KotOR ported to the iPad and what that implies for the longevity of NWN

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

A few weeks ago I came across interesting news that Knights of the Old Republic had been ported to iOS by Aspyr Media.  Way back in May of 2013, even.  KotOR uses the Odyssey engine which is based on the Aurora engine which drives NWN.  That second link goes on to describe the Odyssey engine as an "updated" version of the Aurora engine and based on my investigations there are very few meaningful differences between them. 

 

Anyway, why Aspyr chose to do this is a bit of a mystery to me, to be honest.  I suspect the main reason is it was because they could cheaply and easily do it.  I'd read a couple of places that Aspyr plans to convert more classic games over to iOS and KotOR's port is an indication to me that it's not out of the question to one day hear that NWN Diamond is being ported.  By who I couldn't really guess.  I don't know what Trent Oster's Overhaul games might have (or not have) in mind for NWN, but if Aspyr can do it then porting NWN to other platforms would seem to be quite a bit easier and less expensive than I'd first thought.

 

While an "overhaul" of the game would be more desirable, even a port could give the community a strong shot in the arm in terms of increasing the player base.

 

Edit: Oh, Trent and his teasing Tweets again...

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               

OTR wrote: I don't know what Trent Oster's Overhaul games might have (or not have) in mind for NWN, but if Aspyr can do it then porting NWN to other platforms would seem to be quite a bit easier and less expensive than I'd first thought.

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Trent Oster built a time machine went 17 years back, sold IPads and Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition for them. Maybe we can expect an enhanced edition of NWN in 1999.

 

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

Well, in a similar kind of wibbly wobbly timey wimey way, the state of where desktops were in regards to 3D graphics (and OpenGL) in 1999/2002 is more or less the same spot that tablets and phones are right now with OpenGL ES, arguably a little further.  If nobody winds up porting NWN, after a few years people might just be able to play it on their unix-based phones/tablets anyway without any sort of modification.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               

ah man. If someone would finaly start to say it out loud YES we will do an enhanced NWN i throw away my terrible nwn depression i have atm with this game/ passion...

 

I need an enhanced oldschool nwn and nothine else!

 

... they just dont know how great that would be for the world! The world needs an enhanced NWN to rescue humanity. That should be the UN´s number one issue. F++k human rights! we want NWN enhanced damn it!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_xidekeen]

               

If NWN:EE were to happen what would that mean for multiplayer aspect? Will there still be no master server?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               

ah man. If someone would finaly start to say it out loud YES we will do an enhanced NWN i throw away my terrible nwn depression i have atm with this game/ passion...

 

I need an enhanced oldschool nwn and nothine else!

 

... they just dont know how great that would be for the world! The world needs an enhanced NWN to rescue humanity. That should be the UN´s number one issue. F++k human rights! we want NWN enhanced damn it!

 

Put together Community Patch 1.71 with Project Q and NWNCX and you get NWNEE. '>

               
               

               

                     Modifié par Shadooow, 28 mai 2014 - 12:02 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Proleric]

               This is an interesting development; Baldur's Gate has been well-received, too.

Of course, to attract this community, NWN on tablet would need to be open to mods.

Most tablets today are proprietary closed systems, like game consoles, giving the company control over what is published, and the hoops authors have to jump through, so what would really excite me would be a growth in open architecture for tablets, empowering builders and players to exchange content without constraint, as we do today.
               
               

               
            

[Baaleos]

               

I'm surprised there isnt a kickstarter project already in the works for a Neverwinter Nights reboot.

One thing I'd suggest is that the game must NOT rely upon any centralised hub or server for any of its advertised gaming abilities.

 

Eg: No master server.

 

 

TBH - There are some interesting things happening in the bitcoin and namecoin development from the aspect of decentralised data.

Bitcoin and Namecoin do not use central servers, they use peers to hold the information.

The only way to successfully launch an attack on the network would be to control 51% of the peers.

 

A master server functionality built into a decentralised peer network could theoretically work, and would become more secure as the game becomes more popular.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               

I think the ONLY chance we will have is the Beamdog Team from Trent Oster. He is dedicated to the greater days of RPG´s were not everything was all-sex romance (gender theory BS) or flashy gfx + awesome button clubbing. Hehe, button smasher party RPG´s are "Winning"... not ! '> never! i hate them all! i hate them i hate them i HAAAAAAAAAAATE THEM!!!! '> '> '>

 

ps.

and obisidian wouldnt touch a "nwn" game ever again imo... they are great in what they are doing with eternity!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Urk]

               

I dunno. Atari (the publisher) is in direct competition with EA (who owns bioware), WotC/Hasbro (who own the D&D franchise) despises Atari.

 

The odds of NWN getting any TLC might have some not insignificant legal issues. 


If it could be done legally, though, you can pretty much bet Atari would do it and they have retained their rights to games they've already published. Since they lost D&D they seem  jumped on every opportunity to recycle their old D&D licensed material (even going so far as to do traditional box-retail re-releases of BG and NWN complete collections after the lawsuit was decided).

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

Just a bit of an update: In December of last year, KotOR was fully ported to Android.  I had been meaning to post about this for a while but it just kept slipping my mind.  At this point, I have no doubt that if someone wanted to (and was legally able to) they could port NWN over to Android.  I was pretty surprised by this.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Wensleydale]

               

ah man. If someone would finaly start to say it out loud YES we will do an enhanced NWN i throw away my terrible nwn depression i have atm with this game/ passion...

 

I need an enhanced oldschool nwn and nothine else!

 

... they just dont know how great that would be for the world! The world needs an enhanced NWN to rescue humanity. That should be the UN´s number one issue. F++k human rights! we want NWN enhanced damn it!

 

Just so long as they don't mess with the toolset in terms of ease-of-use. Fancy up the graphics to your heart's content, and make any other tweaks you feel might be useful (multiple windows open simultaneously anyone?), just don't unnecessarily complicate the toolset. I love Aurora precisely because I can pick it up, hammer out a load of old cobblers in short order, and BAM! Done! Changing that would not sit well with me. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_virusman]

               

NWN client and server code was originally written to be platform-independent, so it's not really surprising to see an Aurora/Odyssey game ported to another platform like iOS or Android. You'd only have to modify the graphics engine and adjust for touch UI.