Icewind Dale/Icewind Dale II Interview
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GB: Which CRPGs would you say inspired you and/or provided the most influence during the development of Icewind Dale and its sequel? Scott: Not any particular game at the time. Though you could say Baldur's Gate was our biggest inspiration since we used the same engine! But as we produced each game of our own we refined the engine. And with Icewind 2 we completely revamped the interface and I remember studying other games to come up with new ideas. But its been so long I can't remember any particular game that stood out as a huge inspiration.
GB: How familiar were you with the Icewind Dale region of the Forgotten Realms before working on the series? Did you end up having to do a lot of research for either game?
Scott: I've played a fair share of tabletop D&D in the Forgotten Realms. Though we didn't play in the Icewind Dale area so wasn't really familiar with it at the time. But we had plenty of research material and the design team was always up on the history. So there was always something to read or someone to talk to if I had any questions.
GB: How much work was it for you personally to help in the implementation of the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules into BioWare's Infinity Engine for Icewind Dale II? Do you think the conversion was necessary and worth the time?
Scott: I was heavily involved since I designed the new interfaces. I worked closely with Darren Monahan and the designers since we decided to completely scrap all the old interfaces for the new ones. The 3rd edition rules required many more interfaces for character generation/leveling since there was so much more flexibility in the new rules.
Now looking back it probably wasn't worth it. We could of gotten the game out maybe 6 months earlier and saved a lot of development money. Since sales weren't as high as the previous game cutting costs would have made it more profitable. Personally though I think it was great. I'm really proud of Icewind 2 and think it's the best one in the series. The new rule set makes character creation and leveling completely new, fun, and more powerful.
GB: Was there any content you would have liked to see implemented into Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, or Icewind Dale II that didn't make it into the game?
Scott: I think most of the games had a great deal of content. Except for Heart of Winter which was a little short. But then we did the free content module (Trials of the Luremaster.) We were disappointed with the length of HoW so Feargus (division director) convinced Interplay to allow us to make a free downloadable module to extend the game. There was just a small team of us working on it but I'm extremely proud of that addition. With the original game, HoW, and Trials you have a amazingly huge game. Someday I hope to replay it with all the modules installed. Unfortunately WOTC wouldn't allow us to add (Trials) to the Icewind Dale combo pack that has all the games in one box. I'm assuming because it was free and there was no contract for royalties. But I'm sure its still out there somewhere on the net available for download.
