UPDATE: NWN's longevity. News both good and frustrating.

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

Hello and I hope you're all doing well!  I've been very busy in RL, blah, blah, blah but NWN is still very near and dear to my heart and I came across something which was both positive and a bit frustrating and I wanted to let you all know about it and deposit the information here for (something like) posterity:

 

Over the last year or two or whatever, I've been tracking any developments which might indicate the likelihood (or lack thereof) of Neverwinter Nights being updated, overhauled or anything else which could give the game a much-needed kick in the pants.  While, as far as I know, the business end things are on "hold" because of the NWN MMO, it appears that it his very technically feasible for NWN to be updated...if anyone actually gets the rights and financing to do it.

 

I've reported that Odyssey (which runs KotOR I and II), a derivative but very close relative of NWN's Aurora engine (think fraternal twins instead of identical ones) has been ported to the iPad , to Android (a huge step) and now, ten years later, Kotor II has been ported from the PC to Linux & Mac by Aspyr Media and now has it's OWN Steam Workshop page for modifications, as well.

 

The purpose of this message is to make it blindingly clear that it is very technically possible for NWN not only to be updated on all three major operating systems it was released on (PC, Mac, Linux) but ported to Android and also have its own Steam Workshop.

 

Somebody just has to pick up, or be allowed to pick up, the gauntlet.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               

Hi I´m a bunny '>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Gruftlord]

               

ah, i read about that KOTOR II update, but didn't quite make the connection. that's thrilling indeed. from what i have seen from the media coverage, people seem tho hold Aspyr's abilities in porting old classics in high regard. IIRC KotoR even got a workshop integration and fixes for modern OS/CPUs, right (and achievements...)?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

ah, i read about that KOTOR II update, but didn't quite make the connection. that's thrilling indeed. from what i have seen from the media coverage, people seem tho hold Aspyr's abilities in porting old classics in high regard. IIRC KotoR even got a workshop integration and fixes for modern OS/CPUs, right (and achievements...)?

 

Yep!  And more.  From this article:

It adds Linux and Mac support, courtesy of Aspyr Media, as well as Steam Workshop support, Achievements, controller support, native widescreen resolution support, 5K resolution support and cloud saves.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               

I had never played KOTOR 2 before, and decided to give it a whirl on steam since it has a linux port. I it tried it over the weekend. The writing is very good in its over all arc, but not the details. I suppose that comes from the tight dev schedule they had. Not a fan of the game play and the amount of time it requires of the player to invest in it. I think this is why the shadow run series of RPGs recently released are so popular in that they still have good writing, but don't take themselves seriously.

 

If anyone is interested: someone else played KOTOR 2 and posted their experience in detail. Entertaining read. I've sipped at a few entries to get at the silly commentary.

 

If you had not said anything OTR I might not have realized that KOTOR was at all related to NWN. But while playing it (outside of the D20 rules) it did feel familiar. Some of the textures look like they might have been pulled out of NWN and modified.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_JediMindTrix]

               

http://www.moddb.com...tent-mod-tslrcm

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

From Twitter a few days ago, dunno about NWN being "busted on modern systems" but Trent's reply:

 

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               

Busted on modern systems? I have no problems playing it on Windows 10.

 

I think Trent is talking more on the "Biz" side of things...

 

You know? Gaming, buisness, corporate politics, to hell with the players/consumers type of stuff...

 

Don't get me wrong, I understand buisness aren't charities. But I do think the "if it doesn't have WOW or some other major franchise potential it's junk (even if it's still profitable)" mentality is sad.

 

Nonetheless, NWN continues to putter along, and continues to sell, and continues to be played (and when I say played I also mean via the toolset et. al.) and perhaps some day some far seeing company will take advantage of the precident it set, and carry on the legacy of a game that is truly in the gamers (consumers) hands (in terms of crafting and molding it to their liking) and also able to be shared (experienced together) online.

 

Until then, NWN lives on, as there is still to this day nothing else like it out there.

 

Cheers OTR,

Laz

 

P.S. And by take advantage of it, I don't mean exploit, I mean see it as the oppurtunity it is.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               

Trent is talking about the issues of getting all the licensing and what not to happen again rather than this merely being an issue of not making enough money.

 

He rereleased the Baldur's Gate series for example: a game with limited appeal and managed to make that work financially. I doubt he'd have much trouble making money from an NWN rerelease if he got all the licensing and approvals worked out.

 

The later is the problem AFAIK.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

Yeah, just emphasizing that it's licensing that's standing in the way.