UBM Tech - Game Network

My Shopping Cart

[ 5 ] items in cart

View Cart | Checkout

Game Developer Research

Research Reports

Gamasutra

Contractor Listings

GDC Vault

Individual Subscription

GDC Audio Recordings

App Developers Conference 2013

GDC Next 2013

GDC Europe 2013

	GDC 2013
	GDC Online 2012
	GDC Europe 2012
	GDC 2012
	GDC 2011
	GDC 10
	GDC 09
	GDC Austin 08
	GDC Mobile 08
	GDC 08
	GDC Austin 07
	GDC Mobile 07
	GDC 07
	GDC 06
	GDC 05
	GDC 04
	GDC 03
	GDC 01
	GDC 2000 & Before

Newest Item(s)

Why Now Is the Best Time Ever to Be a Game Developer

Ingress: Design Principles Behind Google's Massively Multiplayer Geo Game

Playing with 'Game'

Gathering Your Party with Project Eternity (GDC Next 10)

D4: Dawn of the Dreaming Director's Drama (GDC Next 10)

Using Plot Devices to Create Gameplay in Storyteller (GDC Next 10)

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Making CounterSpy (GDC Next 10)

Luck and Skill in Games

Minimalist Game Design for Mobile Devices

Broken Age: Rethinking a Classic Genre for the Modern Era (GDC Next 10)

Storefront > GDC Vault Store - Audio Recordings > GDC 2006

View larger image

QTY:

The Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset: A Case Study of Tools Development
Price	$5.95
Adjustment
Type
Stock	Unlimited
Status
Weight	0 lb, 0 oz
SKU	GDC-06-082
Statistics

Description

The Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset: A Case Study of Tools Development,
1628

Programming, Lecture

Erik Novales
Senior Programmer, Obsidian Entertainment
The NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 2 Toolset faced unique challenges. It was rebuilt from the ground up to support a new graphics engine, yet needed to work with existing data formats and an existing game engine. It needed to be easier to work with for designers, and support more powerful ways of editing the game, yet had to be developed on a short timetable so the game could be built with it. This lecture discusses the challenges of modern tool development, how they have changed in the past few years, and how these challenges were tackled for NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 2.

The development of modern game tools is a process that has as its aim several seemingly conflicting goals: rapid development (frequently overlapping with development of a game itself), ease of use, and flexibility. Often these tools must work with or produce data for legacy code or engines, or be at a quality level such that they can be released alongside a game to aid the mod community. What is presented is a case study of just such a tool – the NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 2 Toolset. Working with an existing game engine, the toolset was largely rewritten to accommodate new functionality while maintaining as much compatibility as possible with a huge pool of existing data – namely, the thousands of modules written for NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 1.

The intended audience is tools programmers working on existing and next-generation projects will benefit most from the session (particularly if they are currently developing, or considering developing, tools using the .NET framework). In addition, lead programmers and more technically-oriented producers or directors will find that this lecture has something to offer them as well. The only prerequisite is some understanding of a typical game development pipeline. Knowledge of a modern garbage-collected language (C# or Java) would be helpful, but hardcore knowledge of the .NET framework is not required.

Please leave this field blank.