Neverwinter Nights 2 Forum News

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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.

Feargus Urquhart, CEO

Speculation on dev angle
We have the latest version of the Aurora engine, it does not include what CD Projekt has been doing.

More: Look at it this way. A lot of what Doom3 is today was probably based off of code that was in the original Quake engine from a long time ago. Very similarily, the Unreal 3 engine uses many aspects of the Unreal 1 egine. In other words, engines can be changed. Parts can be taken out and replaced with new parts.

Graphics
We are doing a lot of work on the graphics engine. We don't have any specific details to talk about yet, but it's safe to assume that there will be much,much more that gets changed than stays the same.

face wotc
I might be too optimistic, but we've had a good working relationship with WotC for a while. It was a little bumpy at first when I took over the RPG division at Interplay in 1996, since Interplay hadn't come through on many of the promises that it had made to TSR (company which created D&D and was bought by WotC). Since then I have worked with a bunch of different people from both TSR and WotC and I would like to think that it always went pretty well. I can't promise that we can push them game somewhere both WotC and Hasbro don't want it to go. But, I think we can talk through a lot of the issues with them and get what we want to do into the game. Our big goal is to keep them constantly in the loop and talk to them as frequently as possible.

Which rules v.3 or v.3.5?
I thought the Rangers were more powerful in 3.0?

More: It'll be 3.5.

Forum Downtime...
Hi everyone, Just wanted to apologize for the forums being down for the past day. We had a slight "disagreeement" with our previous provider. The forums are now being hosted on a beefy server with lots of bandwith.

What makes a cRPG?
I guess I've always thought this discussion was sort of strange. It seems that people who are passionate about CRPGs think that they should like every CRPG that comes out. If they don't then it is bring into question whether it is a CRPG.

In other words there are FPSs I like and FPSs I don't, just because I don't like a particular FPS doesn't make me question whether it is an FPS.

In my opinion, I feel that Diablo is as much a CRPG as Torment. They are very different CRPGs, but that doesn't make them not CRPGs.

The Leads for NWN2
Yep, Chris Avellone, aka MCA, will be working on NWN2 once Kotor2 is done.

Adam Brennecke

Project Pennsylvania!

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Does anyone know who exactly Ferret is? I'm just curious.I like to know what aspects of development you're involved in.

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Ferret is a designer at Obsidian. His past projects include KOTOR2, Jefferson, and Van Buren. He also flys a mean Huey in BF:Vietnam...

Brian Lawson

New Developers?
Well, I must admit...I AM a new hire. As for the others...I'll let them speak for themselves.

Brian Menze, Artist

Computer Programmers vs Videogame Programmers

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BUT I did find out that game programmers (And for why I don't know) make less then the average programmer.

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I would think the answer would be supply and demand. The demand for working in the gaming industry is quite high while the supply of game industry jobs is quite small. Since the supply of game industry professionals are much higher than the number of jobs for them, the wages fall. If the day comes when the demand for game industry jobs exceeds the supply of game industry professionals, the wages will rise to attract more people to the industry. Ultimately, you need to work doing what will make you happy. I pursued a career in the gaming industry because that is what I am passionate about. I wake up every morning EXCITED to go to work. I have so much fun doing what I am doing that I don't even notice the time. Before I know it I have put in a 12 hour day and I have to force myself to go home.

Erik Novales

Eberron setting?
Neverwinter 2 is a Forgotten Realms game. I can confirm that much. It's even on the logo.

Request for suggestions on DM Client
I was curious what folks out there would like to see improved and changed with the DM Client system. Some folks have mentioned in a thread or two that they want it improved. How specifically?

An obvious suggestion
The only thing I can is we're seriously committed to delivering an excellent single-player campaign. Not everyone is going to think it's awesome (heck, some folks don't even like Ultima IV or Planescape: Torment), but I think bunches of you will really enjoy it.

More: Fun is indeed our number 1 objective (slightly ahead of eating donuts ). And a good single-player campaign is essential to the game being fun. You can't please everyone all of the time, but I think many folks will be very happy with what we got in store.

Interface And Engine
For some time, we won't be able to really say anything about what we're adding and what's going to be cool about NWN2 (I'm biased, but I think it's going to be a *lot* of things). But we're definitely going to be reading the forums and your suggestions. This should be a no brainer - but constructive feedback and suggestions get the most mileage.

When will we know?
Speculating is great, and feel free to go wild with it. Oh... er... some of you already have seem to have done that. But I echo Frank's point, what information gets released isn't an easy call. E.g. I'd hate for our version 3.0 Crate Technology to get leaked to competitors. Then all new games will have virtual reality crates, and we'd be sad over here.

Project Pennsylvania!
Usually the decision on when to announce a project comes from the publisher. And until that point, mostly cricket sounds from the developers. When to place the announcement date is usually driven by marketing for good reasons - those guys actually come up with some sort of strategy. And unless they can turn marketing strategies into some sort of interactive game complete with XP, story, betrayal, and perhaps a brothel or two then I'm glad they're handling it not I. In re Pennsylvania, almost every designer I've met is a rapid fan of the genre they work in (see the foam?). We want to make games we'd love to play. So we're not going to make Barbie Fashion Rodeo Tycoon.

When are ya'll hiring for QA?
So far, whenever we've been looking for a position we put it up in our Jobs section on the web-site. So if you want to know what we're looking for, look there.

FrankK, Programmer

Speculation on dev angle
Thank you, Steel. Your analysis of the original Aurora engine is pretty accurate. We recognize what needs to be worked on moving forward, otherwise we'd just be releasing a third expansion to NWN. =)

engine?

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Seriously, when the game does come out, if they use the exact same engine it will be a major turnoff to the casual gamer.

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Well, I didn't say it would be the same engine when it's released =) I just said where we are starting. Feel free to speculate beyond that until we release details,

More:
I think KOTOR is using the Odyssey Engine, but I could be wrong.
KotOR uses an offshoot of the Aurora engine called Odyssey. It uses artist designed levels (they are completely generated in MAX) and is lightmapped (aka pre-computed lighting). This is pretty much the same thing the Witcher is using based on interviews I've seen on that project. Unfortunately, I can't get into the engine just yet, other than to say we are STARTING with the Aurora engine as of HotU and the last patch.

Here we go!

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What can they do to Neverwinter Nights that hasn't already been done by modders or by Bioware beyond updated graphics and music?

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We can add more crates.

Dungeons & Dragons Game?

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We all know the mess that Troika got into with ToEE and how Atari pressured them pretty severely. Also I remember hearing horror stories about Dark Alliance 2 and how it was supposed to be released around Christmas but Atari got in the way and it came out several months late.

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EDITED: The reason DA2 shipped late was not Atari.

When will we know?

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I cannot understand why a game company wouldnt reveal the name of the game they are developing.Whats so bad with it?Copyrights? For example let just say that Obsidian announces BG3 and Atari is its publisher hey want to initially announce a game at a time where it will receive the most exposure and attention to it. There also need to be any legal or licensing issues resolved beforehand. Besides which, the publisher needs to announce it first.

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The big equation that tells us when to announce games is more complicated than Fermat's Last Theorem. Timing is everything. Exposure is everything. Information is everything. One thing we did learn from DA2 at BIS was that too much exposure (feature lists and details about features) too early is a golden calf for competitors to worship as it gives them insight into the products against which they compete. I realize it's frustrating for fans, but I'd just as soon release very vague information for most of the project and not get into details until the last few months of development.

GameSpy and IGN Articles

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The only think I can imagine is that they will try to implement something like in Fallout II where you can influence the basic battle behaviour but it is still no replacement for a fully controllable party.

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We've drawn inspiration for the party mechanics from some unusual sources. We wouldn't have made the decision to go with henchmen without discussing how it could be improved.

I don't want tile-based!

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Sure, I'll be happy with better graphics, but as long as the story is good I'd be happy with the older engines too.

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You'll be happy to know the designers aren't just sitting around while the programmers work on the engine (I poke them with a stick a few times a day just to be sure). Ferret is constantly distracting me and luring me into conversations about the story, rules, gameplay, etc. We've plotted out a schedule that meets both the needs.

Jason Keeney, Programmer

Speculation on dev angle

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... with limitations such as nwn's hardcoded issues ...

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there no such thing as "hardcoded" when you have the code... which of course, we do.

More:

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Bio had 5 years. -Not that I am not hoping you do something good, like flying, swiming, climbing and graphics that are in this century, but I am not gonna hold my breath.

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Ah... trust the pros, grasshopper... I assure you, no one in the office I'm sitting in is worried.

More: wrt the engine...I've noticed a lot of people on these boards get pretty worked up about what they think about the Aurora engine and whatever relationship it may or may not have to NWN2... Rest assured that we've got a bunch of really talented, experienced guys here who are going to guarantee that, come 2006, NWN2 will be state of the art. What Aurora is, or has been, or how it gets used, is largely irrelevant when you give a team of good engine programmers more than a year to work their magic...just be like little Fonzies everybody...

What do you hope this thing will be?

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... what's your function?

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programinator

More:

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Jason Keeney, What game(s) have you worked on since 2000? You weren't here for most of KotOR 2, were you?

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Around 2001 I left "the biz" for a bit to fart around and pursue other non-videogame type interests... then in early 2003 I came back and took a chance and went to work for a small and somewhat unproven company with a "cool" project. Unfortunatly, that company eventually ran out of money and self-destructed. Shortly thereafter I found Obsidian... and voila... here I am. Being a long-time RPG nut I'm pretty stoked to be here because many of the people behind some of my favorite games are here too.

And ya, I've only been here about 3 weeks, hired on for project Penn, so I've had nothing to do with KOTOR 2.

More:

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...Those games were just...under par. ..

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yeah... but they paid for my car.

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I hope it took you far.

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sure did... to and from the bar ... click here for shameless self-promotion...

Ferret, Developer

Minimal Dialogues
Everyone is right on this thread, because how much dialogue a person likes is a very subjective thing. And us designers have to plan for both audiences (I just love contradictions). We try to include plenty of great dialogue, but also attempt to be considerate for the people that want to get to the action. So we include "Cut to the chase" nodes in longer dialogues. That way we have a chance of keeping everybody happy.

More: We fully intend to write good dialogue that is definitely worth reading. And your point about wordiness is well taken.
P.S. And from now on I will post with the less is more philosophy on the boards. "Yes", "No, and "Maybe" from here on out. Woo hoo!

Look at the Community
What mods or PWs do you think are must sees? Besides Sex and the Single Adventuress?

Leads for NWN2
Yuppers, I worked on Van Buren and Jefferson. *sigh* Very sad that all of our good work on that won't see the light of day. As far as story goes, pointing to any one designer and saying they did the story is really wrong. The lead designer typically has the biggest role in it, but the whole design team builds the story. Oft-times with lots of suggestions, ideas, and more from the whole team. It's more of a group effort than you might imagine. And dear lord, someone found my website. I'm going to go hide now.

Request for suggestions on DM Client
Thanks for all the suggestions. smile.gif Please keep them coming. I'm not a programmer, but I believe some of the behavior you are mentioning (like DM avatars being bound by the physical rules of the module) may be difficult to avoid. To be honest, the suggestions I'm most interested in are the ones that the community can't solve themselves. We only have so many programming hours, and we like to pick the plays that give us the most yardage (to use a football analogy, something I rarely do - hopefully I got my terminology right).