BioWare Corp., now BioWare/Pandemic, is one of the most well respected developers in the industry. Long before they ever finished work on Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Knights of the Old Republic, the company found itself as a small time independent developer just trying to find an opportunity in the growing video game industry. Started by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip - three then-practicing medical physicians - BioWare started work on a small title called Shattered Steel that shipped in 1996. Ten years later Yip has since returned to medicine, and Muzyka and Zeschuk have built a company based on original properties and innovation. In a time when fans clamor for originality and new titles, BioWare has been one of the leading examples in creativity done right. We sat down with them recently to discuss the growing pains of independent developers, the financial risks of creativity, how publishers welcome or shun it, and BioWare's own involvement in the process.

Amped IGO:  First of all, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. At the time that you started BioWare you were both practicing medicine.  What prompted you to get into game development?

Greg Zeschuk: Both of us were huge video game fans and we commonly compared notes on the games we were playing during medical school.  We had actually started developing medical education software while in medical school, but when we got the chance to work on games we jumped at it and the BioWare we now know and love was born.  We didn’t intend to build as large a business as we have – we were simply huge game fans that wanted to try our hand at paying homage to the games that were influential on us by creating games of our own.

IGO: What difficulties did you face as a startup developer?

Zeschuk: We faced all the usual start-up challenges that most businesses have to deal with: limited cash, difficulty making contact with larger partners and a general lack of knowledge about what we were doing. (laughs) Fortunately none of those things were fatal and we managed to slog through and build an exciting and vibrant company thanks to the tremendous people that have worked with us over the years – they’re a very talented bunch!

IGO: Do independent developers face a rough road to success? Are there a lot of steps to getting a game published?

Ray Muzyka: There are a number of steps required in getting a game published, and the road to success is much more difficult now than it was a few years ago.  In particular, smaller developers are facing greater competition as publishers reduce the size of their game portfolios.  Fortunately new creative outlets are emerging for specialized groups in areas like handheld, mobile and even direct digital distribution.  It is still pretty tough getting a game published, but there are a few new and exciting ways to getting a title out to the public if you are willing to be creative.  Key thing, as Greg notes above, is to work with great people – and we’ve been very lucky to attract and retain awesome people at BioWare (and now BioWare/Pandemic) over the years.

IGO: How long did it take for BioWare's first title Shattered Steel to find a publisher?

Zeschuk: We had an interesting experience with Shattered Steel as we probably did better than expected in attracting publisher attention.  We made a short list of companies that we wanted to work with – of the list of 10 companies that we contacted only one still exists!  Ray and I divided the list down the middle and we each followed up with the companies that received the demos.  We ended up with offers from 7 of the 10 companies we contacted, though it took 9 calls to finally get an offer from Interplay (the publisher we chose for Shattered Steel).

IGO: Is the business side of the industry a lot different now than it was when BioWare started in 1995?

Muzyka: The business of making games is considerably different than it was 10 years ago; in particular the budgets and complexity of building a game have risen exponentially.  Our first game, Shattered Steel, peaked at 13 people on the team and our latest game, Mass Effect, is peaking at over 100 full time team members.  The impact on the business economics is obviously enormous.  Of course the potential rewards are much greater for high quality event products too, but it is getting harder and harder to compete and succeed. Our goal at BioWare and BioWare/Pandemic is to focus on building very high quality, ‘event’ products for our loyal and dedicated fans.

IGO: BioWare's games have been published by several companies such as Microsoft, LucasArts, Atari, and Interplay. Does that third party developer role allow for more freedom?

Zeschuk: Being an independent third party developer allows us to pick the best possible partner for a given title.  We’ve had some tremendous partnerships over the years and anticipate that we’ll continue to work with a number of talented groups in the future.  One of the exciting things about our new configuration as part of BioWare/Pandemic is that we’re better positioned than ever before to be a good partner to the right publishing group.

IGO: BioWare is a very successful developer so it carries a good reputation with it, but does it seem like the business of the industry sometimes stifles creativity? If so, how?

Muzyka: The formation of BioWare/Pandemic from two well-established developers along with the infusion of significant capital from Elevation Partners goes a long way to combating the pressures on creativity and innovation in a world of sequels and licensed properties.  When you step back and look at the industry the games with the greatest impact are usually those that do something different and innovate in some way.  Sequels accompanied by good marketing last for a while, but nothing beats innovation and successful creative designs (combined with high quality execution and great marketing too).