4 réponses à ce sujet

[Raelius Archmannon]

Hey guys, this is just a random idea that I had.
There was talk about NWN2 going open source years ago, but then it didn't really happen.
I was wondering if anyone knew why - if it was just an economic problem (what with Granny and possibly Bioware having some rights on parts of  the engine), how do you think raising funds to collectively buy a license for open source distribution from whoever has the right to grant it would work out?
I mean, it's a really old, non competitive engine we're talking about, so how much could the owner ask for anyway?
Don't want to pay Granny (which on hind sight is probably the worst thing that happened to NWN2 - not that granny per se is bad, but it's not good for a game whose main selling point is moddability)? Well, pull it out of the source code, pay for the rest, and rewrite the skeleton and mesh loaders with the community, using a free, widespread and well known format. In the end everyone's happy: the owner gets extra money out of something they've probably no plan on and the community gets access to the source code to mod it as much as they want (and there's a lot of talented people out there - coders, artists, and designers - to make a real NWN2 renaissance happen).

[kamal_]

Not gonna happen. There's such a shedload of rights holders it's a morass (hmmm, wonder is the forum software will censor mor-donkeyrear). Even Obsidian cant get rights back, as claimed in the nwn podcast.

And Wotc. No way Wotc is going to allow anything.

[-Semper-]

Raelius Archmannon wrote...

Well, pull it out of the source code, pay for the rest, and rewrite the skeleton and mesh loaders with the community, using a free, widespread and well known format.

nwn2's community ain't that big and i doubt that there are engine writers among them. it should be easier to take unity and implement an rpg ruleset from scratch.

btw the age of software doesn't justify an open source distribution.

Modifié par -Semper-, 30 novembre 2012 - 02:52 .

[PJ156]

-Semper- wrote...

nwn2's community ain't that big and i doubt that there are engine writers among them.

Not so! I rekon there's at least ten of us .. okay maybe eight.

As for paying, well I'm minted. I just checked my pockets and I have thirty seven pence and the head off a spongebob squarepants lego minifigure. That's got to be worth something.

Seriously though, I can't see us getting any more access to this tool than we have. A renaissance would be good but I fear this will for ever be a home for the modders who favour roleplay over eye candy and when a game comes along that offers both with a flexible enough toolset then the community will dwindle further.

On the up side I just found spongebob squarepants legs on the hall dresser.

PJ

[Clyordes]

Yay! All's good in Bikini Bottom :-)

What I'm wondering at the moment is the effect that the new Neverwinter game will have. From what little I've seen so far its a lot of eye candy & very 'streamlined' in terms of role play and depth - at least compared to NWN. Having said that, I've not played it yet - dang beta test the other week started at midnight local time (UK) so I couldn't jump in & take a peek.

I'm guessing that a fair few people who might be drawn in by the Neverwinter name might get a little disappointed by the lack of depth - if that's how it comes out - and decide to investigate what NWN was like, especially if the Foundry doesn't allow builders to create more variety and depth in the adventures they (we?) can build.

That might lead a few players into NWN2 - assuming its available to buy still by then.

Fingers crossed for me that NWN2 still remains popular - after all I've got adventures half built!

Cly.