GavinUK86
Member
Okay, folks have some questions about the Exalted March cancelled expansion for DAII.
So, first off? Why did we cancel it? Easy to assume it was ”the reaction" to DAII, but not so! It was the move to Frostbite. We had an opportunity to do so at the same time, but knew as it would be the first time that engine did ”RPG stuff" we knew it would be hard, as most everything in making games, it certainly was challenging. Great engine, but took tons of time. Had we tried to do both EM and the Frostbite transition, both would have suffered a lot, especially from lack of engineering folks. So Mark Darrah made the call to stop development on EM and go all in on what would become DAI.
I'm trying to remember which of the two was jokingly code named ”Project Nugstorm." Mark has a rule that code names should be ridiculous enough that you don't get attached to them and call the final product that codename. In this goal, we were VERY successful. Various orgs around EA wrote concerned letters asking what the hell it was.
So anyway! Exalted March didn't make it too far past concept. The idea, however, was that it followed the red lyrium chicanery of DAII with The Chantry becoming VERY UPSET while various aspects of the qunari started to make moves on the turbulent Free Marches. And this it fell to Hawke to stop things from going to hell (again) while working with Starkhaven and the pirates of the Armada.
I recall fondly that for the big first panel we did at PAX west (prime back then) we all had shirts with missing letters. You know... like hangman. Because the story would start at...yeah, the Hanged Man. I still have mine. The missing letters spell out Estwatch, which is where the Felicisima Armada missions were based. The Internet, as it does, had guessed all of the locations within minutes of the panel starting. You guys rule. Beyond that, there were some really interesting stories to tell, and a chance to learn more about Sebastian's family. But as it stood, I think shutting it down was the right call to focus on the engine change.
One last anecdote: our marketing liaison at the time was -certain- our PAX panel would get no people. 9:00 at night, basement room (though big! Held 900). But you folks proved him wrong. We had to turn hundred away. And let me tell you. After parts of DAII's ”feedback cycle" that meant a LOT to me. And then we all sang Mark happy birthday. So good. I'm pretty sure that experience was why Mark and I were so committed to a big gameplay demo for DAI at PAX. A way to say thank you.
And that's my story! Thanks for reading along.
/endMarch
All from his Twitter account.