Nightingale is getting excellent support from the bloggers and news outlets around the world! As per usual, Edmonton’s significance as a world centre for games production is being asserted by the team at Inflexion Games (formerly Improbable Canada).
I am excited about having the chance to talk with the Inflexion team about the game! I am hoping that I have the opportunity to discuss Nightingale with some of the Inflexion team in the New Year. For now, I am going to have to just have some fun with some of my own speculations based on what we have been learning so far.
Gleaning what I can from the information we have been seeing posted online, there are some really interesting aspects that set Nightingale apart. The following are speculative musings on my part are that have some facts we know and speculations that italicized and my thoughts alone…
- Inflexion Games is using technology and services from Improbable for several purposes. Overall however, the role of these technologies is to accelerate iteration speed – meaning Inflexion developers can create more content, find issues faster, and conduct more playtests to get better feedback on the experience Nightingale offers its community. The idea of accelerated iteration speed is one that blends the notion of User Generated Content and iterative design in some potentially interesting ways. The very act of playing the game leads to the game designers adjusting and evolving the game. This is part of the appeal of playing Dungeons and Dragons with a brilliant dungeon master. A great dungeon master will fine-tune the game in collaboration with the players to enhance their experience.
- Improbable’s IMS is a client/server based architecture, so the core game engine can evolve and be updated as the game grows. Knowing that Nightingale is being built using Epic’s Unreal Engine, perhaps a UE5 version of Art Director’s Neil Thompson minds eye is in the works. Nanite/Lumen/MetaSounds versions of those lush landscapes and MetaHuman versions of the RealmWalkers are a tantalizing thought…
- Nightingale is an open format multiplayer world. If the IMS-driven realms of Nightingale are persistent state worlds, it is possible that anything that players do in that world will be permanent changes. Any objects that are created, damaged, or destroyed could remain for the next player or group of players to discover, join in on, or explore. Over time, the lore of the land is generated by the actions of the players themselves.
- The trailer shows some simple world-building, and weapons-based FPS style interactions, but Aaryn Flynn references a scene in the trailer where “there’s a really nice moment in there that’s meant to show the dichotomy the world will present – where a giant is bending down to receive an offering from players.” (from the GamesRadar article linked below) This suggests that the kinds of activities players can engage in may have some greater freedom and the kinds of Player to NPC interaction can vary.
- An inspiration for Nightingale comes from the popular book by Susanna Clarke, “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell” (later produced as a BBC series) which features a kind of English Magic. Perhaps we can expect to see some magical skills for players?
- So many questions about just how much effect the player interactions have on the realms and the role that the collective history generated by all the players over time can have on new players. The power of shared story is a compelling force in multiplayer games. The ongoing learned memory of NPCs is also a really interesting notion… one group of players treats a giant poorly and barely escapes with their lives, the next group comes along and encounters an angry giant that they were not expecting to have to deal with… “the last chap was so easy to get along with, what happened to this guy???”
I am sure there will be more and more that will come to light about this luscious world being brewed up on 104 street just down from Credo’s luscious lattes, and not too far from the pints at Kelly’s Pub in downtown Edmonton. History is in the making here, and I can’t wait to play.
Official Site:
https://www.playnightingale.com/
Trailer on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk7eV4Beeck
Here is a quick list of some of the latest news about Nightingale:
- Nightingale is a crafting and survival game with some roots in old BioWare RPGs – PC Gamer
- Nightingale is a new survival-crafting game featuring the fanciest of monster hunters – Polygon
- Ex-BioWare boss shares new Nightingale details: “Each decision has different consequences” – GamesRadar
- Inflexion Games Reveals More Nightingale Details – COG Connected
- Unique Survival Game Nightingale Brings Fantasy to the Victorian Era – Game Tyrant
- Nightingale is a Wild Looking New Survival Crafting Game – Press Start Australia