Neverwinter Nights Forum Update

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(Originally posted by Tiamat)

Derek French, Assistant Producer:

Skins: A "skin" is just a graphic file that is wrapped around a polygon in the game. It is not something that requires coding on the users side to do. Just the knowledge of how to create or modify one.

User Content: Actually, what we have said is that we haven't decided on how to properly support user created content. As it stands, once you figure out how things work, you could replace the texture/skin of something within the game. No coding is needed.
Valve was using the Quake codebase and it was already a well published method/format so everyone knew how to make skins.

David Gaider, Designer:

Encryption: I can't answer your technical questions about encryption, unfortunately. I do know, however, that your players don't have to have a copy of your module in order to play in it.
If you use any resources in your game that your players don't have, though, they would have to get those before they could play. So if you made your own tile-set or made some of your own 3d-models for placeable objects...they would need to dl these prior to playing.
I could be wrong, however. I'll mention the question to the programmers...though I suspect this is an issue that will change numerous times before programming is done, so will not be an easy question to answer at this point.

Modules: I don't think there's any designer at Bio who hasn't thrown around the idea of putting together their favorite module or something. I've heard 'Keep on the Borderlands' mentioned more than once.
Me, I'd love to do 'Castle Amber'.
We're all gamers...we love to play what we make because we make games we love to play. Does that make sense? So of course we'll make stuff and, no doubt, put them up on the NWN community for people to use...free time willing, of course.
I have little doubt, however, that there will be numerous people out there who will learn to use the tools to put together something of superior quality. We never have the time to tinker with our games as much as we'd like...just making them is mammoth enough of a task, probably.

Interface, and Moving Characters: The interface is constantly evolving, so anything that currently stands may not hold up.
But as it currently stands, there are two ways of moving about. One is to click on the place you want to go. Boom, the character walks there. And, yes, if the click is not far behind the avatar, it will back up.
The other is to hold down the mouse button and move the cursor in the direction you want to go. Keep the cursor farther away from the avatar and they run...closer to the avatar and they walk. It's really very intuitive (although I know the running/speed thing is being toyed with especially).
How this might work with a keyboard, or if that's being planned, I'm not sure.

Differences Between PC and NPC Dialogue: PC and NPC dialogue, on-screen, is the same. It appears above the character's head beside their portrait.
Most NPC dialogue will have a highlighted list of responses...but not all. A player who had a quick function key to type out 'Sorry, I'm too busy to talk right now.' would look pretty authentic.
I think typing speed, for the most part, will tell the difference. I was just in one module where two guards were standing around having a conversation with each other...easy to read, but probably not so quickly typeable by anyone who wasn't professional.

Making Items: You make items by flipping through choices (and there are a lot) for the various pieces. A sword, for instance, has a blade and a hilt. Lots of blades (curved, too) and lots of hilts...and you can specify color afterwards.
You can examine what you're creating in both icon mode (what it looks like on your paper doll) and in 3D mode (what it will look like in the game).
And you can add all sorts of magical effects to the weapon in the editor...including glow effects. It's very user-friendly, I've found.

Stanley Woo, Quality Assurance Ninja:

Devils: Devils? What about the ones from the Nujer Sea? I'd include them in my Blades of Steel module, wherein the player has five years to collect the four Grails of Stanley. The Grails are protected by the 30-odd monster tribes, but the player should be able to prevail. Armed only with a curved staff, a blue jacket, coffee, curry, a thick, round shuriken, and the Waingrets Key, the player will battle black hawks, thrashing sharks, wild bears, lightning-fast penguins and panthers, brave flaming hurricanes and island avalanches, depose kings and senators, oil up the sabre-wielding habitants of the Capital, capture flying stars, wing across the Blue Maple Range, and save Can-ducks from their mighty coyote predators.