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!

The Tudors

OK, so following Michele aka Liso's recommendation during my NWN Podcast interview a couple months back, I picked up the first season DVDs of the Tudors and finally finished the ten episodes this weekend... just in time to scrounge around for season two I guess. When I first heard about it, I was dubious to say the least, but the show turned out to be quite impressive. It actually managed to hold my interest (i.e. someone who knows quite a bit about the subject) while also holding my wife's interest (i.e. someone who's interested but not interested enough to read a book about it).

I was pleased to see that the show concentrated on the broad picture of what was happening. Too often in movies on the subject - the two most notable examples being Anne of theThousand Days and The Other Boleyn Girl - focus almost exclusively on Henry's and Anne's relationship. Other major characters, such as Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More, and Catherine of Aragon, are relegated to caricatures focusing on their perceived principle trait: Wolsey is either conniving, corrupt, or (in this matter) ineffective, More is sanctimonious and conscientious, and Catherine is frumpy and resigned. Other characters, such as Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain, or Pope Clement VII, are obliquely referred to or not mentioned at all. Still others, such as Charles Brandon, Bessie Blount, or Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, are not seen period. And yet all these people - not just Henry and Anne - played a role in the great drama that unfolded between about 1530 and 1533, and The Tudors does a good job of showing how they all fit together. I think anyone watching would come away with a solid understanding of the period.

Two performances I was especially taken with are Sam Neill's Cardinal Wolsey and Maria Doyle Kennedy's Catherine of Aragon. I was not initially taken with Neill in the role of Wolsey; I simply kept imagining him running away from a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but I was eventually brought over. Neill showed that he is a terrific actor, as he deftly depicts the Cardinal's slow fall from power. In one moment he is terrified, the next he is desperate, and then his arrogance resurfaces. The moment where Henry first accuses the Cardinal of working against him particularly stands out, as Wolsey collapses to his knees in terror, desperate to assure the King that he is his loyal servant. Care was also taken in some of the dialogue. The line uttered as he is finally dragged away by the guards to be taken to London: "If I had served my God as dilligently as I did my king, he would not have abandoned me in my grey hairs," was actually said to be one of Wolsey's last words (if not his last).

Maria Doyle Kennedy puts in the second surprise performance. Far from the matronly cast-off Catherine is normally portrayed as, Kennedy comes across as classy, elegant, and assured. Her plea to Henry on bended knees during the trial followed by her dramatic exit from the chamber is both historically accurate and fantastically used to demonstrate her sharp mind, quick wit, and political acumen. Yet it is not just a game to her; rather, she is firmly convinced that, in time, Henry will see his folly, tire of Anne, and return to her. Her facial expressions in the scene towards the end when she tries to convince Henry (for the hundreth time) that she was a virgin at the time of their marriage and Henry turns to her and essentially says "yes, and so what?" was especially poignant. She finally realizes that Henry knows she is telling the truth, but the whole matter isn't really about that... and therefore Henry will never be coming back.

So these two actually became complete characters in The Tudors. Others, such as Charles Brandon... well, I guess I should be happy he's there at all. I'm less than enamored with Henry Caville's acting. Nick Dunning's Thomas Boleyn fares little better. Jeremy Northam's Thomas More dangerously flirts with the traditional sanctimonious portrayal, but the harsher aspect brought forth in the final episode as he starts the burning of heretics - an unfortunate event that would continue for the next forty or so years - adds some additional color to the character. James Frain's Thomas Cromwell shows initial promise as a double-crossing zealot, but Cromwell will really only rise to the fore during the events depicted next season, so I'll reserve judgment until then.

So now we get to the principles: Henry and Anne. As with Wolsey, I was not at all optimistic with either of these two. Natalie Dormer could reasonably pass for Anne physically, I guess. She was never supposed to be a great beauty; Anne's allure was (according to contemporaries) in her personality and slightly exotic look. I guess I don't see any of those qualities in Dormer, but it's a matter of personal preference. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is simply too young to depict Henry accurately during these years. The show claims to want to show Henry as a young man, but he was over 40 at the time of his divorce from Catherine. Nevertheless, both Rhys Meyers and Dormer do justice to their subjects as well as they can. Henry's unbounded energy and ambition, his notorious fickleness, and his horrific temper are well-depicted, and Dormer has softened Anne's traditional conniving qualities significantly, adding a new layer to the character, though she's picking up steam as the season progresses. As with Cromwell, the events of next season are where Anne's going to get really interesting, and it will be then that Dormer either puts her stamp on the role or else falls flat on her face.

The production values are also all very high. The costumes are brilliant, though one of the DVD extras indicates that some of them are slightly anachronistic. However, this kind of detail is not something I'd catch; I'll just take their word for it, but they look fantastic. The scenery,both indoors and outdoors is generally supurb, and the music is both dignified and understated for the most part.

So how was the historical accuracy? Well, readers will probably not be surprised at this point to see that I was quite pleased at just how historically accurate the series is. That's not to say there weren't certain errors, but there was an awful lot of truth there. Most of the errors, with a few exceptions outlined below, fall into the category of improper timing. As already stated, Henry should have been about 40 during the climactic events of season one. Also, his daughter by Catherine of Aragon, Mary, was 16 or so. Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII's illegitimate son by Bessie Blount, did die of the sweating sickness, but he was 17 when it happened, not 4 or so as depicted here. The Field of Cloth of Gold festival, which seems to be only a year or so before Henry's divorce, was actually more than fifteen years prior. And there are many others, but these kinds of errors are inconsequential because the essence of the events are still true. Namely, there was a Field of Cloth of Gold festival that went more or less as depicted, Henry Fitzroy was an illegitimate son by Bessie Blount, he did die of sweating sickness as mentioned, and so forth.

Slightly more problematic are the following substantive disagreements with history.

• The Duke of Buckingham actually was beheaded, ostensibly for treason, but the charges are historically regarded as being largely trumped-up while the series shows the charges as being true. Also, the rivalry between Buckingham and Henry is probably overplayed by a couple orders of magnitude; I seriously doubt that Buckingham ever thought he should be king over Henry, though he probably thought he was next in line in case anything happened.
• Henry had two sisters: Margaret and Mary. The series only shows one. They use the name Margaret but the events in her life are mostly those of Mary, though Mary married the aged King of France and not Portugal. In another of those timeline errors, the French King she married was actually the predecessor (and cousin I believe) of the French King depicted in the series.
• Cardinal Wolsey most definitely did not commit suicide. He had been sick for some time and died of natural causes en-route to London after having been arrested near York.

But I admit that most of these are nitpicks. To be sure, I would definitely recommend The Tudors to anyone who's a fan of the subject matter.

Life Sucks Sometimes

Yes, I haven't updated in a couple weeks, and won't for a little while longer. There was a death in the family, and other issues have also sapped my time. Combined with Mrs. Tiberius' clutziness and the resulting extra chores, I just don't have it in me right now. A little progress on TMGS since last time, but not much. 'Til later.

Maimed God Quickie

It was another slow week with nearly no progress... until about Friday night when things started kicking into gear. Instead of working on some small dialogs I could quickly get out of the way like I normally do, I tackled one of the big behemoths head-on. As I started into one particular dialog that is very plot-heavy on Friday night, I started getting the motivation all over again. It's not very humble of me, but I really think this story kicks ass, and I was living one particular scene pretty vividly as I wrote. The scene just flew out of the keyboard, and I barely had to edit a word from the first draft. There's a real emotional punch to some of this story - a lot of the best and worst in humanity; I can't wait to have everyone else enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying making it.

So what did I get accomplished? As a measuring stick, on a good day with proper motivation and no distractions, I can write about 8000 to 10,000 words into the toolset. (Note that this does not included scripting the dialogs, just the writing.) In the last 48 hours, I've managed to get 8,400 words done, which would indicate I worked about half-time. I'd say that's about right. As it stands now, I'm at 34,893 words total, which is 71.32% of my estimated need for Act III.

Looking at the next few days, it looks fairly wide open. I think I'll be able to advance a ton this coming week. Fingers crossed!

Load Screen Sunday
This is close to a screen shot I've already posted, so it won't be thrillingly new, but it's a big one for the module. Players will see it a ton. It's the main loadscreen for Navatranaasu, which is the central hub for Act II.

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 Life as a Moder...ator

Maimed God Update
Not much I'm afraid... Honestly, the thought of writing more conversations this weekend didn't really sing to me, and so I did next to nothing the entire weekend. I did manage to get a few dialogs done during the week, but I've only increased my tally to 26,500 words, or 57.5%. A paltry week's work I admit. Hopefully, I'll get the bug again this coming week.

So what did I do instead? Well, I have more work than I can shake a stick at, but during my computer time I decided on a little world domination, and that meant Civilization III. Yes, I have Civ IV, and while it's technically superior to Civ III in almost every way, it just doesn't have the "magic" for me that the earlier version does. And so I played as the Egyptians... and yes, the world will soon be mine... all mine! Hahahaha!

Witness the fall of the soon-to-be-extinct Sumerians! Uh, that would be the teal to the left of the screen. Yes, I know the orange are the Dutch. They'll get what's coming to them soon enough!

Moderating
Some time ago, Alan Miranda, CEO and guru extraordinaire of Ossian proposed that I should be the Ossian moderator on the BioBoards. I guess this was because he didn't have the time, and I had this distressing tendency to actually read what went on there and even occasionally report to him when interesting things popped up. I was rewarded for this with... more work.

Stupid me, I agreed. It took about two months for all the approvals to fall into place, but as of about three weeks ago, I am an official moderator on the MoW board... and I'm already ready to gag. I may be about to come off as incredibly rude, arrogant, condescending, but you see, I have no idea how developers keep from absolutely telling off the ignorant masses, given some of the outright stupid things I have read. When I was just plain-old me, I had freedom to say what I mostly type and delete now that the Ossian tag is by my name.

Recently, Keehwan Her announced that MoW would be delayed yet again until July. I won't even start with the reasons for that, but the announcement seemed to provide certain people with all the justification they needed to be outright over-the-top rude. One poster typed three words in their response: "You are pathetic." That, of course, violates the board rules against directly attacking other posters, so I edited the hell out of the post. If you haven't already, it might be interested to scroll through the thread to enjoy the commotion, including said poster's response to me that he had only said Atari was "worthy of pity." You have no idea the amount of vitriol I typed and was ready to post... only to then hit delete.

You know, I'm thrilled to be working with Ossian, but things I say will (wrongly) have the veneer of coming officially from the company even though it doesn't. Oh, to be able to go back to just posting as me when the worst thing that would happen as a result of one of my posts would be for me to get banned...

Load Screen Sunday
If you all recall, part of Act I can take place on the River Delimbyre. Unfortunately, none of the included load screens were suitably aqueous. And so I made one myself. Enjoy.

Load Screen Sunday

Progress Report
No need to post an updated progress matrix; the only number that will change is the Act III dialog box. I have managed to add several thousand words of dialog since last update, and the total word count for Act III now stands at 24,682, or 54.5% of what I project I'll need. Still a long way to go, but I've filled in a couple of the major plot dialogs. I count 29 more dialogs I need to write covering everything from a couple line "commoner" bit to major campaign-changing monstrosities.

First Load Screen
I've decided I'll present the load screens in roughly story order with the ones you'll see first coming before those that come later. There is, of course, some variability in the play of the campaign, so some of you may see a slightly different order (not that you'll remember by then).

The first load screen is a bit of a general one I made for the opening area, though it will also be reused later on at a point I can't talk about. I'll present it without further commentary.