New Interview!

There is a new interview hosting Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka on ‘taking Dungeons & Dragons to a new level with Neverwinter Nights’. Check it out here!

Hi folks,

Just an overview and verification of Greg & Ray’s interview from the front lines. =o)

It was a great interview with plenty of new content for newcomers and old-timers alike. I recommend giving it (and all of the recent D&D articles on the site) a read.

As for the current status of the project, some early art testing has begun, as well as some focus testing on the conversation editor. That said, we’re using an iterative testing model. This means that the testing process will extend over a long duration, with testing occurring first on the individual game components and later on the actual game, itself. It’s a very thorough process and it will mean a more bug-free product at the end. However, while testing has begun, don’t get your hopes up yet. A lot of development and implementation still needs to occur.

Regarding their discussion of open file formats and the potential support of custom NWN art content (new skins, models, tiles, etc.), the standardized ‘Hack Pack’ framework they outline is the one that we’ve decided to work towards. It’s fairly graceful in that, by handling each Pack as a discrete and mutually exclusive unit, it should prevent a lot of the corruption and instability that could result from end-user customization. That said, while we’re confident in the system as outlined, it still has yet to be implemented. Should significant complications arise, we may be forced to alter or back away from this sort of approach. Hopefully all goes well. For the time being, at least, NWN Hack Packs are slated for inclusion.

Someone pass on word to Lost Dragon,
Rob Bartel