Mucho Progress

The Maimed God's Saga
Well, this weekend saw a bit of a lull in my Ossian commitments, so I really poured on the effort with The Maimed God's Saga. The list of accomplishments for Friday-Sunday is:

• Completely wrote four conversations from scratch
• Completed all the scripting for six dialogs (including the four from above)
  
• Added ~ 800 words to Tancred's dialog (now up to ~3700 words - and not nearly done!)
• Finished a dozen or so non-dialog related scripts
  
• Made up about 20 item and creature blueprints
• Finalized plans and details for the only key sidequest of Part I that had not been planned yet
  
• Made one tiny map from scratch
• Got about 75% done with one of the really major maps that remained

All-in-all not much to offer in a screenshot, but a ton of work completed. Looking at the list of things left to do, I'm convinced that I could be in alpha-testing of part one with about three more solid weekends like last one. I would never have said something like that before last weekend, but it was amazing how fast I was putting stuff behind me!

However, Ossian will certainly come calling in the future, so it may be a total of six weekends for me to get three to actually work on Maimed God.

We've Been Promised Cats!

Maimed God's Saga Update
According to Lariam in the comments section from my previous post, we've been promised vicious cats in the Mask of the Betrayer. Hallelujah! "The Maimed God's Saga" can now continue carefree. Thanks to Lariam for the head's-up.

I finished off that map that was 90% done today, and a screenshot is provided. It's for the lower foothills as we leave the mountains. A few days ago, I only had 5 of 11 maps done for part 1 of the module. Now that's 8 of 11. Sounds much better. For some reason, I've been enjoying the heck out of map-making recently. I haven't made nearly as much progress on the writing or the scripting. Oh well, as indicated the maps are drying up, so it's going to be about the writing soon...

SPOILERS

The first chapter essentially has a couple paths one can take, by land and by water. All the land maps are now done and only three water ones are left. So if I hit the dialogs and scripting pretty hard, I could now finish one path through the first third of the module...

END SPOILERS

Ossian Work Ahead
By way of future plans, Ossian has come calling again. It looks like I have another "To Do"list for the next few days, so progress on "The Maimed God" will slow for a bit. Hopefully, this weekend I'll be able to start again.

I don't want to keep teasing people with Ossian news when I can say so little, but let me just reiterate again that you people are in for some really good times. Just trust me on this!

A Little Snag

Maimed God Saga Update
Well, I got my first chance this weekend to really work on The Maimed God's Saga, and I managed to put away both the map for the main floor and the cellar of The Mountain King plus I made some serious headway on another outdoor map. In fact, it's also about 90% done, so that means I now basically have eight of the eleven maps done that I need for the first part of the module.

However, I also hit my first major snag this weekend. There are no models for large cats that shipped with the toolset... I guess I never thought about it. Of course there would be large cats in NWN2, right? Well, if you thought so, you'd be wrong.

This all comes about because, as you've seen, there are a few mountain areas. I was hoping to have some mountain lions as potential adversaries. More than that, though, is that the mountain lions are pretty crucial to a certain plot point - I mean really crucial. Crucial enough for me to moan, wail, weep large tears, and gnash my teeth that they aren't present.

So the plan is to work on other things for now. I wasn't thinking I'd get the adventure out until at least Christmas. By that point, Mask of the Betrayer will be out, as will the so-called "Granny" pack that will make modeling creatures easier, and hopefully, these will enlarge the beastiary enough to have a passable mountain lion that can be retroactively inserted. If not, the "mountain lions" will have to be one of these scary creatures, and won't that just bugger all.

Back Again

I've only been back about 16 hours, and I'm still trying to get updated on all sorts of different projects. So there's not a lot to report right now, but I thought I'd post some preliminary pictures of Portugal. The trip was a blast, and I found Portugal to be a great country and the Portuguese people to be generally friendly.

First, proof-positive that the Romans were in Portugal. The tower in the background is called "centum cellas", and it's a 2nd-century AD Roman fortification near Belmonte. It's interesting to see already how the classical Roman architecture is morphing into Medieval form even by this point.

Oh, and my wife and I are in the foreground in case you missed us in all this talk about towers and architecture.

Second, a picture my wife took as I goofed around on the old Templar fortress of Monsaraz. I had just spotted the Moors and was shouting for the knights to man the battlements... or something like that. Yes, I'm a medieval history dweeb. I think that's been established by now. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I have the coolest wife in the world because she puts up with this kind of childishness from a 31 year old man.

In general, I was shocked by how much the Portuguese allowed tourists to crawl all over these centuries-old monuments. In other countries I've visited, there are normally lines drawn 100 yards away because idiots like to carry off pieces of history. In the States, you'd also have to worry about lawsuits; It's difficult to tell from the photo, but I was fairly close to a rather precipitous drop on that Templar fortress. There were no rails, and this was not an uncommon situation. A local told us you could not sue someone (i.e. the state trust that cared for the fortress) in Portugal for your own idiocy if you fell over the side. The US could learn from Portugal here (though you still have the first problem mentioned about people taking stuff away from the site.)

Third, a picture of the ruined Moorish fortress above the small town of Sintra (basically a suburb of Lisbon). The picture was taken from the Pena Palace, which was even further up the mountain. My wife and I also ran around these ruins a couple hours later in the day, and, as at Monsaraz, the potential for stupidity-induced death was every bit as real there as well. I don't mean to imply that looking around these sites was death-defying, far from it. I am simply surprised by the lack of safety-precautions coming from such a sue-happy society as the States.

Fourth is the shot in the other direction. My wife and I are looking back at the Pena Palace from the top tower of the Moorish ruins.

Fifth, my wife and I took a typically-tourist cruise down the Duoro River. Here she is with Porto in the background. See, proof that we did actually do something that wasn't history-related! (Technically, there's no proof that I was actually on the cruise, but someone took the picture, right?)

Finally, we took a short drive down to Sagres, to see the south-western corner of Portugal. Yes, it's the Algarve, the home-away-from-home for British tourists. It was so crowded by Brits that I was shocked - SHOCKED - to occasionally hear Portuguese...

Anyway, the Algarve is warm and sunny, right? Not when you're high up on a ledge with the wind whipping around. It was a bit chilled at this point. Yes, I look awkward hunkered down, but it's an instinctive reaction. You see, I'm 6'5". My wife... 5'3". I am so used to random photographers cutting off my head in pictures that I tend to bend down a bit... not that I blame them. Most pictures with my wife and I are better if my head is chopped out of them...

Anyways, it was a blast, but now it's back to work. I may still post a few more pictures, but I'll also try to get an Ossian and Maimed God update next time.

The End (For a While)

Things are more busy then I can say, all of it on non-NWN2 real-life stuff, so this will be a series of quick-hits.

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.

Quickie

I don't have a lot to say. I just wanted to post a quick screenshot of the map I've been working on today. I'm actually pretty pleased with it the way the gate and the fortress appear to be built into the mountains.

SPOILERS
This time we've broken off from following the Delimbiyre and headed into the Greypeaks.
END SPOILERS

It's my tribute to Edvard Grieg - I call it "In the Hall of the Mountain King." Well, technically, In the hall will be the next map...

Back From St. Augustine

I returned from our anniversary weekend refreshed and ready to go. As a quick aside, for anyone who's looking for a not-so-well-known and interesting vacation spot, I'd recommend St. Augustine. The oldest sight of European habitation on the North American continent (first settled in 1513) is unique in this country at any rate. Though it certainly has its cheesy "touristy" parts, it nevertheless has enough legitimate stuff to do to make it worth a look. Museums, beaches, water sports, historical monuments, quaint B&Bs, and an easy-to-walk small-town atmosphere all in one.

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

And there are two non-English modules I'm not including. This is just last year's MotY nominees, so that could reasonably be said to be the best of the best... and just about half of them did not get interviews! Valine is certainly not alone in this.

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!