Some games just don’t die. Bioware released Neverwinter Nights over eight years ago. Since then there were three Expansion packs, several smaller “Premium Modules” and a sequel. There is also still a highly dedicated modding community for it. The official Software Development Kit included with the game, The Auroroa Toolset, is an easy to use, but still customizable system which lets novice programmers design maps and missions with limited programming skill by using a tile-based map system, and a conversation/ quest system which could be learned in a weekend. So, it’s really no wonder why this game is still popular after all these years.
The Neverwinter Nights community has teamed with Good Old Games.com and the Neverwinter Citadel Project to host a module design contest promoting the recent release of NWN: Diamond Edition on Gog.com. There are two different contests, one is for creating an adventure using the Aurora Toolset, and a second contest to design a monster based on the idea of Digital Rights Management (The sort of anti-piracy software that Gog.com refuses to use).
Winners will get a bunch of free games from Gog. Details on both contests can be found on Gog.com, and advice on working with the toolset can be found on the Citadel forums or at Bioware.
Making a mission for the game is a lot simpler than it sounds, so give it a try, and post a link to your mod in the comments below.
