Questions & Answers Thread from last nights ( and perhaps todays) AMAA
lordkim
Member Posts: 1,063
I made this for people who think Reddit is to lame, difficult to understand or whatever...
Please accept errors and not all things are in here.. Im editing things as they come..
Hello everyone! We are Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog, the team behind Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. We've spent the past while working on an up-to-date version of the classic Baldur's Gate, not only for PC and Mac, but also for iOS/Android tablets!
It has certainly been quite the ordeal for us to get all our ducks in a row in order to rescue this title from the depths of licensing jail, but we've managed to do it and are less than a month away from releasing our new edition of Baldur's Gate. That's why this is an almost anything - we'll answer everything we can but there are a few things that we may not be able to answer for contractual reasons.
Here is our website if you'd like to learn more about what we're adding to the game, and what changes and improvements have been made both by us and the fantastic community that's come together to support this re-release.
Proof it's us is located here. More proof, just in case.
Answering your questions today will be the following team members:
Nathan Willis, QA Analyst, Community Person, Audio Dude - OverhaulNathan
Trent Oster, President/CEO, Producer, 3D/UI Artist - OverhaulTrent
Scott Brooks, CTO, Programmer - Blaze74
Dave Gross, Lead Writer - DaveGross
Phillip Daigle, Lead Producer, Writer - DaigleDopple
Coriander Dickinson, Programmer/Scripter, Video Editor - Corianderd
Keith Soleski, Scripter/Game Designer - OverhaulKeith
ALSO answering (via my account) will be:
Cameron Tofer, COO, Programmer
Alex Molzahan, Intern
You can find us on twitter, as well:
Trent Oster
Phillip Daigle
Scott Brooks
Coriander Dickinson
Cameron Tofer
Dave Gross
Nat Jones
Nathan Willis
[–]SoyGreen
I’ll just get these few questions out of the way!
When will it be released?
What did you say? You want me to beta test on the iPad? That would be awesome!
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're planning on a PC release on September 18 2012. Mac, iOS and Android as close to that as possible.
[–]SoyGreen
I guess I should have been more specific on the release...
I understand the PC on September 18th - how long do you feel the delay will be to iOS specifically? And is the game ready/in the same condition as the PC version - and you just have to wait on approval?
[–]DaigleDopple
We are developing all four platforms simultaneously, so the iPad/PC/Mac/Android versions are all of comparable completion levels. The reason we can't provide an exact date for Mac/iPad is because of the approval process you mentioned.
[–]SoyGreen
Awesome - do you anticipate submitting the app to the respective stores at the same time as the PC version goes live?
So we could reasonably expect (should the approval go OK) within a week or so of the 18th the iOS version being out?
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're likely going to submit before the PC goes live.
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[–]sepotter
In regards to the PC release, I understand we will be able to preload bgee, and it will unlock upon release, Will it be exactly at midnight of September 18th, and if so, what time zone?
[–]OverhaulTrent
Yes, we will be supporting pre-loading for those who pre-purchase the game. We're probably going to kick it live sometime in the morning of the 18th (MDT) so we can at least be present for the fireworks and fix what catches fire.
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[–]Eraser1024
Hi,
thanks for doing this ama guys. I have a few questions:
I'm very excited about Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. There were two things that prevented me from replaying original BG. The first one was jumpy character animations (it was better in BG2, I think number of sprites was doubled). The second one was walking speed -- it took ages to move around (it was also fixed in BG2, as far as I remember). Will BGEE fix those issues? Speeding up the game a little would be the easiest way to fix both of them.
Do you have any plans of making BG3 (or some other original RPG game)? 3D engine? Kickstarter?
What do you know about Black Isle rebirth? Who's involved? I'd love to play Icewind Dale III! (IWD1 and IWD2 EEs would be great too.)
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're based off teh BGII codebase, so we should have most of the animation jumpy-ness solved. We're also using the BG2 walkspeed, so it will be less annoyingly slow.
We'd love to make a BG3. Right now all the parties involved are taking a "wait and see" approach. So far, no contracts.
I know it is Interplay behind it and I have yet to hear of any developers associated with it.
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[–]lordus34
Hey guys.. Love the way youre handling this new BG EE :O)
Will there be a new world map, now there is new stuff and NPC´s ??
[–]OverhaulNathan
Cameron Tofer, our COO and one of our Programmers answers:
"There is a new world map in process."
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[–]diggerB
Can you describe the control scheme and interface for the tablet versions?
[–]OverhaulTrent
On the Tablet, the current controls are: Touch: move to / interact with object / pick up / attack / talk to Touch-drag: move background (scroll camera) Two finger pinch: Zoom in/out Everything else is pretty much a touch on a single button
[–]mkashkin
What about pause? It was very important action.
[–]DaigleDopple
Tap to move characters and drag the screen around, pinch to zoom in/out, and tap and hold for many things that were previously right-click actions. Text fields and item lists are finger-scrollable now. We've added a few new buttons to control the box-selection mode, as well as a select-all button being more visible. And if you hurl your tablet at the ground, it will shatter.
[–]diggerB
If drag is for scrolling the screen, then how to box-select?
If BG:EE causes me to hurl my tablet on the ground, I'm not buying BG2:EE! Is there a story behind that one?
[–]Blaze74
There is a new button on the bottom right. Clicking it will turn your next drag into a box select. Once you've made that box select it turns off.
[–]DaigleDopple
Box select is a mode now, and there's a "select all" button as well.
BG:EE won't make you throw your tablet in a rage, that's just how we've implemented the "quit" button.
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[–]Stargazer5781
Will Dimension Door be an available spell?
[–]Blaze74
We've updated it so Dimension Door is castable by anyone via Ctrl-j
[–]OverhaulTrent
Dimension door was removed from BG2 due to how it could break the game. We're respecting that design decision.
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[–]KellyCommaRoy
Oh boy, I've been waiting for this one. This is kind of a narrow question so I doubt it will garner many upvotes.
I've been voice acting for almost a year (as a hobby, on YouTube) and I would most love to get involved in video games. I realize it's far too late to get in on BGEE, but how does your team cast for games? Does someone like me have any chance at being in one of your games on my own, or do I need some kind of representation somewhere?
Well, any advice you can give me would be really appreciated because I'm kind of flying solo on this voice acting thing.
[–]OverhaulTrent
Most of our voice actors were suggested by our Audio Producer, Dave Chan (also formerly of Bioware) He sent us over a huge library of auditions from previous projects and we listened to them and made a number of selections from that list. We also requested a few names and managed to convince them to try out.
Best way to get into voice acting? hmm, hard question. I'd make a great demo reel which covered a few genres and try getting it to every audio producer you can find.
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[–]Noldofinwe
Any chance of releasing a screenshot of the nice crispy game with UI for us?
And do you have plans to improve upon BGEE and make new adventures within the game? How would this work out with the level cap that BGEE has?
Any chance to play a Elven paladin?
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're taking a huge amount of time with the screenshots because we are still making radical revisions to the UI and all marketing assets need to be approved by Atari and Wizards before we can post them.
We've added three characters and their related quests / storylines to the game as well, we have plans to further add on to the adventure and raise the level cap a bit
No Elven Paladins, 2nd Ed is pretty straight on Human only
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[–]Billards
Thanks for the AMA!
Just a couple of quick ones:
How much, if any, of the 'Unfinished Business' content is in BG:EE?
What's one minor change that you think has improved the game the most, that's not been part of a press release?
[–]OverhaulNathan[S]
Hi Billards, thanks for coming out!
Unfortunately, we won't be including any of the Unfinished Business mod content with the BG:EE core. In order to include any mods with the game, we've done our best to ensure that we get direct permission from the creators involved and credit them accordingly.
Unfinished Business is one of those mods that, although it has one sort of 'curator' to look after it, who sort of owns the content therein is a big question mark. In addition, there are some strict contract-related things about modifying the existing game's content that we have to be careful to not run afoul of, so... there you have it.
BG:EE will be very mod friendly though, I believe more-so than BG2/BG1 is, and should support existing mods with minimal modification on the mods' part. I'd be surprised if the people in charge of curating the mod don't update it to work with BG:EE fairly quickly.
For me, I'd think it's the overall efficiency of the game. The game is now being rendered in OpenGL and as such suffers no extreme slowdowns from spell effects and items on-screen, and Scott Brooks (@Blaze74 on here) our resident code guru has made some major improvements to loading times. Basically everything in the game is instantaneous now in terms of transitions, auto-saving, the like.
People have been saying, "it already loads super fast on current systems" - I assure you, it's much faster now. Enough that whenever I have to load up the old game for reference' sake I get frustrated with loading screens.
edit: I accidentally a word.
edit2: I should mention for interest's sake, we're working very closely with many of the mod creators that have been supporting the game these past 14 (eesh.. 14!) years. They've been very gracious in providing their support (in some cases even providing their content!) and helping us out in our beta testing.
[–]DaigleDopple
i was like "just steal the content, ain't nobody gonna care" but i was shouted down by the ethics committee.
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[–]cutlasskiwi
Is it terrifying working on/updating games that have (many times) been called the greatest RPG series ever made?
Will the new characters have more to say or comment on than the existing ones or is it about the same?
[–]DaveGross
Yes, it is definitely intimidating to work on a classic like Baldur's Gate. With that in mind, we're being careful not to make big changes to the original content, although we have been cleaning up typos, fixing bugs, and otherwise "polishing."
[–]DaveGross
The new NPCs each have a full quest and a little banter, along with "starter romances" that can blossom into full-scale romances in BG2.
[–]OverhaulTrent
If we cock it up, it is going to bring a pretty epic level of hate our way, so we're treading carefully. I worry about it every night when I should be sleeping.
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[–]Medillen
Do you sometimes feel "restricted" by that frame ? Have you ever thought "That twist plot would be soooo great" but unable to act it out ?
Don't be afraid, we (well I assume i speak for more then just me) love how you guys approach BG enhancement, with all the transparency, the talk, the discussion with well known modders and the community.
[–]OverhaulTrent
I think we're currently pretty happy with the scope. BG3 becomes a much taller task. You end BG2:ToB either a God or someone who refused Godhood. Where do you go from there?
[–]DaveGross
Answering for myself, I don't feel restricted so much as I think it's better to have a light hand on the original content. BG is a classic for a reason, and any changes we make must definitely improve the game without just changing it to suit our own tastes.
Besides, we have plenty of freedom in developing the additional content, like the new NPCs and upcoming expansions of the story. I never feel much impulse to mess with the work of the original designers except to buff it up a bit here and there.
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[–]Medillen
I've just read your other replies - with Elaine co writing - and it seems like you are the type of writer that blends easily with others works, something not given to most of us poor mortals ! A well placed gift for BGEE Any accessible detail on upcoming expansions of the story ? Will they be part of the shipped game, future content, DLC ? Have you ever worked on a video game scenario before ? Is it different from your novel experience ?
[–]DaveGross
I'm pretty sure I can't tell you much about upcoming releases, but I know that info won't be secret for long. Keep an eye on baldursgate.com for new info. It usually appears there first. Writing for BGEE is very different from writing novels. Trent and Phil (and perhaps others) had already come up with the plot and created the important characters, so my work has been much more like writing scripts for a TV show that's already shot its pilot.
[–]DaigleDopple
At first I felt very restricted, but that's because I wasn't as familiar with the Forgotten Realms as I should have been. Now I feel very confident in our ability to create new and interesting stories within the existing framework that don't just jive with everything else, but enhance it.
Eh? Ehhh? Enhance? Get it?
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[–]timepiggy
I think the question most of us are here to see answered is whether or not Boo, the Miniature Giant Space Hamster will be available to control and if can he go for the eyes or not?
I will accept an arcade style mini-game featuring Boo if it is all you are offering, or at the very least a quest relating to Boo, maybe to obtain him a fine hat or locate his homeworld
[–]DaveGross
Boo will always go for the eyes! Despite my fervent pleas, no one has yet supported my many requests for Boo-oriented special content, but I won't stop nagging.
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[–]Kholdsigma89
Are you able to say which among the new characters is romanceable by the same sex? (I think I recall hearing that one could be)
[–]DaigleDopple
It's a ~surpriiiise~
[–]DaveGross
I've been advised that the time is not ripe for answering this question. (But I want to tell you!)
[–]Kholdsigma89
That's okay, it's enough that you want to tell. Thanks, guys!
[–]DaveGross
I want to tell you, but then I'd get punched in the eye. Apparently it's to be revealed at a later date.
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[–]EhSynth
What has been your biggest accomplishment over the course of this project? Biggest hoop to jump through?
[–]Blaze74
From a programming perspective, I'd say it's getting the code base up and running across the four platforms. The original Infinity engine was the first game most of the developers at the time had worked on, so there are a lot of improvements to be had.
[–]EhSynth
Thank you for the reply! Getting across all four platforms is no easy task, I still can't believe you guys are doing it. Anyhow, this fellow Edmontonian has pre-ordered it and I look forward to playing it!
[–]OverhaulTrent
I'd say fighting legal hell for 14 months to get the deal done. I was astounded on a daily basis how hard it was to get everyone to agree.
[–]DaigleDopple
Restarting the art toolchain was a frustrating process. I love the DLTCEP guys to death, but I feel really bad for them. The Infinity Engine is not a kind mistress.
[–]OverhaulKeith
We should also give some props to the guys responsible for Weidu and NearInfinity as well. The modding community for the game has created some really solid stuff.
[–]DaigleDopple
If any Weidu or NI team members decide to brave the frozen north, I will get them drunk*.
[–]Corianderd
From the programming/scripting side it was just getting familiar enough with the ins and outs of the existing scripting language. The Infinity Engine has a lot of "quirks." I have an advantage over a pure scripter because I can debug from the code if something goes terribly wrong.
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[–]Thatguyispimp
I just saw one of you guys post this on my facebooks,
I have no idea what Baldurs Gate is,
Please Explain what the game is to you guys in your own words
[–]DaigleDopple
First, there was the pen and paper game Dungeons & Dragons. Then, computer game versions of D&D started to appear.
Baldur's Gate is an isometric (so, Diablo or Fallout) role playing game that uses the D&D rules, or at least a close approximation of them. It is set in the "Forgotten Realms", which is a fantasy universe owned by Wizards of the Coast.
You control a party of up to 6 characters on a quest to discover your past, solve a crisis facing the Sword Coast (a region within the Forgotten Realms), and stop a big bad villain.
It's a slow, tactical game for thinkers and people who like to have deep control over their equipment and skills. And it's fantastic.
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[–]Sindyan
Is there any plans to fix the Druid shapeshifter kit in werewolf and greater werewolf forms? I know greater werewolf form is missing a lot of the abilities of the monster version. Or was it planned that way?
[–]DaigleDopple
The Shapeshifter kit werewolf form was nerfed because normal werewolves were too strong at earlier levels, and they didn't really get a chance to fix it for later levels. While I would like to fix the kit, it will most likely have to be a post-release update due to the number of other features we're focusing on.
Believe me, it bugs me too.
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[–]yoshifan64
Miniature Giant Space Hamster battles?
[–]DaigleDopple
We approached Nintendo about a Pokemon/BG crossover ala Marvel vs Capcom but they wouldn't let us past the front door.
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[–]Anduin_Shadow_Mantle
Hi! You guy's are so great...
Q1: I'm really exited about Neera the Wildmage. What sneaky peaks can you reveal about her (stats are important when including a member of the team that could accidently wipe you from Fearun by accident!)
Q2: Which Overhaul employee most resembles Seth Rogen?
Q3: Which Overhaul employee most resembles Neera?
permalink
anmeld
reply
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - Neera has been known to be a thieving wastrel in the past, which could lead to some consequences for her in the future.
2 - Maybe me, if I had a big ol' fro.
3 - In keeping with the grand tradition of BG portraits being painted-over photographs, Neera was based on a female friend of mine.
[–]DaveGross
Nathan definitely looks the most like Seth Rogen. For Neera, I'd have to say Cori or Phil.
[–]DaigleDopple
Yeah Nathan is a better Seth than I.
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[–]hascow
Hi there,
I've been interested in Baldur's Gate for a while, and even had the original bought for me by my Grandpa at one point. The problem was that I was completely lost. There was absolutely no tutorial or anything that helped me understand how to do things. Is there going to be something like that in the Enhanced Edition(or did I miss it in the original?)
For instance, I remember trying to cast a spell and completely losing the ability to use it with nothing happening. nothing at all explained this. This is a problem I have with spellbooks in DnD in general though, so it wasn't just BG.
[–]DaigleDopple
BG:EE will have a modified version of the Baldur's Gate 2 tutorial, and a BRAND NEW MANUAL!
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[–]Anatolius
1.Will BGEE feature new spells, cantrips and/or kit-restricted equipment for mages? 2. Will new NPC be involved in BG2-style banters? If so, what about "old" BG1 NPCs? 3. Would you like or can you make an CRPG, where you let the player be villain of the story, or let him side with main villain in the beginning of the game?
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - I believe there's a couple new spells or abilities. Cantrips are still out, because it's hard to find a way to make them useful without being overpowered.
2 - New NPCs get banter ala BG2, old NPCs will have new text-only banter with the new NPCs. The old NPCs will not have any new banter that I know of, because we were unable to obtain permission to include the banter packs that fans have made and didn't have time to write our own.
3 - Heck yeah.
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[–]Canuckgeekgirl
Hi, thanks for doing this. And thanks for releasing it on my birthday to the PC. What I'm wondering is, are the items hidden around in the game world going to be any easier to find with the EE or are still going to be relying on walkthroughs and guides to find things hidden under every little tree and shrub?
[–]DaigleDopple
There are going to be more items scattered about the game world, but the ease of finding them has not changed. It's D&D, you gotta check every crate and barrel! You never know which garbage heap that +5 Holy Avenger is hidden in...
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[–]dermballs
Will you change the mechanics of the game much to make it more friendly to modern game audiences?
[–]OverhaulTrent
Actually, no. I think the game industry in general doesn't give enough credit to gamers. Games are often dumbed down to "Chimp Factor Five" as a means to broaden the appeal. We're taking the opposite approach and "Showing the math" as it were. We're trying to show you how your Armor class is calculated and how your THAC0 (To hit armor class zero) is arrived at. The core mechanics are unchanged and this will somewhat hurt the accessibility of the game.
[–]Medillen
You mean players will have access to more internal info in their character sheet ?
[–]DaigleDopple
We're going to try and give the player more information to explain why they can't equip X or use Y. The information is already present in the game, but just not presented to the player in a cohesive way.
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[–]Excalibur_2102
Question for Dave here... I haven't read any of your work personally however I have heard good things... How difficult was it to write extra material for characters that weren't your own? Have you had to do anything like this before?
[–]DaveGross
Interesting question. Fortunately, I've had this experience a couple of times in writing novels.
In the Sembia series set in the Forgotten Realms, I ended up writing the final novel based on a character created by another author. For that one, I didn't exactly try to mimic the established voice of the character after the early chapters; instead, I tried to reveal previously hidden elements of his character, thus making it more my story after events cause him to rise to the occasion.
Also, because of scheduling conflicts near the end of the Sembia books, I had to include the conclusion to the story of yet another author's character (Ed Greenwood's Thamalon I). Fortunately, both Ed and the other authors of the series gave me their blessing to include their characters in the novel, making it more of a "whole family" story, so I did my best to match their style when writing their characters' voices.
A couple of years ago, when I joined Elaine Cunningham in writing Winter Witch, I tried matching my style to hers. That turned out to be even easier than with the Sembia books, since I've long been a fan of her work, and she'd written stories for me when I was editing Dragon and Star Wars Insider.
When I joined Overhaul, Phil Daigle had already created all of the major NPCs. He'd written quite a lot of Dorn's dialogue, a good bit of Neera's, and enough of Rasaad's so that I had a good idea of what each character sounded like. After that, it was a matter of capturing the voices he'd established. We had a lot of back-and-forth early on, so I knew I was on the right track and then forged ahead with some confidence.
I like to think of situations like this as being similar to writing the latest issues of an iconic comic, like Spider-Man, or a beloved TV show, like Buffy. Once you can "hear" the characters in your imagination, the rest follows pretty easily.
[–]Excalibur_2102
Wow, thanks for the in depth reply.. I've wondered how much creative freedom you had with this.. sure you guys know what you're doing though
[–]DaveGross
Me, I've got no idea. I'm trusting Phil to set me straight if I go off the rails.
[–]DaigleDopple 3 point
News from WOTC, Dave: We can no longer use the letter 'E'. Adjust your writing to fit.
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[–]dfar86
How have pre-orders been in comparison to your goals? I know that has a lot to do with the creation of BG3, so are things looking good?
In Baldur's Gate 2, it was much easier to switch characters in and out of your party depending on what you were working on (specific quests, etc.) In BG1, I always had to worry about characters walking away for good if I had them leave my team. Will there be any changes to that mechanic of the game?
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - We've been surprised at the number of pre-orders, in a good way. We can't release any numbers at the moment.
2 - The original NPCs will be unchanged in that regard, the new NPCs will be a little more sensible in that regard.
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[–]matteg
What's next? BGEE has been quite the ordeal but surely there must be plans for longterm projects.
Most importantly, following release are you going to get back to the important business at hand - building race cars?
[–]OverhaulTrent
While I really miss my race car (it sat in my friends shop, missing many parts all summer) The big plan is to look at a BG3 or an Icewind Dale:EE or Planescape Torment:EE
[–]DaigleDopple
you told me we could do Star Control 2 next
[–]OverhaulTrent
Fun must wait
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[–]Medillen
Hellow you !
1) Could we have a glance at the full party of BGEE team ? I'm interested in those that lurks in the dark They also deserve recognition, and it's not fair to steal all their cookies.
2) I'm also interested ( curiosity, what an envil sin !) in their backgrounds. How does suddendly decide to throw himself on the video games world ?
3) A big thank you !
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - We are a superstitious lot and fear that our souls will be forfeit if we allow the magic box to "take our picture". But yes we'll eventually take a team photo. In the meantime, here is a picture of me: http://i.imgur.com/U1nId.jpg
2 - We've all got different origin stories, perhaps we'll add bios to the Overhaul Games website. Mine is largely uninteresting unless you find tales of dragons and unicorns to be worthy of note.
3 - Thank you for being a fan.
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[–]Elariuz
Heya Overhaul Games,
Going from Baldurs Gate 1 up until Baldurs Gate 2: ToB, I got the feeling that the first game was really really open - You could travel west, and then discover a whole new area or town to explore and do optional quests in! An aspect that I appreciate greatly in a RPG - This seemed to be a little less the case for BG2, where quests were given at "X" location and then unlocked and required to travel to "Y" location to solve the quest. In ToB, the story was almost completely linear, something that I was a little bit unhappy with, comparing to the original game.
Will you considder going into this aspect of the game, "Free roam, adventurer style" from Baldurs Gate 1 and maybe expand on it a little in Baldurs Gate 2 and it's expansion?
Thank you for awesome games that I have played through more times than I can count!
Kind regards, Kristian
[–]Eraser1024
I agree about open nature of BG1's world. It was awesome! I just went on exploring. I remember meeting Korax the Ghoul in the woods. And basilisk with collection of "statues". And dryad that wanted to seduce and kill me. I love this game so much!
[–]OverhaulTrent
With our new content we are trying to walk a line between the two extremes and provide an open world fee while adding the depth to the story many expect form the BG series. I think our future work will really demonstrate where we believe the happy ground is.
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Please accept errors and not all things are in here.. Im editing things as they come..
Hello everyone! We are Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog, the team behind Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. We've spent the past while working on an up-to-date version of the classic Baldur's Gate, not only for PC and Mac, but also for iOS/Android tablets!
It has certainly been quite the ordeal for us to get all our ducks in a row in order to rescue this title from the depths of licensing jail, but we've managed to do it and are less than a month away from releasing our new edition of Baldur's Gate. That's why this is an almost anything - we'll answer everything we can but there are a few things that we may not be able to answer for contractual reasons.
Here is our website if you'd like to learn more about what we're adding to the game, and what changes and improvements have been made both by us and the fantastic community that's come together to support this re-release.
Proof it's us is located here. More proof, just in case.
Answering your questions today will be the following team members:
Nathan Willis, QA Analyst, Community Person, Audio Dude - OverhaulNathan
Trent Oster, President/CEO, Producer, 3D/UI Artist - OverhaulTrent
Scott Brooks, CTO, Programmer - Blaze74
Dave Gross, Lead Writer - DaveGross
Phillip Daigle, Lead Producer, Writer - DaigleDopple
Coriander Dickinson, Programmer/Scripter, Video Editor - Corianderd
Keith Soleski, Scripter/Game Designer - OverhaulKeith
ALSO answering (via my account) will be:
Cameron Tofer, COO, Programmer
Alex Molzahan, Intern
You can find us on twitter, as well:
Trent Oster
Phillip Daigle
Scott Brooks
Coriander Dickinson
Cameron Tofer
Dave Gross
Nat Jones
Nathan Willis
[–]SoyGreen
I’ll just get these few questions out of the way!
When will it be released?
What did you say? You want me to beta test on the iPad? That would be awesome!
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're planning on a PC release on September 18 2012. Mac, iOS and Android as close to that as possible.
[–]SoyGreen
I guess I should have been more specific on the release...
I understand the PC on September 18th - how long do you feel the delay will be to iOS specifically? And is the game ready/in the same condition as the PC version - and you just have to wait on approval?
[–]DaigleDopple
We are developing all four platforms simultaneously, so the iPad/PC/Mac/Android versions are all of comparable completion levels. The reason we can't provide an exact date for Mac/iPad is because of the approval process you mentioned.
[–]SoyGreen
Awesome - do you anticipate submitting the app to the respective stores at the same time as the PC version goes live?
So we could reasonably expect (should the approval go OK) within a week or so of the 18th the iOS version being out?
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're likely going to submit before the PC goes live.
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[–]sepotter
In regards to the PC release, I understand we will be able to preload bgee, and it will unlock upon release, Will it be exactly at midnight of September 18th, and if so, what time zone?
[–]OverhaulTrent
Yes, we will be supporting pre-loading for those who pre-purchase the game. We're probably going to kick it live sometime in the morning of the 18th (MDT) so we can at least be present for the fireworks and fix what catches fire.
----------------------------------------------------------------
[–]Eraser1024
Hi,
thanks for doing this ama guys. I have a few questions:
I'm very excited about Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. There were two things that prevented me from replaying original BG. The first one was jumpy character animations (it was better in BG2, I think number of sprites was doubled). The second one was walking speed -- it took ages to move around (it was also fixed in BG2, as far as I remember). Will BGEE fix those issues? Speeding up the game a little would be the easiest way to fix both of them.
Do you have any plans of making BG3 (or some other original RPG game)? 3D engine? Kickstarter?
What do you know about Black Isle rebirth? Who's involved? I'd love to play Icewind Dale III! (IWD1 and IWD2 EEs would be great too.)
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're based off teh BGII codebase, so we should have most of the animation jumpy-ness solved. We're also using the BG2 walkspeed, so it will be less annoyingly slow.
We'd love to make a BG3. Right now all the parties involved are taking a "wait and see" approach. So far, no contracts.
I know it is Interplay behind it and I have yet to hear of any developers associated with it.
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[–]lordus34
Hey guys.. Love the way youre handling this new BG EE :O)
Will there be a new world map, now there is new stuff and NPC´s ??
[–]OverhaulNathan
Cameron Tofer, our COO and one of our Programmers answers:
"There is a new world map in process."
------------------------------------------
[–]diggerB
Can you describe the control scheme and interface for the tablet versions?
[–]OverhaulTrent
On the Tablet, the current controls are: Touch: move to / interact with object / pick up / attack / talk to Touch-drag: move background (scroll camera) Two finger pinch: Zoom in/out Everything else is pretty much a touch on a single button
[–]mkashkin
What about pause? It was very important action.
[–]DaigleDopple
Tap to move characters and drag the screen around, pinch to zoom in/out, and tap and hold for many things that were previously right-click actions. Text fields and item lists are finger-scrollable now. We've added a few new buttons to control the box-selection mode, as well as a select-all button being more visible. And if you hurl your tablet at the ground, it will shatter.
[–]diggerB
If drag is for scrolling the screen, then how to box-select?
If BG:EE causes me to hurl my tablet on the ground, I'm not buying BG2:EE! Is there a story behind that one?
[–]Blaze74
There is a new button on the bottom right. Clicking it will turn your next drag into a box select. Once you've made that box select it turns off.
[–]DaigleDopple
Box select is a mode now, and there's a "select all" button as well.
BG:EE won't make you throw your tablet in a rage, that's just how we've implemented the "quit" button.
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[–]Stargazer5781
Will Dimension Door be an available spell?
[–]Blaze74
We've updated it so Dimension Door is castable by anyone via Ctrl-j
[–]OverhaulTrent
Dimension door was removed from BG2 due to how it could break the game. We're respecting that design decision.
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[–]KellyCommaRoy
Oh boy, I've been waiting for this one. This is kind of a narrow question so I doubt it will garner many upvotes.
I've been voice acting for almost a year (as a hobby, on YouTube) and I would most love to get involved in video games. I realize it's far too late to get in on BGEE, but how does your team cast for games? Does someone like me have any chance at being in one of your games on my own, or do I need some kind of representation somewhere?
Well, any advice you can give me would be really appreciated because I'm kind of flying solo on this voice acting thing.
[–]OverhaulTrent
Most of our voice actors were suggested by our Audio Producer, Dave Chan (also formerly of Bioware) He sent us over a huge library of auditions from previous projects and we listened to them and made a number of selections from that list. We also requested a few names and managed to convince them to try out.
Best way to get into voice acting? hmm, hard question. I'd make a great demo reel which covered a few genres and try getting it to every audio producer you can find.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[–]Noldofinwe
Any chance of releasing a screenshot of the nice crispy game with UI for us?
And do you have plans to improve upon BGEE and make new adventures within the game? How would this work out with the level cap that BGEE has?
Any chance to play a Elven paladin?
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're taking a huge amount of time with the screenshots because we are still making radical revisions to the UI and all marketing assets need to be approved by Atari and Wizards before we can post them.
We've added three characters and their related quests / storylines to the game as well, we have plans to further add on to the adventure and raise the level cap a bit
No Elven Paladins, 2nd Ed is pretty straight on Human only
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[–]Billards
Thanks for the AMA!
Just a couple of quick ones:
How much, if any, of the 'Unfinished Business' content is in BG:EE?
What's one minor change that you think has improved the game the most, that's not been part of a press release?
[–]OverhaulNathan[S]
Hi Billards, thanks for coming out!
Unfortunately, we won't be including any of the Unfinished Business mod content with the BG:EE core. In order to include any mods with the game, we've done our best to ensure that we get direct permission from the creators involved and credit them accordingly.
Unfinished Business is one of those mods that, although it has one sort of 'curator' to look after it, who sort of owns the content therein is a big question mark. In addition, there are some strict contract-related things about modifying the existing game's content that we have to be careful to not run afoul of, so... there you have it.
BG:EE will be very mod friendly though, I believe more-so than BG2/BG1 is, and should support existing mods with minimal modification on the mods' part. I'd be surprised if the people in charge of curating the mod don't update it to work with BG:EE fairly quickly.
For me, I'd think it's the overall efficiency of the game. The game is now being rendered in OpenGL and as such suffers no extreme slowdowns from spell effects and items on-screen, and Scott Brooks (@Blaze74 on here) our resident code guru has made some major improvements to loading times. Basically everything in the game is instantaneous now in terms of transitions, auto-saving, the like.
People have been saying, "it already loads super fast on current systems" - I assure you, it's much faster now. Enough that whenever I have to load up the old game for reference' sake I get frustrated with loading screens.
edit: I accidentally a word.
edit2: I should mention for interest's sake, we're working very closely with many of the mod creators that have been supporting the game these past 14 (eesh.. 14!) years. They've been very gracious in providing their support (in some cases even providing their content!) and helping us out in our beta testing.
[–]DaigleDopple
i was like "just steal the content, ain't nobody gonna care" but i was shouted down by the ethics committee.
----------------------------------------------------
[–]cutlasskiwi
Is it terrifying working on/updating games that have (many times) been called the greatest RPG series ever made?
Will the new characters have more to say or comment on than the existing ones or is it about the same?
[–]DaveGross
Yes, it is definitely intimidating to work on a classic like Baldur's Gate. With that in mind, we're being careful not to make big changes to the original content, although we have been cleaning up typos, fixing bugs, and otherwise "polishing."
[–]DaveGross
The new NPCs each have a full quest and a little banter, along with "starter romances" that can blossom into full-scale romances in BG2.
[–]OverhaulTrent
If we cock it up, it is going to bring a pretty epic level of hate our way, so we're treading carefully. I worry about it every night when I should be sleeping.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[–]Medillen
Do you sometimes feel "restricted" by that frame ? Have you ever thought "That twist plot would be soooo great" but unable to act it out ?
Don't be afraid, we (well I assume i speak for more then just me) love how you guys approach BG enhancement, with all the transparency, the talk, the discussion with well known modders and the community.
[–]OverhaulTrent
I think we're currently pretty happy with the scope. BG3 becomes a much taller task. You end BG2:ToB either a God or someone who refused Godhood. Where do you go from there?
[–]DaveGross
Answering for myself, I don't feel restricted so much as I think it's better to have a light hand on the original content. BG is a classic for a reason, and any changes we make must definitely improve the game without just changing it to suit our own tastes.
Besides, we have plenty of freedom in developing the additional content, like the new NPCs and upcoming expansions of the story. I never feel much impulse to mess with the work of the original designers except to buff it up a bit here and there.
------------------------------------------------
[–]Medillen
I've just read your other replies - with Elaine co writing - and it seems like you are the type of writer that blends easily with others works, something not given to most of us poor mortals ! A well placed gift for BGEE Any accessible detail on upcoming expansions of the story ? Will they be part of the shipped game, future content, DLC ? Have you ever worked on a video game scenario before ? Is it different from your novel experience ?
[–]DaveGross
I'm pretty sure I can't tell you much about upcoming releases, but I know that info won't be secret for long. Keep an eye on baldursgate.com for new info. It usually appears there first. Writing for BGEE is very different from writing novels. Trent and Phil (and perhaps others) had already come up with the plot and created the important characters, so my work has been much more like writing scripts for a TV show that's already shot its pilot.
[–]DaigleDopple
At first I felt very restricted, but that's because I wasn't as familiar with the Forgotten Realms as I should have been. Now I feel very confident in our ability to create new and interesting stories within the existing framework that don't just jive with everything else, but enhance it.
Eh? Ehhh? Enhance? Get it?
-----------------------------------------
[–]timepiggy
I think the question most of us are here to see answered is whether or not Boo, the Miniature Giant Space Hamster will be available to control and if can he go for the eyes or not?
I will accept an arcade style mini-game featuring Boo if it is all you are offering, or at the very least a quest relating to Boo, maybe to obtain him a fine hat or locate his homeworld
[–]DaveGross
Boo will always go for the eyes! Despite my fervent pleas, no one has yet supported my many requests for Boo-oriented special content, but I won't stop nagging.
---------------------------------------------------------------
[–]Kholdsigma89
Are you able to say which among the new characters is romanceable by the same sex? (I think I recall hearing that one could be)
[–]DaigleDopple
It's a ~surpriiiise~
[–]DaveGross
I've been advised that the time is not ripe for answering this question. (But I want to tell you!)
[–]Kholdsigma89
That's okay, it's enough that you want to tell. Thanks, guys!
[–]DaveGross
I want to tell you, but then I'd get punched in the eye. Apparently it's to be revealed at a later date.
--------------------------------------------------
[–]EhSynth
What has been your biggest accomplishment over the course of this project? Biggest hoop to jump through?
[–]Blaze74
From a programming perspective, I'd say it's getting the code base up and running across the four platforms. The original Infinity engine was the first game most of the developers at the time had worked on, so there are a lot of improvements to be had.
[–]EhSynth
Thank you for the reply! Getting across all four platforms is no easy task, I still can't believe you guys are doing it. Anyhow, this fellow Edmontonian has pre-ordered it and I look forward to playing it!
[–]OverhaulTrent
I'd say fighting legal hell for 14 months to get the deal done. I was astounded on a daily basis how hard it was to get everyone to agree.
[–]DaigleDopple
Restarting the art toolchain was a frustrating process. I love the DLTCEP guys to death, but I feel really bad for them. The Infinity Engine is not a kind mistress.
[–]OverhaulKeith
We should also give some props to the guys responsible for Weidu and NearInfinity as well. The modding community for the game has created some really solid stuff.
[–]DaigleDopple
If any Weidu or NI team members decide to brave the frozen north, I will get them drunk*.
[–]Corianderd
From the programming/scripting side it was just getting familiar enough with the ins and outs of the existing scripting language. The Infinity Engine has a lot of "quirks." I have an advantage over a pure scripter because I can debug from the code if something goes terribly wrong.
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[–]Thatguyispimp
I just saw one of you guys post this on my facebooks,
I have no idea what Baldurs Gate is,
Please Explain what the game is to you guys in your own words
[–]DaigleDopple
First, there was the pen and paper game Dungeons & Dragons. Then, computer game versions of D&D started to appear.
Baldur's Gate is an isometric (so, Diablo or Fallout) role playing game that uses the D&D rules, or at least a close approximation of them. It is set in the "Forgotten Realms", which is a fantasy universe owned by Wizards of the Coast.
You control a party of up to 6 characters on a quest to discover your past, solve a crisis facing the Sword Coast (a region within the Forgotten Realms), and stop a big bad villain.
It's a slow, tactical game for thinkers and people who like to have deep control over their equipment and skills. And it's fantastic.
----------------------------------------------------
[–]Sindyan
Is there any plans to fix the Druid shapeshifter kit in werewolf and greater werewolf forms? I know greater werewolf form is missing a lot of the abilities of the monster version. Or was it planned that way?
[–]DaigleDopple
The Shapeshifter kit werewolf form was nerfed because normal werewolves were too strong at earlier levels, and they didn't really get a chance to fix it for later levels. While I would like to fix the kit, it will most likely have to be a post-release update due to the number of other features we're focusing on.
Believe me, it bugs me too.
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[–]yoshifan64
Miniature Giant Space Hamster battles?
[–]DaigleDopple
We approached Nintendo about a Pokemon/BG crossover ala Marvel vs Capcom but they wouldn't let us past the front door.
-----------------------------------
[–]Anduin_Shadow_Mantle
Hi! You guy's are so great...
Q1: I'm really exited about Neera the Wildmage. What sneaky peaks can you reveal about her (stats are important when including a member of the team that could accidently wipe you from Fearun by accident!)
Q2: Which Overhaul employee most resembles Seth Rogen?
Q3: Which Overhaul employee most resembles Neera?
permalink
anmeld
reply
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - Neera has been known to be a thieving wastrel in the past, which could lead to some consequences for her in the future.
2 - Maybe me, if I had a big ol' fro.
3 - In keeping with the grand tradition of BG portraits being painted-over photographs, Neera was based on a female friend of mine.
[–]DaveGross
Nathan definitely looks the most like Seth Rogen. For Neera, I'd have to say Cori or Phil.
[–]DaigleDopple
Yeah Nathan is a better Seth than I.
------------------------------------------------
[–]hascow
Hi there,
I've been interested in Baldur's Gate for a while, and even had the original bought for me by my Grandpa at one point. The problem was that I was completely lost. There was absolutely no tutorial or anything that helped me understand how to do things. Is there going to be something like that in the Enhanced Edition(or did I miss it in the original?)
For instance, I remember trying to cast a spell and completely losing the ability to use it with nothing happening. nothing at all explained this. This is a problem I have with spellbooks in DnD in general though, so it wasn't just BG.
[–]DaigleDopple
BG:EE will have a modified version of the Baldur's Gate 2 tutorial, and a BRAND NEW MANUAL!
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[–]Anatolius
1.Will BGEE feature new spells, cantrips and/or kit-restricted equipment for mages? 2. Will new NPC be involved in BG2-style banters? If so, what about "old" BG1 NPCs? 3. Would you like or can you make an CRPG, where you let the player be villain of the story, or let him side with main villain in the beginning of the game?
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - I believe there's a couple new spells or abilities. Cantrips are still out, because it's hard to find a way to make them useful without being overpowered.
2 - New NPCs get banter ala BG2, old NPCs will have new text-only banter with the new NPCs. The old NPCs will not have any new banter that I know of, because we were unable to obtain permission to include the banter packs that fans have made and didn't have time to write our own.
3 - Heck yeah.
-----------------------------------
[–]Canuckgeekgirl
Hi, thanks for doing this. And thanks for releasing it on my birthday to the PC. What I'm wondering is, are the items hidden around in the game world going to be any easier to find with the EE or are still going to be relying on walkthroughs and guides to find things hidden under every little tree and shrub?
[–]DaigleDopple
There are going to be more items scattered about the game world, but the ease of finding them has not changed. It's D&D, you gotta check every crate and barrel! You never know which garbage heap that +5 Holy Avenger is hidden in...
----------------------------------------------------
[–]dermballs
Will you change the mechanics of the game much to make it more friendly to modern game audiences?
[–]OverhaulTrent
Actually, no. I think the game industry in general doesn't give enough credit to gamers. Games are often dumbed down to "Chimp Factor Five" as a means to broaden the appeal. We're taking the opposite approach and "Showing the math" as it were. We're trying to show you how your Armor class is calculated and how your THAC0 (To hit armor class zero) is arrived at. The core mechanics are unchanged and this will somewhat hurt the accessibility of the game.
[–]Medillen
You mean players will have access to more internal info in their character sheet ?
[–]DaigleDopple
We're going to try and give the player more information to explain why they can't equip X or use Y. The information is already present in the game, but just not presented to the player in a cohesive way.
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[–]Excalibur_2102
Question for Dave here... I haven't read any of your work personally however I have heard good things... How difficult was it to write extra material for characters that weren't your own? Have you had to do anything like this before?
[–]DaveGross
Interesting question. Fortunately, I've had this experience a couple of times in writing novels.
In the Sembia series set in the Forgotten Realms, I ended up writing the final novel based on a character created by another author. For that one, I didn't exactly try to mimic the established voice of the character after the early chapters; instead, I tried to reveal previously hidden elements of his character, thus making it more my story after events cause him to rise to the occasion.
Also, because of scheduling conflicts near the end of the Sembia books, I had to include the conclusion to the story of yet another author's character (Ed Greenwood's Thamalon I). Fortunately, both Ed and the other authors of the series gave me their blessing to include their characters in the novel, making it more of a "whole family" story, so I did my best to match their style when writing their characters' voices.
A couple of years ago, when I joined Elaine Cunningham in writing Winter Witch, I tried matching my style to hers. That turned out to be even easier than with the Sembia books, since I've long been a fan of her work, and she'd written stories for me when I was editing Dragon and Star Wars Insider.
When I joined Overhaul, Phil Daigle had already created all of the major NPCs. He'd written quite a lot of Dorn's dialogue, a good bit of Neera's, and enough of Rasaad's so that I had a good idea of what each character sounded like. After that, it was a matter of capturing the voices he'd established. We had a lot of back-and-forth early on, so I knew I was on the right track and then forged ahead with some confidence.
I like to think of situations like this as being similar to writing the latest issues of an iconic comic, like Spider-Man, or a beloved TV show, like Buffy. Once you can "hear" the characters in your imagination, the rest follows pretty easily.
[–]Excalibur_2102
Wow, thanks for the in depth reply.. I've wondered how much creative freedom you had with this.. sure you guys know what you're doing though
[–]DaveGross
Me, I've got no idea. I'm trusting Phil to set me straight if I go off the rails.
[–]DaigleDopple 3 point
News from WOTC, Dave: We can no longer use the letter 'E'. Adjust your writing to fit.
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[–]dfar86
How have pre-orders been in comparison to your goals? I know that has a lot to do with the creation of BG3, so are things looking good?
In Baldur's Gate 2, it was much easier to switch characters in and out of your party depending on what you were working on (specific quests, etc.) In BG1, I always had to worry about characters walking away for good if I had them leave my team. Will there be any changes to that mechanic of the game?
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - We've been surprised at the number of pre-orders, in a good way. We can't release any numbers at the moment.
2 - The original NPCs will be unchanged in that regard, the new NPCs will be a little more sensible in that regard.
-------------------------------
[–]matteg
What's next? BGEE has been quite the ordeal but surely there must be plans for longterm projects.
Most importantly, following release are you going to get back to the important business at hand - building race cars?
[–]OverhaulTrent
While I really miss my race car (it sat in my friends shop, missing many parts all summer) The big plan is to look at a BG3 or an Icewind Dale:EE or Planescape Torment:EE
[–]DaigleDopple
you told me we could do Star Control 2 next
[–]OverhaulTrent
Fun must wait
-------------------------------
[–]Medillen
Hellow you !
1) Could we have a glance at the full party of BGEE team ? I'm interested in those that lurks in the dark They also deserve recognition, and it's not fair to steal all their cookies.
2) I'm also interested ( curiosity, what an envil sin !) in their backgrounds. How does suddendly decide to throw himself on the video games world ?
3) A big thank you !
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - We are a superstitious lot and fear that our souls will be forfeit if we allow the magic box to "take our picture". But yes we'll eventually take a team photo. In the meantime, here is a picture of me: http://i.imgur.com/U1nId.jpg
2 - We've all got different origin stories, perhaps we'll add bios to the Overhaul Games website. Mine is largely uninteresting unless you find tales of dragons and unicorns to be worthy of note.
3 - Thank you for being a fan.
-------------------------------------------
[–]Elariuz
Heya Overhaul Games,
Going from Baldurs Gate 1 up until Baldurs Gate 2: ToB, I got the feeling that the first game was really really open - You could travel west, and then discover a whole new area or town to explore and do optional quests in! An aspect that I appreciate greatly in a RPG - This seemed to be a little less the case for BG2, where quests were given at "X" location and then unlocked and required to travel to "Y" location to solve the quest. In ToB, the story was almost completely linear, something that I was a little bit unhappy with, comparing to the original game.
Will you considder going into this aspect of the game, "Free roam, adventurer style" from Baldurs Gate 1 and maybe expand on it a little in Baldurs Gate 2 and it's expansion?
Thank you for awesome games that I have played through more times than I can count!
Kind regards, Kristian
[–]Eraser1024
I agree about open nature of BG1's world. It was awesome! I just went on exploring. I remember meeting Korax the Ghoul in the woods. And basilisk with collection of "statues". And dryad that wanted to seduce and kill me. I love this game so much!
[–]OverhaulTrent
With our new content we are trying to walk a line between the two extremes and provide an open world fee while adding the depth to the story many expect form the BG series. I think our future work will really demonstrate where we believe the happy ground is.
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7
Comments
What kind of sales figures are you hoping for? What is the basis for success so that we see a BG2 remake and even a BG3?
Is the game actually enjoyable to play on a tablet?
What makes this version better then playing the original with all the mods?
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - We are hoping to sell eighteen trillion copies.
2 - If BG:EE/BG2:EE are a success both commercial and creatively, we hope that will be proof that we can develop an awesome BG3. We currently do not have a contract to create BG3, but it is a goal of ours.
3 - Yes, I've played the game for hours on a tablet. It's a blast. Until I get to the Ankhegs.
4 - For advanced users, installing mods ain't no thing. For the vast majority of people out there, installing mods for BG is an irritating process. New players will get to experience BG in a hassle free way, and veteran players will get to see new content in an old favorite of theirs without having to bother with mods that fix basic functionality.
[–]OverhaulTrent
I'm really hoping to break 500,000 copies across all platforms. It is a great game at a low price. I'll speculate with those numbers we could persuade the parties involved to do a BG3
Regardless of sales we are doing a BG2:EE. We've committed to it contractually. It might be three of us working out of a cardboard box, but we're committed to making it happen.
I think what makes this version better is the performance and graphical improvements, the new UI, the new content, the new music and VO. I think the inclusion of many mod fixes into the base product give a much better starting platform as well. I also think putting some mods on BG:EE will probably be the best experience you can have.
As well, our goal is to continue development to further support modders and the end users access to mods.
--------------------------------------------
[–]wwvuillemot
First, thanks for taking the time to ask questions. I have not gotten myself so excited for a game in a long time.
Will you be at PAX Prime this coming week in Seattle?
I see Coriander is talking ... however per one website is apparently a 11-hour session of Q&A
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Feature.aspx?x=dnd/feature/paxprime2012
I cannot find any more details on http://prime.paxsite.com/schedule ... are you still on to talk?
If so, will there be a playable demo?
I am happy to play a demo for 10 of the 11 hours
What were the challenging of porting, especially to the smaller, fixed form factors and touch-gestured based systems?
[–]Corianderd
I will be at PAX. I do have that panel at 10:30 on Friday in The Dungeon.
There's not going to be an official demo set up. We don't have a booth and my schedule is incredible.
We actually had to make it bigger. The code had a lot of assumptions about screen size and aspect ratio that we had to make more flexible. It's a pretty mouse heavy game, so that translates well to touch, with touch-and-hold replacing right click. Can't CTRL-Y though
There's a pause button.
I think we'll see.
We are using Beamdog for digital distribution on PC. The App store for Mac and iPad. Google Play for Android.
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[–]sepotter
Will the bgee party be importable into bg2ee? More specfically Dorn, Neera, and Rasaad? Basically will it be possible to have the new characters in the dungeon with you, or will you have to find them somewhere else in Amn? And more on that, Will the romances started in bgee carry over to bg2ee, or will they have to start over?
[–]DaigleDopple
Dorn, Neera, and Rasaad will be available in BG2:EE. Regarding their presence in the first dungeon, aka Irenicus' Pleasure Palace, we haven't decided yet.
Romances started in BG:EE should carry over to the sequel.
[–]sepotter
Very Cool, if I had my way, the people with you in the dungeon would depend more on who was in your party in the first game (assuming you imported).
[–]DaigleDopple
I'd like to include them in the dungeon, but there are balance and story concerns here and there. The canon story is that the final party of BG was composed of: The Player, Jaheira, Khalid, Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir. There are many references to this party composition as you travel through the dungeon, including SPOILERS finding the corpse of Khalid and Minsc musing about the loss of his witch. SPOILERS END
--------------------------------
[–]diggerB
I've noticed that Black Isle has resurfaced since this project has gone public. Is there any connection between BG:EE and the new Black Isle, that you are aware of?
[–]DaigleDopple
Can't say that there is.
-----------------------------------
[–]luminousfleshgiant
Is it true that DaigleDopple is a cocksucker of note? Is so, what is noteworthy about it? Does he use extra toungue, have a high suction power?
[–]DaigleDopple
I cried tears of joy when I saw that the RPG Codex forums had called me a "Cocksucker of note". I've finally made it. I'm famous.
-----------------------------------
[–]lolz-fish
In BG1, it was unfortunate that characters who you don't meet until later in the game (e.g. Skie) were already leveled up and usually the computer did an awful job of distributing skills points. Did you change this in BGEE? If so, how did you change it? If not, is it possible to change it so that characters like Skie are not made useless?
[–]OverhaulTrent
A big part of what made the characters in BG interesting were the deficiencies and in many cases those are reflected in ability scores (Khalid's low strength and his lack of confidence). We can look at a few of the specific characters as I do agree the default level up makes some pretty bad choices.
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[–]JohnsmiThunderscore
What are your favourite race/class combinations to play?
[–]DaigleDopple
Warforged Warlock.
Oh, in BG? Human Kensai/Mage. Because I like cheese.
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[–]Noldofinwe
Some more questions:
Is there still more room for improvements on the engine for BG2:EE? And if so will these carry back towards BG:EE in patches or something?
What will happen if everybody will download BG:EE at the same time when it comes out, will you guys be able to handle the traffic? (Remembering the site going down when BG:EE was first announced )
Any new features like new spells etc?
And thanks for doing this, you guys are awesome
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - There will always be room for improvement. Engine improvements and fixes that we implement in BG2:EE will be backported to BG:EE because they now share the same engine.
2 - Hopefully! Pre-loading on PC should help with that, which should start soon. No peeking at game data in the meantime >:(
3 - A whole host of new features!
Thanks for asking questions, you guys are awesome fans. How many other games have a 14 year old fanbase that's growing?
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[–]Apostolate
I just played BG2 and TOB all the way through recently and it was even better than I remembered. Thank you for all the good work.
I was wondering if you could give us an idea of if you retooled any of the classes and kits to make them better/more balanced etc? Not necessarily specifics, but there were some very underused classes in the past and I want to know if that changed a bit.
Also, have you guys changed at all how the game scales depending on the 1) number of party members 2) the level of difficulty 3) the level of experience?
[–]OverhaulNathan
Hi Apostolate, thanks for coming out to our AMA, and thanks for being a fan!
There have been some balancing changes and tweaks that have gone into all the class kits with the help of the modding members of the community, I believe in specific fixes from CamDawg, Wisp and a few others have done some work to change these. The good part is that we'll be providing some on-going support for this - the initial struggle is getting everything together and putting it out the door, but we'll be able to tweak things going forward if there are further balancing issues that need to be addressed.
As for the difficulty scaling, currently is has not been changed from the standard way that the game deals with a change in difficulty settings. There's a fine line that we have to be careful with here which is.. if we're not going to do it better, probably best not to touch it for the time being.
Personally, the difficulty in BG1 is acceptable for now - our hope is that there will be a lot of new people playing it, and at the beginning the game can be quite difficult for newcomers. So, this is something we'll be looking at adjusting for BG2:EE for certain (which means, that when that happens, those fixes and changes can probably be backported to BG1:EE) but at the moment it hasn't really been touched too much.
Hope that helps!
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[–]Kruglord
Thanks for doing this AMA and thank for making BG:EE.
My question is, I heard a while ago that you were interested in, after you finished BG:EE and BGII:EE, working on some original top down isometric party based Fantasy RPGs. What set of rules would you most prefer to use? 3.5, 4, pathfinder, something of a mix?
Also, you prefer it to be time based (like BG) or turn based (unlike anything I've seen lately)? If turn based, would you use a battle grid?
Thanks again!
[–]DaigleDopple
So lets pretend it's 2013 and we've got a load of money, no licensed IP projects on the horizon, and a dash of insanity.
In that situation, we would love to do 3D (yet still isometric) party based fantasy RPG. We would either roll our own ruleset, or perhaps license a popular one. I think GURPS is pretty rad, but it's not really my position to say. Pathfinder is also rad. We'll also take a look at how the OGL is doing in the future.
The gameplay would most likely be similar to BG.
[–]quartzlcc
Wow nice, I can dig that. Hopefully you guys can do that. And this is coming from someone who's pretty damn picky on RPGs. (Only ones I've liked are Infinity Engine games, Shining Force, and Legend of Dragoon)
[–]DaigleDopple
I miss the old Shining Force games.
[–]wonderboy2402
Interesting choice. So it would be a strategic battle map? With individuals that level up into more powerful versions of themselves Squire>Knight>Holy Paladin sort of progression? Or more like a job system with Final Fantasy Tactics.
[–]DaigleDopple
I liked the Tactics system, but it was a bit weird how you could be a Knight one day and a Calculator the next. A class based progression system as you described would be neat.
[–]wonderboy2402
I would agree. I liked the feat system personally from DnD 3.0. It allowed you to gain special abilities and you could select specific new abilities or gain bonuses to stats... Or perks from Fallout. You wouldn't necessarily have a class, but rather you are the sum of your choices as you gained experience.
[–]DaigleDopple
I like the Fallout system in that it lets you flexible and you aren't constrained to a "class", but that system breaks down when you have a party of characters and they can all be "jack-of-all-trades" types. When you have a party under your control, I find it more fun for each member to have a different "role" as it were. There is flexability within that, such as the concept of multiclassing and kits, but it stills forces you to think tactically about who should make up your party.
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[–]Noroi
First: Thank you for being awesome.
Second: Are portraits still limited to 110x170 in size?
[–]DaigleDopple
Portraits should be slightly larger I believe. There's always the giant version in the Character Record screen if you want to gaze longingly into the eyes of Cameron Tofer: http://catalogingjunkie.net/BG1BG2style/images/GarrickH_jpg.jpg
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[–]lightninhopkins
Are you going to have an official presence at PAX this weekend?
If no official presence is there a secret presence you can tell us about where we can test BGEE? (We will keep it on the DL)
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - Coriander will be present at PAX. Look for a woman wearing an authentic Sarevok suit of armor.
2 - We recruit testers as needed from the Baldur's Gate forums.
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[–]Beeht
I understand that the reason you are not able to do an HD remake of the game is because the source art is missing. Any insight on how that happened?
[–]OverhaulTrent
The art was lost mainly due to organizational change. The Director of the Art department on BG had the artist all work off a specific mapped drive. All the other projects all worked off the project drive. When the IS guys backed up BG, they backed up the project drive, but somehow overlooked backing up the art drive.
12 years of time passing didn't help either
[–]futurespice
Is this also the case for BG2?
[–]DaigleDopple
Yes, sadly.
We have a handful of 3D models - Mellissan, for example. I think we have a low detail version of Sarevok somewhere, but lacking any texture data.
It tears me up inside.
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[–]FalkonSwiftblade
What specific goals were you guys trying to improve upon the game's engine this time around? I recently saw your forum with master list of bug fixes, which is pretty impressive, but is there any new cool tech that we'll be able to see this time around that we might not be expecting in a game made so long ago? I apologize if I'm asking stuff already answered, I am still going through comments.
[–]DaigleDopple
Faster, portable, easier to modify. Less insane when we want to add new features.
[–]OverhaulNathan
And less insane for when the community wants to make new mods, as well.
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[–]lordus34
Trent mentioned one time in the BG EE forum, i think, that Dan Boulos left.. Any chance his coming back ??
[–]OverhaulTrent
We're deferring to Dan on that.
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[–]ThorThunderfist
I have been following news on BG:EE religiously and cannot wait to start playing. While you guys are here, I do have a few questions I thought I would ask. If you cannot answer all/any of them, no worries.
Obviously some form of save import from BG:EE to BG2:EE will exist, but do you have any plans to support a transition similar to what BG Trilogy provides? If not a full transition, do you plan to better support decisions and/or NPC stat changes made in BG:EE (so the tomes are not purely PC boosters)?
Will the final battle still end the game for good? That is, can we choose to go for Sarevok before Durlag's Tower? I could see that making future DLC easier to implement.
While on the topic of DLC, you have mentioned plans for future DLC. Will there be future DLC NPCs, or are they only being added in the main BG:EE and BG2:EE releases?
Also on DLC, will future adventures be standalone like The Black Pits or integrated with the story? A mixture of both?
How will party creation for The Black Pits work? Can we use our main plot party with NPCs or is it completely standalone, fully player-made (like IWD)?
Are there plans for more giant space hamsters?
You have said that modding should be simplified a bit with BG:EE. Are you planning on any sort of offical API or tools, or will it just be easier to do what is already being done? I am really looking forward to start modding this and seeing what I can come up with.
(How) Will mods work cross-platform?
Thanks for all the work you are putting into such a great game and for being so close with the community.
EDIT: Bonus round!
The pathfinding is somewhat...atrocious in BG1/2. Have you addressed any pathfinding issues? Has increased memory availability itself fixed this?
[–]OverhaulTrent
We are still pondering our exact plans for the BG2:EE transition. I like the idea of opening it up a bit, but I also want to respect the reasons the original design team had for restricting the usage of stat boosts for NPCs and the choice of starting NPC's.
When Sarevok dies, the entire BG world would need to change to account for his death. Before he dies it makes sense for every npc to talk about the iron shortage or the problem with bandits. Without a massive effort to ad new dialogue to almost every character in the game, once Sarevok dies, the world really looses its' plausibility, so we'll cut it off at the death of Sarevok, as the original.
We still haven't decided on this. Right now we're committed to the three we've added to the BG:EE release. If the interest is high we might add more.
Both. I drunk-tweeted about an Adventure Y which is linked to the story, but we're not going into detail on Adventure Y for a while.
Like IWD, but you can import the characters from a save game.
No. There can be only one and he is Boo, the giant miniature space hamster
We're working with a number of the modders to open things up. The Infinity Engine is a little complicated in a number of areas which make modding difficult, but we're trying to make things better. I don't think it will ever be NWN easy to make a BG:EE mod.
Great question. We're still working on this. Rough plan is to have the community help us pick a small number of mods and try to get those working cross platform. Worst case, drag into iTunes. Best case, in-game mod menu.
Bonus Q: Increasing the number of pathfinding nodes has helped this somewhat. The major problem is each party member doing an independent pathfind, which takes into account all the other party members in terms of blocking. I don't think we'll be done improving the pathfinding ever. We do plan to keep looking at ways to do better.
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[–]sepotter
Will it be possible to get more "advanced" paperdolls, even as DLC? Something that would better portray what the character is actually wearing IE necklaces, girdles, or even show actual wear of robes, rather than slight color change?
[–]OverhaulTrent
This is possible. We're still trying to pick fights we can win and the BG paper doll system is pretty epic in complexity.
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[–]xivth
Hey guys, thanks for having this AMA! I've got a question about the NPCs. In both BG1 and 2 there were some explosive party combinations. Will we be able to complete BG1 with all the 3 new NPCs in one run or will they leave the party to duke it out at some point?
[–]DaveGross
Good question. Certain NPCs will refuse to remain in a group with Dorn the blackguard, and there's friction between some other NPCs and Neera or Rasaad. But there's no reason you can't have Dorn, Neera, and Rasaad in the same group, as long as you don't let your reputation go too high or too low.
Even then you have to be careful. There is at least one opportunity for a mean-spirited player to pit certain NPCs against each other.
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[–]StoicLoofah
It's been more than a decade since BG was released, and we've made huge strides in gamedev since then. Given that I think we all want to respect the game as is, what are the lessons since then that you're looking to apply to the game?
(This question is directed to everyone: coding, writing, UI design, development processes, audio, etc)
And thanks for doing this! I'm very excited to experience this game again.
[–]DaigleDopple
Oh dear, if we were making BG1 and 2 these days... things would be very different. The UI would probably be much, MUCH better and far simpler.
[–]OverhaulNathan
From an audio standpoint, there have been a lot of really great changes to the underlying technology out there that could work really, really nicely in a game like BG. Small auditory illusions that help give the game a feel that it's a living, breathing world, maybe some surround sound aspects for those with the systems to help place the person there.
The work that was done on the game in the first place was truly great work, but nowadays it's old. I think if I were to take one thing forward, it'd be simply that you really need to care about what you're looking after game-wise.
And also, backups. Seriously. Make backups. Keep backups somewhere safe. Don't lose your old backups.
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[–]cutlasskiwi
So a silly question, because silly questions are fun. After working on the game for a long time, which character best represent you?
Also, can we expect to find any new pantaloons?
[–]DaveGross
Boo.
Not unless Keith slipped some in when we weren't looking. He's sly that way.
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[–]lordbrom
Is BGEE going to be available on steam??
[–]DaigleDopple
Not at launch.
[–]OverhaulNathan
At launch it will be available on our website via our downloader for PC, Google Play for Android and the respective App Stores for Mac and iOS.
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[–]AndreaColombo
Who's been the hardest company to persuade when you approached them with the idea of a BG remake? BioWare, Atari or WotC? What was their main point of concern (aka their main reason for being unwilling or less than enthusiastic about it)?
[–]DaigleDopple
They were all interested in the idea, the delays were merely contract negotiations. Lots of legalese and boring royalty agreements.
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[–]Xellos42
Hi guys,
Thank you so very much for taking this on. Baldur's Gate 2 remains my favorite game of all time - I can't even count how many hundreds of hours I plugged into that game (I had a 39/28 fighter/mage who I kept re-importing to re-run the game. I really can't overstate how exciting this is to me, or how much I want it to succeed so that we can have BG3.
Will you guys be at PAX? If so, can I buy you beer and just chat about BG for hours?
Since a lot of questions about the first one have already been answered, I'd like to ask one about BG2:EE if you don't mind. Are you going to incorporate the Ascension mod, or at least a modified version? I can't imagine David Gaidar would deny you permission.
Are there any particular user mods that you guys are fans of? I liked the Fade mod for BG2 a lot, and was very sad that it never got a Throne of Bhaal extension. And for Throne of Bhaal, I thought the Irenicus mod was incredibly well done.
Is there anything we can do to help the prospects for a BG3 besides buy the Enhanced Editions? If it does end up going the Kickstarter route, I'd be in for a couple hundred.
[–]DaigleDopple
1 - Coriander will be at PAX. Feel free to buy her booze.
2 - Doubtful, but we hope to make the mod available regardless. We've had a lot of trouble tracking down all of the original authors of mods, and we need permission from all of them before we can incorporate a mod directly.
3 - I liked Darkest Day for BG1, and the Ascension mod allowing you to resurrect people in the final battle was hilarious.
4 - If you like what we've done, tell your friends about it.
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[–]Sir_Sexytime
What are your favorite pizza toppings?
[–]Corianderd
Pineapple and bacon.
[–]OverhaulNathan
Pepperoni, more pepperoni and yet more pepperoni.
Occasionally, with feta on top (baked, not fresh).
[–]DaveGross
Pepperoni and provolone.
[–]DaigleDopple
One time I but a bunch of taco ground beef on a pizza and it was like my mouth was sent to the dimension of pleasure.
d
reply
[–]OverhaulTrent
Many. Usually any pizza with the word meat in the title is a win.
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[–]Anduin_Shadow_Mantle
@Dave Gross. I understand you are limited to what you can even add to the story let alone change it.
Have you found the writing a challenge because of this?
Have you been able to put in any shocking revelations or twists?
P.S. Who at overhaul looks most like Minsc? Who looks most like Boo?
[–]DaveGross
Thanks for the cool questions. Our reticence to revise the original story is less a question of our not being allowed to make changes and more a matter of our not wanting to mess with success. Our respect for the original designers is the main reason we try to be careful not to screw up this game they created. I can't say that our avoiding changing the original content has been a big challenge. What has been a challenge, although a very fun one, is to write in the 25 difference voices of the original NPCs. I'm one of those who played through the game only once when it first came out, so I had to learn a lot of those characters who I'd never "met" before. We haven't upset the original plotline, so any revelations and twists are focused on the new NPCs, and more twists and revelations will appear in additional story content that follows the release of the main game. Trent definitely looks the most like Minsc, although he lacks the shaved head and tattoos. He's definitely got the muscles. As for Boo? I'm going to go with Cori and then duck before she can whack me over the head.
[–]Corianderd
You'll never even see it coming.
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[–]omgroflkeke
I believe there should be a way of mousing over enemies and finding out exactly what spell protections/immunities/etc are active on them. It would help new players immensely, and stop me from having to just spam my highest level spell removals until my magic missiles start working, or wondering why my attacks aren't going through this time.
Thanks for your consideration.
[–]OverhaulTrent
Sadly, I have to disagree on this one. I think a big part of the challenge in a high level mage fight is picking apart the defenses. I had a talk with James Ohlen during BG2 development about mage battles and he really wanted them to feel like Magic the Gathering. You don't see the enemies hand and you can't predict what they have in store for you. If we exposed the exact mix of protection, you would have your first moves laid out for you.
I'm also very scared of trying to put in a UI that only shows active magical protection. BG fights hard against new UI
[–]Corianderd
Can we give all the Invisible Stalkers butcher's cleavers?
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(Dont know if @Medillen is making another one ?)