Scott Noel Interview

E-Boredom has published an interview with Scott Noel, who previously worked as a writer on several classic CRPGs by SSI, including Menzoberranzan and Dungeon Hack. Check it out:

Q: Which was your favorite game that you worked on?

A: My favorite RPG project was Anvil of Dawn, which DreamForge developed for New World Computing. It won CGW’s “RPG of the Year” award, and holds a special place in my heart because it was pure DreamForge. We designed it in-house, from scratch, without interference from (but a great deal of support by) New World Computing. Thank Yous still go to Jon Van Caneghem and Deane Rettig.

Especially today, game development can be an ego driven, Hollywood-like business where everyone is trying to make their mark in order to move their careers forward. Publishers often demand silly things of the developers, like putting in the latest “3D, telepathy-driven interface,” just ’cause they saw it in the last car chase game on the Playstation. New World Computing gave us, as close we almost ever had it, the ability to make art (or at least our own mistakes).

I only had two run-ins while working on Anvil of Dawn. One was being called on the carpet by the President of DreamForge because I had approved a beheading animation in one combat sequence (the beheading was pulled – but let me tell you, it was great, and even New World Computing liked it)! The second was with a play-tester at New World Computing who, throughout production, insisted we include a “rest option” in the game. Rest options were a standard feature in RPGs, to allow your characters to recover from combat. We didn’t want players to sit around and recover, believing it spoiled the immersion and urgency of the game. At the 12th hour, I was on the phone yelling something like “Ship It! Ship it!,” and they soon did, sans rest option.