Slowly but Surely

Well, what can I say? Yep, I had a bit of a rest from building. Sometimes you need to take a step back to avoid being overwhelmed, but I have been tackling it again. Since the Beta has been released, I've had some great feedback from Olivier Leroux and DSenset. Both have helped greatly in pinpointing some minor flaws that I've set about ironing out. Olivier in particular has been an enormous help, playing the Beta through to the end and finding a few surprise mistakes that slipped the net, including a conversation that didn't include the possibility that a player had already seen something that their henchman suggests they deal with. That error alone took most of an afternoon to deal with. It seemed simple enough at first... just place a trigger that sets a variable so I know that the PC has seen an area, but when it came to tracking it in the relevant conversation it proved to be a lot more complex, for the simple reason that the hanchman has so many responses depending on how well he gets along with the player. So... I wasn't just inserting one extra line in the convo, but also hunting down all the lines that linked to the original response that now required two responses. Not only that, but there were also lines where the style of the response could change, such as if the henchman hates the PC. Complicated stuff, but worth the effort to increase immersion, and besides, by forcing me to study the conversation hard, I also stumbled across an incomplete conversation branch. I think I find conversations to be the most troublesome because of all the factors one has to take into account, but also the most rewarding when complete. There are many amusing moments to be had with the henchman, but not all will be witnessed, all thanks to the keeping track of the player reputation with the PC.

The good news is that I've now dealt with most of problems brought to my attention, so I can once again concentrate on the things I know to be missing. There are still 2 major conversation files to finish, a small side quest to be implemented, and some towns folk required, as well as a script for the selling of an item that the Druids use for Quills, and the stocking of shops with specialist scrolls.... oh dear... it all seems so daunting when you list it like that. So close and yet so far.

Another thing that is essential is an end movie, and unfortunately I'm not sure I have the software to create such a thing, but it's going to be a "must have". I simply can't do what I want in a cutscene, and without the end movie, the game won't feel complete. Is there anyone out there who could help me if I supplied sound and artwork?

Further good news is that despite the uncovering of errors, feedback on the whole is very encouraging. I've had some excellent comments on the general feel of the mythology from books and items within the module.

That's all the news for now. I have work to do!