Sunday, May 27, 2007
The End (For a While)
Off to Portugal!
Tuesday I leave for Portugal and will not return until the 11th of June. Therefore, this is almost certainly the last update until a couple days after that. Tomorrow promises to be jam-packed, as I've not even started packing for the trip.
It seems I was wong...
No announcement from Ossian. I said I had no precise knowledge, but after so much promising, I was sure that a certain event would trigger one. Guess not. Anyway, work progresses on... uh, secret stuff. I guess I'll see what the progress is in two weeks.
Interview Due Tomorrow
I sent in the answers to my interview questions a couple days ago, and I was told it would be up on the Vault tomorrow morning. That's what I was told anyway...
As you would expect, the questions dealt mostly with Saleron reflections, but there is a big section at the end where I reveal a few more nuggets about "The Maimed God's Saga" that haven't yet been released. Oh, and I gave the interviewer a couple new screenshots that only they have. If they don't use them, I'll post them here. Otherwise, the shots are theirs. There's nothing truly spoilerish, and what little is kinda spoilerish should be clearly demarcated, so you can read without too many fears.
So people who can't get enough of my inane ramblings will have another dose. Bah!
Fester Pot Interview Canceled!
After I sent some questions in for Fester Pot to answer, it seems that he declined the interview from me and my partner. Wish I knew sooner. The story I got was that he declined Steve Savicki's initial request after "Almraiven" hit the HoF because he wanted his interview closer to when "Almraiven's" sequel was coming out. Well, that time is fast approaching, and he is apparently ammenable now to giving one, but he wants to give Steve first dibs. Sounds fair to me...
So look for that to happen... sometime? Maybe?
The Maimed God's Saga
I edited a few conversations, but otherwise there's nothing to report. However, as I'll be gone for the next couple weeks, I want to assure anyone new who happens by because of the interview (or even you old people) that I intend to hit my module hard upon returning. Ossian, of course, will still be around, but that"real life stuff" I mentioned above will be cleared. After my trip, summer actually looks fairly open, so I'm looking forward to making real progress.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Back From St. Augustine
And now that I've done my duty for the St. Augustine Chamber of Commerce, I'll move on to my current projects.
Ossian
Yeah, I finished one round of deadlines for a secret project today, and that took most of my afternoon. Then I moved on to...
The Maimed God's Saga
My only work on this project today was completing what I thought would be a simple map. However, since it's actually a boat in the midst of the River Delimbiyre, it turned out to be a bit more problematic to get the walk meshes quite right. I'm still not 100% pleased with the result, but it might be the best that can be done. I might look into some custom content to see if I can make it look a bit better.
To those who wrote about my previous question about the leadership of Calimshan in 1361 DR, thanks a bunch. I've been busy, so I still need to look over some of the material, but hopefully the information is contained therein.
Vault Interviews
A week or so ago, there was a bit of discussion on the Bioboards that turned towards the subject of NWN Hall of Fame interviews. The turn hinged on someone wondering why Valine had not had her HoF interview (or even the more recent Module of the Year interview), and the poster's implication (I thought) was that the lack of an interview showed a blatant disrespect or even a systematic attempt by the PTB (Powers That Be) of the Vault to rob Valine of her just due.
To be fair, the poster claimed this was not his intent, and I guess I'll take him at his word. Additionally, this post is no attempt to start something with either Valine or her fans. My point - which I made on the Bioboards - was that the lack of an HoF interview hardly made Valine unique. I, in fact, have also never been interviewed, and I was certain that was not the full extent of the list either. After the exchange, I took a brief look at just the list of nominees for the 2006 MotY, and I found that the following modules authors also never received an interview for their 2006 inductees (though they may have interviews for prior works):
- Fester Pot - "Almraiven"
- Roy Boscowan - "Red Moon Rising"
- Challseus - "Rose of Eternity II"
- Poecile - "Aribeth's Revival II"
- Aristan - "Avertine: A Nation Dreamed"
- Havlen - "Endless Nights VI"
- Fabien Cerutti - "Exile of the West"
- John Bye - "Good vs. Evil II"
- Trev - "Lloth's Revenge"
- Hugie - "Perchance to Dream" and "The Island"
- John McA - "Sands of Fate 3"
- Savant and Black Diamond - "The Fall of Aielund Pt. 2
Well, a few days later, I got an e-mail from a group (I don't know if they want to be identified yet, so I'll refrain from naming them) asking if I'd be up for an interview. The relevant part of my response follows:
Now, about me personally, my view is simple. I neither want nor need an interview for my sake. I have a blog that I rant on and spout my nonsense, and many of my fans check it regularly. So I don't need a 'reward' for hitting the HoF, and I mean that sincerely.
However, if there is someone in your group who enjoyed the series and wants to ask questions that they think will be of interest to the community, then I'll be happy to take the time to answer them. I firmly believe these interviews should be for the community, not for the author, and I am perfectly OK if it turns out that no one is interested in a series for an obsolete game that hasn't had a new chapter released in 8 months. I'll only be a little bit hurt if the answer comes back 'In that case, no thanks'.
So the response came back that someone still has some questions they want to ask, so we'll see how that goes...
HOWEVER, part of this exchange also was that I suggested that Fester Pot be contacted about an interview for Almraiven, which is one of the very few modules I've played in the last year, and I volunteered to do it if no one else wanted to. As it turns out, I'll be doing a joint interview with him (assuming he agrees), so be sure to watch for that. I actually have quite a bit I'd like to ask him.
And for those who haven't tried Almraiven, what are you waiting for? It was a first-rate module to be sure!