Neverwinter Nights Machinima!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:16 pm

Hello fellow fans of Neverwinter Nights. Just making my way around a few NWN forums and passing on the good word! A friend and I have made a Machinima series using the Neverwinter Nights engine. We were featured in Bioware's "Weds" bit a few months back and even landed in PC GAMER UK!

To check it out head to:

http://www.neverendingnights.com

szabot · Post by **szabot** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:22 pm

What's a Machinima?

Czarcasm · Post by **Czarcasm** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 6:21 pm

I'm guessing it's going to be like Red vs. Blue with NWN, the link is to the site that uses FRAPS, the video capture program.

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 1:11 am

Exactly. Machinima is the art of using a pre-rendered game engine to capture video - and then music, or audio is applied to it - to either make a music video, or tiny skits.

As mentioned above, like RedvsBlue, we use the Neverwinter Nights engine to capture the video of our characters, and have an on going storyline with them using this method (called Machinima). Each installment is about 3 to 7 minutes in length, and they each tie in with one another (as I said, an on going story)!

If you do check it out, please feel free to leave feedback - both good AND bad!

I should add - here's the small promo text bit I typically use to "describe" the series:

What do you get when you have one Ranger who can’t find his way around a tree - a warrior who charges into battle backwards - and a dwarf who is claustrophobic? You get another fun filled episode of Neverending Nights!

Themicles · Post by **Themicles** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 5:19 pm

What he said, except a game engine isn't pre-rendered. It's being rendered on-the-fly, which is what makes using a game engine to make movies so useful. Instant feedback compared to "offline" rendering (pre-rendering, having to wait for it to render).

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:26 pm

Neverending Nights for your PSP! - that's right! Episodes of the humorous adventures of Grayson the Fighter and Peter the Ranger have been available for the PC! And then, with the help from the folks of Machinima.com, they made a Quicktime Streaming Version (available from their site!) for those MAC users, and now we've branched into something new! Always trying to stay with the times, Neverending Nights is now available for your PSP! XBOX... We're looking at you next! You just wait!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 7:04 am

Well, I knew it would come down to this. Adam, the lazy ass that he is, with his lame excuses has been booted from FNBH Productions. And I noticed, as soon as I booted his candy little rump, production at the offices of FNBH Studios nearly tripled! And as a result, I am able to stand here, and tell you - at long last - Episode 20 has been completed! And more so, Episode 20 is now available for release!

So come get you some much needed NeN goodness!

Neverending Nights - Episode 20: Variety is the Spice of Life... (Right Click, Save As... 26.1 Megs)! In this episode, Peter and Grayson discuss the matters of money and how to spend it - and from where they stand - they can see the "Dragon Cave!" The end of their quest is nearly at hand! Meanwhile, not too far away in the Plains of Desolation, Andrea and Daniel make an appearance and explain why they're there - and run into some... unexpected company! A mere 26.1 Megs of goodness! You know you want to download it!

PS: Unfortunately, I had to rehire Adam for the FNBH Studios staff, as the Studio is at his house, as is the recording equipment, with a slight fact that he pays for the domain (hey, do I still owe you for this year?!), and because, no matter how lazy he is - and no matter how much of a delay he causes Episodes to be released - he's still an all right guy.

I guess.

Isengrim · Post by **Isengrim** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 8:58 am

Isn't this how the famous Laffy Movie was done?

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 7:36 am

Not sure what the Laffy films is?

But...

Adam’s still in the process of filming Episode 21, and when we finally finish it and get it out there. I think you will quickly see why this one is taking a little longer. Not only is this our longest episode, but… Well, everyone you have seen in the series that had a speaking part, will be seen again. (Well, pending two folks who are having computer issues, getting their lines to us!) But other than that, yeah… It’s a monster of an episode. And what a better way to end Season One than consuming more of your time, which could be spent doing far more important things… like watching sand falling through an hourglass or something.

Which will lead us into Season Two. Season Two will not start immediately after Season One ends. On top of Adam working on the DVD (for the time being we can not out right sell the DVD, but a paypal link will be put up so that folks who donate 20 bucks or more to the site to help pay for monthly fees, webspace, upgrades, etc) will get a free copy of the Neverending Nights DVD. I am still going to try and get the official permission from the kind folks of Bioware to sell the DVD out right, and find out what those requirements would be, if at all possible.

But for Season Two… I am very excited about it. Now that Adam and I have a much better handle of how everything works in terms of machinima, and we have spent Season One subjecting all of you to the various tests and trials we do; Season Two promises to be a lot better. And I feel like I can honestly say that. The jokes and storyline we have lined up should bring more laughs than Season One did, as this one is paced out quite nicely. And on top of that, we have a few additional surprises popping into Season Two - none which I can speak of at the moment, but just wanted to throw that out there to get your appetites wet for what that could be!

Thanks for hanging out with us this far, and hope that it’s been worth it! Here’s to going forward and having a better ride…

Or something.

Final Shinryuu · Post by **Final Shinryuu** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:39 pm

Heh. The "Laffy" one is by Vipact, one of our forums here, about his Avlis character.
Maybe he'll toss it back out for people. =D

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:35 pm

D-Slash suggested it, and now, after like 11 hours of working on this (it's now 3:00am!) - the Character Profiles are up!

Share your comments here. Feel free to let me know if I made an error (spelling, continuity, etc) anywhere - or if you have a question about something mentioned.

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:05 am

At long last! The Season Finale has arrived!

Neverending Nights - Episode 21: Accumulation is finally at hand! 33 megs in size and 9 minutes and 33 seconds in length! We see just about everyone who has had more than a "bit" line in this episode...! Despite the various audio issues (different mics, different pcs, different quality) - I think in the end, I am all right with how it turned out! Some great moments in there... Enjoy and as always, let me know what you think!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 3:41 am

It was bound to happen! Nen Q&A II: Electric Boogaloo! That's right! We're doing another Q&A session since we have finally got Season One done and under our belts. (Which has always been an odd place to put things... under the belt... who are we to question though, right?)

Anyway - we had a lot of fun doing the first Q&A (which is still available for download) - and figured, with Season One done - might as well open up another Video Q&A. So now here's your chance to ask any question! You can either post your questions here - or make it easy on this very old man, and post them on our forum/thread we have for this, over here!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Sun May 07, 2006 8:45 pm

Well, first - the number one question seems to be "When is Season 2 going to start?" And on that - let me say we will have a better idea a little later this week. We're working on a few things, have some stuff to hammer out - and depending on how that all goes - we will have a better idea. So look for a better answer to that question a little later this week. Trust me, as eager as you guys might be to see where Peter the Great Hero is going - huh? Oh. Yeah, I guess there's that Grayson the Fighter chap also - but anyway - as eager as you guys are to see what happens with these two hapless heroes - we're more than eager to get in there, finish off writing Season 2 (which we're still powering through!), voice it and film it and get it rolling once more!

Second, the Q&A II: Electric Boogaloo is giving me problems. Well, the computer is anyway. It has a random habit of doing reboots for no reason (usually when there is an intense amount of memory being used or if the hard drive pounding away). As a result, the Q&A was lost in the middle of being imported last night. Going to try again tomorrow.

Third, the DVD is done. The art and concept has been sent to Lindsay Archer (and my payment for her work is going to be made this weekend!). So when she gets that done and back to us - there will be a matter of getting it printed for the DVD covers and then that should be on its way. If you have no idea what I am talking about - head into the Sponsor page for more details on what you get FOR FREE (should you help us with sponsorship of the website!)

Fourth, while cruising along and drooling over the images of Neverwinter Nights 2, I ended up compiling a little video I am calling Neverending Nights - Season 2 Teaser - but it's not so much a teaser for NeN Season 2 as it is - what NeN Season 1 would look like in NWN2's graphics (and what NeN Season 2 will look like once we port over to NWN2). So if you want to take a look at that, go ahead and right click this url and save it to your precious hard drive.

Fourthly, er, I mean - fourth - The folks of OBSIDIAN did some stuff with IGN. Rather than url you over to IGN's website - I figured it'd be much easier to simply host the videos here on NeN's site (for now) - to make it easier. So check out - IGN's NWN2 Video 1, IGN's NWN2 Video 2and IGN's NWN2 Video 3. Take the time and really watch those... and when you do, head over into this thread and share any comments you have - of this newly revealed info!

Fifth, want to discuss the incredible additions of the Neverwinter Nights 1.67 Patch - well so do we! I have posted the additions - and highlighted the ones that interest me the most in red! You can head into the forum and see that over here - so come on in and share your thoughts!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Sun May 14, 2006 5:34 am

Q&A II: Electric Boogaloo...

... is now available for download. This one is an hour and five minutes long. And unlike most of our videos - this one is going to cost you 137 megs (zipped!) - and believe it or not this is the 320 lo-res version. The hi-res version (which will not be available for download, due to bandwidth) is the 640 hi-res version at 407 megs! (Yeah, so you can see why only the lo-res version is available). The video was originally a little over 2 hours long - and a lot of it was more boring than what's on this video - so a ton of stuff got cut out. So if you asked a question and the answer isn't there - don't think we ignored it. We probably did answer it, but the answer was so boring, I figured I would spare all of you. Also, you might want to hang out even though the Q&A itself comes to an end... the audio that follows might be worth the wait. Anyway, NeN Q&A II (Right Click And Save...)

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:32 pm

Wizard Weatherwax has done it again! This time, he's begun compiling a story that he's writing using the characters of Neverending Nights, along with some new creations of his own! The incredible tale can be found over here as it continues to unfold. Over to the right hand side, there's a drop down menu - where you can go into the different chapters. (I only mention this because it took me a second or two... maybe even a minute or two, to figure out how to navigate to the other chapters!) If you enjoy his story, or have some comments to share, there's a thread on the forum over here!

I would wager that he would be delighted to hear feedback from everyone!

And who knows, Adam and I may steal - er, that is - borrow some things from the story and make it all in continuity with the series itself!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 8:03 am

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:51 am

Small little update!

Well, the 2006 Machinima Film Festival has officially opened! Last year, we submitted and at least got our show shown during the festival, but we didn't warrant any awards.

Of course, if you head to the NeN forum, you can read about last year's 2T5MFF here, here, and here! And photo video journals were made (and now kindly hosted on youtube.com) - here's mine and here's Adam's!

Well Machinima.org asked for some people to do little "trailer" videos for the upcoming show and so we made a Neverending Nights one and landed on their page! Click here to see the image (did a screen shot so it's pretty wide).

Anyway, this year's plan is to submit episodes 15 thru 19. I am going to check if that's okay, as last year I submitted 11 through 16. So Episode 15 and 16 would be over lapping (but set up Episodes 15 thru 19). So I will check with them. If not, I will change it to Episodes 17 through 21.

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 5:38 pm

*peeks around!*

Not entirely sure if anyone is watching this thread anymore... butttttt....

Hello folks, I mentioned previously that Bryy was going to be speaking on the Voice of the Community show that's hosted by The Movies: On Air. Bryy had mentioned (this was before he actually spoke) that the host (Monk) was actually a fan of Neverending Nights!

Well I missed the live casting of the show - but as I had hoped, they made the show available for download! The one in question is for August 19th, 2006 - and the entire episode can be found on their site by clicking here! Thank you both Bryy Miller and Monk, for that segment!

I also took - and cut out the Neverending Nights references and shoved them into one file. You can download that little snipbit by right clicking this url! It's less than a meg in size, so it's a quick, easy download!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:20 pm

Mi Casa Es Su Casa...

But MySpace is still MySpace!

Well, because everyone else does it - and I figured, it might be a good way to continue to spread the word about Neverending Nights... NeN has finally landed on MySpace.com So if you have a MySpace account, by all means - send a friend request. The more friends it lands on - the higher the chance that one of your friends, being bored at home is going to click on the NeN profile and maybe become our newest fan! Hey. It could happen. No. Really. It could.

My mommy said it could anyway.

Now - go do it. And if you don't have a MySpace.com account - create one and add NeN on there anyway. Why? Well, because I said so. And that should be reason enough!

Neverending Nights.com on MySpace.com!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:35 am

That's right - it's now 2:34am... and I just finished off writing Season 2... it will bring us up to 42 episodes worth of NeN goodness! One moment please - I am replacing the toothpicks holding open my eyelids... Ah! Yes! There we go! Anyway - the reason I am saying it's 99.99% done - is because I like to comb it over and see now that it's all done and written - if there's anywhere I need to add or subtract anything - to make a joke or remove a lame joke. (Well, no - most of the lame jokes stay in the script, who am I kidding...)

Looking it over (just glancing it over at the moment, want to be more conscious and awake when I do the real comb over) - I actually like how this Season has turned out! Lots of cool little things, references, and even some plot twists! (Well, okay - not really plot twists per se - but some cool things with the characters!) Want to know some clues - you might want to check out the thread called 'Best Ever Theory For Andrea's Mother.'

With the script completed (minus the final comb over) - all things considered, side projects and all - I am hoping that we can get all the actors (who are local, which is just about EVERY single one of them - save for one or two!) - down for the day to record the lines for Season 2! This way, we won't suffer any audio differences (again, other than the one or two who won't be recording with us here locally, for whatever reason!) And as soon as we begin recording audio, Adam can begin filming the actual episodes! The 'Module/Map' we use - I am almost done with as well. There's only a few places I need to put in and add, and that will be ready to go!

So - all that said - I am hoping no later than Mid-October for us to begin recording everything and getting the ball rolling for Neverending Nights - Season 2!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:53 am

The 2006 Mackies Nominations are released, and we didn't make it for an award, but are still up for a screening... Well, since it's out... I figured I'd release a SPONSOR ONLY video to the general public now...

=========================================
I figured I'd make this available to sponsors only. Essentially it's the opening "credits" and the "ending" credits to the NeN piece that is being submitted to the 2006 Machinima Film Festival. Please don't make this video link available anywhere, and I ask it not to be uploaded to Youtube.com or anything like that.

Several reasons:

1. It's intended for sponsors. You people donate and help keep the site up and going. So I wanted to offer a little something for the sponsors as a form of thanks. And trust me, this isn't much. But it's something.

2. We've not yet been officially selected or declined, so I would rather this not go out to the general public yet.

3. Well, three reasons sounds better, though I don't have an official third reason, other than saying that if I had three reasons, three reasons sounds better than two reasons, so that's my official third reason, so I guess I do have a third reason after all. Reasonable?

So here you go:

NeN 2006 Machinima Intro & Ending Credits. (16.4 Megs) - Right Click, Save As...

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Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:43 am

THE ANNOUNCEMENT!

And actually those devil dogs made the announcement a WEEK AGO on Oct 20th, and just - ya know, figured we knew!

On April 29th, 2006 - Atari contacted me and Adam and wanted to meet up with us, regarding Neverwinter Nights 2. Through them, we were invited to E3 with ATARI passes (and got to see the cool stuff Atari has in the back - pictures will come now that the announcement has been made!) They wanted Adam and I to do some NWN2 Machinima to promote NWN2 before it's release (and episodes after their release)! Well, after talking with them at E3 about the details - we were invited up to Obsidian's office here in California. Needless to say, Adam and I were all over that! So after E3, Adam and I made our way to Obsidian (it was like a week later) - and got hands on experience with the toolset and the game play, allowing us the chance to see how we could make a NWN2 Machinima work (after all, there is no DMJump in NWN2... yet). After agreeing to all of this - we had to sign a nice little NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) and keep our mouth shut until they made the official announcement!

The OFFICIAL Release News can be seen here! With the link leading you here.

You will need to register on ATARI's website just under where it says "Login for more videos" - to see our videos (as well as other exclusive content).

If you have a Bioware Forum account - feel free to head to THEIR forum and reply to the threads there about it! The more people who comment (hopefully favorably!) the better it is for us!

The episodes feature music by Travis Richards ("SnafeDarkrold").

You can head into the Neverending Daze section of our forum now!

I’d like to extend thanks to: Shane, Brandon, Ryan Rucinski, Darren Monahan, Stephen Baer, Feargus, Rick Mehler, Jon Galloway, and probably a handful of others who were extremely patient and wonderful to work with when we had a thousand questions!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 10:47 am

On a side note that is actually Neverending Nights related… Tomorrow we begin recording audio for the entire season. Unfortunately some were unable to make it (yeah for Winter getting them sick apparently!) So we’re going to have a make up day (but we’re not telling anyone to make sure no one else says they can’t make it!)

So coming down for tomorrow’s readings… Myself, Aim, Adam, Amanda (who may have a surprise role), Paul, Poppy, her daughter Hannah, and Jeremy.

So that would leave us only needing a few additional voices. And the first three or four episodes are strictly me, Adam and Jeremy voicing, anyway. So the first three episodes should come out with no delay. (Like I said, I think the first episode of the new season will be early Jan, just because the holidays have us all getting together, shopping, and just running around in general)! But once we get rolling - it should be smooth sailing!

It should be a very long, but fun day tomorrow! With 97 pages worth of script for Season Two, that’s a lot of reading! (It was funny that Adam and I both printed out copies at work so that folks could have them to look over in the living room while the others would be in the office recording their lines!)

Also Adam purchased a “spit guard” as I like to call it for the mic - so that will help with the pops and the other sounds (a special thanks to those of you who have sponsored us!).

We’re going to be camcording the recordings tomorrow - which should be fun! Unfortunately the computer that had my capture card, tanked. And I have been too lazy (and busy!) to rip that PC open and see if it works in the Dell XPS system I got.

So Neverending Nights is definitely gearing up and I can not even begin to tell you how excited I am!

Tawmis · Post by **Tawmis** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:33 am

Hello folks! For those of you who have not sponsored and have been waiting on pins and needles since last week - it's officially Tues and that means it's officially time for you to be able to do what you have waited all your life to do!

To vote? No! Better than that!

To drink? No! Better than that!

To have sex? No! Better than that!

Well, maybe not better than that last one...

But it's time for you to be able to download - the VERY first episode of Season Two of Neverending Nights!

Yes, that's right folks.

It's time for you to be able to download some more Peter the Ranger action! (Oh, for those few fans that enjoy Grayson the Fighter Side Kick - yes, he's in this episode too!)

Find out what happens when Peter the Ranger and Grayson the Fighter confront ... The Dragon of Ator!

Things for our two heroes - never seem to go right. So what could possibly go wrong this time? And against a dragon?

Remember how Season One's Cliff Hanger Ended - Well, here it is - the answer to it all!

What's that?

Stop rambling and just give you the URL to download the episode!

Well fine then!

Neverending Nights - Episode 22: This is Dragon On Too Long (Right Click... Save As... 18.4 Megs)

After you finish watching it, please feel free to head to our forum and let us know what you think of the episode in the Episode 22 Video Thread!