FAQ #2
Dee
Member Posts: 10,447
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This thread will be a repository for answers to questions presented in the Ask Us Anything! thread. It will also contain any other information that the development team feels is important to share.
This thread is only for the developers to post, so it will be closed. Hopefully that will make the answers a bit easier to navigate.
This thread will be a repository for answers to questions presented in the Ask Us Anything! thread. It will also contain any other information that the development team feels is important to share.
This thread is only for the developers to post, so it will be closed. Hopefully that will make the answers a bit easier to navigate.
Post edited by Dee on
13
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
We can't go into specifics just yet, but it will be fairly substantial. Work on Adventure Y is still in the pre-production phase, so I wouldn't expect to see anything about it until after BG2EE is released.
We are planning to incorporate elements of SCS at some point; it's just a matter of making sure it works flawlessly. We've been working with David to determine the best way to handle it so that it doesn't needlessly challenge new players, while still offering something more substantial for veterans.
The patch we're polishing right now will address a lot of the issues with the new kits we introduced. We don't have any current plans to rebalance the kits beyond that, but we may take another look later on.
The new NPC will be a fully fleshed out character with a story of its own. I won't go into any more detail than that, though; have to leave some surprises.
No one is certain. Our nearest guess is that the art assets simply weren't backed up properly, or that the hard drive they were on was misplaced or stopped working altogether. A company goes through a lot of computers in fifteen years, and not everything gets preserved as well as it should be. It's likely that when the game was first released in 1998/1999, no one expected that we would be looking to rework it fifteen years later--or that we might want to re-render the artwork when we did. An unfortunate loss, to be sure; but it also spurred us to do more with the game than we might have done otherwise.
Our translation teams are comprised of volunteers, for the most part, and they put in as much time as they can spare for a project they care about. They've done a terrific job so far, but the smaller the team the longer the translation takes. We think the translations will be worthwhile once completed, but we have to be patient while they do the polishing to make it great.
It has more to do with the way that creature files are set up; a lot of things would need to be rewritten engine-side, which would break things in a major way. We don't have any plans to rewire the inventory screen, but we haven't ruled out the possibility of making it a bit more fluid.
Strictly speaking, anything is possible, but in this case the process is deeply hard-coded. Any time you have dependencies between systems, it's hard to move them around. For instance, the Ability Scores screen requires a class because it needs to know what minimum and maximum stats to allow; it needs a race because that modifies those minimums and maximums. The Class screen needs a race to determine which classes (and kits) are available.
There might be a better order for character creation in general, though, but we'll need to look at that when we have the ability to shape that process from the ground up.
No, nothing like that is planned. Although bans for bad behavior might be an interesting layer of complexity for evil characters... Hmmmmm....
The short answer is yes. As noted in my answer regarding the translation teams, it depends on how quickly our translators work--and we try to let them take breaks every once in a while, or the monkey starts to stare at us funny...
We don't have any current plans for voice communication, no. We may look at it somewhere down the road. For myself, when I play with my brother we typically use Skype or cell phones to get the audio component.
Not at launch, no. We may look at something like that later on, but at launch they have to be separate programs.
Not any time soon, no. As with changing kits, anything that alters a fundamental mechanic needs to be looked at very carefully so as not to break anything in the process. The reputation system isn't "ideal", but it works fine for what we need it to do in the game right now.
Any enhancements that we make to the engine will be implemented in both games, yes (you might even see some of them in the next patch for BG1EE, so keep an eye out for them). I can't comment on kits or spells.
Our contract is a bit sticky when it comes to messing with the existing story content, so we have to be very careful about what we change or add to the "vanilla" characters and their respective plotlines. It's "easier" from a contract perspective to create all-new content than to extend existing content.
Unfortunately, we can't comment on features that haven't yet been implemented. Even if work has started on a new feature, until it's released there's no guarantee that something won't be discovered in the development process or in QA that makes it unfeasible to implement.
If you're curious about something, though, do keep asking--if we can answer, we will.
Nat is still here but we can't show you anything that he's been working on yet. Dave has moved on to a load of other projects. You can check out his twitter and blog to get a sense of what he's been up to.
We've brought a lot of the modders in as either beta testers or scripters, so if there is work that needs to be done to make their mods compatible they're free to start that work early. We try not to direct the work of modders, however; if a specific modder chooses not to update their mods for the Enhanced Edition, that's up to them.
So far, all that has been confirmed is that we have the rights to make a Linux version. There has not been any planning yet as to what that would entail or when (or if) it will be done.
There are some issues to consider (the HP exploit is one), but the behavior from the original BG2 game has not changed in this regard. We may look at tweaking it a bit later on.
Yes, this behavior will be as it was in the original game. Hang on to those pantaloons!
No, but BG2 NPCs have boosted ability scores regardless, which should make them a bit more competitive.
Yes, for both male and female protagonists.
Will the romances for the new NPCs (Dorn, Neera, Rasaad) be expanded in BG2?
Yes, rather significantly. You can expect the new NPCs to have full romance paths in BG2.
There's a lot of legal mumbo jumbo, but suffice to say that changing content or adding new content to existing characters is a minefield that we generally would prefer to avoid. So yes, it's an accurate assessment of the situation.
No, they'll keep their existing portraits.
The primary reason we don't use Kickstarter is that our contract partners have expressed a desire to not use Kickstarter, and out of respect to their wishes we have chosen not to use it.
At this point, most likely not. The costs associated with rendering all new sprites and then re-rendering them as sprites to use in-game are prohibitively high, and it would take a lot of resources that we simply don't have. Even if we did, the engine would need to be reworked to accommodate the higher-resolution sprites, which would take yet more development time.
So although it makes a lot of people unhappy (and we're totally with you on that), no, the graphics will not be redone in HD.
I don't want to give anything away about what you might or might not find. So I'll say "You'll just have to wait until you play the game to find out."
We have to be careful about how we touch the old content and its characters, but there is room for some interjections as needed. I wouldn't expect a Dorn/Viconia romance subplot, though.
So far we have not implemented any additional strongholds; I'm hesitant to give any more information than that.