Mollusken
Sat, 21st Aug '04, 11:03am
Here are today's Neverwinter Nights 2 forum highlights, collected by NWVault (http://nwvault.ign.com) from Obsidian Forums (http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showforum=21). Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">FrankK, Programmer</font>
Reskinning ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8143&hl=')
<hr />All are good suggestions and we'll keep them in mind when retooling the character mesh system. We expect to change the editor to allow some degree of customization. We're reworking the entire skinned mesh system right now, and I've promised to dance a jig for the team if they complete it ahead of schedule.<hr />Sometimes its just fun to see a door get blown off the hinges nonetheless. Bashing also results in 'destruction of property' so let's not limit this to the almighty fireball We've very seriously looked at adding some basic physics to the game, not just for falling rocks, etc but to lay the groundwork to do some more interesting stuff. It is a major technical feature, so it's nothing we would implement without considering the cost of implementation versus the gains.
More from Brian Lawson - Graphics Programming : You better start warming those legs up!!
More from FrankK : you forget I make the schedule, i sense some readjustments in the due dates... ah nm, been a while since i did a good jig. Just no tipping please, it's degrading.
More : <hr />Can we have details of the new system? Please?<hr />Not this early =) While the system should be in place shortly, it will probably be a while in the tweak stage, so we won't get the details of it ready for public consumption for some time.
Remove Challenge Rating ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8209&hl=')
Challenge rating 'under the hood', will of course remain intact. If we choose to implement certain subraces, tweaking their level wrt challenge rating then becomes trivial. As for being able to see any info on the enemy while you are playing ... (insert insidious Doom 3 laugh and spawn a few imps).
<hr />I sincerely hope that you will add other ways than charging headlong for the player to judge the enemy's strenght, then. It would in fact be preferable to the current system.<hr />yup, there will be ways. And ways to get more information...
Henchmen ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8237&hl=')
<hr />Oh yeah, Me too. I think Henchmen are a big mistake. However, they seem committed to doing the henchman thing regardless of the consequences. I'm not ready to dismiss NWN2 either, so I'm hoping for a workable enhancement. I think what I posted would be pretty desirable. You can always set the standing order to "Do whatever you want!" and make it the default. Just don't alienate the Infinity / Dungeon Siege crowd!<hr />Our goal is to make henchmen more team-oriented and make them a boon rather than a bane.
<hr />I like the NWN radial menu for the most part. Its nice to not have too many HUD elements since they take away from the immersion. In addition, you might not change your standing orders for quite a while so having the HUD elements always present might be distracting.<hr />We have some interface options on the table and will be rewriting the GUI system for NWN2.
Will there be more variety to the models? ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8221&hl=')
<hr />Now this might have been discussed already, but here goes... The thing that really sucked in NWN as well as the IE games was the that there was really no variety in the models. Especially if you played a half-elf you were forced to play looking like a human, wich sucked cause the human models were the worst in the game. Now what i'd want to see is that you'd be abled to change the height, weight and all the other characteristics of your PC. Not only being abled to make him fat or slim, but
tall, short, muscular or skinny. And much more variety to the head models, they absolutely sucked in NWN. I want to be abled to change the haircut, facial hair and the size of the nose of my PC. So please obsidian, much, MUCH more variety on the models. I want to have a half-elf looking more like an elf than a human, or a half-orc looking more like a human than a half-orc.<hr />short answer to the topic header: yes.
Randomized weapons and armor ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8201&hl=')
There's a good chance we'll have something for random item generation in the game--i'd prefer it were data driven rather than script driven (ie set up through 2DA files rather than scripts). Changing the names on items is something we plan to get in there as well.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Erik Novales, Programmer</font>
Poly Count ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8320&hl=')
<hr />Are you going to jack the poly-count on models above the "HotU" level?<hr />Models are definitely going to look a lot better...
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">FrankK, Programmer</font>
Reskinning ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8143&hl=')
<hr />All are good suggestions and we'll keep them in mind when retooling the character mesh system. We expect to change the editor to allow some degree of customization. We're reworking the entire skinned mesh system right now, and I've promised to dance a jig for the team if they complete it ahead of schedule.<hr />Sometimes its just fun to see a door get blown off the hinges nonetheless. Bashing also results in 'destruction of property' so let's not limit this to the almighty fireball We've very seriously looked at adding some basic physics to the game, not just for falling rocks, etc but to lay the groundwork to do some more interesting stuff. It is a major technical feature, so it's nothing we would implement without considering the cost of implementation versus the gains.
More from Brian Lawson - Graphics Programming : You better start warming those legs up!!
More from FrankK : you forget I make the schedule, i sense some readjustments in the due dates... ah nm, been a while since i did a good jig. Just no tipping please, it's degrading.
More : <hr />Can we have details of the new system? Please?<hr />Not this early =) While the system should be in place shortly, it will probably be a while in the tweak stage, so we won't get the details of it ready for public consumption for some time.
Remove Challenge Rating ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8209&hl=')
Challenge rating 'under the hood', will of course remain intact. If we choose to implement certain subraces, tweaking their level wrt challenge rating then becomes trivial. As for being able to see any info on the enemy while you are playing ... (insert insidious Doom 3 laugh and spawn a few imps).
<hr />I sincerely hope that you will add other ways than charging headlong for the player to judge the enemy's strenght, then. It would in fact be preferable to the current system.<hr />yup, there will be ways. And ways to get more information...
Henchmen ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8237&hl=')
<hr />Oh yeah, Me too. I think Henchmen are a big mistake. However, they seem committed to doing the henchman thing regardless of the consequences. I'm not ready to dismiss NWN2 either, so I'm hoping for a workable enhancement. I think what I posted would be pretty desirable. You can always set the standing order to "Do whatever you want!" and make it the default. Just don't alienate the Infinity / Dungeon Siege crowd!<hr />Our goal is to make henchmen more team-oriented and make them a boon rather than a bane.
<hr />I like the NWN radial menu for the most part. Its nice to not have too many HUD elements since they take away from the immersion. In addition, you might not change your standing orders for quite a while so having the HUD elements always present might be distracting.<hr />We have some interface options on the table and will be rewriting the GUI system for NWN2.
Will there be more variety to the models? ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8221&hl=')
<hr />Now this might have been discussed already, but here goes... The thing that really sucked in NWN as well as the IE games was the that there was really no variety in the models. Especially if you played a half-elf you were forced to play looking like a human, wich sucked cause the human models were the worst in the game. Now what i'd want to see is that you'd be abled to change the height, weight and all the other characteristics of your PC. Not only being abled to make him fat or slim, but
tall, short, muscular or skinny. And much more variety to the head models, they absolutely sucked in NWN. I want to be abled to change the haircut, facial hair and the size of the nose of my PC. So please obsidian, much, MUCH more variety on the models. I want to have a half-elf looking more like an elf than a human, or a half-orc looking more like a human than a half-orc.<hr />short answer to the topic header: yes.
Randomized weapons and armor ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8201&hl=')
There's a good chance we'll have something for random item generation in the game--i'd prefer it were data driven rather than script driven (ie set up through 2DA files rather than scripts). Changing the names on items is something we plan to get in there as well.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Erik Novales, Programmer</font>
Poly Count ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8320&hl=')
<hr />Are you going to jack the poly-count on models above the "HotU" level?<hr />Models are definitely going to look a lot better...