Thursday, December 27, 2007

ATtD: Creature Spotlight


In this entry I'll feature a couple of baddies.

Half-Black Dragon

Pictured left is the Half-Black Dragon I created for Jacky's sequel to Jacky's excellent Nighthowls in Nestlehaven module. Stats from 3.5 Monster Manual.

It's a modified horned devil head with horns courtesy of Komuro's Orc Spoiled hak. The head is on a half-orc body so all armor, and various options are available. The wings are additional wings to Patrick "whatbrick" Wilson's wings galore hak.

Baphitaur

Pictured right is the Baphitaur I created for LadyE's very impressive looking A Time to Die module.

The head is a modified cow head. Again horns courtesy of Komuro's Orc Spoiled hak. The head is on a half-orc body so all armor, and various options are available.

These dudes are definitely a couple of nasties you do not want to meet in a dark place. :)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

I wanted to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas from the team at Gaming Parents Studios!

We will be releasing the sequel to Night Howls in Nestlehaven next year as well as Act I of A Time to Die...and who knows what else. ;)

Sunday, December 23, 2007

LadyElvenStar

I've been an RPG game player ever since Legend of Zelda came out for Super Nintendo. Played all of the Final Fantasy series, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights. My favourite books are all epic fantasies such as Lord of the Rings, the Wheel of Time (the earlier books), the Shannara series, and the Death Gate Cycle.

I am currently playing MotB (when I have the time between building Jackyo's module as well as my own). I enjoy games with an immersive storyline with deep characterization of companions as well as balanced battles.

I am married, with 1 boy (9 years old) and 1 girl (12). A pharmacist by career, I run one of the only pharmacies in the town where I live up in Northern British Columbia, Canada.

I am the head designer of A Time to Die Saga (ATtD) among helping with various other projects for NWN2.

Pet peeves? People who are impatient and the toolset when it crashes!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Blood Altar




Hi Everyone.

For my initial entry I thought I'd show you my latest project. The 'blood altar' placeable.

This came about when LadyE mentioned she was doing a vampire area for her ATtD module. I had modeled a concept of the altar a couple of years ago. I thought it would be cool to actually model it and texture it for NWN2.

The top is easily filled with red water to look like blood. The idea behind the braziers, is to keep the blood warm. Though the altar was modeled with this concept in mind, it can be used for any general purpose.

One day I'll have to get around to packing all this stuff up for distribution. :)

E.C.Patterson

Father of two gorgeous and funny little girls (Céleste, 3 and Zoé, 1), husband, communications professional for a network of hospitals, resident of Montreal, Canada, native French-speaker, PC-game enthusiast (I haven't touched, however, any other game besides NWN2 practicallly in the past 14 months!), former (oh, some 20 years ago...) avid roleplayer, table-top and board gamer, and author of the NWN2 contest mod Daark Twins.

For our current main project, NHiN2, I've been programming some of the more "fun" scripts ;) and have made a couple of cutscenes too. It's been really fun, and often challenging in a very enjoyable way, to bring Jacky's imagination and vision to life.

I'm also leading a new mod project that's in the works here at GPS. I plan to announce some details soon, when it's a bit further along.

This team is fantastic and I believe we have really bonded since Jacky brought us together to work on the follow-up to NHiN. Our new name (it's just for fun, BTW, we have absolutely NO pretension at "making it") really reflects who we are, IMO: all working parents with careers in other fields, who enjoy both gaming and parenting! Really, one of the coolest things about this team for me is that, at 35, I'm the youngest of the gang! Who would have thought?! It shows that gaming (and building mods of course) ain't something just for kids! :)

Thanks for reading! Hope you come back from time to time to see what we have been up to.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Daronas

I first played PnP D&D in 1984. I was hooked, and knew as a teen, it would be a part of my life for years to come. I have recently dabbled in a couple of message board games, so my 3.5 books got some use. Sadly, I haven't had time for them lately.

I started computer gaming in 1982. I enjoy single-player crpg's above all else. The Infinity engine games are among my favorites of all time. I could literally have played another hundred of them and been happy. I will always hold Baldur's gate 2 as the pinnacle, against which all other crpg's will be measured. Like Jacky, I thought ToEE was fantastic, despite it's problems. The engine was incredible. I may go as far as putting the turn-based encounters above the pause 'n' play of the Infinity games.

I am not married. I have 2 kids, daughter 16, and son 15.

I'm an electronics tech by trade. My experience runs the gamut from slot machines to satellite communications. I am a proud U.S. Army veteran.

I feel privileged to be a part of this team. When I first played NHiN, I knew it was a special module. I gave Jacky some feedback on the module. Through those conversations, and some regarding my own postponed module, Jacky asked me to join this very talented team. Thanks Jacky. As of now, my place on the team consists of doing a little bit of everything.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

SirChet

I'm a long time player of PnP D&D and AD&D, I love crpg's and a select few rts games.

I'm married and have one grown son, a 170 pound wimp of a dog, and a spoiled cat.

I'm a retired soldier, (Airborne). My profession is business automation, video surveillance, access control and physical security.

I've grown fond of the toolset and with a lot of help from fellow modders, especially GPS members, I've been able to contribute in a small part to this very talented team that brought Night Howls in Nestlehaven to the community when most were still making basic "this is me learning the tool-set modules".

I have my own blog at http://sirchetsblog.blogspot.com/ I review for the Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault and am part of The Academy for Modding Excellence.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Xandurpein

I live in Sweden and have been playing pen D&D since early teens. At the same time I a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkiens work and got involved in Tolkien fandom in Sweden. This has left some lasting imprssions on me. A love of fantasy, a respect for people with odd interests and a discovered passion for writing. I used to write short stories as well D&D adventures, mostly for the cupboard.

Somewhat to my own surprise, I have spent virtually all of my professional life in my country's intelligence community. Which is not half as cool as it sounds as Sweden is a small country that hasn't been at war for 200 years.

I love computer games and split my time between roleplaying games and strategy games. Like Jackyo, I am a huge fan of the Total War series. I am also a an avid collector of Warhammer 40K minifigs. I am married and have two boys, age 7 and 9. They are now reaching the age when dad's hobbies are super cool and I sometimes have painting sessions with my younger son.

I have completed one NWN1 mod titled "Shadow of the Underdark". While I loved doing it, I realized that my true passion is still writing. I especially like developing characters and have found myself occupying the largely empty niche of writing companion romances. A fact that no doubt would surprise a lot of my office collegues. I have also completed a persistent companion romance for NWN2 called Tanithiel. Just import some scripts made by LordNiah and you can keep her as a companion between different mods. How cool is that?!

I am very grateful for the chance Jackyo has given me to be part of a really talented group and do what I like doing best, writing stuff.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Jackyo

The creator of the Vault's Hall of Fame module, Night Howls in Nestlehaven: NHiN

I've been a game player for 30 years, since Wizardry came out on the old Apple2. Played Microsoft Adventure (a zork ripoff dating from about 1980 - was this MS' first product? maybe so!), early ultima's (1,2) and its predecessor (don't remember the name! something like Alkajar or something). Learned Pascal so I could modify wizardry. My first and only real programming, besides a monopoly ripoff I got published in 1984 as a minor contributor (I actually did all the monopoly rules coding, but none of the graphic stuff). Played Wiz and its descendents for years.

Currently playing NWN2 (when I have the time between building!). Really like some of the community mods - dirtywick's, wyrin's, ec's, raith's, sgt why's, phoenixus', and a few others. All worthy of play. Also enjoy turn based strategy games - love the Total War series, have created some massive mods for that. Favorite game engine was the TOEE D&D engine - total waste of resources that this engine wasn't bought by WOTC and used as a springboard for an entire series of D&D adventures. It *rocked*.

I am married, with 2 girls (2 and 6). Most of my time goes to them, so between work, keeping my wife sane, and raising my daughters, if I get a couple of hours a night at the computer I count myself lucky.

Pet peeves? The toolset's instability!, traffic jams (especially from rubberneckers!!!), george w. bush, and the general ruin we are making this planet endure.

Introducing our team members..

I am going to introduce you to a member of Gaming Parents Studios each day this week starting with jackyo, our Founder. Jackyo brought us all together when we offered to help him with a sequel to his Hall of Fame module for NWN2, "Night Howls in Nestlehaven".

We worked so well as a team, that we collectively decided we should work on future projects together. Being known as Team NHiN seemed too limiting for the scope of our group now that we would be working on multiple projects. We brainstormed and came up with something that reflected all of us - Gaming Parents Studios.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Screenshots from A Time to Die Saga




Here are some screenshots for A Time to Die Saga, or ATtD.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Sneak Peek from NHiN2


Here's a little sneak peek from the latest area that I finished designing for Night Howls in Nestlehaven 2. This is just one of the rooms in the secret tomb, using the sunken ruins tileset.

Welcome to Gaming Parents Studios - GPS

Well, we've decided to take the plunge and create a blog for our new team name, Gaming Parents Studios.

Formerly, the NHiN team, we thought it was fitting to rename our team since we'll be working on several different projects in addition to Night Howls in Nestlehaven 2.

We will try to keep you up to date on the happenings of the GPS team and whatever projects we are working on at the time.