Illwinter Next Project

[nordlys]

Originally Posted by rdonj

3d would kill modding dead here, yeah. We don't really have modders who can do that sort of art, and 3d makes it a lot harder to produce art for the game.

That's not exactly true. Back in late 90s, being a part of Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (FRUA) scene, I predicted Neverwinter Nights to fail for this very reason, that producing quality 3d models would be too much of a task for would-be modders. Apparently, I was dead wrong, and NWN modding scene thrives to this day. Of course, that might also have something to do with the fact NWN was about 100 times as popular as FRUA at its heyday.

What is certain though, is that making 2 thousands 3d models for Dominions would cost Illwinter an unimaginable fortune. Even AAA titles with an 8-digital production budget rarely exceeed 50-100 unit models. For something as vast (and niche) as Dom, "modern graphics" are absolutely out of the question until some arabian petroleum sheikh gets a fancy to fund it out of sheer generosity.

[rdonj]

I don't know what the scene was like for one particular game, but dom3 is definitely a game with a much smaller following than NWN had. And we have a very small number of modders. I don't know of any of our modders that specifically can make good 3d models, but I know we have some that definitely can't. And sprites are already the primary bottleneck for mod-making. Increasing the difficulty in producing usable images would mean that, for this community, modding would not be viable and basically every current nation mod would disappear.

And yeah, illwinter making thousands of 3d models is never going to happen.

[sansanjuan]

Originally Posted by nordlys

That's not exactly true. Back in late 90s, being a part of Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (FRUA) scene, I predicted Neverwinter Nights to fail for this very reason, that producing quality 3d models would be too much of a task for would-be modders. Apparently, I was dead wrong, and NWN modding scene thrives to this day. Of course, that might also have something to do with the fact NWN was about 100 times as popular as FRUA at its heyday.

What is certain though, is that making 2 thousands 3d models for Dominions would cost Illwinter an unimaginable fortune. Even AAA titles with an 8-digital production budget rarely exceeed 50-100 unit models. For something as vast (and niche) as Dom, "modern graphics" are absolutely out of the question until some arabian petroleum sheikh gets a fancy to fund it out of sheer generosity.

I'm quite a few digits short of funding tummy tucks* and face lifts for our little sprite friends but it got me thinking about what the source code for dom3 would go for, and, if released into the wild, would the community have the gas to recode and enhance other aspects of the game. I know it has been mentioned in the past but those discussions may predate many of the current forum crew.
-ssj

*Great Mother

[Doo]

Originally Posted by sansanjuan

I'm quite a few digits short of funding tummy tucks* and face lifts for our little sprite friends but it got me thinking about what the source code for dom3 would go for, and, if released into the wild, would the community have the gas to recode and enhance other aspects of the game. I know it has been mentioned in the past but those discussions may predate many of the current forum crew.
-ssj

*Great Mother

*eyes air bless lovingly*