Hey, Lorft

Undead

2008-10-22T16:34:00.001Z

A mini-module that promises to...

SUCK

Time

2008-03-25T01:35:00.003Z

Time, a precious thing.
The only thing, perhaps?

And while you're doing other things,
Time is what will lapse.

Always, we wish for more,
To do what things we like.

But, the things that bore,
Take ten times what seems right.

The last few weeks were free in my calender, and I had hoped to manage to get Planescape:Legacy finished and out of the door. However, various things have managed to sap up most of my free time. As a result, the module is still in an unplayable status and will unfortunately remain in this state for the foreseeable future.

It is not really bad news though (at least for me!) as I am off on a world-spanning trip for the next year which should be incredible. There is no doubt that I will be back into modding at some point - whether that be NWN2 or another platform.

The wheel turns,

Lorft

The end of the Begining

2008-03-06T23:08:00.003Z

I learnt today that Gary Gygax, the creator of D&D recently passed away. My thoughts, and those of the whole gaming community go out to his loved ones. It was the work of Gary and the others in TSR that fused proper mechanics and story telling to form the basis of RPG.

Here is to you Mr Gygax.

2008-03-02T01:42:00.015Z

Now, a long time back I posted a set of character intros for potential companions. Of course, things change, and as I have progressed some new characters got picked up and some got lost. Things are a lot more developed now, and as it stands you should have your choice of taking four of the following with you on your adventure:

Hans – The grumpy, realist dwarf has recovered from his hangover, and is back in full swing. His cutting realist observations are sure to stop any smart arses in their tracks. Failing that, his greataxe will.

Taker Alm - As an orphan he was brought up by the Bleakers, an education at the school of hard-knocks. His quick wit, and quicker hands soon saw him ejected from the orphanarium, but he rapidly found his place in the Fated.

The Magpie - This young woman makes out that she is the scourge thief that has recently been burgling the normally impenetrable homes of the Gold Lords. Indeed, she seems to be a wanted woman, but something about her demeanor doesn't quite ring true.

Lucas Debonair – Self proclaimed 'greatest everything, ever' , to say Lucas is Narcissistic is an understatement. As a fully paid up signer he believes that everything around him is actually just part of himself. Annoying, but such self belief can prove useful sometimes.

Verity – This strong minded albino follows Hoar, the patron of revenge and poetic justice. As a Mercykiller, she hunts down lawbreakers whom have evaded capture and applies her own special form of punishment.

D'axos – A bard of sorts, strange sorts that is. Her speech is a babbling stream of metaphors, with little rhyme or reason. Just as his speech changes, so does her shape. Who is to tell what his true form is, or if she even has one.

Others - Over the course of your travels you will possibly have a number of temporary allies. Just remember, that although adversity makes for strange bedfellows, they are often gone in the morning with more than a stolen kiss.

2007 – the best EVER year for story based games!

2008-03-01T23:58:00.015Z

Balderdash! I hear you say. Well alright, maybe none of them are better than Balder's Gate 2, but they are gems in their own right. So if you have missed any of the below, then do yourself a favor and go play these delectable digitized diamonds. Now.

Yes, right now.

Bioshock
I already devoted a whole post to this amazing action driven story. Combining an empathic bad guy, fun game play and a unique setting (1960's underwater anyone!) this is a must play.

The Witcher
As it was built using the NWN1 engine, I expect that many readers already know a bit about this. What you might not know is just how fun it is. When the game started, I thought 'Oh no, not another amnesiac story' but this is downplayed (for a while) and you are hooked into a unique mature fantasy setting. Often original settings feel unrealized or cobbled together, but even the somewhat sporadic English translation doesn't do too much harm here. In places it even works to make the world seem otherworldly and believable.

What is more, you get a lot of freedom, some plot changing decisions, a heap of (generally fun) side quests and a combat system that although action based, is not too twitchy. Of course there are a few bad things as well. Too many 'trash' fights, some parts of the main quest drag on a bit and the collect-the-nude-girl-card gimmick is more than a tad trashy.

Overall, still a great game though. I will be keeping an eye on CDProject's future, erm... projects.

Portal
Yeah, it's another FPS. Well more like a FPP (first person puzzler). Clocking in at just under three hours, this gem is a great afternoon of fun. Just for it's totally original puzzle mechanic this would be tieme well spent. What really makes the game shine is the antagonist.

Think of a female version of HAL from the classic Kubrick film “2001 – A space odyssey” but more psychotic, with PMS, on LSD. GlaDOS provides 'Guidance' as you pass though an ever more complex (and deadly) maze of 'Test Chambers'. This is often darkly humorous, emphasised by the unfeeling monotone of the crazy computer. As for the ending, well that just takes the cake.

Mass Effect
The latest effort from Bioware, and this time (as with Jade Empire) they have their own world to play with. As expected, they deliver the usual high class of story, and a good dose of semi-FPS game play fun. Where Mass effect really stands out though is the cinematic feel. Many games have previously tried to appear movie-like, but none has come as close as Mass Effect. Combine a great musical score with full camera control, camera focus, motion blur and a large range of character choices and it really feels like you are in a movie (or maybe a TV series). As a modder, I am just drooling at the thought of getting my hands on something as powerful as that...

Talking about modding – as well as playing all these great games I have been working quietly on my Planescape mod. I now have a targeted release of end of March start of April. More soon.

PS: Also I forgot to even mention MoTB and HL2:Episode 2 in the above, both great story-based games. In fact, even the more classical shooter games like FEAR and STALKER are having a crack at telling more interesting stories. Many PC gamers moan about consolisation, but to me it looks like stories are becoming more important every year. And that is a a good thing in my book.

2007-12-23T21:02:00.000Z

Jingle bell, Blessed bell,
Silent night tonight.

Wintervall, Festival,
Baatezu's delight.

Just a quick announcement of the release of my short holiday themed combat-centric Christmas present to the community. This is a one hourish long module and a pseudo-sequel to 'Cry Wolf' (you don't need to play the previous though).

- About 45-60 minutes play time
- Combat Heavy
- Parody and Pun Heavy
- Features the storyteller mechanic (as per Cry Wolf)
- Unique scoring system (as per Cry Wolf)
- Roleplay/Skill use Light (It does have a story though!)

Now, the whole thing was knocked up in a few night's work, so don't expect a masterpiece. However faced with the traditional aprez-lunch Oldster ailment and illness monolog, this short module may just be a viable alternative until they drift off to sleep!

And here is the vault link: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2ModulesEnglish.Detail&id=212

Merry Wintervall to all,

Lorft

The night before Wintervall

2007-12-22T13:59:00.000Z

T'was the night before Wintervall,
When all through the blog,
News was a coming;
Of a new Mod.

While players were tucked up,
all snug in their beds.
One modder was testing,
Making things dead.

On Monitor, on Mouse, on Keyboard and Power,
On Toolset, on Music, no time for a Shower!

And so as I work on, balancing the fights,
Happy Wintervall to all, and to all a good Night!

A new begining

2007-11-19T20:08:00.000Z

As most regular readers will realize (yes, both of you) I have been on modding Hiatus for a little while now. Thankfully, with the nights closing in and the recent move finally over with I am starting to get back into the swing of things.

Now, on my break I had a chance to play some top notch games - Bioshock , HL2:Portal among them. This brought me back to what gaming is all about - having fun!

I think being a creator of games it is all too easy to get drawn into long winded pre-game explanations and cut scenes. Of course I think my story rocks, but no matter how good you loose a whole chunk of players if your first area doesn't pack an almighty punch.

Another thing that drove this home was the recent review of 'Cry Wolf' (and other users comments on it). In that module I placed most of the really fun bits in the last area, it was the culmination of the game and I wanted it to have my best stuff. It had my best puzzles, best writing and best jokes. Unfortunately this left the other two areas a bit slim on the variety ground and as a result many players never even reached the final area!

The original plan for PS:Legacy was to have an epic story from childhood to the planes. That has now been retconned in a pulp-fictionesc beginning that starts in the middle to supply the player with a chunk of quality action before the plot proper begins.

More to follow....

Back

2007-10-10T23:28:00.000Z

Well, broadband took a while longer to sort out than I was hoping and moving house proved a bit more of a drain on my free time than I had hoped, but I am back in action. However, I did find time to play NX1.

My overall impressions as a player:
Better mechanics, controls, combats and polish than original, with a decent stand alone plot and EPIC levels that are not super-unbalanced. However, suffers from the classic EPIC disease of power inflation where even a regular guard or animal is level 20+. Combined with the monty-haul treasure/enchant system and a lack of companion choice this takes the gloss of an otherwise fun game. Also, being a Planescaper it is my sworn duty to hate the horribly boring and overemphasised shadow plane. It NEVER was a transitive plane, and NEVER will be!

My overall impressions as a modder:
Hmmm... I was hoping for more. On the up-side we have horse models and treants, both of which will see good use. So will the sunken city tileset and many of the building/ruin placables. Official snow and waterfalls are not unwelcome either and the new greying VFX is neato.

I was hoping for more in the way of models though. More new constructs and a couple of re-textured creatures doesn't really cut it in my book. Sure, we have an ape thing, the wyvern and a couple of new dragons too - but all of these could be simulated with scaling, VFX and tinting. I guess I was hoping for more stuff you can't simulate, Like Beholders, gelatinous cubes and some of the more unique fiends and celestial.

Overall It is still a nice expansion and certainly worth buying, but could have been more...

PS: Also, thanks to BGP Hughes for the official review of Cry Wolf. Darn that Volnburg!

Lorft

Moving onwards...

2007-09-06T17:34:00.000Z

Well, a bit late on the weekly update, but I have an excellent excuse. I am moving house. As a contractor this happens reasonably often, so I am pretty fast and not really phased by it. This move is a bit different though in that it is a brand new house with a few people I know so there are lots of things to sort out.

I have managed to add a few more encounters to the early part of the module, but alas "I can't help shifting the sofa because I am scripting an intense tactical combat with trolls" does not seem to work as a valid excuse.

Things should settle down over the next couple of weeks, but I fear there will be no updates here for a month or so. You see, the new house has no broadband or phone fitted at the moment, and in the UK our telecoms monopoly takes a good three weeks to sort these things out.

So do not take the silence here to mean the project has been penned into the dead book. It 'aint, alright cutter?

Back with a Bioshock

2007-08-27T10:15:00.000Z

Well, taken the last couple of weeks off modding to enjoy the summer and do some real life stuff. To be honest, I had spent so much time in the toolset over the last few months that I needed a bit of a break, not just from modding but from the computer itself.

Anyhow, I am back at modding now and I think part of the reason is the amazing game 'Bioshock'. Now, I am a bit of an experienced (read jaded) gamer, and it takes a lot to impress me. Whilst Bioshock certainly has it's faults, it is the first game in many years to keep me up 'till dawn with the 'just one more level' effect.

Warning - there are some light spoilers in the following. You would find them out in the first 10 minutes of play though, so the plot shouldn't be ruined for anyone.

Probably the best single aspect is the audio direction and quality. So many games skimp on sounds and music, and end up with cheesy bad voice overs and inappropriate scoring. Instead here the sounds add a huge amount, really portraying the 1950's huge underwater city of Rapture in the midst of disaster.

Talking about the atmosphere of Rapture, the graphics and level design further enhance this, with constant leaks and grindings and the various little details portraying a city populated by madmen. Whilst many other recent FPS offerings have a similar quality in graphics, here they are all congruent providing a consistent feel to the inside of this sunken asylum.

And the asylum is filled with some great characters. With ambient activities and a variety of conversation even the generic minions are raised above the norm, provoking pity even as you are forced to kill them. Indeed, the plot backs this up with both radio contact and tape logs filling in the history and eventual fate of a number of victims of the failed idealism of the underwater city. Ryan, the visionary and creator of the city is himself an inspired masterpiece, provoking both sympathy for his cause and disgust at his eventual methods - definitely a contender for the best realized game villain ever.

Each of the above would have been a good thing on it's own, but the true triumph of Bioshock is the way that they all fit together into a whole that is (even) better than the parts. Sure there are some faults - It requires a powerful computer to run well, and the game mechanics are in places unbalanced or over-simplistic. The last third of the game feels a bit rushed, with a drop in story quality, and a number of niggling plot incongruities. These are just minor issues though, and any gamer whom is not physically allergic to FPS's should give Bioshock a go.

There was a discussion over at Maerduin's blog about if games could constitute art. I think this game is a definite candidate to change doubters minds.

Anyhow, back to modding this week, although I have a lot of RL stuff still going on.

Sun, Sand and erm... not modding.

2007-08-13T17:03:00.000Z

Just thought I would come on and give a quick update.

The last week saw an unexpected turn for the better in the weather department. In fact, it is the first decent week we have had this 'Summer' in Blighty. Rather than be the pastey-white computer nerd with no sense of style (or humor) , I decided to get a tan.

As a result, not much progress to report - although I did get a preview of some of the custom content I wanted to use and it is sounding great. Back to modding as soon as the good weather gives up!

Mini Spotlight

2007-08-04T17:41:00.000Z

Ok, I know I said I would do a mid week update, but it is sunny outside and I was snowed under in work! Anyhow, as the Obsidian art contest is progressing well, I thought I would use this blog as an excuse to highlight my favorite entry so far.

This entry by Hellcow/Spajk really hits the spot for me. Not only is the art good and the characters immediately identifiable, but unlike any of the other entries I have seen as of yet, it portrays the character of the NPC, as well as the look.

Also, big worshipness to Berliad for helping promote this contest, yet again proving a valuable asset to the community. Obsidian itself has done a lot better on promotion than on the module contest (which I am still mildly annoyed at - Grrr...) hopefully the official judging for the art contest will be good as well.

2007-07-29T17:01:00.000Z

A decent week of progress this week. However, I have fallen victim to the horrible little ' Mr. Scope Creep' and the prolog is turning out to be much more expansive than I have originally intended. The extra work is within the main story flow though, so it has a high bang-for-buck. Also, since it deals with the core characters, it should hopefully flesh them out.

I also managed to find a day to go back and update 'Cry Wolf'. I didn't think I was going to do any more updates to it, but it became apparent that there were some nasty bugs that I had missed - and I took the opportunity to balance and polish a few other bits while I fixed them.

Having gone back over my 'Cry Wolf' work, I can defiantly say that PS:Legacy is a couple of steps up in quality on all levels. No time for pictures at the moment, will post something more expansive mid-week.

Weekly Update

2007-07-22T16:31:00.000Z

Real Life has sapped up a lot of my time and energy this week, but not in a bad way (excepting lack of modding time). The only progress completed was some polish to the hide and seek segment spotlighted last week, which is working quite nicely now.

Such is the way with long personal projects, other stuff pushes in and steals the time away. Next week I should have less work though, so lots more modding time (so I hope!).

As a note, I did also manage to find a couple of hours to play the alpha build of Dark Avenger by Wyrind. Whilst it still needs a little clean up here and there, it is overall really nice - especially the open roaming nature that somewhat reminds me of BG1. I think even released as-is the module would hit a good position in the top module charts, and it is only Alpha so-far! Definitely one to keep an eye on.

UPDATE: I think the Dark Avenger release is final now!

Weekly Update

2007-07-15T20:42:00.000Z

Has it really been a week already? Between work and other Real Life stuff I have been so busy this week and it has really just passed me by. I did manage to fit in some modding though, building about five minutes of gameplay for the prolog.

The prolog charts the early years of the PCs life, but just because the PC is placed as a character with a preset past, it doesn't mean they can't have any choice about things! As an example, one of the early parts of the prolog has the PC playing a game of hide and seek.

As the screenshot shows, there is quite a choice for PCs in different motivations. I decided early on that I wanted to move away from alignments towards a more organic style of choices. This frees me from the need to write the classic (and somewhat predictable) player choices, and opens up a more free-form way for players of alignment restricted classes to play. Basically, you play the character, not the alignment.

In other news, I decided to set the prolog within the Forgotten Realms, rather than a generic setting. After a quick question over at the weave , I decided on Yulash area just before the Time of Troubles which gives me a juicy background for town banter and such.

I have another busy week next week, but should hopefully get at least half way through the prolog build. No featured area this week, so a couple more shots of hide and seek instead (yeah, I know I am lazy!).

Weekly Update

2007-07-08T21:46:00.001Z

With the completion of the final exterior prolog area, all the map building should be complete now. Of course, I will need to do some clean-up and possibly a few walkmesh changes for playtesting but area build is largely done now.

For myself writing dialog and area building are the most time consuming parts, so with the build out of the way and quite a bit of dialog already written I should be able to churn out some actual gameplay next week.

As I have made some mid week posts on the prolog, I wont highlight another area this week. Instead I have attached a few shots from the opening cutscenes and a couple more shots of the completed prolog area.

Mini update

2007-07-05T22:02:00.000Z

As regular readers (are there any?) will know from my entries, I have been working on the prolog for the last couple of weeks. This Tuesday, I finished off the non-interactive part of this. I am now working on the interactive part, which makes up perhaps 10% of the module (about 20 minutes play time). All the interiors for this section are already built, and I am now working on the final outdoors piece. This is coming on really really nicely, and I thought I would show off what I have so far, as I think this area is by far the most visually attractive I have made yet.

It also features some nifty toolset tricks, but you will have to wait to see what they are!

Weekly update on Sunday.

Feature Highlight - two gameplay modes

2007-06-30T20:27:00.000Z

Its no secret that I like hard games, and my first module release highlighted this with its tactical combat and cryptic puzzles.

However from the feedback I received, it soon became apparent that not all people play games for the same reasons, some like a more relaxing ride. Not willing to sacrifice making a game I would want to play, I decided to integrate two different modes into Planescape Legacy. The first mode is story mode that has easier battles. The second mode is challenge , with harder fights and a score tracker that will allow you to post to a high-score board at the end of the game. So PS:Legacy should have something on offer for everyone!

Weekly Update:

2007-06-30T12:35:00.000Z

Have been feeling a bit drained this week, but still managed to find a bit of time to do some modding. Still working on the prelude at the moment, but it is shaping up really nicely. Should have this completed by next weeks update.

Part of the reason it is taking so long is this section is very cutscene heavy. Whilst it is easy to construct the gist of these in your head, transforming this into a reality that matches your ideas is a time consuming process of tweaking and re-testing.

The good news is that the rest of the module has far fewer cutscenes, so things should start rolling at a faster pace after this. The area spotlight for this week is The Lady's ward detailed below.

Area Spotlight: Lady's Ward

2007-06-30T12:00:00.000Z

Home to the Gold Lords, true bloods and other assorted higher-ups, the Lady's ward is perhaps the safest ward in Sigil. That only counts for the residents though; thieves, vagrants and any other troublemaker is quickly and often violently ejected by the Hard-heads.

For an adventurer who knows his airers and graces, there is a lot of opportunities here. The gold lords constantly plot against one another, and pay their tools well.
For those of a more revolutionary bent, some of the more chaotic factions would love nothing better than to bring down the residents and institutions down a peg or two.

One should always be careful when dealing with the lords though, those that turn stag or upset someone too important will quickly find themselves hauled to the local courthouse. Whilst this is officially sponsored by the Fraternity of Law, in reality it is little more than a tool for dealing permanently with troublemakers.

Weekly Update

2007-06-24T14:56:00.000Z

At last, I managed to get my main modding PC is up and running propelly, so I have been throwing myself into some full-on modding this week. The first thing I have done is clean up some of the old scripts and areas. A lot of these were built before I completed 'Cry Wolf' so needed a bit of an upgrade.

Additionally, I have been working on a pre-title sequence for the mod. A little like most films, this introduces the story and sets the atmosphere before the player gains control. The whole sequence is maybe 1 minute in length , but as any modder knows even the simplest of things can take time!

Finally, I have been in contact with a few custom content people. Discussions are only at the very early stages, so I can't really reveal anything at the moment. I am personally exited about the opportunities anyhow!

Now, the way I was going to go about these weekly updates was just showing a random selection of what I had built in a week. However, on reflection I thought this was a little boring - especially for weeks when I am mainly working on scripts or conversations. Instead, what I am going to do is spotlight one particular area or NPC each week along with a little bit of fluff about what you can expect in-game.

The first of these you can see below - this one focuses on The Lyrical - a Tavern within the market ward of Sigil.

The Lyrical

2007-06-24T13:37:00.000Z

Situated within the midst of the Grand Bazaar, the lyrical thrives on the business of passing traders, travelers and sometime adventurers.

To ensure the safety of it's purveyors, there is a strict no-weapon policy. That is unless you have some spare jink to pay for a blind eye.

Inside the Lyrical proper is expansive. From a simple Bar and fireplace to a live band or gambling tables. There is even an indoor garden within the exclusive VIP area for the occasional higher-up visitor.

If you are of the want, you can try your hand on the small improv poetry stage. Don't be surprised if you pick up some critics though!

There is something for everyone in The Lyrical. And being Sigil, when I say everyone, I mean Everything.

A giant post

2007-06-23T19:55:00.000Z

Following the remarkable feedback from my first art contest entry, I decided to up the ante and do a second in glorious octo-colour! This one is a genre spanning effort that encompasses both a companion and a creature. I spent literally minutes in MSPaint doing this, so respect!

Proper module update tomorrow.

2007-06-17T22:57:00.000Z

The good news is, I managed to get my main modding PC back up and running. The bad news is that I needed to re-install windows and while I haven't lost any of my mod stuff, I need to reinstall a whole load of software and drivers before it is back up and running.

Anyhow, I exported the latest version of PS:Legacy over to this PC and as promised, here are a few pics. The areas are largely unpopulated as of yet, and I need to do a bit of tiding up (and adjust lighting) however they do show the potential.

The first image shows an imposing other-planar stronghold, who built it? and surely the winding path will not be left unguarded?

The second image shows the Birdhouse. Run by the Bleak Cabal to help fund their soup kitchens, it offers luxury care to wealthy (but incurably insane) inpatients. Appropriately built into the shrieking caverns of Pandemonium.

The final image shows an imposing figure standing along a tributary of the Styx with its rickshaw.

This week due to XP suicide on my main PC, I have been mostly working on dialogs and re-plotting. This is coming on well, but there is still a lot to do. Due in part to the lack of normal variety in mod building, I found myself drawn into the various competition posts a little too much (see below) which wasted some development time. Hopefully, with the contest out of the way and my modding machine up and running, this week I can get some real progress down.

A new day, a new contest

2007-06-16T14:39:00.001Z

The old modding contest is over with, but a new NWN2 contest has opened up. This particular contest asks people to drawn their favourite characters from the game, with the best one possibly being a placable in the coming expansion.

Not to be daunted by my lack of any drawing talent at all, I have created my very own entry. So look at it and weep other contest entrants, with this level of skill on display it isn't even worth you trying!

PS: Should be an actual update on my mod some time tommorow.

Contest Followup

2007-06-14T01:27:00.001Z

In the follow-up to the contest it seemed that Rob and obsidian were considering canning all further contests. As a somewhat instigator of this, I decided to send him a PM explaining my criticisms more succinctly, as follows:

Heyya Rob,

First of all, let me say please don't consider shutting down the contests. I think they are a great idea to help promote the community.

I am guessing that the criticism you are talking about is (at least partially) relating to my own comments. These were meant to be constructive, but as per all written communications, they can be interpreted in ways the author did not intend. Following are some clarifications.

On Contest promotion:
To a certain extent I think you have been a victim association with the Bioware writing contest. I know in my mind, I envisioned something similar with spotlights on the vault or possibly various general games sites posting about it. Of course, none of this was ever a given on your behalf, merely a false assumption made by myself (and possibly others).

On contest Clarification
I don't think this is really so much about making the rules clear, as an issue of time investment verses feedback. As I am sure you know, even a 30 minute mod can take the equivalent of a weeks full time work to make. With a target mod time of 30-120 minutes, most people going for the win were aiming at 90ish mins or 100+ hours build. This is a significant investment for a hobby, especially over a four week period.

At the end of the contest a single overall winner was presented (and a couple of runners up now). However, without more detailed context from the judges on what they liked or did not, it is hard to discern where they were shooting from. A paragraph or two for each of the winners would provide a yardstick for contestants to look at their own work in relation and thus gain valuable feedback.

If the time spent was a couple of days, most would have written it off. I guess it was the high investment that makes myself feel there should be a greater return.

On prizes
Personally, I have never cared about prizes, but some may do and knowing exactly what is up for grabs can motivate them.

In closing
I certainly hope to see more contests in the future, and appreciate the work you guys do. After all, your support of the community on NWN2 is better than virtually all other developers. I also appreciate the honest development postings rather than the shrouded PR talk that is often prevalent elsewhere. When looking forward at the next contests, I would personally see the following as a good thing:

* An occasional highlight post / mid contest recap post on the vault.
* Longer time periods for creation (you seem to have done this already).
* A more limited scope on potentially time-intensive contests (or far greater feedback/promotion)
* A few short paragraphs on each winner and why they won.
* More varied winners as well as overall eg., most humorous / best art / best combat etc.
* A mention to the larger gaming community on higher time investment contests (for example bluesnews.)
* A snazzy custom avatar/title for winners on the vault/here.

Thanks for your time,
Lorft
_

And here is the response:

That was great feedback!

What you haven't seen are the multitudes of PMs I have gotten where people were pissed off at our choices for the winner(s) and attacks as to how we handled the contest and the fact that we weren't giving prizes to everyone that entered.

As was mentioned in the beginning, this first contest would be rough since we had never held one before. The contests will evolve over time.

It is much more preferable to receive feedback such as yours than to just be attacked and insulted.

Rob

Hopefully my comments and others will be taken aboard, and the next contest will run a lot more smoothly. I think that mini-contests are a great idea, and it would be a pity to see them end.

Thus, to all those posting passionate mails on the author's behalf to Obsidian, please stop. No, this contest was not run well in my opinion, and yes I do feel a bit let down. However, Obsidian has recognised this and insults and attacks have never helped any cause.

The community has two sides, and they need to work together, not be at each others throats.

PS:Legacy introduces:

2007-06-12T22:05:00.000Z

Have just finished reworking the companion concepts for PS:Legacy. At the moment the plan is for a party of up to five characters out of a choice of eleven companions. Here is a quick lowdown on who might be joining you on your travels.

Taker Alm - Human Fighter/Rogue NE - Fated
A graduate from the school of hard knocks, Taker Alm knows the hive like the back of his hand. Maybe that is why he now works as a 'tax collector' there.

Hans Ironhammer - Dwarf Fighter N(G) - Clueless
Yes, the sarcastic mercenary from "Cry Wolf" is back, and this time he doesn't have a beard. He prefers being paid, but however snippy he gets, in his heart he just enjoys a good adventure.

Kay "The Magpie"- Human Mage/Rogue (C)N - Indep
This young woman tries to pass herself off as the scoundrel, a thief to be reckoned with. However, her tutored demeanor and unconfident manner of speech points towards an altogether different upbringing.

Sapphiron - Elven Monk LN - Transcendent Order
This bald albino elf has found her place within the transcendent order. She tries to focus on the here and now, but when asked her staring red eyes cannot conceal her grief of a time long past.

Alvarious Riskin - Thieflng Fighter/Barbarian CE - Fraternity of Order
This well spoken thiefling purveys an outwards atmosphere of calmness, but this all too quickly disolves into violent and unpredictable outbursts at the merest of grievances. How he remains a member of the Guvnors is a question many have asked (With form 327-A triplicated and countersigned).

D'Axos - Human? Bard CN - Anarch
"The Bellman tolls, I listen for the ring of the hour". So might a typical conversation with this gangley man start; he is mad you see. Still, his discordant songs and rhymes seem to conceal hidden depths of meaning. Maybe they are more than they seem, or maybe he is just another Barmy with a talent for instruments.

Farther "Flanny" Flanagan - Human Cleric CG - Athar
A portly fellow, who seems (or tries) to be everyones friend. Holding a serious conversation with him is nigh impossible, and the resultant stream of bad humor (That he laughs at himself) makes most people wish they didn't bother. However, when speaking his passionate disgust at the gods, it is as if listening to another person.

Lucas Debonaire - Aasamir Mage N - Sign of One
This suave customer backs up his unrelenting self belief with a side course of contempt for others. Still, if you can put up with being his sidekick, he does posses some skill.

Droll - Human? Cleric N - Dustmen
Permanently covered in a dark death shroud, and answering any questions monosymbolically, Droll has a definite lack of personality. Who knows why he is following you around, but he seems trustworthy, for now.

Elsi Larloch - Human Sourcerer CN(G) - Sensate
This talkative young woman is out to experience the planes and all they offer. Plus she is the great great great grand cousin of the famous mage king, don't you know. Well if you didn't know, you will soon find out, as she can't help but mention it to everyone she meets. Apparently he once wrote Elsi a birthday card too, although you could put that down to her parents faking it to shut her up for a minute!

Verity - Human Paladin LG - Mercykiller
You certainly wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of this cold hearted worshipper of Hoar. But due to some mischief on your siblings behalf, that is exactly where you start. Best start running, 'cause she's coming for you and has only one thing on her mind. Revenge.

Of course, there are a load of plot elements for these guys and girls as well. But I 'aint giving them away just yet!

Special update: contest over.

2007-06-11T18:24:00.000Z

Well, Obsidian's Grimm contest is finally finished and it is a big congratulations to Jclef for his entry Grimm Brigade. It is certainly a very good example of the H&S genre, especially considering the short time lines.

Whilst I am at it, I would like to congratulate the other authors who entered the competition. At the end of the day, it was truly a massive feat to get a module completed in such a short period. I would also like to thank everyone that posted on the vault. The feedback of knowing people are playing and (sometimes) enjoying our creations is the only thing modders ever receive. Lastly, I would like to thank my family, friends and my manager, without whom. . .

Wait a sec, this is sounding like an awards speech, and I didn't even win!

Now for a closing word on the contest itself. It was a fun theme, and it started up quite nicely. However since then, other than a single sticky on a forum there has been virtually no promotion or mention of the contest whatsoever. In addition, it was (and still is) unclear as to what criteria the modules were judged on, or what the winner will receive. For myself, the feedback from the Obsidian voting team was less verbose than the shortest of public comments the mod attracted.

Altogether, I can't help but feel that the next contest needs more planning and structure, or else Obsidian may quickly loose the interest of community participation.

Anyhow, it is back to writing dialogs for me

Weekly update

2007-06-10T14:03:00.000Z

This week, I have been mostly reworking the plot and the initial areas of my upcoming module "Planesape:Legacy". Early this year I was forced to shelve all my modding work due to real life. This left PS:Legacy fully plotted, but about 1/3 built. Thankfully things in real life settled down, and the Obsidian Grimm contest came at a perfect time for me to dust off my modding skills and get back to building.

From the contest I learnt a number of things about what generally works and what doesn't. When I returned to PS:Legacy I could see that there were a number of changes needed in order to realise it's full potential.

The main decision I made was to change the story to center around the player at an earlier point. In the original plot, the player was basically a henchman of the driving NPC (much like the Brothers in Cry Wolf). This allowed a logical 'everyman' story, which would then evolve to centre around the PC later in the series. On reflection, this made the plot a little flat, and didn't draw the player into the story fast enough. Thus, in the revised plot the PC is the central 'special' character right from the get-go. Of course, this means that a players character choice is more bounded, but I am a LOT happier with the plotting now, and feel it was a worthy trade-off.

Now, I was meaning to post a set of snazzy picture of my progress. But somehow I managed to corrupt my windows install on my main modding PC!

The good news is that I have been here before, and I should be able to recover everything (and I have recent backups anyhow). The bad news is that I left my Windows CD at my other home, and cant get back there for a week! I guess I will spend this week on dialogs, which is not a bad thing as I usually slack and leave them until last.

Some proper pictures and whatnot next week.

Cry Wolf 1.03 and /wave Shout Wolf

2007-06-03T02:32:00.000Z

Well, finally the contest change freeze has been lifted and I have published version 1.03 of Cry Wolf. Thankfully, the original version wasn't very buggy - so the update is mainly improving gameplay by scaling the combats some and adding clues for the puzzle. As long as there are no major issues, then this will probably be the last version.

As posted below, I was working on a multi-player version of cry wolf. However, without the companions and cutscenes there wasn't much meat left. Whilst the fights were OK, the puzzle aspect didn't work very well at all. To cap things off, the game lasts only an hour, which doesn't really seem long enough for a multi player module (which is less likely to be replayed). Plainly put, it wasn't very fun. Therefore, I have decided to cancle the project and concentrate on my Planescape mod. However, all was not lost. I learnt a lot about what makes MP tick, and some scripting tricks to make a mod MP safe. I don't think my Planescape mod will be very multi-player friendly, but I am going to try and script it so that MP at least works!

The Plan

2007-05-24T21:30:00.000Z

Looking forwards I have quite a lot of different projects lined up including a Planescape based Trilogy, a Ravenloft module and a couple of other bits So many ideas and not enough time!

At the moment my priorities are:

"Cry Wolf 1.03"
This is the post-competition release. Thankfully, there were no major bugs in the competition release, so I didn't change much. Really, this just adds a little extra guidance for players on the puzzle elements and re balances a few of the magic items to be more useful. Also, the scoring system has had a slight rework to give a bonus for completing puzzle elements. It is all coded and (nearly) tested so the release should come soon after the contest freeze is lifted.

"/Shout Wolf"
This is my working title for a multi player version of "Cry Wolf". It differs quite a lot in that most of the cut scenes are stripped out, and many scripts have been reworked. The intention is for this to be playable with or without a DM, but preferably with. It will include lots of custom tools to help a DM run the module, and some encounters not present in the single player version. My main hope here is to give the DM module playing community something to chew on (there isn't much out there at the moment) and to get some multi-player experience so I can more easily convert my next mods. Am about half way through re-scripting. Am guestimating about 2 weeks work left on this, but as always we shall see.

"LAISI"
Lorft's AI Scripting Interface is basically a way to assign interesting actions to NPC AI. Unlike most other AIs, it is not generic, with each individual AI type having it's own script set controlled by variables. The end product should be able to do some pretty amazing stuff, and include a little C# application to make new script sets. The original idea was to integrate this into a mini module based on Rorkes Drift. However, this mini mod has been absorbed into the second in the Planescape series which is where the final LAISI will be released. An early version of LAISI will be present in Planescape: Legacy though. This is currently in testing.

"Planescape: Legacy"
This is the first in a planned trilogy of Planesape mods. It acts to introduce the player to the Planescape setting and starts the overall plot arc. In short it is about Power, Brothers and Betrayal although there is a lot more to it than that. It should pan out at threeish hours of play, concentrating on story and tactical combat. It will be a lot less linear than "Cry Wolf", but not total free-form. Currently the areas are (nearly) finished, and the first few are scripted.

Hope that this whets some appetites, have fun all!

Availible Now!

2007-05-24T21:11:00.001Z

At the time of posting, I have already released a couple of things.

"Cry Wolf"
A humorous entry for the April 2007 NWN2 Grimm module contest. It is aimed at a single player of level 6-8 , and lasts around one ninety minutes of play time. The content is a mix of story, tactical party based combat and puzzles. It includes a lot of fun stuff, including a scoring system and and load of hidden Easter eggs. Check out the links to my work over on the right for a full list of features on the vault page.

Currently it is sitting on the "top modules" list, and has received generally positive feedback. However, there are a lot of people playing, and not many commenting, so why not take a look and tell me what you think?

"Alternate NWN2 ending"
The way that NWN2 ended felt a little rushed, so I decided to do my own take on the ending cut scene just for a bit of amusement. It has received quite a bit of interest, but i warn you that it was a project completed in about three hours - so don't expect a masterpiece!

Welcome.

2007-05-24T20:21:00.000Z

Welcome to the *SHIVER* Blog of the game developer known to the community as Lorft.

Now, some may ask "why the shiver?". Well, I have been around the Internet for quite a few years, and I have always found the thought of people posting random junk about themselves wholly boring. Years ago it was home pages, then personal BBS and lately Blogs. I hated the idea, and vowed never to write one.

What changed my mind? Well, things have matured and there are now a large number of brilliant writers using the powers of the blog to actually present useful information! With my recent entry into the NWN2 community, I decided that I needed an area to act as a repository for my work, and a place to keep people informed about what I am working on.

So here we are, a blog high on information and low on introspection. Except, ironically this particular message. Oh well :)