Mass Effect 2 shipped this week, and it's already the second highest rated Xbox 360 game ever (and the top rated RPG on the platform). One of the things that makes the RPG so special is its interactive narrative. BioWare has always been an expert in storytelling and immersing the player in the game's world through story and character development. The EA-owned developer will share some insight into its special craft with a newly announced panel at this year's Game Developers Conference.
Armando Troisi, Lead Cinematic Designer at BioWare, will be presenting a lecture on Mass Effect 2's story elements called Get Your Game out of my Movie! Interactive Storytelling in Mass Effect 2. During the presentation, Troisi will "focus on the narrative design fundamentals used at BioWare and how they evolved for Mass Effect 2," and he'll "explore components of the game's story design, problems encountered during implementation and design choices made for the product." The description adds, "One of the major themes of the session will be theoretical and practical application of interactivity storytelling in a modern video game. We will also explore a variety of methods and best practices used to harness, focus and shape this powerful narrative component into your next product."
GDC organizers today also confirmed other speakers, including Ubisoft Montreal lead designer Patrick Plourde who will talk about designing Assassin's Creed 2, talks on shader techniques in Valve's Left 4 Dead 2, audio in Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 3, character customization in Realtime Worlds' APB, and other Summit talks in social gaming, iPhone games, independent games and more.
