I've been covering a number of module design angles over the last month or so, and, as as result, the second module continues to grow. There's no one specific thing I have to report on, but here are a number of pointers to the sections I have been working on lately, and which you can expect to see when Predestinated Days is finally released. Bottom line, I'm still picking away at it. Read on for more details.
New Companions
To complement the first module, the second module will come along with some new companions. My goal is to include around three more in total, to encourage making a party of four for a SP game. However, as before, the party size limit will remain at six, meaning a player can choose to maximise their party size by using a combination of companion options available. Basically, the player will be able to decide whether to use these new companions as they encounter them along the way, or they can continue to use any companions they may have brought along from the first module, or even simply use those created as a fresh party as the player entered the game. The recommended optimal solution would be to start with at least four in the party, and then decide whether to add to the party or replace existing members as and when these new companions are discovered and become available.
Talk, Talk, Talk!
The largest amount of my time has been working with conversations, and fleshing out NPCs, which, as you know, tend to be the core source of quests and associated rewards. Thankfully, I have just come to the end of a most difficult set of conversations surrounding a particularly involved "murder mystery" quest, which had multiple approaches, complicated variable tracking, and was just basically tricky to manage. That's a second complex area of variable handling I have managed to sort in as many months. I confess that others may have managed it more quickly than I did, but, due to health reasons, I do what I can in the time I can do it ... and suffice to say, I'm glad it's behind me now. It means I should finally be able to start going through sections more easily moving forward.
The Elemental Puzzles
After finishing the last set of complex conversations, I was able to return to doing more with my elemental puzzles. You may recall they involve turning obelisks/pedestals that display an elemental symbol. Certain combinations of these turned obelisks (or pedestals) then trigger something when turned to the correct position. Only today I managed to finish a "clue" system to aid the player in learning information that would help them obtain the correct combination for the puzzle. I am pleased with the final result.
Basically, the PCs can find a small four line poem that holds the clues to the combination. The issue I had was that I wanted to use a specific font (Ambrosia) to display the poetic text, which appears on a plaque they can find. Normally, this is a simple image, which a GUI would display. However, I also wanted to add a random factor that determined the order in which the lines would display in the poem. As I am unaware of being able to change fonts easily in NWN2, (especially without interfering with install folders), I ended up having to split the image into various sections that could then be shuffled and displayed accordingly. It took a while to get as I liked it, but the end result means I now have lines of poetry in the Ambrosia font, which are randomly set. I believe it means I now have a potential 256 ways the poetry can be displayed. However, that achieved, I then faced the issue of being able to make this work with the turning obelisks, and trust me, this too was not as easy as I thought it would first be. However, I now have it working, and means I can start to make more use of it.
General Improvements
Alongside this, my wife has continued to play the first module, and given feedback, which has helped me to improve the overall running of the campaign as a whole. Latest improvements for the first module now mainly address "cosmetic" issues only, such as overall appearance and general response of companions, etal. All these updates are, of course, steps that improve the overall playing experience for the second module when available too. Basically, what I am learning from module one (and feedback given) is going back into the development of the second module. Thankfully, these subtle alterations and fixes are becoming less necessary with each play through, which means by the time module two is available, I am hoping the general playability for the campaign will be already quite stable.
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