Linux.com Chats with BioWare Regarding "Neverwinter Nights"

I lurked in the recent Linux.com Live! IRC chat with the folks from BioWare (creators of the Baldur's Gate series) regarding their development of Neverwinter Nights. The game looks awesome, and will have a Linux client. Rock. Good discussion, and the perspective of commericial companies on porting is always good.

Comments

Linux gaming

[Bad_CRC]

Is at a critical stage. Please buy as many games for linux as you can or they won't keep making them.

Tribes 2 will be coming out shortly for Linux, and if we don't support it, other companies will hesitate on making that investment.

linux tribes

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Dammit!

[Wariac]

Just as I kick one habit (Diablo2, baulders Gate) here they go getting me all stoked for a new game!
Will D&D forever curse me? In the 70's it got my ass kicked, in the 80's prevented me from getting a girlfriend and in the 90's has caused me to stare at computer screens for endless hours!

Except BioWare didn't do Torment

[Necromncr]

Planescape: Torment was not a product of BioWare, it just used the Infinity Engine that was originally used in Baldur's Gate. Planescape:Torment was from Black Isle Software, the same people who brought you Fallout and Fallout 2.

A Good Cross-Platform Framework

[goingware]

If a company wants to develop software that will run on both Windows and Linux (and Mac OS and BeOS too), one application framework they can use is the ZooLib cross-platform application framework.

There's still some work it needs for complete Linux support as you can read here but it's a lot less than developing your own framework.

ZooLib requires very little in the way of system graphics support so it wouldn't be too hard to port it to the framebuffer if you prefer doing that to running your game under X.

Because ZooLib uses the MIT License (also known as the X11 License) it is appropriate for use in both proprietary and Free Software programs.

If ZooLib doesn't suit your needs, have a look at the GUI Toolkit, Framework page.

Mike

Persistent Worlds

[bughunter]

This may not be apparent from the PR and buzz that you've been exposed to, but a lot of us are planning on creating Persistent Worlds using NWN. Of course, NWN servers won't support the huge populations that, ahem, grace such institutions as EverQuest and Asheron's Call. But then, we see that as an advantage: smaller populations make it easier to weed out the munchkins, twinks and d00ds, and thus "make the world safe for real roleplayers."

And at this point, I'd like to plug the project I enjoy being a member of, Neverwinter Nights Online. NWNO is devoted to reproducing the Forgotten Realms' forest nation of Cormyr on a dedicated 24/7/365 NWN server with a T1 link. A lot of other projects plan to use a network of volunteers with DSL and cable to run world "modules" that will be linked via "portals." While we at NWNO applaud and cooperate with all persistent world efforts, the senior DM (and server owner) decided that this approach is subject to too many avenues for abuse, inconsistency, and preferred more control over the platform... and the environment. We hope to retake the definition of Roleplaying from EQ, AC and the other munchkinlands, and restore its original meaning.