[NWN] ancora interviste
Cammagno
Neverwinter Nights Interview
We talk with CEOs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk about the break with
Interplay.
Intervista sulla situazione "legale" dei rapporti BW/BIS/IP/IG
Last November (the month with the eating but not the one with the
presents) BioWare broke with Interplay alleging that the publisher
violated its trust (and contract) by sublicensing BioWare games to
third parties. While most breakups aren't this complicated, it's still
sad to see a couple that's had such a great history split over
sublicensing.
Then last month, Interplay and BioWare decided to see other people.
Both BioWare and Interplay decided that they would still try to be
friends even though they were both seeing new people. In the short
space of two months BioWare has managed to start a new relationship
with French-company Infogrames, citing Infogrames'
As is usual in this case, it's the children that suffer the most. The
product of the BioWare/Interplay union, Neverwinter Nights had
previously been in limbo until BioWare began a relationship with
Infogrames. Now, French company Infogrames (reputed to be a good
listener with a sporty, import car) is poised to publish Neverwinter
Nights later this year.
To get the whole story on the breakup and their new beau, we decided
to speak with BioWare's joint CEOs, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.
IGNPC: How has switching publishers affected the game?
Greg Zeschuk: It has been business as usual for the Neverwinter Nights
team for the last few months -- the ongoing events have not affected
BioWare's goals of extreme quality for Neverwinter Nights. Ray and I
were talking to the lawyers (we're glad we're not doing this any more
even though our primary lawyer was a swell fellow) - Trent has been
working with the team to get the game done. Ray and I have been
playing the game more and more in the last few weeks and we're really
pumped -- it's making tremendous strides forward.
IGNPC: What were the specifics of the dispute with Interplay? What can
you say about it?
Ray Muzyka: We can't really go into many details -- the details of our
settlement are private and confidential - but of course the court case
we filed against Interplay is a matter of public record. Thankfully,
it's now settled as part of the recently announced settlement
agreement between BioWare and Interplay. What we can say is that
sometimes there are issues between companies that can't be settled by
normal discussions. Further, we're very happy that we reached such an
amicable settlement agreement with Interplay.
IGNPC: What kind of resources will Infogrames put behind supporting
Neverwinter Nights in the online environment? (E.g. matchmaking
services, hosting developer-created 'hub' dungeons, etc., advertising)
Ray Muzyka: The community support for Neverwinter is something that
we've been working on for some time; we're really committed to making
sure our fans are able to find game sessions of the type they want to
play in, and have the best possible experience - regardless of whether
they are playing the game singleplayer or multiplayer. From our
meetings thus far, Infogrames is also really excited about the
potential of Neverwinter Nights and we are very happy about the plans
that we are developing together with them to foster the maximum sense
of online community for the game. We're talking together with
Infogrames about a number of different initiatives that we will be
announcing in the next few months together -- all of which hopefully
will allow Neverwinter to be the biggest and best RPG of the year!
IGNPC: Are there plans for a long-time commitment with Infogrames?
Greg Zeschuk: Thus far BioWare has no formal development plans for the
Neverwinter Nights team after the game is complete. We've just met the
people from Infogrames and we're very happy with their enthusiasm
toward Neverwinter Nights. We're looking forward to working with them
to make Neverwinter Nights a huge success.
With regard to the future, Infogrames holds the D&D license on a
long-term basis, and a good part of BioWare's success has been in D&D
products. At first glance a long-term relationship certainly would
make sense, but we've yet to put anything into place. We've very
optimistic about Neverwinter Nights, as well as future possibilities.
IGNPC: Is BioWare planning on releasing more Dungeons & Dragons games
in the future?
Ray Muzyka: We're very big fans of the D&D universe and we know that
we have a lot of loyal fans who like that world as well. We're
certainly interested in exploring additional development in this world
as well as in other IP's, including some IP's that we are developing
internally ourselves.
IGNPC: Since Infogrames has the license to produce software based on
Dungeons & Dragons, are you able to do everything within the D&D
universe that you were previously with Interplay? Do you think future
editions of pen and paper D&D might be more closely linked to
electronic versions, and vice versa?
Greg Zeschuk: There has been a harmonization of the pen and paper and
computer versions of D&D going on. It hasn't got to the point that we
directly collaborate with the folks at Wizards of the Coast -- but we
have discussed our thoughts on D&D from time to time. I suspect that
the tools for Neverwinter Nights will prove fertile ground for all of
the pen and paper folks when they realize the power the tools unlock!
As for our future with D&D, anything is possible.
Intervista sul "funzionamento" di NWN
Thank you for offering to get some questions answered for us here at
ALFA.
We put together a list of 15 "burning" questions.
So, without further ado, here be the questions that burn in the souls
of ALFAns everywhere.
Question 1 Feature Lists:
We have seen unofficial or preliminary lists of NWN features including
spells, creatures, feats, and skills. This type of information is very
important for campaign planning and player strategy. Would it be
possible
to get an updated list of features or numbers of how many will be
implemented currently in the plan?
We are anxious to open up and discuss everything we have implemented
in Neverwinter Nights - but we have to ask the community to be
patient. Our plan is to begin releasing that information over then
next few months.
Question 2 Custom Tilesets:
How does the client receive the custom tileset? Does the client
download
the tileset automatically from the server if it does not have it? If
not,
what happens when a tileset is missing? Does the client still run? If
so,
what tileset is used instead?
While we are interested in supporting user-created content, the
support for user-created content in the initial release will be
limited by the time we have available. Provided that we manage to
include custom-content support for our initial release, the game will
require that the user download the resources to the proper location
beforehand, prior to the user joining the module.
Question 3 A Scripting Example:
Please give us a walk through example of an in game script, for
example: If
the party enters the Crypt of Morgrin without the Silver Circlet,
nothing
happens. If someone does posses it, a text dialogue runs ("The Ritual
is
complete. Draw the Circle, call forth the blue flame!") and a mob NPC
(Morgrin) is summoned/created/dropped in somehow.
This is quite trivial to do. For the following example I placed a
trigger which evaluates for the Silver Circlet and then spawns in
Morgrin if the player has the circlet. This is not the only way to do
this script as you could use an encounter, use an OnEnter script for
the area or a number of other options.
void main()
{
object oPc;
object oItem;
object oMorgrin;
oPc=GetEnteringObject();
oItem=GetItemPossessedBy(oPc,"SilverCirclet");
if(GetIsObjectValid(oItem) == TRUE)
{
location lPlayerlocation;
lPlayerlocation=GetLocation(oPc);
oMorgrin=CreateObject(OBJECT_TYPE_CREATURE,
"Morgrin",lPlayerlocation);
AssignCommand(oMorgrin, SpeakString(
"The Ritual is complete. Draw the Circle, call forth the blue
flame!"));
}
}
When the player enters the trigger, the inventory of the player is
scanned for the Silver Circlet. (I created the Silver Circlet and
placed it nearby for testing. The "Tag" of the item is
"SilverCirclet". Tags are labels for items which are accessible
through scripting ). If the Item is in the inventory then oItem is
then valid. The next check succeeds if the item is valid and fails if
the item was not in the character's inventory. I then get the location
of the player and create Morgrin from a creature I created in the
creature wizard called Morgrin. I then assign a string for him to
speak, which he does right after spawning in. Morgrin is set to the
hostile faction, so he instantly attacks. If I wanted a long dialogue
instead of Speakstring I would use the scripting command:
ActionStartConversation and start a conversation file. Again, if you
wanted to do this with less code it is possible and there are probably
fifty different ways of doing it.
Question 4 Logging and Monitoring:
Will it be possible to generate statistical snapshots of the status of
a
module? For example, would it be possible to generate a report to
capture
the current number of items, gold, and players? Can player information
be
grouped by class, level, or race?
While this isn't natively supported, a little scripting muscle can
accomplish this task quite effectively. Basically, the "get" script
functions, such as "GetName" or "GetMaxHitPoints" need to be stored
within local integers assigned to each character within the game that
you want information about - such as each player that joins the
adventure. Whenever a log needs to be made (which could be determined
manually or automatically), the print function searches through the
chosen locals and generates the information to a log. With a little
more effort, this output could be manually or automatically sorted
(for example, sort off-hand weapons equipped by players,
alphabetically) to allow the DM to view a clean snapshot of an
adventure in progress.
Question 5 Concealing a PC's identity:
Marc Taro mentioned that the disguise skill was currently in the plan.
This
skill would allow rogues the ability to "mask your name and class".
DMs can
also "script items which grant the ability". Would this skill also
allow
the character to appear different to other PCs and substitute the
character
portrait? Will there be a flag that can be referenced through a script
to
see if a character is in disguise?
Marc mentioned the disguise skill some time ago, and unfortunately the
skill will not be included in the initial release. However, a
character's class is never revealed to the other players; a player may
guess at another character's class based upon the equipment in use,
but thanks to the diversity amongst players with the 3rd edition rule
set of Dungeons & Dragons, it will never be anything more than a
guess.
As for the question on portraits, you cannot change your character
portrait - but you can change your appearance at any time by changing
your character's clothing.
Additionally, since all creatures have names, a player character is
not distinguishable from an NPC (non-player character) in any visual
manner. By simply wearing the uniform of a common NPC (such as a guard
patrol), a player may effectively fool other players.
Question 6 Voice Utility:
What is the default monster AI aggressiveness? Do monsters attack only
PCs,
do they attack other monsters, is it set via a drop down menu? Is it a
faction (MonsterFaction) set to be hostile to any member not in the
faction?
I'm not sure what this has to do with a voice utility, but I'll answer
the question, not the label.
In Neverwinter Nights, the faction system is very powerful and
customizable.
When a faction is created, a two-way relationship (how faction A feels
about faction B, and vice-versa) needs to be defined between that
faction and any other faction by declaring a value between one and
100. To explain these values, let us use the example of a player
faction and how the player faction relates to the other factions
established within the module. A value of 90 through 100 in an entry
indicates an ally who will protect the player faction against the
attacks of hostile creatures. 11 through 89 is a neutral range, and
members of factions set to this range will not attack unless attacked,
nor come to the aid of the player if the player is attacked. If a
faction is set to zero through ten, members of that faction will be
hostile and attack the players' faction on sight. By default, players
come in with the player faction and have their values set by the
module. After that, the player can change any of the values through
his/her in-game actions.
You can have as many factions as you wish in a module, but we have
found it is best to keep the number of factions to a minimum, as it
quickly becomes confusing.
Question 7 Memory Requirements:
Are there any rules of thumb that can be used to provide a rough
estimate of
memory requirements for servers and clients to run certain modules?
For
example, lets imagine a city Area, 64x64, with only one script
running, to
call guards if someone kills/steals. What would be an estimate on the
RAM
that would eat up?
The memory requirements on areas for the server are reasonable. When
you create the largest possible (32x32) area, the server only needs to
load the walk mesh for the area - not the visual mesh. This allows the
memory requirements for the server to be lower than what they are for
the single-player game.
We recently did a restructuring of the memory usage of the server and
managed to trim the memory requirements for a large module quite
significantly. Here are some rules of thumb that I can offer:
1) The ram cost per area isn't a constant - if you use a large variety
of different tiles, the cost is higher.
2) The city tileset is the most expensive tileset in terms of memory
requirements, but multiple city areas can share a lot of common data.
So again, the cost is not constant per area.
3) Placed objects typically consume around 1K; placed creatures
typically consume around 10K
4) The walk-mesh for each tile seems to vary between 2K and 10K. When
calculating ram costs, the worst case scenario seems to be around 10mb
for a 32x32 area.
Question 8 Character Vaults:
ALFA plans on implementing it's own character vault. Since multiple
servers
will be used, how can the character information be shared and
synchronized
across servers? Will it be possible to implement our own character
filters?
Will it be possible to track the last server a character logged off
from so
he can be returned to the same location when they log back in?
To allow servers to choose what kinds of characters are "legal" for
their campaign, we are placing character filters settings on the
server. These filters allow you to screen characters based on a wide
variety of criteria, such as the level of a character.
As for sharing character data: we are still looking into this, and if
it is possible we hope to include some support in the initial release.
As to the last server question, we will store the IP address of the
last server you were playing on when you disconnect, and we will offer
the option to reconnect to that last server.
Question 9 In-game time ratio:
In order to implement quests or events that are time sensitive, it is
important to know the ratio of time between in-game time and real
time.
What is the ratio between in-game time and real time? Can this be
modified?
The ratio of real time to game time can be set as a module property.
One designer might wish to set 60 minutes of game time equal to one
minute of real world time, while another prefers to set 60 minutes of
game time equal to 60 minutes of real world time. The final choice is
yours.
Question 10 Economic Model:
Will NWN adjust prices based on supply, demand and wealth of a region?
Will
it be possible to script prices to changed based on these factors?
Store prices will be modified by a mark-up property. You can modify
this via scripting if you wish, allowing you more precise control of
local economic conditions.
Question 11 Custom 3D Rendering:
What rendering software should work with NWN? Will this include 3DS
Max,
Lightwave, and GMAX? Will any software be officially supported?
We use 3Dstudio Max internally for model creation and animation.
Question 12 Individual or Party Spot/Listen Checks:
Will spot/listen checks be applied to the individual or the party? For
example, if one member succeeds at a listen check but everyone else
fails,
will all party members hear it? Also, if one party member succeeds at
a
spot check against a disguise or a pickpocket but everyone else fails,
will
all party members see it?
Spot and Listen checks are not shared across the party. If an Improved
Invisible creature is spotted by one character, the other players are
not advised of the location of the creature. Once the invisible
creature attacks, players who observe the attack can then detect the
invisible creature. All the players who can see the creature can
attack the creature, but the creature still gets the invisibility
bonuses and is rendered partially transparent.
Question 13 Understanding Languages:
Will NWN implement languages such that a different dialog tree will be
used
if the player's character understands a certain language? For example,
if
the player does not understand the language, the dialog text is
replaced
with gibberish.
While we won't be doing anything like this in the official campaign,
with scripting it would be possible to make your module support
languages such as elven, orc, and so forth, and have dialogue options
appear as gibberish if you cannot speak the language.
Question 14 Character Animations:
What character animations and emotes are currently in the plan? Will
characters be able to sit, lie down, eat or drink, dance or play an
instrument? Two emotes mentioned were waving and saluting. What other
emotes will be available?
There are a number of different emotes in the game at the current
moment - and more are appearing every day as we add the support to
play them from within the game. Any creature which uses the biped set
(for example, the player races, goblins, orcs, and skeletons) can play
a number of emotes such as bow, salute, a victory wave, and a variety
of conversational emotes.
Question 15 Transporting to another Sever:
Will it be possible to transport characters to another server using a
scripting event? What will happen if the other server is full or the
player
does not meet the server requirements and is rejected? Will it be
possible
to script an alternate action if the transport to another server
generates
an exception?
Yes, it will be possible to transport characters via a scripting
event. In the initial release of Neverwinter Nights we may not have
time to implement server-querying scripting commands, so you would
have to somehow either handle the character being refused by the other
server, or script the server filters into the transition to ensure
that characters are checked before a transition is attempted.
Daniele G
wrote:
>As for the question on portraits, you cannot change your character
>portrait
questa mi sembra una cazzata...
--
"quando un uomo con la spada incontra un uomo con la balestra,
l'uomo con la spada č un uomo morto"
Ryger Hawk
CECCHINO !ELFO! Caotico/Buono
-togliere NOSPAM per le risposte-
Cammagno
wrote:
>>As for the question on portraits, you cannot change your character
>>portrait
>
>questa mi sembra una cazzata...
Secondo me hai frainteso: IMHO (vista anche la domanda a cui stava
rispondendo) intendeva dire che durante il gioco non è possibile
modificare l'immagine del personaggio mediante incantesimi od altri
mezzi, non che tu non possa crearti un portrait con la tua nonnina ed
assegnarlo al puo PG.
Ciao,
Cammagno
Daniele G
wrote:
>Secondo me hai frainteso: IMHO (vista anche la domanda a cui stava
>rispondendo) intendeva dire che durante il gioco non è possibile
>modificare l'immagine del personaggio mediante incantesimi od altri
>mezzi, non che tu non possa crearti un portrait con la tua nonnina ed
>assegnarlo al puo PG.
si forse ho letto male
mi sembrava alquanto strano
--
"quando un uomo con la spada incontra un uomo con la balestra,
l'uomo con la spada è un uomo morto"