Introduction

Jade Empire was BioWare's last released game, an Asian themed fantasy action-RPG that was one of the last major titles for the original Xbox. Soon PC players will get a chance to play Jade Empire as well with some new features thrown in. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with Diarmid Clarke, the project director for the PC version, to find out more about the game that's being co-developed by BioWare and Gray Matter LTI.

FiringSquad: First, how did the idea come about to develop a PC version of Jade Empire?

Diarmid Clarke: A big motivation was our fan community. BioWare has a terrific community of over 3 million members, many of whom are PC fans who let us know how eager they were for a new PC game.

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FiringSquad: How was Gray Matter recruited to help develop the game?

Diarmid Clarke: I keep in contact with a lot of development studios so that when a project comes up I already have a short list of good people to go to. LTI did an evaluation demo for us of Jade working on the PC, which they presented to the original Jade team at our Edmonton offices. They did a great job of that.

FiringSquad: How hard was it to port the content of the original Xbox game to work on the PC?

Diarmid Clarke: To get something working on PC from Xbox is pretty straightforward. The hard work comes from adding all the enhancements to the PC version so that they make the game closer to the original design vision. For example, I’m very happy with how the game has been re-balanced to make the players’ second-to-second gameplay experience more enjoyable.

FiringSquad: What sort of new single player missions, if any, have been added to the PC version?

Diarmid Clarke: Jade PC remains absolutely faithful to the original story our writers wanted to make, so we didn’t want to add arbitrary new content which would not fit with the writing vision. But we did focus on adding 3 main layers of development: 1) Providing the PC player with the technical improvements that they expect and demand, such as improved resolution and great keyboard and mouse control, 2) New content such as cool fighting styles and monsters, and 3) Really enhancing the combat and balancing to improve the gameplay experience.

FiringSquad: What kind of new enemies and monsters can we expect in the PC versions?

Diarmid Clarke: I don’t want to ruin the surprise by telling you about all the new enemies, but one of my favorites is the Rhino Demon. He’s one of the elder demons, and he can mow you down with his horn rush, or squash you with a big stomp attack, and other things like that. He’s pretty resistant to magic so you really have to get up close to attack him, which is dangerous because he’s got a long reach.