Dungeons, Dragons and Module Toolsets?
October 31st 2006 02:33
The original Neverwinter Nights (NWN) released in 2002 was one of the best games released that year and was without a doubt the best role playing game (RPG) of the year. According to the developer Bioware’s official site for Neverwinter Nights the game won around 86 awards from all over the world from; ‘Best Roleplaying Game of 2002’ by PC Gamer; to ‘Best Roleplaying Game E3 2000, 2001 and 2002’ by E3 Games Critic Award. Much of its popularity, unlike its other Dungeon and Dragons predecessors such as Baldurs Gate and Planescape Torment, was due to its highly accessible and addictive modding component (Though don’t call them mods, call them ‘modules’ the community gets pretty anal about that).
The number of modules created by gamers around the world numbers into the hundreds (if not thousands), with several of the most popular ones being sold by Bioware themselves online. The fact that the toolset, the program used to create these modules, was so easy to use complemented it considerably. The sequel, NWN 2 to be released in Australia on the 9th of November 2006 is also going to be using (basically) the same style of program. With some added bonuses of course.
•Gone is the limited tiles that you saw in the original toolset, now you have total artistic freedom to create whatever (and wherever) you like. No more of having to have each individual area bordered in by fake looking scenery. Moulding your scenery is also possible with the click of a button.
•Almost every individual object can be tinted to a different colour. Want your goblins to be a sexy hot pink instead of vomit green? You got it.
•As with tinting almost every object can now be scaled to whatever size you want, from giant children to miniature giants. If you want your farm animals to be as large as the farm house then so be it.
•The number of armour sets is now almost limitless, with individual sets different creatures and races. Along with customised hair, faces, belts, cloaks, shirts, helmets and boots, there are a large number of extra armour attachments.
•Now you can use static cameras to create your very own NWN 2 cutscenes to include in your modules. These can be easily previewed in the editor and added to any node in the dialogue.
There is a huge list of new extras in the NWN 2 editor that I could ramble on for days about (I especially like the idea of easily made cutscenes, bring on the mini-movies!). NWN 2 looks set to challenge Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion for the RPG of 2006, if not game of the year. The modding community’s excited and so am I, come on November 9!
Is modding the future of gaming? Let giventogaming.com know what you think, or if you know of any good mods out there leave us a comment!
*Image sourced from the following wikipedia.org pages
Electron Toolset
The NWN 2 'Electron' Toolset
•Gone is the limited tiles that you saw in the original toolset, now you have total artistic freedom to create whatever (and wherever) you like. No more of having to have each individual area bordered in by fake looking scenery. Moulding your scenery is also possible with the click of a button.
•As with tinting almost every object can now be scaled to whatever size you want, from giant children to miniature giants. If you want your farm animals to be as large as the farm house then so be it.
•The number of armour sets is now almost limitless, with individual sets different creatures and races. Along with customised hair, faces, belts, cloaks, shirts, helmets and boots, there are a large number of extra armour attachments.
•Now you can use static cameras to create your very own NWN 2 cutscenes to include in your modules. These can be easily previewed in the editor and added to any node in the dialogue.
There is a huge list of new extras in the NWN 2 editor that I could ramble on for days about (I especially like the idea of easily made cutscenes, bring on the mini-movies!). NWN 2 looks set to challenge Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion for the RPG of 2006, if not game of the year. The modding community’s excited and so am I, come on November 9!
Is modding the future of gaming? Let giventogaming.com know what you think, or if you know of any good mods out there leave us a comment!
*Image sourced from the following wikipedia.org pages
Electron Toolset
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