Infinity Engine Module Adventure Maker

Dazzu

The concept is simple: You can create your own Infinity Engine module, playable, sharable... moddable?

Implementation would be harder, but the possibilities could be endless with options between 2(.5)E and 3(.5?) E gameplay mods where you can make parties (or singular protagonists) and set them on your own adventures, possibly even leading them to NPCs and items of your own design.


This would be a far down the road idea though, but the game's longevity would outlast the original BG series.

Tanthalas

I think I've seen Overhaul mentioning that some kind of mod kit may be made available, but I think it would be a post-release kind of thing.

Don't quote me on that though.

Grammarsalad

I remember reading the same thing. In any case i'm on board with this request

Dazzu

You'd think an idea like this would be more popular to talk about.

William_Imm

There already exists a tool that does that: DLTCEP.

Dazzu

Does DLTCEP let you create and share modules though?

Think Unlimited Adventures which let you create Goldbox adventures.

Or worded another way: A game module maker that any n00b can pick up without having to play around with important files.

Hominicus

Also - Custom Kit maker? I think there would be a bountiful of great ideas...

Kore

I'm all over this idea. I'm a complete mod noob, but I would love to be able to pick up an adventure maker and get to work with it.

Dazzu

Exactly. Perhaps even a rule editor if you want your module campaign to have 'house rules' including kits, racial advantages and disadvantages and more.

brix

To be frank, I'd rather like to see a NWN1 Overhaul.
Although I'm not a developer I found it easy to create modules (with scripts wizard's).
So NWN 1 with modern graphics would be the thing that would keep the community running for 10 more years.
And it would be a good opportunity for Overhaul Games to create tons of premium modules.
Why not running BG3 on NWN1 as an example?

Bhryaen

@brix
I actually like that idea a lot myself, having played NWN1 far more than BG over the yrs, but there's a matter of philosophy involved: Beamdog/ Overhaul is testing whether there is a viable market for good ol' isometric-view games and is exploring the potential of that game genre at present, not exactly lacking a fan base. That said, I think I read in a recent Tweet of Trent Oster that he's thinking of getting a DM ability into BG's engine as well, making BG more like NWN in that way where a DM could intervene and meddle with players... Here's the quote:

If you smash BG, BG2 and NWN into each other, we'd be about halfway there. BG openness, BG2 depth/Story and NWN ease of modability and DM

Unless I'm mistaking the "DM" acronym. Anyway I like the idea that @Dazzu mentions of a BG that is much easier to create mod adventures with, and I do think this is a goal of the BGEE folks, albeit perhaps post-release.

ScarsUnseen

@brix Honestly, I felt that the Aurora Engine was inferior to the Infinity Engine in every respect save for the multiplayer aspect(and I don't play multiplayer games much, so *shrug*). If there was to be a BG3, I would absolutely not want it to be a NWN module.

brix

@Bhryaen I played NWN 1 almost completly in an isometric camera position. I actually can't play first person or shoulder, because I'm getting sick then. But there are players who like this as well as isometric view. With Aurora you could have them all.
@ScarsUnseen I'm not a modder, so I really can't say witch engine is better? But I see a major flaw with the Aurora engine: Aren't the areas in BG prepainted? Although this looks beautiful, how can an average user without artistic skills create new areas?

Dazzu

Not sure I understand the complaint. A lot of people really like the Infinity Engine. Why throw away the endless possibilities?

Kore

I infinity engine. Aurora is ok, but it doesn't hold the same nostalgia for me. They also have fairly different features and very different styles. I'm definitely all in favour of mod tools for mod noobs.

Grammarsalad

... Aren't the areas in BG prepainted? Although this looks beautiful, how can an average user without artistic skills create new areas?

Assuming this is an issue (I don't know that it is) I think you are underestimating the resources of the bg modding community. It wouldn't surprise me if more than a few talented individuals created landscapes and made them readily available for others to use as long as their contribution is acknowledged in say an accompanying readme

Tanthalas

Well, the people that currently make games had to learn how to design graphics somewhere. Just look at all the Skyrim mods out there. How did the players manage to create those armors or terrain?

The only thing stopping BG from having new mod areas is the age of the game. Had BG been a recent success I'm sure there would be a lot of user generated content in the vein of new areas.

Kore

Yep, don't underestimate the power of an enthusiastic community. They are a huge resource and usually you can find just what you need if you look hard enough. It might help to have a dedicated community manager to help organise and facilitate certain things; advice, network links etc., but judging from BGs modding pedigree this might not be necessary.

Dazzu

Exactly. Would games like Minecraft be half as popular if it weren't so moddable?

I ask any naysayers that simple question.

brix

Don't get me wrong
* I love what communities are capable to do
* I'd love a BG toolset to create new modules, new races, classes, etc

The only problem I have is that with the current engine it might be to hard for noobs to create their own area. I really don't want to wait until someone paints me a good rendition of the city of Shadowdale. I want to jump right into action.

That said, and with the semiofficial announcement of BG3, I'd suggest that this toolset will be created from scratch and will be released with BG3. Much like NWN, but with the BG brand, isometric view, and whatever we can think of.

However in contrast to the original poster, I fear that any new computer games, that might be licenced by WotC has to use the 5E ruleset. As for now, we really can't say what this will look like (although the playtest ist promising)

smeagolheart

Don't get me wrong
* I love what communities are capable to do
* I'd love a BG toolset to create new modules, new races, classes, etc

The only problem I have is that with the current engine it might be to hard for noobs to create their own area. I really don't want to wait until someone paints me a good rendition of the city of Shadowdale. I want to jump right into action.
..

That's why they went from the hand pained graphics of BG to the tilebased system of NWN so that it would be more easily moddable. Unfortunately, the tiles in NWN weren't the best looking. They were big and blocky and standing on lego squares doesn't approximate natural surroundings. Most every dungeon and castle used the same flooring company so that took away a bit from the feeling of immersion.

Conphantus

I'd be a very happy fan if they made modding, or at least adventure building, easy enough for even a retarded amateur like myself to be able to create my own stuff. Another request would be to make modding or adventure building possible on the Ipad version. As I'm new to the whole IOS thing, I'm not sure if that's even a reasonable request though.

Drugar

I'd love an easy modding program. I'm a crappy coder (studied it for a year, then gave up, confounded) but a fairly decent writer (if I may say so myself) so a kit that'll allow me to whip up an NPC or an adventure with relative ease would be excellent!

NWN_babaYaga

If areas are generated within 3dsmax i can come up with some very nice art. I rendered almost all tilesets I did for nwn in 3dsmax first with real shadowmaps etc. and the beauty cant be achived within the aurora engine. Lightning out the area with shadows is 90% of creating the general ambience of a level. And if we can tweak the rendered scenes in photoshop for the final process the better the end result. Just my 2 cents

and the latest tilesets for nwn are nothing like the old ones. Just take a look at the vault;)

Coriander

@NWN_babaYaga Yeah, that's basically how areas work, except the light, height and search maps are colour indexed bitmaps of 8 and 4-bit depth. Adding the polygons for clipping and triggers is a little more complicated.

NWN_babaYaga

Sounds good so far. So a final area has the rendered scene + the light, height and search bitmap layered over each other? W/o the clipping/ walkmesh and the details. Before i start numerous questions is there a tutorial somewhere with some detailed explanation (the light especially)?

Ok i found an interestign article from Ray Muzyka about "the anatomy of a sequal" where he explains the area design process for baldurs gate 2. There he mentioned "luminosity" and not the scene lighting btw. which is used for day/ night areas i believe right? so a low luminosity bitmap was used for all night areas.

Dazzu

Glad to see support. I'm not sure how to further expand on this, but I'll post to keep the idea prominent.

Coriander

@NWN_babaYaga The light map applies a tint to creatures. The day/night scenes are separate tile sets. I don't really know of a tutorial with specific details.

NWN_babaYaga

Ok got it and thanks again:) I found some tutorial which shows a quite complicated way of area design for the infinity engine... well lets see how that turns out haha. Have you guys (you the devs) any plans on making it a bit easier for level designers to implement custom levels. My head nearly exploded as i read some "macros" for that mapeditor IETME... Thanks again for your response.

Coriander

@NWN_babaYaga I think it would be cool if we did.

Cuv

Uhm, areas are really not that hard to make and get in game. You just have to know how. I wrote a few tutorials on it years ago. I use IETME and Near Infinity for tweaks. You can also use DLTCEP. When the game comes out I will update my tutorials.

Here is a link to some of my stuff if anyone cares. http://www.shsforums.net/topic/26258-cuvs-areas/

Here is my area making tutorial as of 2007: http://www.shsforums.net/topic/28080-cuvs-area-making-class-tutorial/

Here is also my Chapter tutorial: http://www.shsforums.net/topic/28109-chapter-text-screen-tutorial/