11/19/99 - Latest News
NWN Movie Clip
Berendir @ 9:58 pm EST
This is from the Neverwinter Nights Vault.
While the game won't be available until late next year, Producer Trent Oster was kind enough to send us a movie of the in-game action. The minute-long movie gives you a glimpse of what to expect from Neverwinter Nights, and includes scenes of a number of characters running through dungeons, an adventurer surprised by a giant spider, and a skeleton being blown to bits -- just to name a few. If you're into RPGs, you'll definitely want to check this out.
Go to the nwvault to check that out.
11/18/99 - Latest News
More Details on NWN
Berendir @ 2:16 pm EST
Heres news from the Neverwinter Nights Vault.
Heres information on Character Classes:
Our approach to developing Neverwinter was partially dictated by our approach to the D&D rules and bandwidth reduction. We chose to "Hard Code" as much of the rules as possible to radically cut down on the network traffic for the game and to ensure no matter where you play you are playing with the D&D rules familiar to you. NWN players should be able to check our manual or pick up the D&D Player's Handbook and both should be valid reference to the game. User created character classes would also add a huge level of complexity to the Character Vault and portal system, as each time you connect the abilities of your class must be fed to the system you connect to.
Information on description of Characters and Iteams:
We are allowing you as a play to attach any text decription you wish to your character. We are also supporting the ability in the "Solstice" Editor to add a description to any object you desire. You can describe NPCs, a sectione of rope, etc.. anyone who inspects the item/NPC will get the text description.
11/17/99 - Latest News
The Next Poll
Berendir @ 5:34 pm EST
I've added the next poll, and I'm happy with the ending results of previous poll! Coming in as the number one place you'd like to build in Middle Earth, for a game, was Khazad-dum! Good choice.
The next poll asks, out of the possibilities, which artifact or weapon would be more fun to Role-Play with in a Middle Earth Game.
11/16/99 - Latest News
Jane Jensen's Letter
Berendir @ 3:19 pm EST
Well this isn't news, yet it still might be interesting to read. Jane Jensen is a game designer, and wrote a letter to Sierra, which many of you may find interesting. Heres a small piece of the letter:
"Sierra" and "Infocom", the "Rome" and "Athens" of adventure games, ah, how little we knew thee! Waiting for those slim boxes with floppy disks, manuals full of clever repartee, we thought we'd have you forever. We could not know that millions of mall-happy arcade players and Nintendo-addicted five-year-olds were hurdling through space and time to invade the PC industry as soon as Intel (oh, sure) made a chip fast enough to make scrolling platform games possible. Oh, but we were naïve! Eagerly awaiting the day when a PC would be in every home and PC games would be "mass market," never guessing that "mass market" meant 15-25 year old males with twitchy fingers and about as much interest in adventure games as they have in reading Shakespeare and Jane Austen on the beach when there's a perfectly good volleyball set standing right there.
Read the rest of that letter Here If your interested.
11/14/99 - Latest News
Gaming Havens Updated
Berendir @ 3:11 pm EST
The Gaming Havens sections have been altered, and improved by Calisuri. Over the next few days more accurate, and new information will be added into the different sections, as well as some new game pages.
If you have any ideas as to what should be in the Gaming Havens, please email me at Berendir@theonering.net with any questions, or ideas.
Arda Nights
Berendir @ 11:46 am EST
If your interested in Neverwinter Nights, and have been following its progress here at the Gaming Havens, or at the NWVault, then check out Arda Nights.
Its the guild in Neverwinter Nights that will be devoted to creating a Middle Earth world, or at least sections of Middle Earth to role play in. If your interested in helping when the time comes, join the guild and help support them by adding your input.
11/11/99 - Latest News
News from The Trilogy
Berendir @ 7:35 pm EST
Checked up on the Trilogy today, and found some more news from Smeagol88:
Sorry I haven't updated for such a while, but here's all news that has accumulated. Despite not updating we are making progress, our team is growing rapidly, and our new server is working out very nicely. Our site (and eventually game) has been translated into Portuguese thanks to Victor (link on thetrilogy.8m.com). The MMF beta of The Trilogy is now second in top downloads at the Click Cafe (link on the links page)! I have also been aware of Sierra's delaying of Middle Earth and cancelling of Orcs: Revenge of the Ancient. Andre has mailed me some information regarding this subject. Though making our own game, I was eagerly looking forward to this one as well. Check out the links page for some highly recommended Middle Earth information links. I encourage you to sign the petition as well. There are no new graphics, but we are preparing a ton of new sketches within the next few days!
Visit The Trilogy site Here.
11/10/99 - Latest News
Bunches of things from NWN
Berendir @ 2:18 pm EST
The following news comes from the Neverwinter Nights vault.
If your curious about what kind of development tools are used in NWN, heres some info on that:
1) Art tools:
We are using 3DSMax 3.0 for the character / monster / tile modeling, UVW mapping and animating.
We are using our own plugin suite to export the max data into our game formats.
We use Adobe Photoshop 5.5 to paint all the textures and do all the other project art. Character textures will be saved in the Targa (.TGA) format.
2) Programming Tools
We are using Microsoft Visual C++ for our primary development environment. The game is programmed in C++.
Our primary Graphics API is Open GL. For sound (on the PC) we are using Direct Sound (as Cord quoted). We will support both A3D and EAX.
Heres some news on Scripting iteams:
At this point, it is unclear whether it will actually be possible to attach a script to an *item* (as items get transferred with the character from module to module, there is some serious potential for abuse). That said, you will definitely be able to script your *module* to respond to a given item in such and such a way. This allows you to do a whole bunch of neat, customized stuff (such as intelligent weapons or various plot-specific items) within your module while still maintaining its integrity and limiting abuse. If you want an item to do this over the course of a multi-module campaign, just be sure to copy and paste the relevant script into each module.
Your Flaming Halberd of Regeneration +2, +4 vs elves, that glows when in the presence of undead and applies a mirror image effect to you whenever you say the word "Parsnip" is perfectly portable between modules (though good luck checking it in to the Vault, I'm guessing... =). If you can honestly call that a generic item, I'll eat my keyboard, piece by crunchy piece.
The reason why such an item is transferable is because it is cobbled together from a wide variety of clearly delineated and pre-established effects within the Solstice Toolset. We can assign a value to it and that value will hold true. It's pretty open-ended but there are certain limits we place on the items to safeguard game balance.
The only limits placed on scripting, on the other hand, are those necessary to keep the game from crashing and going boom. Within your own module, game balance is yours to define. Beyond that horizon, however, it's someone else's domain.
If you are interested in helping out at NWN, then read this:
To be honest, one of the best ways to help might be to lend some of your programming and game experience to the various fan-based worlds that are springing up for NWN (check out the Neverwinter Worlds Webring, accessible from our Links page, if you want the grand tour). Ultimately, NWN's success will hinge on the quality of worlds like these, so by helping them, you're helping us. Talk to them, get a feel for what their needs will be, and dive right in. It will be a rare day when one of them refuses the assistance of a computer engineer.
Well if you are intersted in helping out, then maybe getting involved with Arda Nights would be a good idea. I'm sure when the time comes it'll be great to have all the world builders that can be mustered up, to help create a Middle Earth World. Check out Arda Nights at the playervault.