The B&W2 Chat Questions and Answers!

Introductions:
[LH]Kelly: Hi I'm Kelly, I'm one of the animators on B&W 2
[LH]Fek: My name is Francesco and I work on BW2 as 3d programmer
[LH]Jonty: I'm Jonty Barnes - Head Of Studio.
[LH]Sam|WORK: my name is Sam, Community Pet Lionhead Studios. I love to receive free beer and bananas!
[LH]JohnMF: John McLean-Foreman: Fiction writer (cutscenes, Dialogue, story...)
[LH]MarkP: Hello everybody.  I'm Mark Pitcher, Head of Art.
[LH]merf: im one of the 'neils' of bw studios - I work on creature and army AI
[LH]Dan: I'm Daniel Deptford, I'm the lead Game Programmer on Black and White 2 :)
[LH]JBury: I'm Jamie Bury - Lead Gameplay & Test on BW2
[LH]JohnVDB: i'm john van der burg and work on the terrain engine and sky system
[LH]AlexE: Hello, My name is alex and I was one half of the 3d programming team on BW1. I do R&D now
[LH]seb: Hullo my names seb , im doing the creature modelling/textureing/rigging - kelly and friends do the rest 
[LH]ChrisB: Hi All! This is Chris Blackbourn, I'm putting bugs into the physics system, and I don't like Origami. (Hi Mom!)
[LH]NeilOfDoom: I'm Neil Wakefield and I'm a gamecode programmer
[LH]PeterDoug: Hello everyone my name Is peter molyneux and I am doing/helping with the design, and not doing the programming much to everyones relef
[LH]AdamC: I'm Adam Clixby, 3D/Game/anything programmer
[LH]Georg: I'm Georg Backer - working at Lionhead Studios. Used to do Multiplayer and Internet stuff on B&W. And some scripting. And so on.
[LH]Ollie: Hello, i'm Ollie Purkiss and i did game code on BW1, now i'm working on Dimitri
[LH]AdamL: Hello all. I'm Adam, i'm a game and visuals programmer on B&W2, this game, i will be mostly working on spells.
[LH]Sabre: Hi everyone, my name is Phil Robinson and I'm a scripter on B&W2
[LH]Joe: Joe Borthwick - associate producer 
[LH]DSanchez: hello I'm one of the artis of Bw2, can I answer any question?
[LH]Gordillo: Hi guys any question about concept art?? :)

Q= Question A= Answer I= Information


I: [LH]Jonty: Blimey, that's a lot of questions. Let's start with some toilet humour. I'll answer the poo question! There is still poo in the game. However, 
   it's more advanced! There are two types - healthy and unhealthy. One sinks, one floats, all can be messed around with, and only one is useful on fields. 
   Creature diet is of course important.

Q: Robin|Away: Where do I send bananas to for Sam?
A: [LH]Sam|WORK: I'd love to receive them at samvantilburgh@lionhead.com

Q: Joulu|Oddball^^: Are u making B&W 3 ?
A: [LH]Sam|WORK: We are considering B&W3.

Q: Squash: What's B&W2's biggest feature?
A: [LH]PeterDoug: Well just about everything in B&W 2 is new. because the main consept is "Are  you the god of War or the God of peace" then we  have spent a 
   massive amout of time with armys (destruction, death and carnage) and a massive amount of time on city building

I: [LH]Jonty: There are currently around forty people working on B&W2 full time, with more support from LH.

Q: DyNam1c: What do you use for 3D modelling and animation
A: [LH]AdamC: DyNam1c: We use Discreet's 3D Studio MAX 

Q: Unknown: Hi there im an animator, and im worndering how the rigs are working on the chars in BW2, are hey fully bone based or using some vertex stuff? 
   Also: are u using blendshapes for ur facial animations, or bones there as well?\\  
A: [LH]seb: All characters use boneanimation (including facial animation) , the creatures are of course special since they have to morph. This is done with 
   vertexanimation. 
I: [LH]Kelly: We are using Character Studio for animation

Q: Reite: what 3d moddeling program is being used?
A: [LH]seb: 3dsmax5

*Some sort of Netsplit happened at this time and all nearly all Lionhead people were kicked for a while. They all came back soon*

Q: Samurai-Sej: what programs did you use to make B&W2
A: [LH]NeilOfDoom> Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, Adobe Photoshop, 3D Studio Max mainly and a hell of a lot of in-house tools

Q: megat: Now, those of you who've managed to find your way to the other side of the netsplit, tell me this: can we expect any multiplayer from b&w2?
A: [LH]AdamC: Multiplay is a very big thing...
   We are taking multiplayer far more seriously than we have taken it before.
A: [LH]Dan: We are working on multiplayer code at the moment, we're playing it in the office and it's quite fun.  We're going to invest a lot of time 
   into creating a multiplayer-specific version of b&w2, which will come after the main game has been released.

Q: Robert-A: Will there be a demo?
A: [LH]AdamC: We would rather put our efforts into making the game as good as we possibly can.  Although it would be possible for us to release a demo, a demo 
   would not properly show the scope of the creature.  As the creature is one of the most important aspects of the game, it is unlikely we will release a demo.

Q: Sltrd|poNNy: Where are Lionhead studios located ? I guess England or America , but which of them? and correct me if im wrong at that point to ^^
A: [LH]Dan: We are located in Surrey, UK

Q: ]n0k1a[: Why should I buy BW2?? 
A: [LH]Kelly: It will be the best God game ever created, if you don't buy it you will miss out on an amazing game

I: [LH]Jonty: We do use our own script languages and development tools as well as MSDev. We are starting the DEVNET this week, where we will be releasing tools 
   for BW1 so you can create your own scripts and audio for the game. We also intend to release the landscape, visual effects editor and script language from 
   BW2 before release so people can make some islands and effects themselves - and maybe content for the final game.

Q: Unknown: Which DirectX will Black & White 2 use? I assume 9.x but any confirmation on this?
A: [LH]Dan: I can confirm that we are using DirectX9

I: [LH]AlexE: the advisors were based on one of the artists girlfriend. or at least the good one. [LH]seb has redesigned them for an even cooler look for bw2!

Q: [DWC]-WebHawk: What platforms will it be on?
A: [LH]AdamC: At the moment, we are only planning for a PC release.

Q: KIA: is the game engine based on the B&W 1 or is it built from scratch? Is the spell system still the same?
A: [LH]Fek: The 3d engine has been rewritten and it's supporting DX9 cards as well
A: [LH]Dan: Everything has been rewritten using the original as a testbed, so we can develop more at once without having to wait for other things in the 
   pipeline

Q: Marsu^: Does Lion still know how to breakdance?
A: [LH]Kelly: The Lion doesn't breakdance but the other creatures have some amazing dance moves :)
A: [LH]NeilOfDoom: The lion has some new moves but we can't really say what yet :)

Q: DenisF: Any OpenGL support?
A: [LH]AdamC: No, sorry.

Q: SpYd3r`: Is B&W2 an extention or a whole new version.
A: [LH]PeterDoug: It is defitly a whole new version, every feature has been revised, we really talked to the community; and listered so the feature set is 
   going to be amazing, I know words are cheap but I stand by the fact that B&W2 will be really amazing
I: [LH]Jonty: Peter - BW2 is already really amazing...

Q: [DWC]-WebHawk: Can i still punch and slap my creature?
A: [LH]Sam: yes
A: [LH]AdamC: Yes.  Because people liked this so much, we've added support for weapons and toys when punishing and rewarding your creature
Q: r4y`8]: Which weapons are being used to beat your creature? 
A: [LH]Dan: We have a range of weapons, and the player will be able to add their own :). Including implements for pleasing your creature (oo-err!)

Q: NormalOne: What will be optimal SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS?
A: [LH]Fek: We are targeting DX8 class hardware like GF4/Radeon8500. The game will look like the screenshots on those cards, but if you have a DX9 graphics 
   card, the game will just look better
Q: megat: How will the game look better if you have a DX9 card, Fek?
A: [LH]Fek: We are using DX9 specific features to make the game look even better on DX9 cards

Q: NG|xiteZ: have long took it to render the longest animation in the game?
A: [LH]Kelly: I suppose you mean how long is the longest animation - well there are some very detailed animations for the creatures, they have unique 
   characteristics that you will see, and they will be very entertaining. The longest I've worked on is probably about 6 seconds

Q: CCB|DoMi: came on, some easter eggs like that and we are happy ;)
A: [LH]AdamC: In the words of PeterM - "There are more easter eggs in BW2 than there are bunnies in Britain"
Q: megat: erm, Adam.... <VaaQ^> are there lots of bunnies in england?!
A: [LH]AdamC: Yes.  Absolutely loads :)

Q: veritas--: For how long have you been developing B&W2?
A: [LH]AdamC: A small team started work on BW2 whilst Creature Isle was still in development, and the rest of the team joined them once Creature Isle went 
   gold.

I: [LH]Jonty: The Sailors in BW2 will return - they run a shop, and they have an even more irritating song. However, you can pay to get them to shut up....

Q: Telkman: There were a lot of annoying bugs in B&W1. How can we be sure this wont be the case in B&W2? 
A: [LH]PeterDoug: Firstly we have spent a lot of time up grading out tools to avoid bugs, secondly we are playing the game every day and thridly this game 
   will NOT be released untill it has zero serious bug. We are all so sorry that B&W went out with so many bugs

Q: BruYne|HaLo: Will there be a dutch version of B&W2? The dutch voices for B&W1 sucked:(.
A: [LH]Sam|WORK: Yes, there will be a Dutch version and I will personally make sure the voice acting is done properly ;)
I: [LH]JohnVDB: i agree, the dutch voiceovers really sucked in bw1 :))
Q: [steve]: Will the Dutch version have belgium voices again? that sucked so hard (ask anybody, they'd agree -_- )
A: [LH]Sam|WORK: The problem is EA has to pick these voice actors, and you can only have Belgian or Dutch ones, not both at the same time for the same people 
   ingame. We do hope to get proper voice actors now, as this was a big issue i reckon in the Benelux with BW1
Q: TnS|Radb0d|ET: will b&w2 be translated in Italian?
A: [LH]Sam|WORK: Yes
A: [LH]Dan> And into over 15 languages
A: [LH]NeilOfDoom: including Klingon
A: [LH]NeilOfDoom: maybe not

I: [LH]MarkP: There are 4 'player' creatures in B&W2.  Lion, Cow, Wolf and Ape.

Q: Sissygirl: B&W1 was new and really cool because it was a totally new genre. What will make B&W2 more amazing than the first one? And why did you 
choose only to have 4 creatures to choose from now? As far as i remember there were quite alot more in B&W1
A: [LH]Kelly: There is soooooo much more to B&W2 compared to the first game and having 4 creatures means we can make them far more interesting and engaging 
   to play with
Q: Derobrash> you mean 5 right? :)

Q: neg0t: Is there much more micro managment than in BW1? 
A: [LH]Dan: The villagers are much more self-sufficient, and dont' demand as much as your town. There is a lot more work on the town simulation also, and 
   things like the placement of building in certain styles in your town can have an adverse effect on how happy your people are.
A: [LH]JBury: The villagers are a lot more intelligent now, so if they are hungry they will feed themselves, if they are running low on wood to build 
   homes they will cut down tree's, players can still manage these things if they wish but they can leave them to their villagers (within reason) and 
   concentrate on other things
Q: theViking: In B&W1 I always ran out of wood, are you making the forests grow more rapidly this time? 
A: [LH]Dan: The villagers are a lot more self-sufficient in this repsect.  They will tend to the fields and plant new trees, instead of just stripping the 
   land bare

Q: Unknown: Which creatures are your personal favorites?
A: [LH]Jonty: My favourite Creature is the WOLF, he's cunning, fast, and kind. Well my wolf is. Seb's is one evil looking ferocious nasty piece of work.
A: [LH]MarkP: My favourite is the COW.  We've managed to really get some wonderful characteristics into all of the creatures.  But the cow is just that 
   little bit different.  Very funny!
A: [LH]Kelly: The cow is very special, she is probably going to be the most popular creature
A: [LH]JBury: The testers prefer the wolf!
A: [LH]MarkP: Each creature has it's own distinct personality.  But the cow is definitely that little bit different to the others!

Q: Silly: Will it be possible to affect the landscape (with spells, etc)
A: [LH]AdamC: Absolutely.  This is what we had in mind with the epic spells.  They are not your everyday, multiple times per level types.  They change the 
   world around you.
A: [LH]JohnVDB: yes
A: [LH]Jonty: very

Q: D`HERRY`CM: Will there be any public betatesting involved
A: [LH]AdamC: We are investigating the possibility of a public open beta for the multiplayer version, but not the single player.

Q: Zabber: Does B&W 2 have a proper plot?
A: [LH]JohnMF: As a matter of fact it does.  As a god, you take particular interest in your High Priest and lead him through the lands.
A: [LH]JohnMF: there are also many subplots which weave around the main plot.

Q: phantom: what do you mean by 'advanced version of geomipmapping' ? 
A: [LH]JohnVDB: because of some optimizations made, and edge splits are calculated based on the geometry and tesselation is based on the texturing

Q: Chalel: Can I teach my creature Kung Fu?
A: [LH]Kelly: Not exactly Chalel, but the Wolf does know a few kung fu moves :)

Q: Sitting-Duck: can u set peoples hair on fire?
A: [LH]Kelly: The creatures fur can be set on fire - if you're feeling particularly sadistic
I: [LH]AlexE: bw2 has a super cool hair system for the creatures. better than anything out there at the moment! and fully integrated into the game.

Q: tC|ultraviolent: How many lines of code does B&W2 have? 
A: [LH]Dan: 2 million, including libraries and scripts

Q: __Illusion__: Is the creature AI improved? 
A: [LH]merf: yep, not only is there lots of new stuff the creature can do - leading armmies etc but the AI is a lot more useable thanks to the new learning 
   interface - it will be a lot easier to teach your creature to do the things you want.

Q: YnX: Will there be modification tools after the release?
A: [LH]AdamC: No.  We will be releasing tools BEFORE the game.  We are releasing a script compiler and audio editor for BW1 this week.  
   We will be releasing those tools for BW2, along with a level editor for BW2 to coincide with the release of the game.

Q: sid: did LH jump on the Matrix-esque bandwagon for any of the fightscenes? ala bullettime...
A: [LH]Kelly: LOL well not really, but we do have a few super fighting moves that could have been used in The Matrix :)

Q: Scouti: Could you discribe B&W2 in 3 words?
A: [LH]PeterDoug: Cool, Amazing, Gods

Q: Derobrash: Will we still have the advisors in the game?
A: [LH]MarkP: Yep, the good and evil advisors will be returning in B&W2.

Q: tauruz: Will B&W2 be ported to linux? 
A: [LH]Sam|WORK: nopes

Q: megat: Can people put logs of the answers onto their websites?
A: [LH]AdamC: We're kinda hoping that the logs of this chat will find their way onto the net pretty soon.  We want everyone to know what we're planning :)

Q: [DWC]-WebHawk: Is there a testing location in the netherlands?
A: [LH]Sam|WORK: no, you can only come in and test in the Lionhead office.

Q: fozi: how many bones does BW2 have per-character?
A: [LH]AdamC: 72 bones for your average villager, although some have a slightly different number (such as the nymphs)
Q: megat: and the creatures?
Q: Thren: whats the average poly count for the creatures?
A: [LH]seb: ahhh thanks aprox polycount on all creatures is about 5k. not including fur.. bonecount as adam said between 70 and 100
A: [LH]seb: the creatures also use normalmaps (like D3 for example) that are generated from very hires geometry (- 3 mio)

Q: DBD|Blade: with such high amount of bone count and poly count wont the fps drop dramaticly when you have a lot of units in your screen (like in a battle?)
A: [LH]Fek: No. We have a smart lod and batching system to keep the framerate high even during large battles

Q: BSS|aQa: I heard roumers about Peter Molynyux (can't spell the game gurus name :S ) wanted to make B&W a 5 chapter work, where the final chapter will be 
   in the present. Is this correct ??  
A: [LH]Dan: this is absolutely correct, and we've got a good idea what each installment will be :)

I: [LH]Jonty> The will be a new camera mode for navigating the world. Much more simple than the original one, but we're keep the original one for people 
   familiar to it.

Q: Bill: How long does it take to compile the game (and do you use M$ Visual Studio .NET 2003 C++ .NET to do it?) 
A: ajpiano: Roughly 5 minutes for a full rebuild, using incredibuild :). We use DevStudio 7.0

I: [LH]Sam|WORK: We will be releasing new material about B&W this week! Expect some hot stuff (i like it hot)

Q: Monkster: can we see some of the concept art somewhere?
A: [LH]MarkP: We will hopefully be including some concept art on the next update of the website.

Q: Unknown: Will there be weapons for the creatures in B&W2? 
A: [LH]PeterDoug: There will be weapons for your creatures, in fact we are alowing you to use any appicable item as a weapon, things like trees, rock etc. 
   plus the idea of you building/buying weapons 
Q: sunflash: will the creatures fight each other with weapons? 
A: [LH]Kelly: No - but the fighting is really cool 

Q: Norwegian: Will the Game come out later in Europe(as usual :'( ) or will it be reales worldwide at the same day`  
A: [LH]Dan: We are aiming for a worldwide release as best as we can, but some territories have delays due to manufacturing

Q: CreTiNakE: does b&w2 work's without b&w1 ??? 
A: [LH]Dan: Yes, it does work without Black & White 1 :)

Q: pvtpete: how will the building system work in b+w 2? 
A: [LH]Dan: Scaffolds are done away with, instead you can place planned buildings directly from the town menu-bar
A: [LH]Dan: You can now also set buildings to be un-built

Q: Flipmode_god: <WILL THERE BE AN ORE MIRACLE!?!?!?!??!>  
A: [LH]Dan: There's no wood, ore or water miracles now, we have other things that make up for them
A: [LH]Dan: plus ore is a finite resource for any level

Q: Cort3x^^: can your creature get ill in bw2? if so how does this affect it then?
A: [LH]JBury: Your creature can become ill based on his diet, this can lead to things like 'the runs'

Q: Domandos: Is B&W2 coded on C or C++?  
A: [LH]Dan: 95% C++, with some C and some assembler
Q: MrMeltzer: Do you use C as the basis for scripting events in BW2? 
A: [LH]Dan: We have our own scripting language that's a lot simpler than C :)
Q: megat: Will that scripting language eventually be available to modders?
A: [LH]AlexE:  AdamC said earlier a script compiler tool is being released shortly, I think :)

Q: Liu: what are the minium requirements for running this game?
A: [LH]Fek: Geforce 2MX, P3 733

Q: grison: Are you inspired by Lord of the Rings? Will the fights have a similiar dense? - 
A: [LH]Kelly: Yes, the battles will be epic and all of the soldiers have detailed animation, so it will be similar to the film Lord of The Rings 

Q: Brinx`: Give us some examples of the physics used in the game. Fluid simulation, fires, earthquakes? 
A: [LH]Dan: We have all of those in the game at the moment

Q: [pD]Dore: Can u guys aDD my model to ur easter eggs :D. I'd love to feature in the game  
A: [LH]Dan: We have the ability for people to add their own custom models into the game

Q: Lie|: Will there be blood in B&W2 when you smash villagers or hurting the creature? 
A: [LH]Dan: YES! LOTS OF BLOOD!  We're working to be able to squeeze the villager in your hand to a bloody pulp as well

Q: Kleptos: Can I skip the tutorials in B&W2, or do I have to complete them like in BW1? 
A: [LH]Dan: There is a seperate island for tutorials, which is not compulsory

Q: Auk: Did you have to discard any design ideas that proved technically impossible for this game ?  
A: [LH]Dan: We try to keep them in mind and re-visit them.  We do have a list of ideas that we're putting towards B&W3.

Q: BigFreak: Will the fluffy dice and phone box make a return? 
A: [LH]Dan: of course!

Q: Brinx`: How much can you tell us about the water simulation without breaking your NDA's?
A: [LH]Fek: you will be able to throw things into the water and see waves propagating realistically, but it will probably implemented only for DX9 cards

Q: Berry2K: is the engine (almost) finished yet?
A: [LH]Fek: it's in good "state"

Q: fl0w: oh.. ehm, i've been wondering how the AI is improoved for the creatures 
A: [LH]Dan: well the original AI was still very good, so a lot of the structure has been retained, however the interface for the creature mind has changed a lot 
so you can see exactly why you're punishing and rewarding him.  his mind is a lot more transparent to the player.

Q: WeevilMan: Will there be vehicles in bw2? 
A: [LH]Dan: there will be seige weapons

End:
Megat: On behalf of the thousands of people present, I'd like to thank the Lionhead developers for joining us this evening.
[LH]Georg: Was a pleasure!
[LH]Dan: we must do this sometime again, there were so many questions and so little time
[LH]Jonty: Indeed. Good fun everyone. This will become a regular event.
[LH]PeterDoug: I have to go now thank you all for your questions and support I promise you all we are going to make B&W2 as good as it can possibly be.


This summary of the B&W2 chat on Quakenet at channel #bwgame was made by BattleF08. It may be freely distributed, edited, and hosted by everyone.
Though some credit would always be appreciated:D. Questions/Comments/Death threats? Contact: battle_fortress@hotmail.com