Neverwinter Nights Forum Update

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(Originally posted by Tiamat)

Derek French, Assistant Producer:

Neverwinter Online: GameSpy does not force you to pay for it. There is a free version. Also, using GameSpy was not a requirement. You could connect to your friend's game without using GameSpy. So, BG2 is still free for on-line play. Neverwinter Nights will be free for on line play.

David Gaider, Designer:

Rooftops and multi-level structures: There are different levels to all terrain, yes...the screenshot shown shows a second-level of city street that you can access with the placement of a 'ramp' tile.

As for roof-tops, you can access them...so long as you place an appropriate script and the model has a 'top' to it. There's one tower in Neverwinter, for instance, that you can enter via the ground-floor door and one of the interior doors leads (via a door-to-waypoint script) to the top...where you get a pretty nice view of the area.

If you wanted to have someone 'climb', you'd have to script it specifically per building. There would have to be a clickable ('useable') area set up somewhere where you wanted the climber to start...have it ask him if he wishes to climb or whatever, and make the script do a stat check or class check or whatever you wanted for success...and on a success warp him to a specific point higher in the model (that he can stand on). You could even place another script on a window (which normally aren't accessible) and have it become a kind of 'door' to the interior, as well.

But, like I said, this is something that would have to be done on a case-by-case basis. Luckily, once you've done one, doing more in a similar vein means you won't have to change the script. Just lay down the old script in the appropriate places on new buildings and you'd be fine. How intuitive it would be for a player to figure out where he can climb and where he can't, however, is probably your biggest problem...and likely why we'll avoid doing something along these lines unless the plot specifically calls for it (and the player is told so).

Quote: My guess is that the character will have to be told in-game: "Ahh, good sir, a friend of mine - the sneaky kind, dontcha' know - tells me the third window in the masters bedroom is a good path to the roof.". It would be nice to know (in general terms) how the Bioware designers have approached this problem.

Pretty much exactly as you've stated. With just about every major plot in the game, we've tried to engineer several routes to its completion...stealth/deception being one of them. If we were going to have a plot where this type of climbing was a possibility, the player would be informed of such...either by an advisor NPC (like your example), a journal hint or otherwise. Since climbing isn't a regular feature in the game, we really couldn't expect a player to just stumble across such a thing at this point (and hunting for the 'hot spot', like you say, wouldn't be much fun).

NWScript: As with any programming language, there's a learning curve involved. It takes some getting used to...but overall you should be able to do simple scripting very quickly. There will be generic scripts that are annotated well as to their purpose that you can use as guides...as well as plenty of scripts within the single-player campaign that will be good examples of things you might want to do.

Performing more advanced customization with the scripting, however, is something you're going to have to work up to...like creating custom classes and such. You may want to set your sights lower until you've become familiar with the scripting language...or until someone else puts out their own custom class script that you can use as an example (which probably won't take long).

I will say, though, that I had only a bare familiarity with C++ programming...in that I knew some of the protocols involved (ending statements with a semi-colon, for example) but could only write the most basic programs (and not even those without several runs through the de-bugger)...and I was writing decent dialogue scripts within a day or two.

One thing I am sure scripting neophytes will appreciate as much as I did is the de-bugging functions. When you try to compile your script, if there is a problem it will show you where in the script your problem exists and the nature of the problem (you forgot a semi-colon, you're using a bad variable, you didn't declare your variable type, etc.)...this makes things MUCH easier, believe me.

And the scripting tutorials that are available online and mentioned above are quite helpful, too, if you want to become a more advanced user.

Don Moar, Lead Programmer, Tools:

Using scripts from other modules: Kinjo, I believe that is a quote from one of my posts several months ago.

The design of the nwtoolset has always been focused on supporting the creation of adventures using the core 3rd edition D&D rules as implemented in Neverwinter Nights. All the features and functionality required by BioWare's designers to create the official campaign will be available to you, the end-user.

The Semi-Colon: The ; is not a line termination character, it is a statement termination character. Statements can cross line boundaries, so there has to be something to indicate to the compiler that it has reached the end of the statement.

User made templates: Currently, the NWToolset does not support this functionality. We are considering it, should we have time, however at this point it seems unlikely that it will be included in the initial release. Please note that even if the feature ,as you described it, isn't there, it should be possible to achieve a similar effect through the clever use of custom creatures and items.
If I have a chance, I'll go into more detail later.

Achieving an effect similar to custom templates using custom creatures and items: The goal is to be able to apply a set of statistic modifications, skills, feats and spells to an existing creature, quickly. The typical example, is applying a 3rd Edition vampire template to an existing NPC, which may already have several levels in another class, such as fighter.

Approach 1: Make a custom creature with all the 'standard' statistics, special abilities, etc... Create a copy of this creature and modify its appearance as required.
You would choose this method if the specific details of the NPC are not as important as the things that make it a 'whatever it is'.

Approach 2: Make a custom item that has all the desired special abilities and add it to an existing creature's natural equipment. Note that natural equipment is not dropped by the creature when it dies so you don't have to worry about a player picking up the 'vampire properties' item.
You would choose this method if you are more concerned about preserving the details of your NPC than making it a 'whatever it is'.

Probably, you'll want to use a combination of methods. Create an item that has a bunch of special abilities on it and add it to your custom creature's inventory. When it comes time to turn your favourite NPC into a, whatever it is, edit a copy of your custom creature, modify its appearance to look like your NPC and finish it off by applying any additional details to flesh it out.

Happy holidays, everyone!