Monday, January 21, 2008

Planning pays off!

After all that planning, I feel like I made a ton of progress over the weekend - which in turn makes me feel a lot more positive about it all.

  • New options to develop Briars - not many's favorite companion, but the sidequest I'm finishing exploring his past fleshes him out, and depending how things are handled, the player can open up new class options and bring him out of his shell
  • New party management system - using the roster and limiting party size, and meaning that which companions are with you on which quests has more impact - and ultimately improve replayability. Will retro-fit into Chapter 1.
  • New creature - Caller in Darkness - using a custom vfx (from the skills Amraphael taught me in making a Ragewind). Will tie off the horror quest nicely.
  • Cutscene 1 finished - involving 2 different ways of approaching it, and 3 different outcomes I was dreading this (put it off for 3 months!), and a big weight off my mind to have out of the way. Took most of my toolset time over the weekend to script and work out the various paths
  • Cutscene 2 finished - leading to an ambush, which is hopefully simple but effective, and has a nice visial segment to it
  • New monster scripts in place - to tie into some cutscenes I'm still working on
  • New custom items
  • Area touching up/polishing

Might not seem much, and there isn't much to show for it visually, but for me that's a big hurdle out of the way. But what's got me more upbeat, is that in the midst of my daily commuting daydream this morning , I had a flash of inspiration for an amazing idea that should be simple, elegant and effective. Can't beleive I hadn't thought of it before. I'll save the details for some other time.... ;)

4 comments:

Jclef said...

Sounds like you busted ass this weekend. Nice work!

Area design is one thing, but making "gameplay" is what's really important! Sounds like you got a lot of that done.

Also, you've got me wondering what it is you've come up with...hmmm

I'll await further posts!

Anonymous said...

I just found this blog! I took a look at all the screen shots. And read up. Absolutely fantastic! this is on my watch list.

Mind if we add you to our blog list?
http://stygius.com/blog/

Also. how do you feel about podcasting live at 01:30? (saw your from the UK) I am rounding up several modders with modules in development for a live round table.

Neverwinter Nights Podcast team is leading it, It will also be part of the show. We will be recording the round table live. Listeners can come in and listen, submit questions etc.

Let me know if your interested. liso1966@gmail.com

If you are. I'll send you the details. We have a nice list of modders already on board!

Best regards
Liso

Wyrin said...

Hi Liso

Have sent you an email - more than happy to have my blog listed, and to take part i nthe round table Thanks for the invite!

EC said...
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