Neverwinter Interview
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Following today's announcement that Cryptic's Neverwinter will be coming to the Xbox One next year, IGN caught up with the game's lead producer Andy Velasquez for an article-style interview about how the platform transition will be handled, how it will compare to the existing PC version, what to expect from the forthcoming Tyranny of Dragons module, and more. A snip:
"Since we launched on PC,) he continues, (we've added some bits to the endgame, and then we added another module which had another campaign at the endgame. So we'll probably stagger those releases [in the console version]."
The biggest alteration, Velasquez points out, is the shift from a keyboard-and-mouse interface to something that works better with controllers. Instead of the PC version's floating menus, the console edition sports a "tray" of commands in a controller-like formation across the bottom of the screen, with attacks, spells, and other abilities mapped to the triggers and face buttons for quick access. (Holding LB swaps them out for less frequently used abilities, like dailies or artifact powers.)
"From the beginning, we always received feedback that this would be great with a controller, and we even have a bunch of PC users who, using just a 360 controller, have come up with keybind files," Velasquez says. "I basically just plugged a controller into my PC and messed around with different configurations. At this point now, I can't stand playing our game with a mouse and keyboard. I actually like playing it with a controller; it just feels better."
Other changes are less noticeable, but still significant. On Xbox One, for example, in-game friend lists will be tied to Xbox Live, rather than Neverwinter's existing lists, and there won't be cross-play with the PC version. (There's no word yet on how or if that'll affect other platforms, as Perfect World would only comment on Xbox One plans.)
