LucidMagic.net

q16. Will NWN have z axis for climbing, flying/levatating, jumping, etc?

a. Jason Keeney: A "z-axis" is not some kind of discreet, tangable thing that is the means to any kind of gameplay end. There is no "z-axis" plugin that we can add to the engine that suddenly makes possible flying, jumping, deformable terrain, spkie pits, swimming, climbing, multi-level walk-meshes, falling, hovering, etc, etc, etc...

All of these kinds of gameplay elements are separate and independant from one another. They will or wont be included in the game for a variety of reasons, possibly technical, but even more likely for their impact on the gamepley.

Its entirely possible that we'll inlclude flying and climbing, but not jumping and swimming... or there will be multi-level walkmesheshes, but no hovering, etc, etc, etc....

For each gameplay mechanic the term "z-axis" has a very different meaning and consequence. Simply calling out for it in general is, at best, hopelessly vague.

If you want to see flying.. ask for flying. If you want climbing, ask for climbing. Its going to be a waaaaay more productive discussion.

[Update Jan, 2005] Jason Keeney: There's not much in common between placeing a "placeable" and moving a creature in the middle of a game. A function like "ActionFlytoLocation" woule be, unfortunately, unrealistic. Flying movement instead of pathfinding? What if there's a building between where you are now and where you want to go? What if another creature gets in the way? No, some kind of path validation is pretty much a requirement for all movement.... scripted or otherwise.

Flying also presents a huge problem as far as player control is concerned. NWN's "click to go there" style of movement is not only certain to carry over to NWN2, but its also likely to continue to be considered the "standard" form of movement. To be able to control flight to some arbitrary location in the sky would be ackward at best..... how do you click on a point in the sky?

Now I'm not saying that there *wont* be flight... I'm just playing a little devil's advocate to remind you guys that many of your propositions have consequences that reach far beyond the immediate problem. It does little good to solve one problem if that solution adds two other problems somewhere else.

dont even need ta be in bathroom  clest just tape or board your windows and watch tv shouldnt do that much considering ive been through 3 and thats what i did lol

Okay, I did a bit more poking around about this, and found that, while is can't *see* any messages in my mesenger, the forum seems to be storing some 60-odd messages I can't access. I'd use the empty folders thing, but one PM I received is so unspeakably foul, I must preserve it.

But something is definitely rotten in the state of PM.

-Throbblefoot