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(Originally posted by Darien)

Comments from the Neverwinter Nights forum on the BIS message boards.

Rob Bartel, Co-Lead Designer:

Script Triggers: Yes, scripting your module to use a physical ritual as a trigger for some action should be perfectly feasible. I'd use one of the placeable objects as the altar, give it the container property, then script it to check for the gem. I'd either give the altar a 'Use' property that would check for the candle in the players inventory or I'd give the candle the 'Use' property and put the check on the module. Standing in the circle would just be a trigger on the floor (you'd presumably place a tile that has some circular geometry in it). Chanting the rite could involve either a keyword parsing or the use of a special scroll.

As for darkening the room, we're still working out some details with the lighting model. Hopefully it will be possible. If not, you can certainly script some fancy spell visuals to fire off and let you know that something special has happened.

As a related example, there's a secret handshake in one of the early modules that you can observe others perform and then replicate step by step. Mike Geist, the scripter working on that module, has been tossing around the idea of randomly seeding it so that the handshake is different every time you play.

Porting to Mac: Just to clarify some of my earlier posts, I should make it clear that I'm not privy to any specific details of our plans for a Mac toolset port. I know only that we had been in contact with a third party at one point and that whatever deal we had been working towards never came to fruition. Anything beyond that has been mere speculation on my part. So, for the record, I don't know who the third party was nor do I know which other companies were approached. The particulars of the deal and the reasons it failed to come together are also well beyond my grasp.

Remember, this kind of stuff takes place at the legal and corporate level, not on the development floor. Due to Non-Disclosure Agreements, those who do know the details generally aren't allowed to discuss them anyway, even internally.

Random Dungeon Generator: The random dungeons I was referring to are actually well underway as one of the non-campaign modules we may be shipping with the game (if nothing else, it will end up in a 'goodies' folder somewhere). The randomization will take place in the game itself, not as part of the toolset. Here's how it works:

You start the module in a small village with some basic shops, etc, for you to access. There's a big, evil-looking dungeon entrance somewhere on the outskirts and, outside of, is a guy named Jimmy the Villager. He's not that bright and he's definitely no adventurer but he looks up to you and respects your many years of experience as a dungeon-delver.

"Gosh! How deep do you think it goes?"

"Deep, Jimmy. *Real* deep."

"I bet there's plenty of treasure!"

"Not too much, Jimmy. But that's alright, I'm not here for the money."

"Who do you think is behind it all?"

"Well, Jimmy, this looks like the work of Vlabruk Gafsnell, the Mad Mage of Arsereth."

"Golly, how many minions would someone like that have?"

"You'd be surprised, Jimmy. I'm sure the place is crawling with them."

"But who would work for such an evil man?"

"Mostly undead, Jimmy. They have no choice."

"Are you going to be all alone down there?"

"Don't worry about me, Jimmy. I know plenty of folks down there that I can rely on."

"Wow, the village sure is lucky to have a hero like you around. G-good luck down there..."

The parameters for the entire dungeon are then seeded based on the responses you gave to Jimmy. As soon as you enter the dungeon, you're off on a grand and thoroughly customized adventure.

As for how the maps behave, it's important to realize that we're still not randomizing the actual placement of tiles. Instead, we have a big library of small areas, each one an individual room. Some are dead ends, many have two area transitions, some are three- or four-way intersections, and so forth. A generic script on all of the area transitions determines where each one should lead.

Scripts on the areas determine which encounters, creatures, and treasure lists get spawned, and so forth. It's a neat little system and we've got the basic prototype working (no combat or treasure yet, just a bunch of placeholder areas that are linking together appropriately). Hopefully that explains a bit more of what we're currently working towards.

Object Manipulation: Yes, the placement of placeable objects can be manipulated through scripting. An example of one of the ways to do it can be found in the 'Game of Life' script that Mark Brockington released a little while back. The coins used for it were items, not placeable objects, but the principle is the same.

Derek French, Assistant Producer:

BioWare at GenCon: We are presenting 3 times a day, every day, at GenCon. Come one, come all.

Linux User Survey Questions: I have some questions for people out there planning to run NWN using the Linux dedicated server (LDS), AND for those that have had experience running

Linux dedicated servers from other games. Just use the numbers to answer the questions.

1. How do you expect the LDS install to work? Shell script? .tar.gz. file? Other?

2. How many instances of the server do you plan to run on one machine?

3. How many separate computers do you plan to run the LDS on?

4. What distribution(s) of Linux will you be running the LDS on?

Some quick rules:
- posts not on this topic will be deleted without warning
- I will lock this thread when I have enough samples of information for my needs
- if you want to bump this thread, don't post in here, just use the "bump" button at the bottom of the screen

Game Performance: The game engine has not been optimized yet, but will be as the project nears its end. We do test on various systems from the range of installed machines at the office to min spec and below min spec systems. Just to head off any questions, we cannot make any comments on performance, nor on any other hardware questions until the end of development and after compatibility testing has occurred.

BioWare does not test on laptops as the cost of proper testing with a diverse range makes it prohibitive.

Windows XP: Just to clarify, it is BioWare that is developing NWN. Black Isle is our publisher. We will be testing NWN under WinXP, but we will not be deciding on supported operating systems until near the end of development. This is neither a yea or nay for WinXP, just a "we haven't decided yet". Personally, I see no reason why NWN wouldn't run just fine under WinXP. We will know more later.

Marc Taro Holmes, Art Director:

Artisitic License: I think some guys have summed it up pretty much - the armor in our paintings of Aribeth is not as realistic as some might like, but it is a nice design...I'd think she wouldn't dress like that if she was entering a pitched battle - she's wearing a skirt for goodness sake - this is more 'town gear'.

She has a similar outfit in game but with armored legs. You have to keep in mind, this is a fantasy world, not a medieval European military simulation. She has access to kinds of protective spells after all. I don't think you would really wear 60 pounds of plate around all the time if you had the option of protections or magic circles, plus if you have a high dex you want to preserve your AC bonus...Overall I AM glad everyone's looking at the paintings in any case.

Bob McCabe, Writing & Design:

Problem with saving/reloading: I completely agree that the save/re-load formula ruins the suspension of disbelief. I'm not sure how many times I've gotten engrossed in a game, made an

unfortunate choice, and was faced with the re-load screen. It's even more frustrating when you realize that you have not saved for several hours, and now you have to go back and re-do everything.

This is not to say that there should not be repercussions for death; that would be silly. But to be so completely removed from the gaming experience?

For Neverwinter, it's been decided that we'll be using a re-spawn feature (much like Planescape: Torment, except that you will probably get hit with an experience point loss), and we'll also be modifying the difficulty level of the game to some extent (away from the Throne of Bhaal level of difficulty).

Now, this doesn't mean that death is going to be down-played, or encounters so simple that even average players will walk through them unaffected. We want death to be a bad thing, and to have negative effects on you. We also want our encounters to be fun and challenging. But considering that people could be playing in multiplayer with un-coordinated groups, or in single player by themselves or with henchmen, it should be just as fun, even with a less grueling encounter.

It's certainly a fine line, though, especially when you're dealing with a market that has a wide range of playing skill. It most certainly will be a challenge for us, but hopefully that effort will translate into a game that provides players with a sense of adventure not too much unlike pen-and-paper, as opposed to the current styling of CRPGs. And, of course, if you don't like the way that we did it, you will have all of the modules at your disposal to alter at your will.

More on Problem with saving/reloading: Still, too many encounters in the BG series were designed to kill you on your first few tries. But they were catering to a different audience, and had different tools (save & re-load) at their disposal.

Did I play through the whole series? Yes. Did I absolutely adore the entire series? Yes. Do I frequently play it over again? Yes. If a DM tried to run a campaign that mirrored Baldur's Gate in pen-and-paper, would my character survive through the first few adventures? No.

In pen & paper, you just wouldn't attack the Shadow Dragon 400 times at level 8 until you finally got the fluke kill - you'd just say "nice dragon" and scurry away. And probably never come back.

Like BG, we want to help players out with hints and D&D-oriented information (like you said, Mind Flayers on the horizon? Start memorizing Chaotic Commands!) that will let them succeed. But we don't want to make it a situation where you need that (hints, and knowing D&D inside out), skill (being the suitable level) and luck (hoping to roll all 20s while your opponents miss or have their spells disrupted), and even then, you might not succeed.

PS I think it's spelled Svirfneblin (deep gnomes)... I pronounce it "svurf neb lin" (if that makes sense), though I'm not sure if that's proper or not. It wasn't until RA Salvatore wrote that encounter where Drizzt comments that it's not Driz-zit, but Drizst, that I figured that one out, so I'm probably wrong.

List of Feats: We've posted in the past (the far, distant past, I'm sure it must feel like to some of you) that we are saving such lists for future promotional use.

What can I say? We're still holding them for future promotional use. We've written up some promotional packages that are pretty snazzy, but in the end, I'm thinking that the decision is that it's probably still too early to go into super-hype mode, especially when Neverwinter has had so much good press already.

But I'm not a marketer, so take these thoughts with a grain of salt. What have we said for release window? We're looking at Winter, right? Well, we're still in Summer, so the only thing I can say is be patient, even though I know that must seem like the thousandth time we've asked for patience.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Ranger Weakness?: Why Monte Cook did crate an new tinplate for the raingar, he mensioned that he didn't feal that it would become official WotC erratum. As a result, we (Never Winter Nites) can only go which what is lis-ted in the Player's Handbook.

Champagne of Poetic Lisence 4 Evrie-one.

I will now use my Jedi mind trix: no one get offended by this post!

More on Rangers: Yeah, the official answer is that we're going by the PHB, as I sort of already said. And since WotC hasn't officially endorsed the new version, there's no reason for us to consider it, or other changes to the ranger, for NwN.

So now it's up for everyone else to debate the ranger (or post links to old ranger debates) and let ranger fans, like Roadkill, know that rangers can be good, even at higher levels. I haven't played a ranger yet, so I can't say anything on the topic.

How many times did I say "ranger" in this post?

PS: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Apologizes: Creative spellers are an endangered species. Like I said, we shouldn't all worry about spelling so long as the ideas come across, right? I should have summoned an amulet of +5 joke-telling before trying that one out.

More on Spelling and Rangers: Tee hee!
This is silly, and to think, he just had a simple question to ask about the balancing of rangers. *sigh* I cannot apologize enough to him and to everyone else, yes, I was making fun of you. I just didn't want to seem like anything less than the company spokesman, but whatever. The truth is out there; deal with it!

And even though I am a creative spelling activist, I am a spelling lawyer at heart. When I write something, and post it and catch a typo, it irks my soul. My very soul! Isn't that sad? I find myself correcting people when they say "towards" instead of "toward".

I despise that part of me, and seek only to liberate others who wonder if they should be using spell-checkers, when in reality, they should be leading us anal masses into the 21st century, espousing content over presentation.

Since it's been brought up, and as far as I learned in linguistics, English was actually a Germanic language that the French (beautiful as their women are) "messed up" with their silky smooth pronunciations. But hey, like I said, that was my teacher's prejudiced point of view. I don't know better. If he said it, it's got to be true

And oh, I might as well pretend that this is on topic:
I liked the revised version of the ranger myself. I mean, it certainly *looks* more appealing. They get a list of feats to choose from as they level up; diversity is good. And to be honest, I never understood the point of all of those racial enemies, anyway. Are they that much of a reward that it's all you really need as you go? But like I said way back when, when this topic was only *mostly* off-topic, I haven't played a ranger in 3rd edition yet, so I can't really say for sure if they were unbalanced before, and if they are balanced after the tweaks. Maybe I'll waste some time tomorrow looking it up instead of writing for Neverwinter. And no, you can't get a beta copy of NwN Not yet, anyway.

and on spelling…
Atma, that "freespeling" page is what I'm talking about! I took a linguistics class and the teacher would go off on these joke tirades about how much he hated the french for ruining the English language.

But seriously, the English language is one that has continued, and will continue, to evolve. There's no way to preserve it. I admit to being anal about my own spelling and grammar, even though I know I'm not perfect at it (I got excited when Harbrace released a new version of their college handbook), but I truly believe that it's all irrelevant.

"freespeling" is the future, and I find it kind of neat.

Dealing with Alignments: I keep seeing the opinion that alignment is a good guideline for a DM to ensure that the player is behaving in a consistent fashion, but wouldn't the character's background be a more useful solution? Wouldn't knowing how that player has acted in the past help the DM to determine how he might well handle future situations? And wouldn't behaving in a manner that is different from that past be more interesting as a measure of character growth, rather than an example of a player acting outside his "label"? Of course, BioWare is making a video game, not a pen-and-paper game - which makes my plea a failed one.

NwN cannot assume that there will always be a DM present, or even other players. In this situation, and based upon the knowledge that various classes require strict adherence to a moral philosophy, alignment becomes necessary.

Of course, making alignment necessary means you have to create situations where that alignment can be influenced. As such, and revealed in that quote by Trent, we are using triggers that will reward or penalize a player based upon their actions.

Is this going to be a flawless system? No, I don't think so. It can only be as good as the module designer allows for differing occurrences. It's easy to see problems, but in the rules, a paladin has to be lawful, and he has to be good, so there has to be something there to account for it.

Anyway, changing the topic a little, there are a few posts here of characters that typify an alignment. I'll offer one myself. One of my favorite movies is Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch). In the film, the main character, whom I view as Lawful Neutral, is a hitman employed by the mafia. He's a tranquil, independent sort who must, at the same time, ignore good and evil and obey his retainer. In the end, I think this film does a nice job of demonstrating an interesting character with a rigid moral code.

More on Alignments: But alignment is needed in the game. D&D requires the different classes to fall into varying categories. As long as alignment has a use, it's difficult to remove it from the game. Like I said, as a DM, I would rather a player tell me his character's background than tell me that his character is "Neutral Good", because alignment tags are subjective to some degree.

Part of the reason I listed the "Ghost Dog" reference is because it illustrates just that thought. I believe the snap-shot taken of the main character (the 2-hour window of the film) represents LN, but that is just my interpretation.

Regardless, it still comes down to the fact that BioWare is releasing a great tool to encourage players to play within the structure of 3rd edition rules - but the tool can only be as good as the module designer who uses it. The designer can utilize it for simplistic scenarios, and that may well result in boring gameplay. He might remove it entirely (not create any alignment-shifting scenarios), and therefore allow classes to play counter to their designations - which also is undesirable (as per the rules).

Of course, there are better results for those who want to take the time to craft a better story, and then take the time to actively DM the adventure. But there has to be something in place for those who are playing outside of that set-up.

Yet More Dealing with Alignments: Hmm? By "tool" I mean only that encounters have alignment shifters that the DM may determine. For example, Gromnir wrote up the encounter where the paladin must determine whether or not to laughter the prisoners. Perhaps slaughtering them is a lawful and evil action. How would the game automatically determine such a thing? There has to be some way for the DM to provide for this, right? I'm not sure why you would think this is a bad thing.

Don Moar, Lead Programmer, Tools:

Spell Checking: We are planning on providing some sort of spell check capability in the NWToolset. The specific details haven't been worked out yet, however.

Copy Tiles: Hi, To be perfectly honest, I hadn't thought of trying to copy a particular arrangement of tiles, such as the layout of a boundary edge, between two (or more) areas. It's a good idea. I can't promise anything at this point, but I'll add it to our list of items to consider when we review the entire NWToolset interface.

Radial Menu for Objects: There are certain properties you can set or apply to some types of objects in the NWToolset that will determine what options the players see in the radial menu when they select an instance of that object during the game. For example, if you place a piano (not sure if there even _are_ pianos in the game, but you get the idea) in a room, the radial menu may say something like 'Use' but if you give it some inventory (in a 'secret' compartment?), the radial menu may say something like 'Open'.

Unfortunately, you cannot customize the radial menu to say something like 'Play'.

Trent Oster, Producer:

More on Game Performance: We recently ran the game on a low end system (Pentium 3 266mhz with a TNT1 video card) and had performance ranging from 5 to 15 frames per second with the graphic engine detail turned down. This is with the engine unoptimized, so it will most likely improve. We test on bottom end systems and mid to high end systems all the time, so we can ensure a good experience for a larger group of people.

JE Sawyer, Black Isle Administrator:

Touch Spells: An "armed" touch spell is considered to be a threat; attacking with it does not provoke an AoO.

Preston Watamaniuk, Writing and Design:

Game Documentation: Rest assured that we are currently working out all of the documentation issues. The documentation concerns on this project are massive given that we are shipping a game, toolset and dm client. We want to make as many people happy as possible but package size, translation issues and printing costs are all factors impacting what shape the documentation for this project is going to take. I just wanted to post and tell everyone that this thread has been read and the concerns of those above are noted.