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Return To Cry The Beloved Status
8/31/05 -
Wednesday: YOU SOMETIMES HAVE TO BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU HAVE... |
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What is up
with the title you ask? Well, I have been watching the news
concerning what has happened concerning the Hurricane (Katrina) that hit
Louisiana, and I am just speechless. I assumed it was going to be
your normal hurricane, and that was that. Now, they say thousands
may have died. It is the worst disaster in the history of the the
U.S.A. Or, as the mayor of a town of 40,000 that is totally
submerged in water stated, it is "America's Tsunami".
Okay, just had to get
that off my chest. Back to business...
So, I have been
exhausted everyday that I am on the train, both going to and from
Manhattan. That might be a sign that I have been working too
hard. Seeing as I am stubborn, I am just going to start drinking
some Red Bulls perhaps and trudge along. I have to get Cry The
Beloved out before people stop caring about NWN:) |
| Today, I
began creating the events that occur before the first big fight of the
module. I have to get this perfect, as it is going to set the tone
for the rest of the boss fights. I have also been adding little
conversations between the party members to flesh out the stories even
further. There is so much back story, and I am having a difficult
time presenting it to the user without having them scroll through dialog
for 5 minutes straight. I also worked on a new cut-scene. It's
funny, because every time I start a cut-scene I end up getting
frustrated. At the end however, they always end up coming out quite
nice with little work. I truly appreciate the experience I received
from The Coming when it comes to creating them.
I received another
edited conversation from my editor and added it to it's respective
NPC. I know I have been saying this for a long time, but I will say
it again:) I love not having to worry about writing that many
dialogues. It really gives me the time to work on the things I excel
at. I might have to postpone Cry The Beloved indefinitely
if I ever lost my writers and editor:)
Tomorrow, I hope to
finish up the big boss fight, and move on to another new area. Or I
might start work on yet another custom ability system. Decisions,
decisions... |
8/30/05 -
Tuesday: FINALLY RESTED... |
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Well, getting
to sleep earlier actually paid off. I didn't completely pass out
when I get on the train this morning:)
Again, I did some
tinkering with some of the new custom abilities I gave Challseus &
Aramus. So far, so good. I am getting really excited about
participating in huge fights with the entire party, using all of their
custom abilities. Anyone who played The Coming will
remember that by the chance everyone was level 3, and Aramus/Clopon had Whirlwind
Heal, the Chapter was practically over. Yeah, you could have
gone back to South Shinkara
Forest to fight some Worgs, but that was about it. Now
is the time for the real fighting fun to begin...
Additionally, I started
adding a new area, along with various roleplaying opportunities. I
am also about to start laying down the foundation for the 1st boss fight
of the game. That will be fun... |
| As far as The
Coming goes, I have just got confirmation from Ragnarok mr4 that
I can strip certain animations out of his hak that I do not need without
worrying about any problems. I need to get it as small as
possible. As soon as I work out those details, I will implement it,
and play through the module (once again...) to make sure it is compatible
(which it should be).
I also learned something
new today. The music files I supply in the Rose Of Eternity
Music Pak 1&2 have a bit rate of 192. According to my
co-worker, I can decrease it to a bit rate of 128 without really losing
that much quality. Best of all, the hak sizes would go down, which
is what I really care about. So, now I have to find some sort of
software that will re-encode the files...Speaking of which, if anyone has
some information concerning MP3 bit rates and such, email
me. |
8/29/05 -
Monday: SLOW DAY... |
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It was a
rough morning...I woke up late, and had to rush just to catch the late
train. Of course, as I was pulling into the parking lot, a
construction truck pulled in front of me, which was only going like 10
MPH. Once I finally got a parking spot, I relived my old high school
days of being on the track team, as I had to sprint what felt like 1/2 a
mile to the train. So, with only 5 hours of sleep mixed with being
out of breath from my long run, I basically passed out as soon as I found
my seat on the train. Well, I edited a conversation I received the
night before first...
On the train ride home,
I fixed some issues with the new custom ability system I
implemented. Again, I am amazed at how it seamlessly works with the
NWN combat engine. Though it appears to be a simple concept on the
outside, new strategies are opened up. Well, it is 10:57 EST, and I
am going to sleep now so that I can get at least 7 hours of sleep. |
| When I get
on the train tomorrow, I plan to make revisions to the new ability system,
add a couple more abilities to Clopon, and do a lot of testing while
fighting various enemies. I have mentioned it before, but what I am
really trying for is EVERY party member contributing
something unique to every battle or situation. Think about the whole
concept of how you dealt with Shinkara Shadows in North
Shinkara Forest, and then think about it on a
bigger scale with multiple party members...
The screenshot above is
a small (I stress the word small) glimpse at what I have in
the works. Enjoy:) |
8/28/05 -
Sunday: THIS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT:) |
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As the title
suggests, today was a VERY good development day. I had
lots of fun (for once). Where to start...
So, I had just come off
of a very productive day implementing the new combat animations.
Again, just have to shout out Ragnarok for this lovely work. It
truly is amazing. So amazing in fact, that I am definitely
going to add it to The Coming this week.
I am also adding in a feature so that the player can skip the intro
cut-scene if they so choose. I hope to have this new update out by
next week...
Moving on, lets see.. I FINALLY
started work on the new ability systems. I cannot go into
details about it at this time, but it is going to be major, just like Last
Resorts & Unison Abilities. I essentially set up the scripting
system, and refactored a lot of it so that I can |
| easily
create new types for different party members. I added 1 of the new
custom abilities to Aramus, Challseus, and another character who I will
not reveal at this time (although most probably know who it is). I
have a little area I have set up where I test all of the new abilities and
I have to say, I am having SO MUCH FUN with the new custom
system. Fighting is more fun than ever.
Although many have
praised The Coming for it's music and story, I really went
into it trying to create a group fighting system that was ALWAYS fun.
It's hard to explain, but the games that really delivered the tactical
feeling was the Baulder's Gate series, as well as Final Fantasy Tactics
for PS1. So, in the process of trying to create the module where
people loved to fight, I ended up trying to make everything
(sound, area design, story) perfect, and therefore could not do what I
wanted to. I will achieve this in Cry The
Beloved.
It is really sad that
you cannot control each party member individually, muck like Baulder's
Gate, but I will make due. Expect to go to areas where you must pick
the right party member to join you. Not only will you pick them
according to their fighting skills, but also due to other non-combat
skills. Well, I better stop before I spoil too much.
As another small
spoiler, as you can see by the screenshot, Aramus will not always have to
take the GOOD path. Oh, how things change... |
8/27/05 -
Saturday: MORE RESEARCH... |
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So, after
implementing some manager scripts for Additional
Animations by Vaei , I was really excited about getting
Alternate
Animations by Ragnarok_mr4 working. Fortunately,
everything worked out perfectly. The screenshot you see is Aramus
standing in his new barbarian stance. I just love it. I love
them so much that I am going to go back to The Coming (again...)
and add them in, as well as spice up the cut-scenes with the additional
animations from Vaei.
As for as things in
Dematol, being the perfectionist that I am, I have come up with about 2
new ideas for things to implement...And I thought I was done with
Dematol:) I don't actually have to implement these
things now, so I am considering putting it on the back burner for a
while. Did another test run, and cleaned up some more
bug/issues. It is coming along just fine. |
| As far as
research goes, I started toying around with a new tileset by Chandigar
(I am in a rush, so I will post links later). It looks promising so
far...
The writers continue to
crank out conversations, faster than I can send them to the editor and
implement. I also have somebody creating the logo for The Rose
Of Eternity. I have wanted one for so long, so I am excited
about that. Another gentleman has offered to help me create some
maps of the world, so people can finally get an overview of the areas they
have been adventuring in. |
8/26/05 -
Friday: A RESEARCH DAY... |
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Hello
all. I have to start out by saying I am surprised that I am being
able to upload this new update. For the past couple weeks, I have
not had any internet access to my laptop. So, I have been posting
updates when I get to work. To my surprise, it just worked, so here
we go.
So, today was more of a
research day. I finally decided to take a closer look at the Additional
Animations by Vaei . I ended up making an "animate_manager"
script that would contain all of the constants for his new animations, as
well as some utility functions to make using them easier. I also
added them to about 4 cut-scenes, which make them come to life ever
more. I have to say that I a very impressed with them so far.
I also started looking at Alternate
Animations by Ragnarok_mr4 .
On the implementation
front, I did a test run from the beginning of the module to the |
| current
playable state. I of course found various bugs, so I began to work
my way down my trusty bug notepad, hammering them out as they come.
Wasn't too much work, thankfully. I am also beginning of the
designing phase of the next big area. I think people are really
going to be surprised with where I am going with Cry The Beloved.
Until next time...I
leave you with a screenshot of Aramus perform a jump animation. |
8/25/05 -
Thursday: ALMOST THERE... |
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Well, after
little over a month of development, I am just about happy enough with the
current condition of Dematol. I am no where near done with all of
the implementation, but I feel that there is enough in it to move the plot
along. Essentially, I need to move on to some other
things.
Building towns is not
hard, just boring. I have been thinking about it for the past couple
days, and I would rather work on the new elements (i.e. new custom
abilities) of the game, because 1) It is more interesting and 2) I have
never implemented anything like it, so it might be a challenge.
Better to get the challenging things out of the way early...
On the plus side, I
recently received 2 more conversations from my writers (1 of the writers
is new), and I am still in awe. Where were these guys when I was
developing The Coming:) |
8/24/05 -
Wednesday: MY SUPERVISOR AT WORK WOULD BE SO PROUD OF ME... |
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What a busy
day...And most of it had nothing to do with any actual implementation. I
was so tired this morning that I decided to spend 45 minutes sleeping on
the train today, which cut down on the time I had to build this
morning. Before I fell asleep however, I did what I have been doing
all week: More work on NPC's and their quests. I keep telling
myself that if I just keeping knocking them out everyday, I can eventually
move on to better things.
The rest of the day was
actually spent coordinating different parts of the team. It is
amazing how much work goes into this, and I know my supervisor would be
proud to see that I am getting a small sense of what his job is like.
As an example, when the
writers are ready for a new conversation to create, I send them an e-mail
full of requirements, such as gender, age, personality, what is going on in
their lives, etc. Then, usually 1 day later, I get a 1st draft,
which I add to the respective NPC and |
| make sure
that it all makes sense. I usually add/remove things here and there
so that it fits with the overall scheme of things. Once that is
done, I send it to my editor, Jason Melancon, who does a
superb job I must say. He is big on consistency (small example is
ALWAYS using the same color for skill checks), so he is definitely a good
person to have. Plus, I loathe doing that myself:) Once he
sends me his corrections, I add it to the correct NPC, do a final review,
and then start adding the back-end scripts that run the
conversation. It might not seem like much, but when I have 3 of
these on 1 day, it gets a little hairy trying to sort through all of the
various e-mails. I should also mention that I am doing this while I
am at the office attempting to do real work...(my boss would not
actually be proud of this...)
And then there is the
back and forth with the team about all of the new custom abilities, but
that is a story better left for another time...
I plan on getting to
sleep a bit early tonight so I will be fully rested so I can get back to
building on the train ride into Manhattan tomorrow. |
8/23/05 -
Tuesday: I DON'T THINK I CAN COME UP WITH NEW TITLES EVERY DAY:) |
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Nothing
exceptional happened today as far as actual implementation. I took
some dialog written by one of my writers, Amy Laurin, and
added it to the respective NPC. Threw in some skill checks, and that
was that. I also put the finishing touches on a very emotional and
dramatic cut-scene that will occur while in Dematol.
I am very excited
about what is happening on the design front. Anyone who had been to
the download page at NWVault when I 1st released The Coming
would have noticed community members DaNippers & ShrikeKnight
giving me suggestions on new Unison Abilities and Last Resorts.
Well, these have been hashed out even further, and I believe the community
will be happy with what they get. As mentioned before, your party
members will get to a point where they have multiple Last Resorts to
choose from, and each one will be good in different situations.
Everyone has a different play style, so allowing them to pick which Last
Resorts they use is a good idea in my eyes. |
Also
mentioned before, there will be plenty of Unison Abilities that do
not involve Aramus, and I am also working on an innovative way in
which to show them when they are used. More to come on that subject
later...
As if that wasn't enough, I can confirm that there are 2 new custom
ability systems in the works. I cannot give too much away, as things
have been changing everyday, but I can say that I am getting closer to the
elusive Infinite Engine tactical combat system. |
8/22/05 -
Monday: I GUESS I "CAN" GET A PRODUCTIVE DAY:) |
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As the title
suggests,
I feel like I accomplished much today. On the train ride into work,
I finished up the majority of the functionality that will be used when
Aramus is traveling around Dematol. It was a lot easier than I
anticipated.
Creating various quests
that you get from conversations has been very easy as well, as I have
people writing the dialogues for me. In fact, all I have to do is
create a generic template that I can use when testing, and then when I get
the conversation file, I just have to move around the scripts. It is
quite convenient.
I ended up falling asleep
on the train ride home for about 30 minutes, yet I was able to work at home to
finish up some more NPC implementation and such. I am getting closer
and closer to putting the finishing touches on Dematol (for the time being
that is...). |
| More
specifically, I will put the finishing touches on the parts of Dematol needed
to advance the plot. I am no where near done
with the entire implementation of Dematol.
Lastly, I came across a
new hakpak that I will definitely implement in Cry The
Beloved. It is a hakpak called Additional
Animations by Vaei that adds 10 custom animations that
I can use via scripts, such as a new pointing animation, as well as a
jumping animation. That's right, a jumping animation.
Oh, the possibilities are endless. These animations will breathe
some new life into this series, and make it stand out from the rest just a
bit more...
Till tomorrow... |
8/21/05 -
Sunday: CAN I EVER JUST GET 1 PRODUCTIVE DAY? |
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Sunday ended
up being much like Saturday in terms of what I got done, the only
difference being that I didn't try to fool myself into thinking I would
accomplish much...Guess what? I was correct...
After about an hour into
development, I decided to check the downloads page for The Coming
for questions and such. So, I get this bug report from someone who
just downloaded version 1.5. I'm thinking "great, more work for
The Coming...". Every time I think I can let it go, I have to
make an update:) Oh well, guess I will just get used to it. The
finding of the bug, rebuilding of the full/lite versions of the module
along with updates to the ReadMe and website took about 2 hours of my
day...It's actually good that he found this bug, as it could have gotten
me into a lot more trouble later on... |
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After the aforementioned
issue, I again tested all of
the different ways the player could complete the initial quests you
receive in Dematol. I was lucky that there were no bugs (that I
found anyways). I then began working on the different ways Aramus
will be able to move around in Dematol. Since Dematol is now overrun
with the Defenders Of Legacy, it isn't like he can just walk around
without anyone noticing. So, all of those situations need to be
taken care of. Besides that, no new progress to report. I am
still looking forward to working on anything not involving Dematol:)
On a brighter note,
another alpha tester has joined the team, and that is always good. |
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8/20/05 -
Saturday: JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS... |
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So, Saturdays
are always supposed to be big development days. I don't have to
work, so theoretically, I should be able to get a lot done. Sadly
this has never been the case...For some reason, when I am on the train
ride home, I can get up to 2 hours of uninterrupted work done. At
home however, I am enticed by surfing the NWVault to see what is the
newest it file being released. Then there are the
wonderful World War II documentaries that the History Channel only seems
to show when I am at home...Oh well...
Don't let the above
paragraph confuse you however. I did get some work
done, but just not as much as I wanted to. Today was the day when
there are about 8 different things I can work on, and I just cannot seem
to focus on just one.
One such situation is
the various roleplaying options the player will have in
Dematol. |
| When I was
developing The Coming I could knock quests out in like 2
hours tops. These were of course the "1 way to complete"
quests...Now I am knee deep in the "6 ways to complete various quests
that are all tied together with other ones" quests. Not to say
the latter is difficult, but it just takes more than 2 hours:) Then
there is the testing...I would not be lying if I said the part of
development I hate the most is town building. Although I feel I can
do it quite well, I really feel that I excel at creating
cut-scenes, custom abilities, and interesting custom enemies. I have
had ideas bubbling in my head for the past year on an area involving
Clopon, and I cannot wait to actually implement it.
Speaking of custom abilities (Last Resorts, Unison Abilities, etc.), I
really believe people are going to be surprised with how these are going
to be refined in Cry The Beloved, as well as be surprised
with the new abilities that will be introduced.
So, in a nutshell, today
amounted to me putting the finishing touches on about 4 quests that are
somewhat intertwined with things that happen in Dematol. Not too
exciting, but something that just has to be done... |
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8/19/05 - Friday:
AND IT BEGINS... |
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Well, here is my 1st entry for
daily updates (hopefully continuing to be daily). I will continue to post
big news on the main Cry The Beloved
Status page, while jotting down everything else here.
So, I have been talking about
Dematol all throughout The Coming. Now, I have to actually
build the damn town:( Why did I have such grand plans...All jokes aside,
the implementation has been coming along just fine. I have various NPC's
through the town, and with the help of my writers Joseph Portello
& Amy Laurin, as well as my editor Jason Melancon,
their conversations have been fleshed out a lot better than I could do
myself. Much respect goes out to them. I really feel that the
dialogue they have been writing easily beats the writing I did in The
Coming. I am really feeling this whole team concept, and I hope it
continues to grow from here. By the way, anyone wanting to join should
shoot over to the Job Opportunity page. |
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One of the main concerns with
players who like The Coming was the lack of roleplaying
options. I am addressing that in Cry The Beloved. All
of the quests I have created involve at last 4 different ways to finish them,
with alignment changes and everything. Although you are forced to use the
Aramus supplied character (from which you hopefully imported from The
Coming), choices you make should effect things much more.
Well, I am about to leave the
office (I work in Manhattan as a Software Engineer and commute from Poughkeepsie
everyday...), so this is it for today. As always, I will continue to grind
away on development on the train ride home (about 2 hour trip). I will
have much more to talk about in my entry on Saturday. Also, expect the format
of these entries to change up as I decide the best way to write everything...For
now, here is a screenshot of an early looking version of Dematol. |
Return To Cry The Beloved Status
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