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Attendees from BioWare:
Greyhawk: Welcome everyone and thank you for attending tonight's House of Commons Chat with BioWare. Tonight's chat is focusing on "module building" and as such only questions pertaining to the topic will be considered. I will be your moderator for this evening. In order to submit questions please /msg or /query [QT]Arathorne, [QT]Brannoc, [QT]Kiir or [QT]Mag. Please /msg different question-takers at different times, in order to balance the load and speed this process up. Do not msg anyone from Dev. Team or myself. These questions will be ignored.
Remember that the Dev. Team may not have the opportunity to answer all of your questions. In addition, some questions may not be answered if the Dev Team feel that it is not appropriate or that it has been better answered through some other question. Also, please do not submit any questions that have already been answered during past conferences. We encourage you to read the logs of the previous House of Commons Chats, which are available at http://nwn.stratics.com/.
Thanks for coming, everyone. I'd like to start off by having the folks from BioWare introduce themselves and tell us what they do on the project.
DerrickC[BioWare]: Hey, I'm Derrick Collins, BioWare QA.
BradG[BioWare]: Brad Grier - BioWare PR monkey with some skill.
donm[BioWare]: I'm Don Moar: Lead Programmer, Tools
Brenon[Bioware]: I'm Brenon... I do some AI programming... and other stuff they find for me to do...
Aidan[BioWare]: I'm Aidan Scanlan and I'm a designer on NWN working on implementation.
JayW[BioWare]: I'm the Community Manager, part-time lion tamer.
RobinM[BioWare]: Robin Mayne, Web Developer... web sites, forums, community site, current foosball ladder champ...
BobM[BioWare]: i'm Bob, thanks... I dye my hair.
DupsW[BioWare]: Dups Wijayawardhana, Web developer... same as Robin... bad at Foos
JonathanE[BioWare]: Jonathan Epp - QA
Nathanf: Nathan Frederick, Lead Quality Assurance
NinjaStan: Stanley Woo, Qa Ninja.
MarkB[BioWare]: Mark Brockington, Lead Research Scientist.
EvilChris[BioWare]: Chris Priestly. All QA and slightly Evil.
TeresaS[BioWare]: Teresa - 1/3 of the PR team...yay team..
Sophia[BioWare]: Sophia Smith, AI Programming
Noel[BioWare]: Noel Borstad, Programmer
DerekF[BioWare]: Derek French, Assistant Producer with only 2 settings. Off and High.
TomO[BioWare]: Tom Ohle... the coolest cat in Communications... ever.
OwenB[Bioware]: Owen Borstad - Tools Programmer
PatC[Bioware]: Pat Chan, Tools Programmer. Go Toolset!!
TeresaS[BioWare]: ever, ever..
TrentO: I'm Trent Oster, PrOdUcEr on NWN. ALL NWN and totally Evil
TomO[BioWare]: he also doubles as a gnome illusionist
TeresaS[BioWare]: Trent you never used your proper title!
TrentO: You funny Tom
TeresaS[BioWare]: Project Director/Producer!
TrentO: I'm shy
TeresaS[BioWare]: yeah right!
JayW[BioWare]: I think that's director with a 'K'.
TomO[BioWare]: Ks are more raw. rawer.
TrentO: Herr Direktor is good
JayW[BioWare]: Achtung!
Sophia[BioWare]: gesuntheit
Sophia[BioWare]: no wait
RobinM[BioWare]: hmmmm... our forums are pretty empty - guess everyone's here!
DenisN: Here's one, hopefully its not considered offensive but it is pretty direct. Will Bioware have realistic support for its modding community seeing as NWN is being sold as a mod friendly game or will users be plagued by EULA's and other such agreements that make everything short of loading the editor's exe illegal as seen in some companies?
TrentO: Cough, subtle, just the way I like it. The answer is: As a developer we are bound by a large number of legal requirements. With that said, we are very committed to the idea of forming a Mod community for NWN and we are pushing as hard as we can to keep everything as simple and accessible for everyone as possible. We will have an EULA and it won't be perfect, but we are looking at every option possible.
Brethil: I am very interested in the so called "hack packs" - what exactly will they allow us to implement?
DerekF[BioWare]: Got it... Hack packs will be the single file location for user created custom content. New sound, music, etc. would all be put into a single hack pack then used in both the Toolset and the game... While you will be able to create and use many different hack packs only one can be active in a module at one time. It will be required for the client to download the hack pack prior to connecting to the server. If you don't have the server will tell you that you need it. For those of you familiar with our "override" directory, this directory is out of bounds now and you must use hack packs for your custom content.
mokah: Can you give us more of an idea of how cutting and pasting pieces of mod would work in the Toolset? Would I be able to take the best parts of several mods and create another new mod with those elements, just by cutting and pasting?
donm[BioWare]: To combine pieces of several modules, one would simply export the parts one is interested in from one module and import them into the other. This can be done quite easily, using the Export / Import commands within the toolset. It should allow you to specify individual or groups of resources which are then checked for dependancies and then added to a file. Then, you simply load up the other module and import the desired data. Cut / Copy / Paste are operations that can be performed within a module. So it is possible to quickly copy entire areas.
zaishen: are human models 1 or 2 meters tall? This impacts not only custom content planning, but also sizes of tunnels, rooms, areas etc... On the model viewer they are 2 meters.
TrentO: Human models are 2 meters in height and Halflings are just over 1 meter.
Sarev0k: I dunno if this counts as a module question, but I would like to know if there can be more than one DM per game...
MarkB[BioWare]: Yes, you can have more than one DM in a game.
TrentO: The DM's count against the total player #'s though. Soo up to 63 DM's and one player.
Brethil: There is a lot of peeps waiting out here for more detailed descriptions about the script engine. Any chance we get more demo-scripts like "the game of life" so we can get familiar with the engine?
TrentO: As our legal issues have been resolved we are now free to discuss the game in more detail. With that said, there aren't many hours left after a Bioware Workday. But, we will be releasing more information, including scripting examples as we go forward.
Dregur: Is there a limit on how many scripts can be assigned to a creature? If someone had the time (and patience) could they make a creature that basically runs itself very convincingly as another independant character?
MarkB[BioWare]: That's an interesting question. There are only a limited number of "events" available to each creature (such as when they are attacked, when they have a spell cast at them, et cetera). However, there *is* a way of switching scripts on the fly.
TrentO: Gasp, No, not the User scripts button
MarkB[BioWare]: Well, it's a little more complicated than that, Trent, but not much more complicated. One can actually use the scripting language to execute other scripts ... scripts that can be decided on by local variables stored on the creature. So, you can actually create all sorts of wondrous behaviours and switch in between them on the fly. One of our designers has done a wonderful job on a series of "generic" scripts for handling a lot of what most creatures need to do on a regular basis. I'd be interested to see how they can be improved upon by the user community!
TrentO: You've written a bloody novel Mark.
MarkB[BioWare]: And you wonder why it takes me so long to fix your bugs?
Gaines: Is there any chance of a pre-release version of a guide to scripting or the scripting engine so developers can begin work ASAP?
JayW[BioWare]: Got the Gaines question. Right now I am getting content ready for the community site side of things and have a lot of experience in prying time out of our team for documentation. Everyone is at max right now and putting together a document which isolates a part of NWN for the express purpose of pre-release might make people's head explode.
BradG[BioWare]: Jay, are you playing the game and answering questions at the same time?
JayW[BioWare]: So separating just the scripting engine would require a lot of time that folks would find impossible to find. My spelling is bad :) Trying to fake that.
Coldbayne: can you reserve slots for DMs from your total player count? It would suck for all the players to log on for a session and for the DM not to then be able to log on due to player limit?
TrentO: In answer to the Coldbayne question, In the initial release of NWN we will not support reserving slots for DM's. After release we will be going through logical additions to improve the game and adding reserved seats for DM's could be implemented.
Sorphales: I have a question: Will it be possible after the release to include much higher polygon-models than in its release? For example "Half-life Blue Shift" resets all models with higher Polygon-models. Would this work also with NWN?
TrentO: In answer to Sorphales Question: Yes, We could overwrite our content in an expansion with higher detail models. I have a feeling we will be implementing more new content before we start re-working our existing content though. We designed NWN for expandability from the start and we plan on using all our work to full advantage
DkTempest: Will we be able to walk on the roof of houses? IE: if I put a trigger beside a house to simulate a climb check.. the if succeeded, can I drop someone on the roof, and then would he be able to move from roof to roof if scripted?
JayW[BioWare]: got it. You can't actually have someone on the roof of a building and so cannot have a trigger to transport you there but... you can have that trigger take to a 'new' area that simulates a roof. Also if you wish to have an evil character trailing someone then you would need to construct an area that is one level raised from the street and then, yes, you can fire down etc as that is possible.
Shade__Shadowbane: I understand that a 32x32 map is the largest you can create. Does this represent area or max width and height... i.e. can I build a 4x256 map region to represent a long road?
PatC[Bioware]: Got this one. The maximum dimension that an area can have will be 32x32 tiles.That is a maximum of 32 tiles wide and 32 tiles deep.
Diablo1399: Will there be a set of guidelines for module builders outlining how much treasure/XP to award to keep players' character official to the NWN vault?
MarkB[BioWare]: We have every intention of releasing these guidelines, once we are finished balancing out the limits.
TrentO: Would it be possible to change a character's class through scripting?
TrentO: No, You cannot change a player's class through scripting. If you are reffering to an NPC, the easiest way is to destroy the one character and spawn in another.
Hrazmadul: is it possible to override the basic rules in the game? fx. implementing a new stat.
TrentO: You could implement a local variable on your character which you could treat through your custom module script as a stat. You will not be able to spend points on it during level up or see it on your character sheet. We didn't get to these questions earlier, so I wanted to make sure we answered them.
Guest2: Would I be able to script custom weapon/armor/item drops, based on who's playing in the module? For example, if there's no wizard or sorcerer, could I set it not to drop a wizard/sorceror item - or for another example, if the leader fighter likes to use a double sword, could I have the main baddie drop a double sword instead of a longsword/axe/etc?
MarkB[BioWare]: Yes, it is entirely possible. You can keep track of which characters have entered or left the module through two handy events on the module. Thus, you can keep track of whether a sorcerer/wizard type is actually in the game ... and then, on the monster's death, you can create random treasure scripts that would reward the appropriate type of class. We already have "random treasure" scripts working in the game right now ... they're really easy to do.
Nuptraptor: when a DM allows himself to be seen by the players, does he take the form of an existing creature (such as the bugbear etc...) or are there special models for DM's?
TrentO: To answer Nuptraptor, as a DM you can run around in the world invisible to the players. If you choose to manifest you appear as the DM model you have chosen. However, you can spawn any creature in the game in real time and "impersonate" that creature. Impersonating a creature keeps all your DM powers and keep you invulnerable. While possessing a creature gives you only the powers of that creature.
Zork: Are there any plans for MPCs (Monster Player Characters), such as centaurs, hobgoblins, and the like?
MarkB[BioWare]: Zork, not in the initial release. However, we do have some rather nice polymorph spells that will allow you to change into some impressive monsters.
Zeidrich: Will there be any type of traps where the ground can break away into a pit of some sort?
TrentO: In answer to Zeidrich, no, there are no pit traps in the initial release of NWN. After doing so many other challenging things we couldn't get our frazzled minds bent around getting you out of the pit. DM model - how bout a short little bald gnome in robes that speaks cryptic phrases ala the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon - hehe. And in answer, yes we will have a small red robed fat gnome for a DM Avatar.
morpheus: Question - Is it true Mark Brockington is addicted to Hot Chocolate, and if Starbucks ever runs out, the game will not ship?
MarkB[BioWare]: Lamentably, it is true. I fear I would have to run around the office with a pool noodle (or a BG2 commemorative sword) until Trent wrestled me to the ground.
TrentO: Starbucks goes down I'm killing you all
Sophia[BioWare]: Those are not words spoken in jest
Nathanf: I finally found my missing pool noodle today Mark...
MarkB[BioWare]: I only have two pool noodles in my office! HONEST!
Sophia[BioWare]: oh my, I hear the pool noodle stirring across the room
DerekF[BioWare]: To the person that asked about in-game cut scenes....
TrentO: I prefer something a little firmer than a pool noodle
Nathanf: QA is only kept sedated by the Starbucks supply of Mocha Frappachinos, heaven help us all if starbucks closes...
DerekF[BioWare]: http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.php?topic=12615&forum=2
BobM[BioWare]: and tazo chai!
PatC[Bioware]: I for one hopes it never does. I'm sitting across from a big clock tower across the street ...
DaveMc[BioWare]: oh ya Bob
DerekF[BioWare]: Scroll down to the Wednesday, 27 February 2002 post and go to question #5
DaveMc[BioWare]: I'm addicted to the chai's
DerrickC[BioWare]: stabucks closed?
TrentO Mocha Lattes are mandatory to survive the all day spell review meetings
Sophia[BioWare] steady Derrick....
Greyhawk Well it seems that the hour is up already. I'd like to thank the team from BioWare for allowing us to host this HOC and wish them the very best in their work. The chat logs will be posted on http://nwn.stratics.com/ shortly. Thanks also to everyone from the community for showing.
DaveMc[BioWare]: Thanks to my ISP for going down for the last hour and allowing me to see 2 questions! Yaaay!:
BradG[BioWare]: Thanks for having us... this was *great fun*
