GZ Interview: Bioware takes us into the realm of Neverwinter Nights

GZ Interview
August 22,  2002

Bioware takes us into the realm of
Neverwinter Nights
By Michael Lafferty

Three months ago, BioWare demonstrated
Neverwinter Nights at the Electronics Expo in Los Angeles and had game players
drooling over the expansive role-playing vehicle.

At that time the question wasn’t
whether the game could live up to the hype surrounding it, it was when is this
going to be released. The answer was shortly after the industry showcase.

With its stunning graphics, immersive
story and Aurora Toolset (so players could build and share their own levels),
the game raised the genre bar (

http://gzdev.wpengine.com/gzreviews/r13354.htm ).

Five years in the making, the game
revolves around an adventurer called to help find the cause behind a plague
threatening the town of Neverwinter. However, as the game progresses, players
will quickly find out they cannot trust every one they thought was on their
side. The mapboards are huge, there are numerous side quests to undertake and a
host of challenges as the game moves through the chapters.

Rob Bartel, co-lead designer and Tom
Ohle, communications associate, took time to talk with GameZone about the title.

(It is important to note that some of
the questions in this interview were posed prior to the release of the title,
but are included here because of the information the answers reveal about the
game. As one can imagine, the BioWare team was inundated with interview requests
and after working on the tile for five years, needed a little time to recover.)

Question: Neverwinter Nights has
been eagerly anticipated for quite a while. What new technology has been
incorporated into this game? What do you think will impress players

the most?

Rob: “For me, the most
impressive technology in the game is the Aurora Neverwinter Nights Toolset.
Never before has so much power been put into the hands of the average user. It’s
easy to use and the results from the fan community have been amazing to date
(nearly 1000 modules are available for download as we speak). As part of our
effort to support the growing Neverwinter Nights community, we’ve been profiling
some of the exceptional fan-created modules on the official site and we’ll
continue to do so in the coming months. The key thing to remember is that, as
exciting as the technology is, what that technology enables is even more
fascinating.”

Q: Does this game tread new
regions of the Forgotten Realms, or are there familiar settings? Have any
characters from other adventures made the transition to this game?

Rob: “With Neverwinter Nights,
we’re continuing to develop the vast Sword Coast region of the Forgotten Realms
that we first popularized with our Baldur’s Gate series. The city of Neverwinter
is quite a ways north of Baldur’s Gate and Amn, nestled roughly halfway between
Waterdeep and the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale. We haven’t brought over any
characters from our past games but you’ll meet plenty of new ones in your
travels.”

Q: The game sports some
multiplayer capabilities. What type of game play will players be able to indulge
in – will it be cooperative missions or mostly PvP options?

Tom: “Straight out of the box,
Neverwinter Nights features the Official Campaign, which can be played
cooperatively. Shortly after release, BioWare released Contest of Champions,
which is a competitive play module, along the lines of Counter-Strike. Since
then, the Neverwinter Nights community has created some amazing modules—both
cooperative and PvP. The BioWare Live Team is also dedicated to creating new
content for fans, and it has released—or plans to release—a number of modules;
again, both cooperative and PvP.”

Q: Let’s talk a little about the
editor module in the game. From all indications, players will actually be able
to go beyond creating simple scenarios. Will there be a site for swapping these
files?

Tom: “While the Neverwinter
Nights Community Site gives modules extra exposure by profiling some of the
high-quality modules the fans have created, the best places to get Neverwinter
Nights modules are the game’s various fan sites. Many have large module
databases, along with user rankings of those modules. There are currently nearly
1,000 modules available for download! It’s truly amazing to see what the fans
are creating with the tools BioWare has given them.”

Q: Has the player interface been
changed in any way? Does this game strictly adhere to 3rd Edition D&D rules, or
have they been tweaked any?

Rob: We’ve made a substantial
overhaul of our interface to better accommodate our move to 3D and our focus on
controlling a single character. So far the interface changes have been very well
received and we’ve already noticed upcoming games beginning to mimic our
innovative Radial Menu and Quickslot systems. As for adherence to the 3rd
Edition D&D ruleset, we’ve had to tweak some things, just as we had to with the
Baldur’s Gate series, in order to bring them to the computer. That said,
Neverwinter Nights, with its powerful toolset and DM client, is so much closer
to the core pen & paper role-playing experience than any game we’ve created in
the past. We’re very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

Q: This game seems to have an
incredible Web presence. Has more effort gone into this game in that regard than
others?

Tom: “Absolutely. The BioWare
Live Team is dedicated to supporting Neverwinter Nights—as well as our previous
and future titles — after release. The BioWare Live Team has created the BioWare
Community Site — which includes Neverwinter Nights Community Site — where we
release content to our fans on a regular basis — whether it be a new creature, a
cool new script, or even a BioWare-developed module.”

Q: What was the most challenging
aspect of creating this game?

Rob: “The sheer size and scope
of our original vision was probably our largest hurdle. We didn’t just want to
release a ‘game’ in the traditional sense but rather an all-encompassing
experience that was going to be so much greater than just the sum of its parts.
It’s hard to imagine Neverwinter Nights without the DM Client, for instance, or
the DM Client without the toolset or the toolset without the Live Team
continuing to support and showcase the community upon release. All of these
different components depend on each other for the entire vision to work. It took
a lot of stress and effort, and we certainly made some mistakes along the way,
but as the dust clears I really believe that we’ve accomplished something we can
be proud of for many years to come.”

Q: There seems to be a flurry of
RPGs coming out in the coming year. Why do you think the genre is so popular,
and what do you consider to be the prime ingredients of a terrific RPG?

Rob: “It’s so good to see the
genre picking up steam again. By their very nature, role-playing games are
complex beasts involving long development cycles and high risks. Games like that
tend to come and go in cycles. Suddenly the technology or the industry paradigm
will leap ahead with a game like Doom and it will take role-playing titles quite
a while to catch up. The great thing about RPGs, in my opinion, is that there
aren’t any singular key ingredients. The RPGs on the market today are all wildly
unique and diverse. I’m looking forward to seeing the Neverwinter Nights fan
community add even further to that diversity. These games are like a painting to
me, or a piece of music. There are no wrong and right answers, just different
ways to experience and enjoy what’s being created.”

Q: Baldur’s Gate resulted in a
chain of games. Will there be any sequels to Neverwinter Nights?

Tom: “We have not yet announced
any expansion or sequel plans for Neverwinter Nights. There is certainly plenty
of material out there that could be put into an expansion pack: new spells;
monsters; tilesets; feats and skills. We’re definitely exploring the
possibilities!”