Today we’re publishing answers from Beamdog Producer Luke Rideout to the community questions asked in April-May, 2019.

Q & A WITH LUKE RIDEOUT, BEAMDOG PRODUCER

1. Is there any update on the Google Play situation with BGII:EE and IWD:EE? The previous update was given on April 3.

LUKE: We’re working on adding a UI element to both games that will allow the player to access our Privacy Policy from within the game, as per Google’s updated policy requirements. Sorry it’s taking a while for this to get into everyone’s hands. There was some back and forth time with Google’s review team to pinpoint exactly what needed to be done, and there is still some work and QA to be done.

2. Will whatever David Gaider worked on in Beamdog eventually be released?

LUKE: That’s a very good question, and not one I’m able to answer at this time, I’m afraid.

3. Have you looked at Patreon and/or similar crowdfunding solutions as a possible monetization method for providing patch support for the Enhanced Editions? Do you think such a solution could help with that effort?

LUKE: Unfortunately, as these are a licensed property that we don’t have complete IP control over, it’s not really a viable option.

4. Will the iOS/Android touch controls be available for use on the console (eg. Nintendo Switch) port of the games?

LUKE: Currently the console builds don’t include touchscreen functionality.

5. Back when BG:EE was still unreleased and Beamdog announced the three new NPCs, the latter had slightly different portraits compared to those that eventually shipped. Namely, Rasaad was wearing red, Dorn had no bluish tint, and Neera had no pinkish tint. Would it be possible to share the source files of the original, pre-change portraits with the community?

LUKE: I’ll need to look into our archives, see if the original artwork is still available, and check with a few key folks here as to the reasons behind the changes before I could be able to offer those for widespread download.

6. Will PST:EE, which is on a different branch than 2.6, get a patch beyond 3.1.4? There are still issues reported or submitted at the moment.

LUKE: I wouldn’t rule it out - there have been some positive updates made to the game through the development of the console versions that might be able to benefit PST:EE in the long run, but we’d have to look into what we’d need to do to cleanly port them back into the PC version, which would have to happen after some of our team resources free up when the console versions are done.

7. Some time ago, Trent spoke about the company being spread thin because of all the games/platforms/operation systems. Has that been improved nowadays and how does he envision handling this with even more games and more platforms?

LUKE: We’ve devoted significant effort to bringing on new, talented team members, and growing our existing people to make sure we have the bandwidth to tackle what we need to focus on, which at the moment is Axis & Allies, and the ports of Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights, each to the 3 different console platforms.

We are definitely looking into the future at this point.

8. The new renderer for NWN:EE came up about half a year after the release of the game on Steam. What was the development of the plan/process of rewriting the renderer? It wasn't announced at the beginning.

LUKE: The new renderer for NWN:EE was one of the initiatives that we took on as a part of the project to bring NWN to consoles. Alongside the move to 64-bit, Cam has completely torn down and rewritten the renderer, as well as creating different versions of the renderer to support the 3 consoles we’re developing for (Of course as well as PC). I won’t go into the boring details of production planning and scheduling, but Cam had a vision of what he wanted to accomplish with the new Aurora Renderer, and has experience doing complete tear-downs and rewrites of renderers from MDK2 and beyond, so the technical and creative vision of the renderer was mostly driven by Cam, with a key set of features and shaders that we wanted to deliver conceived of and delivered by a few core members of our rendering team.

9. Question regarding the console port of NWN:EE: I am certain you are aware of the attack bonus miscalculation bug in the current PC version of the game. Have you been able to tackle this issue in the console and/or mobile ports? (bug #37442 on Redmine)

LUKE: It’s on our list of bugs that we’re looking at for Neverwinter, but we’re still working on getting the console gameplay and UI control perfect before we can start tackling more rules issues.

10. Will local multiplayer (one console 4-6 remotes) be possible in BG & IWD console ports? I think that might be fin for the IE games.

LUKE: Sorry, as much as we do love couch co-op, you’ll need to each have a networked console in order to play multiplayer.

11. Can you give any hint about the next RPG or non-RPG project you want to handle after Axis & Allies Online?

LUKE: We’ve got some things brewing right now, but it’s still very early days! I’m excited to give you folks more information about what we’re doing next, but I can’t say anything just yet.