Letis talk about the Coldstone Engine. Is it written in C/C++? Did you use CodeWarrior?
Coldstone is divided in two parts: the editor and the compiler. The editor lets you manage the different parts of your game and put them together to create the story and gameplay. The compiler then takes all this stuff and create a stand-alone application on either Mac Classic, Mac OS X or Windows. The editor is almost 100% RB code but the compiler and the resulting applications are 100% C++. This allows for fast and professional games. We used Metrowerks CodeWarrior to develop the engine core.
Which graphic tools are your artists using?
Photoshop, 3D Studio Max and Graphic Converter.
Can you give us a brief overview of the use of sprites?
First, the sprite engine supports multiple layers and sprites of any size. This lets you create any type of world you want by placing several different pictures here and there or use one big picture for a whole map (like in Balduris Gate). The sprite engine (and editor) doesnit make any difference between an animation and a still picture (with little exceptions). This means that you can use the very cool (yet powerful) animation editor to create an animation and just add it in the map, in any layer you want. Second, the engine is true 32-bit color, which means that translucency effects are possible with picture formats that support alpha masks such as PNG. Also, all the game "windows" (like the shop interface for example) are rendered by the sprite engine to make them platform independent.
You can find the full text of this interesting interview at the iDevGames Web site.