Bioware are “still tweaking” the size of Mass Effect: Andromeda’s planets, according to one of the game’s producers.
Michael Gamble was interviewed about various aspects of the upcoming action role-playing shooter by the Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK for its Christmas 2016 issue. On the topic of the scope of the game’s worlds, he explained that the studio wanted to “create experiences that have the right density and amount of content”, stating that a planet that may currently take 50 minutes to drive across could change to either 30 or 60 minutes in several months’ time.
He added: “We’re trying to see where the limits are, and we don’t want to make something too small where there’s not enough exploration, but we also don’t want to make it too big where it’s empty and lifeless. We want to find that balance.”
One central pillar of previous Mass Effect entries has been its romance system, in which players can develop relationships between central characters through optional and branching dialogue options. According to Gamble, relationships progress “as naturally as possible” in Andromeda.
He stated: “We want to make sure we texture conversations with different levels of tone and different levels of choice in the responses that you actually pick… You’re always looking for opportunities in the dialogue to be flirtatious, or colder – and that should be obvious. By just reading the dialogue you’ll know if you’re taking it to the next level.”
Mass Effect: Andromeda is expected to release in March 2017 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.