During one of the final panels of the 2009 Game Developers Conference, two developers from BioWare showed some clips that demonstrate the "Mass Effect 2" team's level design process.
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BioWare developers showed two clips of a work-in-progress "Mass Effect 2" at GDC today. One clip showed combat, the other conversation. Neither scene was finished, and I can only guess as to how much of what was shown represents the game's final format.
Here's what little I picked up: In the combat scene, the circular targeting reticule of the first "Mass Effect" appeared to be switched to crosshairs that expanded and contracted during combat, possibly due to the rapid firing of the character's rapid-fire gun. The dialogue scene appeared to use the same mechanics as seen in the original game. It showed lots of cars flying through a city. The main character, a blonde man, was speaking with a blue alien woman. (See? Not much I can conclude from that!)
The purpose of the talk was to demonstrate how levels are being made for the new game. The multi-staged process was implemented in reaction to challenges experienced making the first "Mass Effect." The biggest hassle of that first game, the developers said, was that many sections of the game weren't playable until late in development. This prevented sufficient experimentation by the developers within the levels they made. The problem was exacerbated by a lack of integration between BioWare writers, designers, artists and others whose ideas should have been effecting each other's work.
The team believes that this process would have helped the first "Mass Effect." They would have discovered earlier in development that a planned hub planet called Caleston wasn't taking shape as hoped. They would have been able to confront loading issues that wound up needing to be masked by elevator ride.
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