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Attendees from BioWare and Black Isle:
Good evening and welcome to tonight's Neverwinter House of Commons. For those of you who have never attended an HOC before, it is an opportunity for the players to ask designer's questions about their game.
Tonight, our special guests are from BioWare, the company behind the game Neverwinter Nights. In just a few short moments, they will begin answering your questions about this game.
Question: Do you have a release date for the game?
Response from Rob_Bartel: Our current release projection is for Q2 2001. As always, though, we'll release it when it's done.
Question from Jack: What are your plans for PvPing for neverwinter? What about you view on pking?
Response from Rob_Bartel: Our view is that PvP and PKing are issues that individual DMs and Server Ops should decide for themselves. We'll be providing a variety of server setting you can choose from and custom scripting is also an option.
Question from Gel214th: Hi. Can multiple NWN stand alone servers be run on one machine, if that machine is powerful enough to handle them?
Response from Don_BioWare: Haven't tested it in awhile, but It should work.
Question from ThunderMage: How do the NPC's you're allied with react when you throw a fireball at enemies close to them? Do they evade?
Response from Rob_Bartel: Henchmen will have some default scripts that may handle that. You can also use the Hotkey Voice system to order them to get the heck out of Dodge, too. Shouldn't be a problem.
Question from Lost_Dragon: BioWare said that they'd have a report for us on the status of user importable content (textures, models, sounds, avi's, etc) in the fall. It's now November. What can BioWare tell us about how things are going on that front? I'd also like to take a step back from that issue and wish BioWare good tidings on what is one of the most ambitious cRPG projects I've seen to date, including new titles coming out
Response from GregZ_BioWare: We've just re-started discussions regarding importable content - mainly background tiles and similar objects. There isn't too much to report yet, except from a technical perspective we're designing the system such that it can support imported content if we choose to do it. Also - thanks for the tidings!
Question from Kesh: How close is the Macintosh version keeping up with the code at this point, and are you expecting to provide a public beta for Mac at the same time as the Windows beta?
Response from Don_BioWare: Howard is keeping the code up to date on a weekly basis. No plans yet for beta.
Response from Rob_Bartel: The Mac port is coming along nicely, as are the BeOs and Linux versions. We're aiming for a simultaneous, single-box release. Can't promise a beta of any sort at this point, though.
Question from DM_Alex: In terms of scripting, would it be possible to create NPCs with complex dialogue? Is there a limit as to the number of NPCs or amount of scripting? I would like to create entire towns and cities that players could explore without my direct intervention.
Response from Aidan_BioWare: You can make the dialogue as complex as you want to make it. As long you script it NW can handle it.
Response from Rob_Bartel: Yes and we intend to do just that. There will be no hard cap on numbers of NPCs or amount of scripts. Whatever your server can handle.
Question from Travis_Storie: what testing is planned for such hardware as broadband routers and home firewalls, the inexpensive types rather than the larger more expensive types?
Response from Don_BioWare: As well as our internal testing, this is something a public beta will help with. We want to do this, just no definite plans yet.
Question from Urthpaw_the_Blade: OK, here's my question... "I was at BioWare Wednesday for Take-your-kid-to-work-day. The demo was amazing. Why don't you post more screenshots?"
Response from Tobyn_BioWare: I remember you! Wow, we really got you excited huh? Well, you're right, we're constantly creating new stuff. We wouldn't want to give it all away before it ships now would we?
Response from ScottG_BioWare: Your not the kind of person that would peek at christmas presents would you? :)
Question: I assume that this has already been answered in one way or another, but when there are 7+ people on a server, how will casters get back their spells? In other words, with real-time passing for one group, how can another group rest for 8 hours to allow spells to refresh?
Response from Rob_Bartel: For gameplay reasons, we're making resting instantaneous. We'll limit that, however, by putting in a limit on how often you can rest within a given period of time. Also, we're considering adding in an adrenaline factor - if you've just been fighting, you need to calm down a bit before you can get some sleep. The details are a little complex for a chat but we'll be explaining it in more detail later. Thanks.
Question from Vlastimil: How interactive will our environment be? Will we be able to graphically represent sitting on, moving, or throwing furniture?
Response from Rob_Bartel: It will depend a lot on how much time we have for the animations but sitting on chairs, lying on beds, and destroying certain objects within the environment are all things we're looking into very seriously.
Question from Khalen_Tonal:What is the greatest development challenge that you think is outstanding on your things to do list?
Response from Don_BioWare: NWN in general? Um, there are lots of things still being worked out like DM Client specifics for instance. You want to do everything, but there has to be limits.
Response from Tobyn_BioWare: We tried very hard to solve the most difficult things at the beginning. Everything else is coordinating our efforts.
Question from Barjin_ModuleFactory: With the game comming along, will it still be possible to make a persistant, running 24/7 and how much work do you think it will take to create it?
Response from Rob_Bartel: The Portal system and the ability to create persistent worlds are still in the works. As for amount of effort, that's really up to you and the scope of what you want to create. I'd recommend starting small and building from there. Persistents are a common question. We can do it, but it is not our focus and we are not replacing UO and EQ for instance.
Response from ScottG_BioWare: What is the greatest development challenge? The simple answer is "Make It Fun." The complex is answer is in how we do this. We really want NWN to be the best multi-player computer interpretation of D&D. This effects every decision that we make, from design of the user interface to the number of player character models. At each stage we have to ask ourselves: Is this fun? Does it capture the feel of D&D? There are a lot techn
Question from Jaspor: hello, scripting question :) there was talk about releasing documentation about the syntax for the NWScript language prior to release of the game so people can start playing with it... so a) is this still the plan? and b) how soon can we expect to see some of this documentation? thanks :)
Response from ScottG_BioWare: As far as scripting documentation, we are still planning on posting this before we ship. The basic syntax is C but I think you are more interested in the AI events and commands. Noel is currently busily adding commands and events on a daily basis and is preparing documentation as he goes. Right Noel? :) Anyway Rob and the other designers will make it, ahem, readable by humans before we release it.
Question from Hehaub: Can you take items created in one world to another(will they be different on the other server)?
Response from Rob_Bartel: Yes. Items are fully transferable for one server to the next. If you build it using the toolsets standardized effect library, it will transfer over without any problems. If you give it any special abilities through scripting, however, these won't carry over unless the two servers have the same scripts running in their modules.
Question from Yandros_NWNX: Regarding scripting, is there any more news on file i/o, passing data between servers, and arrays?
Response from Don_BioWare: Not sure what has been said, but no. Many things are still in flux and we don't want to give out to much invalid information. We would more rather get it right and then provide it in a final working state.
Response from ScottG_BioWare: We will not be adding file I/O into the scripting language. We are still working the details of what kinds of information can be transferred between servers and modules.
Question from Jack-the-Blade: How rare will the powerful, magical weapons be? Will there be any plans for another Holy Avenger? I LOVE that sword! :)
Response from Rob_Bartel: We haven't worked out the distribution in the official campaign yet but your modules will have whatever items you want, wherever you want them, and how often. How would you like to dual wiled those puppies? =)
Question from Fenmarel: With the skills, feats and spells that won't make the transition 3E to NWN, what would you say is the *general* method(s) for re-balancing the classes?
Response from Rob_Bartel: Balance is a tricky issue and, ultimately it's going to come down to playtesting. Even if we were able to follow 3e to the letter, the balance would be different. In PnP, each combat takes much longer than it will in NWN, so that throws the balance off right there. We compensate where we can in advance but the real balancing happens once most of the game's already in place.
Response from Noel_BioWare: We're working on the list now. They will be similar to the ones in the DMG probably.
Response from Rob_Bartel: Also, remember that Lycanthropy is based purely on scripting, not on any standardized effect within the engine. Still, the capabilities are there.
Question from Obscured: Will modules have any form of protection, or will anybody be able to edit a module & "rip off & reuse" the scripts that a module-maker spends weeks developing, for example?
Response from ScottG_BioWare: There is only one type of protection, but it's a good one. If you don't post the module to the internet, none use it. The clients are not sent the entire module, only what the areas look like and any text that an npc ally speaks. All scripting, dialog logic etc. is all done on the server, and this is the stuff that takes the time to make. If you don't want people to rip off your work, don't post it. You can still sho
Response from ScottG_BioWare: Sorry my message was cut off. I will repost it chunks.
Response from ScottG_BioWare: There is only one type of protection.
Response from Don_BioWare: Um, to small of chunks. heh
Response from ScottG_BioWare: If you don't post the module to the internet, then none use it. The clients are not sent the entire module, only what the areas look like and any text that a npc says. All scripting, dialog logic etc. is all done on the server, and this is that stuff that takes the time to make. If you don't want people to rip off your work, don't post it. You can still show it off to anyone that connects to your server.
Question from Travis_Storie: Has more testing been done on number of clients per server or is the code still too rough to estimate anything beyond 64?
Response from Rob_Bartel: We're not ready to do any serious stress-testing of the server yet but 64 is still our running estimate for a standard cable-modem based server. Bandwidth will be the primary limiting factor so if you want to support more people, improve your connection.
Question: After watching the demo from E3, I noticed that as a PC transitions to another area it seems to "spawn" a server process to handle the character. Will the amount of "spawns" be dependant upon RAM or Processing power?
Response from Tobyn_BioWare: What you saw from the E3 demo was merely a load time for the new area. All the areas of a module run at exactly the same time... Characters would travel immediimmediatlyen them if the game didn't have to load the new tiles
Response from Don_BioWare: Yes, the load time is client side, not server side.
Question from Gloomveil: For bioware - Have there been any advancements in the area of customizable building interiors, or will we have to live with a limited and generic set of building interiors? I want my Inn :)
Response from ScottG_BioWare: Actually all of the areas are loaded and running at the same time. The delay in the E3 demo was mostly caused by graphics processing that will evently be preprocessed, and thereby making the load times faster. The transistions in the final game will be a lot smoother, You will only notice a real delay if you are running a slow connection.
Response from Tobyn_BioWare: We have changed our original idea of an interior to have customizable ones. You can now paint different types of rooms and create area transitions between them how you like. Your Inn can be as much of a Tardis as you'd like
Question from clain_NWDL: I was wondering if Assistant DMs, that don't have reboot access to a server will be able to put up portals to other servers or will a DM have to reboot the server to make this change? If I can toss in another question... (a more important one, if I only get one)... Will the vault be sortable for those with access to view the contents? So that we could find a specific type of player
Response from Don_BioWare: You wouldn't do remote access through a portal. Rather ther ottheDM could login as a Sysadmin with the ServerMonitor.
Response from ScottG_BioWare: At this time, all DM's will be able to add portals. We may make this a setable DM priviles. Portals can be added in real time and will be persistant sessions (ie saved in the save game). When you are looking at the vault, you will be able to sort the servers in many ways (ping time, module name, host etc.) We haven't really locked down how much information you will be able to obtain about other players. Once you connect to server, you will be able to see information on all the players that are currently logged onto that server.
Question from ThunderMage: As the movies suggest, you can run in the game which is good (in BG it was just silly to WALK away from a pack of wolves or something...), but is there a stamina limit or something, as to how much you can run?
Response from Rob_Bartel: Yup, running's in the game (one of the benefits of going to 3d - animations don't take up near as much room). And yes, Stamina will be implemented in some form, though we haven't decided on the precise details at this point.
Question: What is the status of the beta and how will the sign-up process work?
Response from ScottG_BioWare: We are still planing for a very small limited public beta before the game ships. We will post all details on this to the stratics page long before this starts. Of course this won't be for a while yet. Please send bribes to ... oh #### Trent might see this. :)
Question from Talisien: Will it be possible to craft items, like bows or arrows?
Response from Rob_Bartel: You won't be able to craft items directly in the game. However, the 3e rules state that the creation of magic items, etc, can take weeks or even months to perform, so we'd recommend convincing your DM to make one for you via the toolset. That way everyone's happy.
Question from Ronin-X|goleft: how much complexity and variety melee combat as,are there
Response from Tobyn_BioWare: We're trying very hard to impliment as much animation as possible... and to cater for ask many classes in the process. I've been looking at some of our monkanimations and seeing what our animators are using for reference...
Response from Tobyn_BioWare: It's very cool
Response from Rob_Bartel: All the weapon styles from BG2 are supported, including two-weapon style, mind you.
Stratics would like to thank you for attending the Neverwinter House of Commons.
Response from Tobyn_BioWare: Take it easy everyone!
Response from Brad_BioWare: Thanks for having us...this was great!
Response from Rob_Bartel: To all a good night (or morning, or midaftemid-afternoon)
