A year later (1999), I left McDonald's, and started working at CVS. Mid way through the year 2000, I left CVS and did overnights at K-Mart. In the summer of 2000, I moved into a house with 3 of my best friends, and did the whole "I'm gonna be a man and move out thing". Yeah... So, in the fall of 2000, I got a job at Price Chopper, and from then until 2002, I worked at Stop and Shop, Mobil, Hess, and somewhere else, just can't remember. Yeah, I was a job hopper. Wasn't focusing on school and whatnot, just about what new video games I could get, and other things I will not mention...

After the whole, "I'm gonna be a man and move out thing" didn't work, I moved back into my childhood house with my father. This was THE turning point in my life. I got back into school, majoring in Computer Science, and got a pretty steady job for the next 2 years. Oh yeah, and I was just starting this at age 22... While in school, I ended up getting a job with them working in the computer lab, so I made more connections there. I then got an internship with a software house in Poughkeepsie, where I really honed by Java skills.

Now, what is the common thing about everything from 1995-2004? I ALWAYS worked weekends. I never really had the 9-5 job. In the fall of 2004, I finally got the job I knew could support me comfortably for the rest of my life. Monday - Friday, very good pay, benefits, etc. But oh, something else was going on in my life. Yeah, that something is Rose Of Eternity! I actually started implementing it in April of 2004, before I got the job down there. So, ever since I have had that job (where I commute everyday mind you!), I have been doing the game. Even after those longs days at the office, and those long train rides, I was still coming home to do more work.

So, I go back to my original question... "Is this what it is like??? Is this what the real world is like???" Because, I sure as hell haven't experienced it in a while :) I woke up today, and for the first time in more than 2 years realized, I had nothing to do. And it felt GREAT! At the same time, it felt weird though. I have been used to a particular pattern for so long, that it was hard to break out of it. Hell, I woke up, and went to the forums to see what bugs were posted, and then I realized I didn't have to. At one point, I was laying in bed, and as silly as it sounds, I felt good to know that I could actually lay down for the next 48 hours, and not have to worry about getting up for any reason, other than to relieve myself:)

So what did I do? Well, my girlfriend and I went to some farmer's market to get a pumpkin. I'm not really into that sort of stuff, but we went nonetheless. Once we went inside to pay however, I was strong armed with the sweet smell of freshly baked goods. Because of this, anything I looked at looked good, and I ended up spending close to $30 on various baked goods (apple danishes, candied apples, bread, etc). Hey, I'm a sucker! After we did other various things, like go to the mall, and go out to get something to eat. When we got home, we watched some DVD's, and again, I was so happy I didn't have to develop a game while watching the movie:)

Long story short, I am enjoying my time so far. Of course, there are other things on the horizon, but for now, this is my time:)

But just know, even if I am not actually implementing anything, my mind is always going. Always... As I continue to listen to more and more music, I keep coming up with new and revised scenarios. I obviously haven't made a decision on exactly what I will be doing, but I am going to get some polls going about. Look for them in the future.

Till tomorrow...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (166-170)

166. Key Item Rule
Never discard, sell, or otherwise remove permanently from your possession any items you begin the game with or acquire within the first town. This is especially true for items that seem to have no practical use, because of...

167. The Law of Inverse Practicality (Key Item Corollary)
Any item that you can acquire will have some sort of purpose. Those that seem to be useless and have no practical value at all, always tend to have great power later on. The earlier you get the item, the later in the game it will be used. The longer the span of time between acquisition and use, the more powerful the item is.

168. Way To Go, Serge
It will eventually turn out that, for a minimum of the first sixty percent of the game, you were actually being manipulated by the forces of evil into doing their sinister bidding for them. In extreme cases this may go as high as 90%. The clear implication is that it would have been better to not get involved in the first place.

169. Gilligan's Prescription
Any character who has amnesia will be cured before the end of the game. They usually won't like what they find out about themselves, though.

I have gotten a few e-mail regarding the Dungeon Of Summons, so now there is a walkthrough specifically for that part of the game. The only other complaint was that the Arena area was too difficult. I guess I have to put something else in the ReadMe to remind people that just because you see something you can fight, it doesn't mean you have to fight it. If it is killing you a lot, come back when you are stronger. I seem to remember stressing that in The Coming, but I guess I should mention it again. Heh, maybe I need to make a custom load hint for it:)

Well, I'm off to connect with the real world again. Yep, the actual real world! I have a full day ahead of me, so I will try to make the most of it, and try not to think about going to the download page.

Oh, and if anyone has any comments about things they didn't like, please e-mail me, so I can try to fix it in an upcoming patch.

Oh, and for the record, I saw this coming. I know I mentioned that no matter how much work I put into Chapter 2, it would never do as good as Chapter 1. Too lazy to dig up the old daily update, but sometimes my pessimistic attitude is warranted:)

Till tomorrow...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (161-165)

161. General Leo's Exception
Honorable and sympathetic people who work for the Other Side are always the genuine article. Of course they'll be busily stabbing you in the front, so either way you lose. Eventually though, they'll fall prey to...

162. The Ineffectual Ex-Villain Theorem (Col. Mullen Rule)
No matter how tough and bad-ass one of the Other Side's henchmen is, if he bails to the side of Good he'll turn out to be not quite tough and bad-ass enough. The main villain will defeat him easily. But don't weep -- usually he'll manage to escape just in time, leaving you to deal with the fate that was meant for him.

163. All The Time In The World (Rinoa Rule)
Unless there's a running countdown clock right there on the screen, you have as long as you want to complete any task -- such as, say, rescuing a friend who's hanging by one hand from a slippery cliff edge thousands of feet in the air -- no matter how incredibly urgent it is. Dawdle or hurry as you will, you'll always make it just in the nick of time.

164. Ladies First (Belleza Rule)
When things really start falling apart, the villain's attractive female henchman will be the first to jump ship and switch to the side of Good. Sadly, she still won't survive until the end credits, because later she will sacrifice her life out of unrequited love for the villain.

So yeah, the feeling of finishing something that has been the driving force in my life since mid July of 2005 hasn't set in yet. And, that is no lie. Even after I uploaded it, I found myself thinking about the next thing I had to work on. I had to keep reminding myself there are no more deadlines. As a small example, I was watching a bit of TV earlier in the night. While watching it, I began to turn it off, and think in my head happy I will be when I can just sit an watch TV without having to work on the game. I then realized I was doing just that. It will take some time, but I am sure I will readjust.

But, let's not kid ourselves. I will be available to fix bugs, and patch the game over the next few days (that is, if people come across things that warrant it). Then, there's the walkthrough that I wanted to do. There is so much more to this game compared to The Coming, and even The Coming's walkthrough was quite big. My plan is to keep working on it on the train rides into/from work. As I continue to complete parts of it, I will try to update it piece meal on the website. Of course, that is if it is needed.

At this point, it is hard to gauge the feeling people are getting about the game, because, well, there is no feedback yet:) Which makes sense, because it was just released at 3:00 pm EST, and the game could take people over 10 hours to complete. It's a bit different from the release of The Coming, and for good reason. Back in July 2005, the community was still going strong, and most people were off on summer vacation. Compare that to now, where the community size is dwindling, and where most people are still in the middle of their work week.

Hell, I'm not naive in any way. I KNOW this game will not be as successful as The Coming, in terms of votes/dl's. However, my hope is that I can just get my niche audience, because when it comes down to it, those are the ones I made the game for. Again, stuff happens, but I don't want to feel like a year and 3 months of work is all for naught:( Anyway, that is just me being my usual pessimistic self. Whoever can guess what party member's personality was partly formed from mine will get a cookie! But yeah, I'm sure once the weekend hits, people will have more time to dive in and get their feet wet. So, what's on my plate for the next few days?

Well, obviously, I will be fixing bugs as they come in. There are always bugs, right?! :) As mentioned earlier, I will try to start work on the walkthrough. The only thing holding me back might be the style I want to do it in. We'll have to see about it.

I have also been downloading lots of good music from a website that Alistair referred me to. I love it! I will be the first to admit that I am damn sick of the pieces of music I have been listening to for the past year or so. So, I finally finished downloading all the music for Secret Of Mana. Listening to the music really brought me back. Back all the way to 1993 when I was in 8th grade. Man, I getting so OLD!!!!! NO!!!!!! And no snickering from anyone who is older than 26! Seriously though, I am putting together a new set of play lists of music, to expand my horizons. Just listening to this music will help me mentally design scenarios for my next game.

But, I can have fun too, right?! Well, unfortunately, nothing new comes out until October 31st, and I'm not talking about NWN2... Nope, I can't wait to get my little grubby hands on Final Fantasy XII. I still have Dragon Quest 8 from last Christmas, so maybe I will dust that off. Plus, I need to get in contact with Rick Sanderson, so he can give me his set of emulator files for all of our old school games. Heh, him and I still have to play through Secret Of Mana together:) Can't wait! Then, there are the TONS of module out their on the Vault that I never played. But, I will wait a bit on that, cause I am NWN'd out. If I have to hear that music at the title screen again, I may destroy my laptop:)

Oh, and before I forget, shout out to EVERYONE who has supported me during the development of my game. This not only includes the dev team, but people who would just send me e-mails, telling me to keep my head up when I was getting too stressed. Yes dammit, I'm getting sentimental, so let me have my moment:) *Wipes tear from eye* Never in my entire life would I think I would meet so many good willed people. Especially those of which I have never seen face to face. Believe it or not, those who have supported me have kept me going. I don't think I would have finished Cry The Beloved at the quality I did if I wasn't constantly encouraged by so many people. I hope the game is a testament to that.

Oh, and you all haven't seen the last of ole Challseus. Yeah, I'm on *vacation*, but Rose Of Eternity is my heart, and things are only getting started. We haven't even gotten to the 1/3 mark of the entire story. If you think things are getting good now, just wait until you see what we have in store for you next time!

Till tomorrow...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (156-160)

156. Sephiroth Memorial Escape Clause
Any misdeed up to and including multiple genocide is forgiveable if you're cool enough.

157. Doomed Utopia Theorem (Law of Zeal)
All seemingly ideal, utopian societies are powered by some dark force and are therefore doomed to swift, flashy destruction.

158. Party Guidance Rule
Somewhere in the last third of the story, the hero will make a stupid decision and the rest of the party must remind him of all that they have learned from being with him in order to return the hero to normal.

159. Bad Is Good, Baby!
The heroes can always count on the support of good-hearted vampires, dragons, thieves, demons, and chainsaw murderers in their quest to save the world from evil. And on the other hand...

The following is being written at 11:44 pm on Thursday, 10/12/06, after a long night. Sorry for the delay, but I am sure you all understand:)

Man, what a night. Seriously... Longest night in a while. But, let me back up, and catch my breath. Yes, let me start from the beginning...

So, I woke up feeling energized. I could just feel that I was going to finish everything today. I got on the train, and started working on the final 5-6 issues I noted last night. As expected, I finished them up in no time. There was one little issue that I put a fix in for. I mean, come on, a simple fix won't hurt anything? Right?! More on that later...

So, work has been pretty hectic, as we are coming to the end of our Mapquest Mobile Project. Let me tell you, trying to finish this game and be the lead on the project at work has been stressful. I mean, all day, I program stuff, show it to QA, fix bugs, try to argue about bugs that I don't think are bugs, etc. Then, I go home, develop the game, show it to the testers, fix bugs, and try to argue with them about bugs that I don't think are bugs. Heh, see the parallel? :)

Anyway, after leaving work, I ended up passing out on the train, and then stopping off at McDonald's to get some dinner when I got home. Once I did get home, I began putting together the ReadMe and some other things. I then decided to check the forums. Earlier in the day, I had uploaded a Release Candidate just for the hell of it. I wasn't expecting anyone to have anytime, as I knew that they would have to complete testing in one night. Well, of course a game breaking bug was found. Remember that aforementioned little fix I made in the morning on the train? Yep, it broke the game horribly. I quickly gave Jason (the one who reported the bug) some DM commands to run so he could continue playing, and quickly found the problem, and fixed it. And this is where things got interesting...

Finally, I decided to just do my damn test run. I didn't expect to go through the entire game, just to the point where it broke before, which of course was halfway through:) Oh yeah, at this point, it was 12:00. After stopping my play though to do some other things, I finally finished around 5:00am. Let me tell you how happy I was to see Jason online posting that he finished the game in 12 hours, as well as Alistair doing his play though:) Alistair is 12 hours ahead of me, so it made sense he was playing at 5:00pm his time. However, Jason was just as crazy as me, as we are both on the east coast! So, Jason ended up going through the entire game, and Alistair focused on side quests. Heh, even Oli was up (she is in Spain), letting me know (rightfully so!) that she doesn't want to see me stressing myself like this again. We also talked about some new pieces of art she is going to do, and you can see the next progression in the piece above. Anyway, after finishing my part, I was finally convinced everything was good to go. I started the submission process around 6:00 am, and when I went to submit the larger files, I realized that since my hard drive crashed, I didn't have the username/password to the vault FTP site. I e-mailed Maximus, and then decided to get some sleep for 3 hours or so. Maximus let me know it had to be submitted by noon, so if I woke up at 10:00 am, I would have enough time. Well, around 6:30 am, guess who was just getting up for school? Yep, you guessed it. Hugie! I knew he had the FTP info, so shout out to him for getting me that information.

So, after talking to another co-worker (man, I talked to everyone this morning!), I finally went to sleep at 7:00 am, only to wake up at 10:00 am to finish the submission. So, at this point, everything is in the hands of Maximus. I will update this post accordingly when the game is posted. I now bid you farewell.

Till later tonight...

*Passes out*

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (151-155)

151. Gender Equality Addendum (Rynn Rule)
In the unlikely event that the main character of the game is female, she will not be involved in any romantic subplot whatsoever beyond getting hit on by shopkeepers.

152. Stealing The Spotlight (Edea Rule)
The characters who join your party only briefly tend to be much cooler than your regular party members.

153. "Mommy, why didn't they just use a Phoenix Down on Aeris?"
Don't expect battle mechanics to carry over into the "real world."

154. Gold Saucer Rule
The strongest weapons/items/spells in the entire game can only be found by doing things like racing birds.

1. I have exactly 5 issues to wrap up. When I say issues, I mean simple things like add more placeables to a plain area, make sure the player cannot go through a certain door during a particular event, etc. Real easy...
2. Rebuild the ending movie. I noticed a typo in them (figures!), so I will take the time to add another tester to the list who came through in the clutch last week (you know who you are!)
3. I need to actually update the module description.
4. Create a ReadMe. Now, I will just make a copy of the ReadMe from The Coming, and add/remove things accordingly.
5. Pack up all files. This to me is the biggest issue. I have said this time and time again, but I will say it again. Cry The Beloved uses ALL FILES FROM THE COMING!!! Even though I will state this on the download page, in the readme, and on this website, I know I will still get some people to complain about missing haks or something. The thing is, I don't want to duplicate the stuff in a new hak. Either way, I am prolly over thinking it, but that is the main issue. It's gonna suck for those that never played The Coming, but for those that did, I hope you kept all the files from it. If not, download them now! :)
6. Upload all files, and PRAY LIKE HELL that no one posts something like, "I found a plot stopping bug!". Man, will I be pissed. Not at the person, but at myself. I pride myself on double/triple/quadrupal checking everything, and I had testers who were of the same mind. 

Please, please let me have a successful launch. Nothing ruins a launch like having a plot stopping bug found after hundreds of people have already downloaded your game. Again, maybe I am worrying about nothing, but we shall see very soon.

Oh, and if I didn't specifically say it, it would be nice if all of this could be done by the end of tomorrow night:) We'll see... No promises!!!

Till tomorrow (and hopefully, some good news!)...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (146-150)

146. Seventh Inning Stretch (Elc Rule)
At some point in the game the main hero will receive a deadly story-driven injury and will be put in a hospital instead of having a mage heal him. This will leave him out of commission for at least the length of two sidequests; the female lead will also be temporarily out of commission as she steadfastly refuses to leave the hero's side. Ultimately a simple vision quest is all that will be required to bring the hero back to normal.

147. Vivi's Spellbook Principle
Over the course of the game, you will spend countless hours learning between twenty and one hundred skills and/or spells, approximately three of which will still be useful by the end of the game.

148. Gender Equality, Part 1 (Feena Rule)
Your average female RPG character carries a variety of deadly weapons and can effortlessly hack or magic her way through armies of monsters, killer cyborgs, and mutated boss creatures without breaking a sweat. She may be an accomplished ninja, a superpowered secret agent, or the world's greatest adventurer. However, if one of the game's villains manages to sneak up and grab her by the Standard Female Character Grab Area (her upper arm) she will be rendered utterly helpless until rescued by the hero.

149. Gender Equality, Part 2 (Tifa Rule)
If any female character, in a burst of anger or enthusiasm, decides to go off and accomplish something on her own without the hero, she will fail miserably and again have to be rescued.

I have been proved wrong so much in fact that I have already been building the soundtrack for Chapter 3 solely off of what I have been hearing on that particular station. At this point, I already have travel/world map type music, I have some pretty epic boss battle music, and I have some music for a scene which I will obviously not talk about it, among other reasons, because no one has even played Chapter 2 yet:) Seriously though, I have been having a ball, and look forward to find new tracks.

So umm, yeah... Game stuff... The real reason peeps come here. Well, let's just say that I have been busy. Even though the date for this is Monday, October 9th, I am really writing in on Wednesday, October 11th. Yeah, that is how busy I have been. And, I knew I wanted to talk about music in this update, but couldn't remember the work I did. Well, long story short, I finished a TON. Read the next update to know what I mean:)

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (141-145)

141. Guards! Guards! (or, Lindblum Full Employment Act)
Everything will be guarded and gated (elevators, docks, old rickety bridges, random stretches of roadway deep in the forest) except for the stuff that actually needs to be.

142. Thank You For Pressing The Self-Destruct Button
All enemy installations and city-sized military vehicles will be equipped with a conveniently located, easy-to-operate self-destruct mechanism.

143. Falling Rule
An RPG character can fall any distance onto anything without suffering anything worse than brief unconsciousness. In fact, falling a huge distance is an excellent cure for otherwise fatal wounds -- anyone who you see shot, stabbed, or mangled and then tossed off a cliff is guaranteed to return later in the game with barely a scratch.

144. Materials Science 101
Gold, silver, and other precious metals make excellent weapons and armor even though in the real world they are too soft and heavy to use for that purpose. In fact, they work so well that nobody ever melts their solid gold suit of armor down into bullion, sells it, and retires to a tropical isle on the proceeds.

I will be contacting some of the people who e-mailed me last week to see if they are able to do the final test run with me. Most of my regular testers are busy during the week, and I need the testing done in like 1 night *gasp*. I don't want to force anything on anyone, so if no one steps up to the plate, I will. The last BETA was pretty rock solid (no reports of anything game breaking that I can recall), and 3-4 of the testers made it all the way through the game. So, I am pretty confident that all I have to do is put the game on easy, and speed play through everything.

Oh damn, I just remembered I had some edits from Jason, but I will just knock those out tomorrow on the train I am thinking. Enough editing for one night:)

Till tomorrow...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (136-140)

136. Dealing With Beautiful Women, Part 1 (Yuffie Rule)
All good-looking young females are there to help you. This rule holds even when the girl in question is annoying, useless, or clearly evil.

137. Dealing With Beautiful Women, Part 2 (Rouge Rule)
All good-looking middle-aged females are out to kill you. This rule holds even when the woman in question has attained your unwavering trust and respect.

138. Well, So Much For That
After you have completed your mighty quest to find the object that will save the known universe, it will either a) get lost, b) get stolen, or c) not work.

139. The Ominous Ring of Land
The classic Ominous Ring of Land is a popular terrain feature that frequently doesn't show up on your world map. Just when you think things are going really well and you've got the Forces of Evil on the run, monsters, demons and mad gods will pour out of the center of the ring and the situation will get ten times worse. The main villain also usually hangs out in one of these after attaining godhood. If there are several Ominous Rings of Land or the entire world map is one big ring, you are just screwed.

It should go without saying that this concept sketch includes Aramus, Challseus, & the Keeper of the Rose. Even more surprising was the fact that I didn't prompt her to do this for me. I think in general, most people who work with me know that I am not a manager  (I use the term loosely since I cannot think of any other term) who nags people to get stuff done. I don't like making all the decisions and ruling with an iron fist. I like to have people around me who are proactive in what they do. It is getting easier because 

1) I have been working with the same people for damn near a year now

2) Said people know the Rose Of Eternity just as well, if not better than me (no, seriously!).

This leads to them being able to do things I don't need to know about, whether it be writing a new piece of dialogue to flesh out a character, to fixing inconsistencies in the story that they find (hey, I'm not perfect), to coming up with new pieces of art that I never even thought of.

Getting back to the art, she had a bunch of things she said she was working on, and I have to say, I was amazed. There is one scene that occurs in The Coming that she says she is going to do a portrait for. In fact, anyone who played The Coming will immediately recognize it when it is done.

When all is said and done, if I was to get the funding to open up my own development studio, say, next week, I would try to hire everyone I am working with now to do some contract work with me immediately. Hell, I would even see if they wanted to join the company period. That is how much I trust them. Of course, who knows if they would even want to work with me, but that is a different subject:)

Right, so, I did do some work today, I just don't want to elaborate. Lots of editing (read: lots) to get in, as well as some bug fixes. Speaking of which, I have some more to fix right now...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (131-135)

131. First Rule of Politics (Chancellor's Axiom)
Any advisor of a major ruler has been scheming after his throne for quite a while. Thanks to the miracle of timing, you will arrive at the king's inner sanctum just in time for the coup.

132. Second Rule of Politics (Scapegoat's Axiom)
If the advisor works for an evil ruler, the advisor is as bad or even worse, and there's a good chance he's the final villain. (See Fake Ending Rule.) If the advisor works for a good ruler, he usually has the good of the kingdom at heart; not that that helps, because your party will invariably be made the scapegoat for all that's wrong with the nation and immediately thrown in the dungeon.

133. Last Rule of Politics
Kingdoms are good. Empires are evil.

134. Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics (Ramus Rule)
Twenty-three generations may pass, but any person's direct descendant will still look and act just like him.

PASSIVE ABILITIES

Taken from the website - "These are abilities that are triggered automatically in combat after you have been fighting for over 1 minute. PA's can be all sorts of types of skills, such as damage dealing, buffing, or healing. In extra long fights, these abilities can really save the life of the player."

So, early on in the development of Cry The Beloved, I knew that I wanted to expand on the custom systems. I knew I wanted to give the people something new to play with. I just didn't know what... So, for the first month or so of development, I didn't test any fighting whatsoever.  I was busy building up the main town of Dematol, as well as doing some of the first cut-scenes of the game. 

When I did get around to testing some combat, I realized I wanted to move in the direction of battles that lasted longer. As I continued to test and test the combat, I realized how cool it would be (to me anyway!) if the longer Aramus fought, the stronger he would get. So say you were fighting an enemy for 2 minutes straight, at this point, I was thinking about how cool it would be to have Aramus get a little boost for a short duration. And this is how PA's were born.

Now, I call them Passive Abilities because the player does not have to do anything to make them activate. Next, I had to figure when these would be used. I then determined that I would keep track of how long Aramus was in combat, and if it hit over a minute, some skill would be activated. . As he is a fighter (or some variant, depending on how people decide to multi-class him), I figured his first one could be something that raised his STR. The ability actually used to be called Mighty Rage, until someone kindly pointed out there was a feat with that name. He then came up with the name, Crimson Wrath, since Aramus glows red while the ability is activated.

As I continued to test this skill out, I was beginning to learn how dynamic it made battles. I cannot tell you how many times I thought I was going to die, and then Crimson Wrath kicked in, allowing me to hit the enemy for a lot more damage, which would in the end let me kill them before they killed me. It was during these moments that I fell in love with it. Then, something else happened...

I was fighting with another party member, who learns the PA, Warden's Vision. This particular PA raises the attack bonus of the user by a LOT. Now normally, when they use this, all their blows more or less land successfully, which makes sense. Well, one day, this party member was being beat to death, and their Last Resort, Flurry Attack activated. Those of you who played The Coming should know that this makes the user hit faster in combat. Well, you can imagine the look on my face when not only did Flurry Attack go off, but then Warden's Vision right after it. For the next 18 seconds or so, the party member must have gotten 10 blows to land very fast, thanks to the combination of both of these skills. It really was a beautiful thing to see.

And that is the beauty of the new combat skill systems in general. They all work their way into the combat system so seamlessly that things I never would have imagined (like the above example) started happening all over the place. It was also this particular instance when I fell in love with this particular party member. And to think, they were never in the original story from 1999:)

I am very happy with this new system, and the best part is that it also was not part of my original design so many years ago... Adding new dynamics to the fighting is what I was looking for, and I think I have achieved this. Contrary to popular belief (I know I have said this so many times before), this game was always supposed to be about the over the top fights. I'm closer than ever before...

Till tomorrow...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (126-130)

126. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely (Althena Rule)
If a good guy is manipulated to the side of evil, they will suddenly find a new inner strength that will enable them to wipe out your whole party with a wave of their hand.

127. All Is Forgiven (Nash Rule)
However, when the trusted member of your party turns against you, do not give it a second thought. They will return to your side after they're done with their amnesia/mind control/hidden noble goal that caused them to give away all your omnipotent mystical artifacts.

128. First Law of Fashion
All characters wear a single costume which does not change over the course of the game. The only exception is when characters dress up in enemy uniforms to infiltrate their base.

129. Second Law of Fashion
Any character's costume, no matter how skimpy, complicated, or simply outlandish, is always completely suitable to wear when climbing around in caves, hiking across the desert, and slogging through the sewers. It will continue to be completely suitable right afterwards when said character goes to meet the King.

I also worked on getting all the custom load screens into the game. I left these till the end on purpose, because in reality, it is just annoying busy work. Luckily, I have over 300 screenshots to sift through, so I am sure I will find everything I need.

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (121-125)

121. Child Protection Act (Rydia Rule)
Children 12 and under are exempt from death. They will emerge alive from cataclysms that slaughter hundreds of sturdily-built adults, often with barely a scratch. Further protection is afforded if the catastrophe will orphan the child.

122. Missing Master Hypothesis
Almost every strong physical fighter learned everything he/she knows from some old master or friend. Invariably, the master or friend has since turned evil, been killed, or disappeared without a trace.

123. Missing Master Corollary (Sabin Rule)
If a fighter's master merely disappeared, you will undoubtedly find him/her at some point in your travels. The master will challenge the student to a duel, after which the student will be taught one final skill that the master had been holding back for years.

Till tomorrow...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (116-120)

116. You Always Travel In The Right Circles
Whenever you meet a villager or other such incidental character who promises to give you some great piece of needed knowledge or a required object in exchange for a seemingly simple item, such as a bar of soap or a nice straw mat, be prepared to spend at least an hour chasing around the world exchanging useless innocuous item after item with bizarre strangers until you can get that elusive first item you were asked for.

117. Talk Is Cheap Rule
Nothing is ever solved by diplomacy or politics in the world of RPGs. Any declarations of peace, summits and treaty negotiations are traps to fool the ever so gullible Good Guys into thinking the war is over, or to brainwash the remaining leaders of the world.

118. Stop Your Life (Setzer Rule)
No matter what kind of exciting, dynamic life a character was leading before joining your party, once there they will be perfectly content to sit and wait on the airship until you choose to use them.

119. Don't Stand Out
Any townsperson who is dressed oddly or otherwise doesn't fit in with the rest of the townsfolk will either:

1. Join your party after you complete some task,
2. Be in the employ of your enemy, or
3. Befriend any female member of the party, and then be immediately captured and held hostage by the villains.

Much respect to our Lead Artist, Oli Ferrando, she did the initial work on the overall design and flow. After she worked her magic (and what magic it is!), I took over the reins, and started filling the site up with tons of content. And, as you can tell from reading this update on the old site L&F, I still have more things to do.

Right, so just to reiterate, I want to publicly thank Oli for her wonderful work on the look and feel of the new site. This process actually started way back in December of 2005, but I then put it on hold, so that she could spend her time working on the portraits for Aramus, Clopon, & the Keeper Of The Rose. After she was done with those, she ended up getting extremely busy at her real job, so it was put on the back burner. Then, earlier this summer, she sent me two screenshots of a new design she wanted to use for the site. I immediately fell in love with the one that is being used now. Once that was finalized, she did the majority of the main flow for the entire site, like how to display custom skills, and whatnot. If I recall correctly, this was finished in late July. At this point, the only thing that really needed to be done was for me to fill the website up with all of the new content. I was obviously extremely busy, so I didn't even get the actual website itself on my laptop until a month or so ago. Then, I was just left with the task of slowing adding all the new things, mostly new screenshots, and the content for the new custom skills pages (Bonds of Battle, Distinctive Development, Passive Abilities, etc). This past week, I really put the effort in high gear, because I just needed to get it out of the way, as well as introduce folks to the things I have been working on this past year.

Over the next couple of days, I am going to take one of the new systems, and break it down, including where it was inspired from, who helped design/refine it, and issues I had. Well, without further adieu...

BONDS OF BATTLE

Taken from website - "The concept of BOB is quite simple. The longer 2 allies fight alongside each other, the greater the bonds that forms between them. As this bond continues to grow, so too does the skill of both allies when they are fighting side by side. In game terms, whenever an enemy is killed by one ally, and the other ally landed at least one blow on them, if the 2 allies were near each other when the enemy died, BOB points are earned between the 2. Once certain tiers of points are achieved, specific abilities will be unlocked so that while the 2 allies fight near each other, they will be stronger."

Ah yes, Bonds of Battle, or BOB for short. So, in The Coming, there were only 2 custom skill systems: Unison Abilities & Last Resorts. This was all good and fine, but back in September of 2005, I started to think about new systems to implement, for a few reasons.

1) I wanted to further distinguish this game from the rest of games out there, so people could never say they had a similar experience playing any other module.

2) I wanted to keep things new and fresh. Sure, I could have just stuck with what I had, and expanded on it, but I felt people may start to get too tired/too used to the current systems.

So, just to clarify, don't think I just added new systems just for the sake of adding new systems. I would always think of the ramifications of adding said systems, and try to determine if it was needed or not. Trust me, there are about another 3-4 in my back pocket that I wanted to implement, but when it came down to it, they wouldn't make sense.

So, as I have always stated over and over again, I am really into a true sense of full party member combat. The party members are so integral to Cry The Beloved, that I began to think of ways to create new systems around them. Now, of course, I have the Unison Ability system, which is obviously centered around them, but BOB takes it to the next level.

There will be points in the game where you can only bring along a certain party member. As I have been slowly learning, some people really connect with some party members over others. Well, I wanted to reward people who tended to stick with one party member. For instance, let's take Aramus & Clopon. She seems to be the person people love to hate, but deep down inside, you all know you love her! Anyway, it would only make sense that the longer you fight with her, the bigger the bond between the 2 would grow. On a purely conceptual level, this is what BOB is all about. Likewise, if Aramus never decides to take Challseus long on any missions, it would make sense that their  bond would not grow.

So, back in October of 2005 I believe, I was having tons of back and forths with community member James Gawne, but most of you would know him by the name, ShrikeKnight. We were just talking about new custom skills to add to people in the game, and I decided to present my idea to him. It was a very general concept, but over the next few weeks, it involved into what it is today. Shout out to James for the help with that!

When it came down to actually implementing BOB, it really went well. For you scripting heads out there, the hardest part was coding the part which would determine if BOB points would be allocated for a kill or not. First, whenever any enemy is hit, I set a local variable on them, with the TAG of the person that hit them. Then, when an enemy is killed, I check to see who the killer is. Depending on who the killer is, I do a check for nearby party members. I then compare the tags of said party members to the tags of people that have hit the enemy, and if I find a match, I allocate BOB points accordingly.

As for the implementation of the actual skills you receive once you gain enough BOB points, it is even easier. The way the skills work is, whenever Aramus and the party member who he has formed a bond with are near each other, their skills will be activated, whether it be a STR increase, or HP regen, or whatever. So, I just have a heartbeat script that is constantly checking to see if 2 members who have formed a bond with each other are nearby, and if so, activate the skill. Easy, and efficient.

Over the past year, things have changed a bit, with regards to the actual skills. For instance, Aramus & Challseus get a magic immunity skill when they achieve enough BOB points. Well, this was just recently changed, as it used to be a spell resistance of either 1, 2, or 3 (depending on the amount of points they have). Well, not being too familiar with spell resistance, I just figured this would be good enough. That is, until some of the guys on the team started pointing out how worthless it was. I won't go into the details, because I am sure all of you DnD heads know about spell resistance, but let's just say I now have a better understanding:)

The only other issue was trying to balance the amount of points you get over the course of the game. 300 is the absolute peak for this game, and I can only really think of one situation of how someone would get that many points. The original design decision was to make it extremely hard to get them, so that the player would really feel good when they got their first 100 BOB points. I ended up changing this, when some people complained how hard it was to get them. I think I found a good middle ground now.

And that is BOB. Out of all the new custom systems, I like this one the best, which is why I chose to speak about it first. I think it is a nice spin on the Unison Ability system, and that people will generally like it. Oh, and I already know how I can expand on this in Chapter 3:) Yep, my mind never stops!

Well folks, that's it for today. Tomorrow, I will talk about Passive Abilities.

Till tomorrow...

P.S. Special thanks to all of those that reached out to me after my little rant yesterday. Trust me, I saw the e-mails, I was just so busy getting the new site up, that I could respond. But yes, I would be happy to have you help with the baselines. Thanks for the support! Oh, and for those wondering, everyone that did test the baselines got back to me with positive feedback. So ,I guess those 8 hours I spent on Monday weren't wasted...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (111-115)

111. Principle of Archaeological Convenience
Every ancient machine you find will work perfectly the first time you try to use it and every time thereafter. Even if its city got blasted into ruins and the machine was then sunk to the bottom of the sea and buried in mud for ten thousand years, it'll still work fine. The unfortunate corollary to this rule is that ancient guardian creatures will also turn out to be working perfectly when you try to filch their stuff.

112. They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To (Cid Rule)
Modern-day machinery, by contrast, will always break down at the worst possible moment (for example, when you only need one more shot from the giant cannon to defeat the final boss.)

113. Place Transvestite Joke Here (Miss Cloud Rule)
If the male lead is required to dress up like a girl for any reason, he will be regarded by everyone as much more attractive than any "real" girl. If the female lead cross-dresses as a man, she will be immediately recognized as who she is by everyone except the male lead and the main villain.

114. Make Room! Make Room!
There are always more people in a town or village than there are houses for them to live in. Most of the village is made up of shops, temples, bars, secret passages, inns, and the mansion that belongs to the richest man in town.

You all know I worry a lot, so imagine what is going through my head right now. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "Screw em if they can't run the game. Don't compromise the game's excellence because they can't run it". In fact, I see this attitude in the community everyday, especially with certain Premium (read - NOT cancelled) modules *looks both ways*. Well, having that attitude isn't in my personality, and ultimately, it might lead to my demise. I try to please everyone, knowing damn well I can't, yet I still try to. Heh, I guess I am a download whore:) I don't want to alienate any people, and that includes people will machines slower than mine.

So, I went into today determined to make things work. Remember, I have good old reliable (my computer from 2000), so I started what would end up being like an 8 hour project to benchmark some things. I first made a copy of the current game, and created different versions of said game with different starting points. The comp is too slow to actually try to open up the toolset and changed the locations at will, so I figured I would save time. All in all, each game would be setup to run a specific cut-scene. After I set that stuff up, I then began to create my solutions to the issue, make various games with different starting points, and then take all these versions of the game, and put them on my desktop. Did I mention the Desktop cannot connect to the internet, so I have to use a memory stick? Did I also mention that if I put the stick in, then take it out, then put it back in, my machine restarts. Did I also mention it takes 10 minutes for it to restart? Yeah, I was having that type of day...

So, I definitely saw results between the 2 versions. Things definitely seemed to run a bit smoother. However, I still needed to test these things out on testers machine. Unfortunately, because of time zones and school/work/mothers, not a single person was able to test these hot fixes out.

So, imagine I am about to finish the game I have spent that last 15 months of my life making, and the one thing that is holding me back, I cannot even test? No, I'm sorry, more like 30 months, because I started this game right after The Coming. You know, I talked to a lot of developers at this years Games Developer's Conference, and they all told me their horror stories of crunch time. Well, I know I cannot really compare it to theirs, but man, this crunch time is killing me.

Sorry for the rant folks, but I  just had one of those days. I remember community member El Dano made a post where he said something along the lines of how a developer needs to stop doing what they are doing if they aren't having fun. Well, I am this close to putting it out, and saying you need 2GB of ram to play it:)

Okay, begging time:) Please, please, please, if anyone out there (I know someone is out there, I get 200 visitors a day to these updates!) has 20 minutes to spare in your day, please email me, so you could possibly try out these baselines I created. It really would be painless, and help things out a lot. If so, my e-mail is gamecoder@optonline.net.

END OF RANT, I SWEAR!!!

So, I have found some really new music that I absolutely love, and I have already designed 2 of the areas for Chapter 3 (in my head of course). Yeah, before you guys start screaming HYPOCRITE, do remember that even though I want to be done with Chapter 2, it doesn't mean I don't think about Chapter 3:) Hell, I know I won't have to worry about testing on a super machine, because mine can barely run NWN2 anyway:)

So, as promised from yesterday, here are reasons I should just go to Chapter 3.

1) Time... Plain and simple... I mean yeah, all the convos and scripts are done for Chapter 1 & 2, but trying to make those areas again will be a pain, especially with outdoor areas not being tiles... Speaking of which...

2) Will all the tile sets I used even be available for NWN2? I am sure they will be someday, but will I be able to recreate every monster, every NPC, every item, etc?

3) The fans. Do they really want to wait for an updated version of Chapter 1 & 2? I would think not, but who knows. Actually, posting a poll might be the best thing to do...

4) My personality. What does that mean, you ask? Simple. I know I couldn't just redo everything. It would be more of a remix. All the things I wanted to do, I will try to fit in. Again, this could be good or bad, depending on the answer to question 3).

Well, off to bed with me. Gotta be up in some hours to go to work...

Till tomorrow...

EDIT - Just got done talking to Alan Miranda, CEO of Ossian Studios. He just informed me the issue could be related to 1.68, especially since the testers weren't reporting these errors before it... Now, if I could just get someone to revert to 1.67 for me for one night...

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (106-110)

106. Law of Traps
No matter how obvious the trap, you can't complete the game unless you fall into it.

107. Arbor Day Rule
At some point, you're going to have to talk to a tree and do what it says.

108. You Do Not Talk About Fight Club
Any fighting tournament or contest of skill you hear about, you will eventually be forced to enter and win.

109. Invisible Bureaucracy Rule
Other than the royal family, its shifty advisor, and the odd mad scientist, the only government employees you will ever encounter in the course of your adventure are either guards or kitchen staff.

It's too bad that he has exams this week, as it looks like I lost him for the week. Others either have school or work, so anyone out there that has a few hours to spend, e-mail me at gamecoder@optonline.net. For the fans out there, the game is 99% content complete, so you won't have to worry about playing a half done game or anything like that. In general though, it really helps to be able to have as many people as possible play, because everyone has different play standards, and a couple of the more interesting bugs this morning were ones created when a player did things I did not even think of. So, please, if you have any spare time, let me know. The more people I have, the quicker the game gets out!

So, let's look to the future... I will obviously be done with this game soon, and will soon after take long needed break (I'm not a robot!). But, I have to admit, I have been lurking at the NWN2 forums, and some of the things people can do with the new toolset is looking pretty cool. Therein lies the dilemma...

I'm not going to beat around the bush. I really, really want to go back and remake the past 2 chapters for NWN2 before I do chapter 3. Why, you ask?

1) Full companion control. You all have no idea how many ideas I had for Unison Abilities that just wasn't possible with AI controlled party members. Don't get me wrong, there are tons in Cry The Beloved, but I can do more:) Following that, the idea design for this game back in 1999 assumed the player could control their party members, so you can only imagine how many things are different from what I initially envisioned so long ago.

2) This is most likely the main reason. Rose Of Eternity obviously isn't your normal DnD game, so let's say I release chapter 3 first. There will be TONS of people that play it, that wouldn't have played the first 2 chapters. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if the games were independent of each other, but you all know that they aren't. The game is so deeply rooted in the story, that it wouldn't make sense for them to start so far ahead in the story. I mean, there are ways to get around this, but...

Next is the issue of all the abilities you have gained up to that point. Again, since everything is custom, it is sort of hard to throw someone into the mix with a level 12 Aramus who has tons of abilities he has gained throughout the series (you will really know what I mean when I release the info regarding that). There are certain things you get accustomed to using, like Illuminate. By the end of Cry The Beloved, I expect the player to be an expert with this. Can I expect the same thing at the beginning of chapter 3? Again, there are ways around it, but I am just throwing out random thoughts.

Well, I am about to do some more work on some other things, so goodbye for now...

Till tomorrow...

P.S. Hope you dig the screenshot!

P.S.S. Tomorrow, reasons why I just want to get to Chapter 3!

THE GRAND LIST OF CONSOLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES CLICHÉS (101-105)

101. Law of Productive Gullibility (Ruby Rule)
Whenever anybody comes up to you with a patently ludicrous claim (such as, "I'm not a cat, I'm really an ancient Red Dragon") there's an at least two-thirds chance they're telling the truth. Therefore, it pays to humor everyone you meet; odds are you'll be glad you did later on.

102. Perversity Principle
If you're unsure about what to do next, ask all the townspeople nearby. They will either all strongly urge you to do something, in which case you must immediately go out and do that thing, or else they will all strongly warn you against doing something, in which case you must immediately go out and do that thing.

103. Near-Death Epiphany (Fei Rule)
If the party is not dealing damage to a boss character, then there's a better-than-even chance that someone in the party will suddenly become enlightened and instantly acquire the offensive skill that can blow the creature away in a matter of seconds.

104. Wutai Rule
Most RPGs, no matter what their mythology, include a land based on ancient Japan. Full of pagodas, shrines, shoguns, kitsune, and sushi, this completely anachronistic place is the source of the entire world's supply of ninja and samurai characters.