Neverwinter Nights: The Blades of Netheril – Doom of Icewind Dale Update

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Written by ValH on June 5th, 2022

This recent Patreon post from Luke Scull lists a number of people from the NWN community who have now joined The Blades of Netheril project in some capacity. It also pushes the release date of Doom of Icewind Dale, the project’s first chapter, back to September.

A very warm hello to all my Patrons, and everyone else for that matter! Last month was exceptionally busy, and I have some great news to share. The first big piece of news is that Daniel Morris, aka Irongron, Lead Area Designer on Tyrants of the Moonsea and head honcho at Arelith, will be joining the project as Lead Area Designer. This will free me up to finish the remaining writing before I turn my full attentions to scripting.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Daniel’s work, Arelith is by far the largest Persistent World active for NWNEE. In fact, it accounts for something like 30% of the current active player base. He’s created a world that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in the NWN engine and possesses a talent for building beautiful areas that is quite astonishing. It’s fantastic to know that Doom of Icewind Dale will look every bit as good as Tyrants of the Moonsea, and perhaps even better!

If you’d like to check out Arelith, please follow the above link. You can also support the Arelith team on Patron here.

The second piece of news is that Bill Harper, Lead Artist on NWNEE and Technical Artist/General Toolset Wizard on Tyrants of the Moonsea, will be helping out where he can, time permitting. This will be a huge boost for the project, as no one knows Neverwinter Night as well as Bill. Bill has undertaken the immense talk of bringing the entirety of NWNEE’s artwork up to HD standards. You can check out his work on the Vault and support him in his endeavours here.

The third piece of news is that a talented musician named Raphael has volunteered to create ambient music for Doom of Icewind Dale. This will hopefully mean that with the four incredible cinematic and combat tracks produced by Will Musser (https://ift.tt/S3vctGA), the module will feature a complete OST.

But Luke, you may ask, when is Doom of Icewind Dale going to be released? You said it would be June!

Well, yes, I did. It was my goal, and honestly, we’re not far off. Assuming the writing and areas are finished in July, and scripting takes 4-6 weeks of (pretty intensive) labour, I’d like to get the beta sent out in late August, with the public release landing in September. This is a little later than I’d planned, but honestly, it will be worth it. I’m committed to what is, in effect, seven Premium Modules forming an epic campaign over the next few years. A little extra time to make sure the first chapter really blows everyone’s socks makes sense to me. I’ve been on the NWN scene for 20 years and I’ve since become a professional game designer and internationally published author and I still love doing this, so have no fear I’ll see it through the completion. It’s my happy place.

I’d like to take this opportunity to again thank everyone who has contributed toward this project. I know sometimes it may feel like you’re not seeing an immediate reward for your generosity, especially when I’m not able to post here as frequently as I’d like – but rest assured every penny you donate goes towards making awesome new NWN content and that you’re directly responsible for making this project happen. In particular, I’d like to give a shout-out to a few anonymous donators who this month gave the project a large, unexpected boost. Thank you all!

Neverwinter Nights: The Blades of Netheril – Doom of Icewind Dale Update
Source: Hopefull Philippines