My wife was watching over my shoulder today as I was tinkering with an area I'm working on and said "That looks far too complicated". When I asked what she meant she said all the fine tuning, like going in and editing scripts then changing creature properties, making items etc. looked like too much work. I replied that it only need be as complicated as you make it, and that me being a stickler for detail meant that such complications were inevitable. So what keeps me going? The buzz I get when something goes right, and right now I am buzzing big style! :)
Having finished populating the area discussed in my previous post, I decided I should put it to the test. It was by no means easy, very challenging in fact, but by using the tactical advantage available, it made for a very exciting level. The last major combat in the area is defined by an encounter (as opposed to a placed monster), and is set at a difficulty level of "impossible". Fortunately it takes place where the tactical advantage is available. Using it requires a little running around, but it makes for a very tense encounter that feels very much like a "boss" end of level fight that was hugely satisfying.
The area is now finished and my next area is the town that the player has spent a good portion of the module struggling to reach, so it's real nice that I can now do some work on that. The module is now somewhere between half and two thirds complete, although I know of at least two minor cut scenes I'll have to create so that will slow me down a little.
Well, guess I should take advantage of the buzz I'm experiencing and create a "Eureka!" cutscene on reaching the town. :)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
The Evolution of an Idea
Things are going well. In fact I'm pleased to say that a combat section of the module actually has tactics involved that will make the players life easier if they take advantage of a situation.
Although I had the basic concept, story and layout pretty much pre-planned, I like to ad-lib on occasion as I can sometimes find inspiration that way. The combat area I have almost completed evolved that way, so I thought I'd provide the thought process here in case it inspires others.
An important thing to keep in mind when building is that everything should either have a purpose or reason for being present, or sometimes both. Such attention to detail can add to the immersiveness of a module and helps to enrich the story you are trying to tell. "The Relbonian Chronicles - Chapter One" had got to a stage where I needed to populate an area with combatants. The going was at first slow, as I found myself uninspired by the population process. For a module that (in my humble opinion) has a rich story, I couldn't help feel that the area I was working on felt a little dull in comparison to what had preceeded it. Desperate to try an add some "soul" to the area, I find myself turning to seeing what I could decorate the area with, and found something that fit very well aesthetically but needed an explanation for being present in order not to feel out of place (Apologies for not being very specific but I don't want to make too much of a spoiler for this). Remembering a previous "journal" the player would more than likely find, I concocted such an explanation, and in doing so, thought to myself "Hang on a minute, I could have this work in the players favour."
One script later, I discovered my plan was a feasable one, although I did require help from community member Axe Murderer so I could polish the script in order that it functioned as intended (Thanks Axe!). Suddenly my area was much more interesting, and to make it even better, I could introduce another creature to the area that -
1/ Was immune to the tactical advantage available to the player against the other foes present, and...
2/ Could slow down the player being able to use the advantage against the other foes present.
It's funny, but having got to that stage, working on the area has increased in speed, no doubt as a direct result of feeling more inspired. An initial test left me thinking it would be VERY difficult to complete without taking advantage of the tactic available. Using the tactic isn't exactly easy due to the immune foes, but it does make it a lot easier than not using it at all.
That's all for now. I might be taking a break from building soon as the father-in-law is unwell.
Although I had the basic concept, story and layout pretty much pre-planned, I like to ad-lib on occasion as I can sometimes find inspiration that way. The combat area I have almost completed evolved that way, so I thought I'd provide the thought process here in case it inspires others.
An important thing to keep in mind when building is that everything should either have a purpose or reason for being present, or sometimes both. Such attention to detail can add to the immersiveness of a module and helps to enrich the story you are trying to tell. "The Relbonian Chronicles - Chapter One" had got to a stage where I needed to populate an area with combatants. The going was at first slow, as I found myself uninspired by the population process. For a module that (in my humble opinion) has a rich story, I couldn't help feel that the area I was working on felt a little dull in comparison to what had preceeded it. Desperate to try an add some "soul" to the area, I find myself turning to seeing what I could decorate the area with, and found something that fit very well aesthetically but needed an explanation for being present in order not to feel out of place (Apologies for not being very specific but I don't want to make too much of a spoiler for this). Remembering a previous "journal" the player would more than likely find, I concocted such an explanation, and in doing so, thought to myself "Hang on a minute, I could have this work in the players favour."
One script later, I discovered my plan was a feasable one, although I did require help from community member Axe Murderer so I could polish the script in order that it functioned as intended (Thanks Axe!). Suddenly my area was much more interesting, and to make it even better, I could introduce another creature to the area that -
1/ Was immune to the tactical advantage available to the player against the other foes present, and...
2/ Could slow down the player being able to use the advantage against the other foes present.
It's funny, but having got to that stage, working on the area has increased in speed, no doubt as a direct result of feeling more inspired. An initial test left me thinking it would be VERY difficult to complete without taking advantage of the tactic available. Using the tactic isn't exactly easy due to the immune foes, but it does make it a lot easier than not using it at all.
That's all for now. I might be taking a break from building soon as the father-in-law is unwell.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
More Conversation Work
The trouble with building a module with a good story is it's inevitable that you'll need at least a few conversations to help the story flow, and they can quickly grow out of hand if you start cross referencing them with lines that only appear if something has been heard elsewhere. Still, I like a good challenge, and while writing a conversation file can be time consuming, they are an important element to immersing the player in your tale.
Approximately half of Chapter One is a simple process of getting from "A" to "B", where "B" refers to a Town called "Oasis", and I am almost at the point where I should start populating the town. Part of the journey involves what some might call a dungeon crawl, so I wanted to break up the combat with another story element unfolding via a conversation. I'm pleased to say I'm having a bit of fun with this one. The story lent itself well to encountering a group of NPCs who would ultimately be hostile to the player, but I had a minor problem in that the group would overwhelm the player, and making the group smaller jarred with what I was trying to tell. It then occured to me that I could make at least one of the group turnable and fight on behalf of the player, so I set to work on a conversation where the group wrongly presumes that the player is someone they sent for.
It's been both challenging and fun to create. Challenging because the one conversation file deals with interactions from both the PC and up to four NPCs.
A problem I encountered with this is that if I assigned animations to an NPC and then changed which NPC was talking, the original NPC would continue to fire his animation until either a different one was assigned or the conversation ended. Another problem was that all the NPCs would face the player while their speech suggested that they should be facing one of the other NPCs. Fortunately I've managed to resolve this issue with some scripts that handle both animations and which way an NPC should be facing when speaking, and initial tests have left me smiling at the result. I've certainly come a long way since my first module created several years ago (Soul Keep). The fun has come from designing the conversation, as there are various routes depending on the success or failure of several bluffs or persuasions that the player can initiate. There's still a little way to go with it, but it's quite satisfying seeing it progress. Not only does it help embelish the story, but it's also a pleasant change to have a conversation that doesn't deal solely with a single NPC.
On the downside my 21 month old son woke up screaming last night, and no amount of comforting would settle him down. In the end I had to bring him downstairs and keep him entertained until 4 in the morning so my wife (being the main bread winner) could get some sleep. The result of this was that I had a terrible day today acheiving very little other than yawning.
Hopefully I'll make some more progress next week, after which I'll probably take a break and go back to World of Warcraft for a while, or maybe even Rome Total War...I love that game!
Bye for now. :)
Approximately half of Chapter One is a simple process of getting from "A" to "B", where "B" refers to a Town called "Oasis", and I am almost at the point where I should start populating the town. Part of the journey involves what some might call a dungeon crawl, so I wanted to break up the combat with another story element unfolding via a conversation. I'm pleased to say I'm having a bit of fun with this one. The story lent itself well to encountering a group of NPCs who would ultimately be hostile to the player, but I had a minor problem in that the group would overwhelm the player, and making the group smaller jarred with what I was trying to tell. It then occured to me that I could make at least one of the group turnable and fight on behalf of the player, so I set to work on a conversation where the group wrongly presumes that the player is someone they sent for.
It's been both challenging and fun to create. Challenging because the one conversation file deals with interactions from both the PC and up to four NPCs.
A problem I encountered with this is that if I assigned animations to an NPC and then changed which NPC was talking, the original NPC would continue to fire his animation until either a different one was assigned or the conversation ended. Another problem was that all the NPCs would face the player while their speech suggested that they should be facing one of the other NPCs. Fortunately I've managed to resolve this issue with some scripts that handle both animations and which way an NPC should be facing when speaking, and initial tests have left me smiling at the result. I've certainly come a long way since my first module created several years ago (Soul Keep). The fun has come from designing the conversation, as there are various routes depending on the success or failure of several bluffs or persuasions that the player can initiate. There's still a little way to go with it, but it's quite satisfying seeing it progress. Not only does it help embelish the story, but it's also a pleasant change to have a conversation that doesn't deal solely with a single NPC.On the downside my 21 month old son woke up screaming last night, and no amount of comforting would settle him down. In the end I had to bring him downstairs and keep him entertained until 4 in the morning so my wife (being the main bread winner) could get some sleep. The result of this was that I had a terrible day today acheiving very little other than yawning.
Hopefully I'll make some more progress next week, after which I'll probably take a break and go back to World of Warcraft for a while, or maybe even Rome Total War...I love that game!
Bye for now. :)
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Squishing Bugs!
Not really a lot to report as I've been busy making some graphics requested by Lance Botelle for use in NWN2, but I have been beavering away at my module none the less, and progress is slowly but surely taking place.
The good news is that my previous dilemma concerning the castle has been resolved. I'm going with the new tileset option (although this has meant re-creating several areas previously regarded as finished apart from populating and scripting). I found that by repeatidly using the eraser on cliff areas I could eventually select a tile that just contained sea with no rocks. Without the rocks the lapping sea animation is a lot more difficult to see, so the end result no longer jars with what I was trying to create.
I've been playtesting what's built so far and boy, did I have some work on my hands! It's taken quite some hunting to iron out a few journal update problems that were occuring, but I think I've caught them all now which is good, as I have trouble moving on when I know what's built so far isn't polished to the standard I'd like.
I still have a lot of work to do with making use of the ambient system I used in "Muddles in Milton" within a small town that features in the module, and once I get there I'll also need to make another cutscene. With all the work that's being put into this, I'm thinking I should get some volunteers to playtest when complete before releasing a non beta version, so if anyone out there is interested drop me a line. Please note that I'm still a way off from reaching that point, so if you're the kind of person that doesn't mind working along the lines of someone elses vision, maybe you should drop me a line too to help speed things along ;)
The good news is that my previous dilemma concerning the castle has been resolved. I'm going with the new tileset option (although this has meant re-creating several areas previously regarded as finished apart from populating and scripting). I found that by repeatidly using the eraser on cliff areas I could eventually select a tile that just contained sea with no rocks. Without the rocks the lapping sea animation is a lot more difficult to see, so the end result no longer jars with what I was trying to create.
I've been playtesting what's built so far and boy, did I have some work on my hands! It's taken quite some hunting to iron out a few journal update problems that were occuring, but I think I've caught them all now which is good, as I have trouble moving on when I know what's built so far isn't polished to the standard I'd like.
I still have a lot of work to do with making use of the ambient system I used in "Muddles in Milton" within a small town that features in the module, and once I get there I'll also need to make another cutscene. With all the work that's being put into this, I'm thinking I should get some volunteers to playtest when complete before releasing a non beta version, so if anyone out there is interested drop me a line. Please note that I'm still a way off from reaching that point, so if you're the kind of person that doesn't mind working along the lines of someone elses vision, maybe you should drop me a line too to help speed things along ;)
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