The early thoughts on module building for Dragon Age is that most modules will be built by teams. The Dragon Age toolset allows a builder to do so much more. NPC design, area design, and cutscenes give so much more variety and ability to build amazing modules. The problem is that doing more takes more time.
As a builder in NWN, I know how much work goes into a building. Resurrection Gone Wronger took me 2 years and 1000-2000 hours. From what I've seen of Dragon Age's toolset, it could have taken 5-10 times longer to make the same module. It would be prettier, but. . . .
So I'm wondering if anyone has been bold enough to try a module on their own, or if teams are developing already. Is there a set standard for parties yet? Also, how will the Golden Dragon Awards be adjusted to fit teams?
I would think a solid team could start as: *see next post, ran out of room*
Dragon Age team, not necessarily in this order:
Writer,
Area designer,
Custom content creator,
Cutscene editor,
Scripter,
Sound.
That would seem to be a solid team, with some duplication or secondary skills used. The team could be a couple of people smaller or larger.
I think that a custom content creator would be an extremely valuable addition to a team, but at the same time, it is one area where you will most likely get a lot of individuals who just create custom content.
I think one area where a builder could excel is area creation and prefabs. Do that and many authors could just take different prefabs and go with it.
I think the pure writers have the biggest disadvantage. I consider myself a writer. I can do most of the other stuff, but I don't enjoy it like writing. I don't intend to build in Dragon Age just because I don't want to waste time doing all the other stuff. If there were prefab areas, I might change my mind though. Idk. . .
Teams can win awards. Madeleine St. Romain, Jeff Tyson and Jim Grimsley won for Citadel. The PRC team won the first ever Community Contribution Award.
Teams have always been eligible for the module awards. When it comes to the Author Recognition awards, we have not included teams before, only individuals. This rule was created when we were only doing NWN1. That may change in the future when we do decide to include Dragon Age in with the Golden Dragon Awards, but that will probably not be decided until this year's cycle is over.