It's the little things that count

I've had quite a productive weekend, going in and polishing existing conversations. What's funny though is how much extra work one can make in the process. What was supposed to be a simple quest became much more complicated, with multiple tests slowly uncovering various bugs that required sorting. The good news is that I think I've ironed out all such problems which is always satisfying.

In the process of fine tuning I've enjoyed polishing the existing content with little touches which may well be missed in the finished product, but I believe such touches are worth applying simply because when they're not missed, they do so much more to enhance player immersion within the story.

The quest that I've finished isn't integral to the story, but it does add to the feeling of the town in which it takes place having events of its own, no matter how trivual. In this particular case it simply involves re-uniting a girl with her dolly. As such it has a relatively small xp reward on completion, but what's nice about it is that there are two possible "successful" outcomes, only one of which involves an item being given to the player as a reward. I love creating items, and am a firm believer that everything within the world having a plausible reason for existing, no matter what powers they may bestow upon the user of such items. Fortunately for me the "Relbonian Chronicles" have a rich mythology for me to draw from, but I like to give the same level of detail to all my items, no matter how mundane they appear to be. In the case of the dolly quest, I needed to create the dolly and a reward from the girl. Although I'm not going to reveal here how the reward is required, I will show the item details to give you an idea of the attention I'm giving to the module:

Dolly
A crude dolly made from sewn linen stuffed with sand. Popular among Relbonian girls. This one is oviously much loved, made evident from the sand seeping from the seams.

Bangles
Although nothing more than cheap jewellry for a child, these bangles are far more significant to you, being a gift from the charming girl Milly from the town of Oasis. Simply looking at them fills you with a sense of pride for making the young girl happy, and does wonders for helping your mind stay focused.

They are of great sentimental value and can never be parted with.

Saving Throw Bonus: Mind Affecting +3
Use Limitation: Alignment Group: Good

In the case of the bangles above, I've made them undroppable to tie in with the description. Not only that, but it also prevents the player from selling them which would make them far too valuable for a gift from a girl. I like the fact that the description implies they are non magical, yet also gives a reason for the benefit of wearing them.

As well as paying attention to items, I also like to pay attention to the environment. As an example, there's a tower in Oasis that has two floors. The tileset used has a doorway in the circular room as well as the stairs, so for the upper floor I needed to disguise the door somehow, as there was no reason for it to exist. Thanks to the latest content from the 1.69 update, I used the canvas door which doubles as excellent curtains that can be opened and closed with accompanying sound effects. Just behind them I've placed a large window. While the solution looked nice, I felt it deserved more, so attached a script on their "OnOpen" that has a nearby NPC comment on the excellent view.

That's all the news for now. Happy buiding all! :)