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I just finished uploading the files the Vault
July 31, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I just finished uploading the files the Vault. While I don't think that doesn't mean they'll be waiting for you to download later this afternoon, it does mean that you'll get your hands on it very soon.
The remaining bugs seemed fairly minor or irreproduceable, so I feel relatively good about the state of the game. I'm sure things will pop up and I'll be on my toes for the next few weeks, but hopefully I can take a bit of a break.
Thanks to everyone for their interest in this rather lengthy development process. Hopefully I'll be able to talk about future plans some day. For the moment, I'm very much looking forward to drinking a big cup of coffee, eating a hearty breakfast, and playing with my kids this morning.
Update: After checking in the Vault folks, it sounds like everything will be posted tonight. I'm sure I'll be kept busy with bug reports and weirdness for the first couple weeks. Let the games begin!
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I opted against plucking my eyes out, though ...
July 30, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I opted against plucking my eyes out, though it is tempting at times. One of the testers was having multiplayer bugs, nasty ones that prevented him to progress in the game. The particular scene worked fine for me, of course. I added a failsafe so that if a particular trigger didn't fire, they could still get through the area.
This is pretty much the last thing standing in the way before I release. There's a number of minor issues, but I've decided to ignore them as the bugs are so rare or inconsequential that I don't want to slow things down.
With luck, I'll hear word today on whether my fix worked or not. If so, I'll start the final release process. I'm not sure if Maximus works weeekends to put together a release thing on the Vault. If not, it'll hopefully be Monday.
Ah, the joys of game development.
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To continue my attempt to raise up everyone's...
July 29, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
To continue my attempt to raise up everyone's hopes, only to dash them to bits when testers find more bugs, I'm hopeful that Demon may be on the brink of release.
One of my more diligent testers managed to dig up some bugs that were missed initially. He's also hoping to do a full multiplayer run, which I don't think has been done yet. If that goes well, I'm seriously considering releasing it tomorrow. Of course, any major bug could push that back again.
Testing has been going on for a month and a half now, which is longer than some of my earlier modules took to develop in the first place. It's been admittedly fairly grueling and hopefully release will come within the next few days. I have the Doom 3 release to think about after all.
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I stayed up late doing bug fixing last night,...
July 28, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I stayed up late doing bug fixing last night, so I'm a little bleary-eyed this morning. It occasionally gets overwhelming as the weeks of testing continue. Knowing that the game becomes even more polished helps keep me going. So far 234 bugs have been reported, with most fixed or explained away. Perhaps this final build will be the last one?
I added minimaps to a couple areas yesterday after I messed up uploading the latest version. They weren't a big deal in my opinion, but people kept mentioning it. I'll be keeping an eye on the issue tracking system today, seeing if the bugs pour in again.
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I think I'm starting to understand why softwa...
July 27, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I think I'm starting to understand why software companies use the "When it's done" expression when people ask about release dates. I fixed a slew of annoying bugs last night, one that kept multiplayer from working properly, radial menu issues, NPC dialog, and many more. The multiplayer one was tricky to test, as I often had my hands on two different mice clicking away in unison.
I'd really like to be able to release this week, but I'm afraid "when it's done" is the best promise I can make at the moment. Hopefully not much further.
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I'm frantically trying to get the last of the...
July 26, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I'm frantically trying to get the last of the bugs fixed. Most are minor, but there are a few that are still annoying. The worst are the ones I've never seen myself, but one or two people are reporting. Those tend to be extremely hard to fix too.
I've got to get some dialog added today, a few branches that mysteriously vanished somewhere during development. I've also tweaked the Inventory radial menu for HotU owners. Hopefully it'll work now.
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The bug reports keep trickling in, slowly but...
July 25, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
The bug reports keep trickling in, slowly but surely. There's a couple really nasty bugs that so far only one person is reporting. I haven't been able to replicate it myself and no one else has mentioned it. Ah, the joys of bug fixing.
I'm still shooting for release next week, though it certainly depends on what's reported. Hopefully we can get the rough edges polished a bit more. Shouldn't be much longer.
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The last 24 hours have been very productive
July 24, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 The last 24 hours have been very productive. First off, I made some changes to the card game that made it much more challenging. Instead of a semi-random deck that each NPC would have, I hand-picked each card for their deck. It made a huge difference and I won about half the games using a standard starting deck (before I'd win most of them).
I also fixed the endlessly painful issue with Anera's AI. The fix was quite simple, if bizarre. I changed one of her cleric domains from Good to Death and it worked just fine again (since she's a cleric of Kelemvor, this actually makes sense). I'll have to see if the same fix is needed for Shadowlords/Dreamcatcher Anera. Very weird bug.
Finally, I spent several hours yesterday making even more magic items to be sold in one of the main armories. Everyone wanted more Demonic weapons, which can be improved with training, so I added longswords, shortswords, and daggers. I also added some bows for archers, and some magical armor for players with a little cash to spend.
There's a handful of bugs left, most of which are pretty minor. I'm going to throw out the latest build and see how it goes. Not much longer now!
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Testing continues
July 23, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 Testing continues. There's one potentially big issue involving henchmen AI that I'm struggling with. I'm trying to nail down specifics and see what the scope of the issue really is. It may be that things are working the way they're "supposed to", even though it seems a bit weird to some players.
It's been good to have a large number of testers help out as they're uncovering a good list of bugs, not to mention ones that I'd introduced earlier after some of my "fixes". I'm still shooting for next week, depending on how the henchman bug issues turn out.
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The final batch of testing continues
July 22, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
The final batch of testing continues. So far, so good. Most of the issues reported are minor typos or some balance issues, though there's a few troublesome ones to look into.
I'd like to give the testers a chance to finish up the game and report any major issues, then I'll probably do my quick fixes and release the game. While I could tweak forever, there comes a point when you've just got to call it done.
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I've come to the conclusion that I'm simply n...
July 21, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I've come to the conclusion that I'm simply not going to be able to test it through myself in any reasonable timeframe.
So, all you faithful readers, your time has come. I've decided to open up testing semi-publicly. The first 10 or so people to e-mail me today will get a chance to test out the game.
Please make sure you have enough time to dedicate the next few days to complete the game (somewhere around 8 hours). Broadband Internet access is also a plus (otherwise you'll spend half the time just downloading files). If you don't meet the criteria, don't worry - the game will be on the Vault soon enough.
Update: Sorry folks, I just got the 10th person signed up. You'll have to be patient a few more days, but it shouldn't be much longer. Thanks to everyone for their help and interest!
Another update: Robbert - You're apparently not getting the e-mails I'm sending, though I'm not sure why. I'm not getting any non-deliverable responses back either. Perhaps you could try e-mailing again, or we could try to connect via IRC on the neverwinterconnections.com server? I promise I'm not ignoring you.
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The e-mails have started coming in - people w...
July 20, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
The e-mails have started coming in - people wondering when I'm going to release it. "When it's done" is the easy answer, but since I'm more casual about such things, I'll explain my thinking a bit more. The current build is pretty good, with most of the major bugs fixed, many of the balance issues taken care of, and a fair number of extra goodies added where people felt there was something missing.
There's some bugs still coming in from the testers that I'd like to fix. I'd also like to do a final run through to make sure there's no game-stopping bugs. So, it's a matter of doing those things and polishing it up to the point where I feel pretty good about it.
That may be this week, or it may be next. Soon, though.
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I spent two hours last night making the water...
July 19, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I spent two hours last night making the water levels in a certain sewer area work properly. It was extremely frustrating as my animated water placeable simply would not work. It would sporadically appear or disappear with the texture usually showing up as black. Quite ugly.
The new solution uses a TileMagic approach, applying vfx's to invisible objects. There's some problems with it, mostly having to do with them not being perfectly in synch, but it looks relatively okay so I'll stick with it for now.
Not a peep from the testers over the weekend, I think because they've all played through at least once. I added a bunch of content in response to their comments, fixing issues as I go. I'm torn between polishing it up a bit more and trying to go for another round of testing. Either way, I'd like to release at the end of the week. I'll probably do some cleanup today, get organized, and take it from there. I just want to make sure there's no game-stopping bugs before I release it all, hopefully later this week.
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I'm back from the beach where I managed to pu...
July 19, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I'm back from the beach where I managed to put in a fair number of hours in the game. I didn't get to do a walkthrough, but fixed a bunch of issues that were reported just before I left. There's one really annoying custom content issue involving rising water. I'm going to switch to a completely different method as my animated water simply isn't working for some odd reason.
Not sure if this will be the magic week for release. Still have to iron out the last few bugs.
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One of the things that I liked about the Shad...
July 16, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 One of the things that I liked about the Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher campaigns is all the goodies you can pick up along the way. I'm trying to make it so that you can use most of them in Demon as well, though there are endless issues ranging from balance to custom content. Some of the most powerful items you won't see until the end. The lower end trinkets show up early on. I've also added a little introductory module (Demon0) that lets you buy things that you might have missed along the way.
The list of bugs grew a fair bit yesterday as one of my testers had a burst of energy and added a bunch to the issue tracking system. I'm away at the coast for the next few days, so I'll see if I can put in some more fixing then. If I'm lucky, I'll do a walkthrough of the game myself just to make sure I didn't miss anything.
In case you're curious about the screenshot, I'm using the Blade of Apologies, which I tested this morning.
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I'm getting down to the bottom of the list fo...
July 14, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I'm getting down to the bottom of the list for bug testing. Most of the last issues on the list are either fixed or done. This morning I spent tweaking the Demon Card game a bit. A broken card now works and another card isn't quite so overwhelmingly powerful. I've also hidden away a few decks around the game so that observant players can pick up a few of the more powerful cards without having to win them in battle.
I also did a little test unrelated to Demon. It involved a custom polymorph to a custom creature with custom spells. Amazingly enough, it all worked on the first try. Depending on how bug fixing goes, I may putter with that a bit today.
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Back down to 13 items on my bug list
July 13, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Back down to 13 items on my bug list. I also shipped off Build 18 to the testers who will hopefully get a chance to pound on it some time soon.
This weekend I'm going to try to find some dedicated time to do a final test myself. If things go really well, you may actually get a chance to play soon after that.
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I'm back up to 29 bugs in the issue tracking ...
July 12, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I'm back up to 29 bugs in the issue tracking system, though I think most of them will be easy to fix. Today I hope to deal with as much of them as possible, then get the new build out to everyone before the weekend. I'll be off at the coast for a few days, though I'm hoping to take my computer and do at least one full run through the game to make sure there's no major flaws. If everything goes smoothly, I might shoot for release after that.
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My daughter has been waking up extra early th...
July 11, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
My daughter has been waking up extra early this weekend, cutting into development time. I spent an hour this morning working on an issue with containers and removing the player's inventory when they first start the game. I wasn't super happy with the solution. Basically if there's low-level items you want to get earlier in the game, don't put them in containers before you start the game.
I had another tester start after some computer-related delays. The bugs are pouring in yet again.
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I'm scampering around trying to get the last ...
July 09, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I'm scampering around trying to get the last things organized. I took some screenshots and need to check in with the CODI folks today. I did some more fixing and testing as usual. One of the things I tried to fix yesterday but gave up on was a fancy advance/retreat function for the Struggle areas. The complexity quickly spiraled out of control and I reverted to a simple "Advance to point 1" and increment each time.
There's a few miscellaneous things on my "to do" list for today. I want to tweak the lighting/fog settings of the city areas. I have some more henchmen dialog to write. Not much more to do.
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I spent way too long this morning trying to g...
July 08, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I spent way too long this morning trying to get the door glow from the sewer ladder to stop flashing. It turns out that I had to put my alpha key in all the other animations in addition to the one that I was dealing with. Sigh. All I can say is that people better appreciate the non-flashing ladder.
I spent some time trying to get the blue transition glow to appear for the Sigil doors, but to no avail. I may take some more time to fiddle with it, but it's not that big a deal.
I also spent some time rewriting the advance/retreat code for the Struggle area. It's another thing that I'm not sure people will use all that much, but it currently works in a non-intuitive way. Hopefully the new system is better, though I've yet to test it.
Of the 132 bugs that have been reported, I have 17 still on my "to do" list, though some I'll probably not worry about and a few more I just need to make sure my fix works.
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Will it ever end? I managed to introduce an ...
July 07, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Will it ever end? I managed to introduce an annoying bug in build 16, so I sent out a fixed build 17 late last night. It was one of those things where your henchman kept talking over and over again, and you weren't able to stop the conversation. I also fixed some miscellaneous issues, such as certain people in the Struggle looking like beholders. Slowly getting there.
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More bug fixing
July 06, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
More bug fixing. It seems endless at times, but with every one squashed I feel a little better about the module. Who knows, the thing might actually be fun for people to play. Most are pretty straightforward, but a few defy reproduction, making it really hard to fix. I might also try recreating the Tainted model from scratch, depending on how my time goes. So much to do.
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Not much to report other than I continue to s...
July 05, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 Not much to report other than I continue to slave away at fixing bugs. Some are quite odd, such as a certain custom creature floating around when they move. Others are small things, such as certain items having the description of something else (too much copying and pasting).
There were a few moments where I was actually enjoying myself doing my bug fixing. I stayed up late making custom arrows for a store. Another time it was making some new flavor text. Now that I think about it, I suspect I miss making new things and not so much fixing broken things.
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The testers are going through the game like, ...
July 03, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 The testers are going through the game like, well, demons. My issue tracking list is so long again that I have to scroll through it. Many of the issues are fairly minor, but there's a few biggies in there. I spent some time this morning trying to fix a few of them.
The semi-amusing bug of the day was with the Guiding Light spell. The balls of light were set to follow at the same distance as the henchmen, causing them to bunch up in a weird necklace of glowing light. They now demurely follow your henchman by a half meter.
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More testing
July 02, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
More testing. I just posted "build 15" to the testers this morning. This one includes a new dialog for the henchmen, adjusting some difficulties for a few encounters, and fixing more bugs.
I have assorted preparations to try to get together today. I need to take some screenshots and write up a blurb for the Vault. It's a slow process, but I'll eventually get there.
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Not much to report other than endless bugfixing
July 01, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 Not much to report other than endless bugfixing. My list of things to take care of slowly grows smaller, which brings a warm feeling to my heart. Day by day, the module is brought to a state where it can be released.
I finished up the henchmen dialog and now just need to get it into the module. I also need to write up a blurb talking about Demon, CODI, and the numerous people who have helped out on the module. I'm hoping for a feature by Maximus, which I suspect he'll happily do. Shucks, the CODI content alone will be quite welcome in the community.
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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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