is that we are always in pre-production, production, and retrospective all at the same time across multiple Game Updates. We have outlines for future content and then bring relevant plans for the next update into sharp focus, detailing out what is needed and what is involved with said content. And of course, player feedback is another important factor that plays a part in SWTOR’s development and allows us opportunities to reassess plans or make adjustments.   

In reality, the same folks who developed SWTOR in the past, most of whom have been here for 5-10+ years, are still here and working hard to deliver, to expand and wrap up our current storylines, adding new Cartel Market items, new ways to interact with the game, and much more.

I also understand that there has been feedback about the story content in the last couple of updates, and I want to give the floor to Ashley so she can address said feedback. 

-Keith

Why is the dev team's primary focus on story content and not bringing actual content that keep people engaged in your game longer? SWTOR has always had a very strong and unique combat system that imo is far superior than many mmos out there.  Why have you guys not capitalized on that? You've neglected pvp for at least 8 years and never really gave it content other than cheap dollar store reskins of items and mounts.  Let's face the facts here, SWTOR story content has dramatically decreased in value and creativity since KOTFE. In KOTFE, the story team was so lazy and didn't even make different story arcs for non-Force Sensitives.  Keith, you still have a sizable hardcore fanbase that wants this game to be good, please stop focusing on story and give us actual content. We don't care about Lane Vizla or the "Inspired Section" on the CM. All we want is content, just give us it lmao.  

Edited June 20 by Xerekfell

[RikuvonDrake]

the tldr of both posts

Overall, the posts aim to reassure players about the game's future while subtly acknowledging the challenges posed by a reduced team and resources. They emphasize a strategic and balanced approach to development, ensuring continued content updates and quality within the new constraints.

Transition and Continuity:
The game has transitioned from BioWare/EA to Broadsword, but the core development team remains largely unchanged. This aims to reassure players that the quality and direction of the game will remain consistent despite the transition.

Team and Resource Reduction:
There are hints that the team size and funding have been reduced ("As our team size has changed," "current team can produce"). This indicates that the development process has had to adapt to fewer resources.

Adaptation and Strategy:
The team is adapting by being more strategic in their development efforts. They are prioritizing high-impact moments with complex scenes and using simpler scenes for more extensive dialogues. This allows them to manage their workload effectively while still delivering new content.

Content Quality and Scope Management:
They are focusing on maintaining a balance between producing quality content and managing the team's workload. This includes changes in how they deliver narrative content, such as varying cinematic styles to reduce the pressure on the cinematic team.

Player Feedback and Engagement:
Player feedback continues to be important, and the team is committed to incorporating it into their plans. They are also transparent about the changes and challenges faced, which is an attempt to maintain player trust and engagement.

Work/Life Balance:
There is a strong emphasis on maintaining a healthy work/life balance for the team. This likely stems from broader industry issues related to crunch and overwork, and suggests that the leadership is trying to prevent burnout despite the reduced team size.

Edited June 20 by RikuvonDrake

[Revan-the-knight]

While i am hardly an authority on the subject and don't know how any of these things work in the background, i would like to suggest a few things at the very least:

1: Assuming that the dev team is fully aware of the entire ongoing plot, including major/minor characters, places, story beats and so on, then i think that we'd be fine with kotor-style dialogue choices if they were presented outside of the main narrative.  Atleast from the outside looking in, i would believe it to be possible to build an update where the main patch content (Dark Council/Republic leader meeting, Minboosa District, the Mando Dungeon Ship, etc to give an idea of what i consider to be main content) has fully voiced dialogue scenes like we're used to, while bonus content (Manaan 7.1 content, Ruhnuk Lane Vizla story, Seasonal events like Abundance Festival, Ventures dialogue, etc) can have kotor-styled dialogue.  Basically, if it's purple in our quest log, it should be fully voiced, in my opinion of course.

The use of Shadow of Revan style questgiver dialogue in the pilot's commissary at Minboosa was very nostalgic, clicking the NPC to get some voiceacted lines but without the cutscene is much better and more approachable to me than a terminal quest and made that part more fun than i think it would have been without them.

2: Communicating like this may not always be easy, but it is truly necessary, even when people are venting their frustrations directly. While i see developments that make me ponder the health of the game behind the scenes, i truly do appreciate that we get to hear these things from the development team, so my suggestion is simply to keep up that line of communication. When you do offer us legitimate insights like these, i always appreciate them, and i am sure many others do aswell, even if they may not like the state of things, we're atleast a part of the conversation. Filtering out overly hostile replies is always a chore, but there's legitimate feedback in almost every thread that has negative posts in it, just have to sift for it and if possible, act upon it. 

While i'd always like to hear more from the devs, i like the communication that we do get, and that you're doing what you can with what you have. Hopefully over time things will get easier aswell.

I am sure i could add all sorts of other feedback on other topics but these two are the big ones for this subject. But in essence, my feedback is that Main narrative mission chains should avoid kotor-dialogue scenes (the entire game is built around that structure, i am sure we won't mind having less potential replies since the precedent is already set) and more communication like this would be great  

[Syxah]

Honestly I'll just repeat what everybody above me said, but

Less story with proper cutscenes >>>>> More story with KOTOR style cutscenes

I get the limited budget, smaller team etc issues, but I'd be totally fine with a way shorter story if it was at least enjoyable to watch and play... Reading lines like any lambda mmo isn't

 

You're trying to reassure the community by telling us that most of the development team is still the same, but at the same time all the core aspects of a MMO that used to be part of major patches are being completely neglected.... (Class balance, PvP (still can't believe you actually added adrenals to the reward tracks and didn't listen to the overwhelming feedbacks from the community telling you that was a terrible idea...), crafting, etc...)

Edited June 20 by Syxah

[Kazuone]

Thx for this but I think most players need to know where the game goes...Even without details but will we have 8.0 ? New combat styles ? Server merge ? multi server party finder ? If you can"t share this could you tell us that announcement is planned for en end off the summer/autumn/winter please ?
We need a long term hope to feed our love for this game.
Thx

Edited June 20 by Kazuone

[LJ_Gibbs]

23 minutes ago, RikuvonDrake said:

Player Feedback and Engagement:
Player feedback continues to be important, and the team is committed to incorporating it into their plans. They are also transparent about the changes and challenges faced, which is an attempt to maintain player trust and engagement.

 

No.  "the team is committed to incorporating it into their plans"  ... No.  When was the last time... I am being for real... that they did anything because player feedback demanded it?  I truly would like to know... because I can't remember.

[PianoMatt]

Thank you Keith and Ashley for the update.  I'm glad you took the time to clarify some of what's going on at Broadsword and with your teams.  One of the things I was most excited about this year was the announcement of more streams/more communication from you all during your livestream back in February.  It was the first bullet point of the stream and I took that as a sign that this was something that was going to be focused on we'd definitely be seeing and hearing from you more than a few times a year.

We're halfway through the year now.  Keith, this is your 3rd post on the forums this year and your 1st since that stream.  Ashley, this is your 2nd for both.  I don't feel like the two of you are making much of an effort to do what I thought would be a priority for SWTOR moving forward.   Can you please be more publicly involved with us?  We are ready to hear from you.   We want to hear from you.  We need to hear from you.  

[PlasmaJohn]

I get the business reasons why you're leaning on a less resource intensive cutscene style and I'm fine with that.  However the KotOR style ones aren't the best choice.  I agree with @supertimtaf that nostalgia really doesn't forgive the UX (user experience) disconnect.

The following is IMO of course.  The black bars add nothing.  The text is on the top and response choices are on the side where the SW:TOR dialogs put the subtitles on the bottom and the choices in the middle.

My last gripe is that I'd much rather have it completely silent instead of the gibberish used for any non-Basic speaker.

[RikuvonDrake]

need to start using new tech, for example, why dont swtor just use ai generated voice instead of kotor style dialogue, more and more games are utilising ai and other similar tools to make big things with small budgets. bioware used to be a pioneer when it came to coming up with new ways to create much with less, i hope broadsword continues that

[Beyrahl]

2 hours ago, KeithKanneg said:

And of course, player feedback is another important factor that plays a part in SWTOR’s development and allows us opportunities to reassess plans or make adjustments.

While I appreciate your optimism, we lack information from you guys on feedback given or even problem topics that make people question the future.

With that said - the second most active forum section is covered with complaints & multiple different viewpoints. While also having tons of varying levels of detailed feedback.

While PvP may not be a priority, it's the main content left to do after someone finishes most of their goals in the game, it's the infinitely repeatable content that is relatively low maintenance and with the last touchup on it.. Well, it only made things worse and it's not difficult to fix. Like I said there are countless threads explaining, covering and ultimately talking about it.  

[eabevella]

This is some of the longest excuse I've seen from a person.

There's absolutely no improvement of the story quality from your sorry excuse of cutting corners. There's no depth. Every class play the same. There's no "interaction" whether a dialogue has 3 or 8 options, because they are all slightly altered versions of "yes" and "no", or worse, a fake "no" that forces you to go "yes" because the writers can't even write two complementary stories, one for the Imp side, one for the Pub side. It is still the same linear story stretched to the verge of breaking.

But sure, let's use our budget on overhauling the visual of Hutta instead of, I don't know, making real cutscenes out of those KOTOR styled nonsense.

[Setta]

2 hours ago, KeithKanneg said:

Hi folks

When we work on an expansion and the on-going updates related to it,

Sorry, but I'm going to be that guy.  This just brings a horrid gut wrenching feeling to me, and I'm going to guess I'm not the only one.  Normally when I hear a game is making an expansion, I'm excited.  However in your guys case, after the disaster of Legacy of the Sith.  No, just no.  All I see is you folks are going to make changes for the sake of changes that no one will want.  Please for the love of God don't do this. 

If you're going to make an expansion make a proper one.  Put in new story, new combat classes, improve GSF, put in new pvp maps, maybe make a few warzones that are more than 8 v 8 to spice things up a bit.  However please do not do what you people did last time, with the UI changes, end game currency changes, some weird heroic on rotation bs (same with FPs) and other things no one wants or is asking for. 

[supertimtaf]

3 minutes ago, RikuvonDrake said:

why dont swtor just use ai generated voice instead of kotor style dialogue

Coming from someone who tried to use this in my own game for placeholders, it's not that great. Requires a lot of attempts to get something *clean* while a VA can do the work in two tries if they're good enough. It wouldn't replace some of the issues like needing to animate cutscenes, to setup cameras correctly, adding the right VFX and moving props at the right time... VA is one thing, but that's sadly not all you need for a cutscene. If they're cutting corners with the Kotor cutscenes, I'd say that it's probably not just because of VA costs.

[supertimtaf]

1 minute ago, Setta said:

If you're going to make an expansion make a proper one. 

I've seen that sentiment more and more since the release of 7.5, with people wanting to pay actual money for a complete expansion... And I agree. I want that too, *if* they can deliver something akin to SoR or even Makeb content-wise.

[LtGeneralGezlin]

20 minutes ago, RikuvonDrake said:

need to start using new tech, for example, why dont swtor just use ai generated voice instead of kotor style dialogue, more and more games are utilising ai and other similar tools to make big things with small budgets. bioware used to be a pioneer when it came to coming up with new ways to create much with less, i hope broadsword continues that

No. Just. No.

[Stellarcrusade]

Really, the responses to me just sound like they want to increase profits by cutting the quality of the game.  I would prefer they get rid of ALL dialogs that are not voice actors, and replace them with voice actors.  Really, the #1 best part of this game, and the main reason many people (including myself) plays this instead of other MMOs is the immersive story with voice actors.  I think whoever chose the voice actors deserves a raise, you did an excellent job finding those wonderful voice actors.  Please return to that.  

 

It really just makes me mad when there is reading instead of voice.  I just spacebar through any non-voice scenes.  My brother has dyslexia and complains alot when a cut-scene has to be read.  Find other places to cut costs, and maintain a level of quality of the product in a way where the few things that make this game unique are NOT the things targeted in cost cutting measures.  Instead streamline other things, be creative, and cut things that all MMOs do which annoy players.

[PlasmaJohn]

21 minutes ago, RikuvonDrake said:

why dont swtor just use ai generated voice instead of kotor style dialogue, more and more games are utilising ai and other similar tools to make big things with small budgets.

People severely overestimate what generative AI is capable of.  While it's an improvement on some of the boilerplate code generators that were popular about 10 years ago it still has long road ahead of it before it's putting large segments of the population out of work.

My boss used ChatGPT to suggest a fix for a very specific problem and it said something like "use functional programming". 🤦‍♂️ 

[ForfiniteStories]

SWTOR. The one MMO that always seems to regress as you keep giving them money.

Thanks, EA.

The lack of voice acting, even for the one and only questline we got, nullifies the entire point of the game.

Without it, you literally have any other other MMO, but with less resources and less players, so you might as well play any other MMO. Except that I don't wanna wonga.

The MMO part of SWTOR has always frustrated me and caused me to call it quits time and time again... but I often consider returning because I miss my characters, seeing them say and do things, wondering how their story will unfold, etc.

I suppose I can just stick around for Player Versus Player and Gorgeous Sexy Flashfire and, of course, Space Barbie. After I become completely satisfied with those, however, what point would there be to retain a premium membership? It's not like I'm getting anything in return.

[Setta]

20 minutes ago, supertimtaf said:

I've seen that sentiment more and more since the release of 7.5, with people wanting to pay actual money for a complete expansion... And I agree. I want that too, *if* they can deliver something akin to SoR or even Makeb content-wise.

Wasn't even thinking about that, but yea if 50 bucks or w/e gets us a proper expansion sign me the f up.