Neverwinter Nights
Encyclopedia
Neverwinter Nights produced by BioWare
and published by Infogrames
(now Atari
), is a third-person perspective computer role-playing game that is based on third edition Dungeons & Dragons
and Forgotten Realms
rules. It was originally to be published by Interplay Entertainment
, but the publisher's financial difficulties forced the change. Infogrames released Neverwinter Nights for Windows
on June 18, 2002. BioWare released the freely downloadable Linux
Client in June 2003 (purchase of game still required). MacSoft released a Mac OS X
port in August 2003. Two expansion packs were released in mid and late 2003, and a third in 2005. On October 31, 2006, the sequel Neverwinter Nights 2
was released followed by its first expansion in late 2007 and its second one at the end of 2008.
The game was based on the concept of building an internet-like model for a massively multiplayer game, allowing the end users to host the server. The belief was this model would create a potentially infinite massively multiplayer game framework. The game was named after the original Neverwinter Nights
online game, the first graphical MMORPG
, which ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL
.
The core release includes the game engine, a campaign that can be played as single player or multiplayer, and the Aurora toolset (for Windows only) used for creating custom content based on the same engine.
; collecting the four reagents required for stopping an insatiable plague
; thwarting an attack on the city of Neverwinter
, and many other side quest
s.
The first and final chapters of the story in the official campaign deal with the city of Neverwinter itself, but the lengthy mid-story requires the player to venture into the countryside and then northward to the city of Luskan. Neverwinter is a city on the Sword Coast of Faerûn
, in the Forgotten Realms
campaign setting of Dungeons and Dragons.
As the cure is being made, Castle Neverwinter is attacked by Desther’s minions. Desther takes the completed cure and escapes the castle, with the player character and Fenthick in pursuit. When they catch up to Desther, he surrenders after a short battle. Desther is sentenced to burn at the stake, and Fenthick, despite being unaware of Desther’s true intentions, is sentenced to hang.
The player character meets up with Aribeth and they begin searching for the cult responsible for the plague and the attack on Neverwinter. With the help of Aarin Gend, Neverwinter's spymaster, the player character retrieves diaries of dead cultists and letters from a person named Maugrim, which convince Aribeth that the cult's headquarters are in Luskan. Aribeth goes ahead to Luskan, and the player character follows after speaking once more to Gend.
After arriving in Luskan, the player character hears rumors that Aribeth is joining with the cultists. These fears are confirmed when he finds her meeting with Maugrim and Morag, Queen of the Old Ones
. They seek magical relics called Words of Power.
The player character retrieves all of the Words of Power except for one, held by the cult. He discovers that the words open a portal to a pocket world inside the Source Stone, where Morag and the other Old Ones are. He confronts Aribeth, and depending on how he handles the meeting, she either surrenders to the player character or he is forced to kill her. He then confronts Maugrim for the final word. He uses the words to enter the Source Stone and battle with Morag. After Morag's death, he escapes the stone as the world inside it implodes.
, alignment, statistics (strength, dexterity, etc.), abilities (skills, feats, etc.), appearance, and name. There is a great deal of customization involved—one can be, for example, an outdoorsman (Ranger
class) or a healer (Cleric
class)—and then choose the skills and feats that would help them the most (a Ranger might want the Animal Empathy skill, for example, while a Cleric would choose the Combat Casting feat).
The game is lengthy (original NWN has three CDs, while the expansions each add one CD - Later productions moved the entirety of the game to a single DVD). Following a small prelude, there are four "chapters" in the original game, with each chapter consisting of a general storyline (the first chapter, for example, deals with a mysterious plague in the city of Neverwinter), and within each chapter, there are many quests, subquests, and mini-storylines. Depending on specific quests completed, and specific items kept, some storylines are continued throughout the entire game (such as Henchman or Aribeth's tales). Completing many of the side quests will give the player's character more experience (and special items), making him/her level up faster and continue to make the game easier as the player progresses. For example, completing all quests in the first and second chapters will place the player in Chapter 3 with a 13th level character, instead of a 10th.
The game's actual mechanics are based on the Dungeons & Dragons
3rd edition rule set; most actions (fighting, persuasion, etc.) are based on dice
rolls. For example, when a fighter attacks, he would roll a 20-sided die (called a d20 in-game) to determine if he hits the target and then roll another die determined by the type of weapon (an 8-sided die (d8) for longsword, two 6-sided dice (2d6) for greatsword, 10-sided die (d10) for dwarven waraxe etc.) to determine damage dealt. Although nearly all actions are based on a dice roll, the player does not see the dice roll and it is calculated "Behind the scenes"(although a nearly exhaustive feed of the various rolls may be enabled).
, can support up to 96 players (not including Dungeon Masters) on the same server application, additional players can join the same machine, on a different server, on a different port of the machine to give more player capacity, although this reduces game quality on low end machines. NWN game modules run as a variety of separate genres and themes, including persistent world
s (which are similar to MUD
s), combat arenas (player versus player
modules), whole servers dedicated to sexually oriented roleplay,
and simple social gatherings similar to a chat room
. The campaign included with the game can be played with friends, for example, or a team of builders can build a virtual world similar in scope and size to commercial MMORPG
s. BioWare insists that these persistent worlds be free of charge, primarily for reasons of copyright law.
Because Neverwinter Nights lacks a global chat function aside from the supported Gamespy, players typically join "pickup" games through the game's multiplayer interface, or schedule games in advance with friends. Matchmaking sites, such as Neverwinter Connections, facilitate scheduling of games, and the experience is much like traditional Pen-and-Paper roleplaying games. Persistent worlds do this work for them by inviting players to visit their website and continue to roleplay there.
One important feature of Neverwinter Nights is the 'DM' or 'Dungeon Master' Client, a tool that allows an individual to take the role of the traditional 'Dungeon Master', who guides the players through the story, and has complete control of the server. While not the first game to utilize this feature (one previous example is a more basic version in the game Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, based on the printed gamebooks published by White Wolf), Neverwinter Nights had the most evolved version of this feature and thus arguably created one of the most 'immersive' RPG experiences currently available in CRPG gaming. The DM Client allowed players to participate in regular campaigns, while also allowing persistent-world servers to flourish by permitting the Dungeon Masters of those servers to possess NPCs 'on-the-fly' for added realism. The DM Client also permitted the user to spawn and control masses of monsters and NPCs much in the same way as units would be controlled in a real time simulation strategic game.
, which allows players to create custom modules for Neverwinter Nights. These modules may take the form of online multiplayer worlds, single player
adventures, character trainers or technology demo
s. Additionally, several third party utilities have further expanded the community's ability to create custom content
for the game. Custom content creators are known as builders in the Neverwinter Nights community.
The Aurora toolset allows builders to create map areas using a tile system
; the appearance and surface textures of the area are defined by the area's selected tileset
. Builders can overlay placeable objects onto areas, and use the built-in scripting language NWScript
to run cut scenes, quests, mini-games and conversations. NWScript is based on C
.
Third party utilities allow builders to create custom content for most aspects of the game, ranging from new playable races and character classes to new tilesets, monsters and equipment. Custom content is added to the game in the form of hakpaks. Builders have used the Aurora toolset in combination with hakpaks to create playing experiences beyond the scope of the original campaign. Despite the game's age, the Neverwinter Nights custom content community remains active.
The community, mostly centered on the Neverwinter Vault, created over 4000 modules to the game, among them are many award-winning adventures and series, like Dreamcatcher, Aielund Saga, AL series, and much more.
Additionally, Aurora toolset has allowed for the creation of a number of ongoing persistent world
s modules.
The Aurora toolset is not available for the Linux and Macintosh versions of Neverwinter Nights. The open source
project neveredit aims to port the toolset features to these platforms.
The game's module-making legacy was continued by Neverwinter Nights 2
.
to the core game.
According to BioWare, the revenue generated is used to support their fan community and provide ongoing updates and improvements to the popular game. The modules that are sold in the BioWare store require an active internet connection to play, even when played in single player mode. The modules in the Kingmaker expansion were stripped of this requirement but are only for Windows. The modules included with Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition do not require Internet access to play.
As of August 30, 2009, BioWare has discontinued its selling of Premium Modules due to a request made by Atari. So far, Atari has not yet provided any alternative means to acquire the modules.
On June 16, 2011 the NWN DRM Authentication server was temporarily taken down as a reaction by EA to the NWN store being hacked and customer data stolen. Premium modules which were purchased via bioware store could not be played afterwards due to their DRM failing to find the server. This service disruption was temporary, and the exact duration of the outage has not been documented. During the outage only the DRM free premium modules could be played.
The modules Kingmaker, Shadowguard, and Witch's Wake were initially sold with DRM, they were later sold DRM free in a bundle (containing only those 3 modules) called "Kingmaker CD version" and as part of the Diamond Edition package. The modules Infinite Dungeons, Pirates of the Sword Coast, and Wyvern Crown of Cormyr were only sold with DRM.
for not being the Forgotten Realms
setting.
s; and Neverwinter Nights: Diamond (in Europe called Neverwinter Nights Deluxe: Special Edition), which includes everything in the Platinum edition plus the three additional modules from the Kingmaker expansion pack.
due to their having been copied from outside sources. In another instance, the Canadian Red Cross complained to BioWare about the appearance of the Red Cross symbol on the in-game item "Healer's Kit", as part of a long-running attempt to discourage misuse of the symbol. This resulted in the Red Cross symbol being removed from the Healer's Kit through patches.
in the United Kingdom as a means of delivering Key Skills and of showing IT
designers how to understand the coding in the game.
The Synthetic Worlds Initiative at Indiana University has used it as a basis for the creation of Arden: World Of William Shakespeare, where Shakespeare's dramatic history of Richard III and The War of the Roses can be interactively explored.
The game and the Aurora toolset are also used in the subject INFO111/MAS111: Computer Games at Macquarie University. The University of Alberta
offers a computer game design course which uses Neverwinter Nights and the Aurora Toolset as the platform for teaching and course projects.
, was developed by Obsidian Entertainment
, a company which has a long history of association with BioWare. According to BioWare, the change of developer is due to BioWare's business with other titles, such as Mass Effect
and Dragon Age: Origins
.
NWN2 shipped at the beginning of November 2006 prior to November 4 in the US and most European countries, and on November 16 in Australia
.
On August 23, 2010, Atari
announced Cryptic Studios
would be developing Neverwinter, an online-RPG based on the book series of the same name by R.A. Salvatore. It will be based on Wizards of the Coast
's global property Dungeons & Dragons
rules and feature the traditionally-known city of Neverwinter
. It is scheduled for a "late" 2012 release.
, a role-playing game
based in the Star Wars
universe, was also released by BioWare using a heavily modified version
of the Aurora engine of Neverwinter Nights. The sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
, also used this modified engine
. Because of this, modders have been able to modify these games using some Neverwinter Nights modding tools.
, a computer role-playing game by the Polish
company CD Projekt
, is based on the Aurora engine of Neverwinter Nights. Its development was highly publicized within the NWN community.
.
. GameSpot
referred to it as "one of those exceedingly rare games that has a lot to offer virtually everyone, even if they aren't already into RPGs", and praised it for its campaign, its Aurora toolset, and its graphics. PC Gamer
US called it "a total package — a PC gaming classic for the ages", and said that its "storyline [is] as persuasive as any I’ve encountered in a fantasy roleplaying game". Allgame
found that the game's story was "humdrum" and "mediocre".
GamePro
noted the game's graphics as being "gorgeous" and its sound as "untouchable", and GameZone
likewise praised its visuals, specifically mentioning its combat animation and spell effects as being well-done. GameSpy
wasn't as impressed by the graphics, saying "The biggest, and arguably the only, glaring flaw in the game, is its graphics. You can tell that this game has been in development for five years[...]"; however, they praised its voice acting and music.
Allgame praised Neverwinter Nights DM
tools, saying that the game's level creation options are "impressive", and the multiplayer options "great". GamePro thought that Neverwinter Nights is the closest that any video game has come to accurately representing the full Dungeons & Dragons rules, a statement further reinforced by Greg Kasavin of GameSpot
, who said that "Neverwinter Nights isn't the first Dungeons & Dragons game for the computer to make use of the pen-and-paper game's 3rd Edition rules, but it's the first to implement them so well." GameZone said that the Aurora Toolset was one of the "best features" of the game.
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...
and published by Infogrames
Infogrames
Infogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
(now Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
), is a third-person perspective computer role-playing game that is based on third edition Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
and Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...
rules. It was originally to be published by Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed...
, but the publisher's financial difficulties forced the change. Infogrames released Neverwinter Nights for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
on June 18, 2002. BioWare released the freely downloadable Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
Client in June 2003 (purchase of game still required). MacSoft released a Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
port in August 2003. Two expansion packs were released in mid and late 2003, and a third in 2005. On October 31, 2006, the sequel Neverwinter Nights 2
Neverwinter Nights 2
Neverwinter Nights 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons pencil and paper fantasy role-playing game...
was released followed by its first expansion in late 2007 and its second one at the end of 2008.
The game was based on the concept of building an internet-like model for a massively multiplayer game, allowing the end users to host the server. The belief was this model would create a potentially infinite massively multiplayer game framework. The game was named after the original Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights (AOL game)
Neverwinter Nights was the first multiplayer online role-playing game to display graphics, and ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL.-Gameplay:Neverwinter Nights was developed to be played similarly to the Gold Box series of games...
online game, the first graphical MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
, which ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
.
The core release includes the game engine, a campaign that can be played as single player or multiplayer, and the Aurora toolset (for Windows only) used for creating custom content based on the same engine.
Description
Play centers on the development of a character who becomes the ultimate hero of the story. In the original NWN scenario supplied with the game engine, the player is single-handedly responsible for defeating a powerful cultCult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
; collecting the four reagents required for stopping an insatiable plague
Pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
; thwarting an attack on the city of Neverwinter
Neverwinter
Neverwinter is a fictional city-state in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Neverwinter was founded by Lord Halueth Never...
, and many other side quest
Quest
In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...
s.
The first and final chapters of the story in the official campaign deal with the city of Neverwinter itself, but the lengthy mid-story requires the player to venture into the countryside and then northward to the city of Luskan. Neverwinter is a city on the Sword Coast of Faerûn
Faerûn
Faerûn is a fictional subcontinent, the primary setting of the Dungeons & Dragons world of Forgotten Realms. It is described at a relatively high level in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting from Wizards of the Coast, and various locales and aspects are described in more detail by separate...
, in the Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...
campaign setting of Dungeons and Dragons.
Plot
The story begins with the player character being sent by Lady Aribeth to recover four monsters needed to make a cure for the Wailing Death, a plague that is sweeping the city of Neverwinter. With the help of Fenthick Moss, Aribeth’s love interest, and Desther, Fenthick’s friend, the player character is able to retrieve the monsters. As he is collecting these monsters, he is attacked by mysterious assassins from the cult that is behind the spreading of the plague.As the cure is being made, Castle Neverwinter is attacked by Desther’s minions. Desther takes the completed cure and escapes the castle, with the player character and Fenthick in pursuit. When they catch up to Desther, he surrenders after a short battle. Desther is sentenced to burn at the stake, and Fenthick, despite being unaware of Desther’s true intentions, is sentenced to hang.
After arriving in Luskan, the player character hears rumors that Aribeth is joining with the cultists. These fears are confirmed when he finds her meeting with Maugrim and Morag, Queen of the Old Ones
Creator Races
In the fictional Forgotten Realms setting, the intelligent species are classified into groups known as "races", which, in this context, generally refers to an intelligent species, such as humanity, elves or goblins...
. They seek magical relics called Words of Power.
The player character retrieves all of the Words of Power except for one, held by the cult. He discovers that the words open a portal to a pocket world inside the Source Stone, where Morag and the other Old Ones are. He confronts Aribeth, and depending on how he handles the meeting, she either surrenders to the player character or he is forced to kill her. He then confronts Maugrim for the final word. He uses the words to enter the Source Stone and battle with Morag. After Morag's death, he escapes the stone as the world inside it implodes.
Original plot
A posting at the Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault on June 4, 2008 contained information from what appeared to be original Neverwinter Nights documentation. At the BioWare forums, Neverwinter Lead Designer Rob Bartel confirmed that the "series of excerpts from the game's design doc" were not a hoax. When asked if the plans were altered due to time constraints, Bartel referenced various legal difficulties that the company was working through.Gameplay
As in Dungeons & Dragons, the first thing a player must do is create a character. One can choose the character's gender, race, character classCharacter class
In role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
, alignment, statistics (strength, dexterity, etc.), abilities (skills, feats, etc.), appearance, and name. There is a great deal of customization involved—one can be, for example, an outdoorsman (Ranger
Ranger (Dungeons & Dragons)
The ranger is one of the standard playable character class in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. They are protectors of nature, skilled woodsmen, and often live reclusive lives as hermits....
class) or a healer (Cleric
Cleric (Dungeons & Dragons)
The cleric is one of the standard playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. In the game, clerics are versatile figures, both capable in combat and skilled in the use of divine magic. Clerics are powerful healers due to the large number of healing and curative...
class)—and then choose the skills and feats that would help them the most (a Ranger might want the Animal Empathy skill, for example, while a Cleric would choose the Combat Casting feat).
The game is lengthy (original NWN has three CDs, while the expansions each add one CD - Later productions moved the entirety of the game to a single DVD). Following a small prelude, there are four "chapters" in the original game, with each chapter consisting of a general storyline (the first chapter, for example, deals with a mysterious plague in the city of Neverwinter), and within each chapter, there are many quests, subquests, and mini-storylines. Depending on specific quests completed, and specific items kept, some storylines are continued throughout the entire game (such as Henchman or Aribeth's tales). Completing many of the side quests will give the player's character more experience (and special items), making him/her level up faster and continue to make the game easier as the player progresses. For example, completing all quests in the first and second chapters will place the player in Chapter 3 with a 13th level character, instead of a 10th.
The game's actual mechanics are based on the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
3rd edition rule set; most actions (fighting, persuasion, etc.) are based on dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
rolls. For example, when a fighter attacks, he would roll a 20-sided die (called a d20 in-game) to determine if he hits the target and then roll another die determined by the type of weapon (an 8-sided die (d8) for longsword, two 6-sided dice (2d6) for greatsword, 10-sided die (d10) for dwarven waraxe etc.) to determine damage dealt. Although nearly all actions are based on a dice roll, the player does not see the dice roll and it is calculated "Behind the scenes"(although a nearly exhaustive feed of the various rolls may be enabled).
Multiplayer
The robust multiplayer component separates Neverwinter Nights from previous Dungeons & Dragons games, as there are many servers for players to choose from. Each server, depending on hardware and bandwidthBandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
, can support up to 96 players (not including Dungeon Masters) on the same server application, additional players can join the same machine, on a different server, on a different port of the machine to give more player capacity, although this reduces game quality on low end machines. NWN game modules run as a variety of separate genres and themes, including persistent world
Persistent world
A persistent world is a virtual world that continues to exist even after a user exits the world and that user-made changes to its state are, to some extent, permanent...
s (which are similar to MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
s), combat arenas (player versus player
Player versus player
Player versus player, or PvP, is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between two or more live participants. This is in contrast to games where players compete against computer controlled opponents, which is correspondingly referred to as player versus environment...
modules), whole servers dedicated to sexually oriented roleplay,
and simple social gatherings similar to a chat room
Chat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
. The campaign included with the game can be played with friends, for example, or a team of builders can build a virtual world similar in scope and size to commercial MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
s. BioWare insists that these persistent worlds be free of charge, primarily for reasons of copyright law.
Because Neverwinter Nights lacks a global chat function aside from the supported Gamespy, players typically join "pickup" games through the game's multiplayer interface, or schedule games in advance with friends. Matchmaking sites, such as Neverwinter Connections, facilitate scheduling of games, and the experience is much like traditional Pen-and-Paper roleplaying games. Persistent worlds do this work for them by inviting players to visit their website and continue to roleplay there.
One important feature of Neverwinter Nights is the 'DM' or 'Dungeon Master' Client, a tool that allows an individual to take the role of the traditional 'Dungeon Master', who guides the players through the story, and has complete control of the server. While not the first game to utilize this feature (one previous example is a more basic version in the game Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, based on the printed gamebooks published by White Wolf), Neverwinter Nights had the most evolved version of this feature and thus arguably created one of the most 'immersive' RPG experiences currently available in CRPG gaming. The DM Client allowed players to participate in regular campaigns, while also allowing persistent-world servers to flourish by permitting the Dungeon Masters of those servers to possess NPCs 'on-the-fly' for added realism. The DM Client also permitted the user to spawn and control masses of monsters and NPCs much in the same way as units would be controlled in a real time simulation strategic game.
Custom content
Neverwinter Nights ships with the Aurora toolsetAurora toolset
The Aurora toolset is a set of software tools developed by BioWare for use with the Aurora Engine, the game engine first used in BioWare's 2002 computer role-playing game Neverwinter Nights...
, which allows players to create custom modules for Neverwinter Nights. These modules may take the form of online multiplayer worlds, single player
Single player
A Single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. "Single-player game" usually implies a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" usually refers to a game mode for a single player, where...
adventures, character trainers or technology demo
Technology demo
A tech demo is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product...
s. Additionally, several third party utilities have further expanded the community's ability to create custom content
Mod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
for the game. Custom content creators are known as builders in the Neverwinter Nights community.
The Aurora toolset allows builders to create map areas using a tile system
Tile-based game
A tile-based game is a game that uses tiles as one of the fundamental elements of play. Traditional tile-based games use small tiles as playing pieces for gambling or entertainment games...
; the appearance and surface textures of the area are defined by the area's selected tileset
Tile-based game
A tile-based game is a game that uses tiles as one of the fundamental elements of play. Traditional tile-based games use small tiles as playing pieces for gambling or entertainment games...
. Builders can overlay placeable objects onto areas, and use the built-in scripting language NWScript
NWScript
NWScript is the scripting language developed by BioWare for the computer role-playing game Neverwinter Nights. It is based on the C programming language and is implemented in the Aurora toolset...
to run cut scenes, quests, mini-games and conversations. NWScript is based on C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
.
Third party utilities allow builders to create custom content for most aspects of the game, ranging from new playable races and character classes to new tilesets, monsters and equipment. Custom content is added to the game in the form of hakpaks. Builders have used the Aurora toolset in combination with hakpaks to create playing experiences beyond the scope of the original campaign. Despite the game's age, the Neverwinter Nights custom content community remains active.
The community, mostly centered on the Neverwinter Vault, created over 4000 modules to the game, among them are many award-winning adventures and series, like Dreamcatcher, Aielund Saga, AL series, and much more.
Additionally, Aurora toolset has allowed for the creation of a number of ongoing persistent world
Persistent world
A persistent world is a virtual world that continues to exist even after a user exits the world and that user-made changes to its state are, to some extent, permanent...
s modules.
The Aurora toolset is not available for the Linux and Macintosh versions of Neverwinter Nights. The open source
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
project neveredit aims to port the toolset features to these platforms.
The game's module-making legacy was continued by Neverwinter Nights 2
Neverwinter Nights 2
Neverwinter Nights 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons pencil and paper fantasy role-playing game...
.
Official expansion packs
- Shadows of UndrentideNeverwinter Nights: Shadows of UndrentideNeverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide is an expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights developed by Floodgate Entertainment and BioWare, and published by Infogrames Entertainment . It was released in June 2003...
(SoU) - this expansion scenario pack was released in June 2003. It added 5 prestige classes, 16 new creatures (two of them available as additional familiars), 3 new tilesets, and over 30 new feats and 50 new spells, as well as additional scripting abilities for those who use the Aurora toolkit. It featured a story line concerning a student sent out to recover some stolen magical objects. The story begins in the Silver Marches, eventually moving toward the desert of Anauroch and the old Netherese city of Undrentide. - Hordes of the UnderdarkNeverwinter Nights: Hordes of the UnderdarkNeverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Neverwinter Nights produced by BioWare and published by Infogrames Entertainment...
(HotU) released in December 2003 expanded the level-cap to level 40, and added a number of spells and items appropriate to such characters, as well as adding further tilesets, prestige classes, feats, and abilities, and compatibility with the Intel Pentium 4 Processor, which was unsupported in previous versions. The story continued where Shadows of Undrentide ended, with a character of at least 12th level, and led into the vast subterranean world known as the UnderdarkUnderdarkThe Underdark is a fictional setting which has appeared in Dungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns and Dungeons & Dragons-based fiction books, including the Legend of Drizzt series by R. A. Salvatore...
. The first chapter of the story took place in the Undermountain dungeon beneath the city of WaterdeepWaterdeep (city)Waterdeep is a fictional city-state that forms part of a popular Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game campaign setting called the Forgotten Realms. It is a port city that is located along the western coast of the Faerûn sub-continent...
. - KingmakerNeverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (expansion pack)Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker is an expansion pack released for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights which includes three premium modules: Kingmaker, Shadowguard, and Witch's Wake...
- an expansion pack released in November 2004 that features three premium modules: the titular award-winning Kingmaker, plus ShadowguardNeverwinter Nights: ShadowguardNeverwinter Nights: Shadowguard is a premium module for Bioware's 2002 PC RPG, Neverwinter Nights. The module was sold at the Bioware store for $4.99, and comes with the "Witch's Wake" premium module for free. The game is only an hour or two long. The module features a new adventure set in a unique...
, and Witch's WakeNeverwinter Nights: Witch's WakeNeverwinter Nights: Witch's Wake is a module for Neverwinter Nights with a heavy emphasis on storyline.-Plot:Witch's Wake is set in a unique setting created specially for the module, which features a dark, mysterious world and lots of unique sub-races with their own special bonuses.The game starts...
.
Community-created expansion packs
Atari and Bioware helped to promote and release free downloadable hack-pack \ models \ tileset Expansion Packs which greatly expands the possibilities of mod-making.- Community Expansion Pack (CEP), released in March 2004, and based on community's fan-made material. This freely downloadable expansion was compiled by members of the Neverwinter Nights community. It combines a selection of previously released custom content into one large hakpak. BioWareBioWareBioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...
had no involvement in creating content for the CEP, but provided resources to help promote it. Players must add the CEP to a module with the toolset to use CEP content. - Players Resource Consortium (PRC), released in early December 2003, is a group of hakpaks combined, which added classes, races, skills, and spells to the game. As of May 20, 2006, the PRC now has roughly three times the number of prestige classes the original game had. It also adds dozens of epic spells, and many normal spells that make better use of BioWare's Aurora engine. These include: Teleportation, Transposition, Mazes, Summoning Houses and more. As well, psionic powers have been included, which are essentially spells, but done with "power points", akin to the sorcerer class. Much of the PRC pushes the engine in ways that the designers never intended, so caution is advised when making use of the hakpak.
Premium modules
In late 2004, BioWare launched its online store and started selling what it called premium modules as part of its digital distribution program. This initiative was spearheaded by BioWare's Live Team Lead Designer, Rob Bartel. These smaller-scale adventures introduce new storylines and gameplay, and include new music and art that BioWare integrated into later patchesPatch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
to the core game.
According to BioWare, the revenue generated is used to support their fan community and provide ongoing updates and improvements to the popular game. The modules that are sold in the BioWare store require an active internet connection to play, even when played in single player mode. The modules in the Kingmaker expansion were stripped of this requirement but are only for Windows. The modules included with Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition do not require Internet access to play.
As of August 30, 2009, BioWare has discontinued its selling of Premium Modules due to a request made by Atari. So far, Atari has not yet provided any alternative means to acquire the modules.
On June 16, 2011 the NWN DRM Authentication server was temporarily taken down as a reaction by EA to the NWN store being hacked and customer data stolen. Premium modules which were purchased via bioware store could not be played afterwards due to their DRM failing to find the server. This service disruption was temporary, and the exact duration of the outage has not been documented. During the outage only the DRM free premium modules could be played.
The modules Kingmaker, Shadowguard, and Witch's Wake were initially sold with DRM, they were later sold DRM free in a bundle (containing only those 3 modules) called "Kingmaker CD version" and as part of the Diamond Edition package. The modules Infinite Dungeons, Pirates of the Sword Coast, and Wyvern Crown of Cormyr were only sold with DRM.
- Kingmaker – In November 2004, BioWare announced their flagship premium module, which later received the Academy of Interactive Arts & SciencesAcademy of Interactive Arts & SciencesThe Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , founded in 1996, is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998...
'PC RPG of the Year' award. The player is called upon to defeat the evil at the Keep of Cyan, and win the throne. - ShadowGuard, (released with free Witch's Wake) – created by community member Ben McJunkin. It features a new setting, Abaron, and a story focused on player character's adventures and interaction with a secret Shadowguard group.
- Witch's WakeNeverwinter Nights: Witch's WakeNeverwinter Nights: Witch's Wake is a module for Neverwinter Nights with a heavy emphasis on storyline.-Plot:Witch's Wake is set in a unique setting created specially for the module, which features a dark, mysterious world and lots of unique sub-races with their own special bonuses.The game starts...
- A remastered version of Rob Bartel's popular story-oriented module by the same name. The remastered version added new subraces, music, and substantial voice-acting throughout. The game features a story of a man who lost his memories and awakens on a field of battle. In development was Witch's Wake II: The Witch Hunters – the sequel to the popular Witch's Wake premium module, but it was ultimately canceled and has never been released for download, free or otherwise. - Pirates of the Sword CoastNeverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword CoastNeverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast is a premium module for the computer game Neverwinter Nights that features sea-voyaging, pirate-style, swashbuckling adventure. As of December 2009 Atari owns the rights to the module, which is not available for purchase.- Description :The module is...
– In June 2005, BioWare announced the upcoming release of a new premium module. The story begins in the city of Neverwinter, and leads to a lengthy ship-borne, swashbuckling-style adventure. Characters start at the 5th level. - Infinite Dungeons – In May 2006, BioWare released this premium module which takes place in Undermountain below WaterdeepWaterdeep (city)Waterdeep is a fictional city-state that forms part of a popular Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game campaign setting called the Forgotten Realms. It is a port city that is located along the western coast of the Faerûn sub-continent...
. The main feature is randomly generated dungeons, which are suitable for all levels of adventurer. The module is designed for single and multiplayer gaming. With the exception of the ability to respawn one's character, ID is very similar to a 3-D roguelikeRoguelikeThe roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
. - Wyvern Crown of Cormyr – In September 2006, BioWare announced a new premium module produced by the DLA team. It features fully ridable horses, flowing cloaks, tabards and long coats, a new prestige class (the Purple Dragon Knight), and extensive new art, creatures, and tilesets. Characters start at the 6th or 7th level and module offers an approximate 18 to 20 hours of gameplay.
Post-premium modules
Premium modules were supposed to continue on, but unfortunately were canceled. Three premium modules were known to be in development before the cancellation. Two of them ended up being free downloads, while the third, which was to be the sequel to Witch's Wake, was never released. One module, Hex Coda, was cancelled by Wizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
for not being the Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...
setting.
- Hex Coda - On May 15, 2005 Stefan Gagne released Hex Coda, the first canceled premium module, to NWVault. The story was a mix of fantasy and science fiction and involved the player dealing with the machinations of the multinational corporation called Cathedral. A sequel was in development but cancelled.
- Tyrants of the Moonsea – In July 2006, Alazander released to Neverwinter Vault. The story takes place in the Hillsfar area and includes gladiatorial matches. Characters start at the 12th level. Artemis EntreriArtemis EntreriArtemis Entreri is a fictional character in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Entreri is depicted as a ruthless assassin and the arch-enemy of Drizzt Do'Urden, the protagonistic dark elf. He is the creation of author R. A...
makes an appearance in this module. The module is also known as AL3: Tyrants of the Moonsea, as it serves as the third entry to Alazander's AL series of modules (the other two, AL1: Siege of Shadowdale and AL2: Crimson Tides of Tethyr, are also free to download on the Vault). While the module itself received favorable reviews, many criticized its shortness, because, due to premium modules abortion, the development of the module was ended before planned release, and Alazander was forced to finish it with already existing material. - Darkness over DaggerfordDarkness over DaggerfordDarkness over Daggerford is an expansion pack for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights computer role-playing game. It was released for digital distribution on August 16, 2006...
– In August 2006, Ossian Studios Inc., headed up by Alan MirandaAlan Miranda-Career:Alan Miranda is a previous BioWare employee, who had worked on Dungeons & Dragons titles like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. In 2003, he left BioWare to form his own company, Ossian Studios, with his wife Elizabeth Starr...
, a former producer at BioWare, released the second canceled premium module to the Vault. The story takes place in and around Daggerford and has been compared favorably to Baldur's Gate 2 in terms of its scope. Characters start at the 8th level. The module includes a cinematic intro (like the main campaign) and a world map. Darkness over Daggerford's status as a quasi-official expansion pack was supported by the next release of the team, this time a fully official one: Mysteries of WestgateNeverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of WestgateNeverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate is an expansion pack for the computer role-playing game Neverwinter Nights 2. It was developed by Ossian Studios and published by Atari on April 29, 2009. The player creates a character and controls it, along with a group of three pre-designed...
for Neverwinter Nights 2.
Editions
Atari released subsequent editions of the game following its first release in 2002. These editions are: Neverwinter Nights: Gold, which combines the original game with the Shadows of Undrentide expansion pack; Neverwinter Nights: Platinum (in Europe called Neverwinter Nights: Deluxe Edition), which combined all three NWN products and came on a single DVD-ROM or six CD-ROMCD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
s; and Neverwinter Nights: Diamond (in Europe called Neverwinter Nights Deluxe: Special Edition), which includes everything in the Platinum edition plus the three additional modules from the Kingmaker expansion pack.
Versions and re-releases
The game was also released in Collector's Edition (2002) format, with various collectible items included in the box. The Gold (2003) version included Shadows of Undrentide in addition to the main game. The Platinum (2004) version included Hordes of the Underdark and Diamond (2005) included both expansions and Kingmaker as well. The collections Atari Collection: Rollenspiele (2005), Neverwinter Nights 2: Lawful Good Edition (2006), Neverwinter Nights 2: Chaotic Evil Edition (2006), Ultimate Dungeons & Dragons (2006), Rollenspiele: Deluxe Edition (2007) and Neverwinter Nights 3-Pack (2007) all were released containing copies of Neverwinter Nights, Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark, as well. In 2010 the Diamond edition was licensed for online distribution to Good Old Games.Awards
- E3 2000 Game Critics AwardsGame Critics AwardsThe Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards are given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category. The nominees and winners of the awards are chosen by individual judges representing 35 major North...
: Best RPG, Best Online Multiplayer - E3 2001 Game Critics Awards: Best Role Playing Game
- E3 2002 Game Critics Awards: Best Role Playing Game
Legal issues
Since the original release of Neverwinter Nights, several in-game portraits have been modified in patchesPatch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
due to their having been copied from outside sources. In another instance, the Canadian Red Cross complained to BioWare about the appearance of the Red Cross symbol on the in-game item "Healer's Kit", as part of a long-running attempt to discourage misuse of the symbol. This resulted in the Red Cross symbol being removed from the Healer's Kit through patches.
Educational usage
Neverwinter Nights is used for educational purposes in West Nottinghamshire CollegeWest Nottinghamshire College
Vision West Notts formerly known as 'West Nottinghamshire College' is a further education college with the main campus situated in Mansfield, and Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England...
in the United Kingdom as a means of delivering Key Skills and of showing IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
designers how to understand the coding in the game.
The Synthetic Worlds Initiative at Indiana University has used it as a basis for the creation of Arden: World Of William Shakespeare, where Shakespeare's dramatic history of Richard III and The War of the Roses can be interactively explored.
The game and the Aurora toolset are also used in the subject INFO111/MAS111: Computer Games at Macquarie University. The University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
offers a computer game design course which uses Neverwinter Nights and the Aurora Toolset as the platform for teaching and course projects.
Sequels
A sequel to Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights 2Neverwinter Nights 2
Neverwinter Nights 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons pencil and paper fantasy role-playing game...
, was developed by Obsidian Entertainment
Obsidian Entertainment
Obsidian Entertainment is an American video game developer founded in 2003 after the disestablishment of Interplay Productions' Black Isle Studios, for PC and console systems...
, a company which has a long history of association with BioWare. According to BioWare, the change of developer is due to BioWare's business with other titles, such as Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
and Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player role-playing video game developed by BioWare's Edmonton studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise...
.
NWN2 shipped at the beginning of November 2006 prior to November 4 in the US and most European countries, and on November 16 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
On August 23, 2010, Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
announced Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios, a wholly owned Perfect World subsidiary, is a small American massively multiplayer online role-playing game developer headquartered in Los Gatos, California.-History:...
would be developing Neverwinter, an online-RPG based on the book series of the same name by R.A. Salvatore. It will be based on Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
's global property Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
rules and feature the traditionally-known city of Neverwinter
Neverwinter
Neverwinter is a fictional city-state in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Neverwinter was founded by Lord Halueth Never...
. It is scheduled for a "late" 2012 release.
Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts. It was released for the Xbox on July 15, 2003, for Microsoft Windows on November 19, 2003, and on September 7, 2004 for Mac OS X. The Xbox version is playable on Xbox 360 with its...
, a role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
based in the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
universe, was also released by BioWare using a heavily modified version
Odyssey Engine
The Odyssey Engine is a computer game engine developed by BioWare and has exclusively been used to create three dimensional computer role-playing games...
of the Aurora engine of Neverwinter Nights. The sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is a role playing video game released for the Xbox and Microsoft Windows. The Xbox version of this sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released on December 6, 2004, while the Windows version was released on February 8, 2005...
, also used this modified engine
Odyssey Engine
The Odyssey Engine is a computer game engine developed by BioWare and has exclusively been used to create three dimensional computer role-playing games...
. Because of this, modders have been able to modify these games using some Neverwinter Nights modding tools.
The Witcher
The WitcherThe Witcher (computer game)
The Witcher is a computer role-playing game for the PC developed by CD Projekt RED STUDIO and published by CD Projekt in Poland and Atari for the rest of the world. The game is based on the book series of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The game utilizes BioWare's proprietary...
, a computer role-playing game by the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
company CD Projekt
CD Projekt
CD Projekt is a Polish video game publisher. The company was founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. From the beginning their goal was to publish software in the Polish market on compact discs...
, is based on the Aurora engine of Neverwinter Nights. Its development was highly publicized within the NWN community.
Dragon Age: Origins
BioWare used Neverwinter Nights and its toolset to develop prototypes and mock-ups of various areas and scenarios for Dragon Age: OriginsDragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player role-playing video game developed by BioWare's Edmonton studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise...
.
Reception
In general, Neverwinter Nights met with positive reviews, receiving "universal acclaim" according to MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
referred to it as "one of those exceedingly rare games that has a lot to offer virtually everyone, even if they aren't already into RPGs", and praised it for its campaign, its Aurora toolset, and its graphics. PC Gamer
PC Gamer
PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
US called it "a total package — a PC gaming classic for the ages", and said that its "storyline [is] as persuasive as any I’ve encountered in a fantasy roleplaying game". Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....
found that the game's story was "humdrum" and "mediocre".
GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
noted the game's graphics as being "gorgeous" and its sound as "untouchable", and GameZone
GameZone
GameZone is an American multiplatform video game website. GameZone's daily coverage includes reviews, previews, news, hints & cheats, and editorials. Additionally, GameZone offers downloads, a child-targeted website and in association with GameStop, hosts GZGameShop, an online retailer...
likewise praised its visuals, specifically mentioning its combat animation and spell effects as being well-done. GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
wasn't as impressed by the graphics, saying "The biggest, and arguably the only, glaring flaw in the game, is its graphics. You can tell that this game has been in development for five years[...]"; however, they praised its voice acting and music.
Allgame praised Neverwinter Nights DM
Dungeon Master
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Dungeon Master is the game organizer and participant in charge of creating the details and challenges of a given adventure, while maintaining a realistic continuity of events...
tools, saying that the game's level creation options are "impressive", and the multiplayer options "great". GamePro thought that Neverwinter Nights is the closest that any video game has come to accurately representing the full Dungeons & Dragons rules, a statement further reinforced by Greg Kasavin of GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
, who said that "Neverwinter Nights isn't the first Dungeons & Dragons game for the computer to make use of the pen-and-paper game's 3rd Edition rules, but it's the first to implement them so well." GameZone said that the Aurora Toolset was one of the "best features" of the game.
See also
- Neverwinter Nights 2Neverwinter Nights 2Neverwinter Nights 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons pencil and paper fantasy role-playing game...
- List of Neverwinter Nights characters
- Baldur's GateBaldur's GateBaldur's Gate is a computer role-playing game developed by BioWare and released in 1998 by Interplay Entertainment. The game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a high fantasy campaign setting, using modified Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules...
- Baldur's Gate 2
- Icewind DaleIcewind Dale seriesIcewind Dale is a computer role-playing game series developed by Black Isle Studios. It is set in the Forgotten Realms Icewind Dale region, but takes place decades before the events described in R. A. Salvatore's books which made the area a well-known part of Faerûn.The games utilize Bioware's...
External links
- Atari: Publisher's website
- Bioware: Developer's website
- NWN at Bioware: Official NWN website
- Official Bioware NWN Forums