14 DAY TRIAL // Neverwinter is a free-to-play game set in the Dungeons & Dragons space, and developer Cryptic and publisher Perfect World are not content with just giving the players access to a world they created around the town that also lends the game its name.
The two companies have plans for a deep User Create Content system that will give anyone the chance to create their own D&D adventure, publish it and then maybe even get support from the company and donations from other players.
The editor that Cryptic has showed off at Gamescom 2012 is very different from the CD Projekt RED concept aimed at The Witcher 2.
Cryptic is aiming for simplicity and speed of use and that means players get a lot of pre-made assets, many of them already used by the developers themselves.
Armed with this content and with the customization options that have long been one of the trademarks of Cryptic MMOS, they can quickly fill out a quest with characters, rewards, dialog points, battles and other parameters.
During the development process, content creators can use development tools to test their creations quickly and then run through them again from a gamer’s perspective.
Once a module is done, it can be quickly hooked into the world of Neverwinter via a job board, a talkative innkeeper or any other character that can give out a quest.
Once content is live, it can be shared, rated and even promoted by the development team at Cryptic if it’s solid enough.
Players can also choose to subscribe to a particular level maker, browse for the best reviewed levels and they can even donate in-game cash to those creators they like best to support their future projects.
Cryptic also showed a little of the combat system for Neverwinter, which is focused on constant movement and on quick reactions to changing conditions, under the core rules of the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons.