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Neverwinter Nights 2 Forum News (Aug. 02, 05)

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by chevalier, Aug 3, 2005.

  1. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    Remove all ads!
    Here are today's Neverwinter Nights 2 forum highlights, collected by NWVault. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

    Adam Brennecke, Programmer

    Development Team
    Reading here that the team doesn't have any female members counting towards its total I'm quite intrigued with something.Does the team consult with outsiders (More specifically, female outsiders) about certain decisions that are going to be made? These could range from conversations to the clothing's designs to the character's appearance.From my own experience with module making I can say that it's always interesting to hear a woman's opinion about certain matters. After all, they're also a part of the community that plays the game. In my opinion they should also be taken into consideration when it comes down to certain ideas.
    Yes, our producer at Atari, Dorian Richard.

    Brian D. Lawson, Programmer

    Question!!! Please answer...
    Playstation 3's real time graphics are impressive. Much better than the Xbox 360's from what I have seen.That's the closest thing to real time movie graphics I have seen.
    Don't even try to tell me that you're talking about the Killzone 2 PRE-RENDERED trailer.

    More:
    I've heard about that, but do you have a link to prove it?AFAIK the "rumor" started on an Xbox 360 forum.
    The developer of the game already said it was visualization.
    Werd. As Supa-Mike already said, it's "common" knowledge. The developer themselves (of Killzone) acknowledged that the same company that put together the FMV (full motion video) cutscenes from the original game was hired to do that Killzone 2 "demo".That rumor - now fact, has nothing to do with Microsoft and the XBox 360. Didn't anyone ever teach you not to believe everything you read/see on the internet??

    A more customizable environment
    I for one would like the option to be able to change the amount of time the sun takes to cross the sky, length of day etc. Better yet, be able to choose IF there's a sun!Take for example another plane of existance where daylight just comes from no darn place or everywhere at once. There'd be no sun at all. Take the Elemental Planes for example, or maybe the Fugue Plane.Also, be able to say "no clouds" or pick and choose what you want.
    I like your topic.I'll say this...Be careful what you wish for...

    Ferret Baudoin, Lead Designer

    Development Team
    The funny thing is in the computer game industry it's tough to find female applicants. If you put up a job listing male applicants outnumber the females by almost an order of magnitude.

    Neverwinter Nights 2 Henchmen Ideas
    We've got more than a handful of companions (how much more I won't say), and there is considerable diversity amongst them. Chris Avellone is writing them, and he's a wiz at that sort of thing.

    Why no Ac bonus for helmets?
    Yup, helmets in PnP aren't supposed to give an AC bonus like Vulcano said. If we added an AC bonus it could through the AC versus base attack bonus formula out of whack. Magic helmets can have fun other properties, though.

    Anthony Davis, Programmer

    A better local map
    I really doubt the pathfinding AI of NWN2 even, is complicated and made well enough to allow proper map-click move-to location.
    You would be mistaken. Kommander Keeny has completely removed the old pathfinding code and re-written new freshy fresh pathfinding code. The path finding code and is now simply amazing.For one of our demos, we had a character on a map where there was town on a plateau, with the second part of the town down in the valley below. We then 'clicked to move' at a spot in the middle of the town down in the valley. The character proceded to navigate to the ramp road that lead down to the valley, navigating around rocks, trees, and anything else that got in his way until he reached the very spot we clicked on.

    More:
    That sounds interesting. Though I'd rather try it out myself then read about how wonderful it is. Can we assume that the character also maneuvered around placeables and perhaps non-hostile NPC characters?
    Yeah you can. Also, this was NOT clicking on the mini map. This was clicking on a visible portion of the screen. Personally I prefer to move by 'driving'. I don't like 'click to move' at all.

    Alt+Tab friendly
    Running NWN in Window mode works like a snap. Last I heard, NWN2 will inherit that feature.
    I'm running it in a window right now. Though if yo uhave more detailed questions about res, you might want to take them to the Art and Graphics forum so that Brian 'The Lawman' Lawson can answer them in more detail.

    better enemy health indicators
    Provided there are no last minute changes, there WILL be health bars. There will probably be a means to overide health bars for party members so you can actually display numbers.edit:This *MAY* end up being modifiable. It depends on how much time we have available, but it is conceivable that this feature could be skinnable. No promises.

    More:
    Your post confuses me a little, Anthony. Do you mean health bars on critters (monsters, npcs, non-party members), or just Party members in the portrait grouping of the party?
    Sorry for the confusion, you party members have their health bar displayed as party of the party hotbar. Very similar to Torment, BG, BG2, IWD, IWD2, adn just about any other RPG out there. Creatures that are NOT in the party will diplay a health bar along with their name when you 'select' them. This GUI, like most of the GUIs in the game is cutomizable. It might be possible, provided there is time, to allow this display to be more customizeable.

    More:
    Rubbish.
    I do apologize if this offends you. Remember, this is a computer game that is played much more rapidly than the PnP version of the game.In the PnP version of the game, which we play here just about every week, the DM has time to state things like:'The Orc looks seriously wounded.''You weapoon leaves a minor looking cut on the creature's hide.''Your weapon impacts on the creature, however the creature seems unfazed by it.''The creature howls in agony at the touch of your cold iron mace.'I know that deep inside people want DnD computer games to play out like thier PnP version does, and that is our goal when it is reasonable.Health bars are not a new or a unique convention, but they are a VERY successful one. The are IMMEDIATELY obvious and intuitive as to what they represent.I really fail to see the difference between selecting a creature, having it display:OrcHealthyis all that different fromOrc|-------------|(go go ascii gfx).

    More: Last comment by me on this subject (because lunch is over and I gotta get back at it). At the very LEAST you can open the xml file and remove the health bar from the GUI. HOPEFULLY, we will have to offer some alternative solutions. No promises though.

    More:
    It is a small thing. But why change something that isn't broken and there is general opposition to? The examine thing is also an issue (persoanally I'd have keep the descriptions, CRs and effects, but have them determined by skills), but it's no reason why we can't oppose this.
    As a business, both Atari and Obsidian have a vested interest in making the game accessible.Think of it this way, if there is not an influx of new DnD fans who can 'get into' the game, there will eventually be no more new DnD games. I know I said I was done with this thread, but I had a moment as I was recompiling.

    More: The party goal is a system very similar to Kotor 2.At any given time there will be a party of 1 to 4 characters which MAY include the player's main character.At various places and stages in the game, you will be allowed to switch out members of your party.We are currently planning to have a 'solo mode', ala Kotor as well.When not 'actively' controlled, the party members will have 'AI settings', similar to BG2 and/or Kotor 2 that they will fall back to (such as 'Healer', 'Offensive Caster', etc).All of this is subject to change.

    1 character or party system?
    Cool. So long as i don't have to move them around like a strategy game and I can defer back to autonomy as good as HoTU.But to clarify, are you saying that the max party size is 5 including the pc? Does this include familiars, animal compansions or summons (at present of course).
    As of today, the max party size is 4. This does NOT include familars and animal companions.

    More:
    Am I correct in my thinking that they are controlled similarly to the party members in KotOR2, or are there any differences?
    The implementation is not completed yet. However the goal is something similar to Kotor2. I am sure there will be differences as the games are different and the requirements are diferent. I use Kotor2 and BG2 as examples.

    More:
    Not sure what that means. I haven't played it, sorry..
    Shame on you.

    More:
    That means that there might be times where you’re controlling one, or a party of, NPC characters only. They did that in KotOR 2 as well, where there were whole sections where you only had the NPCs (because the player was otherwise engaged, the group had split into two parties, it was doing a “meanwhile, on the other side of the planet” thing, etc).But to the devs, please, reconsider. It, pardon my language, sucked in KotOR 2. I don’t play roleplaying games to play someone else’s character.As for the KotOR 2 party controls… heh, I guess it could be worse. But it’s not exactly an improvement either. Maybe if the AI significantly improves to the point where people generally don’t feel the need to use the manual control…<sighs> Somehow this whole topic isn’t making me that excited about NWN 2. (which, in all fairness, is a first)
    The 'control of NPCs while the PC is incpacitated' is not concrete. If used, it is certaily going to be only for OUR campaign and not a requirement for 3rd party modules. Again, Kotor2 was merely an example. Specifically why I used the term 'similar'.

    familiars and summons
    Familiars are no longer tanks. They are small animals and magical creatures. Inventory for familiars is probably a 'No', though it is certainly not concrete.

    More: Familiar != Animal Companion. Animal Companions can be actual tanks and what not.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2018
    chevalier, Aug 3, 2005
    #1
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