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Neverwinter Nights 2 Forum News (Jan. 22, 05)

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by chevalier, Jan 22, 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 from Obsidian Forums. 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

    Tools for the Nonprogrammer
    Lissandre brings up a fine point of the tradeoff between the learning curve and the tool's power. It's really tough to have a really powerful point-and-click/drag-and-drop type of scripting system. And changing the language to be based on Python or Basic wont make anything easier for the non-programmer. We won't be making drastic changes to syntax or symantics of the scripting language to maintain some level of portability from NWN1. This means that all knowledge and scripting know-how that you learned from working on the first game will be applicable to NWN2. Furthermore, tools like the Lilac Soul's Script Generator tool should be able to generate scripts that can be used for the new game. We plan to have good documentation and more help wizards with the toolset. We are also very excited to show off some of the new features of the toolset to the community (such as the ones Ferret mentioned in the interview.)

    Jason Keeney, Programmer

    About the Graphic Engine
    3000, thats still very high. Considering that Dawn Of War uses 3000 polys per model, and those models are a very good standard, we should see some lovely town scenes. I just hope we can have more npc per screen.
    Not bad for today maybe but in 2 years time who knows.
    The thing is that the techniques of modern graphics really tend to de-emphasise the importance of having tons and tons of polys on a model... once you get to a certain point, throwing more polys at a model just doesnt really seem to make much of a difference. Given normal and specularity maps, self-shadowing, etc, etc,.. the visual difference between a 3000 poly model and say, a 6000 poly model become very small indeed...

    More:
    Well hurry up and prove it gosh darnit
    Believe me, we're all itching to get some screenshots out there as well... unfortunately, we must all be patient...

    Brian D. Lawson, Programmer

    Normal maps and starting early
    ...I'm guessamating at around 4000 per tile...
    You HAVE seen what a flat wall consisting of only two triangles with normal mapping coupled with parallax mapping looks like...right?

    More: Well, when all is said...you can get quite a bit of mileage out of two polys with normal mapping and parallax mapping. With that being said, there's no reason to over-do anything that's going to be taking advantage of those kinds of features. Of course after only 5 months of programming a new engine we're not going to release any numbers as to what can be expected. Something of this magnitude really boils down to itteration. I think the only given, is that the poly counts will be higher than the first game. But even then, that's not necessarily a "requirement" for the very reasons listed above.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2018
    chevalier, Jan 22, 2005
    #1
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