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Yet more testing yesterday
February 28, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
Yet more testing yesterday. I had some really good suggestions by my testers yesterday, which were fairly easy to implement and made things a bit more clearer. I also changed some of my custom "trigger-style" traps to the more official traps. The only practical difference is that they're now detectable through normal means. I had an issue with one set of traps where the solution I provided wasn't ideal, so it's now possible to detect and avoid.
I'm still working on some placeables for Dreamcatcher 4. The story is still at the brainstorming phase, though I know basically what's going to happen. I'm still hoping for a particularly key piece of custom content. Hopefully that'll arrive soon.
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I worked more on my custom tree
February 27, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I worked more on my custom tree. I've been wanting one for effect for a long while. Something that looks like a tree in bloom, white petals falling to the ground. It's 222 polygons in size, which is fairly small. I think it should do the trick quite nicely.
I did some more tweaking based on the bug reports I've been getting. There was also a broken quest I had to fix. It turns out that a script of mine hadn't compiled and I didn't notice. I'm going to send out another version to the testers and hopefully we'll get even closer to release.
I'm working with another community member in Ireland to help put together a tileset and group of placeables that I'll probably use in the next module. To be honest, he's doing the majority of the work, and I'll probably end up creating a few placeables for him. His work looks excellent so far and I'm hopeful that everyone will enjoy it for Dreamcatcher 4.
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I'm hoping to start building a "bug fix" list...
February 26, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I'm hoping to start building a "bug fix" list today, though it may end up being more tweaks than actual fixes. So far I've heard of a few fights that were too hard. Hopefully we can get those things straightened out before the release. With luck, we'll have it out by this weekend.
I'm actually starting work on Dreamcatcher 4 a bit. It's a strange transition, going from very detailed work back to free-form brainstorming. I started work on a placeable the other day and it's taking me longer than I wanted. Hopefully it'll be somewhat flexible, however. I can see it being used in many modules to add some flavor. I need to get it working first, however. It looks great in the model viewer, but textures show up white in the toolset. I'm obviously doing something dumb.
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The game is getting so close to done, I can t...
February 25, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
The game is getting so close to done, I can taste it. Sam helped me test multiplayer last night and we ended up having a really good time. There were a few minor issues, but the vast majority were simple to fix. In one case, there was an area transition I had completely forgotten to test (a pretty major one). There was also an odd camera rotation issue that took me awhile to nail down.
With luck, I'll be able to get the game out to testers today. I sent out e-mails yesterday trying to see who was still interested as well as figuring out the best way to get the game to them. I'll probably continue that today and sit back and wait for the bug reports to stream in.
I'm looking to Dreamcatcher 4 already. I think I have some custom content in mind that I can start working on. The game is still coming together in my head, so the next few weeks will be brainstorming and doing technical tests.
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I did more bug testing and polishing yesterday
February 24, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I did more bug testing and polishing yesterday. I'd like to write some more dialog today to round out some character development. Still, it's feeling pretty close to done. Another item on my "to do" list is to start e-mailing beta testers and figure out how to best get a 10 MB hak pack and other files to them. Could be interesting.
I'm starting to think seriously about Dreamcatcher 4. Some of the custom content I was hoping for may not be finished. There may also be some unexpected new content coming my way, though I've yet to figure out how exactly I want to fit it in.
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I hit a milestone today
February 23, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I hit a milestone today. With Sam taking the controls some of the time, I played all the way through the module. It actually worked fairly well, though I have a list of about 20 bugs I'd like to take care of. Most are minor, including some things that I just forgot to take out during testing. While I didn't do every quest, I did all the plot critical ones.
So at this point, I plan on adding some extra dialog just for flavor and character development. There's one more item I need to test. Then a multiplayer pass. After all of that, I'll work on getting the game out to my testers (of which there are many) and once that's done, I'll post it! It's a good feeling after these months of development to be so close.
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I made a lot of really good progress yesterday
February 22, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I made a lot of really good progress yesterday. In theory, I'm feature complete now. While I haven't played through the entire game and I'm sure there are tons of bugs, I don't think there's any major things I want to add to the game. There's a lot of balance issues left. For example, there's a big battle that's pretty boring and easy at the moment. A little scripting should improve that. There's also some annoying custom content bugs that I haven't resolved yet.
Still, I'm feeling pretty good about where things are now. Hopefully I can take the next few days to make polishing and bug fixing passes at the game. With luck, I'll be able to play through in a few more days.
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Lots of work yesterday
February 21, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
Lots of work yesterday. I had a great time putting in even more OnHit weapons. It's amazingly cool to have your sword or arrow hit a target and then do something completely unexpected. My gas arrows took a long while to get right, but they're in there now.
I also started in on the readme file yesterday, documenting every trap, quest, and NPC. It's a huge amount of work, but I'm sure it will save me answering e-mails later on. I also put some work into the journal entries. I have two more scenes to finish up and then I'll basically be feature complete. I have lots of balance issues to resolve, but I'm feeling closer than ever.
I also spent a frustrating hour this morning trying to get pathfinding for Danmar's new tileset to work. I think he gave up in frustration and I'm starting to understand why. I have some more suggestions for him and hopefully it'll help.
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I sometimes feel like a one-man band when wor...
February 20, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I sometimes feel like a one-man band when working on these modules - guitar in hand, kazoo pressed against my lips, and bagpipes under my armpit. That's one of the best parts for me, as I get to work on all the different aspects of game development. If I get tired of writing dialog, I can move on to scripting. If scripting becomes boring, it's on to 3D modeling. I get to have a taste of everything.
Lots of progress, in funny and different ways. There was an issue with the OnHit code I'm using, but the author fixed it so that it now works correctly for arrows. Expect some unusual ones in there. I also worked more on the end scenes, though they're not quite to my liking yet. I worked a bit on one of the final placeables this morning, getting the animation down. It's starting to feel like the game development phase is finally wrapping up.
Danmar e-mailed me his latest tileset creation, a castle exterior. He was having pathfinding issues with his ramp, so I'm trying to help him out in hopes that I can get a castle tileset out of him. Otherwise I'll be reduced to fiddling with the city tileset to make it more castle-like.
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I put in some more work on the introduction m...
February 19, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I put in some more work on the introduction movie yesterday. It should be ready for final assembly and adding a soundtrack today. I also put in yet more dialog yesterday, trying to get a climactic scene ready to go. I spent some frustrating moments this morning testing it out, until I realize that destroyed objects don't run delayed commands against them. Oops.
I also spent some time playing around with a new pseudo-OnHit property for items. I don't think it will do everything I want, but it does lend itself to some cool effects. Why are there two balls floating around this half-orc's head? You'll have to play the game to find out.
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Most of yesterday was focused on dialog, thou...
February 18, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Most of yesterday was focused on dialog, though I did get a chance to do a little bug fixing last night as well. I also started work on the introduction movie, as staring at the toolset was making my eyes glaze over.
Someone posted a nifty script on the Neverwinter Vault yesterday that let you do a custom "OnHit" event. I can tell already that I'm going to have some fun with this one. Expect some unusual weapons and unusual effects. Should be entertaining.
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Things are finally starting to feel like they...
February 17, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Things are finally starting to feel like they're coming together. I worked on a fun little puzzle requiring seven new custom placeables. It looks cool, though I've yet to make rewards for solving the puzzles. The areas are all at least roughly finished (except for the "epiloge" area, which is simple). I still have lots of detail work to put in, though I think my days of creating huge volumes of new custom content are behind me for now. The next couple weeks should be focused on scripting, finishing up dialog, creating some custom items, journal entries, and the like. Slowly getting there.
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Well, I ran out of room in the user defined s...
February 16, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Well, I ran out of room in the user defined section of the placeables.2da file. It's not a problem, but more of an indication of how much new stuff you'll see in the game. I spent hours yesterday nailing down a particular scene using a newly released custom creature. I modified the size and texture, added a bunch of scripting, and it has turned out far better than I thought it would. The attack animations aren't perfect, but I decided they were good enough.
In addition to the new custom content, I've also tightened things up a bit, polishing some of the older areas. I think I'm to the point where all the areas of the game are mapped. I have a few I need to connect and many I need to finish the scripting for, but I'm feeling I'm actually making progress. I have a fair amount of dialog to write yet, along with the usual journal entries and such that get left until the last minute.
I got a touching note from a young couple in Israel yesterday, letting me know they appreciated my modules and that it helped distract them from the current woes of their region. They mentioned that their computer was in their "safe room" and that my modules may get the distinction of being played while wearing gas masks if things get bad. Fan mail is always nice to get, but this one especially reached me. Though the events of the world seem overwhelming and unstoppable, maybe I'm helping in a small way somehow.
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I got a bunch of dialog into the game yesterd...
February 15, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I got a bunch of dialog into the game yesterday and this morning I created some new content, including one extremely large piece that turned out well. I also hunkered down and figured out how to create "use" nodes for placeables. Without them, the PC tries to get the center of the object, which isn't possible for larger objects. So, I fixed one of Danmar's objects and cleaned up one of my own. I also replaced the 1000 polygon gear with a much lower poly version. It looks pretty good so I think the trade off was reasonable.
There's a custom piece I want to add, but it's pretty complicated. At some point, I'll need to decide if it's worth it - I've only done some quickie demos up until now. Slowly getting there.
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I went a little crazy last night and this mor...
February 14, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I went a little crazy last night and this morning, cranking out four more new placeables. I spent about an hour this morning getting them into the game for a little mini-puzzle. It had a pretty good "neato" factor, though I did spend a fair amount of time on it. Two of the placeables are needed elsewhere, however, so I don't feel too bad.
I also spent a bunch of time writing dialog yesterday, though I have yet to get it in the game. I also wrote out an amazingly long "message in a bottle" that should give the players more background into the story. Hopefully I'll have a chance today to put things in place a bit more. I also listed out the other placeables I need to create - it's a long list but I think I'm approaching the end.
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As expected, I didn't get much in-game work d...
February 13, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
As expected, I didn't get much in-game work done yesterday. I did, however, pencil out the third area and write some dialog. I'm afraid I've got some more custom content work that I need to put together, but hopefully it'll be worth it.
There's a new patch for the game out today. I'm going to give it a day or so before I upgrade, I think. There's one really great fix involving custom creatures, but some other problems popped up too.
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Well, I've started doing more wild and crazy ...
February 12, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Well, I've started doing more wild and crazy things. Now I'm overwriting the base animation file, trying to create new animations for the PCs. If you look closely at this screenshot, you'll notice that this person isn't on the ground. I'll just leave the hint at that and save the surprise.
I did a bunch of work on a complex dialog set. Basically it was a way to get around combat, though it's a tad on the evil side (though there's a semi-non-evil way to do it too). I was also having problems with the generic encounter triggers crashing the game, so I put in my own custom one. It gives me greater control over placement and creature composition, so I'm happy with it. I'll need to take another pass for balancing later. Right now it's a little too easy.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to work on the game much after this morning. To many RL things going on. My subconscious is starting to generate some creative ideas, though. I'll probably jot them down today and make them real later.
I have two more main areas to map out and put in the details, and then we're in the polishing phase. Things seem to have gone more quickly than I had hoped, but I still want to take lots of time to do it right. One of the problems with having two very successful modules is that everyone has high hopes for the third. I still think this will be the best so far. In fact, I worry more about the fourth, which will have near impossible expectations.
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I had a good time testing last night
February 11, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I had a good time testing last night. I had a trigger that spawned monsters in a particular way. Unfortunately, I forgot to have it only fire once, so as I ran away, it spawned even more, and then those spawned more when crossing the trigger. My machine quickly slowed way down and dozens of enemies swarmed me.
I'm trying to think of a good non-combat way through the area I'm currently working on. I have a tentative plan, though it's a bit on the evil side. There may be a way around an alignment hit, but it's tricky. Anyway, should be exciting.
More dialog writing today. Dialog, with all the code snippets that typically hang off of it, is typically the most time consuming part of building modules.
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The fan mail has been pouring in lately
February 10, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
The fan mail has been pouring in lately. While flattering, I am noticing the amount of time it's taking to write back. Someone suggested a "guestbook" on this site, so maybe I'll throw one together. On the up side, it appears I'll have many beta testers for Dreamcatcher 3.
It was more of the same yesterday, polishing and testing the existing areas. Lots of bugs, which is typical for a first-pass through an area. I think I have the biggest ones fixed, though I'll probably retest that area many more times until I'm finished. Hopefully today I can put in more of the main NPC's dialog, get the rest and death scripts in there, and start in on the second Act III area.
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Nothing too exciting to report
February 09, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
Nothing too exciting to report. I mapped out another key area yesterday while Sam watched Hercules. I tested out more of the Act II quests, enjoying the "Vow" options considerably. There was one quest that had never been tested and once I got the major bugs fixed it seemed to work okay. Today is probably more of the same, fleshing out what I already have and testing what's there. My estimate of a month remaining may have been a bit conservative. I have two main areas left that need to be fleshed out in considerable detail, but the rest are at least partially done. Of course, testing usually takes far longer than anyone wants, so it may be that a month is about right.
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I created a nifty new trap placeable yesterda...
February 08, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I created a nifty new trap placeable yesterday and spent a fair amount of time testing out the trap. It looks quite cool, though perhaps your immanent death is a bit distracting from the beauty of it all.
I also decided to support the law/chaos quest options in Planescape fashion. The PC will have options to Vow to take certain actions. If they do, they will move a bit towards law. If they choose not to, they will move towards chaos. It's actually quite fun sprinkling them throughout the dialog. It's also separate from the good/evil options. An example of an evil/lawful option might be "I have sworn to avenge my beloved's death and I shall use whatever means necessary. The weapon shall be mine."
All the attention thrust at me of late has had an interesting effect. I'm now even more driven to make this module excellent, on par with anything professionally released. I'm also wanting to take advantage of the fact that I'm not a professional - my evil quests can be truly disturbing and if I want to add such risque things as PC lesbian relationships, that's a-okay. All the job offers has made me realize that I'm in a unique and valuable position. My current job and life situation gives me the freedom to make these modules in such a way that you won't see them coming from any professional gaming house.
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I mapped out a key area yesterday and prepare...
February 07, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I mapped out a key area yesterday and prepared it for traps and/or scripted events. There's a nasty one I have planned - should be fun. I also came up with a fairly simple placeable that has multiple uses - a loose brick. Basically, you can use it and it will slide into the wall to trigger something. I have a couple places where I need it, which I ended up preferring over using an invisible object.
I tested out some of the Act II scenes. There were many bugs, but I think I got quite a few of them. There's a main town quest left untested too. Still, I'm happy with the way progress has been coming along. I'm trying to put as much attention to detail in the second and third acts as the first one received. So far, so good.
I got my third and best job offer today. This time from Bioware, the people that made the Neverwinter Nights game. Fortunately my will is strong and I turned them down. Though quitting my high-paying corporate job and moving to the cold reaches of Canada to do the work I love makes a good plot for a movie, I decided it wouldn't suit reality all that well.
I also got an e-mail from GameStar, a German gaming magazine, wanting to include two of my modules on their cover CD. I'm currently working on sending them my approval. Ah, the joys of fame.
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Progress continues
February 06, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
Progress continues. I worked a bit more on my new custom model, polishing up some details. I also added a new animation and some custom scripting that should surprise a bunch of people.
Just so that people aren't worried about the neglect of the actual story, I've been doing lots of work there. I finished up the key town quests yesterday (though I need to test them), and started work on the keep itself. The main quests in each area are coming together in my mind. Expect options for good and evil along the way. Being good might be a bit more tricky, as the payoffs for evil are pretty nice.
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Lots of progress yesterday
February 05, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Lots of progress yesterday. I was stuck in a really long meeting, so I penciled out a bunch of dialog and a sketch of the key areas of Rethgaard Keep. It was the first time a bunch of elements came together, so I was quite happy with how things turned out. I'm using a hub design for the layout which should allow players to easily move around and resupply after they've cleared an area.
I created a key custom creature this morning. I took the troll model and tweaked it a bunch, making it look far more amphibian. It's not perfect, but not bad for an hour's worth of work.
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I put a little work into a bard yesterday
February 04, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I put a little work into a bard yesterday. It's currently a nicely animated placeable, which may not work to my satisfaction. I may switch gears and change it back to a creature, though I'd have to be careful about how to handle the lute he's holding.
The rest of the game slowly moves along. I'm focusing on the town quests before I move on to the keep itself. I did a tiny bit more work on the engame as well, which is going to be a fun experience for players I suspect.
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I played a bit with sound this morning, comin...
February 02, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I played a bit with sound this morning, coming up with a generic sound generator system. Similar to the flavor text, this plays a sound from a particular location when a trigger is hit. It's mostly for atmosphere, like coming down a hall and hearing insect sounds behind the door. I also added some sound to assorted dialogs - there's lots of great sounds buried in the toolset.
Shadowlords made it to the Hall of Fame on the vault. Kinda nice, though I sort of miss seeing six of my modules on the top 20 list.
Dreamcatcher 2 - Ocean Dreams was posted to the vault last night, so I've been getting the first of the bug reports. Nothing too major - mostly some tweaks and typos that I'll roll into a patch for tomorrow. Initial reviews seem positive, which has me breathing a sigh of relief. There's been lots of talk about the "Grandma's House" area. The gameplay in that area is very different and disorienting, so my tweaks are to make it a bit easier than it currently is.
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More custom placeables
February 01, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 More custom placeables. I whipped up a ghost and a raven over the last couple days. I also woke up this morning with the details to a side quest I was mulling over. I ended up coding the whole thing before 6 am and testing the various good and evil options. Should be entertaining for those people who found and held on to the psionic focus from Dreamcatcher 1.
I'm doing another quest that revolves around the Deathtongue amulet from Dreamcatcher 1. I haven't figured out all the details yet, but it should also have a clear good and evil path. I'm finding the good/evil duality is easier than the law/chaotic quests. I'll try to sneak some of those in too. In any case, the little town of Rethgaard is starting to feel more fleshed out. There should be lots of interesting little side quests before heading below ground again.
I uploaded Dreamcatcher 2 yesterday, though it hasn't posed on the Vault yet. I'll link it to the downloads section once it's there.
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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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