Icewind Dale Official Chat on May 31, 2000 at 6:00 PST Held in http://rpgvault.ign.com/chat/ channel #ignvault Edited chat log prepared by MageDragon of Baldur's Gate Chronicles (www.bgchronicles.com) In attendance from Black Isle Studios were: BIS_JESawyer J. E. Sawyer (Designer) BIS_Reginald Reginald Arnedo (Designer) BIS_ScottW Scott Warner (Designer) BIS_David_Ray David Ray (Software Engineer) BIS_Parker Chris Parker (Producer) BIS_Kihan Kihan Pak (GUI) BIS_Deiley John Deiley (Designer) BIS_SteveBokkes Steve Bokkes (Designer) BIS_Darren Darren Monahan (IWD Producer) BIS_ScottE Scott Everts (Artist) BIS_French Tom French (Programmer) BIS_DavePursley Dave Pursley (Artist) *** luxor_ign sets mode: +m * BIS_JESawyer plays some power chords for Darren. Welcome to RPG Vault's Icewind Dale chat with Black Isle Studios! This is a moderated chat -- please msg luxor_ign with your question, and I will relay them to the developers to answer. Please only ask once, I do see all your questions! If your unfamiliar with IRC, simply type /msg luxor_ign question First off, I'd like everyone from Black Isle Studios to say hello and describe how you're involved with the Icewind Dale project. In any order, jump right in! :) Hello. I'm a designer for BIS on Icewind Dale. I joined the team last year after coming over from web. Hi! I'm Reg and I'm one of the designers for "the dale" "Tha Daele" I'm Scott Warner, and I'm a designer on Icewind Dale. I was also a designer on Planescape:Torment. I drink a lot of diet coke. yep! I'm David Ray, one of the programmers on Icewind Dale. Also known as "Dr. DRay" <--- Not really a Doctor, I just play one on the web. :) But he is a big time rap producer. Dray from the wessside How about Parker? Parker Chris can't lose! Wassup folks And here's Kihan Pak Shakur. hello everyone thanks guys! here we go with the questions! why is Icewind Dale not just another Baldur's gate expansion? Why is it it's own game? *** Bis|Reginald is now known as BIS_Reginald just a sec... The focus for Icewind Dale is different from Baldur's Gate. We focus more on a linear story, rapid advancement, killin', and reaping the treasure of the ancients. That kind of thing. Feel free to add anything, dudez. It's also not based around the individual. It's party based. Done. yes... just jump right in if you have anything to add! All wrapped up with that BISinternal shiny storytelling. How big is the world compared to bg1, and how many hours does it take to end the game for a average player Hmm. That's a difficult question. We've focused on a lot more harder fights. You cant just select all your guys, send them in the battle, and hope they'll live. You'll be spending a lot of time planning every move, else you die. oops..that was for the previous question. There are a *lot* of areas in Icewind Dale. Perhaps less than there were in BG, but the action is a lot more condensed. There's very little wasted space on our maps. It's filled to the rim with encounters, traps, and treasure. The square footage of the world is smaller than the BG1 world. But we've tried to use the space more effectively. As for how many hours, I'm not sure. I'm done. It's kind of a difficult comparison. Icewind is a bit more linear, with very little wasted bits. Will Bards be able to wear any type of armor and still cast spells? (sorry I haven't checked the board yet!) We use every part of the pig. As for playtime, I would have to say that its around 50 or 60 hours for the average player. Maybe longer for some, shorter for the seriously hard core. Bards cannot cast spells in armor. Nope, bards still follow the same restrictions that they did in Baldur's Gate in terms of armor. However, there are a number of special bardic items that *only* bards can use. done Steve :) Will there be good armour for each class? Especially the Druid? It's time to play a Bokkesian Rhapsody. Yes, we have a good variety of armor in our game. There are even two special armor items for druids. There are actually a huge number of items that we've created that tend to be unique for classes and alignments and such. So yes, there is some cool druid armor. I'm done. Are Lightwave and 3D Studio Max the only programs used to create the characters in Ice Wind Dale? Hmm... good question. Any artists on? Actually, pretty much only 3DSMax was used in Icewind Dale. For animations, I believe Max is pretty much the only program used. How has the multi-layer aspects improved, will it be more fun for a few friends to join? We did use some LW for spell effects and a few other little things, but for the most part its MAX for everything from characters to backgrounds. Done Maybe DRay and Parker can answer this one... The changes to MP should make the play a little smoother for everybody. We also made many changes to make DirectX 7 more stable. The improvements aren't huge and drastic, they are tweaks and mods, like not having to go into the store-type stuff, that just make it a less cumbersome. Matter of fact, we require DirectX 7. Mr. Deiley The overall affect will just be smoother play with less boring type stuff. Done Mr. Deez. we're getting a lot of this question :) Any new developments in confirmed release date? So yes I guess would be the answer. * BIS_JESawyer listens to the crickets chirp. heh The release date is * BIS_Reginald whistles. gotcha Soon? Pretty soon? Sooner than later? We are still targeting this quarter for release... I suppose IWD is scriptable like BG, right? If so how complicated a script can you write? What situations will the script be able to handle? Heh. * BIS_JESawyer laughs. Pretty complicated. Same scripting language... although Tom has made some Frenchie modifications to the way we create them. The scripting language is pretty similar to BGs, although we have added a few new flammy things. The scripting language is almost the same as BG. We've added a few more commands, but the overall structure of the scripting language is almost identical. Hehehehe....frenchie modifications and flammy things... we are highly technical here at BIS. heheh All heading towards the "Tom French Brain" (tm) Maybe if you write scripts well enough, I'll buy you a Spanish morion helm with "El Scriptor" engraved in it. Is there plans on adding a Multiplayer Arena Expansion, for players to play against each other? Hello all but you'd have to fight Jake for it No, but Pete has plans to turn Easthaven into a Quake 3 map. Hoo-rah! HOo! Hello John. Johnnn hmm... Icewind Dale II: Beyond Thunderdome? But seriously, I don't think we're considering an arena expansion. Can we expect to have any more music samples before release? I think this is working now. Hello Josh Darren can probably answer the music samples question...maybe... somebody go kick Darren Scottteee I expect that we will probably release a few more samples, but that's just a guess. Darren is getting Scotte on line Ah. Does the game follow the Icewind Dale Trilogy in any way other than the setting? I just kicked him. Sorry was AFK getting more team member online Nope. We make references to a few things in the books, but it's not a direct offshoot or anything. Hi all The game takes place prior to the trilogy. So there is no real way we could follow the story, since it hasn't happened yet. Hello Scotty. are there new types of traps? Is there an option to auto pause when you find a trap? I haven't read the trilogy. Sorry, I don't know. yes/yes Yes and yes (I think). New spell traps and new mechanical traps. Wonderful nasty traps galore Wheeee! I'm spinnin'! And the pause feature is in. AuraPsi: We just released two MP3's today along with a really cool Winamp skin from Pete, one of our artists. We may release another one or two before the game ships :) It's nice :). As soon as the trap is detected and it goes red, the game pauses, letting the player decide his next move. But no... "You see a door. Enter... Yes/No?" YOU DIE! "Yes." "YOU DIE!!!!"

Any thought of multi-monitor support for Icewind Dale or BG2? Ha ha. Done. No demiliches either. Hmm. That'd be hard to deal with, especially with 3d acceleration. OpenGL + Dual Monitors = stinky poo poo. TDogg!!! I smell something funky. Wazzup du No. Multi-monitor wouldn't really add anything to the way the game works. duuuuu Urgh? question Has the status of the Maul been solidified for IWD and if it is in the game, will it be a 2 handed weapon and only do 2d4 damage? * BIS_JESawyer listens to the crickets again and hides behind Parker. ROFL * BIS_David_Ray hides behind Monahan Oh, the maul... how ye vex us. hahahaha I know the weapon is in the game. I haven't looked at the stats for it. I don't think we have a final answer for that, Regis. lol Sorry. :( What is the next game on the list after IWD? We're not allowed to discuss that yet Sorry. But it will crush your soul hehe Into dust. It's or Or dust OF dust. Well, that's a loaded question... yeah Or ash of dust of dust. Well the next scheduled shipping product is Baldur's Gate II. Project Shhhh "Secret Project" hehe www.dirty.org/BIS/ How many magical blunt and spiked weapons will there be than in BG? (Only +1 flails and morning stars were in BG) Tom and I live in the projects. the PJs They're team wesssside Plenty. We have a whole bunch o' maces, flails, hammers, and morning stars for you to frolic with. I need more stamps so I can go get some dinner And some smokes. I think they count as food. And booze * BIS_ScottW hands French a can of Beefaroni Done. mmmm Aye, and quite a few of them will have more flavor than just a "+1" :) Will we be seeing any of the monsters from BG in IWD? Or perhaps the same animations? hey is that the spicy Beefaroni or the regular? 8-) A few of them, yes. However, most of the monsters in our game were homebrewed by Pete Meihuizen. We have some BG monsters in the game as well as a lot of our own creations. Tons o new monsters for Icewind. I love 'em. Props to Pete. Yeah, Pete does good work. Do you ever steal packs of sugar from restaurants just so you can run around on a sugar high at home? YES omg...lol I buy sugar and caffeine by the bucket. hahahahaha No, but we do have races to see how quickly different liquids dissolve sugar cubes. And Dr. Aaron Brown! We've used very few of the monsters from BG1, basically some skeletons, wolves, bears, and of course the avatars. We've created about 50 or more new monsters however. Done. No, not at home. I run around in public places. I like to scare the hell out of people And we also drink 928374927843 cups of coffee a day. I consume mass quantities of diet coke. Is it true that 25 of the enemy's are also starring in BG2? And why? I consume anything that will not kill me (and some things that will) Perhaps it's true. If so, it's because BioWare realizes that our monsters are, in simple terms, rad. Its possible. coz they're fab, mate! Yeah, it's possible RAD! AWESOME! JAWESOME! Fantus: Can't really comment much, but they are going to use some of our monsters most likely GNARLY! I don't know the exact number, but we did send them all of our monster files and spells and they are using what they want to use. It was part of the deal that we'd give them our cool baddies. Our artists did a FANTASTIC job with the new monsters. I believe Bioware felt the same way and thought that some of them should be in bg2 as well "rad"?! can u be robbed by other thieves, are there any changes made from bg1 thieves to icw thieves? so yes which ones:) got to help our Canadian brothers... NAFTA regulations and all I just counted and we have 70 new monsters. Thieves are pretty much the same in our game. You can count? jinkies I made toast! Same backstabbing goodness available. sometimes, after I take my medicine we hire interns for that Is there a chance to see Goblins setup up a "ingenious" trap that backfires? done There are a few situations where enemies engage in, for lack of a better term, "zany antics." * BIS_Darren smiles We have goblins doing all kinds of goofy stuff "hijinks" That should be a bullet point. "Zany Antics!" "chickanery" (sp) They have the best taunt in the entire world too We model the goofy stuff after real life here in Black Isle "tomfoolery" "shenanigans" shenanigans, I think is the technical term Will there be a fair amount of Easter Eggs in IWD? Maybe a brownie Race?! There are a few Easter eggs, but a brownie race... hmm, ya lost me there, duuuude. Well, I can think of one Easter Egg character in Icewind. RRRAAWWWRR Heh. well, you can make a gnome and give him dark skin :) I AM VARY DIPSLEASED, SIR!!! don't forget the alternate Ewok ending hahahaha Ice Windy Windy Dale Hmm... Easter Eggs, the things slipped into the game that they don't tell anyone about.... hmm.... She's hot When buying scrolls at a shop will they be identified as what specialty mage can memorize them. This lack of info bothered me in BG Hmmm... good idea... Yes, items for sale are typically identified beforehand Good idea... * BIS_JESawyer cracks whip over Jason Suinn's head. MUHAHAHA! Stop that. Jason likes it. Are IWD and BG2 the last two games that will use the Bioware Infinity Engine? Dunno, ceraph. Maybe. Possibly. Probably. I believe so Probably. I believe so. What are your favorite spells in IWD? * BIS_ScottW hugs the Infinity engine. I can't comment on that. Sorry As it stands, we aren't planning on any others. That doesn't include expansions though, which there could be. Magic Missile! "Long live the battleground Infinity!" ceraph: Most likely, but not 100% sure yet Aganazzar's Scorcher is mine :) Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, Cure Moderate Wounds, Shield Raise Dead. :) I use it a lot. Confusion... all the way Chris Jones Inescapable House Party! The scorcher was one of my favorites :) Shield blocks Magic Missiles now, which is always nice. Summon Love Boat! Hmm. not getting up to date feed here... Uh oh... Color Spray, Aganazzar's Scorcher, anything that cures.... got several of these: can you tell us anything about the expansion for IWD Color Spray... I'm also having a lot of fun with Animate Dead. Having these pets provides more tactical options in fights within our game. stinking cloud, death fog Torisen: Not at this moment, no. Sorry. Is there a possibility that we could perhaps pick up our own "animal companion" such as Boo? Celestial Host (aka Disco Dragon) I wanted to feed Boo to a cat... :) Wrong game, ScottW :) Bah! Boo rocked :) No animal companions. I wanted to make a beetle buddy, but everyone looked at me like I had the plague when I suggested it. hahahahaha Well, we had Lim Lims in Torment. Piyo! Beetle buddy? I thought you wanted a chicken friend Any chance we might see Elven Chain mail? Yeah, Chicken Friend! Pet Cobra. * BIS_Reginald grins. or was that fried chicken? Chicken's as party members are cool Vask: Yes, there is a chance. What that chance is, nobody knows! Ha ha ha! There is a chance that you may find some Elven Chain mail. I have been told yes We have the elven chain Chickens as bo-bombs would be better... how many cd for IWD ? Kitty Kitty Bang Bang. Two CDs What are we up to? barely We are doing compression on the areas which makes it possible for us to put it on less CDs so that you don't have to change them. two cds and three 3.5" floppies. just kidding. Are the ranger gonna be able o use 2 both hands for weapons? It looks like there will be just one install CD and one play CD. No dual-wielding :( Take it away, Dr. DRay. dual-wield = :( * BIS_JESawyer plays descending trombone line. Does the conversation in a multiplayer game happen between party members to create a more personal touch? No dual wield, but Rangers get one bonus attack if they have a weapon that they would normally be able to dual wield, and don't have a shield equipped. You can talk to each other in the normal means available in BG. You could also use Roger Wilco if you wanted. You could chat to a specific other party member in BG. So yes you can do that in IWD as well. Will there be barbarians, and if so, will they be hostile? Hmm... There are barbarians... There's barbarian stuff in our game, but it's not overwhelming. not sure what to make of this one, but here it is: Will there be any penguins in IWD? Maybe like Dire Penguins, or Undead Penguins? Hey Darren. Scotte is not getting text feed Vampiric Penguins and a few Balor Penguins, but nothing else. hahahahaha Damn, wish we would have thought of that - Dire Penguins would have been so cool! hehehe Dark Penguin No, but now that you've brought it up, I'm going to make some black and white dwarfs and name them giant penguins and give them frost breath. "Slliddeee...." what about joining temples and religions, what effect has it if you join a specific religion? # Appears as _NoArt. There'll be penguins from Batman Returns with rockets and stuff. Hahahaha...jk Really? .) brb Woody: no appreciable effect. If you choose to do it, it's just for role-playing. What is the mood of the game, light, humorous, dark, serious? I think the mood is serious. It varies. For the most part, I'd say that it's fairly serious. It's pretty moody. There is some humor in it but it's not overdone It does at times take some lighthearted breaks oops We're going to try to give the game some drugs to stabilize its mood swings. It's been pretty manic-depressive lately. I can't type for shilz What makes Icewind Dale unique and different from all games, including Baldur's Gate? No Josh, we need the drugs... Of course, with all these mood agents, it's likely to go on a killing spree. It's super action/combat driven I think it's the focus that makes Icewind Dale unique. We're not trying to make a vast, huge non-linear game. We're trying to make a focused, linear, action-oriented AD&D game. Less TALK, more RAWK * BIS_ScottW pets Icewind Dale, reinforces positive thinking, comforts it are there courtesans like in BG? Are they interactive? Heh. Nope. Sorry. Can we expect a fair amount of Gore? Well, the chunk has returned. Well, I've seen some critters explode into bits Gore? No, it's not bad. When the beetles die, it can get pretty nasty, but it's fairly mild. overall, that is. The gore level is about the same as BG. There are no pools of blood and such in the game Salsa death is less common. I added where I could. how many spells for wizard ? the beetle death makes me feel a little icky inside though Well, there are those dead guys in my areas... oops. And gnome bits. We're not taking on Solider of Fortune mmm... gnome bits Tasty! One correction, Salsa death is only less common for PC's, the frequency for monsters is unchanged. Lots of spells with really nice effects. I've not counted them though. actually I just added a revolutionary new GORE ZONE system last night... ok, I'm kidding