BioWare has a great track record developing games: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate. And, they haven't let anyone down with their latest offering, Mass Effect. Project Director Casey Hudson talked to us about why the action role-playing game may have you leaving your Warthog's engine idling in Halo 3 for a long time.

What really strikes us about the game is the mythology that thrusts the player through each planet. How was the story formed?
The way we went about making the game's story was different than our previous developments (Knights of the Old Republic, based on Star Wars)—we knew this was going to be our own universe. We had an opportunity to actually shape the entire setting and story around the kind of gameplay we wanted to offer and the kind of experiences we wanted to be able to give players. It really started with the question of, “What would we really like to be able to give players the opportunity to be able to do in an amazing space adventure?”

What sort of things did you throw into the game to make that happen?
We wanted to be able to give you a spaceship that you get to command across the galaxy, you have a crew that answers to you, we wanted to give you special authorities so that when you’re out in deep space, you can make a decision and don’t have to ask for permission. We created a role for you that’s kind of like James Bond, an elite agent, a position of authority.

Mass Effect is the beginning of a three-part trilogy. How much of the story do you already have in mind?
We actually know what happens already in the second and third installments and its actually a part of the fun of developing the series. Some amazing hooks we’ve put in this first game will start to come into fruition in future games, but in a way that lets you have a really definitive ending at each juncture. This is definitely not a story that’s chopped into three parts—it’s actually three independent chapters that form an overall story arch.

Every choice made on the journey yields a different adventure and even a different ending. What sort of experience did you want players to have by having a such an open-ended structure to the game?
We take the term “interactive entertainment” really seriously. We think that every aspect of what you are doing needs to be interactive in the video game medium. The story need to respond and change to what you’re doing, otherwise it is static and linear. When you’re playing Mass Effect, you actually feel that this is your story. You can create a character that looks like yourself, or you can create a character that is your own creation. You get to create your own story and have fun doing things the way you would do them, or have the fantasy of seeing what would happen if you could be somebody else in this amazing universe.