Trent Oster Interview
Trent Oster, the Producer of Bioware's online RPG, Neverwinter Nights (NWN), was kind enough to answer a few questions for BGC. The game was unveiled yesterday at Gen Con 1999 in Milwaukee. My thanks to Trent, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Krys Card for setting up the interview. For more information, visit the official NWN site [or since September 1, Planet Neverwinter].
- Silverdawn (posted August 7, 1999)
Trent, as people are less familiar with you than the good doctors, how did you enter the game industry and become the producer of NWN?
I entered the game industry in the summer of my third year of my computer science degree. Two other fellows and I started a game development company, working on a shareware title, Blasteroids 3D. While we were finishing Blasteroids 3D, Greg Zeschuk, who has been a good friend for many years came by and was very interested in the project. With that title finished, we began work on the title that became Shattered Steel. I was originally the sound engine and controller programmer, but switched over to be the solo 3D artist on the project early in development. I still did the sound and the controller system programming while doing the vast majority of the production and promotional artwork on the project. Following the ship of Shattered Steel, I assumed the role of 3D department head at BioWare. I additionally did some early prototype artwork and programming on MDK2. After a time acting as department head, I expressed an interest in moving to a more production based role and over a few months of design discussion, the NWN idea emerged, with myself as Producer.
How has the success of Baldur's Gate changed Bioware? What lessons have you learned about running the company in the last year?
The success of Baldur's Gate has made BioWare into a much stronger company. The effort put into finishing the game blew me away. So many different people were so passionately dedicated to the project and each other, it was amazing to witness. As a company we have become much more focused and disciplined, learning volumes of new techniques and approaches from the development of BG.
The lessons I learned from the development of Baldur's Gate are too many to count. Some of the most important lessons were from watching Ray Muzyka as a producer. Ray showed me that strong leadership, with a deep passion for the project is key to making great games. He also showed how important the online presence of a developer is. Another lesson was how important good people are to a project, adding to the already great amount of respect I have for everyone here at BioWare.
What are the respective responsibilities of Bioware and Black Isle Studios in the development of NWN?
BioWare is the developer of Neverwinter Nights. As developer, we are responsible for everything from the initial project design to delivering the completed project.
Black Isle will publish and market the title as well as providing quality assurance and possible some sounds and music.
Describe the game engine that will be used in NWN. What are its graphical capabilities, and is it a 2D, 3D or hybrid engine?
NWN is using the BioWare Omen engine. Omen is a totally 3D engine with a ton of amazing features, such as resolution independence, a powerful particle system and dynamic lighting. Another feature is the huge number of player animations the animation system supports, with the ability to smoothly interpolate between them. Omen allows us to create an amazingly rich world, populated with impressively detailed creatures and environments.
Describe the online experience you are trying to achieve with NWN and how you expect it to stand apart from other multiplayer RPGs.
The approach we have taken with NWN is to mirror the Pen and Paper model of role-playing. We want to get a group of friends together, give them a great story to play through and have a Dungeon Master to moderate the gameplay. Our hope is that we can isolate the great party adventuring experiences from massively multi-player games and at the same time give the players an immersive storyline to participate in. We are blending the best of both single player and MMPOG (Massively Multi-Player Online Games) games.
What type of online server will be necessary to house the world and players, and will there be a monthly fee?
The online server for NWN will be any end user's system. People can run their own online world. Characters can be stored locally, on their system, stored on the server they play on, or saved on to our "Character Vault". There is no monthly fee for the basic game. Other parties may set up value added version of NWN at some later date and may charge a user fee.
A detailed story gives the characters purpose but is difficult to implement in a massively, multiplayer RPG because it restricts freedom and individuality. How encompassing will the story of NWN be and how will it be relayed to the character? What is the premise story?
NWN is about cooperative party adventure on a great story. We took what Baldur's Gate showed as the potential for cooperative story-based adventuring and tried to evolve that experience to its maximum potential. The story is a great tale, filled with amazing characters and intrigue. The story will be relayed to the character through interaction with the world and NPCs. The premise of the story is you are a traveler to Neverwinter and have decided to become an adventurer. For some classes becoming an adventurer means a school, for others it means enlistment.
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