Episode 105: The Secret of the Kiri-Dor Crystals!

For the last month or so I have been continuing to work on the third stage of my second module, Predestinated days. I have to admit that after a month's hiatus, restarting was harder than I thought it would be. However, it turned out the problem was as much to do with my own dissatisfaction of the current design of the area I had returned to working on more than anything else. Once I decided a redesign was in order, things started to fall into place. Read on to hear more about this and other news...

Area Redesign 

So, as my introduction points out, I found myself returning to building an area that is to be played in stage three of the module. However, I was struggling to find satisfaction in what I was continuing to add to its design. Put bluntly, I was finding the area to be somewhat plain and lacking character. In all fairness, this was the first time I had returned to working on this particular area in years, and I have had a lot of experience of working on other areas since then. Initially, when I came back to continue working with this area, I found myself struggling to be happy with the additions I was making and could not see why. I liked the ideas I was adding to the area, but something still felt wrong about it. It was only after I made the decision to remove and/or redesign some of the rooms within the area and change the way some of its transitions worked that "unlocked" the stagnation of design for me.

Now, alongside the new gaming mechanic system I mention next, I am having a much more enjoyable time putting the area together, which I hope will translate to an equally enjoyable experience for the player. Hopefully, by next month, I will have some new screenshots of this stage three area and/or maybe other areas to show you. In the meantime, here is a little "secret" for you...

A Secret Revealed

As this month's title alludes to, I want to "reveal a secret" with respect to a new gameplay mechanic that I have designed to work in this third stage of the module. It is to do with a citadel called Kiri-Dor, (a main bastion the heroes find themselves exploring on the isle of Tarn-Kiri), and some crystals that can be found here.

I had this new gameplay mechanic idea (and started work on it) years ago, but have only now just returned to finalise it. It involves some careful handling as it enables a whole new layer of gaming choices for the player, allowing them to choose how they would like to develop new abilities, and enable them to move forward in their quest. I will provide a couple of screenshots of the new mechanic, which I hope will help present the idea more clearly. This could be considered a minor spoiler, I guess, but I have done my best not to give-away too many details, but, hopefully, just enough to whet the appetite...

The Secret of the Crystals 

The new gaming mechanic relies upon the PCs learning of special powers locked away in some special crystals that can be acquired within the areas of Kiri-Dor. Once acquired, the PC can activate them to unlock the potential of the powers that they can bestow upon the heroes. The heroes first have to unlock the BASIC path, which when completed, unlocks the ADVANCED path. Both paths require working with crystals of four different colours: white, green, blue and red:-

Heroes Begin To Unlock The Secret of The Crystals!

Eventually, as the heroes continue to make progress in their acquisition and study of the crystals, they can unlock the ADVANCED powers, which will, hopefully, aid them in overcoming the problems they currently face while within Kiri-Dor:- 

Heroes Have Managed To Reach Advanced Crystal Usage!

As you can see from the edited screenshots above, once the player has unlocked the ADVANCED stage, their choice of abilities opens before them in a tree-like structure. They can choose to concentrate on one particular colour branch of crystal study, or maybe spread their knowledge, bearing in mind how the adventure opens up before them.

As I say, I hope it will add an exciting new level of gameplay for the player, but I still need to address balancing and practicality of the system before I can be happy it is a working gaming option. So far, I have made reasonable progress developing the system, but it will still require some alpha testing before I know for sure.

I like to believe that The Scroll is probably one of the most heavily modded modules in NWN2, with extra care and attention given to a whole host of new XML GUIs and gameplay mechanics that serves to keep it a new and fresh experience for anyone wanting to play a NWN2 module, while staying within the gaming experience they know and love.

Latest Campaign

Meanwhile,  I also released v1.41 today, which addresses some minor issues, but I still believe is worth updating if you are on anything older. It improves maintaining variables on split stacks, fixes a minor Vigour glitch, and a Mapping fix among other things.