Faithless: The Making of an NWN2 Module

Yesterday, I found out that over the next eleven months, I'll be extremely busy with work. Unfortunately, this will probably affect my modding badly. I don't know for sure how badly it will be affected, but let's just say that I'm more likely to produce models than modules, and my output will probably be meager. Sigh.

A month ago, Jolly Jenkins posted a request for an abishai model at the Custom Content forum. Since I was planning to make several infernal models for Faithless anyway, I offered to help him out. Jolly said that he'd be needing the abishai in about a month's time. Little did I realize that in the interim, I'd be saddled with much more work for Shattered Dreams. One month later, all I have to show for myself is the high-poly mesh pictured here. I still have to make the low-poly model, UV map, texture maps, skeleton rig, and animations. Now I'm starting to wonder what the devil possessed me to commit to this thing. Oh, well.

I was idly browsing the Neverwinter Vault when I came across this bit of news from Yaddaman about his upcoming sci-fi module, STAR*DRIVE. The picture on the right was shamelessly lifted from the STAR*DRIVE news page at the Vault. There are more screenshots to be found there, so if this picture does not amaze you, head over to Yaddaman's announcement and prepare to be floored. There are three things about this module that impress me: (1) The custom models are awesome. (2) The module and its custom content were all done by one person -- Yaddaman. (3) Yaddaman would like to see other modders use his custom content to create their own sci-fi modules. Don't take my word for it. Read this quote from Yaddaman, which he posted at the Comments section. "I wish I could tell you exactly when it will be done but it's hard to say since I'm doing it alone and I don't have a huge amount of spare time (job, wife and two kids). I just hope you won't be dissapointed with t...

Most creators of custom models for NWN2 probably learn 3D modeling by first making placeables. This was not the path I took. I felt that making a placeable was not challenging enough to hold my interest, which is why I decided to plunge head first into creature modeling. Ironically, the most complicated model that I've done to date is a placeable, the one shown in the picture to the right. It has more mesh parts than I care to count, and the whole thing weighs in at over 14,000 polygons. It has been several weeks since I first blogged about this model , which gives readers an idea of how long I've been working on it. Now, I'm tired and would like to rest. Must play Neverwinter Zork .

Over the weekend, I saw the movie version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince . Having read the book previously, I wanted to see how the story was adapted for the wide screen. I am well aware that anything longer (or shorter) than a novella will not survive the transition to a movie version without serious changes. This is a situation that I accept, and I appreciate clever adaptations of written works such as that of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust . With the Half-Blood Prince , however, I was disappointed with the extra screen time devoted to some scenes and the inadequate time spent on others. While I do not intend to write a full review of the movie, I want to set down my thoughts on why I felt that certain scenes could have been written better. This blog post may serve as a guide on keeping one’s stories tight without making them feel rushed. Shifting the Balance of Power In the movie version of Half-Blood Prince , a couple of Death Eaters launched an attack on the Weasley family home...

I haven’t been working much on my 3D models these past several days, having been instructed by Dirtywick to design a puzzle for our module, Shattered Dreams. While trying to come up with a good one, I pondered quite a bit on the difference between good and bad puzzles as well as what principles go into designing different types of puzzles. I’m writing my thoughts here, partly as an aid for other game designers and modders who want to make their own puzzles, but mostly so I can refer to my own notes when the need arises. None of these ideas are written in stone, of course, and I may change or refine my opinions at any time in the future. Please note that the puzzles I’m referring to here are the ones that may be used in adventure or role-playing games. Puzzles to Avoid There are various kinds of puzzles, some of which are so bad that they deserve special mention. The following are the ones that I feel deserve to be in the Puzzles’ Hall of Shame. Mazes . Seriously, mazes are not fun at a...

It’s been a while since I last posted a screenshot of any 3D model in the works. That’s because I am currently making a very complex placeable, the kind that should have players realizing that this is no ordinary object when they first look at it. As can be seen from the concept art to the right, the placeable consists of a fairly ornate mirror held by a couple of angel statues. I had to craft and assemble several meshes to produce the high-poly version of this piece. In the process, I came across some new challenges for me to hurdle. Firstly, there is the matter of the mirror frame, the design of which is inspired by art nouveau and the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. It may come as a surprise to some people that Lovecraft and art nouveau go very well together. One of the main features of art nouveau is the presence of vine-like tendrils that curl about in a stylized way. Well, it doesn’t take much tweaking to replace tendrils with tentacles, the appendage of choice of Lovecraft’s famous c...

Several months ago, I identified the members of the Shattered Dreams team , all of whom have contributed their unique talents to our creative undertaking. While a few have since left to pursue other projects, most are still active with us. Since then, we’ve had some noteworthy additions to the team, whom I’d like to welcome in this blog post. Here they are, arranged according to when they joined us: Henry Solberg, Composer. I first met Henry online when he messaged me with an offer to compose music for Faithless , the module that is supposed to be this blog’s reason for being. (Ahem.) It became obvious that I wasn’t about to release Faithless any time soon, so Henry asked if he could be a part of what was then known as the “secret bouncyRock project.” After listening to samples of Henry’s music, Dirtywick said yes. Henry joined the Shattered Dreams team last December, but it’s only now that I finally got around to blogging about his involvement with us. Thanks to him and Gallaen Frost...

Meet Mister Grin, one of the potential companions that player characters may take up in Shattered Dreams. The picture shown here is how I envision this character to appear. I’ll make a 3D model of this NPC later. For now, I’d like to say a few words about him to give a preview of what he is like: Although Mister Grin is dressed in the height of fashion, people tend to be taken aback by his appearance for three reasons. Firstly, almost every part of his body is covered with some article of clothing. Mister Grin explains that his heavy clothing helps him resist the ague, to which his frail constitution is highly susceptible. Secondly, while Mister Grin is obviously a man of breeding, it is not entirely certain what breed he is of. An occasional peek at his pointy ears suggests that he may be of elven stock, although he is taller and bulkier than the typical elf. Also, even with Mister Grin’s hat, scarf, and dark glasses on, it is easy to tell that he is completely devoid of hair. Mister ...

“My name is Enemigo Monstruoso. You killed my minions. Prepare to die.” Well, that’s what the big boss seems to be saying in the picture to the right. It may look impressive, but I’ve found that from a modeling standpoint, this monster has a whole slew of new challenges to hurdle. The most obvious problem is the sheer size of the thing. Having a monster this large means that in combat, players will almost never see it in its entirety. To make it more visible, I lowered the height at which the creature hovers above the ground, but I can’t get it lower than fifteen to twenty feet without its appendages sinking below ground during its animation cycle. I could bring the mob to a more manageable size, but its background story would hardly make sense unless the creature is as large as possible without making it unplayable. Another problem is that I may have made the creature’s collision spheres too large, because even at fifteen to twenty feet away, a player character can still hit it in me...

I spent the last few days constructing a low-poly version of Shattered Dream’s ultimate boss. With 5,208 triangles, however, this mesh exceeds the poly count of most, if not all, official NWN2 models. Considering that this creature is one of a kind, I think that the relatively large number of polygons can be forgiven. As can be seen from the in-game screenshot on the right, I’ve also textured the mesh. My next task is to rig and animate the model. Because none of the skeletons of the existing NWN2 models fits this creature, I’ll have to make one from scratch. This, together with creating the animations, will probably be easier than building the mesh itself. Here’s another picture of the creature. If, during the game, you can see the pupils of its eyes, you are too close. Update, May 31, 2009 Stop the presses. Feedback from Nicethugbert and Josh/Anduraga has prompted me to try to retexture the boss to make it look more natural. The new look is shown on the right. Oh, by the way, that cu...

In my previous blog post, I presented a new design for the main boss of Shattered Dreams. When I started working on the high-poly model, I realized that what looks good in 2D does not necessarily look good in 3D. In particular, the crown of heads really didn’t work out so well, so it had to go. Also, the tentacles make more sense when put in front of the model rather than behind it. Anyhow, I hope this latest incarnation of the main boss will have the desired effect on players of our module. Time will tell.

Thus far, I’ve constructed a number of mobs for Shattered Dreams, some of which are bosses in their own right. Nevertheless, all these creatures are mooks compared to what I’m about to make. Behold the boss of bosses, the thing that will have players’ adrenalin pumping on overdrive as their characters hang on to dear life. Actually, the picture shown on the right is my initial concept for the main boss. When I first drew this picture, I had not yet learned about making silhouette studies . With my newfound knowledge at hand, I decided to make a quick and crude silhouette of the creature to make sure that my design is on the right track. Below is the result. What’s wrong with this picture? Simply put, the silhouette does not look dangerous at all. It’s generally bell-shaped, which brings to mind not only bells but also pears, statistical graphs, and women in Victorian dresses. How threatening are those? Clearly, a redesign is in order. It didn’t take me long to come up with a silhouette...

Man, I would never have guessed that animating models would be so much fun. I find it even more engaging than sculpting with ZBrush. It took me only one day to learn the basics in 3DS Max. The hardest part in making an animation sequence is getting the motion to look natural. I imagine that this is especially so for creatures that walk on land, but since my model hovers above the ground, I didn’t have to worry about how a shift in weight from one bone to another affects the rest of the bones. Below are screenshots from my test run with the model. They are poor substitutes for seeing the creature in action, but these will have to do for now. I don’t really have time to make a nice video. There are more models that I have to build. Busy, busy, busy.

I’m still working on the model that I introduced in my last blog post. So far, I’ve made a low-poly mesh and textured it, though I may change the texture later on. I’m having doubts as to whether the glowing hair and tentacles is a good idea. In terms of polygon count, this thing is a real monster – 5484 triangles in all. That’s not the worst thing about this model, though. I’m planning to construct a new skeleton for this creature and animate it. Initially, I thought of re-using the skeleton and animations of One of Many, which is why this model bears a slight resemblance to it. None of the available versions of Tazpn’s MDB Import/Export plug-in properly imports the OoM model and skeleton, however, so it seems that I have no other option than to put together some bones and animate them. That’s not as necromantic as it may sound, but I’ll still have to draw upon far greater wizardry than what I’m accustomed to. More to come in my next blog post. Update, 11 May 2009 I've decided th...

If you plunge the depths of your subconscious, what will you see? We may never know the answer to that question, but players of our upcoming module Shattered Dreams may encounter the creature shown on the right… that is, if I succeed in constructing and rigging a low-poly version of it. We’ll know for sure in my next blog post.

I wasn’t thrilled with the last model I made, which I felt was seriously lacking the “wow” factor. The problem isn’t so much in the execution but in the design. My approach is to do a hasty sketch that I will wind up changing on the fly as I construct my mesh. It therefore comes as no surprise that my designs are hit-and-miss, more of the latter than the former. When I started creating a high-poly mesh for the lovely creature shown on the right, it wasn’t long before I stopped what I was doing and said to myself, “This isn’t working.” Disheartened, I did a few deep breaths and cleared my mind, concentrating my energies on the mystical reservoir of wisdom known as Google. I soon discovered a cool technique that professional concept artists use to design creatures – silhouette studies. From what I gathered, the idea is to draw a silhouette of a creature then to fill in the negative spaces with white to flesh it out. One can come up with different designs from a single silhouette if desir...

I've been working hard on this "horse" model, grabbing what little free time I have just to finish it. The rig isn't perfect, but the model will need only a few tweaks here and there to be done. I lack sleep and can hardly write coherently, so I'll let my screenshots do all the talking. Together, they should be worth a couple of thousand words, more or less.

I’ve finally added barding to the creature that I showcased in my last blog post. With armor on, this model looks a lot more like a horse than a greyhound sort of thingy. Much of the detail work that I did on the creature’s body is now lost under its barding. I don’t know if this monster looks scarier naked or armored. I’m tempted to have both versions of the creature in the module, but I don’t know if the monster in the buff has a place in the story. We shall see. My next blog post will feature a playable version of this creature. I hope it won’t take me long to create so I can move on to my next 3D model.

I can’t seem to get myself out of creature modeling. I tried making a placeable object for the first time and wound up turning it into a creature. Currently, I’m building critters of the four-legged variety once again. The concept sketch shown on the right is of a horse. At least I think it’s a horse. It’s either that or a really large, armored greyhound. Let’s call it a horse for now. Anyway, this is what’s been keeping me busy lately. (That and a certain video game babe that I’ve been modeling on and off.) The screenshot shown on the left is of my current work in progress with the high-poly horse model. I’m supposed to give this creature barding, which I will add later. I felt that its present appearance is interesting enough to blog about, which is why I’m posting this picture here. More to come in my next blog post.

Author's Note, 29 May 2012: Looking for an animation tutorial? This one is next to useless. It was intended to show how statues can be made into enemy creatures without having them move. For a full-blown animation tutorial, check out my blog post here . In my last blog post, I showcased my latest 3D model, a statue of an elven warrior. It’s perfectly fine as a placeable, but Dirtywick wanted me to make it a creature. The statue is supposed to be some kind of magical defense against intruders, but there seem to be problems with trying to get placeables to be targeted by NPCs and to fire visual effects without resorting to a bunch of workarounds. Dirtywick wanted to keep things simple for the area designers on our team, which leaves me with the burden of providing a solution. In this particular case, one solution is for the statues to be implemented as creatures that can shoot spells from the crystals they are holding. None of the existing skeletons and animations in NWN2 is suita...