Interview With Black Isle Studios

   The following interview was conducted with Ken Rosman, one of Black 
Isle's senior producers.

Ivan Trembow: What are the biggest rewards and shortcomings of working for 
a developer of hardcore PC RPGs?

Ken Rosman: Working at Black Isle is great!  Owning over 20% of the PC RPG 
market, Black Isle is almost a household name... the biggest rewards come in 
the ability to create the best possible games and work with top-notch 
developers.  The only big shortcoming is that sometimes creative freedom is 
kept roped in by Black Isle consumer expectations.  

Ivan: What is Black Isle's role in the development of Neverwinter Nights?  
Do you work hand-in-hand with BioWare a lot, or is it more of a case of two 
separate companies operating separately?

Ken: We work very much hand-in-hand.  I speak to the game's producer, Trent 
Oster, up at BioWare on a very regular basis.  The goal is to have all 
parties work together very synergistically, which ensures the best possible 
title.  Basically, Black Isle is the game's publisher and what that means in
this case is that we provide the audio, PR, marketing, and testing, as well 
as some design input.  Day-to-day production of Neverwinter Nights is 
handled almost exclusively at BioWare, with builds of the game regularly 
sent to Black Isle for feedback and testing.

Ivan: What role does Interplay have in the development of your games?  Are 
they a part of the development process every step of the way, or do they 
take more of a hands-off approach?

Ken: Interplay takes a fairly hands-off approach because they know Black 
Isle's track record of making great RPGs.  That is not to say that Interplay
is not there along the way, because after all, Black Isle is a development 
division within Interplay.

Ivan: Has the Titus buy-out of Interplay affected Black Isle in any way?

Ken: Not at all!  Well, okay, maybe in one way.  It has given us the ability 
to buy the latest hardware and software so that we can continue to make
great games.

Ivan: Will Black Isle ever develop another game in the Fallout series?

Ken: I can't say anything official, but I believe that our Fallout fans will
be happy with the future of Black Isle.

Ivan: With console games selling so much more than PC games, is it ever 
frustrating to make great PC games and then see console games selling many 
more copies?

Ken: It's frustrating every day.  The PC market is getting tighter in terms 
of profit margains, but some games are just better served on the PC 
platform, and Black Isle's RPGs are no exception.

Ivan: With Interplay as a whole focusing more and more on console games, 
will Black Isle develop any console games beyond Baldur's Gate Legends for 
the PlayStation 2?

Ken: We are continuing to investigate this possibility, we're just taking a 
very cautious approach to it.

Ivan: What is Black Isle currently working on?

Ken: Actually, Black Isle currently has three separate internal teams.  The 
Icewind Dale team is hard at work at an expansion pack called Heart of 
Winter.  As for the other two teams, one is at the start of a new and 
undecided project, and the last team is working on a new RPG that uses the 
LithTech 2.0 engine.  

Ivan: What are the most-played games at the Black Isle offices besides Black
Isle's own?

Ken: The hot ticket is Motocross Madness 2 right now, and Quake 3 is also 
still looming around.  Tribes used to be one of the hot tickets around here,
and I'm sure that Tribes 2 will bring productivity to a halt when it hits 
the shelves.

Ivan: Is an expansion into other genres in the cards for Black Isle, or will
you continue to focus on RPGs?

Ken: Black Isle will continue to focus on RPGs for now.

Send your thoughts on this interview to ivan@mastergamer.com

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