Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn is the follow up to the extremely succesful RPG Baldur’s Gate. I had a chance to ask Assistant Producer Doug Avery some questions.

Tim: Baldur’s Gate was hailed by many as the redefining of the RPGgenre. What was your aim when you began work on BG II?

Doug: When work began on Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn BioWare had justfinished Tales of the Sword Coast (the expansion to BG). With TotSC theylearned that the Infinity Engine could be pushed much further than it hadbeen for Baldur’s Gate. Both BioWare and Black Isle Studios are working tocreate the sequel that our fans expect from us. This has been our goalsince day one. We want to continue the saga but not exclude anyone who maynot have played through the original or TotSC.

Tim: What can we expect from Baldur’s Gate II?

Doug: We are building off of what we achieved with Baldur’s Gate. What BG II willdo for both fans and newcomers alike is to immerse them in a epic struggle.The game surpasses its predecessor in just about every way. The artwork isbreathtaking and the creatures are bigger and tougher. The story is acontinuation of BG I but it is not required for you to have played BG I oreven be familiar with the rules system it uses (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons2nd Edition) to really enjoy the game.

Tim: The story is important in any RPG title, the original Baldur’s Gatehad an outstanding one. What is the basis for the storyline in BG II?

Doug: Sorry, but I am not a liberty to give more than a cursory overview. Here iswhat I can tell you. In BGII:SoA, you face an uncertain future, with alineage that tempts the unscrupulous to use you and the ignorant to fearyou. You will face a foe that views you as no more than chattel, that toyswith you at every turn; a villain whose goals go beyond a quest for power,and who threatens to use a lost companion as a tool for destructionunparalleled. The choices to be made will not be easy, and you may have toalign with the lesser of evils, when all evils cannot help but seem equal.In the end you will have mourned lost loves, celebrated new ones, and hadadventures that profoundly shaped the Realms.

Tim: What graphical improvements/innovations can we expect from ‘Shadowsof Amn’?

Doug: We are now implementing 3D card support so that various effects in the gamewill be much more rewarding to the player. We have also upped our screenresolution to 800×600. This increases the area visible to the player andalso allows us to show off more details in our creatures and areas. The GUI(Graphical User Interface) is now able to be hidden. The player can hidethe left, right or all three panels. This also allows increases the visiblegame area and immerses the player more completely. The character models arealso being redone to add more detail.

Tim: What is the engine that will power BG II and what are itsdetails/capabilities?

Doug: We are using a beefed up version of the BioWare Infinity Engine which is theengine used for Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast. Support forOpenGL and MiniGL has been added. Numerous code changes have beenimplemented which allow us to do things such as add larger creature modelsin the game, have floating descriptive text and use much more impressivespell effects.

Tim: What are some of the latest features you have added to Baldur’s GateII?

Doug: Currently at Black Isle we are working on getting the Audio into the game.As BioWare adds more and more new spell animations we are getting themsynced with sounds so that everything meshes nicely.

Tim: Finally, when can we expect to see the title released?

Doug: Third quarter of this year (2000).

Related Links
   • Official BG II Site
   • BioWare