Future work > Epic

Just to show that I'm not just sitting around idly, I'm going to finally post some new shots! This time they're from the overland map that I'm creating. Only been doing it for a few hours now and it's rather different from designing the regular areas. I have to plan things a lot more carefully to avoid any stress later on. At the same time I can relax a bit with the visuals, since the player can't rotate the camera, bwahaha. Still, getting used to scaling everything takes some time.

I've also created a very important interior area in Bellbay! The player will be going there a lot, it will be the base of operations so to speak. Every possible companion will be staying there as well...okay, not every companion, but most of them. Also I have 9 possible companions (actually 2 companions and 7 henchmen/cohorts) for the player at the moment. Wow, the figure sounds so big when I see it as a number. Maybe I'm overdoing it...but then again, only 5 of them will have any real major parts in the story.

I'm curious, what do you people think is a good amount of sidequests in a user-made campaign? I already have several ready in the first part, but will ignore those, they're just 'fillers' to add some background and fun :) Anyway, here are the screens of the early overland map.

Long time no see.

I'm back!

Yes, sorry for the one month long absence. I've been working and studying and bunch of other stuff. Also had a minor loss of inspiration and motivation - the amount of work needed compared to the gains. I should probably join a mod-making team as a story and level designer. That way I could get the most out of modding, those are the things I enjoy the most. Writing the conversations and figuring out the scripts...not so much.

But I'm pretty sure I'm going to finish at least this module before I consider joining a group. Also foil- from bioware forums has offered help in writing. Now I have someone to write for me and someone to proof-read my dialogue. Sweet. I'll just have to think of something for foil- to write. Easier said than done.

But on to the progress of the module. The whole month has been quiet. I've finished hree interiors and created a new one - with a nice 'secret' room. I started working on another side quest too. I'm getting the feeling it won't turn out as fun as I thought it would be, but I guess it won't hurt to add it either, it's not that bad.

I'm holding the creation of Bellbay and the rest of the world of Tarein for now. I decided I should finish the first part of the mod first. There isn't much left anyway. Only a couple more side quests and tweaking and fixing the existing quests. I must say the opening is a whole lot better than in Hearts of Endia. HoE's opening was a bit too vague. This time you will find out a great deal of yourself and the place you've grown up in. Or at least this time the background for the mod is more solid and plausible.

More screenshots coming when I return to the world of Tarein. Next up, Bellbay interiors and the overland world map!

Beautiful town of Bellbay

This area has been a real test for me in both design and technical ways... The walkmesh really hasn't been behaving nicely. It took me propably 12 hours to make all intended places walkable and I had to redesign some  parts of the town. But it was worth it. I think the town is pretty much complete, it's still missing all NPCs - apart from a little girl I used to test wether I could make her sit on the side of a sidewalk (see the pictures below). It turned out great and I've really wanted something like that in my areas - children sitting on crates, barrels, everywhere they can get.

It needed a bit of tweaking with walkmeshes also, but I think the next times will be a lot easier. But now it's time to write some story advancement. Time for another important turning point in the story, the player will meet several new possible henchmen (I only have 2 companion characters, the rest are henchmen) and will be introduced the main aspects of the module.

Good times.

Oh yeah, if you (yeah, you! the one reading this right now!) are a good/decent writer in your opinion and would like to write some fresh, fun and catchy dialogue and descriptions etc, please contact me at mazena86@gmail.com or PM me at NWN 2 forums, my nick is Mazena86. I know I will be struggling with the insane amount of conversations if I were to write it all by myself. I promise you will get to share the fame and glory! :D

Now, enjoy some shots.

Whole day wasted - almost.

So, I've pretty much spent the whole day trying toget some custom city placeables to work with SoZ. To be precise, this hak: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2HakpaksOriginal.Detail&id=299 - Tupoun's City Hak. Basically TES III: Oblivion models ported to NWN2. They're awesome!

So, I finally got them working, but it's almost 3am here so I really, really have to stop. Even though I'm very eager to see what I can make with the new placeables. The default NWN2 houses don't really look like a city to me. These do and oh boy, oh boy... Well,  look at these screens and marvel at the new stuff!

Edit: Ehum, the screens don't work.. So.. click on the slideshow and you'll get to the gallery if you want to see the screenshots.

Progress Update on CotL #1

As I promised, I've finished the first part of the story. The first module isn't nearly complete however, I still need to add filler NPCs and a few interior areas and side quests. Still, I've created the next module and started my work on the first area in the second part of the story. Thanks to some friendly help I now know how to make two-leveled areas with Sunken Ruins and Shadow Fortress -tilesets.

It's been a bit rough learning how to use them and to understand the limitations (especially with the walkmeshes). And these areas require significantly more hardware power. While playtesting the new area, the frame rate dropped a few times when I was on the other end of the map and looked at the direction of the other. It will make the area a lot more interesting and it looks more the way I wanted it to look than it would have without two-leveled tiles. The lack of placeables are a bit of consern though, it will be hard decorating the area, but on the other hand it wouldn't make much sense if it were full of stuff. Not that the chests (some of them require some searching!) containing goodies make any sense either, I just felt like doing them. Also, the music track I've had in mind fits it perfectly!

Take a look!

Questing for variety!

What I think Hearts of Endia was lacking is variety of side quests, roleplay choices and skill checks. I've been working hard not to repeat the same mistake here. I've only worked on the mod for a small time, but I have six complete quests implemented. Though four of them are compulsory, they include various choices you can make and some have different outcomes or will affect the story later. After one of the quests  you could say 'the cat's out of the bag' and not speak with metaphors.

I've created the two first companions in the game. Meet Henrik and Mina, both are your childhood friends. Oh, and depending on your sex, you can romance either one of them in the final version! That was another thing HoE was missing.

Here's a screenie of my char(the one that looks tallest) and Henrik and Mina!

I have way too little time to work on the mod! I have so many ideas and I constantly have the urge to do something with the toolset. But alas, I need to work and study too. Thursday night is reserved for building though - it's been a long time I've had that much time to work on a mod. I'm hoping on finishing the first part of the mod and story during the next week. I will be adding more side quests and filler NPCs later on though.

I've also finally decided on the name for the campaign! The name can give you a clue what you're going to do and experience in the campaign, heh.

Behold, the name is!:

Crystals of The Lost

A small break.

I'll be gone 'till Saturday evening and I already miss the toolset. Hrm, this will be hard, I've gotten too excited about the campaign I'm working on. Today I already created three interiors and made a side quest with three possible solutions - one of them is pretty hilarious. Oh, also made a nice winter gear for the PC!