Episode 40: The Big Picture!

I know it's a cliché of a title, but as we have reached Episode 40, I think it's also appropriate for a round up of the campaign so far. Another cliché they often say is that "life begins at forty". Believe it or not, I was around that age when I started building with NWN2, which came out in 2006. Since that time, I have released The Scroll: The First Day (module 1) in 2016, and am still currently writing the follow up module. The question is, if it took me ten years to write the first module, how long will it take for me to finish the second one? And isn't there supposed to be a third module? Read on for more info on the bigger picture ...

Getting To Know you

The D&D game is nearly as old as I am, and if you include wargaming as a general pastime, the hobby is far older than me. However, when I was first introduced to the "game" in 1981, little did I know back then that it would play a big role in my life. For those interested, I wrote three articles about the changing face of D&D and my personal experiences with the game in the early pen and paper years: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. The bottom line, The World of Althéa campaign is my second campaign from my days of pen and paper gaming, and it was born of a growing understanding of gaming rules, imagination, and the love of telling a story. But, and here is a key point, that story has grown with me as I have grown. It's as if the story has revealed itself more and more to me as time has gone by. Don't misunderstand me: the core elements to the plot were in place (mostly), but the details were always vague to me until I put pen to paper ... or more lately, fingers to keyboard. So, it occurred to me, this story actually feels like it carries a correlation to my own life, and much about its telling carries aspects of my own past, as the story to come will be of my future. There is a humbling realisation that once the story has been finally completed (God willing), then the story ... and that large part of my life ... will be over, and both the end of the story and the fuller part of knowledge of myself will be known.

Isn't It Just A Story?

I suppose it is just a story - after all, it's reckoned we all have a story inside of us, waiting to be told. Although, it begs the question, why do we tell stories? Why does the bard pick up a pen and write a play to be acted by performers to entertain others? I want to emphasise that I am strongly distinguishing a story from a historical article here, or from any factual account for that matter. However, stories are still written and published, but from where does their source come? What is our imagination truly? I have my own beliefs about such, but I ask you to ponder over these matters yourself, and recognise that we all, for some reason, have desires to "hear" or "play" a story, even from a young age. Why is it that we like to escape to another place in our imaginations? That escapism is very much a real aspect of life, even if the story itself is just a result of the imagination ... whatever that may actually be?

Back To Althéa

Enough philosophising ... Latest news: I have been making progress with Predestinated Days, the second module in the series. And in case readers may be concerned that these modules stop at a cliff-hanger point (as part of a series), rest assured that I have designed them in such a way that I hope a player can play them individually to a satisfied end point in the story line with each module. So, if you want to make a start, then you can play module one to a satisfying "end", and keep your saved game, or any exported PCs to be able to either carry on playing with module two, or import and do the same. There will also be the option to simply start playing from each module's beginning regardless.

At the moment, I am in the process of sorting no less than four quests. I am taking time to write surrounding conversations in such a way that logical flow works no matter which way the player picks up the quest. All four quests are to do with the section towards the end of module two, and are some of the hardest ones to prepare to work well. Part of the issue with these quests, however, is that there are a number of new items and placeables that need work around their application too. i.e. I need to build new items, which need to be added via a 2da, which in turn are acquired via specific placeables, which are then referred to in conversations and the quests.

I still have a major section to finish that I have already started, which the players encounter earlier on in the module. There are at least three areas that I have not yet even started to work on from a perspective of player interaction - although the areas themselves have been finished. All in all, however, I am hoping the process will go more smoothly than the first module, simply because core functions are already in place. Although, the latest module also has much new content, including monster AI surrounding vampires and werewolves, as well as a unique gaming system to do with a campaign story line. It all adds up to some interesting gameplay ahead ... I hope!

How Long?

Trust me when I say that if I could have released this second module now, I would. My wife, who catches glimpses or hears sounds of me testing it, has often asked me the same question, eager to play the second part. She has even made a list of some crafting items that she would like to see that would help her with some higher level crafting when the time comes. (You would have to see the appropriate craft books to see what I mean.)

I can only answer in this manner: The first module took me ten years to build, but was done with less knowledge than I have today. Furthermore, much of the core code for module two is already in place, which means I am simply adding content. On the flip side, my concentration has become worse with each passing year, definitely slowing progress. This module also has more areas than the first one, and as I do not like giving players areas without something significant about them, I need to allow the area to "mature" and develop with each aspect I am currently working on, which also adds time.

The official SP release date for The Scroll: The First Day, was 04 May 2016. (This is ten years after I first started working in it in 2006.) From that time, I continued to work on patching and updating this first module as I also laid some ground work for module two. However, I did not start MP testing for the first module until 17 November 2018, which came to an end after 31 episodes on 02 March 2019. These current episodes that you are reading, detailing the building of the second module, Predestinated Days, then began on 03 May 2019.

We also need to consider that much of the area design of the second module (much like the third module) has already had major work done. (Although I have found myself needing to add new areas for the second module, which I hope is now finished.) Therefore, although difficult to pin down an exact date of when I started to focus on building module 2, taking all things into account, I believe we can fairly say that I can use a start date of around January 2018. Strictly speaking, work started a long time before this date, but allowing for all those varying factors above, if I had been starting this module afresh, I believe it would have taken around three years to reach my current point, at my current speed and knowledge.

I am not sure how much that helps us though? Simply because it is hard for me to know how I am going to fare from day to day. It is so frustrating having to pace myself due to my condition, but if I do not do so, then I would suffer. Also, there remains one or two areas that I have not currently focussed on at all, which means they are an unknown entity when it comes to time involved.

Speaking optimistically (and recognising potential health impacts), I would like to say this module will take me five years from start to finish, which would mean a target end date of January 2023. That is, I believe I am probably just over the half way point. But, like always, only time will tell. For instance, it may be that things fall into place much quicker and I could be finished by the end of this year! But, life events are unpredictable, and we must bear these in mind too. As for the third module, and to use another famous saying, "it will be done when it is done!" (And maybe I can report on that after this one!)

The Scroll: The First Day

Regarding module one, version 1.36E was recently released after my wife finished playing it yet again! She genuinely likes it! I encourage her to play some of the classic RPGs, which she does, but nevertheless comes away saying she wants to play my own module again to see if she can improve on her earlier accomplishments - she is into the new crafting system a lot! While v1.36E is the current release, I do have another version in the pipeline, which fixes stacked wand (and other item) usage. However, as this is a minor issue, I will wait for a while longer to see if anything else should reveal itself from any other reports.

This report also marks another aspect of module two: It has reached its 100th backup! To mark this, I will post some bonus screen shots ...

An Ancient History!

Viewing Ahead With Darkvision!

Cornered By Zombies!

Waterways!

Episode 39: The Path Opens Before You!

It's a good feeling when plans start to come together, and the results of the last few days have helped a great deal with that feeling for me. At last, I am starting to move towards conversations that open more paths for the player to follow, which in turn, allow me to start to write more conversations and update journal entries. Read on ...

Opening Up The Pathways

My favourite kind of RPG is one where I can easily switch between the various tasks a module may offer and pursue them in various ways. i.e. I am not forced along a specific linear pathway because that is the way the story goes. Don't get me wrong, I am all up for a very strong and engaging story in an RPG, but how that story develops or unfolds, I like very much to be in the hands of the player. Achieving this, however, is not as straightforward as one may think

The key is to minimise choke points, which are basically those events that do force the player to have to pass a certain point in the game, and which the module designer uses to ensure the player's party is at a certain stage in the overall game. As an example, requiring a key could be designed as a choke point. If not handled well, however, a player with a rogue who can pick locks, or a wizard that can cast Knock, or even a fighter that can normally bash through walls will not be pleased about such from the perspective of player agency. Such points have to be carefully considered, and implemented in such a way that do not spoil the experience, and the builder must do as much as they can to have such choke points appear most logical under the circumstances.

A linear game basically consists of choke points at every stage of the game, and leaves little in the way of choice of direction for the player. Conversely, if used sparingly, such choke points will be conveniently "disguised" among the many other options the player is considering. The downside to designing such a game is that it requires a lot more time to make work, as followers of my bog will have already witnessed. As an example, I have a trigger that a player could activate in one of four states, subject to the path they have taken, with each response varying according to the party makeup. And this is just a small notification trigger that can either update a journal note or a journal quest stage.

The latest news, however, is that I have just passed through another such design aspect and am now able to progress with the main quest and various sub-tasks available beyond this latest choke point. From a design perspective, it allows the builder a little more breathing space to be more creative again. The only problem to remember with such, however, is that all these new paths need to be brought back together before the next choke point! This is less of an issue for side-tasks, but certainly important for the main quest.

The pathways now open again for me, I have already started work on two new quests and a continuation of a third. This involves a few more conversations and new area events, which should all be most fun for me to prepare and interesting to the player too!

Improved Code

Again, thanks to the latest feedback from my wife (who is playing yet another play-through of module one), I have been able to focus on those areas of coding that can go under the radar unless certain playing criteria are met. For example, the efficiency of "loops" in certain areas of code is one huge aspect I have concentrated on since she has been playing with a party size of 10- to 12 members. Other areas include the code around hard-core death, as she in playing another run through that way. Also what happens to certain NPCs who have a neutral faction and have been subject to monster attacks at inadvertent times. All such pointers from such play testing have now been addressed, and serve to make for much more efficient coding, and make the experience more enjoyable.

Most of all, however, being able to apply all the benefits of my knowledge of building module one to module two have been of great benefit. And having a huge library of module one functions to draw upon has made the whole process so much easier ... and fun! There is a definite shift in time spent debugging compared to time spent creating.

As a side note, I intend to release module one v1.36E after my wife has finished pay testing this time around, as there are a number of very useful fixes. 

Finally, here is an screenshot from a stage after moving on from the last choke point!

Never Ignore A Gut Feeling!