No news is Neverwinter news

Searching for new information on Neverwinter is like looting chests in a Monty Haul CRPG - for every unique item you come across, there's loads and loads of junk you've already found. Since the media blitz began, it seems like every gaming site on the internet has weighed in, giving Cryptic plenty of "news" links to post on the Neverwinter promotional website. Of course, in the best (worst) tradition of the internet, the articles all paraphrase each other. Except when they feature interviews with Cryptic developers, in which case it's the developers paraphrasing themselves as they try to make old news sound fresh.

In reality, there's very little info about Neverwinter out there. We don't know what the official campaign is about, what the gameplay is like, or even what classes are included. That probably explains why posts on the official forums have rapidly dried up - speculation gets old after awhile. I've been heartened by the way Cryptic seems to be emphasizing The Foundry toolset, but perhaps that has less to do with the game's direction and more to do with the fact that there's nothing else they can talk about at this point.

OK, it's not fair to pick on Cryptic here. This is the way the internet works. A few meager nuggets of information spawn numerous posts on websites and blogs, most of which offer no value-add (but plenty of ads). On the internet, content is not king. It's an emperor with no clothes. If I were smart - or more shameless - I might figure out a way to puff up my own blog with Xeroxed material. Maybe then I could make it seem like I'm still pumping out the content, even when I'm on vacation (as I was last week).

But I digress.

Don't call it a mission

 From the new IGN preview of Neverwinter:

With this version, Cryptic is focusing on making and sharing user-generated content as painless as possible. "We have striven to make it as intuitive and accessible as we can for people to make missions, maps, contacts, etcetera. We'll provide a set of kits you can use, imagine the caves or the dungeons, and those come with a bunch of rooms. You just go to the library tab and drag them over and it's in the world. Similarly, placing mission objectives or enemies is just that easy. You go to the properties tab and look through the monsters section and you can drag a set of Gnolls over and then tie them to a mission objective that you made. In general the philosophy is easy and simple for players to get into and use."

I wasn't trying to parse this quote, but the repeated use of the word "mission" screamed at me - or more accurately, screeched like fingernails on a blackboard. The reason Neverwinter has been met with skepticism by many in the NWN community is not only that the hallowed franchise is being converted to yet another MMO, but that it is being handled by Cryptic, a company that has never done D&D. If Cryptic wants to attract NWN players and builders, they might start by using the right terminology. For Ao's sake, it's called a quest!

OK, maybe that's just me being a nerd. Much of what I've learned about Neverwinter has actually been encouraging - at least on the modding front. Apparently Neverwinter's Foundry toolset will be an enhanced version of the one builders are currently using to create *ahem* missions for Star Trek Online. As new features are added to the Neverwinter toolset, Cryptic plans to also make them available for STO builders. So if you want to know what will be in the Neverwinter toolset, keep an eye on what's happening with STO.

Here are a few things I found out about the STO toolset that may - or may not - be relevant to Neverwinter. Disclaimer: Someone who's actually used the damn thing may have better information and/or more valid opinions on this stuff (if you're that person, feel free to set me straight).

Neverwinter is (still) coming

Rumors of Neverwinter's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Or so it would seem, based on the fact the Cryptic just launched a fancy website and teaser trailer for the game.

To recap, Atari recently divested of interest in Cryptic, which was then purchased by Perfect World Entertainment. Nobody knew exactly what this meant for Neverwinter, but the new website seems to indicate it's still on. Right now Cryptic has no comment on whether Atari will still be the publisher.

In addition to the trailer, the website includes forums and a section on The Foundry, the toolset that will allow modders to create adventures to share online. As I reported previously, The Foundry is the name of Star Trek Online's toolset, which was always thought to be the basis for the Neverwinter version. However, Cryptic formerly referred to the Neverwinter toolset as Forge. I'm not sure what significance (if any) to attach to the fact that the Neverwinter version no longer bears its own name. Anyway, here's an interesting quote:

Easy to use, The Foundry also features a dynamic rating system that allows players to rate and highlight the best player-designed adventures.

As always, features can change. However, this strikes me as promising because Cryptic seems to be planning to make mods an integrated part of the game, rather than just a tack-on. As much as I appreciated the Neverwinter Vault site, I always wished the Neverwinter Nights games had a built-in "mod market." The audience for mods would have been much larger.

Anyway, the big question for Forge The Foundry is, how powerful will it be? Will builders be able to craft unique adventurers, or will it just be a lot of tinkering around the edges? Perhaps I'll head over to the STO forums to see if I can find some clues.

How are you enjoying the dark ages of computer D&D?

Remember when the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons came out, and a lot of old school tabletop players criticized it for being geared toward videogames? That was three years ago, and funnily enough, there still hasn't been a new videogame release that fully implements those videogame-ish 4th edition rules. In fact, until last week, there hadn't been a new D&D video game of any kind in the last four years.

These are dark days for fans of D&D computer games, and it doesn't look like things are going to get better any time soon. Three news items popped up recently to remind us of how bad things have gotten.

Neverwinter's Forge toolset might not suck

There was much dismay in the Neverwinter Nights community when word got out that the next installment in the series - if you can even call it that - would be a massive multiplayer game developed by Cryptic Studios. That was certainly my reaction. I'm only being slightly melodramatic when I say that when I heard about this, my heart sank, my eyes rolled, and soon after, my mind buried any thoughts that the Neverwinter Nights legacy would continue.

Maybe - just maybe - that burial was premature. My assumption was that the new game would have nothing except a name in common with the other games in the series. As it turns out, the game - being titled Neverwinter - shares only half of the name. However, some of the other information that's come out has been mildly encouraging.

Most notably for modders, Neverwinter will include a toolset called Forge. As the game isn't due out until late 2011, information about Forge is understandably sketchy. I trawled various articles for what I could find, and turned up a few interesting tidbits.