Turns out your horse wasn't actually sprinting in Dragon Age: Inquisition after all.
Earlier this week, a Twitter user called for people to reveal a "useless fact" about the Dragon Age series. Grasping that opportunity with a firm hand, Dragon Age 4 creative director John Epler revealed that horses in Inquisition weren't actually moving faster when they 'sprinted' - but speed lines and a camera trick made it look like they were.
when you 'sprint' on a horse in DAI it doesn't really do much because frostbite couldn't stream in levels fast enough, so we just added speed lines and changed the camera so it felt faster https://t.co/VDDvOGlSS5February 2, 2023
If you've ever been exploring the open lands of Dragon Age: Inquisition on horseback and thought sprinting would get you to a destination quicker, you've been utterly fooled. This is all apparently down to EA's Frostbite game engine, which unfortunately couldn't load in levels fast enough for the horses to actually sprint their way through maps.
- If you liked Red Dead Redemption 2's ultra-realistic horses, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 devs also used a real horse in the motion capture studio
- Dragon Age 2 director acknowledges "really fast rush" behind the RPG's development as the team tried to "jump on the grenade that was being placed in front of BioWare"
Fortunately, this wasn't the only memory-ruining secret Epler had to reveal on Twitter. The creative director also revealed that Dragon Age: Inquisition's development team had to erect a "sex tower" dedicated to Iron Bull's romance scene, because the motion capture performances of everyone who walked in on the scene assumed there was a door in the tower.
i've told this story before but the reason Iron Bull's romance scene takes place in a separate tower is because the mocap for everyone walking in on you assumed that there was a doorway, and the player's bedroom ended up having stairs.so we moved the scene to the Sex Tower https://t.co/VDDvOGlSS5February 2, 2023
The player character's bedroom ended up having stairs straight to their room in the tower, with no door blocking the way. Instead of reshoot the motion capture for the romantic scene, BioWare just moved the entire scene to another tower entirely, which is why Iron Bull's romance scene doesn't take place in the Inquisitor's bedroom.
Well, the more you know. This is BioWare getting really creative to counteract several problems though. Who knows, maybe years down the line we'll be hearing similar stories from developers on Dragon Age 4?
Head over to our new games 2023 guide for a look at all the titles set to launch before the next Dragon Age game.
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