Nightingale Q&A - Ex BioWare GM Explains Game's Transition from Online RPG to Survival

When BioWare General Managing director Aaryn Flynn left the company in July 2017, it didn't take long for him to resurface as the caput of a make new development studio at Improbable. The visitor known for the SpatialOS deject distributed technology had realized they could use the creative expertise of veteran developers to showcase their tech and Flynn certainly fit the neb.

Having worked at BioWare for nearly twenty years, he is credited for contributing to acclaimed games like Baldur'due south Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Former Commonwealth, Jade Empire, Mass Outcome, Dragon Age: Origins, and Mass Effect 2.

Those titles had one thing in common: they were all roleplaying games. That's why nosotros were far from surprised when we learned that Flynn would be doing an RPG once once more, albeit one focused on multiplayer. Merely earlier the pandemic, our Canadian editor Nathan Birch even got to sit down downwards with the man himself at the Reboot Develop Ruby conference in Banff, Alberta. During one talk there, Flynn had namedropped Neverwinter Nights as a blueprint inspiration, and that certainly got united states of america interested.

Fast forward to late 2021, though, and the game's unveiling at the latest Game Awards issue turned out quite differently. Titled Nightingale, the game turned heads cheers to the unique blend of Victorian gaslamp setting and Fae-based fantasy elements, but it'southward now classified as a shared-world survival crafting game rather than a roleplaying game. Players observe themselves stranded abroad from the human globe and are tasked to survive and travel through a series of realms connected via magic portals every bit they search for the last bastion of flesh, the fabled city of Nightingale.

Nosotros had the run a risk to interview Aaryn Flynn to hash out the project'due south shift and its many intriguing features. Equally a reminder, pre-release testing for Nightingale begins subsequently this year on PC, and yous could annals on the official website.

When we last heard of your project, you mentioned information technology would be an online RPG with some inspiration from Neverwinter Nights. To be honest, Nightingale seems a big deviation from that, at least at first glance. Why did you operate this shift? Is at that place anything left from the original pitch, in terms of RPG elements specifically, like levels or annihilation of the sort?

That'due south a expert question. It isn't a case of where nosotros started working on one affair and and then scrapped information technology to start on something else. It was downwardly to the process of iteration and development as we honed in on aspects of gameplay, shaped the world, and expanded the squad with new members adding their own ideas to the mix. As nosotros latched onto different concepts and mechanics, we establish that the feel was pushing us more than into the direction of the survival genre, and then nosotros embraced that and started to focus our efforts into doing something unique within that space. In that location will be RPG-similar elements in the game, and there will certainly be other gameplay aspects that will exist familiar to other genres and projects that the team has worked on in the past.

The announcement also doesn't mention SpatialOS anymore. Instead, information technology says y'all'll be using the then-called IMS tools. Can you be a bit more specific on those?

One of the great benefits of being part of Improbable has been the ability to leverage the tools and expertise of developers and engineers from across the world. With IMS in detail, this is an expanded suite of tools that Improbable offers, which includes networking and other backend solutions, among other services. We'll be able to go into more detail about exactly what that means for Nightingale in the future equally we talk more almost connectivity and multiplayer.

The printing release hints at direct back up coming from Tencent. Did Inflexion receive a dissever investment from the Chinese company?

All I can say right now is that nosotros're incredibly fortunate to have the proud support of Tencent on this project.

Nightingale is officially labeled as a shared globe survival crafting game. Let's endeavour to suspension down exactly what that means. For example, will you accept to manually join a server from a listing or volition the process be seamless? How many concurrent players can be on the same server? Are there going to be private servers at some betoken?

A lot of those details we'll exist talking about in the time to come but what I will say is that we have a mantra at the studio, which is 'a meg realms, one universe'. What nosotros mean by that is that we always want to give players the sense that they're connected to one another. That the earth exists beyond their feel within it. When Nightingale begins, survivors of the cataclysmic event take been scattered across the realms, so we desire to represent that through unifying the community in a fashion that feels present and meaningful to the player. Part of that is players intersecting with one another as they traverse the realms.

Moving on to the survival attribute, can you lot give us some examples of these elements in Nightingale? Will players exist required to consume, drinkable, sleep, etc.?

Nosotros'll be going into more depth around the gameplay systems in the future, but players can expect a good grounding of survival elements within Nightingale. We want to put our own stamp on them, but players expect a sure palette too. What nosotros've tried to do is find means in which nosotros can expand them, or refine them in means that make information technology unique to the Nightingale feel.

At that place's no shortage of crafting-focused games lately. How practise you program to make yours stand up out from the crowd?

That's a difficult question in some ways because nosotros don't spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to other titles, or looking at a game and thinking to ourselves 'Permit's do that but ameliorate'. I love crafting games, and there are times when yous're hit with some bully feature or idea and that will spark a little inspiration. Only to get back to your original bespeak about what makes us stand out, y'all know, I could provide you a list of things that I think achieve that, but so much of it is down to the private and the ways in which they interact with the world. What's important is that we create a backdrop that offers an abundance of choice as well as tools, to be able to embark on an adventure that feels unique to the private.

For those who aren't that much into crafting, volition at that place exist other options to gather materials and loot, such equally adventuring in content similar dungeons, in Nightingale?

There volition be quests in the game. There are NPCs that you'll be able to interact with that will offer you quests and yous'll exist able to get together materials and other things past completing those. The size and scope of those quests nosotros'll be talking nearly later but as you can see in the trailer, there will be some definite challenges that may crave you to team up with other players to overcome.

You lot've said that Nightingale is focused on exploration and players volition be exploring a lot of different realms. How big are these realms? Did you utilise procedural generation in whatever way while edifice them?

There are still parts of the realms and our applied science that nosotros're developing, so we aren't able to confirm exact sizes or exist specific hither. However, one of the things that I experience really differentiates Nightingale is the diversity of worlds that players have to explore. Rather than a singular map, players take access to a multitude of realms, each with their ain look and feel, creatures and challenges. That'south actually exciting from a development perspective, as we tin constantly find new means to surprise and challenge players.

One of the features we've already seen is the players' power to choose how to deal with the giant, for example. Are in that location going to be any specific karma-like bonus or malus side effects to choosing ane mode or the other?

It starts with offering that choice to players. From in that location, choices are only meaningful if they have consequences. How those consequences play out depends, but we'll accept more to share on that in the future.

The trailer seemed to feature a prevalence of ranged combat. Volition it be equally possible to specialize in melee combat? Practice you programme to brand information technology piece of cake or difficult to 'respec' your character?

Definitely. We want players to cull what works for them, based on advantages, disadvantages, and individual playstyles. Nosotros serve upward the options and let players choose. That is so important to the survival genre.

Practice you intend to add a main quest of sorts for whenever Nightingale gets out of early on access?

Nosotros do have the main goal for players, which is to navigate the realms and find a way back to Nightingale City. Within that, there volition be specific quests and interactions that will further that journey. Simply this isn't an RPG, so it would be incorrect to think along those lines when picturing that.

The Victorian and Fae-inspired gaslamp fantasy setting certainly appears to have struck a chord with nigh gamers. Why exercise you think information technology's not that widespread in videogames so far?

That's a good question. It'due south hard to say why it hasn't been widely seen in games to date. For us, the setting came from a place of trying to ground our fantasy in something more familiar and contemporary - a little more tangible to other settings. I've worked on high fantasy and sci-fi franchises, every bit have other members of the squad, so it was also an opportunity to think about a new type of fantasy universe to explore. Worldbuilding is so of import to who we are equally a squad, and nosotros felt that this gaslamp, alt-Victorian setting held a lot of richness and depth that we found actually inspiring and invigorating to spring into. At the same time, we don't want to offer a "Victorian-era simulator" - something that brings forth the trappings of the Victorian era. We take inspiration from the setting and use it to create our own thing.

I of the large questions I've personally had since the reveal is, what happens when humanity does manage to get back to the titular magic city? Is that supposed to be the end of the gamble or a turning point instead?

We have a very intentional tease of the city within the trailer. Information technology's a concrete place that players will be able to achieve at some betoken on their journey. I can confirm that reaching the urban center won't exist the end of the game - some other developer I used to work with would call this "the complication" - and in that location volition exist things and people to interact with once yous reach the destination.

Will the game be ported to consoles eventually? If so, exercise you plan to add cross-platform functionality once that happens?

We're not really thinking about that correct now. We're concentrating on making the game great for our PC early admission later in the year.

Some in-development games are beingness upgraded to Unreal Engine 5. Did you evaluate such an opportunity for Nightingale?

We're always excited to see evolving technologies and tools, as well as ways in which other developers utilise them to push boundaries in game design. When the time is correct for our game and team, nosotros'll accept a proficient, serious await at UE5.

Is there anything else you'd similar to add together about Inflexion Games and Nightingale?

Information technology's a huge relief to take the game out there and very gratifying to hear the response from gamers. Nosotros're a new studio however finding our style and learning about ourselves, merely nosotros're very fortunate to exist in the situation nosotros're in. I hope we can live up to the expectations!

Thank you for your fourth dimension.