Development Info The Black Hound lives!

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Tags: Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound; J.E. Sawyer; Neverwinter Nights 2

Former Black Isle all-star J.E. Sawyer has recently confirmed that he is reviving his <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/gamedetails.php?id=88><b>The Black Hound</b></a> project with a module for <a href=http://www.obsidianent.com/>Obsidian Entertainment</a>'s <a href=http://www.atari.com/nwn2/>Neverwinter Nights 2</a>. Speculation began after this <a href=http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=45598&st=15>thread at Obsidian's forums</a>. Here's a snippet about the Epithet system, one of the more promising features:
<br>

<br>
<blockquote>
<br>
I'm going to pretend this is a toolset/custom content thread! I've been working on a personal project in recent free time (mostly spent recovering from wisdom teeth being removed). In addition to learning a lot about mapping, I'm starting to get involved in scripting (which I've actually never done much of) and creating custom icons.
<br>

<br>
Today I worked on aspects of the epithet system for the campaign I'm building. Epithets are specialized reputations that are built over time across the campaign. Unlike local reputations that may only affect interactions with NPCs within a set of maps, epithets draw reactions from characters all over the campaign -- though they are very spread out.
<br>

<br>
The system itself is pretty simple. Each epithet has a global variable that is incremented in coversation (and occasionally outside of conversation). When the character has increased that particular variable enough, they will be "awarded" with the epithet, which takes the form of a feat. The feat has no statistical bonus, but is occasionally checked in NPC conversations.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>

<br>
However, Josh is quick to dismiss the possibility of The Black Hound becoming a premium module for NWN2:
<br>

<br>
<blockquote>
<br>
I don't really want it to become a premium module. I'd rather work on it by myself as a personal project with all of the inherent benefits and limitations that come with that. I think it will probably take me between 1 and 3 years to fully build.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>

<br>
Better work fast on that one before Feargus sees the <i>SLAM DUNK</i> potential, Josh. Best of luck with the project.
<br>

<br>
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://forums.obsidianent.com">Obsidian Forums</A>

 

[Volourn]

NWN2 is DEAD.

Good luck, Mr. Sawyer.

 

[FrancoTAU]

Good for Josh. I always thought he got way too much shit from the internet gaming community.

I never really browsed the Obsidian forums before today. They seem a bit douchey especially in regards to the Broken Hourglass thread. A bit disappointing considering they'd probably by more of the target market than the generally positive Codex members.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Obsidian boards are fine, I guess. Some douchedom is ever present in the form of pretentious asshats who hide behind moderation guidelines and repeteadly troll others' threads, but it's not like we're virtuous around here anyways. Different people, different mindsets.

 

[Whispers of Sorrow]

Wow! This can only be good.

 

[Volourn]

"Some douchedom is ever present"

Espicially when I'm present. :D

Anyways, it's too bad as I really liked what the BH was gonna be like; but sicne NWN2 is useless piece of shit... it means, I likely won't be able to play his module. Ah well..

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Did you manage to fix that NWN2 problem, Vol? About the game not running at all?

 

[Volourn]

Nope. And, I simply haven't bothered with it. I'm back to NWN, and G3 only for PC games currently. It's also why (if you actually check0; you don't see me posting on the NWN2 baords anymore or even NWN2 threads at Obsidian forums now.

NWN2 is literlaly DEAD to me despite being out for only a couple of months...

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Nope. And, I simply haven't bothered with it. I'm back to NWN, and G3 only for PC games currently. It's also why (if you actually check0; you don't see me posting on the NWN2 baords anymore or even NWN2 threads at Obsidian forums now.

NWN2 is literlaly DEAD to me despite being out for only a couple of months...

wow, that was fast this time.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

That's too bad, Vol. My affliction is a different one - my PC is well below the minimum specs required to play NWN2 so I can't really see much point in buying it (even if I was only interested in modding for it).

 

[Volourn]

It's too bad too as I actually liked the game, and much like NWN1 I fully expected user mods to extend its life beyond its okayish OC as well.... *shrug* Maybe, I'll try again... some day...

 

[Greatatlantic]

When you say the game wan't running for you, does that mean you could install and then not play, or couldn't even install in the first place? I had the latter problem with the DVD version. Though it would install on a laptop incapable of playing it, I couldn't get it to install on my gaming PC. Switched to the CD version and everything was fine.

 

[Volourn]

The game doesn't install. It gets to about 99%ish than stops. The game installed perfectly when I first bought it. The DVD is not scratched up either as it's harldy ever touched since the only PC games I've played since I bought it are NWN1 (no CDs needed, G3, and NWN2 itself so there isn't much switching things around...

 

[aweigh]

Don't blame the game because of your shitty copmuter. NWN2 is not dead, only your ability to play it. :wink:

 

[Volourn]

My 'shitty' computer runs G3 pretty darn good. Game over, MAN, game over. For NWN2.

 

[Sammael]

http://theblackhound.googlepages.com

 

[Whipporowill]

Bloody hell, this was unexpected. Ok, Josh is certainly hardheaded enough to pull this one off... very interesting!

 

[aboyd]

Josh is right to think that he shouldn't bother with making this a premium module. It's pretty clear just from the icons and the sample dialogue that this will never qualify, nor will it ever get any official support. In fact, I'm worried that if too much is let out before he's finished, the powers that be may try to prevent him from finishing. The game clearly violates WotC kid-friendly guidelines.

Having said that, I'm 35 years old. I'm tired of kid-friendly. I'm ready for subject matter that is more my age. Josh, if you can pull it off, please do!

(I'm now going to try to forget about this thread, as Josh said it might take 3 years to complete.)

 

[Wulfgar]

Had NWN2 sucked any less this would've been the bestest news EVAR! My trust in Sawyer isn't that great these days...

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

1-3 years to completely finish it= Will get abandoned halfway through because he has this other job were hes gets payed to make RPGs for a company.


There is no way JE will ever finish it, because approximately every 3 games he works on only 1 gets released.

 

[FrancoTAU]

I'd have to imagine with his reputation that he's already made a dent in his mod if he publicly announced it. I mean, you can't really hold it against the guy if he doesn't finish a time consuming freeware project but I can just imagine the mocking that would come from him calling it off.

 

[Antagonist]

Had NWN2 sucked any less this would've been the bestest news EVAR! My trust in Sawyer isn't that great these days...

I thought Sawyer only took over the project when the former lead designer guy left for Bioware. It's unlikely that he could introduce major changes that late in development. Anyway, great news. I hope he can persuade some of his work colleagues to help him out with The Black Hound. There's bound to be some former BIS members who worked on TBH and would like to see it finished as well.

 

[Grog]

The game doesn't install. It gets to about 99%ish than stops. The game installed perfectly when I first bought it. The DVD is not scratched up either as it's harldy ever touched since the only PC games I've played since I bought it are NWN1 (no CDs needed, G3, and NWN2 itself so there isn't much switching things around...

The way it used to work, and now suddenly doesn't, that sounds like a hard drive space issue. NWN2 installation has some ridiculous requirements for free HD space while it extracts the game files. I think in addition to the space the game itself takes up, the installation needs an extra 10 GB of free space where it dumps temporary files that will be deleted after installation completes. I had a similar issue with the D2D version, and it's a real bitch about just bombing the installation when it runs out of space. If you're inclined, it might be worth deleting or uninstalling a few non-critical things off your drive and trying again.

 

[mister lamat]

There is no way JE will ever finish it, because approximately every 3 games he works on only 1 gets released.

bg3 dead... fallout3 dead... he came in late on nwn2 so that doesn't count...

THE MAN IS DUE!!!

 

[Cthulhugoat]

http://theblackhound.googlepages.com

Just to remind you, this is in no way an official product. It will not be published by Obsidian and/or Atari, nor licensed by Wizards of the Coast. Thank goodness for that.

:D