Interview GameSpy on Aussie conference things.

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

<a href="http://www.gamespy.com">GameSpy</a> has posted an <a href="http://www.gamespy.com/interviews/december02/raymuzyka/">interview</a> with <b>Ray Muzyka</b> of <a href="http://www.bioware.com">BioWare</a> about <a href="http://nwn.bioware.com">Neverwinter Nights</a> and the upcoming <A href="http://www.lucasarts.com/products/swkotor/">Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic</a>. Here's a big about using the Aurora engine, over and over and over again:
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<blockquote><b>GameSpy:</b> In your talk yesterday, you were talking a lot about the nitty-gritty of the production process. Now that you've finished what is probably one of the longest development processes ever for a commercial game, do you feel like it was worth the five years you invested in it, or in retrospect that you wasted a bit of time here or there?
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<b>Ray Muzyka:</b> I think it was worthwhile. We have never really regretted anything we have done at Bioware because it has all been useful learning experiences. With Neverwinter, I think we have created something really, really valuable in terms of a few different areas. First, there is an expansive universe in which people are now creating content with the toolset, and <u>we have over 1,700 modules the fans have created so far, so I think it represents really good value for people buying the game because they can continue to download more.</u>
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In the process, <u>we have created a toolset we can reuse and an engine we can reuse for future expansions, sequels, derivatives, licensing, all kinds of things. We want to get as much use out of the Aurora engine as we did out of the Infinity engine for Baldur's Gate.</u> We've also created a valuable community of Bioware fans that we have collected information on, and we can tell them about our future products, and also find out from them what they want to see in those future products. We can make a game they are more likely to be interested in. All those things have been very valuable. It's been a great experience as a result. <u>First, we wanted to make the ultimate D&D game. We think we did so.</u></blockquote>
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Hah.. Not even <i>close</i> to <a href="http://www.planescape-torment.com/">Planescape: Torment</a>, <b>Ray</b>. Not in the same ball park, city, league, state, country, or planet.
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Spotted this at <A href="http://www.homelanfed.com">HomeLAN Fed</a>.

 

[Deathy]

Ray Muzyka and his wife may be taking a driving holiday through southern Australia at the moment, but he managed to stop off at the Australian Game Developers Conference in Melbourne long enough to tell 650 of his colleagues about the experience of spending five years developing one game: Neverwinter Nights. Holidays are still short and sweet for Ray and BioWare, with two NWN expansion packs on the way, and possibly more to come, plus the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game for Xbox in production, as well as two other secretive projects based on original concepts which are attracting intense industry interest. Ray took some time out at the AGDC to answer questions on all of these things, as well as a couple of shady characters named Feswick and Festiliard...

If I was there, you could be sure that I would shout him down.

 

[chrisbeddoes]

QUOTE"We want to get as much use out of the Aurora engine as we did out of the Infinity engine for Baldur's Gate."QUOTE



Oh god !

 

[SexExitium]

 

[Section8]

It's probably a good thing for all parties concerned that I didn't run into Ray Muzyka when I was drunk at AGDC.

And in case anyone is interested, here's one of my students with the game I've been working on this year, Hail

 

[Deathy]

I'd pay to see that, though.

 

[Spazmo]

You know, I think RPGCodex ought to ask BioWare to do an interview. If they agree, well, suffice to say we'll have a bit of fun (especially if done live thru IRC). If they refuse, it's more grist for the BioWare hate mill!