Neverwinter designer: "We saw potential to make a game that we liked better"

Cryptic's Zeke Sparkes, lead designer on co-operative multiplayer RPG turned MMO Neverwinter, has said the game's transformation was a matter of discovering what worked.

"Stuff like that happens more than people realize. We had an idea of what the game was going to be, and we started going after it, and started putting it together, and it was good," Sparkes told Gamasutra.

"We enjoyed it, but we saw potential to make a game that we liked better. In the end, you get a stronger product, because it's a product that everyone believes in."

The designer said Crytpic, which has at least three MMOs under its belt, is better equipped to field another one than any other kind of game, and was keen to retain the "social aspects" of MMOs.

"Most of the changes we made related to the content of the game and how its delivery is structured, and what the focus of that content is," he added, explainign that the new format doesn't require players to engage with Neverwinter's detailed lore if they prefer not to.

"We went from a narrow-band, richly-detailed game with lots of ways for you to go, to something that is vaster, with more places for you to explore and get into."

The free-to-play MMO is expected before the end of the year on PC.