Shadow play. (games).(Electrofiction's Shadows of Winter)

Electrofiction is emerging from the shadows of independent game development with its first computer game--an online title for the PC called Shadows of Winter, a third-party modification of Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege fantasy role-playing game. Set in the Kingdom of Elurn, Shadows of Winter takes place during a civil war between various noble houses. Assuming the role of the son or daughter of a noble lord, the player journeys from his or her childhood home into the wilderness of the northern kingdom, where an ancient and long-forgotten race of immortals is awakening. Although a fantasy title, Shadows of Winter features a rich, detailed, realistic world filled with various creatures, both old and new.

Yet, achieving the desired realism in the 3D imagery presented a challenge for the team's 12 members, who met online through the Planet Dungeon Siege forum and formed a cooperative to create the new title in their spare time. (The group is hoping the project will enable them to acquire full-time jobs in the commercial game industry.) With too little time to generate the targeted realism in their models, the artists instead adapted their character models from Daz Productions' pre-assembled ...