Brian D. Lawson interview about NWN 2 and stuff

[kirottu]

Linky.

 

Good read basicly. Anybody who rather makes games than being Zeus of the skies(just without lightnings) is ok in me book.

[Diamond]

For NWN2 the rendering engine is completely new...written from scratch. What this means is that there was a lot of work to do in a relatively short amount of time.

"Rushed development cycle" doesn't sound too good to me. <_<

I'd rather prefer a delayed but good game rather than a half-assed game on time.

[Atreides]

Thanks for the link

[kirottu]

For NWN2 the rendering engine is completely new...written from scratch. What this means is that there was a lot of work to do in a relatively short amount of time.

"Rushed development cycle" doesn't sound too good to me. <_<

I'd rather prefer a delayed but good game rather than a half-assed game on time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No one have said "rushed developement cycle". Honestly, having 2 years of time doesn

[Diamond]

For NWN2 the rendering engine is completely new...written from scratch. What this means is that there was a lot of work to do in a relatively short amount of time.

"Rushed development cycle" doesn't sound too good to me. <_<

I'd rather prefer a delayed but good game rather than a half-assed game on time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No one have said "rushed developement cycle". Honestly, having 2 years of time doesn

[Kaftan Barlast]

Damn! The toolkit sounds like a dream come true ) I cant wait to get my hands on it

[Diamond]

I like tinting/scaling creatures feature. It is simple, yet adds value to the game.

[kirottu]

For NWN2 the rendering engine is completely new...written from scratch. What this means is that there was a lot of work to do in a relatively short amount of time.

"Rushed development cycle" doesn't sound too good to me. <_<

I'd rather prefer a delayed but good game rather than a half-assed game on time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No one have said "rushed developement cycle". Honestly, having 2 years of time doesn

[Diamond]

It is the case when they reuse some old engine, they have a tested codebase. To code something from scratch means to spend more time on development and testing.

 

BTW

Brian mentions that they decided to ditch old graphics engine, because it was unmaintainable, the result of Bioware writing it from scratch and later rushing the development cycle.

 

 

I really hope it will not be the same with NWN2.

[kirottu]

It is the case when they reuse some old engine, they have a tested codebase. To code something from scratch means to spend more time on development and testing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Graphics and tools were written from scratch, but not the whole engine. Very rare gaming companies can afford to spend more than two years on single game.

 

BTW

Brian mentions that they decided to ditch old graphics engine, because it was unmaintainable, the result of Bioware writing it from scratch and later rushing the development cycle.

 

I really hope it will not be the same with NWN2.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

3D graphic engines become old in matter of years and due the long developement cycle of nwn the aurora engine wasn

[Ellester]

Brian mentions that they decided to ditch old graphics engine, because it was unmaintainable, the result of Bioware writing it from scratch and later rushing the development cycle.

 

 

I really hope it will not be the same with NWN2.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jeeze, I can

[Volourn]

Huh? Won't argue too much about DS; but MW's graphics are horrible. Brown poo on my screen does not equal good graphics. period. MW had horrid graphics. I darn near puked.

 

And, 2 year sor so for NWN2 isn't bad since they didn't start the graphics from scratch. That's a myth. Just becuase you update the graphics engine, slap a new name on it; doesn't make it a brand new engine. It makes it an updated engine. BIG difference.

 

Also, as has been noted by Feargus himself, NWN2's devlopment time is about in line with BG2. And, I doubt too many people will try to make a lame argument that BG2 was 'rushed'.

[alanschu]

In that link Brian Lawson says that the graphics/rendering engine is "new....made from scratch."

[J.E. Sawyer]

It's pretty interesting how Anthony Davis can tell you flat out that zero of Aurora's rendering code still exists in Electron and you maintain that it's an update.

 

In physical terms, that would be the equivalent of removing an engine from a car, putting a new one from a different manufacturer in, and saying it's an updated engine instead of a new one.

[alanschu]

Hehehehe

[Morgoth]

And, 2 year sor so for NWN2 isn't bad since they didn't start the graphics from scratch. That's a myth. Just becuase you update the graphics engine, slap a new name on it; doesn't make it a brand new engine. It makes it an updated engine. BIG difference.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

They did, and that was mentioned several times by Brian & Co. NWN2's renderer is based on DX9 technology whereas NWN1 is OpenGL based, so Obsidian had to rebuild the renderer completely from scratch....

 

As a side note, it's actually impressive to see what they were able to do so far with NWN2, especially the graphics and the completely new toolset which seems to work already at the current status pretty well...

Looking at the DA forums, you still only get "We've not decided yet what the toolset will look like" crap. Those Biowarians are just too slow.

[alanschu]

And, 2 year sor so for NWN2 isn't bad since they didn't start the graphics from scratch. That's a myth. Just becuase you update the graphics engine, slap a new name on it; doesn't make it a brand new engine. It makes it an updated engine. BIG difference.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

They did, and that was mentioned several times by Brian & Co. NWN2's renderer is based on DX9 technology whereas NWN1 is OpenGL based, so Obsidian had to rebuild the renderer completely from scratch....

 

As a side note, it's actually impressive to see what they were able to do so far with NWN2, especially the graphics and the completely new toolset which seems to work already at the current status pretty well...

Looking at the DA forums, you still only get "We've not decided yet what the toolset will look like" crap. Those Biowarians are just too slow.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

To be fair, I think Dragon's Age is still a long ways away.

 

Though a guy from Bioware did mention at my school that they've made decisions on their pathfinding model, as well as the scripting language! :D

[Volourn]

"It's pretty interesting how Anthony Davis can tell you flat out that zero of Aurora's rendering code still exists in Electron and you maintain that it's an update.

 

In physical terms, that would be the equivalent of removing an engine from a car, putting a new one from a different manufacturer in, and saying it's an updated engine instead of a new one."

 

I've been told flat out that the world is flat. I'm not going accept that is fact either. Sorry.

 

Anyways, I'm not going argue with a dev over this. Last thing i want is to be banned for arguing with a dev on their boards about their game.

 

You win by default.

[mkreku]

You win by default.

You lose by stupidity.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Volourn, what do you know about Electron, or about graphics programming in general, that leads you to believe that Anthony and Brian are lying? Because really, that's what you're doing; you're calling them liars.

[Volourn]

"You lose by stupidity"

 

You lose by reportation for flaming.

 

 

"Volourn, what do you know about Electron, or about graphics programming in general, that leads you to believe that Anthony and Brian are lying? Because really, that's what you're doing; you're calling them liars."

 

I'm not going to argue with you on this. I'm, however, gonna point out that I'm not calling them liars. It's just my definition of "new engine" is obviously different than theirs is all.

 

From what i've seen and heard, the Aurora has been updated with better graphics (no doubt that about this); but the core Aurora is still what is powering the game just with changes.

 

It's kinda of the same situation as with KOTOR. BIO updated it; gave it a new name, and called it a brand new engine. And, there's a lot more differences in KOTOR's engine comapred to NWN's than, say, NWN vs. NWN2. At best, imo, one could say that that the grpahics engine is vastly updated that I'd be willing to say it has a new graphics engine. But, that's all.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2005 by Volourn

[mkreku]

"You lose by stupidity"

 

You lose by reportation for flaming.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You just called a developer a liar. That's been reported too! See you in court! )

[Volourn]

"You just called a developer a liar."

 

I didn't accuse anyone of lying. Having a different view on thinsg doens't make the other person a liar. And, I'm the one oftena ccused of seeing things in black and white.

 

 

" That's been reported too! See you in court! "

 

Cool. However, your sin is obvious. Stuipid I may be or not; but being stupid is not against the forum rules. Flaming is.

[J.E. Sawyer]

It's kinda of the same situation as with KOTOR. BIO updated it; gave it a new name, and gave it a new name. And, there's a lot more differences in KOTOR's engine comapred to NWN's than, say, NWN vs. NWN2. At best,  imo, one could say that that the grpahics engine is vastly updated that I'd be willing to say it has a new graphics engine. But, that's all.

Okay. You may want to go back and edit your post where you wrote, "And, 2 year sor so for NWN2 isn't bad since they didn't start the graphics from scratch. That's a myth."

 

In fact, that is precisely what Brian did. No one is saying that the scripting language and underlying game logic is different.

[kirottu]

Volourn, you could have worded out better what you said right from the start.