Putting the Exclamation Mark on TMGS

As far as modding goes, I'm still in limbo. TMGS has been out a year, and my interest in another major project still hasn't returned. I think it's time to put that one to bed permanently. I'm not the only one, however. Nemorem's expressed antipathy as well recently. In that post, he wrote:

However, I have to note that there's one thing that's very different this time around. When I went back to work on my NWN mod, there was still a vibrant community from which to draw energy and inspiration. There was a giant CEP hak coming out with loads of new creatures. Mods were getting thousands of downloads a month on Neverwinter Vault. Bioware was strongly supporting the game. In short, NWN still seemed to have a bright future. I'm not sure I can say the same thing about DA.

I agree, but I'd go further and say that I'd say the same at this point about NWN2. However, as I mentioned in my comment in that post, there doesn't seem to be a better option currently or in the near term than the current NWN2 toolset. Therefore, for those who like modding, that's as good an option as any. However, the heyday when the individual modder might expect 10,000 or more downloads is probably over until the "next big thing" emerges.

To be honest, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. It might sound elitist - and to hell with it if it does - but I'd rather be downloaded by 2000 people who appreciate a crpg game for its story more than for it being the current fad with the best graphics and biggest visual effects.

Which brings me to the topic of TMGS. When I performed my statistical analysis of NWN2 scoring and downloads, I grimly noted that TMGS would probably never make the Hall of Fame due to a lack of downloads. Then the Vault changed the criteria from 5000 downloads to 2500. Suddenly, TMGS is a shoo-in, and it will either happen (barely) on July 1st or, if not, definitely on August 1st.

That's lit a bit of a fire under my ass to get version 1.02 out with fixes for the last few bugs before it is actually inducted. If it happens in July, I won't make it, but if it holds until August, I should be OK. So I guess I have a little more toolset work ahead of me.