“I’d like to think our return rate is so low because we’re very clear about the experience the player should expect.”

– Former Dragon Age director Mike Laidlaw on the development of Dragon Age: Inquisition

In an interview published by Eurogamer earlier today, former Dragon Age director Mike Laidlaw discusses his personal achievements and failures while working on the Dragon Age series before departing Bioware (after 14 years!) last fall. 

While Laidlaw doesn’t credit himself as the visionary behind the Dragon Age series (he credits former BioWare developer David Gaider with building the game’s lore), he does carry a lot of guilt for things like developers having to go through crunch or failing to deliver content based on demos. 

The development team for Dragon Age: Inquisition did experience crunch, but it wasn’t the same kind faced by those who worked on Dragon Age 2, which Laidlaw describes as a “heavy push” followed by a “how dare you!” reaction after the game was released.

Dragon Age: Inquisition was received more positively, making the long and steady push of crunch feel less emotionally taxing. “It wasn’t a breeze by any means and people worked very hard,” Laidlaw notes. “But it came out and people went, wow, okay, that’s good.”

But what about failed promises from demos shown at big events? Players noticed that some significant content was cut from a demo shown during PAX 2013, where Laidlaw showcased features like environmental interaction, keep capturing, and burning boats to prevent enemies from escaping. None of this ever made it to the version of Inquisition that shipped in 2014. 

“I feel very bad about that PAX demo that had some features we eventually had to cut. I feel very bad about that…That’s the reality of development,” Laidlaw explains. “It’s certainly the reality of, oops, you’re on five platforms and two of them are significantly older than the other three.”

“There were some really good ideas in there and I wanted to see them, but at the same time they were not fleshed out and proven enough,” Laidlaw said, noting he now prefers promising less before the release of a game, opting for a show, don’t tell approach.

“I look at it and go, these days, my ideal marketing line would be three days before the game comes out, run a demo that’s actually a final code and go, ‘okay everybody, that was our video game, I hope you like it, it’s available for sale soon,'” he said. “And then I sit down and go the hell away. Perhaps not the most practical PR! But still, it’s real honest.”

Be sure to check out the entire piece over at Eurogamer, which goes into more detail about Laidlaw’s experience working at BioWare during his 14 years at the studio. It’s well worth the read. 

7.16:
===

The upcoming patches will be mostly focused on balance tweaks in preparation for The International. There are a few more biweekly patches planned, with the primary ones scheduled around the final Major and the TI Qualifiers. After TI, we expect the first half of the new season to have longer periods between gameplay updates.

* Bounty Runes team gold reduced from 40 + 3/min to 40 + 2/min

* Reduced the following Movement Speed Talents:
– Bane Level 20: 75->65
– Beastmaster Level 10: 30 -> 25
– Bounty Hunter Level 10: 30 -> 25
– Clockwerk Level 10: 25 -> 20
– Dark Willow Level 15: 40 -> 35
– Gyrocopter Level 20: 50->45
– Legion Commander Level 20: 60->50
– Leshrac Level 15: 40->30
– Lifestealer Level 15: 35 -> 30
– Nature’s Prophet Level 10: 40 -> 35
– Nightstalker Level 20: 50 -> 45
– Oracle Level 20: 75 -> 65
– Outworld Devourer Level 15: 40 -> 35
– Sand King Level 10: 30 -> 25
– Shadow Demon Level 15: 40 -> 35
– Shadow Fiend Level 15: 35->30
– Techies Level 20: 75 -> 60
– Zeus: Level 15: 40 -> 30

* Increased Base HP regen to 1.75 for the following Agility heroes: Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Meepo, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Templar Assassin, Troll Warlord, Vengeful Spirit

* Melee Barracks health increased from 1800 to 2000

* Roshan attack damage upgrade over time increased from 2.5/min to 4/min

* Blades of Attack: Cost increased from 420 to 430

* Bottle: Fixed Bounty Runes not being storable when the Bottle is full

* Enchanted Mango: HP regen reduced from 0.6 to 0.5

* Hand of Midas: Cooldown reduced from 100 to 95

* Moon Shard: Attack Speed increased from 130 to 140

* Nullifier: Projectile speed reduced from 900 to 750

* Rod of Atos: Recipe cost reduced from 1100 to 1000

* Sentry Ward: Duration increased from 4 to 6 minutes

* Shadow Amulet: Cost increased from 1300 to 1400

* Silver Edge: Recipe cost reduced from 700 to 600

* Skull Basher: Recipe cost reduced from 1150 to 1000

* Vladmir’s Offering: Mana regeneration increased from 0.65 to 1.0

* Alchemist: Greevil’s Greed bounty rune multiplier increased from 3 to 3.5

* Anti-Mage: Base attack rate improved from 1.45 to 1.4

* Arc Warden: Base damage increased by 2
* Arc Warden: Magnetic Field manacost reduced from 80/90/100/110 to 50/70/90/110

* Bane: Enfeeble duration reduced from 14/16/18/20 to 8/12/16/20

* Bloodseeker: Level 10 Talent increased from +4 Armor to +8 Armor
* Bloodseeker: Level 20 Talent increased from +14% Rupture Damage to +18%

* Bristleback: Level 25 Talent increased from +20 Warpath Damage Per Stack to +30

* Broodmother: Spiderlings health increased from 250 to 280

* Centaur Warrunner: Base damage increased by 4
* Centaur: Hoof Stomp manacost reduced from 130 to 115/120/125/130

* Chaos Knight: Base intelligence increased by 2

* Clinkz: Intelligence increased from 16 + 1.55 to 18 + 1.7
* Clinkz: Strafe dodge no longer has a count limit

* Clockwerk: Power Cogs manacost increased from 50/60/70/80 to 80

* Crystal Maiden: Arcane Aura self mana regeneration increased from 1.3/2.2/3.1/4.0 to 1.6/2.4/3.2/4.0
* Crystal Maiden: Base Damage increased by 2

* Dark Willow: Bedlam cooldown reduced from 40/35/30 to 30
* Dark Willow: Bedlam duration increased from 4 to 5

* Dazzle: Strength gain increased from 2.15 to 2.3
* Dazzle: Poison Touch count rescaled from 4/5/6/7 to 2/4/6/8
* Dazzle: Poison Touch cooldown reduced from 35/30/25/20 to 27/24/21/18

* Death Prophet: Base movement speed reduced from 310 to 305
* Death Prophet: Spirit Siphon manacost increased from 70/65/60/55 to 70
* Death Prophet: Level 10 Talent reduced from +50 Damage to 40

* Disruptor: Thunder Strike cooldown increased from 12/11/10/9 to 15/13/11/9

* Doom: Infernal Blade base damage reduced from 25/30/35/40 to 25
* Doom: Scorched Earth movement speed reduced from 14% to 11/12/13/14%

* Dragon Knight: Base movemend speed reduced from 285 to 280
* Dragon Knight: Elder Dragon Form bonus movement speed increased from 25 to 30
* Drow Ranger: Base Damage increased by 4

* Earthshaker: Base armor increased by 1

* Enchantress: Base strength increased by 1
* Enchantress: Nature’s Attendants manacost reduced from 140 to 110/120/130/140

* Enigma: Demonic Conversion Eidolon bounty reduced from 29 to 23

* Gyrocopter: Call Down Missile One damage reduced from 200/275/350 to 150/250/350
* Gyrocopter: Level 10 Talent reduced from +25 Damage to +20

* Huskar: Life Break increased from 34/38/42% to 34/39/44%
* Huskar: Inner Vitality manacost reduced from 170 to 140/150/160/170
* Huskar: Inner Vitality base regen increased from 10 to 12

* Invoker: Invoke manacost removed

* Io: Base movement speed reduced from 290 to 280
* Io: Level 15 Talent reduced from +90 Spirits Damage to +75
* Io: Level 20 Talent changed from Attacks Tether Ally’s Target to +20 Health Regen
* Io: Level 25 Talent changed from +50 Health Regen to Attacks Tether Ally’s Target

* Kunkka: Level 25 Talent changed from +50% Tidebringer Cleave to -1.5s Tidebringer Cooldown

* Leshrac: Base Intelligence reduced by 2 (base damage unchanged)
* Leshrac: Lightning Storm cast range reduced from 800 to 650/700/750/800

* Lich: Chain Frost damage increased from 280/370/460 to 300/400/500 (Scepter from 370/460/550 to 400/500/600)

* Lycan: Intelligence gain reduced from 1.55 to 1.4
* Lycan: Shapeshift critical strike reduced from 160/180/200% to 150/175/200%

* Magnus: Empower cleave distance increased from 460 to 625 (matching Battle Fury)
* Magnus: Empower cleave end radius increased from 240 to 330 (matching Battle Fury)

* Meepo: Earthbind projectile speed increased from 857 to 900
* Meepo: Earthbind now fully affects invisible units

* Mirana: Leap attack speed increased from 40/60/80/100 to 60/80/100/120
* Mirana: Moonlight Shadow duration increased from 15 to 18 seconds

* Monkey King: Wukong’s Command armor increased from 8/14/20 to 12/18/24

* Morphling: Morph now only dispels on initial cast, rather than on all toggles

* Necrophos: Attack Point improved from 0.53 to 0.4
* Necrophos: Base damage increased by 2
* Necrophos: Death Pulse Mana Regen per stack from 2/2.25/2.5/2.75 to 2.25/2.5/2.75/3

* Night Stalker: Void no longer applies a ministun during the day
* Night Stalker: Darkness no longer sets enemy vision to a fixed amount
* Night Stalker: Darkness now reduces enemy unit and ward vision by 25% (doesn’t affect buildings)

* Ogre Magi: Multicast 2x chance from 40/50/60 to 60/60/60%
* Ogre Magi: Multicast 3x chance from 0/20/25% to 0/30/30%
* Ogre Magi: Multicast 4x chance from 0/0/12.5% to 0/0/15%
* Ogre Magi: Level 10 Talent increased from +60 Gold/Min to +90

* Pangolier: Level 15 Talent changed from +30 Attack Speed to +2s Rolling Thunder Duration
* Pangolier: Level 20 Talent improved from +30 Swashbuckle Damage to +40
* Pangolier: Level 25 Talent improved from -16s Rolling Thunder Cooldown to -35

* Phantom Assassin: Blur now only triggers on real heroes
* Phantom Assassin: Blur now always triggers on Invisible and Spell Immune enemies

* Phantom Lancer: Doppelganger can no longer be cast while rooted

* Phoenix: Fire Spirits damage increased from 10/30/50/70 to 20/40/60/80

* Pudge: Meat Hook cooldown increased from 14/13/12/11 to 17/15/13/11
* Pudge: Meat Hook damage increased from 90/180/270/360 to 150/220/290/360

* Pugna: Nether Ward damage per mana increased from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75 to 1.25/1.5/1.75/2.0

* Queen of Pain: Level 25 Talent improved from 20s Spell Block to 15s

* Riki: Base HP regen increased from 1.5 to 3.0
* Riki: Blink Strike can now be cast on Spell Immune enemies
* Riki: Tricks of the Trade cooldown increased from 40/35/30 to 50/45/40
* Riki: Cloak and Dagger fade delay increased from 6/5/4/3 to 7.5/6/4.5/3

* Sand King: Caustic Finale slow reduced from 30% to 21/24/27/30%

* Shadow Fiend: Level 20 Talent changed from +20% Evasion to +2 Damage Per Soul
* Shadow Fiend: Level 25 Talent changed from +3 Damage Per Soul to -5 Presence Aura

* Silencer: Last Word cooldown reduced from 30/24/18/12 to 28/22/16/10
* Silencer: Arcane Curse damage increased from 14/22/30/38 to 16/24/32/40

* Slardar: Bash of the Deep damage increased from 60/80/100/120 to 80/100/120/140

* Slark: Pounce damage reduced from 40/80/120/160 to 30/60/90/120

* Sniper: Night vision increased from 1100 to 1400

* Spirit Breaker: Base HP regen increased from 1 to 1.5

* Sven: Level 20 Talent increased from -5s Storm Hammer Cooldown to -6s
* Sven: Level 25 Talent increased from +0.75s Storm Hammer Stun Duration to +1.25s

* Tiny: Tree Grab building bonus damage increased from 60/80/100/120% to 90/120/150/180%
* Tiny: Tree Throw splash damage increased from 100 to 130%

* Tusk: Ice Shards cooldown increased from 21/18/15/12 to 23/20/17/14

* Treant Protector: Living Armor regen increased from 4/7/10/13 to 4/8/12/16

* Undying: Soul Rip manacost reduced from 100/110/120/130 to 80/95/110/125

* Ursa: Level 15 Talent changed from -1s Earthshock Cooldown to +25s Fury Swipes Reset Time
* Ursa: Level 20 Talent changed from +25s Fury Swipes Reset Time to +12 Fury Swipes Damage
* Ursa: Level 25 Talent changed from +14 Fury Swipes Damage to Enrage gains 80% Status Resistance

* Vengeful Spirit: Magic Missile cooldown reduced from 13/12/11/10 to 10
* Vengeful Spirit: Wave of Terror manacost reduced from 40 to 25/30/35/40

* Weaver: Shukuchi damage increased from 75/100/125/150 to 80/110/140/170

* Winter Wyvern: Splinter Blast slow increased from 25% to 30%
* Winter Wyvern: Splinter Blast manacost reduced from 120/130/140/150 to 90/110/130/150

* Wraith King: Mortal Strike no longer has a chance to kill creeps
* Wraith King: Mortal Strike now gains skeleton charges for every 2 enemy units you kill
* Wraith King: Mortal Strike skeleton count rescaled from 4/5/6/7 to 2/4/6/8
* Wraith King: Mortal Strike skeletons bounty reduced from 15/15 XP/Gold to 5/5
* Wraith King: Mortal Strike manacost reduced from 75 to 30/45/60/75

* Zeus: Base damage increased by 5
* Zeus: Strength gain reduced from 2.6 to 2.3
* Zeus: Arc Lightning damage rescaled from 85/100/115/145 to 70/95/120/145
* Zeus: Lightning Bolt cast range increased from 700 to 700/750/800/850
* Zeus: Lightning Bolt damage increased from 100/175/275/350 to 125/200/275/350

Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. This coming week we can return to Lordran in Dark Souls Remastered, stay caffeinated with Super Hyperactive Ninja, and enjoy some zombie survival terror in the console exclusive State of Decay 2 — and these are just a few of the excellent games coming soon to Xbox One! Read more below and click on each of the profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to change).

Games

May 22, 2018

Take robots, projectiles, and dodgeball and you’ll have Disco Dodgeball Remix, an action-packed game that puts you in a neon covered dance club to compete in frenzied dodgeball excitement as you pull off crazy stunt shots with your unicycle robot.

Games

May 22, 2018

Gorogoa describes itself as an elegant evolution of the puzzle genre. Its mechanics are all about the hidden connections between objects around you, creating a world of secrets and filled with beautiful art. A game that’s both descended from and radically unlike anything else in the classic adventure game genre.

Games

May 22, 2018

Take on this never-ending shoot ‘em up that has you fighting countless waves of enemies and traveling through time on a procedurally generated world. Choose from a variety of characters and high-powered weapons like shotguns, lasers, and rocket launchers as you fight across a variety of different time periods and environments.

Games

May 22, 2018

Console Exclusive / Xbox Play Anywhere Title – Play the ultimate zombie survival game in an open world where you and up to three friends build a community of survivors. Establish a base, develop your characters’ abilities, and manage resources to survive as a group in a world where choices matter and every decision has lasting consequences.

Games

May 25, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – Re-experience the critically acclaimed, beautifully remastered, genre-defining game that started it all. Return to Lordran in stunning high-definition at 60fps in Dark Souls: Remastered which includes the main game plus the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. In this dark universe, each end is a new beginning full of challenging combat, masterful skill, and exhilarating accomplishment.

Games

May 25, 2018

Combining 2D tactical RPG mechanics, dungeon crawling, and turn-based combat, Dungeon Rushers: Crawler RPG will have you looting dungeons, crushing monsters, and crafting equipment against the background of a parody adventure game.

Games

May 25, 2018

A fast-paced test of skill and reflexes, oOo: Ascension puts you in command of a starship as you must weave in and out through a series of challenging courses and obstacles in this retro-future world, where the levels are a series of small planetary spheres.

Games

May 25, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – World War II real-time strategy comes to Xbox One in Sudden Strike 4: European Battlefields Edition. Containing the original PC hit along with its add-on content, you’ll battle across three campaigns set on the battlefields of WWII, commanding Britsh, American, German, and Soviet troops and more than 100 different units in battle, including the Tiger and T-34 tanks.

Games

May 25, 2018

The evil Shogun has stolen all the coffee and it’s up to you to recover it before you fall asleep in this fast-paced, caffeinated platformer where you play as Kohimaru, the last of the Coffee-Nin, who must defeat the Shogun and his army of evil ninjas, samurai, and yokai generals. With limited energy, you’ll have to sustain yourself with the coffee you find throughout the levels – run out and its game over.

It has been revealed that Professor Layton and the Curious Village – the very first title released in the series around a decade ago – will be receiving a mobile HD remake.

The news comes from the latest issue of the weekly Famitsu magazine, which states that Level-5 intends to release the remake on mobile platforms under the name ‘Professor Layton and the Curious Village EXHD’ with some additional elements. The page has no mention of the title coming to west, nor any suggestion that we could also see the remake appearing on Switch.

We’ve already heard that Level-5 has been thinking of ways to use the Switch for upcoming games in the series, with the docked mode of the console bringing up particular concerns thanks to the touchscreen-based nature of the games, but a remake of the original game could be a nice test for the studio. We’ve seen other titles launch on Switch as handheld-only games (such as VOEZ), so it hopefully wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for Layton to follow suit.

Either way, we’re definitely hoping to see some more of good ol’ Hershel and his sidekick Luke in the west in the near future. Would you like to see this mobile port arrive on western shores, or perhaps you’d prefer an entirely new Switch entry to the series? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Ancestors Legacy is Now Available on Steam!

Ancestors Legacy is a squad-based real time strategy with a strong focus on tactics. Inspired by medieval European history, it brings to life four different nations and their conflicts, usually solved by war.

This snapshot brings you lots of bugfixes! Getting really close to pre-releasing now.

A full changelog for this Snapshot can be found on Minecraft.net.

• Fixed a really old bug
• Blocks on chunk borders should now behave correctly when upgrading a world from 1.12.2
• Performance improvements
• Fixed a couple of crashes

FIXED BUGS IN 18W22A

• MC-1809 – Some trees generate with leaves too far from logs
• MC-121823 – Using “destroy” command on containers does not drop stored contents
• MC-121900 – Player data output does not show SelectedItem and is invalid in a data path
• MC-122153 – /gamemode does not provide success message
• MC-122455 – Disappearing Carpets
• MC-122787 – Rails placed to the east or south of curved rails break existing connections
• MC-123064 – No error message when saving a structure containing uppercase or other invalid characters
• MC-124281 – White dot on the creamy horse’s tail
• MC-124357 – Green pixels on iron horse armor
• MC-124833 – Item duplication
• MC-125745 – Sniper duel advancement can be achieved with trident
• MC-125986 – Rails adjacent to chunk borders update if world is loaded in snapshot
• MC-126118 – The fish mobs are missing their translation strings
• MC-127156 – Ocelots and parrots don’t spawn naturally
• MC-127386 – Right clicking on villager with its spawn egg opens trade menu
• MC-128276 – Water is not tinted next to glass
• MC-128393 – Conduit connects to iron bars and glass panes
• MC-128472 – When swimming, the player can stand up even though there is a block above
• MC-128509 – X-axis portals break when upgrading from 1.12.2 when certain blocks are above/near them
• MC-128512 – Certain blocks on chunk borders cause many blocks in the same chunk to be updated when upgrading from 1.12.2
• MC-129645 – Particles of downwards bubble columns are not centered
• MC-129712 – Team Prefix and Suffix reset after restarting world
• MC-130015 – Tropical fish bucket contains inconsistent dark pixel
• MC-130197 – Over a 1000 dolphins spawning in a range of 100 blocks at a certain height
• MC-130242 – Having an id tag in the tag tag of spawn eggs overwrites the spawned entity’s id

To get snapshots, open your launcher and go to the “launch options” tab. Check the box saying “Enable snapshots” and save. To switch between the snapshot and normal version, you can find a new dropdown menu next to the “Play” button. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (In the “launch options” page).

Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com.

Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds. 1.13 will have a lot of experimental snapshots that may break everything and smell funny. This may be one of those snapshots. This is what happens when Mojang are changing all the things! 

Share your thoughts on how 1.13 is shaping up in the comments below!