BioWare creates some of the most emotionally engaging games in the world, writes CIARA O'BRIEN

YOU DON’T have to be a game aficionado to know that the industry has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years.

Instead of classic but limited titles such as Pongand Pacman, today's games are often more involving and absorbing, with more lifelike graphics. Throw in the growing trend for voice and motion control, and you have an impressive, immersive game experience.

The gaming industry is predicted to reach a global value of €80 billion by 2015, now rivalling the movie industry in terms of glitz and glamour, with big events put together for major launches and well-known names lending their voices, and even faces, to some of the higher profile titles.

And right in the middle of the action is BioWare.

Founded by Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka – the pair both hold medical degrees – the company was established officially in 1995 and has seen a huge amount of growth in the industry over the years. It was sold to EA in 2008 for $860 million, but Muzyka is still chief executive of the studio, while Zeschuk is general manager of the label.

These days, BioWare has a clear mission: to create, deliver and evolve some of the most emotionally engaging games in the world. It has had no small amount of success in this. Its popular titles include Mass Effect, Baldur's Gateand Dragon Age.

In May 2010, it was announced that the company planned to set up in Ireland, joining firms like Sony Computer Entertainment, Activision Blizzard, BigFish Games, PopCap and social network gaming firm Zynga in establishing an Irish office.

It was somewhat of a coup for IDA Ireland and the industry here. Bioware’s founders are clear about why Ireland was chosen – a good partnership with the Government and a supply of high quality recruits who can take up the roles.

There was much celebration when it was announced that 200 jobs were to be created at the facility last year. There was even more cause for cheer on Monday when the doctors, in the presence of Taoiseach Enda Kenny, announced an additional 200 jobs at the facility to support its upcoming massively multiplayer online game, Star Wars: The Old Republic,which requires 24-hour support seven days a week.

The Old Republicis an involved game that sees players assume a character from one of the opposing Galactic Republic or Sith factions, and deal with all the moral and practical decisions that come with each allegiance.

Making a decision can close off storylines and affect other non-player characters and there is no such thing as a do-over. You live with the consequences of your actions.

Scheduled for release in December, it is being billed as one of the biggest games of the year.

"To be successful as creators, we have to ensure that we deliver on the promise of ongoing content, continuous expansions of the worlds," Muzyka says. "That's something we're very serious about [with] the Old Republic, ensuring a really smooth, stable, secure accessible fun experience, and one that's continually expanded through additional content post-launch as well."

It is a world away from video games of the past. Expectations from gamers are higher than ever, and that is something that companies such as BioWare must keep in mind when developing games.

“It’s just amazing to look at the content we consumed as players back then and compare it to the experiences now,” Muzyka says.

“Your memory is certainly different to the actual experience. I think the expectations have risen because of the potential that each of these machines unlocks and the fidelity is higher now; the things that you previously imagined can now be brought to life.

“In our games, things like emotion and character interactions can be conveyed through a lot of subtlety. You tilt your head, you blink, you look at someone – you don’t even have to have dialogue now.”

Muzyka and Zeschuk are also aware that BioWare is always at risk of becoming, to some extent, a victim of its own success – but in a good way. Fans of the company’s games have come to expect a certain level of story-telling and immersion from the games the studio puts out, a certain standard of graphics and gameplay. It is something that Zeschuk says is a real challenge for the firm.

“BioWare is a brand that’s really associated with quality,” he adds, “so we have a bar that we have to hit that is in some ways different to other people. We’re challenged by our own past in a positive way that drives us. We have this sort of adage – ‘each game better than the last’.

“We continually try to make things better. Fans have their expectations and I’d probably go so far as to say there is a certain set of fans that hold us in even higher standard than the general, which puts a little extra pressure on us but is positive in a way.

“We know we’ve succeeded when you’re actually thinking about the game when you’re not playing it.”

It is the moral quandaries that sets BioWare games apart from others, with the creators insistent that there is no gratuitous violence in their titles. Players are always aware that their actions, however small, have consequences.

“Our vision as a studio is to really, deeply emotionally engage players,” Muzyka says.

“When you’re thinking about the game experience after you’ve played it and you’re contemplating decisions or some of the moral quandaries you’re put into actually affecting you or making you think about the world, the universe that you’re experiencing, then we’ve succeeded, and I think that’s a reflection of video games as an art form.”

The idea of video games as an art form is something that has been hotly debated. The Smithsonian American Art Museum will run an exhibition next year called The Art of Video Games, exploring the evolution of video games as an artistic medium over 40 years.

Earlier this year, the National Endowment for the Arts in the US included video games in its arts in media section.

Regardless of whether the establishment regards video games as an art form or not, they certainly seem to be viewed as one by those who are involved, both players and creators.

“There are periods where there is a resurgence of famous director announcements, them getting into games. Spielberg was in a while ago, Guillermo del Toro is working doing a horror game, there’s a few others,” Zeschuk says.

“That’s one of the signs that it’s really catching on, when you’re starting to get more crossover.”