dunniteowl

Spoil sport! I actually figured it was someone with too much time on their hands and had photoshopped it in. I live in the Hinterlands of Texas, a mere 40 miles from Austin, TX and we just don't get GFW, even at the local Super WalMart, so I could be considered to be completely "out of the loop." And no it's not rude, just a buzz kill. regards, dunniteowl (in only a few small ways do I miss being away from Civilization, up to date information is one of them...being only on dialup is another...)

Thanks for the quick reply and information. I will most definitely stay tuned. DLd what you have so far, and will watch with interest. regards, dunniteowl

Well from my perspective (which, apparently, is much longer than any others so far espoused) it seems I have a longer view... It's gotta be PONG: The Return! Or wait, could it be-- is is possible that it's: Space Quest 7: Son (cloned) of Roger Wilco? Nah, that can't be it. What about: From the Ashes: A Greyhawk Campaign? Ultima 11? I seriously doubt it, though I guess it could happen. (or whatever iteration it last left off of...) Wizardry: The Re-reawakening? I cannot vouch for my knowledge of what's brewing behind the scenes these days. There was a time (When CGW was the first and foremost magazine in my reading pile, right beside Dragon and Dungeon,) when I probably could have nailed this from the information divulged. At this point, I am going to guess it is another D&D franchise enterprise (though it couldn't be Mask of the Betrayer as it's an Expansion and already announced) where that might most likely mean something either in Eberron or a New Announcement of Dragon Age *(dunno if this is a D&D licensed property, not much interest in it atm for me...) Still, I am leaning towards either a D&D franchise or perhaps another beloved one, a new Fallout (which would be extremely cool, though Interplay doesn't seem to be up and running these days...) Guess now we'll have to cool our heels and wait until someone can't wait to spill the beans. In the meantime I'm guessing a new Frogger or Donkey Kong: The Final Episode. regards, dunniteowl

Well, not a Dev, just a Community Representative for NWN2. I am also a Moderator over at the Bioware Forums for NWN2. Additionally, I Admin and Moderate a place called: The NeverWinter Citadel Project. Like many here, I am just another Community Member who is doing his best to find ways to support the community of people who wish to use the toolset and make modules. I am also a game designer (PnP, board wargames, card games, etc...) of no great accomplishment (meaning nothing I have created has been published) and have been designing RPG worlds since 1981. I have a complete game world based on (A)D&D 1st ed rules (I'll have to udgrade the whole dang thing now...) called P'arn `Nath. As well, I have designed an SF-RPG system modelled very loosely on some Traveller concepts as well as many of the SF stories I have read and written (again, nothing actually published -- two web published stories during my time with FRUA) titled: Far Flung Empires. I am rather fond of this endeavor, as it is what I call a Franchise Compilation System. I have a card game designed with it, board wargaming and/or table top miniatures concepts that all coordinate and correlate with the RPG system. Each of the sections can be used by themselves or in conjunction with other aspects of the game system. I guess you could say that games and gaming are something that have consumed a major portion of my life's interests and I am about making games that I think are fun, not how marketable they might be (such is evidenced by my complete lack of current published works-- :D .) IN any case, this means that I have spent a lot of time studying history, science, game designs, scripting (in the dialogue sense) module creation concepts (in the writing for PnP sense) and have also spent a lot of time in learning the NWN/2 systems for making computer based modules. I am now also learning to use 3DS Max R9 for 3D Modeling and hope to be able to make things that the entire Community can use and appreciate (hopefully) and my dream would be that the ultimate outcome of my love of gaming and interest in game design would lead to me being employed in the gaming industry. Now, here's the kicker. I am 46 years old (yes, that me in my avatar) and I have had this dream (and have slowly worked towards it since I was in my early 20s) in between the RL adventure that I call My Life. So now you know the relatively important things regarding me and this online forum (and a few others.) I hope that I can learn more from the people posting here, as I learn from others as a primary source of new information. If I might impart any wisdom or learning to others, then that would be counted as a success to me. regards all, dunniteowl

All other aspects of the upcoming expansion aside, all I really hope for it is that there are plenty of new assets in the way of placeables like new architecture, new textures for the grounds, new plants from Speedtree!, fixes for the scripts that allow a greater latitude for making new or original Classes/Races and other such things. Of course, I would love to have a more playable game experience as well. I have had too few worthy games cross my sights since the last Bladur's Gate series. Even in this age of MMOs and 3D FPSs, I find myself spectucularly unimpressed with the overall gameplay of most of these games. I hate clickfests and while I am not opining to go back to text based adventuring, there is still plenty of room for things like "flavor text" on mouse overs of placeables, on-examines and when attempting to determine the nature of things. Some things can be more easily shown than others, however, smells, little tiny details and things that might only come up with a successful Skill Check ought to still be posted as a text box when it makes more sense to do so. I think the examples I cite above are where that still exists as a reasonable place to add some text. I love that we can do things with greater graphics and I am so looking forward to having this expansion. I have had a great deal of fun with NWN2 and NWN, even though I find aspects extremely lacking in certain areas. It is always something of a tradeoff whenever you have a new way to create a game as some developers focus on things that others ignore or think unnecessary. So I am hoping that the Developers, with their promise of an improved toolset experience will give us the tools, literally, to develop even more interactive and interesting stories that deviate from the plots, hooks and storylines they focus on with the OC and Subsequent Expansions. I am sort of going off track here and I apologize. Thay, Rashemon and other locations in the Unapproachable East all have great potential for new gaming venues. In fact, as far as someone mentioning horses, there are some very fiercely independant tribes and nations states that are more lilke Mongols than about anything else, which means horses mean the world to them. I would also like very much to see implementations of the rideable mount beyond horses (Griffon Riders are known in the areas around Rashemon from what I have read.) Orcs are treated and accepted in Rashemon and the abject level of total slavery of Thay and the brutal way it is used is something that can be the foil of many more CC modules that ought to allow folks willing to play Downloadable Modules from the Community. In fact, if you folks want to adventure in Thayvian areas, there are some CC Modules in the making already and some are in beta and at least one is already available on the Vault: The Subtlety of Thay which is now #3 on the Vault's top 10. You can also visit The NeverWinter Citadel Project and peruse the forums there. You can see that there are some really talented people already hard at work making Thayvian modules. Track the progress and enjoy. Most, if not all the Thay/Rasehemon modules are likely to be released before the Expansion. Of course, don't hold me to that, I am only watching their progress, as can you following the lnk. regards to all, dunniteowl

Reading with great interest. A few questions: 1) How are resources added to FIFE (btw everyone forgot that a fife is a type of flute, as in Drum and Fife Corps) and what programs would you recommend for creating such assets? [EDIT] Checked out Reiner's Tilesets: All Graphics are made with Caligari

You kids make me feel old: I'll only list the ones I have and still like or ones I still wish I had: Strategy/Wargames/Empire Building Empire (still have the old original CGA version on 3.5") Civ, Civ II, Civ III (still play Civ II ttt, Civ III & on are becoming a grind past medeival periods) Sim City (5.25" and still have box w/red paper security codes) Sim City II Sim Ant Sim Earth Age of Empires I & II (meh, more RTS'y and not well balanced... no likey-- billed as an Empire Builder like CIV-- LIARS) Alpha Centuari Risk (port of the board game) Panzer General (still play it) Heroes of Might and Magic IV (it's okay... also gets to be a grind, suffers from 2D pretense of 3D) Warlords I and II (got it for map editor, but it wasn't any better than playing it -- no longer) Master of Orion (great game) MOO II: What was I thinking? MOO III: Even Worse than MOO II! Ascendancy: Somewhere between MOO and Civ II, great game and much better than MOOs iterations above. RTSs/Action RPGs/Sim RPGs/FPSs: Steel Thunder: M1 Tank Platoon (5.25") (no more, though it was a lot of fun shooting the enemy with standoff weapons.) 688 Fast Attack Sub (EGA) (no more, cannot run it w/new HW and not as much fun as it was...) Falcon 1.0 (CGA) (no longer, but a fun flying game in it's day...) Wing Commander (EGA) WC II (VGA) Mechwarrior (Activision CGA, still have it on 3.5") (What can I say, the first Mechwarrior on puter.) Mechwarrior: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (EGA) (There's nothing better than stepping on your enemy's soldiers) Mechwarrior: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (VGA) (ditto above and now you are sometimes a trooper) Mechwarrior II (SVGA) still one helluva game, even by today's gaming standards, though graphics wise it's very dated. Mechwarrior III: Plus Mercenaries Pack -- In many ways, not as fun as MW II. Definitely a buggy on release game. Mecwarrior IV: Probably one of the best of the MW series, great game hard and challenging at times. MechCommander II: Probably much better than MC I, and reminiscent of MW:CHR above, playwise. Command & Conquer (pretty good and sometimes still play it -- not a big fan of clickfest RTSs) Warcraft and WCII (pretty much same as above -- it was fun at first, then it got to be a bore...FAST) DOOM & II (fun at first, but I actually get that vertigo from playing these types of games...) Wolfenstein (EGA) Call of Duty (console PSII) (very action and adrenaline pumping game, fog of war/confusion pretty good imo.) Eye of the Beholder I & II (billed as RPG, and it sort was, just more of an Action RPG imo) Liked it, though. cRPGs/Text RPGs: Bard's Tale (5.25") & II: About as close to the first graphics oriented RPG in computing... Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy (What FUN!) Space Quest: 1--5 (These are some of the funniest and best games I have ever played-- still!) SSIs: Pools of Radiance (on 5.25 & the new 3.5" disks for CGA/EGA) Curse of the Azure Bonds (3.5" & EGA) Secret of the Silver Blades (where you meet a pair from Krynn, one Dragonbait & human companion) Pool of Darkness (this one was somewhat buggy) Gateway to the Savage Frontier (I suppose if I had Hillsfar, I might have liked this better...) Treasures of the Savage Frontier (buggy and quit playing it...) Champions of Krynn (This was a great revamp and use of the Gold Box Engine) Death Knights of Krynn The Dark Queen of Krynn Sentinel Worlds (An SF-RPG in all it's CGA glory! Actually a pretty good game in terms of gameplay and story.) MegaTreveller (not at home so can't remember the rest of the title, a decent interpretation of the Traveller RPG, though not great-- the sequel sucked so bad I didn't buy it... Yes, even then I read reviews before buying...) Unlimited Adventures: Forgotten Realms (the first editor to make your own RPG stories some people are still using it!) Myst (the whole series) My wife likes this one, me, eh. It's too slow and low tension/dynamic. Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn NeverWinter Nights NWN: Shadows of Undrentide NWN: Hordes of the Underdark NeverWinter Nights 2 I have a lot of other stuff, but those are the ones that I feel are worth mentioning. As you can see, the purchases of newer games is pretty much dead. I am a pretty solid strategy and RPG gamer. I am not into the RTSs for the overuse of Mouse Clicking and the many newer games out today are more FPS/RTS oriented and I am not much into that. I left off almost all of my console games (because I have too many to list and many of those are as much my daughter's as they are mine... I have pretty much left consoles behind. I'm into design, baby, so it's NWN2 for me at this point and nothing else...) I have been waiting for something to come along that's really different and still plays to the strengths of RPGs, and even though NWN/2 have really great potential, they still don't have the spot at the "Ultimate Game with Toolset," Title. regards, dunniteowl