Neverwinter Nights 2: Rogue Dao Studios Interview Part 2

Michael E.: We don't have an exclusive composer at the time being. And while I'm in good relations with a couple of studios, I'd consider them to be our last option. The NWN vision always prioritized user creativity above all else and it only stands to reason that if we can find talented fellows in the community, we should give them the chance to bloom and vice-versa (Translation: they don't cost money).

In addition to the custom music, it was mentioned that there would be unique voice acting and art. Who will be involved for each?

Michael E.: The more (quality) voices, the better. Enlist en masse my friends, there can never be enough spoken dialogue in a game.

Unfortunately, due to the few numbers of people willing (or capable) of lending their voices at ideal qualities over the net, we find ourselves contacting outside sources for this purpose, from other game communities (Sorry TES forum mods!) or otherwise.

If the actors/artists have not yet been "cast", how does one go about auditioning for a part in the Planescape Trilogy?

Montgomery: Zeratul is our team lead on voice over. So, if someone is interested in trying some voice over work, they should come to our forums and private message him (user name: Zeratul). From there, he'll add them to the VO group on our site and work with them to see what quality of sound they can produce and what style of voice they possess.

In the press release it was announced that you had opened a "casting call" for people to "audition" their PCs for selection as Planescape Trilogy NPCs. What is the submission process?

Montgomery: The submission process is actually similar to the submission process most persistent worlds use for applications for player characters or non-standard races or special classes or combinations. All people need to do is come to the forums at roguedao.com, register, read the instructions for auditioning their PC (in the PC-NPC Conversion Forum) and then post a thread with their PC's vital stats and bio.

Cole: First you can go to http://www.roguedao.com/ and register to our forums. From there you go to the PC - NPC Conversion forum, which has a template stickied. They're coming in fast so you had better hurry! OFFER LASTS FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY! Not really, but getting in earlier heightens the odds.

Montgomery: There are basically two tracks. Each member of our NPC Design team reads every application as they come are posted. For party companions, we are looking for very specific things. If an application fits our criteria for a party companion, then that PC is probably going to be cast. Then, as the story and area designers move through the production, they will make requests for major and minor plots NPCs, background npcs and cameos. Our NPC Design team will search through the audition posts, and if they find a suitable PC they'll get cast (with any necessary minor alterations). If there isn't a suitable PC available, we revert to the old-fashioned way of making them up. Throughout the whole process, our NPC Designers maintain close contact with the player, to consult with them on any major alterations to the original character concept.

Have the planning documents for each module been completed and, if the toolset release is delayed, how will that impact the development cycle?

Michael E.: We have the first chapter (Purgatario) planned out in about six thousand, no millions, no actually a gazillion charts and beat-sheets (Thanks Monty).

Jason: Yes, the planning docs are completed for the first module. For a real job, I am the Vice President for QA at a CAD software company, which deals with conception to release scenarios quite frequently. I outlined some of the procedures of the Technical and Conceptual Specifications we use, modified for NWN2. The company has been around for20 years and is a noted software solution place, run by a crack programmer, so he has procedures in place which will aid in the development of the Trilogy and make it flawless.

Coordination is the chief enemy of an NWN2 project, be it a world or module. The old "heigh-ho silver" days are over, and one-man projects or projects without source control, versioning and a totally coordinated team will fall apart quickly. Basically, development for NWN2 is at professional levels. If it is not, the players are going to see the errors REALLY fast; it's an unforgiving medium now, as opposed to NWN1. The dev cycle will not be impacted at all by a toolset/game release delay. I'd tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you. ;)

Jason: We basically have everything we need at release to manage the project. The quality will of course be increased to have some additional stuff, but I believe that overall, it should be possible to pull off the projects with the release candidate. After all, they made the OC with the same tools, so we can do at LEAST that well.

Michael E.: I'm hoping they don't slack around with crucial fixes as much as Bioware did at the time. I'd hate to draw upon or create pseudo-patches to make up for things, and spend time re-releasing fixed versions of the module when every odd official patch comes out.
Cole I can't fill up on scraps MOM.

Michael E: ...

How often do you plan to release development updates?

Cole: I was just talking to Monty about that one. We plan on doing that every week, but we may consider using milestones instead of timeframes.

Michael E.: Once we begin toolset development I intend on posting weekly updates about my progress.

Where can our readers find out more information about Rogue Dao Studios and the Planescape Trilogy?

Cole: Oh boy another plug! Just go on to http://www.roguedao.com to get more info. We'll be updating the site regularly.

http://www.roguedao.com/phpBB2/index.php

Please add any additional information that you feel important for our readers to know.

Montgomery: What we're doing is not really any different from what your PnP group does, we're just players building a campaign. The main differences are simply a matter of scale, and the socially-networked aspect.

There has been some furrow in the community over our, some would say, overly ambitious release schedule. One of the reasons for that schedule is that I, personally, don't think distributing premium modules based on year-long production schedules and unit sales, is an ideal business model. I want to use this community project to demonstrate the viability of shorter production schedules. I don't think modules need 100,000 or 200,000 word counts to be entertaining and successful. I'll be completely honest, when I play some modules, I skip huge swaths of dialogue when it feels like padding. Stories need to be tight and dynamic. Modules need to be produced in a shorter-term fashion, and the revenue model for premium content should be subscription based.

Cole: According to Statistics Canada, not playing Purgatorio could cause brain cancer.