Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition

Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition

AribethRedux
Discussion on Aribeth's appearance to affect all future renditions.
This topic should be fully discussed early on. We need to talk about 1) the approach and 2) the actual characteristics of the appearance. My personal vote for 1) the approach: the artists should work off the original objects and add effects (like smooth jaw...add general detail to face...but they should be generic algorithms that effect all objects similarly. That way, the overall game object is more data rich, but the original image is respected and enhanced, rather than replaced. My vote for 2) the characteristics...I think the hair should be less lego-land and more individual hair-ish...customization should be full...so we can easily create the image of the PC we want to create like other titles...I think Dragon Age has a good one...if not, LoTR...the portraits should officially include the Workshot 250 or 275...plus add another 250 or so...have a request system where you can contract out (to the community?) new specific image ideas to artists and pay them $50 (that would figure-out to $25,000 for 500 portraits...not that expensive...plus it gives starving artists a chance to showcase their talent). Skin is nice, tits are nice. Sorry ladies #metoo :P
< >
Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
Zarathustra420 1 Apr, 2018 @ 10:31am 
Sorry...I should add...we need to discuss this early on because it should serve as a model for all other humanoid enhanced avatars and NPCs in the game.
TheBarbarian  [developer] 2 Apr, 2018 @ 2:42am 
Hi! :-)

I think you might want to strike that discussion up on the Beamdog boards[forums.beamdog.com]. This here is just a page where a random NWN modder made a modification of a game model and uploaded it. I'm, sadly, neither a Beamdog employee nor involved in any of the decisionmaking regarding the EE. So, same boat as you are, and talking about it here most likely won't reach the people you want to reach.

100% with you on the love for extensive character customization options, though. It's what got me into 3d modeling in the first place. Pro tip: Blender is the best character editor in the history of character editors. Unlimited options. Want a cheesecake on your character's head? Blender's got your back. Giant bulbous noses? No prob! Five arms, two of which are sprouting from your characters' foreheads? Yes. Or, y'know, generic pretty people, for those times when cheesecakes on the heads, giant bulbous noses, and forehead-arms, aren't supposed to be part of the character design. Although there is NO SUCH THING as a time when forehead-arms SHOULDN'T be part of a character design!!!11eleven

I loved the Witcher 3 character designs, personally. Wonder if that kind of hair can be done with emitters or danglymesh in NWN. Might be a fun project to research, sometime.

Far as this Aribeth not being THE Aribeth goes - from a crafter's perspective, the problem is that in between the concept art, the original game models, and Beamdog's remake, there are many different versions of Aribeth. And, *none* of them look very much alike. Check these out, and pay close attention to the facial features:

https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/20/205234/2522732-neverwinternights_10_1920x1080.jpg
https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/13084/877547-aribeth_005.jpg
https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/20/205234/2522733-neverwinternights_13_1920x1080.jpg
https://neverwintervault.org/sites/neverwintervault.org/files/project/3032/images/1171631829fullres.jpg
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NELYJxZspww/VNcvSzQDnPI/AAAAAAAAEgI/UGfFiVT3LoM/s1600/aribeth_p.jpg
https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/13084/877546-aribeth_002.jpg

The coloring, the facial features, and the hairstyles, are different in all of them. For my part, I've tried to go for a reasonable mix between the Wisteria and Roses Aribeth and the ingame portrait one, using Beamdog's version as a base. It's also mostly practice work; we didn't have normal and specular maps in NWN modding up until now. I'm equal parts "what the heck I have no idea how any of this works pls halps" and "OMG my favorite toy just got upgraded I LOVE IT" about it. ^^

I'm actually writing up a beginner's tutorial for Aribeth-modifying at the moment. Should be done in a week or so. If you want, you're welcome to edit my version of Aribeth. :-)

::waves::
Krimsyn Kane 3 Apr, 2018 @ 8:08am 
This game was one of the first RPG's I ever played and holds a special place in my heart. Aribeth's story and her ultimate fall and/or redemption was such a fun character arc to experience as a player.

All that said, I'm obviously invested in the character and I'm loving revisiting Neverwinter Nights. I think TheBarbarian did an absolutely fantastic job with this, and I can't wait to see how
Darkribeth turns out. Thanks for taking the time to create and share this!
< >
Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
Per page: 1530 50