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I usually play on the normal difficulty setti...
August 31, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I usually play on the normal difficulty setting, though last night I was playing on Difficult and ended up with one of my henchman being charmed. After our little family squabble, everything went much more smoothly.
I think I'm getting pretty close to done. My cutscene problems seem to have been fixed. There was also a really weird bug where all the sound levels were set to zero. It turns out that doing an Auto Save and then jumping to a new area causes it. Very strange.
I'm going to pass the latest to the testers and hopefully release it after they give me the green light.
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I didn't have a chance to touch the toolset y...
August 30, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I didn't have a chance to touch the toolset yesterday, as I was swamped with kids and the normal routine of the weekend. Hopefully today I can do some bug fixing and the like.
In the background, I'm continuing to work on my Dragon Age campaign. It's a fun creative process to continue to flesh out the main story, party dynamics, and motivations for characters. There's still a couple years to go, though that doesn't seem very long to me to plan and write for a lengthy campaign.
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Still slaving away at getting this bonus endi...
August 28, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 Still slaving away at getting this bonus ending released. There's some annoying bugs not in the ending that I can't seem to replicate. One of the testers is having problems, but it's really hard to fix what I can't see broken.
I made a little extra goodie for people who finish the game as very good. It requires a hak pack change, but it's so minor that I wouldn't ask anyone to download a new version just to see it.
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I'm hopeful that today's build will be the ma...
August 27, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I'm hopeful that today's build will be the magic one to release. I played through the troublesome sections and the weird issues people were reporting seem to be fixed. There was an annoying one when you could damage the troops that were on your side if you played in Hardcore D&D mode, which made future events somewhat difficult. I had to add in a piece so that factions kept resetting themselves. Tricky.
As an aside, I just got my DSL upgraded this morning. Hopefully that means this web site is quite a bit snappier.
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Another day, another test build
August 26, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Another day, another test build. This latest one includes some bug fixes in places other than the ending, as well as some changes to the ending itself. I'll pass this along to testers today and see if it ends up being acceptable to post on the Vault.
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I've been in bug squashing mode as of late, t...
August 25, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I've been in bug squashing mode as of late, trying to get the last of the issues taken care of before I release my mini-expansion. Some are a challenge, mostly because a certain issue won't appear for me. It's quite mysterious and very hard to fix.
I've also been mulling over my next grand adventure, trying to get the proper balance between dialog, puzzles, combat, and character development. It feels good to do something a little different for a change.
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I've got the first of my testers reporting is...
August 24, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I've got the first of my testers reporting issues, so I'll try to address some of those things today. Otherwise it's been fairly peaceful for a change. Sure, I'm getting a fair number of e-mails from people getting stuck or running into troubles, but it's often with modules other than Demon.
Shucks, I'm even getting some time to work on my next big project. It's nice to scribble and dream for a change.
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I was sick yesterday, but somehow managed to ...
August 23, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I was sick yesterday, but somehow managed to get in more testing time than I had in a long while. Virtually all of the bugs and the weirdnesses have been taken care of. Some of the fights are tough, but not impossible (especially at the level the player will be at the end of the module).
For anyone interested in testing, feel free to drop me an e-mail. It'll take me awhile to wade through my morning e-mails (especially since I've been gone for a few days). I'm going to try to distribute the module over e-mail, so make sure you can take a 5 MB attachment. If that doesn't work for some reason, I'll fall back on getting it on my website, though it's much slower.
Hopefully testing will go quickly, as this expansion isn't all that long.
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I managed to play through the absolute final ...
August 22, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I managed to play through the absolute final ending, though it was a fairly buggy experience. There's still some weird AI issues, along with some other issues. I'm going to see if I can find the time to work on that today and hopefully put out a call for testers tomorrow. I suspect it'll be at least a week or two of testing before I feel comfortable posting it to the Vault. Still, it shouldn't be much longer for those who have waited patiently.
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Well, it's getting closer
August 20, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Well, it's getting closer. I finished up the majority of the content yesterday, adding all the scripts and dialog I'd need. Now it's just a lot of testing. There's some pretty rough spots but I think I'm getting close to having the final battle actually playable. Still, lots of testing work to do yet. Hopefully I'll be able to get something to testers soon.
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I'm slowly wading through the final battle, t...
August 19, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I'm slowly wading through the final battle, though it's a monstrous thing. There's a bit of tricky scripting towards the end that I'm having problems nailing down just right. This morning I ended up creating a near-infinite number of emitting objects that ended up bringing the computer to it's knees.
After today, I've got some more dialog to write and a few scripts to polish. Then it's pretty much testing until it all works. After I'm happy with it, I'll put out a call for others to help out, possibly as early as next week. Not much further.
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Ah, the joy of AI woes
August 18, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Ah, the joy of AI woes. I've been slowly improving this epic battle of mine, though it still suffers from a fair number of issues. I also need to write a fair bit of dialog that has been sitting in my head for a few days now. The good news is that the amount of stuff left to do continues to shrink. The main phases of the battle are in place, though I may fiddle with it a bit more. Hopefully I can find some time today to get the rest of the main work done, which should hopefully give me some testing time later this week. If all goes well, I'll send out a call for testers after that.
Slowly getting there.
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Epic battles are a big pain
August 17, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 Epic battles are a big pain. Mine is working better than before, slowly getting all the troop movement around. I've opted out of making them henchmen. Though you get some familiar ways of controlling them around, it also comes with some odd behaviors. Here's a shot of my test PC dying and returning to the spirit gem with everyone in tow. Fortunately I've got all the troop scripts from the Struggle area, which work reasonably well.
Still, progress moves forward and I feel pretty good about the decisions I've made. It should be doable with a bit of work. I have more dialog to write, another cutscene or two, and a bunch more scripting. Then it's test, test, test until the bugs go away.
It seems I have a new deadline for finishing this up. The folks who are reading latest PC Gamer are starting to send me e-mails with questions. I'm not sure about its readership, but it's likely to get busy for awhile.
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Cutscenes seem to take forever to put together
August 16, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 Cutscenes seem to take forever to put together. That didn't stop me from doing that over the weekend. I have everything up until the grand finale feeling pretty solid. The end still needs plenty of scripting and dialog. At the moment, I'm trying to figure out why my "resurrection" script is crashing the game. As usual, I'm probably trying to do too many fancy things all at the same time.
I thought long and hard about the way the end of this little mini-expansion is going to go. Though it'll be up to the community to decide, this feels much more satisfying than the previous one. There's something satisfying about killing a bunch of stuff for some reason.
Update: I've discovered that the new PC Gamer has Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher listed under the "Must-Play Mods" in their NWN article. It's not long:
Together, these two campaigns make up an epic storyline that begins with first-level characters in Shadowlords, taking them across the land of Faerun and beyond. Dreamcatcher picks up at around level eight, where you start out in Waterdeep with the rest of your party. (You don't have to play Shadowlords before playing Dreamcatcher, although the story will make more sense if you do. A Dungeon Master will appear at the beginning of the Dreamcatcher campaign to raise the level of your character if he doesn't meet the requirements.)
Already I've started getting e-mails from people. I haven't checked for a long while, but it seems that there have been 109,000 downloads for Dreamcatcher 1. Whew.
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I made some good progress yesterday
August 14, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I made some good progress yesterday. The really tricky scripting part I've been working on feels pretty solid to me. I spent a couple hours staring at a zombie trying to make it do my bidding first. One more big area to script and then the bonus ending should be finished.
I also added some more dialog between the player's spouse and child. Bring them along for sure, as the interactions between the three of them are fairly interesting.
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The bonus ending is coming along, though ther...
August 13, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
The bonus ending is coming along, though there's some really nasty bugs that I've run into. I hate the ones where your henchmen suddenly become unresponsive for no apparent reason. There's a particular cutscene I'm dealing with now where afterwards they act very strangely. More testing required. The final scene has lots and lots of scripting, more of which I hope to add today. This weekend is likely going to be non-stop testing, as much as I'm able.
I added some more dialog between the player's spouse and child. I like the concept of an "adventuring family" and I'm having fun adding in some odd comments here and there. If I have time today, I'll add even more.
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I continue to track down bugs - I finally fig...
August 12, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I continue to track down bugs - I finally figured out one where your henchman gets dumb after visiting the Plane of Air. Everyone was reporting that it had to do with rejoining, but it turns out the problem was with the cutscene. So, I took it out, though I may fiddle with a different version without the problem later.
I'm also getting the bonus ending polished up. Since it's likely you'll be taking your son or daughter along, I'm making sure they're the proper level and have useful dialog options. There's lots of testing required still, especially with some of the more complex areas.
I did manage to set up a system by which it detects your spirit gem, then takes you to a place to prepare you for the ending. It's not perfect, as not all variables are saved from a previous game, but it should get the job done.
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I coded till my brain was fuzzy yesterday, wi...
August 11, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I coded till my brain was fuzzy yesterday, with more to go today. It's always strange coding for long hours at a stretch without actually testing what I'm doing. Odds are it will break in various spectacular ways, but hopefully I'll get a chance to do a little testing and fixing before the weekend.
I ran across a thread on the Obsidian boards where people were talking about some of the better modules for NWN. For some reason I'm always surprised when people mention me in particular. Maybe after I'm completely done with Demon I'll actually play some of them. Island Adventures is one that recently came to my attention that perhaps my son and I can play through.
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Well, something's wrong with the DLA sewers, ...
August 10, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Well, something's wrong with the DLA sewers, or at least the version I have in my hak pack. For some reason, whenever I create a new area using it, the game won't load. Frustrating. So, I've resigned myself to doing without, which is a shame.
Progress on the bonus ending goes well. I finished scripting a rather complex area, though I think it'll still need more testing. I've got all the areas mapped, but still have to do the scripting, dialog, and so on for two more. The final one is the most complicated and I'll probably need to write everything out carefully. Slowly getting there.
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I spent yesterday writing at every possible m...
August 09, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I spent yesterday writing at every possible moment, carrying around a notebook wherever I went. The good news is that this resulted in twelve new dialogs, three for each of the four henchmen. One of the complaints about Demon was that people wanted more henchman interaction, so I figure I'll give people what they're craving. With luck, they'll appear in a patch within the next day or two.
I also progressed more on the new endgame. I'm liking the way things are turning out so far. A few parts are getting a little scripting-heavy, something I tried to avoid earlier. Still, it lets me do some unique things to the areas that I hope people enjoy.
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It's interesting doing post-release work
August 07, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 It's interesting doing post-release work. I always wonder if people will actually replay the thing, or if I'm making things for an ever-shrinking group of people who haven't played it. No matter - it feels good to polish up the little things based on people's feedback.
Yesterday I released the 1.4 patch that replaces the DLA sewers. It was sad seeing it go, though I'll probably sneak it into the new "bonus ending" I'm working on. So far the new ending seems quite appropriate, wrapping up some dangling threads and giving the players a sense of satisfaction. There's a fair number of combat elements as well, for the people who want to play with their items or unleash higher-level spells.
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Yesterday went much more smoothly after I mad...
August 06, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Yesterday went much more smoothly after I made a conscious effort to mellow out a bit. I think the upcoming patch fixes the dreaded library spirit gem issue, as well as putting in more "just in case" scripts for spirit gem problems and ritual of form problems. The latest version also has a completely new sewers area without the walkmesh issues. I'm running it by a tester, making sure the new patch doesn't break anything major.
The bonus ending is coming along nicely as well. It tends to be more traditional - linear and combat heavy, but that's what I'm hearing people are wanting, at least for the end. I'm also giving people some more peeks at places around the Planes, which is fun.
Even more importantly, my wife thought I was being much less grumpy.
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I'm feeling stuck in a vicious cycle these days
August 05, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
 I'm feeling stuck in a vicious cycle these days. Bug reports pour in via e-mail and the boards and it takes a long time to respond to everyone. This, of course, doesn't give me much time to actually fix the bugs.
Last night I worked on ripping out the sewers area and putting in the standard Bioware one. It's a bit sad, as I did like the look of the DLA version, but the walkmesh issues turned out to be too frustrating for players.
I also started laying the groundwork for a "bonus" ending, addressing some of the concerns that have popped up. Sadly, my module got corrupted twice last night, so most of my work was lost. Even more frustrating.
Finally, my wife informed me that I was being a pain to be around, so I'm going to make a conscious effort to be more mellow about the game. The bugs will get fixed and the new ending will eventually be written, though perhaps not in less than a week.
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I posted another update yesterday, bringing t...
August 04, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I posted another update yesterday, bringing the module to version 1.2. I haven't checked the boards this morning, but hopefully that's going well. It fixes a bunch of things and adds in an additional henchman dialog (those things take forever to write).
I also decided to do something I swore I wouldn't do, which is to change the ending of the module. Well, not so much change it as add on. I'm hoping it addresses some of the feelings that have come up in the game - we'll see how it goes.
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I ran across an article on Slashdot about hob...
August 03, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
I ran across an article on Slashdot about hobbist game developers. I realize that Demon essentially makes one of those "forbidden games" they recommend against. At its heart, Demon is an exploration game where the player explores interesting worlds and places. The main plot takes a back burner to this at times, which admittedly makes me nervous. Still, I think I'm relatively happy with the end result.
I posted a patch to the Vault yesterday which hopefully fixes the worst of the bugs. The reports are still coming in, as well as a few "good job" e-mails which are nice. I'll probably still work on bugs today, continuing to clean up as best I'm able.
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As suspected, the first day of release was a ...
August 02, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
As suspected, the first day of release was a madhouse. Lots of weird bugs, questions, and the like. I stopped checking the boards and e-mail around 4 pm yesterday. Peeking this morning, it looks like dozens of new messages have come in.
I had this nagging fear that perhaps there's something causing random bugs in the game - triggers don't fire and scripts don't run. Something in the custom content perhaps? Anyway, I suspect it's going to be another long day today, trying to get issues sorted out. Yippie.
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Demon has been posted to the Vault
August 01, 2004 by Adam in NWN1
Demon has been posted to the Vault.
I've already got my first bizarre bug report. I suspect it's going to be a long week ahead.
Update: I'm already working on a new version. One of the things that I can recommend is to save periodically throughout the game - sometimes bizarre and unexpected things seem to happen. Already a thousand downloads too . . . whew!
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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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