First, a heads up: There will not be a February blog post, as I am taking a month's hiatus. However, before I take the break, I am leaving you with the very latest v1.40 module and campaign files ready to use, after my wife did another test run of the first module using the latest build. A couple of minor issues came to light, but the updated Examine and Hardness systems, which I have now finished, are working well. Read on for more information...
Unconventional?
Regular readers (or players of my campaign) will note that my approach to design for both mechanics and quests does not sit within "normal" expectations for NWN. Instead, I believe my own design sits more closely to the table-top D&D game experience. Or, if we were to place the range of NWN modules available on its own spectrum, The Scroll Campaign (a.k.a. The Althéa Campaign), would probably be considered an extreme "conservative" style, or one that I would suggest plays more akin to a "Traditional" D&D table-top game. Your choice of how you play the module can alter this experience, but the underlying design principal is based upon trying to replicate the table-top experience, whether you choose to play the campaign solo or with a friend or two.
Whether this approach wins the approval of the majority of NWN players or not, I cannot say. However, for those players who like to dive deeply into a traditional style D&D game, with unique lore, quests and gameplay, alongside convenient traditional gameplay mechanics, then I hope the campaign will hit a sweet spot for them. Imagine a table-top session, and then translate that experience to a computer environment, along with all those elements that come with the former: combats, puzzles, crafting, varying NPC conversations and scenarios... and even creating bonds with fellow players as you travel your chosen path within Althéa!
The Trend Continues
This may surprise some, but when I first started writing the campaign using the NWN toolset, I had not planned to release it to the general public. This was because the campaign I was writing with the toolset was already a few years underway from a pen and paper (PnP) table-top campaign. Initially, I did not see any way to introduce years of material to new players when I was trying to continue the existing story for my PnP players. However, because I wanted to bring the campaign to new players, I found a way, by taking the first unconventional step to introduce a "background selection" that allowed new players to start the campaign afresh as if having never experienced the campaign before. As you can imagine, this introduced a lot of additional work, as I had to cater for both items and knowledge that the entering payer had of the campaign world, and how their experience differed from someone who had never experienced the campaign before.
This difference of gameplay experience only finally becomes resolved within the second module, which is now nearing completion itself. What I am trying to say is, while it has taken me a long time to ensure a new audience is accommodated for, this first single unconventional approach I took, while prolonging the build, has, I hope, been worth the effort to bring the campaign to more players. Effectively, by the time both old and new players have played the second module, both groups will now be in the same position of background knowledge serving them to complete the campaign within the third module.
The choice of campaign background was, however, just the first of many design decisions I would end up making to help bring the table-top experience to the player. My main focus from the start was then also to support PnP home-brew rules that were familiar to my own group of players, but also incorporate them in such a way that I hoped would not alienate new players not familiar with them. So, over the years that followed, new systems were added and altered until a balance between the more traditional and modern could be accommodated, including: a proper time system with attrition, fog of war, crafting, and various death systems alongside the Life Essence system, to name just a few.
To say this was a big undertaking would be an understatement, but ignorance of this fact at the time helped me to bring you the campaign that you have available to play today. The second module is now only a few months off completion (I believe) with only the third stage (of three) to complete. However, even with this last stage, I am "bucking the trend" in an attempt to bring the player new experiences when playing this D&D adventure. Like all new ideas and additions, however, they take time to implement, but I hope the time spent will be worth it, especially if the player does have a new enjoyable gaming experience.
Stage Three Development!
I have spent the last month going through more optimisation of the new areas of stage three, improving lighting, atmosphere, and general interaction, including the walk path. I have also been going through NPC interaction and conversations, improving lip-synch and animations where required. It was during these general improvements when I decided to also improve the Examine and Hardness interactions of which I speak above, as the new areas required it. I have also gone through the various NPC interactions to remind myself of the course of actions available to the player and been updating/correcting those that need it.
My tester, Dustin Offal (who has my greatest respect and thanks for all his work and feedback over the last couple of years or so), has also finished another play test of the second module (stages one and two), coming in at around 70 hours of gameplay. (This suggests completion of all three stages of the second module will take around 100 hours to complete, subject to gaming style.) Also, from his feedback, I spent some time focussing on ensuring plot items could be dropped by the PCs when they were no longer required. I began work on this last month, but managed to finish it for both modules in the latest release.
The third stage of the second module is now in a good position for me to continue with it come February.
Latest Campaign & Module
This new year brings both new v1.40 campaign files and new module files. Alongside some minor quest and animation fixes, I also took the plunge to deal with two areas of the campaign files where the code was over 15 years old and required updating to work more smoothly. This new code has also been tested with the first module again to ensure it works as expected. The two areas that have been updated were the Examine GUI code and the Hardness of objects with respect to bashing them.
Prior this latest v1.40, the Examine GUI employed a "mask" to ensure unused official code (OC) was not displayed when not required. However, this mask had a tendency to go out of synch (especially when related to creatures) and could sometimes cover text when not required to do so. It was frustrating me and so I got rid of the official XML entry altogether and updated module creatures with any examine text they required. I suspect many players do not use the Examine GUI anyway, (although I have made it a more useful tool now), and so only those who do use this GUI frequently are likely to notice the changes. The Examine GUI is now "clipped" to show only the information my campaign requires, so that erroneous OC information (faction or incorrect challenge rating) is no longer displayed at all. NB: If you are playing with an older module prior the one released 1st January, this new year, then some creatures will fail to have any description at all if examined.
The latest v1.40 campaign also updates some of my own very old code that handled the broken official hardness code. My old code was convoluted and much was not required. In the worse case, it could misreport when an object was fully bashed and not "clear" the way head. (Another bash would fix this, but it could look "odd" if not done so.) The new replacement code is much more streamlined and works well. NB: If you are updating an existing game (as opposed to starting afresh), then any areas already previously entered having any objects that could still be bashed, will have their hardness changed and will break on the first bash. (A minimal consequence for these levels only for a game that was patched as opposed to a new game where all work as expected.)
Lastly, there were a few very rare bugs that I squashed for this release, related to additional PC creations and/or a player not using the "Companion Protector" feat. They are so rare, I will just point to a description on the download page for more information.
There was one other final "game crash" bug, which is only likely to occur at higher levels, and so was discovered while testing the second module: If a summoned creature was killed (or dispelled) within 1.2 seconds of being summoned, it could crash the game. I believe this bug has also been squashed now.
Next Blog Coming In March!
As I said at the start of this month's blog. There will be no February blog, as I take a month's hiatus. The module and campaign files are in a place to continue with them in February, at the end of which, I will write the March blog to bring you up to date.
In the meantime, I leave you with a few screenshots I took as I was testing some points of the second module:
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| Discovery of A Secret Chamber! |
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| Something Approaches from Behind! |
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| Surprised By Skeletons! |
