Area Design Work

So today I decided to build my first exterior area in, like, awhile. It turned out pretty nicely, if I may say so myself...I even took an in-toolset screenshot for you (so not all nicely rendered with the pixel-shading etc., but you get the drift).

While I was building this area, I noticed that a few new textures had been added--specifically, another cliff/rock texture which is slightly darker than the one I had been using. I liked it so much that I went through all areas where it was appropriate and used the super-fancy "Swapper" tool to just do a quick "replace all" of one stone texture for the other, which made me quite happy. Also, I've been using the "Undo" function that was included to textures, grass and terrain in the 1.06 patch, and it makes life SO much easier. THANK YOU OBSIDIAN. Now, if only NWN2 itself were fun to play... :P

Anyhow, made good progress building that area from scratch. Perhaps I'll get some more done before dinner and bed.

Work on Moonshadows continues...

So I actually did some really good work on Moonshadows today! I did a bunch of creature placement, some area design work, and some treasure stuff...and I feel like I'm forgetting something pretty significant, because that doesn't sound like a lot, but I really did a bunch of stuff. It's really coming along nicely at this point...starting to look like a complete module rather than a bunch of random areas thrown together. :)

I still need to tidy up the rear-end of the main quest from this first module before I move on, which will actually involve a little bit of exterior area design (yesssss!) and some more convo writing. Then I have a crypt to create an populate, and a whole bunch of convo writing to do in there (it's one of the heaviest sidequests in the game as far as Realmslore is concerned, and I have to make sure everything makes sense, as the nature of this quest is pretty confusing).

But yeah, after that sidequest is done, I'll have some scripting to do here and there and then it's on to testing, and the next section of the campaign! It's going to be a big change of pace, let me tell ya--where the first module is all about exploration and the mystique of the High Forest and the Star Mounts, the second is sort of restricted to one central location: a city (albeit in a rather...unusual city, and under indisputably bizarre circumstances)...and the best part is it's probably a city that almost no one will have heard of except a few really die-hard FR gurus. :)

Some Area Design Work

I spent some time today (between tanning/reading/swimming) creating an entire cave complex from scratch for Moonshadows. Apart from messing with various lighting options and actually placing creatures, I'm pretty happy with all the decoration work I got done. I have two more interior areas that I can think of off the top of my head that need to get done before I think I'll have finished all area design for the first module in the series.

I don't think I'll be releasing it in chapters though, simply because I'd rather get it out all at once so that it's a long, self-contained campaign rather than multiple shorter installments. The idea of a really big, long adventure just really appeals to me right now, I'm not sure why. :)

Anyhow, I'll probably populate the area I designed later tonight, which will involve some funky scripting, which should be fun.

So I had a busy weekend which consisted chiefly of driving to the Cape, hanging out with friends there for the day, and driving back. Then I woke up on Sunday, mowed the lawn, drove to Vermont, took a nap, tanned, read a little, played a little videogames, and went to bed. Now it is Monday, and I have done not much of anything productive apart from some Ossian work today.

I've made no real progress on Moonshadows recently due to various summer activities...but I'll probably get "the itch" again soon. I'll also get back to writing my short novel once my muse decides to visit again. ;)

So yeah. Not a lot to report!

Busy! (still)

So I've been busy with some Ossian stuff and with the rest of my life, which involves lots of driving, meeting up with people, and general summer things which actually kept me from finishing what I wanted to/was supposed to finish yesterday. >_< Today I'm spending the afternoon with a friend and tomorrow I'm spending the entire day with two others after driving down to the Cape, then Sunday I'm spending the day driving to Vermont, so I'm just busy busy busy flat out!

Oh, and I've been running A TON too. This week has been:

Mon: 7.5
Tue: 7.5
Wed: 8
Thurs: too busy with Ossian & other commitments
Fri: 8 this morning

I probably won't be able to run tomorrow though, and it was really nice out today, so I wanted to try to get some decent mileage in.

*sighs* So much to do, so little time!

Knocked Up etc.

So I saw Knocked Up Monday evening, and I thought it was ok. Definitely not as good as Pirates III...it had its moments, but overall I thought it was a pretty crappy film, frankly. I would not see it again, and would not recommend it to others either.

Let's see...yesterday I spend the afternoon and evening with some friends back on campus (running, dinner, dessert, Boggle, etc. :D )...before I left, I was able to do some good design work involving item-creation and dialogue writing. It's coming along reasonably nicely! :)

Short Update

As promised, it's been a little while. I actually managed to do some good writing today for Moonshadows (I know, I'm surprised too!), and I actually plan on doing more if I have time. I've been quite busy reading, running, and writing over the course of the past few days...so yeah, life's good, not much to report.

I did see Pirates III on Thursday, which I thought was really well done. To be clear, I'm not a big movie-goer at all...the last movie I saw before Pirates III was...Pirates II. :) I'm seeing Knocked Up tonight though with some friends, so that should be enjoyable.

Anyhow, back to summer!

Busy day again!

So my day was fantabulous and totally jam-packed...and, as promised, spent entirely away from the computer. :P I just got home, and noticed (quick excuse for a blog entry! heheh) that my HOF interview for The Island was posted up on the Vault...you may have missed it as it appears a bunch of other stuff is going on as well, particularly involving the art contest and the many official forum posts, so I'll post a quick link here. Check it out if you feel so inclined!

Busy

My next few weeks are sort of completely jam-packed with non-videogame-related stuff. So apologies in advance if I go awhile without posting...don't worry, there won't be much going on with Moonshadows anyhow. ;)

Titan Quest & Books

I haven't done a whole lot (er, make that any) work on NWN2-related stuff this weekend...however, I did finish "The Dante Club," an excellent novel that I would recommend to any fans of Mr. Alighieri's epic poems. After finishing The Dante Club, I headed to Borders to pick up some new material to keep me busy over the summer...my current list consists of Knife of Dreams (Robert Jordan), The Club Dumas (something like Arturo Perez?), and It's Not News, It's FARK by Drew Curtis, which is what I'm currently reading. It's really, really funny--I'd highly recommend it to anyone who like Dave Barry's stuff.

On the videogame side of things, I picked up Titan Quest at the Best Buy next to Borders, and I played it for probably a total of 5-6 hours over the course of Friday and Saturday...and I must say it's pretty fun. It's like Dungeon Siege except less complicated--sort of reminded me of Gauntlet. Maybe I can convince my little brother to pick up a copy so I can play multiplayer with him on our LAN... :)

Another productive day

I had another pretty productive day. After going out to brunch with a friend, I went and did a 6x200 speed workout on the local track, which was fun (first 5 were in the 28 second range, last one was 24.9. I can go faster, but it was still overall a good workout). After the workout, I came home and did some Ossian work...and I can say no more on that matter. Next, I did a bunch of stuff for Moonshadows, from scripting to placing creatures, to tweaking areas, to designing items...it was pretty fun, and I got a lot done. I'm getting there, slowly but surely...and while I don't plan on releasing anything until the whole campaign is complete (this is just the first chunk of 2 or 3 we're talking about), it'll be good to have something done that I can start testing/tweaking.

Exciting!

Exciting things are happening that I am not allowed to talk about. That is all.

BWAHAHAHAHA!!! :)

Nice long run, substantial dev work

I got a lot done today! After waking up and having a hearty breakfast, I went out for what would become an 8 mile run, my first of that length since cross country back in the fall. :) I did it in about an hour (~1:04/1:05), so around 8 minute/mile pace, and I felt pretty good! So that was fun. Now, to keep you interested in this blog entry, I shall proceed to post an entertaining picture.

If you're still reading this, the picture trick worked. Hah! After running etc., I proceeded to eat two different lunches and to do a bunch of Ossian and Moonshadows work; for the former, I can say nothing; for the latter, I placed a bunch of creatures, and created a few items. Placing creatures makes me feel as though the game is really coming together...I still have a few little interior (cave) areas to make and furnish, and then some sidequest stuff to finish up and some cutscenes to script...then there's testing, of course, of which I've done none...but from a purely developmental point of view, things are looking good. No promises on ETA, but suffice to say that I'm pleased with the way things are shaping up.

The Island hits Hall of Fame!

Today The Island joined Tale of a Mage 1, Tale of a Mage 2, Art of Death, Wheel of Time - Dragonmount (Movie) and The Shardstaff (Movie) as a Hall of Fame entry of mine. I'm sorta excited, I must say. :) Now if only my better submissions (like Perchance to Dream, A Taste of Lynncair, and of course, my highest-rated submission, A Birthday to Remember") ever make the Hall of Fame, I'll be all set. ;)

Seriously though, it's funny looking at which of my entries are most popular. Perchance to Dream is definitely my best all-around module that I've relased from a polish and features and story standpoint, and yet it's my only non-demo module that's not Hall of Fame. Ah, how fickle scoring and the community is...

I've received a generous offer from community interviewer Steve Savicki to have another interview for The Island, and I've responded saying that I'd love another interview, but that I would really be psyched if it focused less on The Island and more on my upcoming project(s) for NWN2, as that's what I'm really focused on right now. We'll see what happens...in the meantime, I've been working on this nice scripted encounter in Moonshadows, which should be fun (and which should be familiar to players of the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance PS2 games :) ).

An Alumnus!

Well, that's it--I'm no longer a high schooler! Graduation was yesterday, after which I went out to a nice dinner with family & friends. It was kind of a surreal day...but I've had a lot of time to enjoy the moment and appreciate it for what it is, so I'm equipped to deal with it. :) Now I can really get into a nice summer routine of running, reading, building, ab workouts, and catching up on stuff I didn't get to do during the school year (see movies, go bowling/minigolfing, etc.), which should be fun. Speaking of building, I did some good design work today for an area in the main quest which should be nice and original for the players...it involved a good bit of fancy scripting, so hopefully the end result will be fun.