DanJW

Yes I was watching the Lord of the Rings films the other night, and in HD the compositing really stands out, mainly in the Two Towers. I had to turn the TV settings since down it was putting me off. It's long been a pet hate of mine. You can have the most amazing lifelike 3D animated model, but if it is composited badly it still looks shite. Most films do. I agree that Iron Man had excellent integration. Things to remember when compositing: Ambient colour. Lighting direction, intensity, focus and colour. Camera lens distortion. Blurred eges not sharp edges. Wind and rain. Parrallaxing. Atmospheric haze. And many others. But I think the main offenders in films are that the lighting on the CGI doesn't match the live action.

I feel bad for Force Unleashed, because at least they were trying to do something newish with the combination of physics and animation technologies. That's more than most Lucasfilm games achieve. Hopefully that stuff won't go to waste and someone will put it to good use in some other game.

I saw the trailer for a new ITV2 series, , which looks like it might turn out pretty good. I think that's some of the Nathan Barley gang in there. Will have to wait and see.

Here are the scripts that are tagged for "conversations". To be honest though I remember picking up so many helpful little odds and ends, and making a few of my own, that I couldn't remember any specifics. Some of the other custom scripts may also involve the dialogue system, the only way to find them would be browse. You could always ask for suggestions on the Bioware forums. "Demon" includes a custom dialogue-driven mini-game, based on some kind of pokemon-style card game I believe. The author, Adam Miller, is one of the best module builders (in fact I think he's employed by Bioware now) and his previous series, Dreamcatcher, is also very inventive. Also check out the winners and runners-up of the writing contest that Bioware held. These are short and combat-free, and there are some real gems there. Mata Hari looks interesting, if only for the setting and choice of protagonist.

I'm mainly referring to the first game, although the community for NWN2 may well have caught up by now. In both games the campaign straight out the box isn't anything special - the expansion packs are much better and stand alone. But there are user-made modules that rival Bioware or Black Isle themselves for quality. NWVault is the place to go for the community downloads. There's a heck of a lot of stuff there though, so I suggest you start with the Hall of Fame entries, whether it's modules or custom scripts or assets or whatever. The NWN games are by far the best "build your own RPG" engines available. With just a little imagination they can easily be used to make a no-combat adventure game too (and have been). Granted it will have to be in a medieval setting, unless you want to get into asset replacement (which is an option, but most people don't have the time and recources for that). BTW, The Witcher was built on the first NWN engine. Edit: ooh, the next big thing for the mod community will be Dragon Age, Biowares upcoming fantasy RPG, that has finally broken away from the shackles of D&D. I can't wait to get my grubby little mitts on its toolset.

Bioware RPG's have become great at dialogue tree puzzles. The Neverwinter Nights dialogue editor is amazing for having fun with tokens and the like. The mod community has come up with some amazing applications built on it, way beyond anything you ever see in commercially released games.

Can we rename it "Multiplayer Networking" maybe? 'Online Gaming' makes me think that it's for discussing MMO's and TF2 and stuff. A minor quibble I know, but it's niggling at me

She has a very readable style. What I object to is that she has ripped off every single children's book about wizards that I read as a kid, as well as every single encyclopedia of mythical creatures. And then she gets praised for her imagination. For instance in one review of Hellboy II, the critic described the Troll Market as a reference to Diagon Alley, as if Rowling had invented that 600+ year-old concept. Plus the whole thing is just a bit too insipid for me. I enjoyed His Dark Materials much more, and thought it had a lot more to say.

The smell?

Yes, but how will guests know that there are pokemon friend codes to be had here, if they can't see the thread?

Marek! I clarified my argument for going to the bank for a business loan: It will pay for costs and allow you to work on a pitch. Once you've got backing from a publisher then you can use that money to repay the loan. The loan allows you to start straight away, rather than waiting to be picked up.

It makes me laugh, seeing as how recently the first game came out there (in fact it still doesn't seem properly 'established'). Any idea when RB2 is being released in Europe? Will it be this decade?

Thanks thunderpeel, that's kind of what I was trying to say (or the sentiment behind the sarcasm at least). The "1%" was just a very conservative guess. My point was that over time people leave, and if we don't have ways of drawing new people in - even if it's pokemon - then these forums will eventually die. Perhaps some of the Old Guard actually want that to happen, but not me. But I guess it does make sense to hide some gamertags, so that random weirdos don't turn up mid-game with friend requests.

I read an announcement about such a bundle here in the UK. So there's a good chance of it appearing in the rest of Europe too.

Ah but games are probably one of the few sectors that are still growing, thanks to the fact that they have a near-international consumer base. Also our government are edging closer and closer to giving game development the kind of creative-arts tax break that it needs, thanks in no small part to they way it is good for the economy. This is exactly the same situation in which many great studios started. Might as well give it a shot eh? Otherwise you'll always think "what if?"

So much lameness But if you have an entire team made redundant at the same time, now is the perfect opportunity to start up Idle Thumbs Games. I'm not even joking. Start hitting up banks for new business loans.

Indeed.

After starting to read the article about Spore on the Brainy Gamer blog, I had a thought. Is it reall surprising that the "game" seems shallow a first? This is Will Wright, right? the same can be said of pretty much all the Sim games, right back to Sim City. Not much gamey game there. But we all know how much depth there is and the fun to be had with the system itself. Of course I haven't yet played the game myself, so feel free to ignore me. AHHHG I NEED SPORE!

They almost certainly are. But before that: Dragon Age Also mystery MMO which is probably KotOR online.

It suggests that the VideoGaiden brnd is done, having not been renewed with the BBC. I have a feeling that Consolevania will survive however.

fixed

The pokemon maniacs aren't really hurting anyone, and do you really want to cut traffic down even more? There's even a 1% chance one of those maniacs could be a cool and friendly maniac and actually fit in here with the rest of us maniacs.

I refer to our resident IF-bot. He that does not know the meaning of 'love'. Ah, sweet irony! This simple electronic soul that did not know love, nor fear, hast left me broken hearted! May he find, in the silicon oblivion, the meaning to the question he dids't constantly ask: "what do you want to do now?" And may his lamp never go out, and his spirit never be eaten by a grue...

Oh yeah, I still think the Elder Scrolls universe is pants; derivative fantasy at its worst (OK, Harry Potter is derivative fantasy at its worst, but this is a close second). That didn't stop me enjoying the game a great deal after I got embroiled in a few guild quests!

Thing is Cigol we have a small but steady stream of drop-ins that come here purely to exchange gamertags. If they can't see it as a guest they might register and then post in the main forum.