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Well, I wrapped up the side quest I was worki...
November 30, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Well, I wrapped up the side quest I was working on. It's relatively short, but fun, with a bit of treasure, a dash of undead, and a good helping of comedy and revenge. There's also several ways to influence your alignment, which is something I always like to see. Evil characters will probably dig up the whole graveyard, while good ones will dig up the one and sprinkle holy water on it afterwards.
I also snuck in a new set of items. They go by the name Davy Jones, which has strong pirate connotations. I'm always hesitant about putting in something that seems like a named pirate, but after doing a bit of research, I decided it should fit nicely. In theory, having items from the set also lets you breathe underwater for longer periods of time. I modified the underwater script, but have yet to put in any underwater areas in this module. I'm sure that will be fixed soon enough.
We have a new modeler on board, Andrew, who's working on fixing up and retexturing the manor I was working on some time ago. After that's finished up, I'm hoping to get it in-game and start working on more of the main quest. Slowly getting there . . .
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I'm having a great time with the new subquest...
November 29, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
I'm having a great time with the new subquest I'm working on. It's fairly amusing and hits all the proper piratey tones. I think I'm about halfway through getting it ready. Last night I put in assorted grave digging activities, as well as a way for good aligned characters to atone for their actions. Mostly I wanted all players to be able to experience this fun little activity, though good characters have to pay a steep price for their entertainment.
It looks like GingerBeer finished up his recordings of Robert, though I've yet to listen to it. I'm hoping to start getting the other voice actor's work trickling in soon. After that, it's up to someone to start doing all the post-processing work and then getting it into the game.
I did some more work on the first module as well, continuing to work on debugging, adding more polish, and a short dialog. The QA department is rarely mentioned in game interviews, but in my opinion quality QA staff can make or break a game. Think of them as editors for a newspaper, not just finding bugs, but providing feedback on what works and what doesn't.
As for today, I'll likely be doing more detailed bug fixing on the first module and wrapping up my tattoo quest. Part of it involves another island which isn't mapped out yet. I'm also working with Sunjammer on getting the world map integrated. For now I'll probably cheat and bury the treasure next to the NPC that gives the quest.
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I'll see if I can dig up another pretty pictu...
November 28, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
I'll see if I can dig up another pretty picture for the day. At the moment, I'm in a bit of a rush, getting ready for work.
I created ten or so islands for the High Seas mini-game. That's the part that lets the player sail from island to island, so it's pretty key to the campaign. I also sent off a note to Sunjammer in hopes that we can get things ready to integrate at least the world map into the prototype for the second module. I'm starting to make quests that require traveling about.
I also had a rather inspired quest yesterday. I was stuck in the car while my daughter slept, though I'd carefully fortified myself with tea and a notebook. I wrote for about an hour on Silver Moon's Piercing and Tattoos. The tattoos should be fun to play with, and the quest she can give the player is fairly amusing to boot.
Finally, I dutifully worked on some QA this morning. There's a pesky cutscene that's been giving everyone problems. I fiddled with the script in hopes that it'll help. I also wrote a brief dialog for a moment when the party rejoins. A couple people felt that some "Hey, you did it!" sort of comment from your companions was appropriate.
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The only way I've found to juggle work, famil...
November 26, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 The only way I've found to juggle work, family, and this all-encompassing hobby of mine is to multitask whenever possible. I was watching the kids and broke out the watercolors. Soon enough, I was making islands and having a jolly good time. Later that night, I fiddled with the High Seas prototype and put in the new artwork.
I still need to create a placeable for each of the islands, but that shouldn't take too long. I think I like the new look, and it should work well enough for the prototype.
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Somehow, among the Thanksgiving madness, I ac...
November 25, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
Somehow, among the Thanksgiving madness, I actually found time to work on the module. The treasure hunting system is in place, complete with a vendor that sells equipment and treasure maps. Well, just one map at the moment, but it's a start.
I was also stuck in the car for an hour as my daughter slept (she can only fall asleep in the car these days). The good news for me is that I brought along my notebook and put in some solid writing time. I put in the graveyard last night and will soon put in some interesting things for you amateur gravediggers to do. I'd also like to start in on the tattoo and piercing shop, which promises to be an interesting place.
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It seems to be my week of doing things halfway
November 24, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 It seems to be my week of doing things halfway. The psionics system is nearly done, the crime and punishment system is halfway there, and I just started the beginnings of a treasure hunt system this morning. I suspect I can finish the latter up in less than a couple hours. The shovel and sextant are created, with the sextant reporting the player's location in a rough sort of way. The crime and punishment system is more tricky. Last night I set it up so that it's relatively easy to escape from the jail area, as long as you're using your powers appropriately.
I also continued my debugging of the first module. More of the issues are resolved, though there's plenty to do yet. I probably won't get much done today, as it's Thanksgiving here in the US, plus we're celebrating my son's birthday. Maybe I'll sneak in a few minutes of development tonight after everyone's in bed.
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Today's visual treat is another from Razvan, ...
November 23, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Today's visual treat is another from Razvan, a continuation of his pirate pants from a week or two ago. Our ideal is to get a variety of clothing in the game that would suit a sailor. I'd like to give players reasons to wear something other than full plate when cruising the seas. Maybe I'll have them fall overboard and sink during boarding actions.
I was a very good boy yesterday, working through the long list of bugs we found in the module. I've read everything at this point, fixed a bunch of the easy ones, and now have to go back and do more strenuous testing.
I'm also having urges to revisit Port Brighton again. I keep having ideas on how to deal with the crime and punishment portion of the game. I'd like to give even the most lawful characters the opportunity to experience the judicial system, which ties nicely into one of the main quests.
Fun, fun!
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Everyone loves monkeys
November 22, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Everyone loves monkeys. There's something immensely amusing about even the concept of a monkey, and a pirate game wouldn't be right without them. Now, there's endless questions about how easily NWN2 will let us add in new creatures, but I'd still love to get monkeys in the game somehow. In any case, Raz has done some early monkey experiments. No actual monkeys were harmed during this process.
Though buggy, the psionic system is in the game. I can increase my skills, add new psionic powers, cast them as innate feats, use up and recharge mental focus, and so on. It needs lots of tweaking and balance, but the basics work. I had fun launching wave after wave of pyrotechnic walls for testing. It ties into the burning script too, so that things not only take fire damage, but run the risk of catching on fire. I think my favorite is Telekinesis, which is a great utility power, grabbing things from afar, opening trapped chests, and pushing over old ladies.
I'm continuously reminded of how little time I have these days. I really need to get back to debugging. I'm going to do my best to work on that today so that I can get a new version to the QA folks as soon as possible. No rest for the weary.
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As usual, progress has been steady if a bit e...
November 21, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 As usual, progress has been steady if a bit erratic. First off, I'm getting the psionic system nicely shaped up. Using the QA item, you can now give yourself all the psionic powers in the game. I'm working on a system by which you can improve your psionic powers, as well a manna-like system to limit their constant use.
I also got all of my written Lord Brighton dialog into the game, as well as adding a bit more. It's nice seeing the main quest slowly shaping up.
Today will most likely be a debug day for me. I've got a bunch of issues still pending, so I suspect I'll be slaving away at those when I get a chance.
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This is a quick update as I'm technically wat...
November 20, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 This is a quick update as I'm technically watching my daughter at the moment. I added a temporary texture and got the printing press in the game. It obviously needs more work, but I figure it's a prototype so I'm keeping it basic.
Yesterday I wrote for a good hour or so, putting down lots of Lord Brighton's dialog on paper. It felt good to get some of the ideas out of my brain and I like the general direction its going.
This morning I worked on fleshing out the psionic system a bit more. There's the beginnings of a way to store, retrieve, and advance your various psionic skills. It's still quite rough, but I feel good about that as well.
Some technical problems are keeping me from debugging the first module this weekend. I'll hopefully fix those and get working on in come Monday.
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This is a late posting, but I've got a couple...
November 18, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 This is a late posting, but I've got a couple treats for folks today. I made a request for a printing press the other day and popped in this morning to find it finished. It's amazing how fast Razvan works. He also fiddled with the latest ship a bit more, shrinking it down and polishing it up. I think it's one of my favorites of the bunch.
I met with Christian today to go over music in the first module. There's a number of changes, though most of them aren't too difficult. It's nice that he's paying such close attention to this one aspect of the game. I tend to be a bit more lackadaisical about such things.
I'm also knee-deep going through Arachnid's lengthy bug report. It's amazing how many little things I missed along the way. Fortunately there's not too many major ones, or at least I haven't gotten to that point yet. I think there's one really bad cutscene problem that I'll be working on this weekend.
Last night and this morning I worked on the second module. It's a fun and refreshing change to create new things. I snuck in a monkey paw magic item that's somewhat entertaining, as well as another unique item for Father Andrew of Brighton Church. I want to have a lot of interesting things for the player to spend their money on. I also filled up Port Brighton with assorted buildings, though most of them aren't populated yet. Still, it's feeling like more of a real town each day.
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The team continues to be very busy
November 17, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 The team continues to be very busy. I'm listening to Christian's latest Port Brighton tune, which has me tapping my foot and thinking of a salty sea breeze. Arachnid has jumped in, making a nice CVS repository for the endless files we're creating. He also managed to find a huge list of bugs for me to take care of, so it looks like I'll be busy today.
Finally, the new texture artist has jumped on board. He's starting in on the lighthouse for Port Brighton, which Raz put together a few months ago. I'm very excited to start seeing these things in the game.
Raz continues to work on his new ship. This images is actually an earlier version. The latest is a bit smaller, more suitable for the players. I may end up swapping out what I currently have in the prototype as there's some things I like about this one a bit better.
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Port Brighton continues to grow as a city
November 16, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Port Brighton continues to grow as a city. I've been working on the spawning and behavior of guards and commoners. It now works pretty much the way I want. Guards appear either at designated stations or along patrol routes. Commoners can do the same. If there are no more stations or patrol routes, they'll appear at certain spawn points or doorways and walk around randomly. Eventually I need some more variety in the commoners, but that's easy enough to do.
There's also some new shops in town, though they're not filled out quite yet. I'm trying to put the key ones right off the docks so that players can sail into port and empty their purses. I have the typical magic shop and armory, but I'd also like to sneak in Silver Moon Tattos and Piercings, which appeals to my inner pirate.
The team continues to be busy. I'll probably post a picture of Razvan's latest ship soon. It continues to look nicer by the hour. Christian and Evil Mulder have created even more great themes. EM has a theme for the magic shop that has inspired me to develop a particular character and feel for the place. Great fun.
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It's hard to know where to start about yester...
November 15, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 It's hard to know where to start about yesterday, as it seemed so incredibly full. I guess I'll just begin rambling and see where it takes me.
We got some new screenshots yesterday, the first really showing off the toolset. There's confirmation of a host of creatures, including everyone's favorite, bunnies. There's also all sorts of interesting tidbits coming out things work, from tinting buildings and creatures to the possible importing of other things from NWN.
The team itself has been very busy. Razvan was showing off a new ship. Christian is working on a great new Port Brighton theme. Sunjammer is working on the High Seas trade system (currently you can only buy and sell ale, which shows his drinking preferences). It's really amazing stuff.
I had a long chat with some other community members about getting organized for the upcoming custom content issues. Mostly we're going to start collecting all these pieces of information in a more organized fashion.
Finally, I put in some work on my own modules. I did a huge grammar and typo pass on the first module. Ove gave me this several page document reporting all my sins. I also got back into PJJ's QA list, working on a few outstanding issues. With luck, this latest round of fixes means that someone could actually play the entire module through. We also signed up a couple more people to help with testing, for which I'm grateful for.
All-in-all, it was one of the more busy and productive days I've had in awhile.
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I struggled for an hour or so, trying to make...
November 14, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 I struggled for an hour or so, trying to make one of the roofs on the manor get to a point I was satisfied with. I was having a hard time turning them into skylights, so I panicked and put in a more traditional roof. I may continue with that approach, though I want to chat with Razvan and pass along some of my bigger pictures (upholding a promise I made during the weekend's meeting).
Scripting-wise, I put in the beginnings of a spawn system that fills a town with generic commoners. It should also tie into the crime and punishment system, especially with the guards going after and recognizing the player (assuming they've been bad). We'll see how it goes.
Update: Before I forget, one of the things brought up in our meeting was the need for more testers. If you'd like to be involved with this project and have the ability to nitpick and criticize for hours on end, this is the job for you! Take a look at our Join Us page and drop Lizabeth an e-mail. If that's not enough motivation, I can make many empty promises of barrels o' grog and countless loose women.
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I had a funny bug this morning
November 13, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 I had a funny bug this morning. I've been working on the theft scripts some more. Players who take things from other people's crates will have a check to see if nearby people see you. If so, they'll report your actions. The amusing bug of the day was when one of the dummies in the Mad Hatter decided to threaten me. I quickly returned the hat, which shifted my alignment lawful again.
We had our team meeting yesterday, which went quite well. The next big thing is coordinating all the voice actors. It sounds like I've got another round of bug fixes coming around, especially grammar and spelling. I think everyone would like to meet more frequently, which I agree with. The tricky part is finding the time, which is close to nonexistant for me.
I'm having fun bringing Port Brighton to life. The Port Authority is now accessable, the Black Spot has a friendly bartender, and more NPCs are livening up the place.
Slowly getting there . . .
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I perfected the printing press forgery system
November 12, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
I perfected the printing press forgery system. It took a long while getting the buyer's side working just right. I also added a little vanity system where players can name the documents they create. Silly, perhaps, but fun as well.
For the last week, my home computer has been experiencing strange crashes. Last night I finally tracked down the issue to bad memory. Unfortunately it also means that I have some module corruption. I have good backups from a week ago. I'm in the process of trying to pull out what I've worked on and merge it with the old copy. Tedious.
There's a team meeting in a couple hours, the first in a long while. I'm looking forward to saying hello to everyone again and kicking off some of the voice acting efforts. Should be fun!
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It was all about crime yesterday and this morning
November 11, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
It was all about crime yesterday and this morning. The vast majority of my time was spent on forgery, working on a printing press and a variety of ways a player's skills could be used to crank out interesting documents. I also started in on the justice system, initially working on the jail and such. Hopefully there will be some interesting ways to bribe, sneak, and atone your way out of the place.
You can't really be a pirate without doing some crime.
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Razvan is a bundle of creative energy
November 10, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Razvan is a bundle of creative energy. Today he sent me an image of his latest project, pirate pants. I suspect he's going to work on an entire pirate outfit at some point. I can't wait for the puffy shirt.
I spent this morning tracking down some odd bugs in my temporary psionic system that I have in the first module. It's used in the final battle, and I only now realized it didn't work at all. After digging through a bunch of .2da files, I straightened things out. I also came to the realization that it's fun to play with and I'm itching to give the skill to the players to fiddle with more often.
Yesterday I was a typing maniac, getting volumes of written dialog in the game. I'm amazed at how much writing goes into these projects, perhaps around 30% of the total effort.
As for today, we'll see how it goes. I'd like to start putting in the people and places where all this chatting is supposed to occur. I'd also like to get started on the psionics system in more detail. Fun stuff.
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I spent last night debugging my little side quest
November 09, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
I spent last night debugging my little side quest. It's fairly short, but has a wide range of outcomes depending on how you deal with the ethics of the situation. There were quite a few scripting bugs to sort through, such as the Vow option moving you chaotic if you complete it. I think I sorted it all out now.
I moved a few dialogs from paper into the game this morning. Fortunately I'm a fast typist so it wasn't too painful. There's so many people and characters around Port Brighton, which translates to a lot of dialog needs.
We had a texture artist sign up yesterday, something I'm very happy about. I'm hoping he and Razvan can work together to start wrapping up a number of the models that are currently untextured. Woo hoo!
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I'm slowly plodding along
November 08, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
I'm slowly plodding along. Yesterday I started in on the dialog, NPCs, and scripts surrounding my burning building side-quest. I've still got lots more scripts to write today.
I also spec'ed out a rather complicated system involving crime and punishment in Port Brighton. I'm not sure how many of my ideas I'll be able to implement, but I'm hopeful we can make life interesting for the rogues and cutthroats out there.
I'm also gearing up for a team meeting this weekend, the first in a long while. I'm excited to get the voice acting put together for the first module. I've heard some readings of some of the voice actors and it's got me very excited.
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I was doing my typical setting things on fire...
November 07, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 I was doing my typical setting things on fire trick this morning, getting an area ready for another side quest. It's a treat to put in a wide variety of activities for players. I'm also loving having real people around, as morality in the absence of others is fairly dry. Now it's far easier to lie, cheat, and steal, or vanquish evil and uphold your honor. It makes things more complicated for me to script, but fun as well.
I've started thinking about what sort of systems I'd like for the citizens and guards of Port Brighton. I haven't had good luck yet with a crime and punishment system, though I suspect that won't stop me from trying again. Due to my daughter falling asleep in the car, I had nearly an hour of uninterrupted writing time yesterday. A jail and some thoughts on how it should work were part of my scribblings.
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The fireworks are in the game, looking and so...
November 06, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 The fireworks are in the game, looking and sounding quite nice. I have multiple colors, showering the horizion with lots of pretty blossoms. For a prototype, it's a nice touch.
I polished and tested the database transfer between the first and second modules. Key information, like how you treated your companions, comes across fine now. The companions themselves come across with all their equipment and such as well.
That did mean I had to play the final battle from the first module. It's a tough fight, but hopefully the wide range of equipment the player can collect will help immensely. I've also sprinkled some items that should help out the clever player.
I've also spent the last hour debugging the opening sequences of the second module. It's tedious work, tracking down unlinked dialogs, script errors, mistagged NPCs, and other general weirdness. The most amusing bug was when at the end of a long dialog, a massive brawl broke out on ship. None of the key NPCs survived the experience.
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Sometimes my obsessive compulsiveness pops up...
November 05, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Sometimes my obsessive compulsiveness pops up for no apparent reason. For awhile now, I've been wanting to do fireworks in NWN, and there's a scene in the story that calls for them. After a fair amount of fiddling, I think I have something that's passable. I still need more variety, and the speed is a little faster than I would like, but it's good enough for a prototype.
I worked on the opening scenes of the second module yesterday. There's one other that I need to do before the PC can get into the main second of the game. Wandering around a salty sea port is fun so far, though I can already tell I'm going to need much more "density" of people, shops, and quests.
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Well, it took a good long while, but I'm near...
November 04, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Well, it took a good long while, but I'm nearly happy with the way the manor is turning out. I've opted for fairly traditional textures, as well as a few windows to brighten up the place. Now the trick will be getting it into the prototype. Since it's nearly 10,000 polygons, it'll crash the browser unless I shrink things down quite a bit.
When I said I was done withe the Mad Hatter quest, I wasn't quite truthful. It turns out I needed some journal entries, more dialog to finish up the quest in several different ways. I want to give opportunities for the PC to lie, be truthful, act generous, or try to squeeze a few extra gold out of an NPC. Little touches like that put the role playing in an RPG, so I don't mind too much.
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I spent some time working on the manor yester...
November 03, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 I spent some time working on the manor yesterday, though I'm not entirely happy with the direction that things are going. I've tried to move away from the traditional stonework for a few areas, but the effect isn't exactly what I was hoping for. I suspect I'll redo the texture yet again, at least for the out buildings. The central part is coming along nicely, though. I finished up texturing all the detail work around the windows, which was quite time consuming.
As an aside, the blue boxes are there to give a feel for the scale of things, not part of the model itself. I think they're 2 meters tall, about as big as a large human.
Yesterday was insanely busy, filled with assorted work crises. I don't think I touched the toolset once.
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Obsidian put together a great Halloween theme...
November 02, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Obsidian put together a great Halloween themed screen, showing off some of the undead in NWN2. I updated the list of creatures at the bottom of my last article. It's looking like we're going to have quite a nice list of beasties to play with.
I worked more on debugging the first module this morning. Most of the big issues are either fixed or have workarounds. I'm always torn about how much to polish something that will only be played by a handful of people. There were some music issues to sort out as well. I'm continuing to make sure I've packed in the great music the team has come up with in all the right places.
The second module continues nicely. I'm working on a rather lengthy dialog in the beginning of the module. It's coming along okay, though taking awhile. The Mad Hatter quest feels fairly finished as well, a little side quest for people who like to poke around in every crevice.
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Well, I fixed the issue with the translation ...
November 01, 2005 by Adam in NWN2
 Well, I fixed the issue with the translation tool this morning. It was a series of silly issues involving a language not being selected and still letting people try to translate the text.
I'm continuing work on the Mad Hatter subquest. I've tried to make it difficult for the characters at this level, unless they're cautious and use what clues I've given them. I'm also having fun with the host of goodies I can give players, from rare gunpowder to Pirate Cards to set items to focus gems. Hopefully it'll keep the collectors out there happy.
I also ran across Papermonk, someone I worked with on CODI quite a bit. It's funny how a lot of the NWN community is still around. I wonder if we'll be sitting around when we're sixty, complaining about how the VR setup for NWN10 isn't quite up to snuff.
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Why We Fight
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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