Dedication

I hereby dedicate this module to my father in law who passed away last week.
I'd also like to thank Gestalt for his cutscene system available at Neverwinter Vault, without which I'd never have been able to include the cutscenes responsible for breathing so much life into the module.

Cutscene Preview

Many thanks to my friend Borden Ha'Elven who captured this scene for me at my request. What you see here is the major cutscene that will be present in the first of "The Relbonian Chronicles", although the sound and music has been altered from the original for the purpose of this preview.

Other than that, there's not a lot more to report at the moment. Just thought you'd all appreciatte seeing some of the work that's gone into the module to date. Hope to have more to report in the New Year. In the meantime, Merry Christmas all! :)

Progress Update

I thought it was about time I gave an update, even though spare time remains a precious commodity to me. It's been a hectic month, with family on my wifes' side still battling some serious health issues that I'd rather not go into here. If you are of a religious persuasion, I know they'd appreciatte being included in your prayers. Personally I'm not a believer, but I'm not one to trample on the beliefs of others... unless of course they decide to trample on mine ;)

On a lighter note, I'm still making progress on the module, mostly in the form of polishing some of the existing content and ironing out the odd bug that's surfaced. Conversations are being tweaked so as to include emotes and sound files to help add atmosphere to them, and more custom items have been made to tie in with the world mythology. I've also finished the reward system from the... hmmm... don't want to spoil things. Suffice to say I'm rather pleased with the way in which a reward can vary depending on the players conversation choices throughout the module, and the extent of variation is quite large too. The reward offered comes in the form of a box, with a script handling box contents once the player acquires it.

The module promises to contain many "firsts" from me. It's the first time I've made a Hak pack, first time I've made a cut scene, and will be the first time I've made a henchman too. I plan to be in a position to start working on the henchman soon, which will include a comprehensive conversation file that should add further depth to the remaining half of the module, but more on that next post when I hope to give some more in depth info on some of the NPCs that will populate the module.

That's all for now. Happy gaming all :)

Disaster Strikes!

Not a total disaster, but a disaster none the less. My main PC started shutting down for no apparent reason. No blue screen of death, just a blank screen and a PC unwilling to switch back on until it had been disconnected from the mains first. At first I thought overheating might be the culprit, although this struck me as a little weird what with the colder weather and no previous problems. Over time it started happening more frequently, despite an extensive spring clean of the interior, but there was no pattern to the problem. Sometimes it would survive several hours of high activity, while other times it would barely last an hour even though idle.
Fortunately the machine has stayed alive long enough to back up most of what I wanted to keep onto an external hard drive, and I still have my laptop, so all is not lost. The main machine alas is at deaths door, to the point that I try not to switch it on at all now, which is a great shame because I could work much faster on that machine than I can my laptop.
Alas, funds are too low to buy a replacement at the moment. I am however hopeful that I can seriously consider one in the new year, and may even consider a custom build. In the meantime, progress is a little slow at the moment.
The good news is that once I acquire a new machine, I'll consider taking another look at NWN2 with a view to moving my building skills over, although I still intend to complete what I'm doing at the moment.
That's all for now. Wish me luck with the new acquisition! ;)

Just when you think it's safe to move on...

Having made my changing room area discussed in my previous post, I set to work on developing how the character would arrive for the changing room scene. I considered just having a conversation node with the shopkeeper that would teleport the player to the changing room area, but this didn't feel right, so set to work on a script that had the shopkeeper saying "walk this way" before escorting the player to the changing room before doing the teleport (For those who've not been keeping up to date, I had to make a duplicate area with a corridor extension where the mirror should be so that the camera had a valid location to sit and give the illusion of viewing ones self in the mirror, so the teleport is a nescesity). Having successfully created the escort/teleport routine (with some help from Nereng and Axe Murderer whose suggestions helped me resolve player running when following the shopkeeper), I enabled the shopkeeper walking back to his waypoint when the player teleports back to the real shop at the end of the mirror viewing routine.
It was by no means easy. In fact at one stage I seriously considered dumping the whole routine, but with some perseverance managed to get past an issue with the initial camera setup for the duplicate area. No matter how hard I tried, the camera always started above the duplicate area... only for a brief second, but long enough to betray the fact that the area strangely lacked the rest of the shop and had a corridor extension not present in the "real" shop area. With me so far? *lol* Gives you an idea of what a nightmare this has been.
So... there I was, pleased that I'd resolved all of the above, feeling ready to move on to another part of the module, when BLAM! Last night I decided to show off the routine to a friend of mine, only to discover a bug that didn't surface when testing, yet became horribly apparent if you started the game normally instead of via the toolest. AAaaarrrgggghhhhHHHH!!! Why is my shopkeeper taking his clothes off in the changing room?!!!
Fortunately I managed to resolve this too. Phew. Now at last maybe I really can move on. Stay tuned!

Aid from the Quillmistress!

Well, I must confess I thought I'd never see the day, but a few days ago I had the laptop in the kitchen and when I got up to start working on dinner, jokingly said to my wife "Do you want to design an outfit for me?". No sooner had I left my seat than she was turning the laptop round and asking me for the brief and a few pointers on how to use the toolset for costume creation. Perhaps even more surprising is that after she'd finished the first outfit, she turned to me and asked if there were any more I needed making. Seems I brought out the fashion designer in her!

One of the things I pride myself on is attention to detail. Just look at the effort put into making the NPCs matching their portraits in my "Muddles in Milton" module to get an idea of the lengths I go to. "The Relbonian Chronicles" are no different. Being set in their own mythology means I have to go that extra mile in preparing books etc that fit into the story. Costumes too require such attention, and I'm pleased to say my wife has done me proud, so I thought I'd share them with you all here.

The first outfit I required was for the "Chronicle Runners". These are usually apprentice Druids who deliver news throughout the land, so the outfit needed to hint at a love for nature and speed. It also needed to look as if it would offer protection from the elements, while being light enough to enable the wearer to run comfortably. I liked the way the cuffs of this outfit almost look like leaves while suggesting speed. She even included a pouch for the runner to place the scroll they'd be carrying.

As I'm now working on the town where the player can stock up before heading of for the final part of the module (Chapter One), I felt I should work on some custom items to tempt them with, and offer a choice when it came to the armour. Between me and my wife we made 3 sets, 2 of which are based on elemental faiths. Shown here is the set based on the faith of "Mouys" (Water), and again, I think she captured the essence of what I wanted beatifully, even down to the accompanying helmet.

The other elemental based armour was earth based, while the non-elemental one adds some flavour to the area in which it can be bought (a town situated in a desert), being made from the scales of the giant scorpions said to roam the desert. It occured to me while these were being designed that I'd never seen an option in a Neverwinter module to view an item of clothing while worn before purchase, so I set about creating a "changing room" in a shop. The latest 1.69 patch has a rather nifty curtain doorway perfect for the purpose, so I made a little room with a mirror at one end with the intention that you could use the mirror to preview the available outfits. For the preview mode to work, I had to assign a camera position to view the player face on, but this failed to work in the room because the wall behind the mirror interfered with the desired position forcing the camera to swing behind the PC. I've got round this by making a duplicate area of the room with a doorway where the mirror should be. When using the mirror, the player is transported to the duplicate area where the camera can sit safely in the doorframe. By placing two light shafts either side of the frame, it gives a fairly immpressive illusion of viewing yourself in a mirror. Below are a couple of screen caps of this "mirror mode" while trying on the "Rathna" (Earth) and "Scorpion" Plate.

The only downside to this rather nifty little routine is that it's possible to escape from the conversation and thus keep the outfit you are trying on without paying for it. I've dealt with this to a degree by making "preview" copies of the outfits that don't have any of the magical abilities in place and also tagging them as "stolen" so that they will be un-sellable (There will be no merchants that buy stolen items in this module). I might make an "on exit" script for the area that destroys all preview items on the player but am currently undecided.

Something else I'm fairly excited about is that the water based armour will be available as a reward, but it will be fairly difficult to collect...

SPOILER ALERT
Since the manner in which such a reward will be acquired will be difficult, I see no issue with posting the potential spoiler here as a treat for those who decide to play having followed this blog. There is a cave fairly early on in the module in which the player can untie a "Lith", after which a small battle takes place. If the Lith survives the battle (if he dies the reward potential is over), he rewards the player with an amulet that has the ability to cure poison once, after which it is destroyed. Provided the player does NOT use the amulet AND wears it in their neck slot when visiting the Temple of Mouys in Oasis, the armour can be acquired.

That's all for now. Happy gaming all :)

Deep Joy!

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. :)

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.

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. :)

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 ;)