HotU and fan modules gave multiple AI-controlled companions, but no way to control them directly either simultaneously (BG-style) or one at a time (KotOR-style). That, to my mind, does not qualify as a party-based RPG, no matter how many companions you can have.
I'll argue that we have NWNEE, it was called NWN2!
I don't miss the original NWN campaign; as Trent says, the focus was on making the extensible game where the players could share their own content - it truly was the RPG for the social media age, perhaps a game ahead of its time?
NWN2 has a more polished presentation, the improved 3.5 rules, a rich array of NPCs and a campaign to take you from zero to maxed-out hero. It is a great game.
It might be interesting to see Shadows of Undrentide, and Hordes of the Underdark, rendered with the new rules and engine, or a modern social-media/sharing spark for the content creation in NWN2, but I think I might be more interested to see where Trent and crew can go with fully original content - maybe they can teach me to play 5th edition, just as NWN2 taught me 3.5?
Having cooked 7 years of my life into NWN, I'm painfully familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the title. We made key decisions on the title to favour the content creator and in some cases this actually hurt the final quality of the narrative experience we could create.
Thanks for dropping by! It's always great to hear stories about the development. I too think Neverwinter Nights-with-toolset is something very precious, and definitely something that set an example that other have not been able to get close to when it comes to the toolkit. I still hope that one day another developer will have both the means and the will to really go for the user content idea like you guys did back then sometime in the future (*totally-not-nudge-nudgeing-here* :P ).
I was hoping you could tell us some more about those compromises you had to make, though. I would be very interested in hearing more about the process from you (or any others).
We set a polygon budget for NWN, based on the median graphics card at the time. Based on the idea there would be at max nine tiles viewable at once (original release, chase cam came after) we set 1000 polygons / tile, giving us 9000 polys. We set the monster bar at 500 polys for smaller creatures and 1000 for medium sized. The character budget was 1500 polygons (with 14 parts in the hierarchy) it worked out to about 100 polygons per part, which we of course shifted to more on the torso and shoulders and less in the hands, arms, legs and feet. Our overall budget if I recall correctly was 30,000 polygons per frame at 30 fps, so 900,000 polygons / second. This seemed to hit right in the capabilities of the median graphics card of the day. We could do some skin-based content, but re-visiting all the content would have added at least a year to the project, which didn't make sense to us at all.
Thanks for the insight Trent - interesting to see hard numbers given for how this all works, or at least, worked back in the day.
One thing I remember fondly from the original NWN was that the patches kept pushing forward the envelope of what was possible, as from day 1 the game was about the engine - so you kept pushing out neat feature for the content creators, including graphical flourishes like the cloaks. When I think of a well-supported game, NWN remains my gold standard.
Thanks for the insight Trent - interesting to see hard numbers given for how this all works, or at least, worked back in the day.
One thing I remember fondly from the original NWN was that the patches kept pushing forward the envelope of what was possible, as from day 1 the game was about the engine - so you kept pushing out neat feature for the content creators, including graphical flourishes like the cloaks. When I think of a well-supported game, NWN remains my gold standard.
Yes, a great thing about NWN was the huge support it had after release. Of course, the big success the game was had a lot to see with it, but still.
The only thing I found to be bad about NWN is the rate of movement. Moving from one end of the map to the other was snooze inducing. Being 3D, however, stopped the background from being pre-rendered, and that made NWN a step down in terms of the sheer gorgeousness of the scenery that we got in BG. Other than that, the way it was so moddable made it superb as a game in its own right. NWN2 was several steps forward in terms of beautifying the game, but also several steps back in terms of the multiple spell effects killing the graphics card. When I play a fighter-mage in the game with all the buffs up and running, and with Sand and Elanee buffing everyone to heck, hoo-boy!
The only thing I found to be bad about NWN is the rate of movement. Moving from one end of the map to the other was snooze inducing. Being 3D, however, stopped the background from being pre-rendered, and that made NWN a step down in terms of the sheer gorgeousness of the scenery that we got in BG. Other than that, the way it was so moddable made it superb as a game in its own right. NWN2 was several steps forward in terms of beautifying the game, but also several steps back in terms of the multiple spell effects killing the graphics card. When I play a fighter-mage in the game with all the buffs up and running, and with Sand and Elanee buffing everyone to heck, hoo-boy!
Perfect dream, about nwn Enhanced(perfect) edition?-)) Would like The story of the Hero of Neverwinter is extended, maybe in new quest? So What do you thik?
Comments
I don't miss the original NWN campaign; as Trent says, the focus was on making the extensible game where the players could share their own content - it truly was the RPG for the social media age, perhaps a game ahead of its time?
NWN2 has a more polished presentation, the improved 3.5 rules, a rich array of NPCs and a campaign to take you from zero to maxed-out hero. It is a great game.
It might be interesting to see Shadows of Undrentide, and Hordes of the Underdark, rendered with the new rules and engine, or a modern social-media/sharing spark for the content creation in NWN2, but I think I might be more interested to see where Trent and crew can go with fully original content - maybe they can teach me to play 5th edition, just as NWN2 taught me 3.5?
I was hoping you could tell us some more about those compromises you had to make, though. I would be very interested in hearing more about the process from you (or any others).
-Trent
One thing I remember fondly from the original NWN was that the patches kept pushing forward the envelope of what was possible, as from day 1 the game was about the engine - so you kept pushing out neat feature for the content creators, including graphical flourishes like the cloaks. When I think of a well-supported game, NWN remains my gold standard.
Being 3D, however, stopped the background from being pre-rendered, and that made NWN a step down in terms of the sheer gorgeousness of the scenery that we got in BG.
Other than that, the way it was so moddable made it superb as a game in its own right. NWN2 was several steps forward in terms of beautifying the game, but also several steps back in terms of the multiple spell effects killing the graphics card. When I play a fighter-mage in the game with all the buffs up and running, and with Sand and Elanee buffing everyone to heck, hoo-boy!