BioWare talks Old Republic polish, beta testing

Star Wars: The Old Republic's project lead James Ohlen talks about the steps BioWare is taking with the game now that it's rounding the bend towards completion.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic still doesn't have a solid release date, but it must be getting closer to completion. BioWare is talking about the finishing stages, from polish and tutorials to feedback from its closed beta test. In a new interview, project lead James Ohlen shares the studio's focus as the game makes its last lap before the finish line.

"[We're focusing on] polishing game systems, tutorials, and teaching new players how to play the game," Ohlen told Gamasutra. "We're also focusing a lot on making sure our tech's going to be stable, that we have a very stable launch."

He says that they're being cautious to make sure the game can't be hacked, and can withstand the weight of a bulk of new players. BioWare has referenced staggering supply to assure it can withstand the flood of players as well.

"One of the secrets to making a 90 Metacritic game is you really have to continue to polish all the way to the end," he said. "You have to do a targeted launch, because if you go too crazy with feedback and you change major systems, what happens is you don't have time for polishing. You have to choose where you're going to change according to feedback from players, both external and internal."

Part of that polish is coming from test feedback, according to Ohlen, but the closed beta is providing more data on the surrounding online systems than the game mechanics. "The thing about it is, it's important to get people to test your game, but the beta tests are more for finding out if your technology's going to stand up, and finding some small tweaks and changes," he said. "But all the big changes that we've been making were planned from way before, because we've been playing the game ourselves. If we didn't figure this stuff out, we'd be terrible game designers. So, internally we figured out a lot of the problems early on."

While the release date is still pending, BioWare has commented before that it will be largely dependent on beta testing. The company wants to make sure the online aspect is ship-shape, so even as the game seems more-or-less finished, we may not see it hit until next year.

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  • reply
    September 23, 2011 5:45 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, BioWare talks Old Republic polish, beta testing.

    Star Wars: The Old Republic's project lead James Ohlen talks about the steps BioWare is taking with the game now that it's rounding the bend towards completion.

    • reply
      September 23, 2011 8:51 PM

      It's of great concern that they are more worried about Metacritic ratings rather than just making the game. But then again, I don't think I've heard anyone have any positive impressions on what they've read about this so far.

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        September 23, 2011 8:59 PM

        Yeah. I'd rather they focus on making a game that the players like over on that the reviewers like.

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        September 24, 2011 4:33 AM

        It's gonna be pretty good.

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        September 24, 2011 6:49 AM

        They kind of have to be those initial reviews can really sink a game.

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          September 24, 2011 6:50 AM

          I kind of wish gaming sites would either wait a while after launch to do a review or in the very least have a follow up review or two for MMOs. Like a review after six months and a review a year out from launch.

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      September 24, 2011 4:35 AM

      GUYS - http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20110924 RELEASE DATE!

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        September 24, 2011 5:11 AM

        But they said 2012...

        • reply
          September 24, 2011 5:44 AM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            September 24, 2011 6:28 AM

            12.20.2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            Servers will go up even before that for early access. Doesn't say how much of a head start it is however.

            • reply
              September 24, 2011 6:48 AM

              Tradition would dictate 2-3 days, but since Bioware says they're doing a rolling headstart due to preorder demand, it may be longer for those first in line..

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                September 24, 2011 7:00 AM

                better be a week for people to d/l the 30GB of files..

            • reply
              September 24, 2011 6:51 AM

              20.12.2011 !

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