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More Info on Icewind Dale

Icewind Dale's designer, J.E. Sawyer released new information on Icewind Dale, a tale that takes place in the Forgotten Realms. In this update, some new details on Icewind Dale are revealved. Not much, but enough to let everyone know that these guys are working hard on the game. They finally finished the monster list! Anyway here is the post. I wish I could use quotes this long in an essay...


J.E. Sawyer:

"The Icewind Dale team stumbled into Black Isle a few days ago, ready and willing to get down to the bidness at hand. We're still dedicated to getting this game done in the first half of 2000, and we've been working hard to make sure this happens.

"Yesterday, the designers and producers sat down with Pete 'Cruisin' for a Bruisin' Meihuizen (animator) and finalized (really) our monster list. We made certain we knew where we were going to use each monster and how many variants we needed of any given type. For example, we decided that we needed a number of variations for the lizardmen, showing them with different coloration and different types of weapons. We're also adding a casting animation to their model so the lizardman shamans can do their work. We cut a number of monsters we felt wouldn't work in the game and we added a few that we believed would be more exciting and appropriate.

"Rich 'Malavon' Finegan and I will be sitting down with some of the others to finalize our spell list. You would not believe how long spell meetings take. At this time, we have some really nifty spells planned for implementation. In addition to the 'standards' (Player's Handbook, Tome of Magic, Spells and Magic), we're also going to add at least two unique spells and a number of my personal favorites from the Forgotten Realms Adventures hardcover (Decastave, Snilloc's Snowball Swarm, Icelance, and Shroud of Flame to name a few). Once that list is finalized, the mercenary Torment Krew (currently working on juicy elven ruins) will get put on Spell Detail. FYI, the Torment Krew consists of Tim 'Killa TD' Donley, Chris 'Wu Tang' Jones, Eric 'Scampy Camp' Campanella, Aaron 'Mud Pits' Meyers, and Brian 'Menze Smash!' Menze.

"The first area of the game (Easthaven) is now completely done, which should cause Feargus to stop making frowny faces. Lest this cause panic among our readers -- don't worry, we are simultaneously working on all of the other areas of the game. The programmers are busy fixing bugs and implementing bits of BG2 code to make our lives easier. On a side note, we also talked about moving our office arrangements around. Exactly how big the move will be depends on when our team will begin our next, most likely project. My guess is that it will start in the ... fall. Ahem."


For those of you who haven't been lured in by the temptation of Shen Mue but are still curious as to how it has fared in Japan so far, it seems that Sega has sold an immense 260,000 copies of the game in only its first week.

Lastly, Palisades Marketing is continuing to bring us the latest in figurines based on Square titles. This time for Square's upcoming domestic translation of the strategy RPG, Front Mission 3. The figurines will be based on the various mecha that can be seen throughout the adventure.

Source: Daily Radar, IGNPSX, The Magic Box

Date Updated:
January 6th, 2000

Time Updated:
8:05 PM


^Kamui

Related Links:
  •   Icewind Dale Pics
  •   Planescape: Torment Review


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