Most of my development effort is focused on t...

March 05, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Most of my development effort is focused on telling a good story, along with the technical necessities to make it happen, such as good scripting systems along with high quality dialog.

Sometimes, though, I sink in a bunch of time just to make things look pretty. Long ago, Danmar modeled a lighthouse for me. I put it in the NWN prototype without much difficulty. Today I spent two or three hours trying to get it into NWN2. It's not perfect, as things like alpha transparency isn't working for reasons I don't understand. Still, the quality of the model is great and the normal maps help bring out that gritty quality up close.

My favorite part was adding in the light, which uses the visual effects system quite nicely. There's a rotating billboard for the beam, along with a projected texture to make the ground and nearby ships light up. The whole thing rotates too, making for a rather hypnotic effect. I need to make night a little darker so that it stands out, but otherwise I'm very happy with how it has turned out.