Neverwinter Nights Forum News

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(Originally posted by chevalier)

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Rob Bartel, Co Lead Designer

Digital Distribution:

Quote: Don't forget, we do have the Vault, to provide us with plenty of free modules. IGN has the infrastructure to support a pay-per-download system. That isn't saying that IGN would be a better method, moreso that they already could do it. Again, it's entirely possible that BioWare could do it themselves, however why reinvent the wheel?

If we do go ahead with DD, it will be integrated into the BioWare community site just like these message boards are and the original Witch's Wake module was previously. If the DD projects does well, our hope is to continue it across future titles that may or may not have the same support from IGN that we've been so fortunate to have for NWN. By maintaining a close integration between the DD project and the BioWare Community Site, we're ensuring that the DD concept can have a life of its own and travel beyond NWN. Maximus and the Vault provide an invaluable service to the NWN community and we'll be working together with him to ensure that the DD project doesn't undermine his work or the free community in any way.

Further:

Quote: Now if you are saying that the current dribble of NEW content will become a healthy stream (ie SIGNIFICANT amount of free content in updates)then it helps resolve this issue.

Our goal with the DD project is not simply to sustain existing Live Team efforts but to improve and expand on them. The Witch's Wake series, for example, has proven infeasible within the Live Team's existing funding structure and we've had to scrounge up art content like the Sea Hag and the Bulette and stretch them out to make them last. With steady, reliable funding in place, the Live Team can definitely play a much more significant role within the NWN community, within the communities of our future games, and within BioWare itself, where we can serve as an advocate for your interests.

Further:

Quote: Well, I have seen prepaid cards at 7-Eleven for a variety of online things... was really surpised to see a Napster one even (at 7-Eleven?).. sign of the times I guess. What would be nice is for a universal prepaid game card. If enough developers/publishers jumped on the bandwagon.. a universally accepted prepaid card could go a long way to solving this problem. Not sure the best way to get everyone on the bandwagon, tho. Perhaps it's an issue for discussion at GDC? Neverless, if it were useable for multiple online activities, ranging from MP3 purchasing, to MMORPG's, to Digital Distribution, it could be a successful venture.

An interesting idea and it makes a heck of a lot of sense from a player's perspective. From a developer's perspective, I can see it being a nightmare, however. The trouble lies in keeping track of which developer(s) get what amount(s) of the $20 the gamer just handed over to the 7-11 clerk for the card. Ultimately, you'd need some kind of dynamic statistical checking system where, in Week 1, it determines that 30% of the total value in the system were spent on Developer A's products, 65% was spent on Developer B's, and a lowly 5% was spent on the really bad title by Developer C so that the money can be dispersed appropriately. So what happens if Developer C starts fudging their numbers to get a bigger slice of the pie? Ultimately, I think such a system could be developed by some third-party company and then licensed (together with the corresponding secure storefront technology) to various developers in the same way that PayPal or various credit card handlers are. Anyone want to launch an aggressive dot.com startup? Anyone? Lots of potential.

Further:

Quote: I think you should take a poll to find out how strong the demand for new "staple" monsters from MM is. I'm hoping th model for DD will be something like "new monster released with every module."

We'll definitely try to make sure that each module is chock full of new content, though it might take us a while to ramp up production. In the end, we hope to let the modules themselves dictate what content gets added rather than insisting that every module must use 1 of item X and 3 of item Y.

Talktables: I think you misunderstood the idea of custom dialog talktables. You can not override any existing strings in the game, thus, making a copy of dialog.tlk does not have any merits. custom talktables, when attached to a module, allow you to define your own strings that can be referenced from .2da files or scripting commands in the same way the StrRef's in dialog.tlk can be addressed, you can however NOT override any existing strings.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Expansions:

To give an official answer:

You do not need the Shadows of Undrentide Expansion to be able to play Hordes of the Underdark. Both expansion do not require each other. As for giving away "so many" SoU features in Hordes, that is not correct. You do not get the official 20+ hour campaign, the tilesets, sound, music and some creatures featured in SoU with hordes. You also do not get the prestige classes from Shadows of Undrentide in Hordes and, as far as I know, you also do not get access to many of the spells and feats featured in SoU as a player.

Modules: The module you are playing determines who can play with you. If you play a NWN module, everyone can join. If you play a module created with the HotU toolset, people will need HotU to play with you (of course, because without the underdark tileset, they might experience some really bland environments when the party enters the Underdark, etc...)