If I were other massively multiplayer online role-playing games, my New Year's resolution would be to come up with dialogue and quests half as dynamic as those of BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Making The Old Republic's missions as dynamic and cinematic as possible is the job of the cinematic designer. In a blog entry posted on the game's official website today, lead cinematic designer Paul Marino explains exactly what his job entails.
A Cinematic Designer puts on their director's beret for each scene they work on. Is this a scene for the Jedi Consular? It will most likely be a quiet, emotionally-centered setting, focusing on the difficult choices ahead. Or perhaps it's a scene for a Bounty Hunter who confronts an obnoxious nobleman and has to choose the best way to extract the information he needs. For each scene, the approach is similar to that of a live-action shoot. The Cinematic Designer reviews the script, considers what actors are involved and what location the incident takes place in, and ultimately answers the question "What does the player need to know once the scene has ended?"
The end result, seen in the video above, is pretty damn entertaining, though I still get the impression that this is more of a single-player game you play with other people, rather than a true massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
Even so, it's more of the Old Republic from BioWare, and there is nothing wrong with that. Hit up the link below to learn more about what Paul does to make that happen.
Cinematic design [Star Wars: The Old Republic]