GameBanshee Forums

Keep the best, toss the rest-Argyle Online builds a NWN 2 persistant world, round 2.

In keeping with the forum rules for Gamebanshee, Argyle Online would like to know from the members at Gamebanshee what they expect from community-driven persistant worlds created using Neverwinter Nights 2.

Argyle Online is one of the oldest Neverwinter Nights communities, having been formed back in 1999 when the Neverwinter Nights game was still a series of design documents on Bioware's servers. Our campaign server was based on the Land of Argyle, a d20 setting written by Silver Oak Studios. Everyone who participated in the project at the time was attracted to the game lore provided by Silver Oak Studios, and excited at the potential offered by Bioware's newest game.

Difficulties in finding and keeping committed Dungeon Masters. and a lack of really skilled scripters made the original project move in a lot of different directions, eventually becoming a dedicated campaign server. After an inevitable slow down of player activity, combined with a wealth of new games to distract everyone's attentions, an entirely new team was formed, with a new location inside the Land of Argyle; Port Hope.

You can read our F.A.Q. to learn about the specifics, but there was still a core group of players committed to the Land of Argyle as a campaign setting, and wanted to see it built into a truly persistant module for players to enjoy. Everyone on our team has played on other persistant worlds, and even on M.M.O.R.P.G.'s, and we have committed ourselves to not repeating history and offering the best mix of eyecandy and persistant game play.

What does the community here believe? Argyle Online even created a poll to discuss this very issue. With the success of Neverwinter Nights, and the massive variety of quality (and otherwise) persistant worlds available, do you think Neverwinter Nights 2 will raise the bar in terms of exceptional persistant worlds to play on?

Do you think the community will rush in to fill any void left by Obsidian, and there will be even better community content to help create the closest interpretation of the pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons game yet seen online? As a player, will you be even more discriminating when it comes to choosing a persistant world to play on? Will we see more Forgotten Realms based servers, or has the community grown to accept an even wider range of interesting and challenging custom worlds?

One of the goals of our project is to not be forced to rely on Dungeon Masters if necessary. We intend to recruit passionate people to help run games on our servers, but as players, we know the frustration in finding a fixed schedule amongst what is now an international community of players. If we are successful, you will be able to log on to Port Hope from any time zone and be both challenged and entertained. We know that the best Dungeon Masters often come from the player base, and to grow your player base, you need a fun game.

Please comment on any of these questions, or ask your own in return.

What does the community here believe? Argyle Online even created a poll to discuss this very issue. With the success of Neverwinter Nights, and the massive variety of quality (and otherwise) persistant worlds available, do you think Neverwinter Nights 2 will raise the bar in terms of exceptional persistant worlds to play on?

I think the greatest achievement of NWNs was the community that it spawned. There are literally thousands of user created modules and hundreds of persistent worlds. Some are good, many are bad, and a few are excellent. The quality of the persistent worlds that are built for NWN2 is mostly in the hands of the world builders. I have high hopes that they will get NWN2 "right" and include more support for PW content. I think they see the value that this adds to their product from a long sales cycle standpoint.

In the end the quality of the PWs are up to the creative people that create them. I am confident that many NWN2 persistent worlds will rival and even surpass MMORGs in terms of gameplay, storylines and lore, and roleplaying. I know thats what we are striving for on the Port Hope Project, and I can't wait to see all of our effort pay off - hopefully sooner than later. Anybody in for a early Spring 2006 release? We will have to keep our fingers crossed.

To me the thing that has most astounded me about Neverwinter Nights is its remarkable user-friendly software that allowed for those realms that had existed only in the minds of gamers for years to be digitally created and used again and again. The Aurora toolset boggles my mind in its versatility and effectiveness in the creation of these worlds and is, quite obviously, a pen-and-paper gamer's dream come true. The community for the game is still so strong, as smass said, largely due (IMO) to the unlimited gaming possibilities made possible by NN and its toolset. It's absolutely amazing to me how the software grows and evolves as players grow and evolve, and therein lies its main strength: NN might never become obsolete, unless NN2 makes it so.

As for whether NN2 will live up to its predecessor's imposing legacy, it lies in the hands of Obsidian; I, however, am not worried. They have shown themselves to be adept game designers, and are not foreign to the pressure of creating sequels to highly acclaimed games (see KOTOR II: The Sith Lords... Star wars fans can be rough :speech: ). It's highly unlikely, in my eyes at least, that NN2's toolset will be as incredible as NN was upon release; I just don't see it happening. Nor do I believe that the software will be as revolutionary as NN's was, but I do believe it will improve on an already winning fromula (though I'm open to the idea of an entirely different system, the thought does frighten me a little).

Hope this helps.

PS. Though I haven't played in your campaign setting, I'd be interested to learn more; are there other resources beside the FAQ you mentioned?

PSS. I read the Anthology you seem to have contributed to as detailed in your sig, and though I'm not sure which story is yours (obviously) I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of stories, most probably your own work included. Keep up the good work .

PS. Though I haven't played in your campaign setting, I'd be interested to learn more; are there other resources beside the FAQ you mentioned?

The Port Hope Project for NWN2 is being designed in close relation to the Abridged Argyle Lorebook d20 campaign setting. Information about both can be found on the Silver Oak Studios website. The lorebook is very close to release and there are several excepts available on the SOS forums.

Cool, thanks smass I'll have to check it out.

Anthology.

[QUOTE=TonyMontana1638]PSS. I read the Anthology you seem to have contributed to as detailed in your sig, and though I'm not sure which story is yours (obviously) I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of stories, most probably your own work included. Keep up the good work .[/QUOTE]

I replied to your private message Tony, and clarified which anthology I was published in (the second one, obviously). If you did indeed purchase and enjoy those stories (including my own), then I thank you.

Sincerely,

J.L. Collins