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Neverwinter Nights: Resurrection

Profile by Jay Watamaniuk

Neverwinter Nights: Resurrection

I'll admit it: I'm an old gamer. I will sneak into the computer room late at night and load up some flash version of Yar's Revenge or Archon for a few minutes of lo-res good times. Back a few years ago, a game came out called Neverwinter Nights that was a revolutionary online experience, an epic RPG with flashy graphics and a great story...5 years before BioWare even started doing business in Greg's basement. Neverwinter Nights: Resurrection is the vision of a dedicated group of gamers that have reshaped BioWare's Neverwinter Nights into a walk down memory lane by remaking the early 90's game of the same name hosted by AOL. We spoke with Snake to get the old school goods:

What is your current involvement with this project?

Snake: I am the founder of the Neverwinter Consortium, and I currently serve as the Host, Lead Designer, and Chief Dungeon Master of Neverwinter Nights: Resurrection. I spend most of my free time scripting, making custom models, and integrating new content into the game.

Is there a website where I can get more information?

The URL for our web site is http://www.nwnserver.net

What is the Neverwinter Consortium and how did that get started?

Snake: The Neverwinter Consortium was founded on August 12, 1999, for the purpose of remaking the original Neverwinter Nights using BioWare's newly announced Aurora toolset. As a former Guildmaster of a Sanctioned Guild from the original NWN, I was on a mailing list that included many other former players. On August 8, 1999, I received a message saying that BioWare had announced that they were making a new version of Neverwinter Nights. At first we all thought this was going to be a remake of the old game, but of course that wasn't the case. After an initial reaction of disappointment, I realized that what we were going to get was a way to remake it ourselves. I immediately started a project to do it. At first, it was nothing more than a web site, a message board, and a very ambitious goal.

Neverwinter Nights: Resurrection is a remake of a much older game. Can you tell us about that previous game and why it inspired such a loyal following?

Snake: The original Neverwinter Nights is credited as being the very first "massively multiplayer online roleplaying game." It was designed by Stormfront Studios, who also had designed the "Gateway to the Savage Frontier" and "Treasures of the Savage Frontier" CRPGs for Strategic Simulations, Inc. AOL hosted the original NWN from 1991 to 1997. The game attracted people from a variety of different backgrounds in gaming, because it combined the features of MUDs and arcade-style graphical games with the most popular fantasy roleplaying system, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It allowed people to roleplay together in large groups without having to gather in-person. This brought together people who would never have had a chance to play together. Lifelong friendships and even marriages got started there. When AOL closed the game, its popularity was on the rise. The decision to close it was made because AOL had recently switched from hourly rates to a flat rate, which changed the game from a lucrative profit center to a competitor for limited resources. The competition was catching up, too. Ultima Online launched two months after NWN was closed, and it was a far superior game in terms of the graphics and game technology employed. When NWN was closed, the game community that had grown up around it could have been completely destroyed. However, having the game taken away as it was actually solidified the bonds between players. Many of the original player Guilds that formed there are still actively playing together, in one game or another.

Can you tell us about NWN:R as it stands today? Why would a player looking for a new and exciting place to explore come to your world?

Snake: Neverwinter Nights: Resurrection encompasses a large swath of the Savage Frontier region of the Forgotten Realms, bounded by the High Road in the West and the Long Road in the East, and by Red Larch in the South and the Mount Hotenow region of Neverwinter Woods in the North. You will not find any empty areas in the game; every area has something in it for players to do. This is a wild and untamed region of the Forgotten Realms, and that is faithfully mirrored in the game. There are quests given by Lord Nasher that will take players through most of the game areas, and we are adding more quests as time goes by and as we add more areas.

We also have DM-run events at various times. One of the most popular is the Monday night Hunt sponsored by the Grey Company, an Elvish group that is one of the most respected roleplaying Guilds in the history of MMORPGs. If you run across a member of the Grey Company, you shouldn't be surprised to hear them greet you in Elvish...we have an Elvish voiceset for PCs, in actual spoken Elvish.

The game itself consists of over 400 areas, divided into 5 game modules plus separate modules for our Player Vault and our Login Lobby. These are hosted on 4 LAN-linked servers that share a server vault and database. Even though we completed the construction of every area of the original NWN well over a year ago, the game is still in some ways a work in progress. We are constantly adding new content. For example, we just launched a new set of areas called Kryptgarden Forest on April 10th. Since finishing the reconstruction of the original game areas, we have added two other multi-area high level expansion zones, started rolling out a new trade skill system that has features similar to the EverQuest trade skills, and added a player Guild system featuring Guild Halls and custom Guild logo shields and robes.

We are working now on adding a placeable housing system for players, putting in several new trade skills, and integrating another series of expansion zones. Finally, and possibly the most exciting thing for former NWN players, we are working on a turn-based combat system that will be deployed in designated areas, to better emulate the combat system of the original NWN. I have scripted a working system for melee combat and AOE spells, and together with Syrus Greycloak, a long-time staff member and the creator of The Grimoire spell expansion hakpaks, we are in the process of adding a turn-based timing system to all spells with a duration component. This is the final step in the creation of a full-fledged turn-based combat system for the game.

Does your group use new community-made material?

Snake: We make extensive use of community-made content, and could not have made the game without it. Our hakpaks rival the CEP in size and scope. Listing all of it would be prohibitive. Among the things we use are Lisa's clothing and holdables; creature models by CODI, Maleioch, and many others; custom placeables by Ice-Child, Brother Roth, Spoonmerlin, etc.; and a custom combination City/Rural/Forest tileset put together by Vilance d'Asari. We are also about to add my animated versions of the Siege Engines made by Some_ux, as well as some of the hauberk models, and the CODI-DD swamp tileset (for the Mere of Dead Men, of course!). What we can't find within the large selection of community-made material, we make ourselves.

Do you have a favorite moment in the creation of or in the playing of NWN:R?

Snake: Picking one favorite is just about impossible; there have been so many great moments. The first time I saw another player log in to visit Neverwinter when I put it online for testing in July of 2002 was a great moment. So was our public launch on October 25, 2002. I got a pretty big thrill the first time I put a custom placeable I had made into the game and saw it actually work! Maybe the most memorable moment of all was when I encountered a new player near Longsaddle one night. He's a former NWN player who had logged in for the first time that night. He told me that logging in and seeing the old game areas recreated in such great detail was a profoundly emotional experience for him. Many others have told me the same thing since then, and it has been extremely gratifying to have evoked that kind of reaction.

What can NWN:R fans expect in the coming months?

Snake: We will soon be adding the Yartar region to the game, opening up a new center of intrigue involving the Kraken Society, who are major NPC villains in the game. A Guild chat system will be added to our custom Guild system. We will continue to roll out new trade skills. The player housing system and the trade skills will together allow players tremendous freedom in designing their own living space in-game. We will also be adding more quests and more NPCs to support them. Another major addition will be the city of Luskan, which will give the evil characters in the game a base to rival Neverwinter. The turn-based combat system will take a bit longer to finish and test, but it will definitely be worth the wait!

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