After the source code for one classic D&D RPG was confirmed to be lost, fans went about creating their own improved remaster with Icewind Dale 2: Enhanced Edition. In the wake of that release, lead designer Josh Sawyer has confirmed that he's not to blame for the missing code.
"I thought it was very funny, there was some fucking obsessive dude on Twitter who was like 'fucking imbecile Josh Sawyer lost the Icewind Dale 2 source code, because he's a stupid fucking piece of shit,'" Sawyer said in a recent stream clip, which he shared to Twitter. "Check this out: I have never had the Icewind Dale 2 source code, because I'm not a programmer. It was literally never on my computer, and I don't know why that guy would think that I was entrusted with the eternal safeguarding of the Icewind Dale 2 source code."
the true story of me personally losing the Icewind Dale II source code pic.twitter.com/UiVJPml2k6November 12, 2023
While he's credited as lead designer on Icewind Dale 2, Sawyer says there wasn't a formal project lead on the game, and notes elsewhere in the clip that it's pretty unusual - though not completely unheard of - for individual developers to keep back-ups of source code on their own computers.
Icewind Dale 2 is part of a line of D&D RPGs built on BioWare's Infinity Engine. Starting in 2012. developer Beamdog created improved ports of every Infinity Engine game under the Enhanced Edition line, save one: Icewind Dale 2. Beamdog CEO Trent Oster confirmed in a 2017 Kotaku interview that this was because the source code for the game was lost.
This story now has a happy ending, however, since fans recently released their own Icewind Dale 2: Enhanced Edition, playable on modern PCs with loads of quality-of-life tweaks and general gameplay improvements.
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