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I just finished uploading a revised map with ...
November 30, 2004 by Adam in NWN2
I just finished uploading a revised map with some annotations as to what all the different buildings are. Yesterday I made a huge number of changes, fleshing out the various detail pages. Of course, all of this web work has kept me away from working on the module itself, so the site changes will likely slow down shortly.
I've also be reworking some of the interior maps. After redrawing one three times, I think I'm finally happy with how the layout and plot interact. I'm really shooting for a high density of plot per square foot. There should be interesting things to do in every area and very minimal wandering around. We'll see if I can pull it off.
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I put yet more work into my Dragon Age site, ...
November 29, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I put yet more work into my Dragon Age site, fleshing out the informational pages that I'd originally left blank, as well as finishing up a map. My next step is to put together some links between the two sites and then I'll do most of my posting on the Dragon Age site unless I have some specific NWN news. Slowly making progress . . .
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I've made more progress and done some houseke...
November 29, 2004 by Adam in NWN2
I've made more progress and done some housekeeping over the last couple days. I finished writing my sermon mentioned yesterday and typed it up from my scribbled notes. I've also set things up so I can more easily maintain this site. I hope to fill out the two side links today with some actual text and eventually some maps and such.
It's nice to know that I've got a couple years before the game is released as I have lots to plan yet. I'm still mulling over major plot developments later in the campaign. I've also been listening to the Pirates of the Carribean soundtrack for piratey inspiration.
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Well, it's not really ready for prime time, b...
November 28, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Well, it's not really ready for prime time, but I posted my first news item on my new Dragon Age site. Feel free to take a peek.
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Well, I've decided to start moving things ove...
November 28, 2004 by Adam in NWN2
 Well, I've decided to start moving things over to this new area which is dedicated to my Dragon Age modules. There's a couple linked documents to the left that are empty - one of those poor web practice things that I tell my work customers to avoid. Oops.
I spent an hour or so this morning working on a nice looking map of Highcastle, the main village in the first module. I've already got a pencil sketch of the area, so this one's mostly for vanity's sake. I'll polish it up and add it to the Highcastle page with some descriptive text.
I've also been writing a sermon of all things. Religion is playing a part in this campaign it seems. While it's not core to the gameplay or anything, it does serve as a motivation behind certain NPC's actions. The sermon is there for the people who are interested in furthering their understanding of key people in the module.
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I've been doing housekeeping the last few day...
November 24, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I've been doing housekeeping the last few days, trying to throw together a new site for my Dragon Age modules. It was fun seeing the hit counter read Visitors: 1, Hits: 1 this morning. There's no content at the moment but hopefully I can remedy this shortly.
I've been continuing to make my little fishing village, trying to decide what critical services it should have (e.g. fishing shacks, docks, a mill, baker, weaver, etc.). I like the idea of having the village be as realistic as possible, but I might remove buildings that don't tie into the plot. It's a refreshing change from mapping all those interiors.
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I think I've broken through my mapping block ...
November 22, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I think I've broken through my mapping block that I was having last week. I try to visualize certain scenes that I'd like to have occur for the player and when I'm lucky the mapping just pops out of that. I'm also trying to give myself enough flexibility so that I can add things in as new ideas come along. Hopefully I can finish up with this Act's worth of mapping and do some planning for the outdoor areas. Since it's set in a village, there's likely to be lots and lots of dialog to write.
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Mapping is hard
November 19, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Mapping is hard. I've gone through several drafts so far and have yet to come up with a firm layout for what I want to do. Part of it is that the map has to support the plot, which is reliant in part on the map, so I end up going back and forth with the design. I'm slowly getting there, but it's taking awhile.
I just got a note from someone asking if my modules could be translated into Russian. I'm always happy to expand my world domination plans and hopefully I can set things up with my Dragon Age campaign to be easier for translators. If I'm really ambitious, I can get translators working before the module is released, though it's sometimes hard to round people up.
On a personal note, the notebook I use to scribble down my ideas is nearly filled up. It was one that my stepfather used for his work as a chemistry professor. When he passed away a couple years ago, there was something special it and I haven't been looking forward to switching to some boring store bought notebook. My mom was going through things and found an identical blank one. Nice how these things work out.
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I'm over 11,000 words in my campaign document...
November 12, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I'm over 11,000 words in my campaign document, most of it dialog. I do worry sometimes that the beginning of the campaign will be a bit dialog-heavy, though it seems necessary in order to set the stage for the various characters. I'm trying hard to interject some excitement and exploration in there so people don't doze off too badly. It's a tough balance.
I actually played a little bit of Neverwinter Nights the other day. This is a rare thing for me, as it's almost painful for me to touch the game after so many months of grueling development for Demon.
The first module I played with my son, who's five years old. I was looking for something combat heavy and came across the highly rated The Lord of Terror. It's basically a recreation of the first Diablo, complete with images, music, and voice over ripped straight from the game. I'm amazed that the lawyers at Blizzard haven't demanded it be pulled down yet. Still, it's fairly fun, though fairly straightforward. The gameplay quickly came to Sam's fighter clearing the room of critters, then spending the next 30 seconds or so picking things off of bodies and opening all the barrels. I imagine it'll be something we play as co-op from time to time.
I also ended up playing Shadowguard, one of Bioware's new premium modules. I'm only about 45 minutes into it, but so far so good. There's nothing that stands out in particular, but the scripting, dialog, and story are consistently good. My only complaint so far is that many of the themes seem familiar, but perhaps that's just the nature of fantasy roleplaying games.
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I actually cracked open gmax and whipped up a...
November 08, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I actually cracked open gmax and whipped up a little placeable over the weekend. It's not much to look at, but it's mostly for prototyping one of the Dragon Age puzzles anyway. Hopefully I'll have a little time today to fiddle with it a bit.
Other than that, I've been continuing my mapping efforts. There's this vague creative process where puzzles, areas, and plot and come together and hopefully emerge as a coherent whole. I've got one level feeling well mapped out and another slowly getting there. It's a good thing I've got a couple years to go.
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Just a short update for today
November 04, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Just a short update for today. I've transferred a number of my notebook scribbles into electronic form. Right now I'm sticking everything in an RTF file and using Word to edit. It may grow prohibitively large at some point, but I like the ability to move a single file around. Eventually I might move it to HTML documents like I did with the Shadowlord build documents. Pretty soon I'll have to scan in some maps and start writing room descriptions.
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About Me
I've won multiple awards for my Neverwinter Nights modules, which I've been working on since the year 2000.
In the real world, I'm a web developer for a healthcare organization. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
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