Monday, October 27, 2008

Back in the Saddle

Yesterday, I got some work done on The Maimed God's Saga for the first time in more than a month. I tidied up a few bugs and integrated a few improvements I still had noted from my last play-through of Act III . Nothing much, but progress was made.

Next, I intend to start on the final few cutscenes. There are three big ones that happen within the last hour or so of gameplay, and each will take some time to complete. Then, a couple more play-throughs, and Act III should be able to be shelved.

After that, I'll wrap up one remaining issue from Act I, and Act II will be all that's left. Again, all the creative content for Act II is done, so it's just scripting and play-testing. It's by far the biggest act, but there aren't any cutscenes, so things should go quicker.

On another front, the 2D artist I thought I had a few posts ago, never sent over any work, so I guess I'm looking again. If anyone knows anyone good...

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Halloween Mod Revealed

Warning! Spoiler Alert! Turn Back Now to Remain Spoiler-Free!
OK, so what's my mod all about? I would call it light. Heavy-hitting drama it is not, but hopefully people will find it a fun little romp.

The crux is that the player must enter a land of fiction to beat fictional villains, the greatest of which is Count Dracula, created and brought to life from the vast number of stories from the mind of the master-bard named Tiberius. Tiberius, obviously, is a good guy, so he was forced to create these monstrosities. Once in the land of fiction, the character makes his or her way up to Dracula's castle where there exists a series of puzzles that must be overcome before reaching the climactic showdown.

However, just as Tiberius created the fictional villains, so can he also create fictional heroes to aid the player, preferably heroes from his own stories. Thereafter the player can search through his manuscripts to find the following three potential companions:

Tancred of Calimport from "The Maimed God's Saga"
Yes, the intrepid ranger is temporarily taken away from Navatranaasu to aid in the battle against Dracula, and he brings his snarkiness with him!


Charissa Maernos from "Mysteries of Westgate"
Alan Miranda at Ossian was kind enough to let me use the companion I wrote for "Mysteries of Westgate," and so here comes the Tyrran priestess with an attitude. Who would have ever thought that the average NWN2 gamer would have traveled with Charissa here first!


And yes, Saleron Pymnot from "Saleron's Gambit"
OK, so I couldn't do this without the wiz, so he finally made the jump from NWN1 to part deux.


Here's a shot as the group approaches Dracula's Castle.


I took care that each companion had something to say about each puzzle. Some are helpful hints and clues, many are not. Here Tancred gives his input about the Modern Prometheus (aka the Frankenstein Monster)


And then some are just blatant excuses for more companion banter... like this exchange in Dracula's study.


So I'm not going to give away any of the jokes and/or puzzle solutions, so that's it for a preview. Hopefully, people will enjoy the 45-60 minutes it will take to complete this mod, and I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with.

Halloween Done!

I submitted my module for Bouncy Rock's Halloween project last night... several nights later than I first envisioned but still well before the October 13th deadline. It was really a case of perpetual polishing - i.e. continual rephrasing of some of my dialogs, tweaking the visual effects, adjusting tints... but I'm now tired of looking at it. Barring any unforeseen bugs, I'm done.

Stay tuned for screen shots in the next day or so... and then maybe I can get back to TMGS.