Deadline approaches - module keeps growing

I'm having a hard time controlling myself. I've created two big new dungeons just because I wanted to make two quests involving with a bit of dungeon combat. I have to make sure I won't create any more areas just for a quest.  Well, I shouldn't complain, the quests became pretty interesting and the other area looks a-w-e-s-o-m-e. Seems like I have a thing for underwater/flooded stuff. Added a picture of the caves to the picasa folder - click the slideshow to see it, the slideshow takes its time to update.

Now I should write conversations again... *sigh* Damn, I have too many characters, hah. So much to write - I see nightmares of NWN2 convo editor. No, really I see nightmares that are a mix of Omen and [REC]. Those are so horrible when combined. Well, at least [REC] is. If you haven't seen it yet, go see it NOW! It's a spanish film, but hey, it just adds to the atmosphere!

http://www.recmovie.co.uk/flash/#/rec/

Also I'm trying to think what's a good level scale for my module... I like low level modules, but then again the combat is sooo slow in them that I usually bang my head on the wall when my rogue is fighting five or more monsters at a time - they miss/dodge well, but not so skilled on the hitting. I'm thinking it should start at 8-10 or so, but it may change.

Oh yeah, due to my extra creative acts of adding more content - and more real life work coming - I'm getting pressures of the beta release, hehe.. It's still a month away, but still I'm having doubts. Writing a good dialogue takes time and I have a whole lot left. And then there's the scripting hell, I'm seriously a poor scripter. I usually have to write a script about 10 times before it works well or I give up.

I'm off to the toolset again, gotta get this thing done, damnit.

A whole new area!

It was a pretty lazy weekend, just spent some time without the Toolset. But before that I created a new area to the city of Endia. It was made on the spur of the moment, sorta, but now is an important link in the story - it gives important background information and hints of the future.

Otherwise the area isn't anything special :( Just a few encounters, a couple of new items and some testing with a more creepier mood. Who could have quessed purple works so well on walls in the right lighting. Well, creating the area took my mind off the somewhat monotonous dialogue writing.

Today I've written the dialogue of 3 non-major NPCs that act as servants in the Four Houses. Each has unique topics and personality. The last one was a blast to write. Now it's time to finish the dialogues for the four Magicas. Then I need to write several quests and journals...finally do the companion dialogues! After those, all I have to do is testing, tweaking, adding some more monsters and designing the final battle! I only wonder if there's a way to disable the player's ability to pause... If there is, the finale will be pretty much candy for the eyes and the ears.

If not, maybe it will just be challenging.

Writing like there's no tomorrow.

I decided to count the words in my module's dialogue so far - for fun. Well, the result was over 13400 words so far. And I wasn't even counting my massive journal entries, sheesh. Players are to expect a lot of reading and cutscenes then! I have propably written only a quarter of the full amount of dialogue - unless I get lazy and skip something, hehe. Well, I'll try not to since I've made it this far.

It's fun to see the world coming more and more alive as you build it. So I spent a whole lot of time playing and testing things today - and of course I wrote about 3000 words. I'm ready to drop now. Time to go to bed.

Also, the view to House of Water during the night!

Away from home, bored and with too many ideas.

I said I wouldn't update before Monday, but... I'm bored at the moment since I'm staying at my GF's place and got nothing to do while she's getting ready. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the mod. Bad thing is that I've come up with so many ideas that'll propably have to wait 'till another project. And I still have holes and gaps in the story of my current mod, I'm seriously in trouble with one major part of the story.

It will occur very early in the mod and will give the motive for the protagonist and the reason for a Magica to give him a mission he wouldn't trust just anybody with. The player will need to use wit, logic and examine things carefully. Yes, a crime has happened, and your character will indeed want to solve it. Normally it would be a matter only for the House of Fire, but luckily you'll have someone to speak you in the investigations.

The details of the crime are still in the works and are giving me the worst headaches at the moment. The motive? Committer(s)? When? How?

Holy...I just came up with an idea about the crime that would greatly add to the overall story. But that scenario wouldn't be enough for the Magica to trust the protagonist. So I'm back where I left again. Time to read some crime novels...

Bug fixed and lots of small role NPCs' dialogue written.

Phew, got the annoying bug fixed! It was a result of some hostile creatures attacking my commoner-faction NPCs. It took long for me to figure it out - had no idea they would attack each other while I was in another zone. I created a new faction for the NPCs and all is fine now, I was getting worried before. Now everything is just dandy again.

I wrote loads of one-liners for some small part NPCs and some companion dialogue. I also finished the interior design for all the Four Houses. I must say I'm pretty happy about how they turned out - each House has a distinct atmosphere even though they're almost identical when it comes to architectural planning. The different feel is mainly thanks to the lobbies of each House, they were damn fun to create too.

Even though I'm writing lots of dialogue, designing areas and creating NPCs, I'm worried about the date I set. I just see more and more content I need to work on - such a huge load of stuff for one person. And I will be gone until Monday, so that's three days I won't be able to mod. I think I should quit my job and just do this. Don't you think so too?

Next update on Monday, promise! ♥

Lore, and an annoying bug!

Time to reveal some Endia lore to the public! Also in program today, introduction to a bug that's pretty much driving me crazy. So join us in this exciting entry of the mod Hearts of Endia!

As the main character you've travelled to Endia from Sileon for you've received a letter from your oldest friend, Jasper. He promises you a better life and you decide to ditch your old mediocre life for a brighter future in Endia. The protagonist's desire to believe Jasper can be explained by the fact that Endia has been said to be a land where all three races - humans, elves and dwarves -  can live peacefully.

Outside the borders of Endia things are not so well. Humans and elves have waged wars against each other as long as anyone can remember. Dwarves have mainly been a neutral party, refusing to side with either race. They only consentrate on living in their own community and profiting from the war, they provide dwarven weapons and armor to each side of the wars.

The peace and co-operation between the races in Endia is the result of four powerful forces joining and founding the city of Endia. Endia is now ruled by the descendants of the four founders, they're called the Four Houses. Each House has a different duty in Endia. While one House takes care of the diplomacy, one keeps the city guard in shape, etc. The Houses are Water, Fire, Earth and Death (bet you expected Wind or Air, hah!).

Even after after generations worth of hard work, the peace between humans and elves is shaky and requires constant observation. The dwarves have also recognized Endia as they have agreed to work with them. They mine the mines of N'ir near the city of Endia. They have agreed to mine a precious magical stone the Four Houses need, and in return the dwarves are allowed to keep any other resources they are able to mine and they are paid a fair sum of gold each passing month.

But what has kept Endia so safe from the harms such as bandits, wild animals, neighbour wars? I'm afraid you'll have to play the module to find out the answer to that question. If I can just get rid of this new bug, you beta testers shouldn't have to wait for long... Now, the BUG!

FFS, I haven't read of a bug like this anywhere and I've never encountered it before. I'm totally clueless. There's this waypoint in an early area in the game. The mod keeps jumping the PC to the waypoint from other areas (I don't usually have time to run there, I only know that it happens in other areas as I've placed the Starting Location there sometimes too). After the jump, the mouse is completely disabled besides from moving the cursor around. Keyboard still works as usual, you can move the character, open the menu and all that jazz. So what the heck is going on? First I thought I must have had a heartbeat script on an area/module that somehow did it by accident, but seems like they all lack the means to jump my player anywhere. So frustrating...

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Now, some new screens to tease you all:

Blog created! First peek at HoE.

I decided it was finally time to create a blog to keep a track of what I'm doing with the toolset. And in case someone doesn't know, I'm talking about Neverwinter Nights 2's Toolset, Aurora 2 or something. I've been a big fan of NWN franchise ever since the original NWN. I have never released a single mod, but I'm about to correct that soon.

Learning to use the toolset has been quite a challenge, but it has been rewarding too. Can't say the same about scriptint, it's still pretty much hieroglyphs to me. Sure, I know how to make some basic scripts, but I'm still a big fan of Lilac Soul's Script Generator for the original NWN (will refer to it as LSSG from now on). Also the texturizing and implementing something new hasn't been easy as I'm completely new to any kind of modding.

I could bore you all day and night with talking about myself and my struggles, but I think it's time to tell you guys what I'm working on. I'm working on a single player focused module, called Hearts of Endia. It's set into a different realm than NWN (or any other game/book for that matter), but I've taken ideas and inspiration from here and there - as I'm sure many of you will notice as you play through my mod once it's finished. I even thought about adding a character for a small part from the book series The Death Gate Cycle. Read the books!

At the moment, the module consists of 10 exteriors and 13 interiors, all 100% my design. I'm still uncertain whether or not I should add a few more areas. I think I will save those for my next project so that I'll finish this one some day. I'm hoping I will get alpha or beta version out by the end of February. But no promises, I cannot predict what future might bring. I might not have enough time to write/polish/script.

Here's a few screenshots just to show what to expect. Also expext a better quality in-game since these are TS screens. More polish to come before release too (:

Next time I will be covering some of the lore and story. Also, if there's a scripting wiz reading this, feel free to e-mail me, as I'm in dire need of experienced scripting help. Any help will speed up the release of this mod and I will give credit to those who deserve it (: So far I've only used Cleitanous' Prefabs here and there, no other custom content.