Off. BGII:SvA Chat - Bioware, Virgin Interactive, RPGHeaven.de Mon Nov 27 20:06:22 2000 at #baldursgate2 Around 50 people in attendance. Edited chat log prepared by Firebird of RPGHeaven.de (http://www.rpgheaven.de) In attendance: BIOWARE: BioDerek : Derek French (Line producer, MDK2:Armageddon) Rob_Biowa: Rob Boyd (Programmer) Dean_Biow: Dean Andersen (Senior Artist) BioBrad : Brad Grier (Communications Manager) MDarrah : Mark Darrah (Lead Programmer) Bio-DaveG: David Gaider (Designer) BioNathan: Nathan Plewes (Line Producer) BioScottL: Scott Langevin (Lead QA) BioJon : Jonathan Epp (QA) Bio-MikeG: Mike Geist (Designer) Virgin Interactive (http://www.vid.de): Taz[VID] : Tashin Avci (Product Manager) Trumpfass: Alexander Koenig (Webmaster BG2.de - http://www.bg2.de) Run by: RPGHeaven (http://www.rpgheaven.de) Firebird : Joachim Wegmann (Editor-in-Chief) Trumpfass: Alexander Koenig (Editor) Sermon : Peter Verdi (Editor) MuadDib : Stefan Baumgartner (Editor) Welcome to our first Baldur's Gate II Developer's Chat, hosted by RPGHeaven.de (http://www.rpgheaven.de) and Virgin Interactive (http://www.vid.de). This channel will be moderated, meaning only developers and moderators will be able to post. If you have a question, please type "/msg Trumpfass YOUR QUESTION HERE". After some time you will be given "voice", then you can post your message. Dieser Channel ist moderiert, d.h. nur die Entwickler und die Moderatoren können posten. Fragen bitte mit "/msg Trumpfass DEINE FRAGE" an unseren Moderator. Wenn Deine Frage angenommen wird, dann geben wir dich frei und Du darfst sie stellen. Before we begin, I'd like to let the Bioware guys take a brief minute to introduce themselves, and then we'll get started with the questions! Guys? :) Hi. Nathan Plewes. Line Producer for BG2 Hi, Jonathan Epp, QA Hi, I'm Scott Langevin. Lead QA BGII Sorry about the delay folks.. having server troubles :) np :-) Ok, here the first. was bg2 the last game using the bioware infinty engine (despite of the heart of winter disc for icewind dale) and if that is so, what minimum requirements will the new used engine have? I'll take it. I know that there have been quite a few rumors about whether or not BG2 is the last of the infinity engine games, but that's not official from us. There may yet be a decision made at some time as to whether there will be an expansion for BG2, or a sequel, and what exact form they will take...but there's nothing specific we can say at this point. As for Black Isle, they may decide to use the engine on their own for IWD or PST stuff...you'd have to ask them. Done. why didn't you implement more character portraits? Would have been nice to have more choice, when creating an own char. Got it. We would have liked to have included more portraits. Unfortunately, we had a limited amount of artists and limited time. There was a LOT of artwork needed for the game as a whole. Even so, our feeling was that there are hundreds of portraits on-line for people to get access to. Most players tended to use their own portraits for BG1. Some new voices for PCs might have been a good idea, but even there people have been making custom ones ever since BG1 came out. There's a big community out there to support the game. We could have included more, regardless, but that would have meant doing less in another area. It was a big game. :) Done. Will 3D-Movement (like flying and climbing) be possible in NWN? NWN is a different team of people Last I heard they wouldn't make the initial cut of NWN due to time, but might be possible later. That's about the best I can answer. :) When will there be the release of the German Special Edition and the DVD Version in Germany. And will the Special Edition beeing implemented in the DVD Version? Yeah, the release info for Europe is not something that we developers would know much about. Sorry. We will be releasing the DVD Version and the Collector's Edition at the same time, which will be aroung February We are very late with the CE, but hey it's gonna be a special wooden box, which my grandpa will vut in the garage.. What was the funniest thing, that happened to you, during your work on baldur's gate 2? (e.g. bugs, not much time, conflicts, other problems) We got a little funny with all the sleep deprivation. Mark got breasts, as I recall. hehe.. we still have pictures to prove it ;) we're a pretty serious bunch....we don't take well to horse-play or shennanegins Right - those pool noodles are strictly for programming purposes Rob's lying, of course. Dual Wielding Pool Noodles of Doom which reminds me.. I need new batteries for my Nerf Gun and hoopla.... Nathan tried to raise some hoopla once...we locked him in the shower for the rest of the day LOL :) but at least I was clean! We try to have a lot of fun while we're working...I think that's the whole point of doing a job like this, anyway. :) lol...for the first time since I started here :P something that you have yet to try How would you define "cRPG"? What elements does it need to have before it can be called a cRPG? ok, I'll give this a shot The computer part is easy...including the 'role-playing' part is a lot harder and everyone has different definitions. Personally, I like to see the option to create and detail your own personal character...and then improve it over time. It's also important to have a good story and feel that you have an impact on the world. These things make it an RPG. Translating it to a computer, with limited technology and time, is pretty darn hard. :) done O.K. the NWN stuff is for another time... NWN looks good, that's all I can say. The stuff drool is made of. :> Why have you choosen to jump to the new areas? In BG2, I mean... Which new areas? I think he wants to ask why you chose Amn as the setting for the game In BG1 you had to do a lot of exploring. In BG2 you got a new Quest and the new Area to explre on your map... ok, I got this one That was one of our biggest complaints from BG1, all the wandering and exploring areas where not much was happening. We realize some people miss this, but you have to admit having to walk through empty areas really slows down the game. We thought we would try traveling TO the area you want to reach and having random encounters 'on the way'. We may have to play with it a bit to get the balance right. Does that answer your question? Thanx for the answer... Are you currently working on an addon for BG II and if yes, when when will it be realised? got it lil slow here.. gimme a minute ;) sorry guys but we can't comment on non-released projects.. there.. done who were these mysterious grey clothed guys from the end sequence... there a many speculations about that... ooo! Yes, that's a good question. Unfortunately... You will have to wait for the story to continue to find that out. :) if of course the story is continuing... Sheeeesh, could we be any more vague, eh? :) we can try :) nope... as i thought... ;) Finding out will be VERY satisfying, I'll say that much. How did you decide which characters from bg1 should appear in bg2 ?? ...mean, why f. ex. Viconia but not Branwen... etc... got it Various reasons. 1) We needed a selection of alignments from across the board. 2) We felt they were interesting characters that we wanted to write more about. No matter who we picked, there would be others who would want someone else...so we just had to go for the story we liked. done lol :) Have you guys left any 'eastereggs' in the game? :) a hidden dungeon of lvl 15 bioware-developers, for instance :D oh yes indeed any hints? :) They wouldn't be Easter Eggs if we did that :) Some of those Easter Eggs are pretty hard to find. They were thrown in just for fun. We have that wacky Canadian sense of humor, after all. :) If something looks like a bug, it's really an easter egg. :) Ooo, good one! lol.. oh I like that answer Hey Yeah... Good. You said, that you appreciate the big community that developed after the release of the first Baldur's Gate. So what do you think about the stuff from TeamBG? Especially DSotSC, since it's been a pretty good expansion for a non-professional team. And related to this, does TeamBG stay in contact with you about new projects they're working on (e. g. the planned IWD-Expansion)? hehe.. I'm going to start answering the emails... Hey good for you.. you found our hidden crash easter egg :) I think they did a great job of reverse engineering the file formats... that takes alot of time and patience ...I couldn't do it... Some of the BioWare people are lagged right now. it shows alot of dedication to be able to complete something like that...I personally was quite impressed.. It's not the size of the sentence that matters - its how you use it. TeamBG isn't privy to our projects, no, but they do try to stay in communication with some of us. For the resources they had, I thought DSotSC was pretty impressive. This kind of fan development is great. I think it's rather cool that an independant group of folks have enhanced the Baldur's Gate experience...to the benefit of all BG fans :-) A question guys: Assuming that BG2 will have a sequel, would you go for a trilogy to wrap up the whole BG story or would you want to finish the whole story with four or five games? got it The story was originally envisioned as a trilogy. How it ends up being implemented remains to be seen. That said, though, there's a lot of cool stories that can be told in the D&D universe and I think there's a limitation to how powerful you can let a character become and still want to stick to the same story. Done there is this Habib dude, who throws a scimitar at you...whose idea was that? this jerk comes in and throws his scimitar at my poor Jaheira, who unfourtnaly only had one hp left... Habib created himself. He is slowly taking ove bioware. Help us! got it We had a contest mid-way through the BG2 development cycle. People sent in ideas for small NPC's who would have an appearance in the game. Habib was the 1st place winner...he appears twice in the game. Simyaz the Githyanki and a couple of others are also prize-winners. Done Do you implement yourselves as a band or other Characters in BG2? I mean yourselves oooohhhh Are WE in the game somehow? I'm always the bad guy Well, I think a couple of us were in BG1. In BG2, many of us had personal characters in the game. MaeVar (John) was in the game. Samuel Thunderburp was mine. There were quite a few others...that's about as far as we go, though. No point in having some balding writer dude encounter the character in the game. I don't wanna see myself gutted. :) In BG1 Krystin was mine And Winski in BG1 Olaff the Slave lord is one of mine... Why do female chars don't have a choice with their partners (male may have Jaheira, Aerie, Nalia)? And we...we get Anomen?! ;-) Okay, not that imortant, but kind of unfair, don't you think? And I want a good answer! *g* ok, here I go again OK, we DID have a second romance plot planned. With Haer'Dalis, in fact. We only had a limited time to do all of the romances, however...they were originally only going to be a small part of the game. And we ran out of time. That's all there is to it. And so you decided to do 3 male and one female? Wasn't supposed to be a sexist thing, we could only do so much. The romances are very time-intensive after all. No, we decided to do 3 male and 2 female. That's just the way it ended up. Yes.... At one point in development, all the romances almost got cut completely. I'm thankful they're there at all. What kind of characters do you prefer to play (via PC or P&P)? Mages, Bards, Priests or "Why brain, I have muscles..."-Fighters ??? ;) mage bard Rogues S'okay. I've been grilled on this several times. :) Anomen IS a jerk, but he wasn't supposed to be the only romance...that makes him look even worse. :) I'm more of a roleplayer...so it totally depends on what sort of story I can build up around the character... I like sorcerers. They're neat. Archers or Rogues.. never plan ahead well enough to memorize spells I've played a little bit of everything.. Halflings, here. Only halflings. Doesn't matter what class. Halforc barbarians are fun too. I dont know if you want to talk about this: but will you break even with BG2, or even make big profits? I mean is possible to earn much money for a developer with such a project? Last year the gaming industry outsold the movie biz...so I hear where's my 10 foot pole....just so I can make sure I don't accidentally touch that one Yes, we are very poor. The BG series barely sells at all. In fact, if you want to see another in the series, please send 5 DM to David Gaider at... heh... just kidding... lol.. now now Dave hehe.. go for 10 ;) Actually, Tom, we do very very well with the series. Thanks for asking. :) Ok, thanks, I understand. :-) It is possible to make money as a developer, but you must pick your projects carefully. The BG series has been good to us :-) ok, i'll try an NWN question to test your knowledge ;) ... Are there any official servers with official modules for NWN planned? If the answer is yes, what are the specs for these machines? Our plans for NWN servers are currently under discussion...and no decisions have been made yet. OK, unfortunately we have to end this chat now. We would like to thank all the people form Bioware who took part in this very interesting chat and we would of course like to thank all the people who took part in the chat! We hope to see you again next time. Thank you for coming! Bioware, Virgin and RPGHeaven.de wish you a nice day everybody ... and keep on playing Baldur's Gate 2! Thank you. Thanks for having us...it's been great! Have a good evening all...