Game News NWN2 Ditches Aurora Engine Toolset

[Sol Invictus]

It's a munchkin fest whenever Otaku logs onto his Furcadia character.

 

[dojoteef]

With the tileset thing, I think you guys might be mistaking NWN2 with the Witcher. The Witcher is doing away with tiles; I never heard any mention of NWN2 doing the same thing.

 

[Sol Invictus]

NWN2 isn't doing away with tiles, AFAIK, but they are using completely new ones. The old ones are incompatible for a variety of reasons (the fact that they are ugly and undetailed being one of them). NWN2 is going for a more organic/natural look to the environment. They'll probably allow overlapping/blending textures.

 

[Smiffus]

BTW, Obsidian dumped the aurora toolset, not the aurora game engine.

 

[Mendoza]

NWN2 isn't doing away with tiles, AFAIK, but they are using completely new ones. The old ones are incompatible for a variety of reasons (the fact that they are ugly and undetailed being one of them). NWN2 is going for a more organic/natural look to the environment. They'll probably allow overlapping/blending textures.

Isn't it a bit of a no brainer that they're not going to be using the same graphics for the tilesets of a game as old as NWN? It's like having to state that the npcs will have new models. Besides, there's hardly much point creating a new graphics engine if you're going to use the same low poly models.

 

[Dgaider]

A few things to keep in mind:

- they said the toolset is not using any code from the Aurora engine. That's not the same as saying the game itself does not. The game and client are seperate from the toolset, which is used solely to create modules.

- even if they use different code (and I suspect they probably should... technology has changed massively since NWN was made, never mind released), one of the benefits of licensing the Aurora engine would likely be the fact that the code infrastructure is all there already. Having all that mapped out for you is more time-saving than you might think.

- tilesets, while they do come with some inherent limitations, also allow a few very positive things. One, they reduce the bar for entry for those people who want to create levels... they don't have to be 3D artists. Second, they allow for people to play in a module where only the host actually possesses the module... so long as the player has the tileset, the only information which needs to be transmitted is which tiles are used and what their orientation is. That way you don't need each player to possess the entire module in order to play (and the download for some modules would no doubt be prohibitive).

I'm looking forward to see what Obsidian can do with tilesets... it was always annoying that a single tile in NWN was basically this huge area and there was no way to break it down. We also had to deal with some limitations that you just don't have any more... like layering and cloth physics. Those things are taken for granted, now, after all.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Well they are changing a lot with the way the maps are mapped out, too. So it's not just a chunk of blocks.

 

[Surlent]

EDIT: My screwup, sorry.

 

[Dgaider]

Here's a truckload of features what dedicated fans have found out.
http://www.nwn2news.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=84&forum=4
Looks nice and as expected TB isn't going to be there (but that's not a gripe for me anyways) .

Err... my impression of that link is that this is a list of polls which were discussed on the Obsidian forums. This is not a list of actual NWN2 features.

Polls are nice but essentially worthless if they are phrased in a version of "do you want X feature?" ...of course players want additional features. If there's no semblence of cost and no "what would you be willing to give up in order to have X feature", then there's no reason for them not to want everthing.

Want riding? Flying? Every spell and prestige class? Sure! Heck yeah!

I'd be interested to see what they come up with, though. But I wouldn't need to talk to any of the fellows at Obsidian to suggest that it won't be everything on that list.

 

[Volourn]

Monsieur Gaide ris correct. Those are poster polls. Nothing more; nothing less. the best way to gauge what Obsidian ha splanned for NWN2 is the UNOFFICIAL Faq for it - also found on the same site or on the BRAND SPANKING NEW BIO STOLEN NWN2 BOARDS!!

 

[Surlent]

Thought those [Yes/No] were clarifications, below the links.
Sometimes learning to read can help you.

 

[Avin]

I recently started to play with NWN toolset and I can say it's fairly easy if you want to make a module but not spent a year on it and give up in the middle of the way.

Getting rid of tilesets is nice because you can put features of one tileset in other without headache, but is bad 'cause you're probably going to spend more time making an area.

Before Gaider's post I was conviced that there was a closer conversation between Bio and Ob in the making of NWN2.

 

[Fez]

The NWN toolset is great for getting people into doing some basic maps and mods, but it isn't good enough to do anything impresive. That's why all the extra hakpacks are avialable, but even then it is somewhat limited. It'll be interesting if NWN 2 is going to allow more editing or less.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that if you want to make an awesome game it is going to take a lot of work and so far there are no shortcuts.