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Tuesday 21 January 2020

Episode 23: Most Puzzling My Dear Halfling ...

One of the things I like most about D&D as a whole is its variety of play. We have exploration, we have encounters, we have combat ... and we have puzzles! Furthermore, NWN2 is a great platform for all of them. Where else can you create an entire party of adventurers by yourself or with friends and play a D&D campaign of a home brew design sporting its own unique new GUI puzzles? Personally, I like a campaign that provides puzzles, and this post is about some of the new ones that I am hoping to bring to supporting players when it is finally released. Read on ...

NEW PUZZLES

Players of The Scroll (module one) will have experienced quite a number of puzzles in my campaign already. From "ripped scrolls" to "combination chests" and from "chameleon stones" to "cryptic puzzles". It has a fair number for the player who likes the occasional change of pace and a chance to flex their "thinking caps". And let us not forget the "rune puzzles"! For those who prefer not to tackle puzzles though, there is also the option to bypass many of them, with the exception of one or two game important ones.

The puzzles of the second module will, I hope, be of similar design. The three I show in the video below are actually part of a main dungeon design, and so are designed specifically with that dungeon in mind. However, with minor alterations, I may be able to use them in other areas of the module too. Anyway, here is the video ...



THE JOURNAL REMINDER

While on the topic of new GUIs, I also decided to update one of my other GUI designs to act as a JOURNAL REMINDER. Basically, if the player receives a journal update (maybe even in the middle of a conversation), then my SHOW GUI now keeps a worded reminder that the entry needs checking and remains present until the entry is accessed via the journal. 

Furthermore, the player needs only HOVER over the SHOW GUI (when the reminder is present) to open the journal to read the latest entry. The new system also works alongside the new JOURNAL NOTES system, whereupon a slightly different worded reminder is presented in the SHOW GUI alongside a sound file informing the player that the journal NOTES section has been updated. The reminder is cleared after the player HOVERS to open the journal and enters the NOTES tab section of the journal for such entries. This weeks screen shots image show the update in action. (See below.) And for those that would like to have access to this update now, then you will be pleased to know that The Scroll (module one) supports this from v1.09E.

AREA BUILDING

The last couple of weeks has also seen me going over some of the areas, gradually filling them with objects and creating a "lived in" environment. From a scripting perspective, progress is smooth as I am able to use scripts that are now quite stable and work well for my needs. e.g. I have dedicated encounter triggers that are more flexible to use than those officially provided ... and I have been making good use of them.

As I have continued to develop the areas, I have also been able to consider various side quests and various plot twists that come to mind. How many will make it into the final, only time will tell. It involves more conversation writing, of which I already have quite a bit still left to do.

CONTINUED IMPROVEMENTS

As I continue to design the second module, I find myself being able to improve older scripts, which continue to have improvements on module one. This is why module one has also had an update to v1.09E. However, this is bound to slow down sooner or later, as many of these updates are mostly cosmetic now. So unless further improvements have a reasonably significant impact on module one, they may not be seen until the second module is released, at which point all the other minor campaign improvements will be added then.

ALTHEA WEATHER SYSTEM

For those who may be interested, I also managed to update the Althéa Weather System to v2.0, which is basically the same system I use in the latest version of The Scroll. So, if you want a fully implemented weather system for your NWN2 campaign, then maybe it's worth considering. Version 2.0 basically runs more efficiently than earlier versions.

New Journal Update Reminder System

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