Upcoming New Graphics Engine

Quilistan

Will the new engine support Ray Tracing?

I have seen some pretty cool stuff happen to older games using this new tech. I mean it made Minecraft look good. It would be very interesting to see what it would do with our NWN environments. Better lighting, shadows, realistic water with reflections they all go a long ways for immersion.

1varangian

The flat lighting is probably the biggest factor in making nwn look dated. I hope the new renderer does something to that.

Prince_Raymond

@Quilistan It would probably be best if you posted your question in the "Ask Beamdog" thread. That way, you're more likely to have it answered by one of the developers. Thank you for reading, and happy gaming to all.

Quilistan

Where might this "Ask Beamdog" thread be. I have failed to locate it.

Kamigoroshi

There you go.

JuliusBorisov

I see all questions, though, not only those in the Ask Beamdog thread. Thanks for your question.

At this moment, we don't have any details shared about the renderer but hope to do that very soon in the form of an article on our blog.

jpsweeney94

Is this thing coming out this year or what?

Staran

jpsweeney94 wrote: »

Is this thing coming out this year or what?

You won’t get an answer.
As a 25+ year expert in this field, this project is in major trouble.

Bluddy

Staran wrote: »

You won’t get an answer.
As a 25+ year expert in this field, this project is in major trouble.

This shouldn't be a surprise. The engine uses ancient 3D, and to think that it would succeed as a multi-game platform nowadays when it's far more aged than when it came out is naive. It was a huge gamble, and they had to spend far too much time on backend stuff (networking etc) without any time left to update the look of the game for modern audiences.

Drewbert_ahoy

Doom and gloom... I will continue to play regardless what it looks like. I play now, two years ago when the enhanced edition didn't even exist I played, and will continue to play well into the future I'm sure.

Zwerkules

Bluddy wrote: »

Staran wrote: »

without any time left to update the look of the game for modern audiences.

If the modern audiences are so superficial that for them only a good LOOKING game is a good game, then they don't deserve NWN anyway.
Sure, the OC wouldn't be much good even with improved graphics, but NWN has so much more to offer than that!

megamike15

really i find the original 3d charming. and i am at that age where graphics don't matter to me anyways.

Zaxares

I WOULD like to see the graphics engine get overhauled, but I can appreciate that given time/financial constraints, it might not be possible/feasible for Beamdog to get it out the door. I'll always keep my fingers crossed otherwise, of course, but in the meantime, while I will agree that NWN1's graphics have not aged well, there nonetheless remains a certain charm to the game, one that's especially palpable in some of the better modules (premium or otherwise). There's this... enthusiasm that comes through, a sense that the builders and creators really loved what they were doing and wanted to draw you into their stories and worlds. It's an experience that I've yet to see again in any other RPG I've played. (I think NWN2 attempted the same goal, but unfortunately the learning curve for the toolset was a lot higher and by the time good custom modules started coming out for it, I'd already moved on to other games.)