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I made a ton of progress yesterday, fixing a ...
June 30, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I made a ton of progress yesterday, fixing a number of problems that had gone unfixed for a long while. The most important is that I managed to fix the weird head problem with some help from Luna_C. It turns out that the head was trying to look at me, as most models do, but that the neck was tilted instead of straight up and down. After some fiddling, it worked perfectly. The head following makes them look even cooler, so I've started making more variations on that single base model.
I think all of the traps have my desired visual effect. The spinning blade trap was the most difficult, with shuriken-like objects spiraling out from the center. I learned more than I wanted about trajectories in Max for that one.
I also worked on a new creature model, though I'm a bit insane for making the attempt. Right now it has one animation, with at least a few more to follow. Though this particular creature may not see much combat, I'd like to see at least some of the movement and interaction animations done.
Slowly getting there.
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Dragonlance Adventures released their first w...
June 29, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Dragonlance Adventures released their first work, a very nicely done sewer tileset. I've been playing with it this morning and it's lots of fun to play with. Excellent atmosphere. I'm fairly sure it'll make it into the module.
I've been following the DLA group for the last few months and have started to get increasingly excited about their work. They had a chat yesterday which talks in great detail about their project. They even mentioned me specifically (thanks guys).
I do admit to a pang of jealousy towards both the CODI and DLA groups. They made the decision long ago that their projects would be huge, size-wise, and they wouldn't worry about keeping their content easily downloadable by modem users. I find myself sweating over every texture not in the game, forsaking nice goodies such as load screens and new music. The hak pack for my next project will probably be larger than the Dreamcatcher ones. I may also do a "big" and "little" version, so to appease both groups. Harder to work with, but I think it'll keep everyone happy.
I plugged away on the module yesterday, running into a series of small annoying problems. I was having problems creating placeables - they kept crashing the game, which I've never seen happen. I also worked more on the trap effects, as I realized they weren't complete (one doesn't even have a script attached yet). Finally, the annoying problem with the Tainted model is back. Time to go through the animations again and see what's up.
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I took yesterday off from work, though life w...
June 28, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I took yesterday off from work, though life with two kids makes it less of a vacation than it might be otherwise. I did manage to work up some new models. I'm starting to realize that my one area is going to require a fair number of placeables.
I also had a long standing annoying problem finally fixed. My main Tainted model had an issue where it would suddenly stare at the floor. It turns out one of the many animations was screwed up. Many thanks to Luna_C for helping me out. Now I can start cranking out endless variations. Should be entertaining.
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I felt a nostalgic longing for a cranium rat,...
June 27, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I felt a nostalgic longing for a cranium rat, so I whipped one up yesterday. The little guy still looks cute to me, even with the pulsing brain.
I worked more on henchman AI yesterday. Though it took awhile, they can now cast spells on demand during combat. I'm digging increasingly deeper into the base henchman scripts, which I've avoided until now. Now that I've found my bravery, I'll probably tinker some more.
I'd like to be able to do similar things, such as "use melee", "go stealthy", or "attack the wizard". We'll see how much time I get to play with such things.
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While I continued on with my little project y...
June 26, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 While I continued on with my little project yesterday (pun intended), most of my work focused on things you can't really appreciate in a screenshot.
I worked on henchmen AI, trying to get the spellcasting down right. I'm using a generic "Bob the Henchman" to test things out. You can now ask him to cast a spell and he'll list them for you. Keep clicking "more" and you'll get the next set of ten. The list comes from the spells.2da file, which is somewhat handy.
Something that has an even cooler factor is being able to shout out things like "cast aid on me". The henchman listens for the word "cast", figures out the spell name, then figures out the target. Pretty cool.
It's not perfect yet. The targeting of things beyond "yourself" and "me" is currently broken. Also, the performance hit of looking up .2da files in a loop is prohibitively lengthy, so I'll write an "index" version of the spells.2da file. It's too bad, as it forces it to be English only (previously I was translating the spell name into the language-specific name). Still, it should be a handy addition.
I'm thinking about other AI things that could be done in this area. Being able to shout out directions to your associates feels is something I'd like to pursue more of. Ideally, those would be tied to custom text macros so that you can direct them in battle.
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I started work on one of my ideas that I had ...
June 25, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I started work on one of my ideas that I had during our latest coast trip. Building sandcastles certainly triggers some odd ideas at times. There was a simple tileset that I needed, which I put together last night. Now it's a matter of creating a bunch of placeables. At this point, I only have one, but it works just how I'd like.
I also spent time yesterday cleaning up the .2da files for the first Demon module. I added hundreds of lines of padding to accomodate the SoU expansion, as well as any future expansions. I had to recreate a bunch of items in the game, but fortunately it was early enough in development so that it only took an hour or so.
On my list for today is hopefully cleaning up some of the visualeffects.2da files with Dreamcatcher. I'm pretty sure I won't be changing the baseitems.2da, as it would involve changing every item and invalidating people's saved characters. I also need to figure out the best way to package the change. I think I'll update the hak and module, then supply a tiny .2da file for those who don't want to redownload another big hak pack.
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I finished up the Cellar tiles for the interi...
June 24, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I finished up the Cellar tiles for the interior tileset. I'll hopefully get a chance to ship it off to Danmar today. I've been out for three days, so the e-mails have piled up. I got an interesting note from Manbo, who's doing the translations for the Shadowlords campaign into Japanese. Quite impressive work.
I also managed to get my vanilla version of NWN all patched and working well. The manual update worked just fine. I'm trying hard to support non-SoU users, so I'd like to avoid accidentally converting the modules to require the expansion. I'll install SoU on my second computer for testing purposes. There's still a bunch of SoU-specific tests I need to do, including trying to get the Dreamcatcher modules to somewhat support it. It'll unfortunately be a bit exciting.
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Well, we survived the long drive back from th...
June 24, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Well, we survived the long drive back from the coast. It's our first lengthy trip with both kids and I was trying to manage them both while all three of us were in the back. It was quite exciting. We did have some really great times, most notibly when my son and I decided to build a sand fortress against the incoming tide. He was barking out orders and calling me "fellow sergeant". Sadly, the wall finally broke and the countless jellyfish invaded our keep.
As for NWN, I finished SoU, enjoying it a fair amount. There were some interesting puzzles and thought provoking moments. None too hard that I could figure my way through after a bit.
I did have a terrible time trying to uninstall SoU and install NWN up to the latest patch. I was without a net connection and had downloaded the 1.30 critical rebuild. Unfortunately, it didn't work as there were some .dll conflicts that made it unplayable.
So, I worked on tilesets, creating a hallway door for the "Haunted" set of tiles in the Interior tileset. I also started in on a set of cellar tiles, using the haunted tiles as a base. So far, so good. I also started getting some good ideas for the module. Lots of notes in the notebook as well as some opening dialog.
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I spent some time scheming yesterday around t...
June 21, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
I spent some time scheming yesterday around the ability to add custom prestige classes. For that purpose, I began gathering material to see if I could pull off doing what I want and I think it's possible. I've yet to test it in-game, but that's the next step.
The hard part is that many of the .2da files reference the dialog.tlk file, which is difficult to modify and keep updated (it changes with every patch). For that reason, I spent a few hours going through the dialog.tlk file looking for "interesting" entries. It's basically just a table full of text, with a number referring to a few words. So #3234 might be "Necromancy". If I wanted to add a feat of Necromancy in the game, I could do it fairly easily since the description's already in the dialog.tlk file. Simple? Well, not really. But hopefully it'll work.
Finally, I'm off to the coast for a few days, so I'll be absent for awhile. I'm actually taking my computer with me, so I'll hopefully have a chance to finish SoU, uninstall it, reinstall NWN, and install the 1.30 patch in preparation for module updates and playing with new functions. Yippie.
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Okay, I admit
June 20, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Okay, I admit. I got nothing done yesterday and ended up playing Shadows of Undrentide for most of the day yesterday. I stayed up pretty late, which is a sign that I enjoyed it. I've noticed a few problems with my picky eyes, such as pathfinding with the gypsy wagons, a single typo, and some texturing issues. Still, the game itself is pretty fun. I really like the new inventory management, which works quite well. The henchmen are okay, though the backstory of the one I picked up isn't incredibly gripping.
I'm also trying it through as a rogue, which I'm finding is extremely cool, especially at higher levels with the Use Magic Item skill. That one opens up virtually every magic item I find. I love being able to equip things that can only be used by certain classes. All that Bard loot I threw away I am now hording.
Hopefully today I can get started on the .2da issues. I'll sadly be experiencing them through every Dreamcatcher campaign, most notibly with visualeffects.2da and baseitems.2da. The e-mails should start pouring in any day now.
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I now have all the traps scripted and in the ...
June 19, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I now have all the traps scripted and in the game, though not tested very well. There are quite a few things I need to tweak, but I'm happy with the progress I've made. I cleaned up the scripts as best I can, making a single include file for the majority of the scripts.
I also have all the rooms for the player's keep in the tileset. They've been placed and I've connected them all via some fancy-shmancy scripting. This screenshot is the library, which Danmar put together for the interior tileset project.
I got my second machine back in order, getting the CD key stuff all straightened out. My multiplayer test worked, unfortunately, so I'm trying to figure out what's happening in this one person's case.
Now that SoU is out, I can talk a bit on the beta. First off, I think the intent was to get it to me much sooner. The readme mentioned "weeks" until it was on the shelf, when in reality it was less than a week. The joy of approval steps, I suppose. The other very weird thing was that all the textures appeared to have been extra low quality, presumably to keep the download size small and perhaps to dissuade piracy. It had the effect of making it look like I was moving through an impressionist painting, with blurry creatures leaping from equally blurry rooms. Still, I'm a Bioware fanboy, and I'll hopefully pick up the expansion today. Not sure when I'll be able to play it, but I'll want it for my building efforts in any case.
I can tell already that there's going to be some fun and excitement around the .2da files in my modules. People with SoU who play will likely experience some weirdness with certain new spells. After the 1.30 patch is released, I'll need to do some major updates to the hak packs for at least three of them. Ah, the joys of supporting all the old stuff.
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I worked more on traps yesterday, getting the...
June 18, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I worked more on traps yesterday, getting the 2D icons for the trap kits finished up. There's one more that I may tweak a bit, but in general I'm happy with the results. All the kits are in the game and I've put in the .2da entries. Now it's just a matter of scripting them all. We'll see if I have time today.
I put in another Tainted model, but it has a weird head movement that I may have to take another look at. I'm also thinking about whether or not I want to try to expand the number of animations on my supermodel. Though it would be time consuming, it might be worth it. I might also try to get away with stealing and tweaking some of the standard player animations. At this point, I think they have the same general parts, other than the jaw.
I was trying to do some multiplayer testing last night due to a bug report I received. It turns out the beta version of SoU I received wouldn't connect to my main NWN server, so I had to reinstall. Afterwards, enough SoU stuff was left over that I had to do a critical rebuild. Finally, I brought it up and it kindly let me know that games with the same CD key can't connect. It turns out the SoU install erased my previous CD key and I had used the wrong one for the install. Instead of digging through the wreck that is my office and kid's play room for the second manual, I called it a night. Hopefully today I'll be able to get back to it.
Oh - a small cool thing. I got a mention at the end of IGN's review of the SoU expansion. Nice to be noticed. Finally, the interior tileset that I was working on earlier has been uploaded to the vault.
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I whipped up a new variation of the Tainted model
June 17, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I whipped up a new variation of the Tainted model. My eventual goal is to create a large number to choose from so that there will be a reasonable variety in the game. I'm keeping it basic, just some retextures and head transplants from the relevant dragon. Eventually I'd like to add accessories such as armor or jewelry.
I have all the 2D images for the traps finished and I'm currently redoing those that I didn't like. Hopefully I can get the scripting cranked out for those as well. I find I like the traps more than I thought I would. I'll try to put in an item that boosts the SetTrap skill so that everyone can give them a try.
Finally, I started moving over tiles from the Interior tileset into the Gem tileset. It'll be nice to get the player's "keep" finished. Then I'll need to start populating it with assistants, scripting the areas, and so on. It's a fairly integral part of the game, with each added-on room required to solve a piece of the plot, so players will spend a lot of time there.
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I'm not sure where to start, as I got so much...
June 16, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I'm not sure where to start, as I got so much accomplished yesterday. The polymorph scripts were expanded. You can now carry a Demonic weapon and it will carry over to your Tainted form. I still need to do more property checking and apply the appropriate benefits according to the weapon and training. Still, it does a massive amount of damage with your increased strength.
I created my first Ritual, the Ritual of Guiding Light. It's basically a little ball of light follows you around unless it finds something interesting. Then it'll wait there until you come over to see. Pretty neat.
I also added more traps for a total of three now, as well as creating 2D icons for all but one. I may redo some of my earlier ones as the style of a few early ones isn't quite what I want. Still, it feels good to make progress.
I did a bunch of minor things, such as preparing for the upcoming patch and handling polymorph changes upon resurrection. I fixed a Tainted animation problem. The Spirit Gem item now looks like one when you drop it. Things are coming along nicely considering how early it is in the project's development.
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I have an embarrassing admission to make
June 15, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I have an embarrassing admission to make. In over a year of having Neverwinter Nights, I have never played a rogue and set a trap. My new project has custom traps, so I had to learn how to do it and make sure I could pull it off. Sure enough, I managed to fiddle with the .2da files and create new traps that can be set and recovered. The only downside is that I had to overwrite the existing traps, so you won't find the traditional ones in my module. I have only two done at the moment, with six more to go. In this particular screenshot, a poor goblin set off a Dark Vortex trap. Poor sod.
I've been excitedly reading the list of bug fixes in the upcoming patch. The one that stood out the most is the crash when you reload and custom creatures are in the game. Nearly every game I'm making now has custom creatures, so it should help immensely.
There's so much to do that I'm not sure where to start this morning. Perhaps it's time to start adding custom rooms to the player's keep.
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I worked on one of the early cutscenes, makin...
June 14, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I worked on one of the early cutscenes, making up a couple pieces of custom content so that it would look right. It's a bit dim, but looks far better animated. I may go back and polish it some more, but it's good for now.
I also played with SoU a bit. While I can't talk about it, I can talk about the items in the 1.30 patch that will soon be released (it hit beta today). There's some cool new cutscene features that I'll be using, most notably the fade controls.
GetAppearanceType is a function that I hadn't noticed earlier, but may be most helpful in my particular project. The player tends to polymorph a lot and knowing the specific polymorph state will save me some effort.
OpenInventory is one of those major functions that's so useful that I'll be going back through the Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher campaigns to retrofit it with this.
Finally, all the database commands, while simple, will let me do the things I want to do around module continuity. Players will have to be a bit careful with playing through modules, as my understanding is that it purges the database in between. There may be some ways to save multiple ones for a single campaign, as I haven't looked closely enough.
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I worked on some more 2D graphics yesterday, ...
June 13, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I worked on some more 2D graphics yesterday, getting icons ready for the various trap plans you can find and make in the game. I'm still figuring out my trap system. I think I need to overwrite the existing traps, which is okay by me, and create custom scripts for each one. It could be a little time consuming, but I think the effort would be worthwhile.
I also put together a critical script during testing yesterday. I can now cast "Ritual of Form", which switches the player in and out of their demon form. The best part is that I can cast it while polymorphed, which is a tricky business indeed. I ended up tying the script to the drop event, so you'll be "dropping" your ritual when casting in demon form. It's destroyed and recreated in your Book of Rituals, so it works out okay.
On another note, I got a nice letter from Jay at Bioware yesterday, asking if I wanted to to get a sneak peek at SoU, minus the campaign. I quickly agreed and downloaded it yesterday. One of my projects for the day is to install it and test it out, between changing diapers and watching my four-year-old. Before anyone asks, I'll be under an NDA, so I can't actually say anything about it. Their lawyers can beat up my lawyers, especially since the only lawyer I know is my mom.
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After a very frustrating beginning, I actuall...
June 12, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 After a very frustrating beginning, I actually started playing Twilight yesterday. Sure, there were some odd things (such as a certain child's game being a prerequisite to starting the adventure), but it's really started to pick up. There's some very excellent scripting in there and the story is quite good. In part, it's due to its focus, being able to narrow down the story on a single character (and class) as well as a single henchman.
Still, I realized what was also in common with the Bone Kenning module is that they both had very good systems. It's the series of unique systems to enhance gameplay that I think is what I want to bring out with the Demon campaign. Because of this, I sat down and furiously scribbled with pen and paper yesterday, coming up with ideas for unique traps, a skill system, and other things that will give the game a unique flavor.
As for the main model itself, I figured out my issue with the wings, but after some thought decided I wasn't going to have them at all. Wings unfortunately cause lots of gameplay problems, despite their "cool" factor. Instead, I'm going with a leap (which will require a skill). It also allows such activities as climbing and swimming, which I'd like to include as well. After all, why climb or swim when you can fly over the obstacle.
The current model is a variation and mixture of the Balor and a red dragon. The current plan is to keep "mixing it up" and include a dozen or so different Tainted looks, seeing as the main city will have them walking the streets. If you look closely at the screenshot, you'll notice one has a single horn on its snout, while the others have the more traditional ones on either side of the head. I hopefully cut down the polygon counts to an acceptable level too. People's video cards will appreciate me.
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I debated whether or not to post this image, ...
June 11, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I debated whether or not to post this image, but I decided to anyway. This site is basically spoiler central anyway.
I'm working on the central "demon" model that will be key in the game. At this point, it's simply a resize and edit of the Balor model with a dragon head stuck on. I'm working hard on replacing the skeletal wings with a true "skinmesh" wing. Unfortunately, I'm finding it beyond my skills as a 3d artist, so I called for help this morning. Hopefully someone can assist.
I keep generating ideas faster than I can make them happen, which is a good thing so early in the game. There's a particular activity in the main town that I think I'll turn into a big section of the game, as it's simply too cool.
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Not much to report
June 10, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
Not much to report. I'm working more on the backstory a bit, as well as trying to figure out how to do skinmeshes. They'd be nice to have for a key creature model I'm working on. I did a little work yesterday and I think it'll turn out well enough. We'll see how it goes.
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I didn't get a chance to do much yesterday, b...
June 09, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I didn't get a chance to do much yesterday, but I put a little work into my "keep decoration" system. There's actually an in-game reason for decking out your flat, plus it simply looks neat.
I started sketching out a different justice system, which I'm hoping I can turn into something that works. The faction-specific code might do me in, but I'm hoping it turns out well.
Sam and I played a little of Foreboding in Sylvani yesterday, though he got bored after an hour or so. Some of the scripting was very nice and I noticed some of my custom content in there (the placeable water and bubbles). A few of the encounters were very clever and required some thought, which I can appreciate. So far, so good.
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With my work on the interior tileset done for...
June 08, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 With my work on the interior tileset done for now, I've turned my attention to work on Demon. Today's work is for the player's keep. I made some portals to the various rooms that can be added on, as well as to the outside world. I originally made placeables, but the water transparency didn't work properly. Because of that, I added them to my invisible tiles. They're always present, which is not ideal, but the transparent water look more than makes up for it. The portals have a Stargate feel to them, and I may end up making an OnUsed "splash" effect if I get some time.
More importantly, I think I have a solid story for the module. The relationship with the player's companion is key, as well as assorted "family" struggles. Hopefully it'll be more involving than the typical "evil badguy threatens the world" scenario. By now, most players care deeply for their companions, their character, and how they fit in to the larger D&D multiverse, so I think I can get away with it by now.
On another note, I'm heading back to work tomorrow after two weeks of paternity leave. I suspect work and home will become crazy for awhile, so development will slow a bit. I'm in it for the long haul, however, so I'll eventually get it done.
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I have been a tile makin' maniac the last cou...
June 07, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I have been a tile makin' maniac the last couple days. I think it's to the point where I'm done, or at least awfully close. It's nice to know that I can do it if necessary, but it's admittedly pretty time consuming work.
My small "haunted house" interior turned into a fairly big set of tiles. In theory, you could create a large rambling building, though it doesn't have a lot of variation. I also took quite a few shortcuts, doing some things with a higher polygon count than necessary so that I could avoid making multiple tiles (e.g. the Room and Solid tiles have geometry all the way around). Of course, the total number of polygons is still quite small. I think I added an extra 8 or so for the huge time savings.
 I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out. There are some odd shadow issues that I may punt to Danmar. Still, I think it makes a nice finale to what I've contributed to the tileset. Since I'm going back to work on Monday, I suspect this is the last for awhile.
As for the next campaign, ideas continue to be generated out of the dark recesses of my brain. I think I have a main plot that I like at this point. Up until now, I've been working on background material without worrying too hard about how the player fits into it all. The hardest part is working in the companions, though I think I now have an idea that should be interesting.
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Yet more rooms yesterday and this morning
June 06, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Yet more rooms yesterday and this morning. I made an oval shaped one with sloped walls, mostly to see what it would look like. It's certainly odd looking and I'm not sure if it'll get much general use, but perhaps someone will like it. I think the main problem is that there isn't an exterior building that really matches, but perhaps it would make a good underground area. Round shapes certainly are challenging.
 I also have another concept room I'm working on. I'm going for a "haunted" feel, though I'm not sure I can get the shadowplay quite the way I'd like. So far, I have a big square room with a nice looking picture window. Ideally, I'd like to see trees swaying outside, curtains billowing, and the like. Could be tricky.
I also did some more bug fixing of Dreamcatcher 4 yesterday. I also found out that I completely unbalanced Anera's token and the Tattoo of the Master. I'm going back and adding workarounds to the script so that it's not quite so powerful. I'll need to update Dreamcatcher 1 through 3, but probably not today.
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I didn't get a lot of things done yesterday
June 05, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I didn't get a lot of things done yesterday. Not enough sleep combined with allergies made me a bit cranky and lethargic. I whipped out a single, small tent. It should go well with the tent in the forest tileset.
I'm thinking of doing another today, a two-tile oval hut-style interior. As I get comfortable with the toolset, I find they go faster and I'm more comfortable with strange shapes.
I'm slowly uploading the patched modules I put together on Tuesday. It's pretty time consuming, so I'm glad to get it over with. I'd like to this this is close to my last round of patches, at least for the Shadowlords campaign. I think SoU will break some things with Dreamcatcher, so I'll probably need to revise those again.
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Yet more tiles for the interior tileset project
June 04, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 Yet more tiles for the interior tileset project. I went for the hexagonal look a bit, trying for something that didn't have so many 90 degree angles. They turned out reasonably well and I ended up making a stone and wood version of each. The middle part is expandable, so you could have a really long hall or a small room. The wood version would make a decent ship with appropriate placeables, though if I was going to do it for real, I'd probably do things differently (and spend way more time).
 Yesterday was my bugfix day. I spent a huge amount of time going through all the bugs I'd collected over the last few months and fixed the first 8 modules. It's amazing how time consuming these things are. Hopefully today I can get them posted on the Vault, though that also takes awhile. Most of the fixes were minor, such as making sure Anera had the Turn Undead feat in all modules. Some were cool, such as finally getting the psionic focus dominate effect to work. A few were workarounds for player frustration, including "I give up - just let me win" options for the dream areas in Dreamcatcher 2.
I've been working away at the design document for my next project. There are two opposing factions in the main city and I'm working on quests where you could take either side in the conflict. Should be interesting.
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I spent more time yesterday cranking out new ...
June 03, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I spent more time yesterday cranking out new interior tiles. The first part of the day, I created some variations in my cramped small square room, adding another stone and then a wood variation. I figure they're good for crypt interiors and the like. It avoids the "Dr. Who's Tardis" effect when you've got a small building on the main map and when you go inside, it's huge.
 I also spent some time putting together a workshop tile. It's a bit larger than the cramped square room, wood paneled, and has a variety of tools laying about. I'm think it's mostly used by thieves and tinkerers to create small contraptions. I have a use for it in the next campaign, but it should have a variety of applications.
I'm not sure how much time I'll have today. I'd really like to get started on bug fixes for the Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher campaigns. There's a good sized list and it'll take much of the day (and possibly into tomorrow).
For those interested in my life as a player, Sam and I finished Return of Mikaila Chapter 1, a cooperative only module. While the cooperative aspects were occasionally simplistic(there were a lot of variations of lever puzzles), there was a fun sense of satisfaction in working as a team. I tried to have something very similar in Shadowlords 2, but found the players screamed bloody murder when they couldn't figure out how to get through. I've since switched it to allow a single player solution, and I suspect I'll need to for any others I create.
As for Twilight, I yet again failed the first trial, even with the 2 hour extension cheat. I really don't like quests where bad luck can cause you to fail and it takes so much time before you learn if it's time to give up and try again. I turned it over to my nephew who has more patience, and he saved the game after the initial Trials. I may get back to it some day, though, as I hear very good things about it.
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I'm surprised at how long it takes to make a ...
June 02, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I'm surprised at how long it takes to make a single tile, from the geometry to the walk mesh to all the SET and ITP file stuff. I'm also amazed that I'm getting the hang of it, cranking out a series of tiles yesterday that should round out the interior tile set quite nicely (pun vaguely intended).
The first is a very small, cramped room that I think will end up as a workshop or apothocary. I may crank out a few variations of this very simple room as it's so easy to work with.
 The second project involved multiple tiles. I took Danmar's circular room corner, raised the height to 3.5 meters (the tileset standard) and started creating variations of it. There's currently a plain, doorway, and bed version of the tile. I think I like the one with the bed the most as I got the animation (candle flickering) and walkable bed just the way I wanted. I'd like to create a few more variations using this theme so that a variety of round rooms could be put together.
I also had a very interesting e-mail exchange with Papermonk from CODI. It looks like I'll be working in a friendly fashion with their folks as they're interested in sponsoring Planescape-related modules from the big name authors. There's a possiblity I can get some modeling resources or early access to their stuff. I'm hoping I get a cool logo or something. :)
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I finished up my two round rooms yesterday an...
June 01, 2003 by Adam in NWN1
 I finished up my two round rooms yesterday and I ended up being very happy with how they turned out. All the details should be in place, from the walkmesh set properly to appropriate shadows, and everything else. I have more rooms that I need to work on, so it's not over yet, but I have hopes that it won't take too long.
The other massive project I'd like to do over the next week or so is to go through and fix all the bugs that have been reported for the other eight modules. It's a major undertaking, probably taking most of a day, but I've been wanting to do it for awhile. Of course, the 1.30 patch will probably cause issues with my modules as well, so I'm debating whether or not to delay a bit.
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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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