Neverwinter Nights Press Visits

By Tom Ohle April 29, 2002

People generally equate Canadian hospitality with a lot of heavy drinking, but that’s not all we’re good for—you see, we have this little Dungeons & Dragons-based role-playing game we’re developing, and we recently had some of our closest friends from various media outlets around the world up at the office to check it out. On April 10^th and 11^th, 16 journalists from England, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Benelux experienced Neverwinter Nights for the first time. Then we did the whole thing again on April 16^th, another group of 16, this time from North America, Korea, and Australia.

Most members of the press arrived the night before the actual demos were to take place, which allowed everyone to get to know each other while umm… not drinking heavily at an Irish pub into the wee hours of the morning… yeah, that’s it. The next day, while some of the journalists—along with some of the BioWare and Infogrames staff in attendance—were feeling a little drained, everyone was eager to get started early to ensure that they got a solid look at Neverwinter Nights.

The purpose of the visit was to familiarize the press with every aspect of the game. Split into three groups, the journalists were to cycle through three different workgroups—single-player, multi-player/DM client, and toolset. To guarantee that everyone knew how to play the game, they spent the first little bit of their demo time in the Prelude, which is basically the introductory chapter of Neverwinter Nights. It divulges some elements of the plot, and acts as a tutorial for new players.

After a lunch break, it was back to business, as each group began toying around in their respective workgroup. Single-player folk naturally got a taste of the single-player game, working their way through character creation, and then some of Chapter 1. Those in the multi-player room were walked through a module by a DM who inhabited NPCs and advanced the plot through them, as well as a "Fight Club," where they played as DMs and were able to create and possess any creature in the game and put them head-to-head in a massive battle royale. In the toolset room, would-be module creators had the opportunity to create an area, add some creatures and an encounter area, create an NPC with dialogue, and basically do whatever they wanted. Everyone was amazed at how easy it was to create a quick module with all of those elements in such a short period of time.

The reporters and editors seemed thoroughly impressed with each aspect of the game. It’s always a bit nerve-racking when you show off a game to nearly 50 people who play games all day, everyday, but having them praise your work in their respective publications is really gratifying for the team, and makes it seem like all the work that’s been done over the last 5 years has really been worth it. We wanted to thank all of the journalists for coming up and trying out the game that so many people have put their hearts and souls into.