Planescape: Torment chat. Held at jester.dreammyst.net #torment on May 26, 1999 at 6:00 - 8:00 pm PDT. Editted log file prepared by Silverdawn of Baldur's Gate Chronicles (http://www.bgchronicles.com) In attendance were: Striding Dragon: Guido Henkel, Project Director, Torment BIS_Colin: Colin McComb, Designer, Torment BIS_Dan: Dan "Pinchloaf" Spitzley, Lead Programmer, Torment BIS_Jim: Jim Gardner, Programmer, Torment BIS_Ken: Ken Lee, Line Producer, Torment BIS_Tim: Tim Donley, Lead Artist, Torment BIS_Jake: Jake Devore, Scripter, Torment BIS_EricStuntDouble: Eric Campanella, Artist, Torment BIS_WTC: Chris Jones, Artist, Torment BIS_BKM: Brian Menze, Artist, Torment BIS_Steve: Steve Bokkes, Designer, Torment KrysAtBIS: Krys Card, Public Relations, BIS BIShop_Sawyer: Bishop Sawyer, Web Coordinator, BIS Chris[CreativeLabs]: Big_Tuna: Greg Peterson, Head of Marketing, BIS BIS_Greg: Greg Bauman, Marketing, BIS Over 101 people were in attendance at the peak. Welcome to the Planescape: Torment chat! If you have a question for the team, here's how to get on the list: If you are using an IRC client, type "/msg krys addme" without quotes. there we go Man, Patrick's listening to this weird ambient music. It's gnawing at my brain. dammit Please do NOT ask when the release date is. The information is available elsewhere. Don't ask questions that are answered on the website! Also, please refrain from profanity or vulgarity out of respect for our younger attendees. hey Krys dan is here KrysAtBIS: that should be /msg krysatbis addme where, timmy? KrysAtBIS: or you can change your nick to Krys The time is now 6:00pm Pacific This is a moderated chat. You won't be able to talk until it's your turn. Please DO NOT change your nick to make a comment or ask a question. Repeated nick changes will get you banned from the chat. Please do NOT ask when the release date is. The information is available elsewhere. Don't ask questions that are answered on the website! Also, please refrain from profanity or vulgarity out of respect for our younger attendees. You MUST be in #torment when your turn comes up or you will be skipped. If you're waiting in line to ask a question, now's a good time to type it into a text editor like 'notepad,' then hit cntrl C to copy it to the clipboard. When it's your turn, hit cntrl 'v' paste it in. * BIS_Jim Smiles Where's Dan? * BIS_Tim jumps up and down * BIS_Tim jumps over Bishop * BIS_Jim sings a song * BIS_Jim thinks happy thoughts Please do NOT ask when the release date is. The information is available elsewhere. Don't ask questions that are answered on the website! Also, please refrain from profanity or vulgarity out of respect for our younger attendees. This is a moderated chat. You won't be able to talk until it's your turn. Please DO NOT change your nick to make a comment or ask a question. Repeated nick changes will get you banned from the chat. * BIS_Tim hands out free goodies * BIShop_Sawyer spins. When is the release date? Colin... #@$OI&(*& If you're waiting in line to ask a question, now's a good time to type it into a text editor like 'notepad,' then hit cntrl C to copy it to the clipboard. When it's your turn, hit cntrl 'v' paste it in. * BIShop_Sawyer pummels Colin. Ok, let's go, yes? Yes! * BIS_Colin dodges Sawyer handily with KUNG FU Members of the Torment team, please introduce yourselves. I guess I'll start: Hi, Guido My name is Colin McComb, I'm a mad dog designer on Torment! I'm Colin McComb. I'm a designer on the project. Hi, this is Guido Henkel, the Project Director for Torment Dan, please change your nick Hello, I'm Jim, one of the team's programmers! I'm Tim Donley, artist among the finest group of artists. Krys: What should I change my nick to? Just wanted to let you all know - since I'm sure you're wondering...about the door prizes this evening. How about BIS_Dan? Darth Ken Lee at your service. I'm trying in vain to bring balance to the force... er, I'm the Line Producer. I'll be giving away the prizes later on this evening...Stay tuned, We've got some great stuff to give away And we've got Ken and Dan and Josh here too. Thanks, Ken =) I'm Dan Spitzley, lead programmer and superhero. Is that everyone? None of whom are introducing themselves. Bishop? I make webpages but I'm not on the dev team. So, word up. * BIS_Jim Spins in circles I'm SPINNIN'! * BIS_Tim spins with him I'm Krys, the PR manager for Black Isle Studios Ok, let's go! * BIS_Jim waves at Ken First question... * Dan spins with Tim and Bishop We also have Eric and Jake. Who are not yet opped.... hang on * BIS_Colin spins too Eric is a mad dog artist. Jake is a mad dog scriptor. * BIS_Dan throws up from spinnin' too fast. I am opped! Dan is just a mad dog. And Colin just mad dogs people! That's not an image I particularly needed of myself... Whoa! There's lotsa people here! You like us! You really, really like us! Hang on, guys technical difficulties... * BIS_Ken stops the spinning Colin and counter-spins him! * BIShop_Sawyer spins Colin. Does Not Compute! * BIS_Colin staggers * BIS_Jim peers over Kris's shoulder, inspecting the problem * BIS_Dan cannot determine his spin because of the Heisenber Uncertainty Principle * BIS_EricStuntDouble gets caught up in the vortex and gets sucked into the abyss. Guys, be right back - talk amongst yourselves - I'm sure Colin will give you a topic... Hey! Colin's a crazy dude! Let 's talk about insanity. Oooppps Insanity sucks. HA HA HA sorry, Guido. There ya go. Let's talk about why airplane food is so bad. I like salad So Colin, what are your views about Factol Amnar and the lost Dabus' temporary manic depression outbreak?? And slowly the chaotic threads congeal. Well, Ken, I think that this is a question that deserves careful study. Uh, Ken, what has that got to do with airplane food? Did somebody leave the cat in the oven? stay on topic, man What's goin' on Krys? * BIShop_Sawyer listens to Ute Lemper. Bishop: Ute Lemper? On Broadway or what? "Shall nOT even Tcian Sumere rEAliZe the TRutH??" IT is all over... Striding_Dragon: Nah. Just on CD. Heh. Uh, can we start chatting soon? Bishop: Can you run that CD by moy office sometime? We don't want to start hemmoraging fans. Striding_Dragon: Sure. * BIS_Jim peers at Jake Hi, everyone! HI COLIN! I guess you can't really say anything back, but... HI! Thanks for coming out tonight! >tik< >tik< is this thing on?? Oh, ho. That Colin. He's a wacky guy. We have reached the bottom of the queue. Krys: Which means? HEY IS THERE GONNA BE MULTIPLAYER? * BIS_EricStuntDouble taps his fingers on the table wEHN IS THE GAME COMING OUT? Please re-addme with your questions =) Only for those with spilt personalities. Thank you for your patience =) Oh no! Hemmorhage! Here we go (hopefully) === Mode change "+v Greywolf" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Greywolf What will the pacing of the game be like? For example, although I loved Baldur's Gate I found that in a few places the game dragged on a bit; but sometimes there was also a lot going on at one time. Thanks! I'm really looking forward to this game! Hey, and when are you going to start working on the "Real Reality" Infinity^2 engine? ;P Go ahead, Greywolf Colin? Wahoo!! I am not aware of any plans for an Inifinity 2 Engine at this point. If you're waiting in line to ask a question, now's a good time to type it into a text editor like 'notepad,' then hit cntrl C to copy it to the clipboard. When it's your turn, hit cntrl 'v' paste it in. The game will be faster paced than Baldur's We're doing our best to make sure that it remains interesting throughout. We know that we don't want it all-action, all the time, but we also know that we can't let it drag. We're testing the pacing even as we speak. I'm done. Except: Torment team, please give me a "ga" when you're set for the next question. Thanks. GA uhhhh... better late than never. To say that you'll constantly have quests. You'll never be at a loss for something to do. It's tough oftentimes to get the pacing balanced, because everyone is playing the game so differently. Great, thanks! GA GAAAAA!!! I know we are taking pains to make it hum along at all times. Thanks, Greywolf === Mode change "-v+v Greywolf Great_Wizard" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Great_Wizard (i heard one of you guys say "liar!") Go ahead, Great How many spells will there be in PT? and what type of them (offence defense etc...)? Not us!! Ken? Currently our list contains 82 different spells... yes, you did and the list is still growing... Ken? no, its now 182 Still being adjusted maybe 184 +/- :) Last count it was 1820 thanx GA === Mode change "-v+v Great_Wizard Dahok" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Dahok The way the plot seems to be set up, it does not look likely that a sequel could be made. Have you left any possibility for a sequel to be made? Also, the Nameless One is supposed to forget things when he dies right? How does this affect game play? We have other possibilities for sequels. They don't have to revolve around the Nameless One, after all... :) There is some twist of plot that prevents the Nameless One forgetting things after the outset of the game. You will not lose anything important when you die. mort? And, for the first time in a long time, the Nameless One is finally not forgetting things when he gets killed. Why? ::cue spooky music:: It's a mystery you'll have to discover. Mortes not important thanks! ga No problem! === Mode change "-v+v Dahok Sentience" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Sentience Hi there, I'm Kevin Yank from Montreal. Having enjoyed Baldur's Gate and the subsequent Tales of the Sword Coast immensely, I am wondering what big differences we'll see in Torment. It's obvious the setting and tone of the game will be much darker and surrelistic, but what features and innovations of the game *system* would you say are significantly different from BG that will keep this from being "just another Baldur's Gate"? It is hard to describe... We have Running!! what exactly makes the game different. Actually the way I look at it... Larger and more colorful spell effects. Character can run. You can add notes to the automap. And combat/ spellcasting is different almnost turns it around. I tend to say, other than a code base there are... Closer views. Very personality driven game hardly any similarities between the games. You can talk to stuff. Doors, Items... Tracking alignment. Lots of pineapples. And salad! A larger variable database. * BIShop_Sawyer tracks Colin's alignment. hookers plotwise A floating skull is your freind what more could you ask for? We have a great Action Menu Interface system so that you can quickly maneouver to each subscreen and get weapons quicker... A girlfriend? * BIS_Colin 's alignment throws off the scent with pepper spray. we are still based of AD&D system though The interface can be moved around the screen for convenience. And it comes with a lovely cupholder. Animated portraits Dan, thats the CD rom drivE, duh! Ping! GA GA ga === Mode change "-v+v Sentience Draconis" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Draconis gahahahah GAAAA my throat! How much of the Planescape pen & paper game is going to be incorperated into playable parts of Planescape: Torment? For example, will the player be able to join any of the 15 Factions? Yup. Colin? Good question. Yes which ones? That's a designer question. Colin? I'm not telling. :) Thanks Colin. Mung...hahahahah We have several different factions you can join. well not all of them then? Many parts of Planescape will be incorporated in Torment... Not all of them. But a significant portion. You will be able to join a number of the factions in the game... I would actually love to tell you which, but Dark Timmy never got the final list to me.... Tim... can you tell them? yah i got the list here ok DO NOT TELL! NO NO NO You can join a rogue faction of marauding clowns. NOOOOOOO! No stop Tim Don't!!! I say, TELL * Draconis likes the Dustmen and the Guvners, himself TELL NOT! oooh Colin has spoken * BIS_Ken kick flips Tim out of the ring. I'm about to go over and beat Guido up if he persists... tattletales.. TELL ! ok ok Tim... you want some money? maybe a few? Oh, okay. A few. but not the secret ones.. Ok, ok, you can join a new Faction called the SITH!! ok the dustmen 'cause you know.. they're a secret The Jedi Carpet Saleswman mystery of the sith? No, even better... they're a FEATURE. ga? mercykillers * Eric_Landen acks. Okay, forget it. .. GA GA thank you baby slicers You can't actually join the mercykillers... They're just in the game. no GAGAGAGAGAGA Then there's the Wu Tang Clan... ga === Mode change "-v+v Draconis NightHwk|" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, NightHwk| how about that multiplayer system? i know Torment is supposed to be mostly single player, but it would be cool if it had some kind of deathmatch... Sorry. More than mostly... All single player =) also.. hopefully it wont be like ultima8 was compared to 7.. where it had all the new action stuff There are plenty of games out there that have death matches... do we really need another one? Can you really join the wu tang clan? that would be cool like jumping, etc.. made it too video-gamish I want to join Cube DCube's faction. well who doesnt Think Fallout in D&D I agree. Isometric is not a great perspective for acrobatics. Don't worry much about action elements. They are not part of the game beyond normal combat, and that can be paused. Maybe we'll do a Death match plug-in sometime where you can challenge demons, angels and Gods... how about that? NightHwk: Have no fear, there won't be any 'new age' merging of Mario + Baldurs The time is now 6:30pm Pacific heh, alright ga Aye... many of these guys worked on Fallout and Fallout2 oh thanks i have to go for now anyway === Mode change "-v+v NightHwk| Dethrone[GA-Rpg]" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Dethrone[GA-Rpg] Rest assuerd, though, that the bloodlovers will find a place to do their thing. Your character is supposedly Immortal, correct? If so, how does your character fail? There are ways to "die" that are much more permanent than simple defeat in combat. * BIShop_Sawyer looks at new Fiesta Torment entry. Your companions are not immortal... and they're in trouble if you fall into a coma during a combat... * BIShop_Sawyer laughs. There are people who are essential to the quest. If they die, you're basically, umm... "screwed". We've just removed the need to reload the game alot. There are still plenty of obstacles. Ah, I see. Also, if you don't uncover who you are, you'll just wander the planes forever... that's another way to fail. ga Thanks. tour scenic carceri! === Mode change "-v+v Dethrone[GA-Rpg] Pythius" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Pythius Can we expect a linear game plot much like Baldur's Gate or will there be more opportunity to deviate from the intended plot? Can you achieve the ultimate goal through a severely different path? How does the game adjust to such choices? I like to look at the plot as lineraly unlinear... I mean, we give the player options. Non-linear games... We have choke points that you have to go through. This is necessary to ensure game balance. However, in the spaces between said choke points, you'll have all the freedom you want. usually have the problem that they leave the player completely clueless... it's not really what non-linear has to mean. So you don't have to follow the plot, but that's the only way to win? We are trying to create an experience that gives the player plenty of freedom... The paths can vary on whether or not you play as an 'evil' or 'good' character yet makes sure a plot is developing. You have to follow certain elements of the plot. Not all of them. Not even most of them. Yes, there are many ways to accomplish the tasks, similar to what you have in Fallout. SO quests mostly? Roleplaying in addition to quests But, as in any game, you have to hit certain keys, or else there's no point in having a story. I agree. ga We've given as much freedom as possible. :) ga Go ahead, Dahok === Mode change "-v+v Pythius Dahok" by KrysAtBIS How close are you sticking to the AD&D system? Are you guys using the same rules that the Bioware guys did, or have you added some more rules or modified them? What are the differences? oh, yeah... any cameos from the other settings, like Forgotten realms? Elminster? Elminster is in the game... not! Sorry. That kid with the dog might show up. :) We're sticking fairly close to the AD&D system. We're being faithful to Planescape's rules. not just from BG tho We've changed the round structure a little bit for combat. Yes, we're sticking to the AD&D system probably more so than BG in some ways. We found that our larger characters needed a bit more time to play their attack animations. rangers 2 hand and eveyrthoing? BIShop_Sawyer backstabs Colin and multiplies. Well, we don't really have rangers in Torment. * BIS_Colin falls over twitching and bleeding from the mouth didn't know... sorry Such violence... * Sarevok casts cure critical wounds on BIS_Colin * BIS_EricStuntDouble pledges to avenge Colin's death Do I need to separate you two?? CURSE YOU FOR NOT KNOWING EVERYTHING ABOUT OUR GAME, DAHOK! We've modified some of the bonuses that characters get as well, but for the most part we are retaining Bioware's rules. * KrysAtBIS rolls her eyes Oh, wait... sorry. * BIS_Jim Takes Bishop's knife away Thanks, Jim Geez Thanks, Sarevok. and I curse you back ;) Most importantly we've implemented the rules while maintaining a game that's fun to play. Cursing ME? * BIShop_Sawyer cries. * BIS_Colin keeps an eye on Bishop * KrysAtBIS consoles Bishop Sawyer yeah, you... curses. thanks GA ga === Mode change "-v+v Dahok squick" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, squick What is the expected recommended system for the game, or do you not know yet? Will it be OpenGL accelerated? Also, will you be using the multi-mesh system? First of all, Torment is not a 3D game! The base system is expected to be a P200 with 32 MB of ram. Our system specs are rather low. We ask for a P-166 with 32MB or RAM and som harddrvie space.... okay, thanks Torment is strictly 2D with no 3D acceleration for anything such as lighting effects. That's about it. A good video board with 4MB will help things, but is not essential. ga === Mode change "-v+v squick ComradeX" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, ComradeX It's been mentioned that there will be intelligent weapons. Is this still planned? Has anything interesting happened implementing it? Not sure what a multimesh system refers to. We DO have liting effects. Just not accelerated ones. Multimesh? Had that for breakfast. Yum! You will be able to talk to certain weapons. * BIS_Jim Checks on Bishop It is still planned, yes. * BIShop_Sawyer puts Jim through the MultiMesher(tm) adnt he weapons will talk back ga Yes the intelligent weapons are still in. The funny thing is that they started talking to me when we put them in. In fact, I'm talking to Argoth Battle Ax right now!! Reeeaaallly? Did they tell you to DO things? === Mode change "-v+v ComradeX Greywolf" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Greywolf Hi Again! Heh, will Torment support my new Ultimate Mofo RPG Accelerator Card? ;) Seriously, 1) Will resolutions other than 640x480 be supported? Also, how much bigger will the playing area on the screen be (as compared to BG)? 2) Will there be more random random encounters? Thanks! Yes. Oh, wait, sorry. No. * BIS_Colin shrugs. Which BIOS version? I don't really know. it still 640x480 The playing area is about 20% larger than BGs. You almost get the entire screen to play on though! MOFO5RU5 V3.3 I think we support it in 35bit color Every one of those pixels is a quality pixel. It's Voxel Technology!! Excellent, BG was a little cramped :) 640x480.5 Thanks! WHere can I get my MOFO?!? GA Heh heh contact me I'll hook you up:) Yippee! ga ga Oh, great, Eric is channeling Anakin Skywalker again. Huh? No! You know my secret! Sorry, I meant Eric Campanella... Abhorent cuteness! Is there a new question? Not you, Eric === Mode change "-v+v Greywolf Nameless_One" by KrysAtBIS Go ahead, Nameless_One Props to you all to start!! Keep up the good work! I wanted to ask Chris a question about the EAX extensions in PS. Just how do you expect this technology to enhance the setting? Were there problems with implementation on BG and have these been overcome? What kind of environments (how many different ones) can we look forward to? Dan: Boxers or briefs? Bishop... Let's not go there Boxers. I know and love you guys Unfortunately Chris is not here... The EAX support from BG is still in there. Anyway, as for EAX... Fortunately, I am Dunno if I want to *know* and *love* you guys gone? We have added on the EAX support actually... hi chris Darren, one of our programmers tried to add some occlusion to the sound effects. We are supporting EAX 2.0, which is a version Creative Labs is currently working on... It offers more capabilities, better ambiences, muffling and all sorts of tricks... It's really cool and we hope it will help to bring the entire environment to life a little more. But Striding_Dragon has my bases covered. :-) sounds cool