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! :)

Quillfumbler

First off, as some of you may know, I've been restricted to using my laptop of late, one of the disadvantages of which is that I have to remember to press quite firmly on the "B" key, otherwise the headline of this article would have been "Quillfumler". As a result, I must apologise for any errors in my typing. All the more reason I think I should release a beta for any wannabe spell checkers ;)

There are times where I've regretted choosing the handle "Quillmaster" for precisely the above reason. People have high expectations from a "Quillmaster", and having articles with spelling mistakes doesn't really paint a good picture of what to expect. It's not just spelling mistakes. My earliest module was hardly a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination.

So why did I choose "Quillmaster"? Simply because I thought it eluded to my "Dungeon Master" background, and of course it was the name of my play by mail game on which "The Relbonian Chronicles" has been based upon.

Even until recently, my early Neverwinter creations have relied heavily on Lilac Souls Script Generator, as I had no scripting knowledge whatsoever. It's been a real blessing to me, as over the years I've began to recognise how parts of the scripts work, to the point where I occasionally got brave and further tinkered with them. With "The Relbonian Chronicles" I've managed to take things a step further still, by taking the time to visit the Lexicon in my quest to achieve something that the script generator can't create. So, if any of you have sampled a past creation of mine, rest assured that (apologies for blowing own trumpet) this one is soooooo much better!

On the subject of scripts, I had a" Eureka" moment earlier (they can be sooooo satisfying - lol). One of my pet hates in a module is... tell you what... I'll quote the line I saw on the very Lexicon page I found my solution:

"A VERY useful function if you want to add some realism to your modules. Personally, I dislike knowing that "oh, so that's where the bad guy is because that's where the map pin is", even if I don't look at the map pin's caption."

The subject is of course "Map Pins". I like a map to denote points of interest to help you find your way around, but I don't like to see things I shouldn't know about. The command "SetMapPinEnabled" is a useful way of preventing such a situation occuring. Simply place your map note waypoint, right click on it, and under the advanced tab un-check the "Map Note Enabled" box. If you test the module you'll notice the map pin doesn't display on the players map. Back in the toolkit, you can place the below script in a conversation node under "actions taken" to enable the map pin.

So how might you use the above code? In the instance listed above it's simply used when an NPC mentions a location and points out where it is. When the player enters the relevant area (it needn't be the same as where the conversation occured), they find that the map pin is now visible. Cool eh?

I'd like to say to any novice scripters out there don't give up. Let each victory no matter how small inspire you to step that little bit further :) Even if you think you can't script, check out the script generator and get into the habit of searching the Lexicon.

Now you'll have to excuse me, I have some map pins to disable ;)

Player Immersion

There's been a thread over at the Bioware forums discussing ways to improve player immersion in Neverwinter Nights. As well as the obvious (the inclusion of cutscenes), it occured to me that I've been implementing an improvement to player immersion without even thinking about it. How? One of the things I wanted to avoid was the inclusion of standard magical items, such as "Longsword +1" or "+1 Ring of Protection". Such obvious references to the game system (ie "+1") yank the player back to reality. I don't mind such bonuses being listed, in fact, I think it essential that the player knows how a magical item will benefit them in game. I'm just opposed to such bonuses eing referenced within the item name.

As the Relbonian Chronicles have a rich mythology to draw from, I can take the opportunity in item descriptions to further immerse the player into the world they are playing within. Here follows just a few examples of how I've revamped items within the game:

Ring of Distortion
(Replacing "Rings of Protection")
This ring and several others of its type were originally crafted to provide protection to the young Druid apprentices known as "Runners" who deliver the Relbonian Chronicles. It was important that such protection be as light as possible so as not to slow the runner down. As to how the ring provides such protection, little is known, although it is rumoured that they are somehow blessed by the God Boreeshna resulting in a distortion of the air surroounding the wearer, thus making them harder to hit.

Mighty Flight
(Replacing "+2 Strongbow")
Mighty Flights are of exceptional crafstmanship, being fashioned by Dwarven smiths who specialise in the Faith of Rathna. As such they can be extremely heavy, and as a result only Warriors can use them.

With the power of Rathna imbued into the weapon, earth like forces put great pressure on any bolt loaded into the firing chamber, adding great strength to the shot when the bolt is released.

Desert Armour
(Alternative +1 Armour)
Favoured by mercenaries who protect travellers and merchants who travel the Kerem Sea, this armour offers comfortable protection in desert terrain, with heavily bleached leather to help reflect sunlight.

That's all the news for now. Npc info will have to wait a little longer while I figure out what happened to my image editing software!

Overcoming Hurdles

It's been a little hectic this month. We recently attended the funeral of my father-in-law which I'm pleased to say did the man justice. Our 2 year old son also said "Gran'pa" during the service filling us with a sense of pride. It's nice to know he remembers him, and we intend to make sure it stays that way.

I know I promised to make a post about some of the NPCs several posts ago, but er... I'll have to put that on hold for a while. Not because there's been no activity, far from it, it's just that I'd like to do some screen caps to accompany the article, and er... I can't be asked at the moment (lol). The reason I can't be asked however is because I've been too absorbed in making progress, so the good news is that I've overcome two major hurdles that stood in my way. As followers of this blog will know, I've got to the main target area that the PC has been struggling to get to. Although it's not the end of the module, it is pretty major in that several quests can be completed here. As for the two hurdles, the first of which was a cutscene I wanted to include to help complete the atmosphere of having successfully reached this destination. I'm pleased to say that not only is the cutscene complete, but I'm also very close to completing one of the major conversation files to take place at the location.

There's still lots to do, to the point that I often wish I wasn't tackling it alone (anyone out there think they can help?), but I'm real happy with what's been done so far, and that's what pushes me on. I'm considering making what's made so far availale for playtesting so that any bugs can e ironed out as I go. If anyone fancies helping me out in that respect drop me a line.

That's all for now. Hopefully my next post will have some NPC info ;)

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 :)