chevalier
Sun, 13th Aug '06, 2:34pm
Here are today's Neverwinter Nights 2 forum highlights, collected by NWVault (http://nwvault.ign.com). 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">Anthony Davis, Programmer</font>
Exclusive NEW screens @ nwn2news (http://nwn2forums.bioware.com//forums/viewpost.html?topic=492108&post=4254010&forum=95&highlight=)
Old GUI.
The GUI doesn't look like that anymore. In those screens shots there is GUI art that is being stretched or it is programmer art that is a place holder.
The new art looks completely different and much better.
Also, the beta hasn't started yet - if it had and those shots were from someone in the beta, you would have seen the new GUI.
More: <hr />Dear Obsidian,
Fire your 2d artist(s) please. The GUI and interface art is really subpar to a laughable/absurd level. Why you would accept such a offensively ugly GUI for a potentially good looking 3D engine is beyond any logic I can comprehend. <hr />Try to not be so melodramatic or overreactive in future posts. You can talk about aspects of the game without rhetoric. We are not in charge of screenshots that get released. For us, that build is clearly old - of course you have no way of knowing that, but it is. The new GUI looks nothing at all like that.
<hr />And the font... WHY? Why would you pick such a hard to read and aesethically offensive font? I guess none of this matters since it will undoubtily be the first thing modded, but i'd expect more from a upstart company's first game - not seasoned game developers. <hr />That font is times new roman. However, that is not the font we are using in the game. Yes the fonts are easy to modify. The fonts are defined and loaded through a font family file. Very easy to change without having to change the other GUI files.
<hr />About the game backgrounds... i hope these can be disabled or added onto, otherwise thats going to be a serious problem for PWs - especially RP PWs.<hr />Backgrounds are editable through a 2DA. You can remove or create your own.
More: <hr />Aw, no fair - you keep on telling us how good everything looks now unlike all the old stuff.
I wanna see the new stuff!<hr />Yeah I'm looking at these and many of these are flat out OLD. The portrait generating code is MUCH better now with better lighting and a better background.
Almost all the faces (heads and hair) have been polished since these were taken. Many of the things mentioned have already been resolved in the new GUI. For example:
Different fonts being used in the game now. The fonts we ship with will be Trajan, Korina, and Ariel (obviously bold, italic, and bolditalic are included as well).
The names on the party bar (the bar on the right hand side of the screen) are no longer there. There is new artwork for the party bar as well. Levelup notification looks completely different now on the party bar.
The mini map has completely new artwork now, though we do show the name at all times of the area you are in. However the minimap can be reduced to just the name field bar.
The start menu button in the lower left has completely new artwork.
The hotbar has new positioning AND new artwork.
The current target window has new artwork.
The Mode bar has completely changed. I can tell that is a very old build because that player has the Bard bar showing up as well - which it now will only do if you are controlling a character that is a bard.
The container GUI (for chests and loot bags etc...) is completely different and functions MUCH better now.
All the GUI for character generation looks COMPLETELY different. Those are also terribly old heads/hairs that I see everywhere. Also in character creation, the colors in the color grids are determined by 2DA for each race/subrace.
Much much more.
I don't know where these came from - but they are OLD. It is possible they were taken recently but still came from an old build. I know sometimes we use an old build to show bewcause it is stable whereas new builds can be unstable while features and art are added. I have no idea and I am just speculating.
I will see what I can do to get some new GUI screenshots released, but noi promises. I can only make the request, I don't have the authority.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Anthony Davis, Programmer</font>
Exclusive NEW screens @ nwn2news (http://nwn2forums.bioware.com//forums/viewpost.html?topic=492108&post=4254010&forum=95&highlight=)
Old GUI.
The GUI doesn't look like that anymore. In those screens shots there is GUI art that is being stretched or it is programmer art that is a place holder.
The new art looks completely different and much better.
Also, the beta hasn't started yet - if it had and those shots were from someone in the beta, you would have seen the new GUI.
More: <hr />Dear Obsidian,
Fire your 2d artist(s) please. The GUI and interface art is really subpar to a laughable/absurd level. Why you would accept such a offensively ugly GUI for a potentially good looking 3D engine is beyond any logic I can comprehend. <hr />Try to not be so melodramatic or overreactive in future posts. You can talk about aspects of the game without rhetoric. We are not in charge of screenshots that get released. For us, that build is clearly old - of course you have no way of knowing that, but it is. The new GUI looks nothing at all like that.
<hr />And the font... WHY? Why would you pick such a hard to read and aesethically offensive font? I guess none of this matters since it will undoubtily be the first thing modded, but i'd expect more from a upstart company's first game - not seasoned game developers. <hr />That font is times new roman. However, that is not the font we are using in the game. Yes the fonts are easy to modify. The fonts are defined and loaded through a font family file. Very easy to change without having to change the other GUI files.
<hr />About the game backgrounds... i hope these can be disabled or added onto, otherwise thats going to be a serious problem for PWs - especially RP PWs.<hr />Backgrounds are editable through a 2DA. You can remove or create your own.
More: <hr />Aw, no fair - you keep on telling us how good everything looks now unlike all the old stuff.
I wanna see the new stuff!<hr />Yeah I'm looking at these and many of these are flat out OLD. The portrait generating code is MUCH better now with better lighting and a better background.
Almost all the faces (heads and hair) have been polished since these were taken. Many of the things mentioned have already been resolved in the new GUI. For example:
Different fonts being used in the game now. The fonts we ship with will be Trajan, Korina, and Ariel (obviously bold, italic, and bolditalic are included as well).
The names on the party bar (the bar on the right hand side of the screen) are no longer there. There is new artwork for the party bar as well. Levelup notification looks completely different now on the party bar.
The mini map has completely new artwork now, though we do show the name at all times of the area you are in. However the minimap can be reduced to just the name field bar.
The start menu button in the lower left has completely new artwork.
The hotbar has new positioning AND new artwork.
The current target window has new artwork.
The Mode bar has completely changed. I can tell that is a very old build because that player has the Bard bar showing up as well - which it now will only do if you are controlling a character that is a bard.
The container GUI (for chests and loot bags etc...) is completely different and functions MUCH better now.
All the GUI for character generation looks COMPLETELY different. Those are also terribly old heads/hairs that I see everywhere. Also in character creation, the colors in the color grids are determined by 2DA for each race/subrace.
Much much more.
I don't know where these came from - but they are OLD. It is possible they were taken recently but still came from an old build. I know sometimes we use an old build to show bewcause it is stable whereas new builds can be unstable while features and art are added. I have no idea and I am just speculating.
I will see what I can do to get some new GUI screenshots released, but noi promises. I can only make the request, I don't have the authority.