Trent Oster Interview

HardwareZone.com was lucky enough to ask quite a few questions of Trent Oster, Scott Grieg, and Brent Knowles of BioWare about their upcoming Neverwinter Nights. Here’s a snippet:

HWZ: Let’s talk about the in-game control interface. How is combat like? Will there be variable camera angles to suit a player’s view?

Trent: Combat in Neverwinter Nights is very dynamic, with a very tactical element to it. The in-game interface is very minimal, allowing us to keep you looking at the game and not large blocks of User Interface. We also have the radial menu for controlling the game. The radial menu pops up when you press the right mouse button, you pick the action you wish and the menu disappears. It makes for a functional yet transparent interface. As for the camera in Neverwinter Nights, you can rotate the camera, zoom in and out and pitch it up or down. When you pitch the camera down, it stops at about 45 degrees, so you keep the “isometric” view angle like Baldur’s Gate. This limitation on camera movement allows us to put much greater detail into our characters and environments and do effects like dynamic shadows.