The Future of cRPGS...?

Am I the only one who reads this list and feels a little disappointed?

What next for someone that doesn't want MMO/MP-style mundanity? Why does it always seem that RPG elements in recent RPGs have to be hidden behind more arcade-y gameplay/graphics?

Don't get me wrong, there's interesting stuff on that list I'll likely pick up, but the grognard / old-schooler in me really feels there's something missing - something new yet harkening back to good old story-driven SP fun that will keep me locked in a room til the wee hours of the morning.

Trouble is, sometimes I keep thinking back to ToEE when I think about what style of game I really want to come out, and so far nothing's looking promising on that front... Fallout: New Vegas I'm expecting a lot from, but we'll see.

What are others looking out for?

Legacy of White Plume Mountain: Released

I'm happy to report that Legacy of White Plume Mountain is now released on the vault.

Thanks to all the custom content creators whose work I've tried to also showcae in this project, and to the playtesters for perserverance, feedback and advice.

And to those who've stuck with the NWN2 community, I really hope you enjoy my little sandbox in Faerun.

Uploading to Vault

Weekend was spent mainly doing final bits of testing and tweaking. And getting the final battle in place.
This is me just before the final battle kicks off...


And this is me a few minutes later...


I'm really hoping people get a kick out of playing this. It's not a style to everyone's taste (mine included being story-lite), but I've had a blast building it, and I hope that shows. I'm upoading to the Vault as we speak but it may take some time (>600Mb in optimised RAR files). Will post again once it's approved.

Old School Dungeon Crawl of Doom

Feel bad that I've not been active on my fellow builder's blogs recently (so much juicy stuff going on for NWN2 now! Hoping I can help play/test your work soon!) but that's due to lack of time - but the upside is that most spare time has been spent digging into the toolset. And hopefully I should be getting close - if all goes to plan, this weekend I intend to run through the main plot path - party of 4 level 7 PCs tackling in order White Plume Mountain, Return to White Plume Mountain, and the climactic Ex Keraptis Cum Amore. That's one long old school dungeon crawl right there, weighing in at a solid few hours. Focus will be to check for balance, but also to see if I can finally overcome the clingy bugs that have been plaguing me e.g. creatures that refuse to jump to a waypoint even when there's no good reason they shouldn't (will likely end up using script-hidden as a workaround). Plus there's a few old-school aspects that will need testing like magic decks of cards that completely screw up your PC (does anything cry classic D&D more than that?).

Since the last few play reports I've overhauled the balance of the entire campaign, but I think tweaking that could go on forever and I'll never please everyone, so I'll likely release soon and make any alterations on the fly. Hopefully the upcoming spate of releases will see more traffic back on the Vault and all new content can benefit from that.

So. If I'm lucky, end of the month doesn't look like too unrealistic a prospect.... eek.

Here's some screenies of the specific dungeon areas i've just finished adding scripts and dialogue to. Strange pools of bubbling alchemical mixtures - drink, swim, or avoid like the plague? Time to make those Wisdom checks....

Suave?

Needing a break from the continuous debugging of Dead Gnolls EYe Socket (pinned down crash to corrupted triggers, but its time consuming and repeptitive to delete each, test, repeat)... So I dropped into Alpha Protocol. Fun game with very nice ideas for roleplaying. But this, suave...?

Bond, and i'm going to stick my neck ou and say that Roger Moore is the definitive James Bond, would never type that email. if he'd just been given a cover identity inn an arms manufacturing plant ha may have stretched to a "I don't suppose you'd mind cleaning my rifle" with a raised eyebrow, but this...

still, fun game

But back to the debugging...

Building a head of steam

It was great to finally feel I've settled in the new house by setting up a (disturbingly clean, at least for me) computer desk, and to sit back and have the toolset open. Usually that desk is also piled high with D&D books and scribbled notes - my mind is no way near as organised as that desk. Its slow going at first, getting back into the toolset, but I liked going back to the scripting and refreshing my memory. And after feeling my way round over the first day, reacquainting myself with just what needs doing, I'm starting to pick up speed on the bug quashing and polishing.

So far I've been working my way through the bug reports and the list as transposed over to the Bioware Social Forums. Most are fairly easy, and I've finished scripting a Geminator as a way to lighten the load for all the gem loot drops you pick up out in the field. That list has almost halved, which is a great feeling. Annoying the real time sink has been going into the game to test things out, but that's good in itself to keep me testing the gameplay.

Some screenies from a testing jaunt down into the bowels of Bright Mountain - also to serve as a reminder of the great custom content I'm showcasing from the community in the campaign. Here's hoping the move to the new forums will maybe bring in new/returning NWN2 players.

SomethingAwful : White Plume Mountain

Stopped by the Something Awful site for the first time in ages and randomly noticed they had one of their WTF, D&D! articles on White Plume Mountain! Might not be to all tastes, but a bit of an insight into the module nonetheless! Plus an omen maybe..?

Finally moved in, and just managed to get computer up and running before the World Cup Final started. So hope to get an update out soon. Got quite a backlog of updates/fixes to work through (on top of the inevitable time to reacquaint myself with the toolset after the few weeks break).



I've had one report of a tester reaching the fane (heart of the volcano, see above screenshot) of White Plume Mountain, meaning completion of two of the module conversion segments, and about as far as its possible to go in the current test version. Next up would be the final showdown in the Arena of Devastus on the Plane of Shadow where Keraptis awaits (below). Also glad to hear the miniquest of obtaining the Holy Avenger was working.



Then there are the bugs (mistyped waypoint tags) and the BUGS (beholders that are immortal despite there being no valid reason why they should be so) to iron out. bugs I am happy dealing with, but the illogical BUGS can be incredibly infuriating. With somethign teh size of WPM, i'm fuilly expecting bug reports to trickle in post release, but as long as I can solve the BUGS, I'm hoping I can get this out by August. And then , finally, to enjoy playing some of the other projects nearing completion (see blogroll, which I've been reading but not commenting on due to limited internet access - hope to make amends). Seem to be quite a few exciting sparks in the embers of NWN2, which is nice to see.

RPGMaker software

Anyone tried this? A generic RPG making software.

seems like a neat idea. Torchlight is on my list to check out too - any played that and dabbled in the mod making?


Tho maybe I'm getting ahead of myself...

Agonising wait

Work is busy, and home-life hectic as we wait to finally move into the new house. And the biggest frustration of all is that I've managed about 3 hours on the toolset in the past month. Not just because i'm keen to get bug fixing and working on the polish for WPM, but its made me realise how much modding (and computer gaming) had become part of my routine and a means for me to switch off from external stresses and relax. And that lack of relaxing isn't healthy for me (mentally or physcially, I'm the worlds worst fidget in mind and body), tho I am trying to use things as an excuse to get to the gym more.

But the agonising wait on the house has hopefully crested the hill today, and latest estimate is end of the month to be moving. What's made it all the more irritating is that the house we're moving into has been empty the whole time - just sollicitors and red tape holding up what should have been a simple transaction.

Meanwhile, testing reports have been thankfully positive on the style and content of WPM which has been great to see. I've a slog through SpellPlug ahead of me, and some niggling bugs to fix (immortal creatures that shouldn't be, spurious area corruption), but on the whole it's seeming playable. The main issue is the size - to cover everything would take too many people too long, and it's a lot to expect. But I'm thinking, with a good debug system in place, there may not be too much more to do before this can be released in a workable form.

Thanks to all who've fed back comments so far - I really appreciate your efforts on this. Reposting links to files below; if I'm lucky I can get an update done in the next day or so:

Hak file 1 (78Mb) - put in hak directory
Hak file 2 (176Mb) - put in hak directory
Campaign folder (21Mb) - put in Campaigns directory
Sidequest module folders (216Mb) - put in modules directory
Overland map module folder (70Mb) - put in modules directory
WPM conversion module folder (25Mb) - put in modules directory - new download

Brief walkthrough for sidequests including recommended party level can be downloaded here (Word doc) . Quests range from level 7 to level 16-18, so try any PC group you like and dive in.

A Readme can be found here - please bear in mind my design goals when giving feedback.

White Plume Mountain: Final Testing

Just posted call for full and final testers on the forums. Due to a house move that will keep me busy over the next month, I wanted to get this out first so reports can trickle in, and i will update in the spare moments I have computer time. All content is there, just a few dialogues needing finishing in the last two chapters of the White Plume Mountain conversions (Return to WPM, and Ex Keraptis Cum Amore). I'll finish these dialogues soon and post when the files are updated. Jumping between modules should see the updates kick in. It's soooo close... so bear with me til I have these done. It's almost there and my paranoia levels about file corruption are through the roof knowing how much work is at stake! Had to reinstall NWN2 and made more back ups of the campaign than you could imagine!

Right, now I need to convince my wife that the computer is the absolutely last thing to get packed up into boxes....


Hak file 1 (78Mb) - put in hak directory
Hak file 2 (176Mb) - put in hak directory
Campaign folder (21Mb) - put in Campaigns directory
Sidequest module folders (216Mb) - put in modules directory
Overland map module folder (70Mb) - put in modules directory
WPM conversion module folder (25Mb) - put in modules directory - new download


Brief walkthrough for sidequests including recommended party level can be downloaded here (Word doc) . Quests range from level 7 to level 16-18, so try any PC group you like and dive in.

A Readme can be found here - please bear in mind my design goals when giving feedback.