I decided that I would allow myself the Labor Day weekend to work on Maimed God as much as possible and that I would thereafter turn to other projects with more immediate deadlines. As of last Monday, when I put TMGS down, I was mostly (80%) done with the Act III scripting and had done a significant amount of playtesting on Act III as well (maybe ~40%). I've done a ton of bug-squashing on Act III, and the first two-thirds of it is pretty polished.
The last part of Act III is fairly cutscene-intense as the story comes to a close. Once those individual scenes are scripted, there won't be many bugs to hunt down. Overall, I'd say Act III is pretty close.
However, since Monday, I've turned my attention to three projects, two of them non-NWN-related, that I simply must finish before returning to Maimed God. First, I'm going to categorize, annotate, and file the 400+ pictures I took in Europe. I'll make a post with some of my favorites when that's done. Second, I have a round of proposals for my own private business due on September 28th, so I need to knuckle down on that. Third, I have agreed to submit something for Bouncy Rock's Halloween project, and that's due October 13th. My idea is set, and I've finished a fair portion of it, but I'll wait until later to provide further details.
So it doesn't look like much progress will be made on TMGS until Oct 13th (or earlier if I can finish the Bouncy Rock stuff ahead of schedule).
Showing posts with label Rhein River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rhein River. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
OK, So I'm Back
Actually, I've been back well over a week now, but I didn't want to post until I had something useful to report. First, though, a tribute to this little guy.
Those familiar with Brussels will recognize him as Manneken Pis, but I like to refer to him as The Little Pisser. The day we went to see him, they had him dressed up as a tour guide or bell hop. Hey, whatever; I traveled halfway around the world to see a 2 foot tall statue of a peeing boy dressed as a tour guide and wearing a rain coat... and I wasn't alone. There were hundreds crowded into that street.
More about my trip later when I organize all the pictures a bit more. For now, it's on to:
The Maimed God's Saga
So I was standing in St. Michael's Cathedral in Brussels on the first full day of my trip, and a strange thing happened. I began to hear in my head the main theme for The Maimed God's Saga. Some people may call that "insanity," but I prefer to call it "inspiration." I have to admit that my motivation was slipping just prior to my trip, but as I stared up at the vaulted ceilings of the gothic interior that day, I found myself rejuvenated, and I couldn't wait to go to work again on TMGS... only I still had 2+ weeks of my vacation left. Bummer... OK, not really.
So when I got home I started seriously kicking ass, and the recent advent of tropical storm Fay, which has basically hovered over my house the last two days, has meant much canceled work and lots of Maimed God time. The tasks I have completed since my last update are:
In addition to all that, I laid out a story board for the beginning and ending movies, wrote the scripts, and approached someone about drawing fifteen 2D drawings. He agreed to try one to see if everything would work. Hopefully, it will go smoothly, but I won't reveal who it is until I'm 100% sure it will. I'm a little stoked because this means for the only time in the development, there are two parts of the campaign being developed in parallel. This, of course, equated to faster progress.
Anyway, the new matrix as of right now is as follows:
I changed the journals so that they are all technically campaign journals, which explains the difference in reporting, but the important thing is that they're all done.
Three major groups of tasks remain. First, the scripting. Second, the extraneous art content (movies and music). Third, the testing. My plan is to bang out the scripting while "anonymous" works on the movie art. Whenever the 15 frames are completed, I'll do the magic to "movie-fy" them and check that off. Otherwise, I'll just script until I can do my own internal alpha-testing. Once I'm pretty good with all that, I'll send the module out for beta-testing while I nail down the music. At that point, I'll alternate music and bug fixing until both are done. Lastly, I'll do a final pass through the haks, one more round of testing, and release. With this coming weekend fairly open and next weekend a four-day holiday for me, I should have plenty of time to crank on the scripting... only football season is again approaching ominously on the horizon...
I also cruised the hak packs again and found some very interesting art content I'm going to add, but I'm going to do it in one big update to all the maps after the scripting and maybe alpha-testing is done, so I can incorporate in whatever new art content comes with Storm of Zehir. These include the vines and splatter pack, cobwebs, and mystic runes.
And that's it for the update: short, but dense.
Those familiar with Brussels will recognize him as Manneken Pis, but I like to refer to him as The Little Pisser. The day we went to see him, they had him dressed up as a tour guide or bell hop. Hey, whatever; I traveled halfway around the world to see a 2 foot tall statue of a peeing boy dressed as a tour guide and wearing a rain coat... and I wasn't alone. There were hundreds crowded into that street.
More about my trip later when I organize all the pictures a bit more. For now, it's on to:
The Maimed God's Saga
So I was standing in St. Michael's Cathedral in Brussels on the first full day of my trip, and a strange thing happened. I began to hear in my head the main theme for The Maimed God's Saga. Some people may call that "insanity," but I prefer to call it "inspiration." I have to admit that my motivation was slipping just prior to my trip, but as I stared up at the vaulted ceilings of the gothic interior that day, I found myself rejuvenated, and I couldn't wait to go to work again on TMGS... only I still had 2+ weeks of my vacation left. Bummer... OK, not really.
So when I got home I started seriously kicking ass, and the recent advent of tropical storm Fay, which has basically hovered over my house the last two days, has meant much canceled work and lots of Maimed God time. The tasks I have completed since my last update are:
- All Act III dialogs (~ 50,000 words total) and Campaign dialogs ( an additional 3500 words) finished
- All Act II and Act III journals (~ 5000 words) finished
- The map updates I discussed last time finished
- The Act III scripting is about 35% finished
In addition to all that, I laid out a story board for the beginning and ending movies, wrote the scripts, and approached someone about drawing fifteen 2D drawings. He agreed to try one to see if everything would work. Hopefully, it will go smoothly, but I won't reveal who it is until I'm 100% sure it will. I'm a little stoked because this means for the only time in the development, there are two parts of the campaign being developed in parallel. This, of course, equated to faster progress.
Anyway, the new matrix as of right now is as follows:
I changed the journals so that they are all technically campaign journals, which explains the difference in reporting, but the important thing is that they're all done.
Three major groups of tasks remain. First, the scripting. Second, the extraneous art content (movies and music). Third, the testing. My plan is to bang out the scripting while "anonymous" works on the movie art. Whenever the 15 frames are completed, I'll do the magic to "movie-fy" them and check that off. Otherwise, I'll just script until I can do my own internal alpha-testing. Once I'm pretty good with all that, I'll send the module out for beta-testing while I nail down the music. At that point, I'll alternate music and bug fixing until both are done. Lastly, I'll do a final pass through the haks, one more round of testing, and release. With this coming weekend fairly open and next weekend a four-day holiday for me, I should have plenty of time to crank on the scripting... only football season is again approaching ominously on the horizon...
I also cruised the hak packs again and found some very interesting art content I'm going to add, but I'm going to do it in one big update to all the maps after the scripting and maybe alpha-testing is done, so I can incorporate in whatever new art content comes with Storm of Zehir. These include the vines and splatter pack, cobwebs, and mystic runes.
And that's it for the update: short, but dense.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
I'm Out!
As I noted a month or so ago, I'm heading to Europe in the very near term - like tomorrow, so this is going to be my last post for a while. Regular readers will want to check back in mid-August.
What have I been doing? Well, I ain't gonna lie. Real life can be a pain; in addition to everything I've previously mentioned, I run my own R&D company on the side, and our first major contract is coming to a close. In fact, it will technically end while I'm in Europe, so I've been hecticly trying to wrap some things up while handing control of what's left over to my second-in-command.
As for the Maimed God's Saga, I have still been plugging away, though not nearly as fast as I would like. I've been chugging through dialogs, and I am now at 39,133 words, or 80.92% of what I'll need for Act III. In addition, I have another 7296 words - almost right on 15% - in various states of completion from Word document to partial transfer to the toolset. So the light is definitely at the end of the tunnel in this regard.
As I've written dialogs, I've come to see that I'll need to make slight modifications to three of the maps. Nothing big; I just need to add some placeables that can be interacted with via dialog, but then I need to do clean up and testing on that as well. Probably about 1 to 1.5 hours of work total.
Load Screen Sunday, no Monday, no Tuesday...
It's been a while since I posted one of my new loadscreens. This is another one that should look a bit familiar to long-time readers, but I really like this shot. It's the load screen for the lower floor of the VanGhaunt mansion. I might play with the picture a bit; it's a little dark, but I think it gives a good representation of the mansion.
And now... auf wiedersehen!
What have I been doing? Well, I ain't gonna lie. Real life can be a pain; in addition to everything I've previously mentioned, I run my own R&D company on the side, and our first major contract is coming to a close. In fact, it will technically end while I'm in Europe, so I've been hecticly trying to wrap some things up while handing control of what's left over to my second-in-command.
As for the Maimed God's Saga, I have still been plugging away, though not nearly as fast as I would like. I've been chugging through dialogs, and I am now at 39,133 words, or 80.92% of what I'll need for Act III. In addition, I have another 7296 words - almost right on 15% - in various states of completion from Word document to partial transfer to the toolset. So the light is definitely at the end of the tunnel in this regard.
As I've written dialogs, I've come to see that I'll need to make slight modifications to three of the maps. Nothing big; I just need to add some placeables that can be interacted with via dialog, but then I need to do clean up and testing on that as well. Probably about 1 to 1.5 hours of work total.
Load Screen Sunday, no Monday, no Tuesday...
It's been a while since I posted one of my new loadscreens. This is another one that should look a bit familiar to long-time readers, but I really like this shot. It's the load screen for the lower floor of the VanGhaunt mansion. I might play with the picture a bit; it's a little dark, but I think it gives a good representation of the mansion.
And now... auf wiedersehen!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Real Life Gets in the Way!
Regular readers may have noticed the distinct lack of an update last Sunday. Well, there's a very good reason for that. You see, last week, Mrs. Tiberius209 broke her ankle in a freak accident and is now laid up on the couch. In response, Mr. Tiberius209 now gets to shoulder most of the stuff she was doing in addition to everything I was already doing. The result is nothing getting done on TMGS.
My wife's primary job right now is to get her ankle better. The orthopedist said it will take "four to six weeks." I always thought of broken bones as closer to six, but he's the expert... The reason this is so much fun is that we leave on our summer trip in five weeks. We're already one week into the "four to six," so we're going to cut it close.
Speaking of Trips
Long-time readers may remember my wife and I went to Portugal last year. This year, it was my wife's turn to choose, and she opted for a Rhein River cruise, so it's a little bit of Switzerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Honestly, I'm not sure what to think about it for two reasons.
First, I had a college internship in Germany back in 1997, so outside of the U.S. of course, it's the country I know best (well, possibly tied with the U.K.). Every city we're stopping at in Germany I've already been to, not that there's not going to be something new or maybe a different aspect to see, but I normally like to go places I haven't been to before.
Second, it'll be a much slower trip than any I've yet taken. Normally, I'm always on the go 'cause there's always something new to see, but this time... yep, we'll be on a river going slooooow. I'm keeping an open mind, though. I guess I'll have to figure out how to relax... and given her ankle, it's probably better anyway.
So next year it's my choice again! I'm still deciding, but the early favorite is to skip the summer and instead travel in the December, 2009, or January, 2010, timeframe, and go to... Peru! Machu Pichu, Cuzco, the Inca Trail, Lake Titicaca... If that comes to pass, I can bore everyone with tales of Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Inca. Yay!
Saleron Reaches 100
I've been keeping an eye out for this for a while, and it finally happened a couple days ago. "Saleron's Gambit Part 1" now has 100 votes. The centennial vote was cast by shar_xx, and he/she ("shar," so probably she) was pretty positive in the review. And, of course, one of the comments seems to indicate we have another Saleron-lover - I mean the actual character. (I still sometimes have to step back and shake my head at that minor phenomenon.)
Anyway, I thought I'd mark the little milestone here... It's odd to think that something I first uploaded in 2004 is still being played at all! But then it's the only thing I've worked on that can be played. It's not like Westgate's out...
My wife's primary job right now is to get her ankle better. The orthopedist said it will take "four to six weeks." I always thought of broken bones as closer to six, but he's the expert... The reason this is so much fun is that we leave on our summer trip in five weeks. We're already one week into the "four to six," so we're going to cut it close.
Speaking of Trips
Long-time readers may remember my wife and I went to Portugal last year. This year, it was my wife's turn to choose, and she opted for a Rhein River cruise, so it's a little bit of Switzerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Honestly, I'm not sure what to think about it for two reasons.
First, I had a college internship in Germany back in 1997, so outside of the U.S. of course, it's the country I know best (well, possibly tied with the U.K.). Every city we're stopping at in Germany I've already been to, not that there's not going to be something new or maybe a different aspect to see, but I normally like to go places I haven't been to before.
Second, it'll be a much slower trip than any I've yet taken. Normally, I'm always on the go 'cause there's always something new to see, but this time... yep, we'll be on a river going slooooow. I'm keeping an open mind, though. I guess I'll have to figure out how to relax... and given her ankle, it's probably better anyway.
So next year it's my choice again! I'm still deciding, but the early favorite is to skip the summer and instead travel in the December, 2009, or January, 2010, timeframe, and go to... Peru! Machu Pichu, Cuzco, the Inca Trail, Lake Titicaca... If that comes to pass, I can bore everyone with tales of Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Inca. Yay!
Saleron Reaches 100
I've been keeping an eye out for this for a while, and it finally happened a couple days ago. "Saleron's Gambit Part 1" now has 100 votes. The centennial vote was cast by shar_xx, and he/she ("shar," so probably she) was pretty positive in the review. And, of course, one of the comments seems to indicate we have another Saleron-lover - I mean the actual character. (I still sometimes have to step back and shake my head at that minor phenomenon.)
Anyway, I thought I'd mark the little milestone here... It's odd to think that something I first uploaded in 2004 is still being played at all! But then it's the only thing I've worked on that can be played. It's not like Westgate's out...
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