George Ziets | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Game designer |
| Employer | Digimancy Entertainment |
| Known for | Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Pillars of Eternity |
George Ziets is an American video game designer best known as the Creative Lead for the 2007 PC title Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer.
George Ziets earned a degree in Psychology from Georgetown University and spent the late 1990s in graduate school. He studied psychology and film, earning an MA from the University of Maryland in 1999. In 2001, he secured his first games industry job at Westwood Studios, working as a writer on the short-lived science fiction MMORPG, Earth & Beyond. [1]
In 2004, Ziets was hired at Turbine, Inc. and was credited as a designer on Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (LOTRO) and Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO).[ citation needed ]
Ziets relocated to southern California in 2006 to become a designer at Obsidian Entertainment. He was recruited during development of Neverwinter Nights 2, and after the game shipped he was promoted to Creative Lead on the first Neverwinter Night 2 expansion, Mask of the Betrayer (MotB). Ziets was responsible for MotB’s overall creative vision, including characters and story. [2] MotB shipped in 2007 and received mostly positive reviews, winning praise for its story and narrative elements. [3] [4]
Ziets left Obsidian in 2008 and spent a year at ZeniMax Online Studios, but he returned to Obsidian in 2009 to serve as Creative Lead on Dungeon Siege 3 [5] and its expansion, Dungeon Siege 3: Treasures of the Sun. He expanded the fictional canon of the Dungeon Siege world, producing a 100-page sourcebook that was used as source material by the development team. [6] [7] At some point during the development of Dungeon Siege 3, Ziets also contributed to the writing of Fallout: New Vegas. In 2011, he shared a WGA nomination for Best Videogame Writing with the Fallout: NV writing team and attended the 2011 Writers Guild Awards in Los Angeles. [8]
He left Obsidian after a project got cancelled in 2012, however he returned soon after as a freelance writer on Pillars of Eternity . [9]
In March 2013 it was announced that Ziets would join the writing team at inXile on Torment: Tides of Numenera , and he later joined inXile as a full-time employee in April 2014. [10]
Ziets left inXile in July 2019 to found his own studio, Digimancy Entertainment.
Neverwinter Nights is a third-person role-playing video game developed by BioWare. Interplay Entertainment was originally set to publish the game, but financial difficulties led to it being taken over by Infogrames, who released the game under their Atari range of titles. It was released for Microsoft Windows on June 18, 2002. BioWare later released a Linux client in June 2003, requiring a purchased copy of the game to play. MacSoft released a Mac OS X port in August 2003.
Chris Avellone is an American video game designer and comic book writer. Avellone worked for Interplay and Obsidian Entertainment before working as a freelancer. He is best known for his work on role-playing video games such as Planescape: Torment and the Fallout series.
Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.
Minsc is a fictional character in the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing video games developed by BioWare. He originated from the pen-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons sessions held by the lead designer of Baldur's Gate, James Ohlen, and was expanded upon by the game's lead writer, Lukas Kristjanson. His video game debut was in Baldur's Gate as a companion character who can join the player's party. He also appears in the sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, the expansion, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, and the 2015 game Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, as well as in promotions relating to the titles. Minsc is voiced by Jim Cummings in his video game appearances.
Neverwinter Nights 2 is a role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons pencil and paper fantasy role-playing game. Neverwinter Nights 2 utilizes an adaptation of the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition rules. Players create player characters to represent themselves in the game, using the same character creation rules as found in the Dungeons & Dragons game. They may gain the assistance of additional party members, and they eventually acquire a keep that can be used as a base of operations. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting—in and around the city of Neverwinter. The story is mostly unrelated to Neverwinter Nights and follows the journey of an orphaned adventurer investigating a group of mysterious artifacts known as "silver shards" and their connection to an ancient, evil spirit known as the King of Shadows.
Josh Sawyer, also known as J.E. Sawyer, is an American video game designer, known for his work on role-playing video games.
Neverwinter Nights was the first multiplayer online role-playing game to display graphics, and ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL.
Jason D. Anderson, usually credited as Jason Anderson, is a video game developer. He started out as a contract artist for Interplay on the USCF Chess project. He was later hired to work on Fallout for which he became Lead Technical Artist, working on the original game design, interface, and quests. After working on the prototype design for Fallout 2, Anderson left with fellow developers Timothy Cain and Leonard Boyarsky to found Troika Games. After Troika Games collapsed, Anderson left the game industry for a short time to sell real estate.
James Ohlen is a video game designer. He was Senior Creative Director of BioWare where he worked for 22 years prior to starting the publishing company Arcanum Worlds in 2018. In 2019, Ohlen became the lead of a new internal development studio Archetype Entertainment under Wizards of the Coast to develop new intellectual property and video games for the company.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer is a role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It is an expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights 2. It was released in Autumn 2007 for the PC in North America, Europe, and Australia. Like the first game, Mask of the Betrayer is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the paper and pencil role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and employs the 3.5 edition rules.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate (NWN2:MoW) is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Neverwinter Nights 2. It was developed by Ossian Studios and published by Atari on April 29, 2009. The player creates a character and controls it, along with a group of three pre-designed companions, journeying through the game world. The gameplay is very similar to that of the base game. Mysteries of Westgate also includes new monsters, music, and other tools, which can be used by players to create their own Neverwinter Nights 2 levels.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Neverwinter Nights 2, developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It was released in late 2008 in North America, Europe, and Australia. Like previous entries in the Neverwinter Nights series, Storm of Zehir is based on the paper and pencil fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, and uses the game's 3.5 edition ruleset.
Darkness over Daggerford is a premium module for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights role-playing video game. It was released for digital distribution on August 16, 2006. Considered a user-made mod, the game was created by Canadian company Ossian Studios, headed by former BioWare employee Alan Miranda.
Brian Mitsoda is an American video game designer and writer best known for his work on the 2004 game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. He is the founder of DoubleBear Productions.
David Gaider is a Canadian Narrative Designer and writer. He was the lead writer and creator of the setting for the role-playing video game series Dragon Age.
Annie VanderMeer is an American video game designer specializing in role-playing video games, best known for her writing work on 2008's Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir and her design work on the 2012's Guild Wars 2, and DoubleBear Productions' Dead State and PANIC at Multiverse High!.
Kevin D. Saunders is an American video game designer and producer, best known for his roles in developing Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (Producer), and Torment: Tides of Numenera.
Kevin Martens is a video game designer known for working for Blizzard Entertainment and BioWare.
Baldur's Gate III is an upcoming role-playing video game that is being developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main game in the Baldur's Gate series, itself based on the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing system. A partial version of the game was released in early access format for Microsoft Windows, the Stadia streaming service, and macOS on 6 October 2020. The game will remain in early access for at least 2021 before the completed version is released.