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Yet Another NeverwinterNights Thread

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Fri, 2009-04-03 07:29
#1
Anetra
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Yet Another NeverwinterNights Thread

Hello, patrons of the Planewalker forums! I've lurked on your site for a couple years now (love your Ortho setting, sidenote) though never registered because, well, I guess I'm just a hermit.

Anyway. Have registered today for the purpose of asking... how many of you, out there, are currently working on NWN-related projects? I'm thinking about starting up an NWN2 roleplay PW in the next months or so, but it's a pretty tall order.

When NWN2 was first released, I was right in there with the rest of the naysaying crowd who felt it "wasn't ready," and hid back on my NWN1 for a while longer, but after some hard thinking and a lot of community-created content getting made while I wasn't watching I think that, for a Planescape-setting server, NWN2 is just the only way to go. There's simply no way to accurately depict most of the locations in NWN1, the toolset is too limited. You'd need a custom tileset for everything due to the inability to rotate buildings/walls and tint placeables/ground cover. Trying to recreate Excelsior on NWN1 would have meant either a custom tileset or setting all the area lighting to bright yellow and over-saturating everything (including the character models!).

 

But I digress! Returning to the point: Does anyone have any projects on the go right now, or is anyone else "thinking about it?" I'm interested to know! I've been playing NWN online for far too many years now, and have gotten pretty "into" the medium. 

Alternate question, if you aren't personally involved in something right now, would you want to be? Not necessarily building (though great if so!), but just ... is an NWN2 Planescape PW something you'd be interested in playing at all? The "general NWN crowd" are just looking for Forgotten Realms servers where they don't need to think or learn a new setting, so it can be difficult to find other people who are, shall we say, passionate about their Planescape.

 

Thank-youu for your time and attention! : >

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Fri, 2009-04-03 10:08
#2
Clueless
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I know the idea's been

I know the idea's been kicked around a bit here - but it never really saw fruition. You should get a response - it may just take a little bit of time for the vid gamers to wander by and see it Eye-wink

Fri, 2009-04-03 15:41
#3
Ddraig Maharishi
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Though I myself haven't

Though I myself haven't attempted the endeavor, I would be totally and unequivocally supportive of a NWN/2 Planescape RP server. I had been searching for one since I first started playing NWN 1, with no real success (perhaps I wasn't trying hard enough or am simply inept at searching). I have NWN 2 now, and like it well enough.

I would offer my help and would love to be involved, but haven't played with the toolset nearly enough to be any good and I know nothing of modeling/texturing. I fear the only things I have to offer would be ideas, stories, characters, and morale support.

Should you succeed, I would definitely be a frequent patron. Although... well, it's up to you whether or not that's a good thing.

Mon, 2009-04-06 06:11
#4
Anetra
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Your interest is fantastic

Your interest is fantastic to note! I'm just starting to learn the NWN2 toolset now myself, actually. I started with it for, ahh, this exact same project a little over a year ago, but at the time became dismayed by how long it would take to build a server with only my roommate and I working on it. Renewed determination, though!

 

Both of us, my roommate and I, are artsy-type persons who were rather accomplished (dare I say) with the NWN1 toolset. Near the end of my time building for NWN1 (November 2007ish?), I'd been pooping out some decent areas at a rate of about ... one every three days. I think I actually built five Gate-Town exteriors in one week ... I don't remember exactly, it's all a crazed sort of blur in memory.

(http://eroding.net/junks/prscrn_12.jpg + "The Frail" = Hopeless. It's never the same in screenshot, though. Also NWN1 couldn't have curving roads so I had to settle for a 3x16-something area with text displaying over your head describing the curvature and desaturation of your environs.)

Mon, 2009-04-06 06:09
#5
Calmar
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Thhe last one is a pretty

Thhe last one is a pretty dark place. Let's have a look at it with darkvision. Smiling

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Mon, 2009-04-06 06:15
#6
Anetra
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Hahahah. Also I

Hahahah.

Also I compulsion-edited that post too many times, sorry if that makes it, um, show up multiple times from that subscription email thing? Not totally sure how that works, so eeeee.

 But yeah, thet total darkness and the emo-suicide-music was really all that area had going for it. Visual interest would have distracted from the, ahh, gloom. 

Mon, 2009-04-06 15:17
#7
Center of All
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I would love to see some

I would love to see some kind of online, interactive Planescape endeavor.  Over ten years ago, I remember there was a Planescape MU* (can't remember if it was a MUSH or a MUD), but when I tried it out, it was pretty disappointing. 

That being said, I'm in a boat similar to Ddraig.  I haven't touched the NWN2 toolset at all and I have no experience in 3D modeling or rendering whatsoever.  About the best I could offer is concept art, moral support, and a potential idea-bouncer.  Plus, I don't have a lot of time to fully dedicate to getting neck deep into this.

That being said, once I start posting my webcomic, I'll be visiting a bunch of locales across the Multiverse, so I can share some of the concept art I'll be drawing up for that if you wanted to exchange ideas sometime.

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Tue, 2009-04-07 07:58
#8
Helekanalaith
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*Wipes his hands clean

*Wipes his hands clean after disposing of his mortal summoner* Ah! I don't believe we've met, my heartfelt apologies for the messy entrée!

I shall favour you by answering your questions, trivial as they might be. Pay attention, for I shall dictate this only once:

Would you want to be involved in an online Planescape project for NWNx? - Possibly. It depends entirelly on the scope of the module and the time I have available to me. I've seen quite a few Planescape projects fail because they hope to create something enormous. And let's face it; most large modules are void of content and/or interactivity half of the time .

Would you rather work with NWN1 or NWN2? - My preference goes out to NWN1 because it already has a great deal of custom content available that fits the Planescape setting. Also I find that NWN2 is quite difficult when it comes to creating and making the module accessible. Aside from that I'm not big on NWN2's art-style either; the character models and textures look bland and their choice of model references is questionable. Sure, you can argue that NWN1 looks outdated compared to NWN2, but for a nearly 7 year old game it still holds up its own end

Do you have any experience in custom content creation? - I have some custom content experience; in some areas more than other. Currently I'm trying my hand at 3D arts & crafts. With some luck I'll be able to finish my first (real) game character model in a month or so (depending on how much time I can free up). Incidentally the character model is of the same persuasion as my namesake.

Do you have any Planescape projects running? - Maybe, maybe not. With some luck and free time I might be able to actively start working on my own Planescape endeavour. But until then I'll keep my lips sealed about it.

In retrospect this might not be as fullfilling as you had hoped. Is there anything else you desire to know?

 

~ Helekanalaith

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Tue, 2009-04-07 10:54
#9
TheSky
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Not to de-rail the thread,

Not to de-rail the thread, but has anyone here ever worked on a Planescape Rogue-like?

I feel if we got that started we could really go somewhere, randomly generated planes anyone?

Thu, 2009-04-09 02:04
#10
Anetra
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My issue with NWN1 is not,

My issue with NWN1 is not, at all, that it looks outdated or older than NWN2. To be completely honest, the graphics aren't really that important to me as long as they represent what they're supposed to. And that is my issue with NWN1. If I want a house to be green, I need a whole new tileset or placeable or what-have-you where the house is green. NWN2 allows you to tint placeables, and this is what sells it for me. If I want a road to be curved, in NWN1 I need a whole new tileset where roads curve. NWN2 allows me to put the houses and the roads wherever I want, at whatever angles I want.

Here is a "test corner" I made in the Toolset the other day while I was re-learning it. It's a little lacking, as the ground hasn't had anything done to it and the only placeables are one little corner of houses, but ... as you can see, you can do a fair bit in the ways of "making it look like Sigil" in a preliminary fashion: http://eroding.net/junks/nwn2tool_corner.jpg

Now all I need is some placeables of razorvine, pillars with faces in them, and random metal spikes to attach to everything, and I'm golden.

 

I agree with you that the general ... ahh, art style, of NWN2 is slightly lacking when it comes to the default PC parts. Most of the default face and hairs are gross-looking. The genasi stuff is really sweet, but it's also extremely limited. But, this is where custom content comes in. I feel that the custom content for NWN2 has gotten to a good point. A workabe point, at the very least.

In terms of accessibility, I agree that less people have NWN2 and it requires a better/more sophisticated system to run it, but I'm not too concerned about that. "If you build it, they will come," after all? At least in theory. To be entirely frank, my primary hope has been that, if I can represent the setting accurately enough, I can entice you lot, the ... ahh, Planescape Buffs ... into involving thyselves, at least as far as "playing on it." Ehehehh >.>

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