Interview with Rob Bartel
By: Jay Watamaniuk
Who is on the development team and what are their roles?
Rob: While I handled the initial design of the module and have continued on as an advisor and project manager, BioWarian Peter Thomas and community member Jason 'Elidrin' Lowry are the ones truly responsible for bringing this Frankenstein to life. Not only have they served as the module's chief implementers, but they've also really taken the core design and made it their own. All of the Live Team Designers have played a role, however. Writer Dan Whiteside contributed all of the text, and tech designers Cori May and Grant Mackay have handled a bunch of the data entry and subsystems. It's been a lot of fun to have the whole team together, contributing to such an exciting premium module.
What is the involvement of community member Jason 'Elidrin' Lowry?
Rob: Jason's been vital to Infinite Dungeon's development and has been a joy to work with. I had written up the initial design doc for Infinite Dungeons back in July of 2004, before we had even launched the online store and released our first wave of premium modules (the idea itself actually dates back to 2001, when it was initially intended to ship alongside NWN's official campaign). We all loved the idea for the module but simply didn't have the manpower to pull it off at the time. When Peter Thomas joined the Live Team after the release of Pirates of the Sword Coast, we decided to partner him up with a community member to finally make the module a reality. Already well-known for his popular "Random Dungeon Generator" module series on the Vault, Elidrin was an obvious choice. He brought a lot of valuable experience to the table, helping us avoid some hidden pitfalls and contributing some wonderful new function requests that made their way into the 1.67 update.
What technical challenges did this unique module present?
Rob: Every single aspect of Infinite Dungeons pushes the envelope of what Neverwinter Nights was originally designed to do, so it's hard to pick out anything in particular. It took a lot of advance planning, some innovative solutions, a ton of incredibly helpful new functions from the Live Team programmers, and a whole lot of blind faith that we knew what the heck we were doing. In the end, the team was able to implement every single feature in the initial design docs. Not only that, they made significant improvements to every single one of them and then added a bunch of amazing new features as well. They've done a phenomenal job and it shows in the resulting gameplay experience. This ain't yer pappy's Neverwinter Nights anymore, Li'l Timmy.
Can I use my existing character in this module?
Rob: Absolutely. Infinite Dungeons scales to any level, from lowly Level 1s to epic Level 40s (5-30 recommended). Bring whatever loot you want in and take whatever loot you win out. Try to beat your high scores in single-player, adventure together as a party, or go head-to-head in a competitive dungeon romp. With Infinite Dungeons, we've placed an emphasis on creating universal systems that can scale to any level, any size of party, and any gameplay style. We wanted to create a flexible and open a game environment for you to adventure in.
What new art has been created for ID?
Rob: The End Bosses definitely steal the show, and the talented team at DLA did a phenomenal job of bringing them to life. There are a total of 6 end bosses overall. As you aid or defeat them throughout the course of the main story arc, you get to install them as lords over your own random dungeons. DLA also created a series of three tileset reskins that you'll be able to explore within the module. The Castle Interior and City Interior tilesets have been retextured with a more rustic 'stacked stone' look, and some additional room groups have been added. The Sewer tileset has also been drained and mechanized to turn it into more of a giant steamworks, which looks really cool. There are a handful of other odds, ends, and surprises, but the end bosses and tilesets are the biggest, coolest, and most obvious.
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