Monday, December 31, 2007

Horses in NWN2


Most builders who have purchased MotB for NWN2 know that horses were added, though the players can't ride them. What some of you may not be aware of is that you can change the appearance of the horses in the toolset. Simply go to the appearance of the horse you have selected in the toolset (under the properties tab) and change it to several other options such as Palomino, Pinto, White Stallion and even Skeletal. I've included a few pictures of examples.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Dragonkin completes creatures for Act One!



Thanks to Camb, I have the final custom creature needed for Act I... a dragonkin race. I won't go into too much details since I don't want to give the plot away but you'll be fighting one of these powerful creatures in Act I and more in Act II and III. Now, I had better go finish up all of the custom encounters in Act I and then it is back to dialogue writing!

Update! I think I made this dragonkin too strong - she wiped me out with one wave of her sword after a few rounds. Might have to scale down her skills a little bit... :)

Sorry for the poor quality of this sneak peek - the lighting is unusual in this interior! :)

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Baphitaurs are a go!



I have been agonizing over whether to include a major part of the storyline in my campaign, which happens to include the Shadow Portal beneath the Dessarin River. The major creatures inhabiting the labyrinth are a cross between humans and minotaurs...an evil manifestion known as a baphitaur.

I had no clue how to create something akin to minotaurs since there are no creatures similar in the toolset. Luckily for me, Daronas, a fellow member of Gaming Parents Studios took a stab at creating one for me and it turned out great!

I have taken a few pictures of what the baphitaurs look like, it looks like we may be able to use it for minotaurs too. Yes! He also created a cool half-black dragon for jacky's NHiN2...posted on the Gaming Parents Studios blog.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Winter Wonderland


It's snowing yet again and we're definitely having a white Christmas... here's a picture of the trees in my backyard as well as part of my neighbour's taken by my daughter today. :)
The rest of the snowy tree photos are at my personal pic web album:

Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope that Santa is good to you tomorrow - I know my kids are itching to open up the presents under the tree.

All the best to you and your families this holiday season!

Friday, December 21, 2007

RWS Towers




So many to choose from! I think this tower may suit the area the best for Iniarv's Tower...which is featured in Chapter two of Act 1 in A Time to Die. The area is a modified version of Boomstick's Coastal Tower prefab.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Underground city picture


I am experimenting with the custom cave skydome and a portion of SGK73's copy and paste city prefab. I think the combo makes a pretty good undeground city for Act III of A Time to Die.

Here's a sneak peek! (Plus, more screenshots are at the end of the slideshow to the right...)

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Special thank you to Amraphael

Amraphael was able to tackle the custom cave skydome for me. Now I can actually move forward and start working on Act I of A Time to Die again. I am working on the ambience of the starting area which is the small town of Red Larch in the Sword Coast. I have town residents moving randomly around the town shopping, talking, and looking at statues etc.

Here's a few pictures of what the cave skydome looks like that he designed. I added the skydome to a sample area I had created for testing...




Gaming Parents Studios Launches

Well, we decided to take the plunge and rename ourselves... instead of the NHiN team... we'll be known as Gaming Parents Studios or GPS for short.

We've just created our own blog at:
http://gamingparentsstudios.blogspot.com/

The whole team will be welcome to post their own updates and comments on our upcoming projects such as Night Howls in Nestlehaven 2, A Time to Die, among others we will list within the next few months or so.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Exciting Announcement!

I am so thrilled! I just received permission from Justin Durban, a very talented composer, to use some of his music in my upcoming saga, A Time to Die. Some of you may know him on the NWN Vault as Edgen.

He is pleased that I wanted to use his work and now I am occupied choosing from the many scores he has written. Luckily I have plenty of time since the campaign will still take quite a few months to complete.

Feel free to visit his site and listen to his music...what unbelieveable talent!
http://www.justindurban.com/ or http://edgen.com/

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Harp & Chrysanthemum Mini-Review

This is the module that I am currently playing and man, what an awesome game it has been so far. The battles are challenging, the dialogue superb as well as the characterization of the companions. But, nothing compares to the beautiful atmosphere of the areas, the music, and even custom loadscreens -- an enjoyable experience not to be missed!

Once I am finished, I will be voting at the Vault... it is shaping up to be one of my favourites, next to the NHiN series. You can find it on the Vault at:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2ModulesEnglish.Detail&id=206

Maerduin's Blog can be found at:
http://mmoonsea.blogspot.com/

Update: April 7, 2008

Congratulations to Maedruin for winning module of the year 2007 at the Vault for this module - well-deserved, I'd say!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

More pics of the Custom Cave Skydome...updated Dec 12




Here are more pics of the custom cave skydome I am working on for A Time to Die, Act III. I have just updated the skydome file as of Dec 12/07 so these are brand new. Progress is slow but sure...should be able to ask a few modders to beta test this and then release it to the Vault when it is ready.