On November 20, Mass Effect turned 15 years old. To commemorate this milestone, the unofficial Twitter account Mass Effect News gathered some of the game’s early artwork, footage, and documentation. Even while none of this is novel, it’s still intriguing to consider how much changed.
To begin with, Casey Hudson’s pitch, which was made on September 15, 2003, was for a game called “SFX” rather than “Mass Effect.” The Epsilon Effect, Biowar, Element Zero, Element, The Oculon, The Optigon, Unearthed, Nebula: Guardians of the Citadel, Star Citadel, and simply The Citadel were some of the later suggested titles that made it as far as having logos designed.
With a whole online economy made available by Xbox Live, multiplayer trading was one of SFX’s key features. In this mode, “you can meet friends online in designated spots in the game to speak and trade valuable items in a virtual setting.” Players could then “build powerful things not available without internet trade” and generate income through a “dynamic in-game economy” thanks to this.
When it comes to improvements made feasible by frequent updates like “new locales, special equipment, new quests, online news updates about the greatest players,” it sounds a lot like EVE Online or possibly a contemporary live service game.
The majority of what was detailed at the presentation is identical to what we ultimately got, from the foundational elements of the scenario to gameplay building ideas based on what BioWare did before with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. He will use his FTL for local travel, and a small group of two or three chosen from a larger group will be able to travel across the galaxy utilizing “jump gates.”
Ships have existed since the beginning, with some minor variations that were incorporated into Mass Effect 2. Starships can be changed to different party members during combat and improved one at a time.