The End Very Nearly WAS Nigh!

I recently had a heart stopping moment when I thought all was lost. Started up NWN with the intention of using the toolset, only to be confronted with an error message that stated something along the lines of "Not in the install directory, please correct or re-install NWN." Obviously I wasn't looking forward to a potential re-install, particularly as I had accidently left my external hard drive at my brothers house who lives many miles away, and it contained many of my backup files.

Fortunately I remembered I'd been having mouse issues the previous night, so it occcured to me that while exploring the NWN folder I may have accidentally moved something I shouldn't have. Fortunately that was exactly what the problem was, and I was able to return said folder to its original location. Phew!

I've certainly been busy. Having re-visited an old message from one of my playtesters, I realised I'd only got half way through their list of potential bugs and then forgotten about it during a period of inactivity. I'm happy to say that these have now been dealt with.
I also managed to polish a cutscene that juddered in game yet behaved fine while testing, and have since realised it's important to test such scenes in an identical environment to which they will fire in game. By that I mean if a scene is fired when you enter an area, don't assume that by placing the module start within the area you'll be testing it in game conditions. Place the start where you can jump/transition to the area in question. This has been an important lesson.

I've also extended the ending even further, so it's changed quite substantially from the Beta.

There are two more things to fix, then it's just a case of making the end movie, so I'm confident I'll have a final version on the vault within a few weeks.

For those of you who are interested, there is now a project page available over at the Bioware site.

In the meantime, here's a few more screen caps along with some footnotes of what you can expect in Chapter one...

The Relbonian Chronicles are rich in their own unique mythology, with many books and item descriptions adding to the immersion.

High attention to detail, with light and music carefully considered for each area.

Inclusion of cutscenes to further enhance the story.

Interaction with many an NPC.

Use of visuals in both cutscenes...

...and in game play.

Combat that steadily rises with a variety of opponents. This first one is hidden so as not to be a spoiler ;)