In what ways can we expect the visual style to change for Dragon Age 2?

Shane Hawco (Lead Character Artist): There are many distinct things that were done with the entire art style of the game. One of the things that we really wanted to change from “Dragon Age: Origins” was to give the creatures and characters a more distinctive physiology, style and identity that ties them closer to their background and ethnicity.

The elves, for example, are not just smaller, skinnier humans with “knife ears”; they now have a closer connection to their natural and organic background. In order to do this we elongated their form, amplified their more curvy and organic features and gave a majority of them bare feet which directly connects them to their environment. We also reflected these ideas in the facial structure; they have a more oval base with soft curved features on the cheekbones and jaw lines, and their smooth forehead transitions into the small subtle nose between the enlarged eyes. Overall they look more fawn-like, which is a very clear connection to their forestry origins.

The elves were not the only ones who got this treatment - the other non-human races did as well. For example, the dwarves contain more angular elements that are similar to dwarven architecture, further anchoring them to the ground. These elements are carried to the face where they have a more chiseled jaw line, angular nose and squared off eyes.

What was your main goal from a graphics standpoint going into DA2? How would you say you've done toward that realizing that goal?

SH: One of the main goals on “Dragon Age 2” was to improve the lighting on the characters in order to help display the extra effort and care that went into the creature and character redesigns while at the same time make them feel like they are anchored to the environments that they are in. We also added gibbing in DA2 to a lot of the creatures and characters to help with the new flow of the improved combat system. Nothing makes you feel more badass than to shred an enemy into exploding chunks of meat! There are also vast improvements in the character heads such as improved facial topology for more expressive emoting, improved facial texture density and a more realistic eye shader. We made smaller graphical tweaks like self-shadowing, moving hair and cloth simulation to help further engage the audience with the characters and story of Dragon Age 2.