Episode 37: The Dungeon Environment!

As we all should know by now, dungeons come in many shapes and forms, fascinating us and piquing our curiosity, while at the same time, all too ready to do us harm! For those of us who enjoy both science fiction and fantasy, we are familiar with the many different environments of alien or bizarre objects we can expect to find, as well as the many denizens we are likely to encounter. This week, I have been trying to focus on some of those aspects, which I have found interesting to deal with in my own past gaming experiences ... and which I intend to include in my next module. Read on for all the latest updates ...

The Alarm System

Of all the games I have had the privilege to play, one of my favourites (as many of my regular readers will know) is System Shock 2. For me, it was the first time I experienced timed alarm systems, which could catch out the unwary player and send a horde of creatures their way if not handled correctly. I developed a system akin to this in my NWN1 module, Soul Shaker, where I employed "Watchers" to do something similar. In my next contribution with The Scroll: Predestinated Days, I hope to add another variation to a dungeon that players will need to negotiate.

Without going into too much detail that may spoil the experience, all I will say is that the alarm system I have devised has managed to capture all those elements I was after, including the ability for the player to be able to manipulate the system and gain an advantage if they play clever. If not, then there will be consequences ... The choice of play, however, will be left to the player.

Complementing Systems

Part of the joy of building a new module is being able to put together new ideas and systems that all work together to give the player a whole new gaming experience. For myself, it is not just about putting together a new story within the same fantasy world ... it is also about adding a new dimension to the game play itself. Please note that The Scroll series of modules are not as extreme in their design as my NWN1 Soul Shaker module is (as those who have played my modules will be able to confirm), but I hope those same players will also be able to attest to the many other new systems and options I have built within The Scroll to make it the unique playing experience I believe it is.

To this end, The Scroll: Predestinated Days will continue with some of those systems I have already developed in module one, but will also have a few new systems added to complement them. Hopefully, I have been able to incorporate them well enough to be reasonably intuitive to use, and most of all, a fun addition. New GUIs have been designed and included to make their inclusion easy to work with. At the moment, I have held back from showing screenshots that include them, but maybe in the future (and possibly nearer completion), I may be able to give one or two screenshots that I hope will tease the player with what to expect.

Conversations Overhaul

Some dungeons offer the opportunity to converse with its denizens, and so a good conversation goes a long way. Recently, I learned more about how animations work in conversations, and so ended up "fixing" (by removing broken animations) and "improving" (by adding some I knew that worked), not only for the second module, but also retrospectively for some of the conversations in the first module. Now, the NPCs respond more animated than before, benefiting both modules. NB: The first module will have access to these upon the next release (or update).

Code Improvements

Working on the second module, which shares the same core code as module one, allows me to continue to test and monitor the overall game play for the whole campaign of modules. As a consequence, I have had the opportunity to improve the code around journal updates, fix a minor auto-pause issue and improve overall efficiency.

These are all relatively small fixes to the code, and so I am holding back on any further module one release for now, and to also allow my wife to test these alterations before going public with it. It may even be that unless a critical problem is found that demands immediate attention, that the next release will not become available until the full release of module two anyway ... or perhaps when I am confidant that the changes are safe to release at any rate.

Chipping Away

I managed to finish another side quest, which ended up requiring more conversation nodes than I first realised would be needed. However, it was during this additional time that I learned about the conversation animations in more detail, and so it was time well spent.

I also managed to move the main quest further forward, reaching a new stage from where I can work from. This led me to working on an area where the next stage is to take place, and start to work on new conversations. The screenshot this week, however, is from a conversation I wrote last summer. Although, it does show a little bit about the "dungeon" environment ... in more ways than one.

A Dangerous Dungeon Environment?