12/30/99 - Latest News

Communicating on MUDS
Berendir @ 10:29 am EST

Charlie sent this news in about communicating in Muds:

Here is an idea for everyone on the mud. You know when you group and your in a battle? and it gets really intense and u say something to your partner and he doesn't see it? well those things won't happen anymore if you have a microphone, soundcard and ears of course you will be able to talk to a person for free! the program is not even 1 meg large and it's free! you can download at www.rogerwilco.com it's puts more role play into role playing by hearing voice.

12/25/99 - Latest News

Curved Walls in Citadel Project
Berendir @ 8:58 pm EST

News from the Neverwinter Nights Vault.

Rob Bartel from NWN responds to a message from the Dwarven Citadel Project on curved walls.

Yes, congrats to everyone here. You've got some great discussion taking place on these boards.

I saw your curved wall post on the official boards but never got to it. Basically, we will have curved walls and rough-edged natural walls but I don't think they're quite what you're looking for. They'll be tight curves, covering a 90-degree arc within a single 10-meter tile. In other words, a 2x2 grid of curved tiles will give you a perfect circle. Anything bigger than that will end up being a square (or other straight-edged shape) with smoothed corners. Even an octagon would be difficult, as we probably won't have wall tiles set at a 45-degree angle. Nevertheless, keep up the good work. You'll come up with something that looks sweet, I have no doubt.

12/22/99 - Latest News

News on NWN
Berendir @ 6:43 pm EST

Heres some bits of info from the Neverwinter Nights Vault.

Module Length

I just want to remind everyone that each module is designed to approximate one evening of gaming (roughly 2 to 4 hours of gameplay, depending on module and playstyle). I suspect that in most cases, at least, people will play a module together then go their separate ways to meet again for another gaming session the following evening. In other words, most people will be jumping back to the Neverwinter.net matching service in between modules anyways, so the trouble you describe won't even be a factor.

On the other hand, we are planning on a auto-load function whereby the server can be instructed to automatically load 'the next module' (as the campaign is largely non-linear, the term 'next' is relative and up to whoever's hosting the game session) once the current one is comp leted. This is an advanced feature and one that will be used primarily by our hardcore players. In this case, the thief from your example would be carried forward into the new module with everyone else. If this annoys you, whoever's hosting the game session does have the power to boot the uncooperative player and ban them from the server.

Module Parts

We're aiming for a pretty free system of importing and exporting terrain, creatures, scripts, items, etc, between modules. Each has its own file type that can be extracted from the larger module file with relative ease. So yes, fusing multiple smaller modules into a single large one (especially if they all consist of fully independent areas) should be a relatively painless process.

12/19/99 - Latest News

The Next poll
Berendir @ 3:00 pm EST

The Last poll was up for a while, and well over 300 people participated in the poll. It was to get an idea of what Games out there interested you the most. The Trilogy was in first place for a while, and then Middle Earth Online went ahead, and as it ends, almost 29 percent of the people voted for MEO, and 27 percent for The Trilogy. Up next was Neverwinter Nights, and then Middle Earth Muds. In last was Worldforge.

As for the next poll, it will be focusing on Middle Earth Muds, and Mushs. There are some good ones out there, and they deserve attention. Heres your chance to let me know which ones your most interested in. If theres any Middle Earth MUD s, or MUSH's out there you want reviewed, email me at berendir@theonering.net and I'll see to it.

Two Towers Review
Berendir @ 11:20 am EST

The Two Towers is a MUD based on Middle Earth. After getting a request by a fan, I reviewed the MUD, and here it is!

Check out The Two Towers Review Here.

12/16/99 - Latest News

House of the Silver Deeps
Berendir @ 4:36 pm EST

The House of the Silver Deeps has been reborn. The house was created a year ago, for Middle Earth Online. It's an all Dwarven House, whose main goals were to retake Khazad-dum and create a Dwarven community.

Now its goals are to play in Neverwinter Nights, and Possibly Middle Earth Online when it comes out. The site looks great, and if your a Dwarven Roleplayer, go check it out.

12/15/99 - Latest News

A few things on NWN
Berendir @ 12:13 pm EST

Heres several clips of info from the Neverwinter Nights Vault.

Portals and Network Performance

One way potrals to your system require no more network bandwidth than the normal listining for player logins. Portals from your system and two-way portals will contact the connecting server every minute or so to check if it is still up. Other than that they won't really affect network performance at all.

Scripting and Story Design

Remember, Neverwinter will be using a very different engine from that used by BG (it uses 2D pre-rendered art rather than 3D tiles, for instance) but, you're right, there will be a lot of similarities with regards to scripting.

To be honest, I'd recommend studying all the RAGs you have. Scrounge up your old campaign notes from playing pen & paper. On the computer, go back and play the old Gold Box Games, the middle Ultimas, Daggerfall, Might & Magic, etc. Play the newer ones, too: Revenant, Silver, Odium, Fallout 1 & 2, Baldur's Gate/Tales of the Sword Coast. Play the online games or, if you can't shell out the cash, have a close look at any of the million reviews out there for them and try to read between the lines. Study all of these games and figure out what makes them either tick or not tick for you. Think about what's going on behind the scenes in terms of scripting, creature placement, storytelling, dialogue, and so on. Neverwinter is going to be your chance to take everything you've learned from a lifetime of playing games and make the game *you've* always wanted.

On a related note, for those of you interested in story scripting, plot triggers, and the like, I recommend picking up a copy of the recently released 'Planescape:Torment.' It uses a modified form of the BioWare Infinity Engine originally created for BG and does some very exciting things with regards to scripting. It should generate some good discussions between all of you future module-creators.

Stealing

You steal the object from the NPC (the server is set for PVP). If the NPC doesn't notice, nothing happens other than a slight evil shift in your alignment. If the NPC notices he/she shouts for the guards and your fame goes up and your alignment shifts slightly in the evil direction. This added fame makes you a well know cutpurse for a period, as fame decreases with idle time it might be best to go to the thieves quarter and hide out for a while until your newfound fame blows over.

World History

The World History is entirely in the module desinger's hands. Use it as you see fit. For instance, in the module I'm working on right now, one of the possible paths to the conclusion is through a network of caves, another is through some cellars, and a third is accessible only via the local Thieves' Guild. I chose to advertise the first two in the World History and keep the third conveniently silent.

Competitive multiplayer modules are no different. You tell what you want to tell and hide what you want to hide. There may even be cases when you will want to put deliberate misinformation into the World History.

12/12/99 - Latest News

Hero's Journey and Kewl Doods
Berendir @ 4:52 pm EST

Hero's Journey is a Role Playing Game thats currently in development, by Simutronics, the company that created the text based games Dragonrealms, and GemstoneIII.

I found the following off the Hero's Journey Vault. It addresses the concerns players have about Hero's Journey being turned into a game dominated by Kewl Doods.

...which translated from 31337 reads "MUDs and the kewl dude effect". It was proposed that text-based MUDs don't attract lamers the way popular graphical based massively multiplayer games do, but the facts say otherwise:

As to the difference between MUD's and graphical RPG's...well, I don't know any other way to say it but, you're wrong. You seem to be basing your claim on the small MUD's (say, 50-150 players) that abound on the net, and the doods are indeed rather rare there (not a large enough audience, and a very high GM/player ratio). This isn't true of either of our two larger games, GemStone III or DragonRealms.

When we moved to AOL, and especially when AOL went flat-rate, we most certainly -did- attract huge numbers of kewl doods (as in hundreds or thousands of such characters a month). And yes, we were not expecting them, nor were we well prepared for them at that time (nor was -any- online RPG, considering we were the first to hit those kind of numbers). However, that was several years ago...and I'll put our tools, skills, and experience in handling this crowd up against -any- game company at this point in time (or at any other, for that matter). We still get them, but those who are as obvious (or oblivious) as those on UO or EQ don't last very long at all. ;)

FWIW, hunting troublemakers in our games has been my favorite hobby for the last two or three years, and I have -no- worries about the dewds running away with HJ...it just ain't gonna happen, because we won't let it. My personal fear is that we'll do it too well, and I'll have to find a new hobby (j/k). ;)