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First of all, I'd like to give credit to Darren and the rest of the Icewind Dale/Heart of Winter crew for taking the time to answer these questions. Enjoy!
March 9th, 2001
GameBanshee: What projects are the Icewind Dale team working on now? Did some of them move over to Neverwinter Nights or perhaps the upcoming Baldur's Gate 2 expansion? Or are most of them working to get the downloadable dungeon pack released?
Darren: Most of the Icewind Dale team members (primarily artists) are currently working on an unannounced internal project. The few of us left on the team are either working on the Heart of Winter patch, the non-US versions, or the downloadable dungeon pack.
March 8th, 2001
GameBanshee: How did the development team go about deciding exactly which features would be implemented into Heart of Winter? For example, dual wielding was a very popular feature in Baldur's Gate II. Was there not enough time to implement certain features such as dual wielding, or did you feel that other features were more important to be brought into HoW?
Darren: Initially, we had a very aggressive schedule for Heart of Winter, so we had to decide what we thought could be implemented relatively quickly and safely without requiring significant changes to our file structures. We had initially wanted to integrate dual wielding into the code, but problems arose with proficiencies and space within our character files that could have been remedied, but would have removed time from other planned features.
March 7th, 2001
GameBanshee: Many of the intricate stories presented in Icewind Dale carried on into Heart of Winter (such as the Blade of Aihonen and the legend surrounding it). During the making of Icewind Dale, were legends such as these put together in anticipation of an expansion (and expected to carry on)? or was it later decided that the Blade of Aihonen and its association with a great dragon would make a good plot for an expansion?
Designer, Josh Sawyer: Chris Avellone [senior designer from Planescape: Torment] created the story for Aihonen and Icasaracht as part of a small quest in Easthaven. At the time, it was simply an interesting anecdote. I thought it provided a good background for the expansion, so I suggested it to the other designers. We all agreed it provided a good background that didn't intrude too much on the original game.
March 6th, 2001
GameBanshee: Is the downloadable dungeon pack idea due to various reviews claiming HoW didn't feature enough gaming hours, or was this something that was planned before release?
Darren: It's a little bit of both. A good deal of the Icewind Dale team is working on another internal project, and our programmers have been working on the Heart of Winter patch and the non-US versions. That leaves a handful of us, a couple designers and artists and myself, some time to put together some more gameplay for those customers that would like to continue playing while we work out what's next (beyond Icewind Dale).
March 5th, 2001
GameBanshee: According to a chat conducted during a GameSpy Arcade session, several of the Icewind Dale development team are working on a new free downloadable dungeon pack for Heart of Winter. What can we expect with this new dungeon pack? Will it tie into the Heart of Winter storyline or be a separate entity?
Darren: The downloadable pack will be a separate entity that plugs into the new lands of the expansion. It will not be an integral part into the overall story however, but rather a side quest. We're tentatively looking at a 14-16th level dungeon with combat and new puzzles / quests.
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