Little is known about the upcoming Dragon Age 3: Inquisition aside from its vague launch window of autumn 2013 and that it will presumably be an action-RPG like its predecessors. What we do know is that it will take advantage of the cutting-edge Frostbite 2 graphics and physics engine. Recently, Neil Thompson, the art director at BioWare, was interviewed by Official Xbox Magazine and spoke about his experiences using Frostbite 2.
According to Thompson, BioWare’s artists were struggling to bring out the quality they felt their previous games deserved. “Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 were both done using BioWare’s own Eclipse engine, and it was starting to creak a little bit when Dragon Age 2 came out.” The decision was made to develop Dragon Age 3 using the same Frostbite 2 engine at work in Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 3, a first-person shooter lauded for its pristine graphics.
In some cases, a developer’s first attempt at using a new engine can be less than spectacular, but in this situation it seems the design team are thriving. Thompson explained that during the early stages of production he was “being blown away by what was coming out” and the environments look “stunningly beautiful.” He went on to say that his team’s goal for the game is to “make fantasy beautiful in a different way,” and that they hope to offer gamers something more striking than the “subdued colour palette and harsh brown feel” that artists have relied on in many sci-fi and fantasy games of late.
Dragon Age 3 is predicted to launch in autumn 2013.
