[MUD-Dev] Black Isle's Baldur's Gate

[J C Lawrence]

Black Isle appears to be doing a multi-player RPG:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/index.html

Which supports up to 5 simultaneous players per the FAQ at:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/mb.html

Also per the FAQ they are doing a very literal model of the TSR AD&D
rules.  <kof>  Also from the FAQ:

--<cut>--

Q: Do you have to manage things like eating (rations) and such? 

A: No, there is no ration management. We thought this was kind of
mundane - Baldur's Gate is epic and heroic. You don't have to worry
about going to the bathroom either (your characters are smart enough
to do that when you aren't looking.)

--<cut>--

(there goes SimAD&D).  and:

--<cut>--

Q: Do actions not in accordance with my alignment have any effects? 

A: There will be a "reputation" for your characters as well as an
alignment. Alignment per se doesn't change anything, since no one
knows what your specific alignment is. However, you will get more or
less experience points and the others in your party will react
differently to each other depending upon the alignment breakdown of
the party, how it corresponds with the reputation you've built up, and
the initial alignment you chose at the start of the game.  Reputation
is something you build during the course of an adventure, and it will
generally parallel your alignment. It represents how much people know
of your previous history of choices - and guards may react differently
to you in the next town you visit!

--<cut>--

Nothing like partial omniscience by NPC's.  And:

--<cut>--


Q: How much control do I have over my NPCs? 

A: All NPCs have their own AI scripting, outlining their basic
reactions to basic situations. At anytime, the player may "override"
what the NPC is currently doing. AI may be turned off or on at
will. The scripts can be modified to some extent; they help create a
NPCs personality and adds to the immersion level of the game. There
will be several levels of scripting available. We want to allow
players to be able to modify scripts not at all (the scripts that come
with NPCs should be quite adequate), a little (e.g. load in cautious
mage, aggressive fighter, etc.), or a lot (e.g. if enemy gibberling
sighted then cast magic missile at it). It will be up to the
individual player to decide how much to tinker with AI on his or her
party members.

--<cut>--

(Sounds rule based?)  And:

--<cut>--

Q: Will critical hits be in the combat system? 

A: Absolutely! Not only are they calculated, they are graphically
displayed with blood and gore! Of course, the level of graphic
violence will be adjustable to allow people of all ages to enjoy
the game.

--<cut>--

Insta-kill?  And:

--<cut>--

Q: Is Baldur's Gate going to be multiplayer? 

A: Yes. The multiplayer and single-player games are actually based on
the exact same story. The whole point of all of this is that we want
to capture the feel of the old AD&D adventures, where you entered a
campaign world with friends and adventured! The multiplayer game that
we are creating is a simulation of the old AD&D sessions of our youth.
People can "join" the adventuring party (up to six people per game) by
taking over one of the NPCs and if they have to go for supper the
party can either stop or continue (with an NPC AI back in the
character). We are not creating a "story-less" multiplayer game, we
are creating a complex story-based RPG that can be played either
single player or multiplayer.

Q: How many people can play Baldur's Gate multiplayer? 

A: A maximum of six can play (that's how many people can be in a
party).

...deletia...

Q: What is the difference between Multiplayer and an Online version? 

A: A multiplayer game features a small group of players (6 in the case
of Baldur's Gate) that share the adventures and story together. The
persistent world supports only the 6 players working together though a
common story and quest. In contrast, an online game (text-based MUDs
and Ultima Online are examples of true Online games) consists of a
persistent world in which many (hundreds or even thousands) of
characters play together. Typically there is not a strong story
element as the many players make their own quests. We'd love to do a
Baldur's Gate Online but recognize that it is truly a massive
undertaking, even larger than Baldur's Gate (which has been in
production for 2 years and currently has 30 people working on
it). We're still not sure whether there will be a Baldur's Gate Online
- we'll keep you posted on this subject!

--<cut>--

UOL is the touchstone again.  And:

--<cut>--

Q: What happens when the leader of a multi-player game dies? 

A: If the main character dies (whether in single- or multi-player
games), the game cannot continue and a saved game must be
reloaded. The story revolves around a main character, THE main
character. If he/she dies, the story cannot go on.

--<cut>--

Gotta love it.  The leader dies and all the other players are kicked
out or have to restart from when the "leader" last saved.  Talk about
a versioned reality (RRCS == Reality Revision Control System).  I
guess there's no inheriting the crown.

Screen shots are at:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/hall.html

The screen shots are rather interesting.  they appear to be doing a
standard tile based approach for the graphics, but with a very small
tile granularity.  Examine the construction of the cliff at:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/images/screens/bald02.gif

and:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/images/screens/baldr009.jpg

for instance.  I suspect the glowing rings about figures:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/images/screens/baldr011.jpg

indicate PC's over NPC's?  (Anybody confirm?)  The handling of
building interiors:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/images/screens/baldr019.jpg

is also interesting if standard (black field outside of building).  A
couple older exterior shots:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/images/screens/bald04.gif
  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/images/screens/bald08.gif

are *really* illuminating (look at the angles and shadows).

Scott Grieg, Lead Programmer writes at:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/scott.html

--<cut>--

I will have to say that those criticisms are certainly valid. This
almost word for word echoes a conversation that Ray and I had about a
month ago. We were discussing whether to release the NID as is or
update it with the latest engine, art, sounds and animations.

The NID was originally written last September. We had it essentially
finished, but we had to wait for voice acting, sounds and music. Since
both the sound studio and actors are hired on a daily basis, it wasn't
practical to record sounds just for the NID. So we had to wait until
we were ready to record the voice acting for both the NID and the
final game. This meant we had to wait until we had the verbal dialog
complete, and for Interplay's sound studio to be free. This didn't
happen until after Febuary.

So after the voice acting, was complete we were left with the
decision, do we release the NID as is, or do we rewrite it using the
latest version of the engine. The bad news is that rewriting the NID
would have delayed the final game by another 3 to 4 weeks. So, old NID
it is.

Since the NID is based on a 9 month old version of the engine, I would
like to tell about some the things that have changed or been improved
on since the NID.

-Scrolling

The scrolling in the game is like Command and Conquer. It is
completely under user control. You are free to scroll anywhere in the
area. Unexplored areas are hidden until the characters can see them.

-Line of sight

Areas beyond the line of sight of the character are dimmed. The game
has true line of sight. It is affected by buildings and terrain
features.

-Sounds

The sounds in the NID are not the final sounds. The sound guys at
Interplay have not sent us any of the final sounds yet. We had to make
due with some misc. sounds that we scavenged, or made ourselves.

-Voice Acting

The voices are the final voices, although they haven't been mastered
yet. There is a lot more voice acting than what is indicated by the
NID.

-Monster Sounds

None of the monster sounds are final. We are hoping to get those soon.

-Character Animations

I believe we have redone almost every character and monster animation
since the NID. Since we had to adjust the format of the animations, we
were not able to insert the new animations.

-Spell Effects

There has been a lot of effort place into improving the spell
effects. If you look at the recent screen shots of the lightning, you
will notice it looks a lot better than those that are in the
NID. Almost all of the spell effects have been improved in that
way. For example the fire ball and flame arrows have smoke trails, and
we have removed most of the particle effects.

-Character Interaction

The character interaction code was a recent addition the to game. At
the time of the NID, all of the character interaction was faked using
the scripting language. This is why the voices and the actions seem
somewhat out of sync.

-User Interface

We are still in the process of refining the UI. Since this is highly
sensitive to the feedback that we receive from the testers, I believe
that this will still be changing right to the end of the development
cycle.

Overall, I would have to say that the final game looks so much better
than the NID, that we were strongly considering delaying the game a
month, just to update the NID. I hope that you think that we made the
right decision.

P.S. We also could have not released the NID at all. This was also
considered since it no longer represents what the game truly looks
like.

P.P.S. Keep the comments coming in. Even though we have addressed most
of your concerns, we are still listening to your opinions.

Scott Greig 

Lead Programmer for Baldur's Gate 

--<cut>--

I didn't check out the web based discussion at:

  http://www.interplay.com/bgate/mb.html

as its distinctly painful and tortuous to use.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...