“We cut it back and we showed them a three-year plan, and that’s the one we signed with Interplay.” Five year plan “We present this to Greg and Ray, and they were like, ‘No one will ever pay for a five-year development cycle.’” So Oster went back to the drawing board with lead programmer Scott Greig. “We itemised a huge plan for the project, and it came out to five years,” Oster says.

Bioware was under no illusions about the effort Neverwinter Nights would take to realise. Making the whole D&D box work across turn-of-the-millennium Internet for up to 64 players was a huge undertaking – technically way more ambitious than Baldur’s Gate. We itemised a huge plan for the project, and it came out to five years So the shapes, like spikes on shoulder pads, really dominated the art look.” “We were like, ‘OK, in Neverwinter Nights, a character has to be recognisable from their silhouette. “We really leaned into that,” Oster says. So instead, Bioware took advantage of the darker character of Neverwinter, using it to make the most of what 3D could offer in 2002. This made it difficult to attain the level of detail seen in Baldur’s Gate’s lush pre-rendered art. Neverwinter Nights was wildly ambitious, and it would push Bioware to the limit, with long-lasting effects for both the studio and Oster personally.Īs well as trying to build the entire D&D toolset, Bioware also decided that Neverwinter Nights would be a full real-time 3D game, and not isometric 2D like Baldur’s Gate. “Allowing people to go in and build their own adventures and share them with their friend group.” The result would pioneer many of the concepts that power some of today’s biggest games, combining the community-driven creation that would make Skyrim and Minecraft such enduring phenomena, with the curated shared-world experience that attracts thousands of players to Destiny and GTA Online. “The democratization of game design,” Oster says.

A very big story, but a single one regardless.Īfter wrapping up Baldur’s Gate, Bioware decided it wanted the player to enjoy not just one story, but thousands. But it is ultimately designed to tell one story. Baldur’s Gate is a sprawling and highly flexible RPG, frequently regarded as one of the greatest ever made. This was the problem Bioware encountered during the development of Baldur’s Gate, a game which, it has been estimated, took 90 years’ worth of working hours to build.

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