The End is Nigh!

...but not in a doom and gloom way. I'm actually quite excited as I've done a lot more work to the module. All conversations and quests are now completed, which feels like I've hit a major milestone.

I've also changed how the module ends. It had been bothering me for quite some time. I wanted it to end on a cliff hanger, but it just felt like it was lacking something how it stood in the Beta despite at least one playtester telling me it was okay. The player ends up leaving a castle via a specific route but I'd failed to explain the reason for the routes existence. I knew it had a valid reason, but to the player I felt like it might appear that I'd just got lazy toward the end of the module. I suppose to a certain degree this was true, for the novel the module is based upon had a set scene which I chose to ignore for I felt it had no purpose and wouldn't add to game play, but oh... how wrong I was! I decided it was worth implementing after all, and while it is true that from the player perspective it just prolongs how long it takes for the module to end for a minute or two, it adds so much tension and drama that I now feel it has a much stronger cliff hanging ending as a result. Not only that, but it has also given me the opportunity to implement some aknowlegdement of the final standing between the PC and henchman.

So what's left to do? I have some more scrolls that need creating and placing in their relevant merchant stores, then it's on to the end movie and... job done! I might consider creating a walkthrough document as there are a few nuggets players might not want to miss, but I'm likely to leave that until the modules release. If anyone could assist in the end movie that would bring the release a lot closer. ;)

Till we meet again.
Quillmaster. :)

The Art of Conversation

I think I'm nearly there. I've been working on the last conversation file, although have to confess it did start to get complicated as I had to open my henchman convo too and make adjustments to take into account the player might ask the henchman for assistance before talking to the NPC, which required additional coding (*Sigh* - things always end up more complicated!) for things such as making sure the player can't ask the NPC to assist in a conversation that's either already taken place or is too far away to warrant asking. It's funny what you end up thinking about as you go... building the line where the player asks their henchman to assist in talking to a guy down the local tavern, and then thinking "Hang on a minute... I don't want that line being an option if they're walking through the crypts!".

I quite enjoy writing conversation files, but they are probably the most time consuming element of my building. The main reason being I don't want them to appear too linear. Notice I said "appear". You want to give the illusion of choice while ultimately steering to the same outcome. True, there are real choices to be made that can have different consequence, such as accepting or declining a mission, but for the player to have fun they need to feel they arrived at their destination through personal choice and not through what they perceive as limited options. For this reason many of my player responses might have more than 2 options, but you have to keep a grip on the situation in order to avoid your conversation branches resembling an upside down tree, which is both impractical and very difficult to keep track of.

Let's start with a basic example:

NPC: "Say, you look like you can handle yourself. I have a job if you're interested?"

• PLAYER OPTION 1 - "Sorry, I have enough on my plate at the moment."



• PLAYER OPTION 2 - "That depends. What does it entail?"



• PLAYER OPTION 3 - "Of course I'm interested!"

Simply put, this could be described as a Yes/No/Maybe option. The response to the "Maybe" would involve the NPC describing what he wants done, but we could also connect the same response to the "Yes", since the player will still need to know what's required from them. Now you might think "What's the point of two options that lead to the same outcome?". It's all about immersion, allowing the player to play their character in the style they imagine themselves. You can enhance the immersion further down the line by acknowledging how they responded by setting a variable on the "Yes" option, for example... imagine the NPC has now described the job...

NPC OPTION 1: (Variable check - Player said "Yes") "So that's it. Shouldn't be too difficult for a man of your enthusiasm."

• PLAYER OPTION 1 - "Consider it done!"



• PLAYER OPTION 2 - "Hmmm... on second thoughts, I'm not so sure I want to do it."

NPC OPTION 2: (Don't need to check variable, since convo will jump to this line if the player didn't say "Yes") "So that's all there is to it. Are you interested?"

Notice how we can still link from NPC option 2 to the player responses of NPC option 1? Actually that's not strictly true. I'd certainly paste as link the "Consider it done!" option, but would create a seperate "No" option that didn't include the phrase "on second thoughts" since the player has not previously said "Yes", but you get the idea.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

There are a number of ways you can make a conversation have more depth, and I'll cover some of them here.

Skill checks are a great way of altering the flow of a conversation, but did you know you can incorparate more than the two simple Success/failure responses? Here's an example of what I mean:

PLAYER: - *PERSUADE* "You sure I can't tempt you? I could throw in 100 gold to make it worth your while?"

• NPC PERSUADE SUCCESS: - "Oh all right then, you twisted my arm."



• NPC PERSUADE FAIL (If success doesn't fire convo jumps to this line, so we could place a text appears when script here to check if player has more than 700 gold) - "Are you kidding me?! By the looks of how your purse is bulging you could make a far more tempting offer!"



• NPC PERSUADE FAIL WHILE PC CASH <700 (No need to check since convo will jump here if above 2 checks fail): - "Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to decline, sorry."

Another interesting option is henchman interaction. If you place a line of convo that belongs to your henchman and the henchman isn't present, the convo will simply move to the next available option, so your convo branching could look something like this:

PLAYER OPTION: - "Okay okay... how about 200 then?"

• NPC (Henchman): - "Hey! Some of that money is meant for me!"


• NPC (Owner (Will automatically fire if above line owner not present): - "Okay, it's a deal."

Journal entries can also provide interesting conditions for convo lines to fire, but things can get a little tricky if you want your journal to reflect convo choices. What might at first strike you as a simple accept/success/completion journal set can quickly multiply with different variations, and that it turn can complicate conditional scripts, which leads me nicely to my next point...

When pasting links from elesewhere in a conversation, make sure the branch you are pasting from doesn't contradict where you are pasting too, or you could find conversations abrubtly ending when you least expect it, or suddenly saying something that doesn't make sense.

Another concept you can use is to have scripts check for items that the player is wearing and alter conversations accordingly. For example, the wearing of a holy symbol might influence an NPC, or even the lack of one should the player be talking to a priest.

All of the above techniques exist in one form or another in "The Relbonian Chronicles", leading to what I hope many will find a rich role play experience.

That's all for now. I'm hoping to post some screen caps next time round. I the meantime, happy gaming all. :)

Bettering the Beta

I'm pleased to say a lot's happened since the Beta release. Not only did I have valuable feedback and encouragement, but I've also now addressed all the bugs that were reported to me (fingers crossed!).

It doesn't end there though. There's also been some changes since the Beta meaning that the playtesters will see new things should they decide to play the final version, something I strongly hope they choose to do as I'm convinced a second play through may reveal things they did not realise were present first time round.

Allow me to elaborate...

• There are at least 2 side quests I can think of that can easily be missed should the player fail to take a certain route in a conversation.



• The success/failure of certain actions make the game behave differently later on. Nothing major, but enough to make the player stand up and take notice I think. The most noteable one being a brief interaction with an NPC in which he may either die or survive and move on. If he survives, he gets encountered later in the game and announces that he has dealt with some troublesome Orcs, with their bodies present as evidence. If he failed to survive, then the favour is of course impossible and the player is forced to deal with the Orcs themselves.
  


• There are several items in game that can alter the route of a conversation if held by a player. In one case ownership is not enough, with the item needing to be worn to influence a conversation later.
  


• Then of course there is the henchman, but I feel I've harked on about him too much already. Suffice to say that he has character, and will behave differently depending on what he thinks of the player. I dare say if someone chooses to play the game again they will be tempted to be deliberately horrible to him just to see his "flavour" change.

Although the game has a defined ending it steers toward, I am seriously considering making a subtle alternative based on the final henchman/player relationship. Nothing that will change the actual ending, but enough of a difference to give a nod to the player. I think that will depend on how long everything else takes. At the moment I have one conversation file and sidequest to finish, then I have to equip the scroll shops (a fairly big task because of the way the mythology works), then make the end movie and that should be it! There's still some work that the Hak file requires, but I may seriously consider shelving that as it's only really needed for a future chapter, and I feel this first installment has been too long in the making to postpone it further for the sake of a hak that will have no influence on it.

Other changes since the Beta include the completion of a scene involving a book that was only hinted at in the Beta. Quite some work has gone into it and I'm very pleased with the results. It all adds to the storyline nicely and includes an extra scene where the player summons something he has to converse with and then defeat, resulting in the obtaining of an object that further adds to the story and gives the player some temporary help in the form of a grateful ghostly warrior.

I've also implemented an extra building where the player can rest, fitting it in nicely without it feeling out of place. The atmosphere is on par with the rest of the module. Anyone who's played the beta should know I pay a lot of attention to the finer details.

For anyone intrested, I've created a project on the bioware forums where I hope to put some screencaps of a final play through at a later date.

That's all the news to date... I've got a conversation file to get back to. :)