The full story on the Downloadable Expansion!!!

[Larry_OHF]

I wanted to repost in a new thread this lengthy article. Enjoy!!

Steve Bokkes on the Heart of Winter Expansion
by MageDragon - May 8, 2001

I had the extreme honor to ask Steve Bokkes, Designer for Icewind Dale and Heart of Winter, a few questions about the free Heart of Winter Downloadable Dungeon Set. New areas, a new monster, and all for free to owners of Heart of Winter. There will also be bug fixes that were missed or new since the patch 1.41. For those who wish not to learn anything about it until it is available, hit your back button now. For those who are ready to feel the love, put your pointy hats on and away we go...

Who came up with the idea to do a free, downloadable expansion for Heart of Winter, and who is working on the project?

I believe the initial idea came from Feargus "El Presidente" Urquhart. He wanted us to put together a few extra levels that we could offer on our website as a freebie. He passed the ball to Darren, who in turn rounded up the usual suspects and made the "expansion expansion" an official project. Aside from a few members who have moved onto other projects, the team is still pretty much the same group of guys that worked on the original Icewind Dale and Heart of Winter.

Is the team solely working on this project, or are they doing it on the side?

Several members of the Icewind team are helping out part-time on TORN, but for rest of us, the downloadable expansion is a full-time gig.


Has the expansion been given a name? If so, what is it?

Ah, the name. It was only recently decided that the project would have an official title. I guess we just got tired of calling it the "Heart of Winter Downloadable Dungeon Set." So, for the past week or so, I've been compiling a list of potential titles that will be passed around to the team. Whichever one gets the most votes will become the new official title. Democracy at its finest.

Broadband is king and a lot of people have it, but there are plenty still stuck with dialup. How large do you expect the download to be? If people wish to purchase the expansion on CD-ROM, will this be made available to them?

We expect the overall size of the free download to be within the range of 75-100 MB. As far as I know, there are currently no plans for any retail versions, so those who are still stuck with dialup will have to be patient or find some way to pass the time during the lengthy download.

There was a contest on the message boards for unique items with histories. How many made the cut into the game?

Out of all the submissions, I picked five items for implementation. With size being a factor, we originally planned for a grand total of twenty new items. There may be room for a few more, but we'll have to wait and see.

Will we face more Dragons?

Sorry, no dragons this time. The animation files associated with dragons and other "super-sized" monsters are huge, so we've chosen new critters that were of a more modest size.

Will more funny scripted moments make their way into the expansion (like the Hosttower squad)?

Tom and I had a blast putting together the Hosttower encounter. We laughed harder and harder with each new revision. I think it's safe to expect more scripted encounters like it in the downloadable expansion.

Jason Manley will paint how many portraits and of what types for the expansion?

Jason has painted six new portraits, and they look awesome. Four of the six are males. They include two fighter types, a cleric, and a mage. The other two are females--one a druid, and the other a "thiefy/ranger" type. All six are of human or half-elven stock.

How long do you estimate will it take to complete the expansion?

Well, let's see. Most of the art for the new areas has been completed. We've only have one or two more levels to do, plus some 2D touchup. The story and individual level designs have been pretty much nailed down. Right now, we're cranking away at full steam, populating areas and implementing items, spells, and scripts. If all goes well, I'd say we should be ready to release the expansion sometime in early June.

How many full screen areas and dungeon levels comprise the expansion? How dastardly are their design?

There are a total of nineteen new areas in the expansion. Most of them are above ground locations. However, four of the levels are huge, subterranean dungeon environments that are each about 36 screens in size. John Deiley and I are working to ensure that each level is chock full of nastiness. One of the levels, which I've dubbed "the Crypts of Eternity," is perhaps my most dastardly design yet. I don't want to give away too much, but I will say that parties that enter this crypt expecting a straightforward dungeon sweep are in for a big surprise.


It was said on the message boards that access to the expansion would be in Lonelywood. How will this occur and what is the setup story?

Once the expansion is installed, a new NPC will show up in the common room of the Whistling Gallows Inn. If the party strikes up a conversation with him, he'll spin a few yarns about legendary heroes and forgotten treasure. Ultimately, he'll offer to lead the party to the ruins of a haunted castle. The party can either choose to accompany him, thus beginning the new expansion adventure, or they can continue their current adventures in the vicinity of Lonelywood, and come back to the NPC later.

It seems some people are having a bugger of a time playing multiplayer over the Internet. Is this going to be addressed in the expansion?

Yes. All the remaining documented multiplayer issues that weren't addressed in the v1.41 patch should hopefully be fixed in the expansion.

Will there be any new music, or will it rely on tracks already in Heart of Winter.

We do have some original tracks that weren't in Icewind Dale or Heart of Winter. However, again, we'll have to wait and see how big the overall size of the download is before we commit to including new music files.

What new monsters will we fight in the Expansion?

Hmm. I don't think I want to give that one away. I will say that, in addition to the monsters from our original bestiary, the downloadable expansion will contain one brand new creature, and four creatures originally featured in Baldur's Gate or Baldur's Gate II.

The cinematics for both Icewind Dale and Heart of Winter were great; any new cinematics in the expansion?

Thanks. I really enjoyed working on the cinematic sequences for Icewind and Heart of Winter. We considered including some new ones for the download, but the size constraints and accelerated project schedule have made it next to impossible. I am, however, looking forward to working on the cinematics for the "next project" after the expansion.

Will the number of player character sound sets be expanded with this expansion?

Nope. We realized that new voice over would push our target date deep into summer, so we decided to cut it altogether.

The scroll cases, potion bags, and gem bags were great. How about a key ring?

Actually, we've discussed the possibility of implementing a key ring. Based on what our programmers have told me, I don't think we'd be able to get it in without significant code changes. Keys are generally considered "quest items" and must be located in the "root" of the character's inventory. Otherwise, the engine cannot locate the proper key to unlock a door. However, we are working on getting a bag of holding into the expansion. That should help out considerably with inventory management.

Several reviewers felt that Heart of Winter was too short. Is this expansion a response to that criticism, or were there other reasons for doing it?

I think we're making this free expansion for a number of reasons. Obviously, we want to keep our fans happy, and I believe that to be the most compelling reason to expand upon Heart of Winter. But there were other factors involved in the decision as well. As I previously mentioned, some of our team members are helping out on TORN. With our team's resources divided, it made sense to do this expansion rather than launch into full-scale production of our "next project."


With this likely being the last Dungeons & Dragons product for the internal Black Isle team for a while, how eager are you to tackle new worlds and rules? What are you slated to work on next?

I'm actually looking forward to a change of pace. Don't get me wrong, I love Dungeons and Dragons, particularly the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. But I've been designing D&D CRPGs now for two years straight. I can't wait to try my hand at something new. As for what I'll be working on after the expansion... I think I'll take a couple weeks to work on my tan. After that, it's on to the "next project," which, of course, is a carefully guarded secret.

Will you have a chance to attend the E3 trade show and, if so, what are your plans there?

Hopefully I'll get a chance to go this year. If I do manage to make it past the badge nazis, I imagine I'll wind up wandering the floor, getting liquored-up on free Budweiser. Eventually, I'll probably stagger over to the Dynamix booth to "discuss" the differences between Tribes and Tribes 2. After that, the usual BIS crew will undoubtedly head over to our usual perch at the Bonaventure and drink till our kidneys burst.

I would like to thank Steve for taking the time out of his busy schedule to answer these questions. Once again it proves the loyalty and dedication that Black Isle Studios has for its fans. We here at PlanetBaldursGate wish them nothing but success in all things current and future.



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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

[Larry_OHF]

http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/fea...es/index.shtml

For those that want to see the pics...

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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

HEHEHE so excited, will make heart of winter worthwhile afterall

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Holy Avenger of the OHF and part time Pinguindiebjäger

[Lord of Alcohol]

Yea! Sounds GREAT!

[Wulfere]

Perhaps those of us with friends who have cable modems, DSL and CD burners should get together and see about offering to burn copies to distribute amoungst those less fortunate. For the cost of the CD and Shipping that is. I am willing to do some, if it would help folks.
I have a crummy dial-up here in the middle of nowhere (rarely better than 37k), but I have a friend who is willing to download through his DSL and burn me a copy. Something to think about.

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[This message has been edited by Wulfere (edited 05-09-2001).]

[Larry_OHF]

Playing the free expansion after finishing Heart of Winter: Since you already beat the Expansion, one thing you might want to consider is to start an "Expansion Only" game. You can import your high level characters then go immediately to the Whistling Gallows to access the downloadable dungeon pack when it is released. David Hendee (Designer) Expansion pack distribution: Don't know yet but we'll try to get it spread around to make it as painless as possible when the flood gates open. The current "plan" is to have one big version for the people with high speed connections that can download the whole thing in one shot. Then we'll have another version that'll be around 7 to 10 segments that can be downloaded individually. If you don't have a high speed connection I'd strongly recommend getting one of those download managing software programs that allow you to pick up your download where you left off should you lose connection. J.E. Sawyer (Designer) Spell disruption: Some creatures "force cast," meaning they can't be disrupted. Reason: none of the spellcasters in the game would ever get spells off if this was not the case. Magic Missiles would pretty much ruin any caster's chance of doing anything. The only alternative would be to have every caster use Shield or Minor Globe of Invulnerability before battle. Even then, people just wipe the floor with them. It's the same reason why the Lower Dorn's Deep thieves auto-backstab you and cannot be revealed by Detect Invisibility. After the first time you fall for it, the entire point of the encounter is lost. Thankfully, those two problems (spell disruption and backstabbing criteria) are "better" in 3E. In 3E, it can be downright difficult to prevent casters from getting spells off. Also, rogues can sneak attack any time their opponent is denied their dex bonus (or they flank them).

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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

[This message has been edited by Larry_OHF (edited 05-10-2001).]

[Wulfere]

Netscapes SmartDownload is just one of those programs that would allow you to stop and then resume a download.

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[Khanar]

And there's also GetRight and GoZilla. But I'm glad I can download it at one time and burn onto a CD.

[Larry_OHF]

New Screenshots:

http://www.avault.com/news/avscreens...ic=iwind&num=1
http://www.avault.com/news/avscreens...ic=iwind&num=2
http://www.avault.com/news/avscreens...ic=iwind&num=3


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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

[Larry_OHF]

Decided this needed to be bumped to the top...
so...well,,,bump.

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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF