[MUD-Dev] Re: The Future of MMOGs... what\'s next?

[Valerio Santinelli]

From: "Sean Kelly" <sean at ffwd.cx>
> From: "Valerio Santinelli" <tanis at mediacom.it>

>> NWN can be massive.

>> The only problem about making it a fully persistant game is that
>> variables tied to characters, that are used to track quests
>> completion and similar thing, are not saved with the characters
>> themselves. I guess Bioware is going to release a patch fo this
>> behaviour.

> Actually, so far as I know, it is possible to create invisible
> inventory items and to store variables on these.  At the very
> least, you could give players an actual inventory item and do the
> same.  So far as I know, variables stored on items persists across
> servers (it would have to, since that's how charges for wands are
> handled, etc).

I double-checked this. And got confirmation from other people, too.
Variables assigned to items in your inventory are NOT saved.  I do
not know how wands work, but I guess they use a different approach
than local variables. I'll have a look at them as soon as I get back
home.

>> You also get NWScript, which is a scripting language with syntax
>> similar to C. And you can do virtually everyhing with it.

> ...except add new functionality via shared libraries or the like.
> While this would be a perfect way to introduce instability,
> malicious code, etc.  into game servers, it would also allow us
> more resourceful types to do some truly incredible stuff.  That
> said, NWScript is quite nice.  Combined with local variables, even
> complex datatypes are possible.

You are right about both. You can have marvelous new functionality
and introduce instability and malicious code at the same time. It is
also true that games like Quake are using this approach anyway.
Bioware is never going to add support for external libraries,
anyway. They are not even going to add I/O functions to write to
file.

> There is, however, a huge lack of documentation for the scripting
> language and included API (ie. none, unless you count the modules
> that ship with the game).  Fortunately, the rabid fan base has
> constructed some decent basic docs with the help of a few of the
> designers.  Still, it would be nice if this sort of thing were
> available from BioWare directly.

The only real source of documentation are the forums on Bioware's
site.  Documentation is almost not existant. I've seen that a few
books about the NWN toolset have been published, but I do not know
how good they are since I've not yet put my hands on them.

>> I've had a look at the original scripts from Bioware. You can see
>> that all the code related to how combat works, how XP are
>> assigned, how spells affect other creatures, and more, are all
>> done with NWScript. This means that you can completely rewrite
>> the rules of your game.

> Within reason.  Adding features that require a modification of the
> basic rules would be difficult to impossible (new races or classes
> that are not variations on existing ones).  But things like
> vampirism should be quite doable.

At the moment it is possible to replace existing races with your
own. The issue is adding a new race to the game, but it's more
because of the menus used during character creations that are not
customizable.  Even .2da files (Baldur's Gate race and class files)
are working, but they are not supported.

>> NWN holds great power. I agree it's the next step after UO, but
>> not only UO. It's the next step of what UO emulators have done
>> till now. Bring server-building capabilities to the masses.

> It's one of the only ways I see that could generate enough content
> to satisfy the gaming community.  And the content is as diverse as
> the community itself.

Yes. And differently from UO, you can add completely new models to
your world, thus virtually enabling you to make worlds with
completely different graphics than Bioware's chapters.

--
Valerio Santinelli
One Man Crew Gaming Community (http://www.onemancrew.org)
My Lab (http://tanis.hateseed.com)
HateSeed.com Founder (http://www.hateseed.com)
In Flames Italia Webmaster (http://www.inflames.it)



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