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Monday, 12 March 2012

Development Still At 85%?

Regular readers will have noticed that the module has not progressed beyond 85% for quite some time now, and I feel I owe an explanation for this. I may have already explained it once, but would like to explain the apparent "inactivity" it would suggest.

First and foremost, I do have to explain that my illness does prevent me from working on this project as quickly as I would like. Although, I don't want this to come across as an "excuse" for being so slow, but it obviously does affect the rate quite dramatically. That said, because my illness impacts everything I do, I rarely find myself in a position where I can do much else anyway, and so I end up doing what I can on the module just to keep myself from going insane.

Anything on the notice board regarding when this module will be completed?

Now, one of the main reasons this figure has not moved much in the past few months, is because I recognised that after breaking the campaign into three parts, and determining to release the first part as soon as it was finished, that the first part (by itself) would be rather lacking in design/depth - and so would need extra material. That is, much of my earlier work (as I worked on all three parts at the same time), had to be sidelined to a later date and until after I have released the first part.

It was at this time, that I decided to add a new exterior area (whose screen shots I added a few months ago) and to work on the adventures around this new section of part one. And rather than recalculate the amount of work I had already done towards part one (and which would have appeared to result in a backward negative movement in its development), I decided to leave its percentage score alone until I had caught up with its calculation.

Since that time, I have been working on both the new area and its associated interior areas and the adventures that go with it. At the same time, I have been tying in the existing material that I have been working with previously for part one. I am excited by the results, as the module does now feel much more rounded and will make for a great first part. Yet, the addition has meant the module's overall development score has been left untouched as I work out just how much the overall position for part one is.

In a very rough calculation, I would say that part one is probably around 65% complete, but this would not necessarily be an accurate figure representing time remaining because the parts that remain to do are much simpler than previous parts. However, I am reluctant to suggest how long these remaining parts will take me, as they are the "fluid" sections of the design that will increase or decrease in length according to how the story develops in my own mind. i.e. If the related story/quests are straight forward (which is my aim), then a figure of around 85% is about right. However, I have found that some of the latest developments have taken longer than I first thought they would, and so I have not yet been able to increase this development figure either.

What I can say is:-

1) One interior area still needs its design finished.
2) A handful of interior areas still need some contents/placeables adding.
3) Four quests need finishing (as far as journal entries appear to go).
4) A few creature stats and placements remain for a few areas.
5) Only 2-3 main conversations remain to be written.
6) Some spell scripts need editing to be compatible with a couple of my systems.

I am currently working on parts 3, 4, and 5, as I find these parts the easiest to manage . Parts one and two I will only be able to tackle when I am feeling at my best, which I am unable to predict. Part 6 is something I can work on at a later time as and when required.

I do thank you all for being patient with me, and the encouragement I still receive from you helping me to persevere with it. And I certainly do appreciate the help and offers I receive about helping me out with the latter parts (modules 2 and 3), which I would welcome if people are still up for it.

7 comments:

Eguintir Eligard said...

Do my area designs appear in chapter 1?

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

Hi E.E.

Your two areas appear in Chapter 2. Only 3 areas designed by others appear in Chapter 1 (two by Hoegbo and 1 by Matt Rieder), as Chapter 1 was mostly covered by the time I asked for help. Much of the work that others helped me with (including yourself) came with Chapter 2. SGK73 prefabs appear in Chapter 3 alongside some others by Hoegbo.

And while this may appear a long way off, I hope that by the time I finish Chapter 1, most of the "campaign" work (scripts) will be completed, meaning Chapter 2 (and hopefully 3) will take less time to be released.

Don't worry though, I still have your areas included, and hope to make good use of them in time ... God willing.

Lance.

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

Hi E.E.

P.S. If you would like an area to appear in Chapter 1, I still have 1 interior area that needs doing, which I have barely started and needs finishing. It would also go a long way towards bringing the first module closer to completion.

If this interests you, let me know.

Cheers!

Lance.

Kamal said...

You could be like me and always underestimate how much work remains!

Eguintir Eligard said...

Provide me the area with the framework you have done I will provide the filler.

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

Hi E.E.

Thanks for that. I will put together an email for you and send it to you on the address I have for you. If you do not receive anything in teh next couple of hours, then let me know.

Hi Kamal,

I hope I haven't. :) But, I do always have that fear as well.

Lance.

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

CORRECTION:

I have a couple of areas by Kamal in the first module too. :) I don't know how I missed those, as I have just been working on those ones! :)

Lance.