Site and forums back to normal

Posted on June 5, 2009

Both the site and forums should be fixed now, no more graphics issues.

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New host, forum graphics glitchy

Posted on June 4, 2009

We’ve just moved the site to a new host and the move screwed up the forum graphics a bit. We’ll try and have them up and running 100% as soon as possible.

Not dead

Posted on May 29, 2009

There has been a lack of news lately but I would like to assure everybody that we are still working, albeit slowly, on the modules. I should have more spare time (and motivation) to work on the modules from now on, so expect more news and updates soon.

Changes to The Mad Bishop

Posted on April 8, 2009

Due to the recent changes within 27Gaming there will be a few changes to the design and gameplay of The Mad Bishop as I, Belnoroth, takes over as lead designer of the module.

The core of the module will still be the same, it will be single-player, story based and focusing on rogue characters and the main reason the previous work is being scrapped is so that I can start from a clean slate and design the game and levels around certain gameplay features from the beginning instead of adapting and updating the old material. I have several gameplay ideas that I’m toying with that should ensure a unique and exciting game experience.

David will be working solely as a writer now and will provide the plot for the module, which should turn out much better with him being able to focus on writing and not trying to solve gameplay issues and building areas.

27 Gaming Cofounder Steps Down

Posted on April 7, 2009

David R. Lambert, otherwise known online as VaeVictus X, has given up his leadership position in the organization, handing sole ownership and management responsibilities to his former partner, Belnoroth.  David will remain with 27 Gaming as a writer, and may be called upon for other minor matters, but will no longer be involved in the design process as he seeks to forge a career as a creative writer in the New Media Age.

The previously announced Neverwinter Nights module entitled The Mad Bishop is unfortunately caught in the middle of this change.  Work that has previously been done on the project wil be scrapped and Belnoroth will be taking over as the lead on this project.  David will be plotting the storyline for the up-coming module in a series of short fantasy stories.

David R. Lambert is also hard at work writing a novel.  He will answer any questions as best he can, but asks that those who wish to contact him be patient as he is still in the process of adjusting to a reprioritized life.

Avon region WIP

Posted on March 6, 2009

As promised here’s another map update. About 75% of the full region has been mapped and there are several features missing on the map at the moment that will be added later.

Be warned, full map is pretty big.

Click image for full size

This will probably be the last map update until the map is finished, which should take another few days.

Avon region map sneak peak

Posted on March 4, 2009

Here’s a small sneak peak at what I’m working on for Tir-Nimphel at the moment. Click the image for the full-sized picture.

This is only a small part of the full map which isn’t finished yet, but it’s coming along nicely and I’ve got about 50% of the Avon region mapped out so far. Expect to see more in a couple days.

New Encounter System

Posted on January 15, 2009

Today I would like to talk a little about a new encounter system that I’ve started working on. I call it… the PnP Encounter System (no, I’m not very good at coming up with names) and it’s a faithful remake of the encounter system from Pen and Paper.

It all began a couple days ago when I was looking to alternatives to the default encounter system in NWN for Tir-Nimphel. I checked the vault for a good system that would allow me to easily create encounter tables, would be easy to implement, easy to maintain and wouldn’t cause any unnecessary lag due to heartbeats or similar calls but I couldn’t find anything I liked, so I went ahead and made my own system.

The encounter table is a 2DA, which makes it very easy to add new creatures to it, and it works similar to the original NWN system in that it runs from triggers. Absolutely no scripting knowledge is required to use it - all you need to do is alter the 2DA using a text editor and change a few variables on your triggers. I can hear you ask “But Bel, aren’t 2DA’s supposed to be slow?”, well that may have been true once, but now we’ve got 1.69 which updated the 2DA caching so you can keep as many as you’d like in memory at once by just changing a setting in nwnplayer.ini. This means that the 2DA should be kept in memory most of the time so there’s almost no search time.

So what does this mean? Well, it means that non-scripters and even novice builders can easily create encounters similar to those in Pen and Paper where you fight a group of dire badgers on the road to the dungeon and a batch of goblins when you head back to town to sell your loot.

Now, this system is still very much in beta and requires a few fixes, optimizations and added features before I upload it anywhere, but even after 6 hours of development time it is already shaping up to be a nice alternative to other encounter systems.