[Starwars]

New screenshots released: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2UserScreenshots.Detail&id=176
The screenshot thumbnails are on the right side.

And new interview: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Interviews.Detail&id=328

[xantrius]

It's very nice indeed to see that Rogue Dao Studios is still at it. I just can't wait for the third part of the Trilogy, Eschatologia, and the prospect that maybe, just maybe, the entirety of Sigil with all its wards will be fleshed out in all its glory... Still looking very much forward to Purgtatorio too though.

[Starwars]

Well, it's been quiet on the Purgatorio front, but here's some news. A "playtest" version will be released on Dec 18th for people to try. What a playtest version means I'm not exactly sure, but it's a bit like an open betatest I assume. It's also not completely finished. For example, the main plot will not be included in this version, rather it will be patched in. It's completely written, and mostly implemented into the game, but needs some polishing and fleshing out here and there.
Don't know why they're choosing to release it like this, but I'm guessing they just want to get stuff like the custom content out there, as well as trying to get some interest going again now that SoZ is out the door.

They're also currently doing more recruitment if anyone is interested, I believe it's been a very small team working on it for quite a while now.

Also, the mod seems quite gigantic. The size will be just under 3GB unpacked.

It's fun to see that it's nearing completion at least.

EDIT: Also, in semi-related news, JE Sawyer said that we should see/hear more of his The Black Hound mod soon. AFAIK he was waiting on some stuff included in SoZ to continue working on it.

[Pastel]

Sounds awesome, but, source?

[Scott]

A year back I offered to do some character animation for Rogue Dao.  The sent me a model, the Tridron, which I rigged and for which I did one attack animation.  I wanted to make sure it was properly rigged to work with their workflow before churning out more stuff.  Doesn't sound like much, but damn!  The thing has three legs, six arms and another floppy appendage on its head.  They liked the animation and wanted more, but they never got around to testing it.  I emailed Monty, he said he'd have his art guy look into the model's functionality.  I emailed art guy, he said he'd get in touch with Monty.  Repeat.  After several weeks I gave up trying to get answers.

This was right after Monty was hired.  Even at that point several members of the Purgatorio team had standing job offers.  It was just a matter of whether they wanted to relocate to accept studio employment.  I'm glad it seems to all be working out.  Mr. Tridron is in there, so I guess someone on the original team took care of it.  Man I wish the combat in NWN didn't suck so bad!

Neverwinter Nights' toolset has proved to be a gateway for talented people to get into the industry, to the extent that even writing submissions must be in the form of a NWN2 module, for Ossian Studios as well as Obsidian.

[Starwars]

Here is source of The Black Hound still being worked on: http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?showtopic=45749&st=375

Here is source for Purgatorio announcement/recruitment: http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=627051&forum=111&sp=15 (a few posts down). They've also been talking about it in the NWN2 mirc chat room.

That's pretty cool Scott, I didn't know you had worked on it. I was also offered to work on it a while back (very small job), but couldn't find the time. I think there's been a huge shift in the Rogue Dao staff. Many people have gotten hired like you said, and they've had trouble getting in touch with Monty (though that's being solved), hence their forums being infested with bots. They're gonna solve that soon though.

Also, I think that's why they're posting this playtest version soon. I believe they're hoping to use it to get more people onboard the project and Rogue Dao in general. I'm guarding my expectations now since so many people have been involved in the project, and I fear that it will feel "uneven" so to speak because of that. But it should be fun to try it out, and it's great to see something set in Planescape.

[GarfunkeL]

Just tried a mod named Asphyxia last night. The intro atleast seemed pretty good. The author is a fan of BG/PS:T/IWD (big surprise there), so he is trying to emulate those games in his mod. I'll play it more today and post some impressions.

[Starwars]

I played Asphyxia also. It's pretty good, especially the opening bit. The pacing and continuity is a bit off later on though. There is way to much humor for my taste, giving the mod a kinda schizophrenic feel since it's also quite dark. And there is no real momentum to the story, it doesn't unfold as well as it should.

Still, well worth a playthrough I thought.

[caster]

good news.

[Euchrid]

EDIT: Also, in semi-related news, JE Sawyer said that we should see/hear more of his The Black Hound mod soon. AFAIK he was waiting on some stuff included in SoZ to continue working on it.

Ah, the real reason for the implementation of an overland map in SoZ is revealed . Sawyer wanted it for his mod.

[suibhne]

I was kinda hoping (totally naively) that Atari's veiled promises/threats of more BG in the future might mean The Black Hound would become a full retail product again, rather than continue as a JE mod. Oh well.

[Oscar]

Well, TBH has some content that would definitely not be approved by Atari, so in a way it's better off as a mod.

[Starwars]

Since the Black Hound came up again now that SoZ was released, I decided to check out some of the old info on the game and it actually seemed really promising in quite a few ways.
You can find some info here (not sure how much Josh changes in the mod, but still): http://theblackhound.googlepages.com/

Hope he can manage to get it done. Also, the playtest version for Purgatorio will be up soon I guess. I've spoken some more with the people behind, and I believe the way they're releasing is mainly as a builders resource for NWN2 modders, plus try to recruit more people to put the finishing touches and implement everything. So if you're a modder, maybe try hooking up with Rogue Dao to finish this noble project.

[Pastel]

So, all quiet on the Planescape front?

[Scott]

That Black Hound page hasn't been updated in two years.