Since I had those 2 extra hours, I decided to work on something that is very little, and something that not every player will see. If they do however, it should hopefully make them smile, and think, "Wow, I haven't seen anything like this in a NWN module before". I hope they haven't seen it before:)

As for everything else, I actually made it through all 4 pages of bugs/issues. I didn't fix every single thing I came across, because all of  it wasn't necessary for the next ALPHA release. All I have to do now is connect some more pieces together, do the quick run through, and then it will be ready. Yeah, I know I have been talking about it for days, but I swear, I am almost there:)

After I release the ALPHA, before I begin work on the rest of the game, I will do a few days of admin related stuff. I desperately need to get in contact with lots of people who have been helping me with the production of Cry The Beloved. I have been really focused on getting this ALPHA out, and with everything else going on in my life, I just haven't had the time I used to.

So, to anyone who has e-mailed me in the past week or so, fear not, once I am done with this, you will have my total attention.

Till tomorrow...

As far as what I did today, I think I made pretty good progress. Out of the 4 pages of notes, I got through 2 of them. As I mentioned yesterday, most were upgrades/enhancements to current systems, and whatnot. Not a lot of bugs at all. I made a significant change to one new system on the train ride into work, and I am very pleased, mostly because it is something I should have done a long time ago.

Also, I have found a new piece of music, and as always, I have had it on repeat for a couple of days now. I finally decided that this would be the main theme of a particular NPC that I am quite fond of. This NPC did not have a big role in The Coming, but I have always liked them, so it is time for them to get their shine in Cry The Beloved.

So, I would really like to get some work done on the train ride into work, but since it will be at 5:00 in the morning, I can't promise anything. The good thing is that I will be leaving early, so I anticipate (there is that nasty word again) that I can finish the last 2 pages by tomorrow. Then, all I have to do is a quick run though (by quick, I mean just make sure there are no plot breaking bugs), and release this damn thing to the testers. Just breathe, Leonard...Just breathe...

Till tomorrow...

...However, as my bad luck would have it, I ran into another critical game stopping bug, which could not be bypassed by a simple reload. At this point, as with yesterday, I hadn't even gotten to the new stuff yet! I then proceeded to simply start the game from that particular point. I am able to do this, because I have a very robust set of scripts that will change all game state variables, depending on some Boolean constants I set. I could have an actual area that dynamically sets everything up, but I don't have the time to set that up...Next time...

I actually hate doing this, as it breaks the continuity, but you gotta do what you gotta do...After my play through, I actually amassed about 5 pages of notes, including the 1 page I wrote up on Friday. So, I was over the amount of expected pages by 1, not bad...Actually, most things I jotted down were ideas, not actual bugs.

That said, I am not going to be able to release the ALPHA, as I had originally wanted to today. I will however bust my ass as much as possible on the train ride to/from work this week to get it together. Ah, the drama of module building...It's almost over...

Till tomorrow...

I finally was able to attempt to play through Cry The Beloved again. Man, I really did underestimate how long the game has been getting, and get this: I haven't even gotten to the new areas I had been working on the past month or so:) I mean, I did speed play to the part that broke on me, but once I got there, I went back to doing everything. Apparently, everything is a lot:)

At about 2:00 am, I decided I needed to stop, so that I could wake up early in the morning to start the process again. I stopped at a nice area in the game, and I can't wait to go through the next sequence.

Till tomorrow...

EDIT - Okay, I lied...I didn't just play the game today. I watched a very, very good movie named "Hotel Rwanda" for a couple of hours. I won't go into details, but let's just saying it was a very moving movie about the genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994, involving the Hutu's and Tutsi's. Just google it for more information...

Also, some of you might have noticed a new link in the left column, where I have other links to sites such as NWVault, and the Bioware Modules forums. The new link, called VGMusic links to a music site that I have been frequenting for at least 2 years. This particular site has thousands and thousands of MIDI's of video game music ranging from the early days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, to the XBOX. The tracks I listen to the most are the ones for the NES and SNES (no surprise there). It really brings me back to my childhood, when things were so much simpler. The ones I have been listening to lately are for all of the Mega Man series, especially Mega Man II. Ah, good times...

Till tomorrow...

My issues stem from my day job as a programmer. I officially don't care...The turnover rate has been horrendous, therefore bring worker morale down, which is understandable. However, when someone such as myself actually cares (to an extent) about what he is doing, and is surrounded by many who do not, it just adds more stress to the situation. I won't go into details, but let's just say that I am tired of trying to be the voice of reason. Hell, I expect to be doing something different, professionally speaking, in the next couple of years anyway. For now, I just need to pay the bills... 

Once I am done going through the 1 page, I will start the game over again, and speed play to the part of the game that was broken. I will then go through it as I had before, doing anything and everything that is available to the player, in order to compile the next 3 or so pages of bug/issues.

As I mentioned before, I have a wedding to go to on Saturday, so that severely limits how much I can do. I might end up working very late tomorrow night to get to the end of the game. Yep, I smell and all niter!

Till tomorrow...

I did finish it when I got home however, so all that is left is to make sure some transitions work correctly, and then I will prepare for the next ALPHA. This includes going through the scripts and everything to make sure none of my test code is uncommented. I have mostly moved away from this sort of thing, but here and there, I have to modify minor scripts for testing purposes. Nothing pisses me off more than getting 6 hours into the game, just to find a game break bug which stems from me not resetting all scripts to their proper state.

I anticipate I will have about 3-4 pages worth of notes after my 1st play through. It will then take me at least a day to sift through it, and handle all of the issues. I will then run through the game, but much more quickly, basically verifying all the bugs are fixed. Then, it is time to ship it out to the testers, so that they can break it apart, and give me more work:)

Since I have off from work on Monday, it would be cool if I could have the ALPHA ready by Monday night. Not sure about it, because one of my best friend's sister is getting married this weekend, so he will be up with his wife. That of course means I have to entertain them and whatnot. Then, there is the actual wedding on Saturday, which will take a lot of my time and energy away. I pleaded with her to get married after I release Cry The Beloved, but apparently, her little wedding is more important. Bah...

Till tomorrow...

I will admit I wanted to wipe my hands clean of this area by the end of today, but things happen...I mean, I did work on some other things that weren't related to the dungeon, it's just that it isn't that substantial in terms of content (was mostly scripting issues), so it is hard to visualize what I did accomplish...

On the train tomorrow, I need to put the finishing touches on an enhancement of one of the puzzle systems, as the old way wasn't really intuitive. I was killing myself the last hour of development, but I think I figured out a solution. It shouldn't be too hard to implement.

Till tomorrow...

Now I have to go back and make sure everything likes together. This really consists of small things, like making sure all transitions are working correctly, as well as adding the correct VFX everywhere. I also need to put some treasure into the various hidden chests. Once I am done with that, I am going to take a test run through the game. I am actually excited about it, because I haven't done it in a while. Then, I will finally get the long awaited ALPHA out. I also expect that this will be the last version of the ALPHA. From here on out, it will be BETA time!

Till tomorrow...

Unfortunately, at work, I was very busy today. So busy that I never even had a chance to take out my laptop and plug it in...So, on the train ride home, I could only work for like 15 minutes before it shut off on me...It was quite annoying, but it happens.

When I got home, while watching the season finale of 24, I was finally able to convert the piece I needed for the finale cut-scene. Special recognition goes out to Hugie again for helping me with that. It finally works! 

That said, let's just say that everything came together perfectly. I was able to create a stubbed out cut-scene, with the proper music and camera angles, that runs for the exact amount of time. I even got some VFX in that I thought was going to be tougher than it really was. All that is left is to add the appropriate text, some more VFX, and some minor scripts that will change the state of the game.

I have to say, this is another one of those cut-scene I have been dreaming about creating for a couple of years. To actually do it, in one night no less, was a dream come true. Every time I visualize things ahead of time (which is 99.9% of the time), when I actually implement it, it usually comes out a bit different. This cut-scene was no exception, however, it is for the better. My only gripe is that not everyone who plays the game will see it:( Oh well, for those that do, they are in for a treat!

Till tomorrow...

There's something else I wanted to talk about. I have been reading the NWN2 forums everyday, mainly skimming through, and between all of the "I want this Obsidian, and if you don't give it to me, I will not buy your freaking game!" posts, I sometimes come across posts about the music, and who the composer will be. 99.9% of the replies state that it is common for the music to be added to the game last.

This of course is inconceivable for me. Putting in music last?! Hell, I need the music at the time of design to figure out how every scene will play out. I guess it is just one of the differences of how I approach game design. To some, music is an afterthought. To me, it is most important. I actually don't think I will like the NWN2 soundtrack too much (I didn't like NWN1 either), but we will see. I think it is the style that most annoys me. Most tracks are only 1:30 long, and after they play, there is silence for like another 2 minutes. I know this can be changed by the builder (I do this very thing), but sometimes I cannot help but wonder why...

Again, since all people are different, there really isn't any point to figuring out. I need to realizing that it is how a lot of people feel. I just have to learn how to deal with it, and work around it. Just another reason why I don't think the PC community as a whole may be my target audience. Then again, don't mind me, I am just rambling...It is 12:30 am here, and I have to be up for the train soon...Damn, I should have gone to sleep earlier. Just couldn't stop implementing the new boss fight...Yes people, I am addicted!

Till tomorrow... 

P.S. Big up to Hugie for pointing out that I used the same date for 3-4 posts in a row. There goes the effects of not getting enough sleep thing again:)

I created some of the scripts for the sequence, as well as an opening cut-scene. I didn't get a chance to test the cut-scene, but I am sure it will work fine. I will also have to add in the code to make it skip able.

Tomorrow, I expect to either finish the boss fight, or be very close. Once that is done, I can finish up the last puzzle, do a couple of run throughs of the game, and ship out the next ALPHA. Busy, busy, busy...

Till tomorrow...

Till tomorrow...

I got right back into development, as if nothing had changed. Boy, it was nice to not have to wait 30 seconds for an area to load, or 4 minutes for the module to load. These may not seem like long times, but once you get fast speeds on a machine, you can't go back to slower speeds. I can't, at least:)

I more or less finished the design and implementation of another enemy, although I didn't add any special effects when it used special abilities. I will most likely start working on the last puzzle tomorrow morning.

Sorry if these past updates have been so short, but I have lost a lot of sleep as the week has gone on, so I need to get to sleep early.

Till tomorrow...

Unfortunately, by the time I got back, it was getting very late, so I only got to develop for an hour or so. I truly can't wait to be able to work on the train again. I could only watch Advent Children so many times!

Till tomorrow...

When I got home, after eating dinner, I jumped right back into things. I added 2 more newly scripted features, as well as the final AI for the particular creature I have been making scripts for. I still need to integrate it into the bigger scheme of things, but for now, I am happy with what I have.

Now that I am done with that, I can either go back to dev work on the dungeon, or the creation of the cut-scene that goes with this new creature. I would like to do the cut-scene, but I haven't been able to convert the music to BMU format (damn Apple and their stupid protected MP3's...). A certain community member whose name will remain anonymous e-mailed me with explicit directions on how to remove it, so perhaps if I have a few minutes today at work, I will try to do just that.

When I get off the train tomorrow night, I am going straight to my Mother's house to pick up her laptop. It's been so painful to be inspired, and ready to work on the trains, when I cannot. I can also smell my 2 week vacation coming up...

Till tomorrow...

After I finish this off, I think I may work on a little 30 second cut-scene that has to do with this new feature. I already know what music I am going to use, I just have to get it to BMU format. This particular cut-scene has to be scripted perfect, so that I get certain angles at certain points in the piece. Speaking of which, sometimes, I feel like I am more of a movie director than a game designer. Oh well, I like to wear different hats, so to speak.

After I finish that up, it will be back to the dungeon. Once I am done with that, I will hopefully either have my laptop back, and be back in full development using my Mother's laptop. Either way, I should have the speed I need on either laptop to finish work on the ending sequences. Luckily, the scripting involved won't be as time consuming as what I have been doing with this dungeon.

On the design front, David Timmons took a writing assignment for a few NPC's, which have to do with a particular NPC from The Coming that was, let's say, a prick...Even better, I just received some new dialogue from Phil Carter, so I am eager to read that as well.

Finally, I finished Advent Children on the train this morning. I was so much into the main story, but it was a great way to reminisce about Final Fantasy 7. In fact, one of the special features actually plays for about 10 minutes, and shows all of the highlights of the story. I have to admit, there were parts that I even forgot about. I never actually played it as much as I played Final Fantasy 4 & 6, most likely because it was my senior year in high school, and I was more concerned with partying and whatnot:) Also, the fight scenes were probably the best I have ever seen in any type of movie. Now, I just need them to remake Final Fantasy 6...

Till tomorrow...

So, today I continued my work on the dungeon. I totally finished off another room, and the other one that I started working on yesterday is almost done as well. I just need to come up with a clever little puzzle for it. Most likely will do that while I brainstorm before going to sleep, or on the train tomorrow morning. I also fixed a lot of minor issues here and there that aren't worth mentioning.

A little bit of good news. I took my Mother out to eat for Mother's day, and after telling her everything that has happened to me in the past month or so, she offered to let me borrow her own laptop when mine is away at Dell. Man, you got to love your Mom:)

I also started watching Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children tonight. I only got an hour into it, and although it started off pretty slow, things really began to pick up right before I forced myself to get up and write this update. I will finish it on the train tomorrow morning, most likely. I will give my full opinion tomorrow.

Till tomorrow...

Much like the rest of the week,  I continued the development of the third floor of the dungeon. I ended up doing a lot more than I had anticipated, as I actually started and more or less finished 2 more rooms. The room wasn't so hard actually, and I will keep it as is. The other one needs a good puzzle in it, and it will be done. Then, all I will have to do is complete another room, and then get to work on a yet another puzzle. I don't know how complex I will make it, but it will at the very least be bigger than anything I have done this far.

On the design front, nothing really happened today. I missed an IM from Olaia, so we didn't get any new art design back and forths done today. Community member Hugie has offered to help me get some custom portraits in. I just haven't had the time to get the pics together. Finally, I will most likely be on the phone with Dell support tomorrow, to see what the next step will be for fixing my laptop. My warranty has run out, and while I don't mind paying for the fixes, I HOPE I don't have to pay for the initial phone call. That would suck...

Besides being on the phone with Dell, I hope to finish off the next 2 rooms tomorrow, and get a lot of work done for the last one. As I mentioned a few days ago, it would cool to have this done by Wednesday of next week. Tomorrow night would be even better:)

Till tomorrow...

At work however, things were really calm, compared to yesterday, and I made it another day without quitting:)

On the game design front, I finally put the final finishing touches on this particular puzzle system. I can now test out the room again a couple of times, add some placeables here and there, and move on to the next room. I already created the custom monster that will go into this next room, so all that needs to be done is some puzzle adding, basic layout, and a lot of testing. As I will be home all day tomorrow, besides getting a haircut, I should be able to knock it out...

Finally, here is the latest art from Olaia, in wallpaper form. I could go on and on about this, but you all know how I feel at this point.

Till tomorrow...

In general, the dream with Rose Of Eternity was to have so many memorable characters, everyone who played would be able to identify with them. Because of the amount of characters that will be in the game, I thought what better than to have a page where people could read about them. I know that when I started playing RPG's, I used to always get strategy guides, and read every little detail about all of the characters. 

So for now, the way they are organized is quite simple. On each row, a different group of people will be displayed. For instance, the Keeper Of The Rose is in a class all by herself, and since the game revolves around her, she is at the top. The next shows various people who joined your party in The Coming. The next shows new cast additions. The thing I will try to get in is more portraits, so I can have a row for the Ministry Of Justice, which would most likely include Kain, Oracine, and others who I cannot mention at this time. I would even have one for the Defenders Of Legacy, which would include Adelas, Castias, Murik, & Evania. 

This wasn't a problem before, when I only had a few people on the page. Now that it is getting expanded, I definitely need some categories, to make things easier to sift through for the end user. It will be kind of annoying to get these portraits, because I will have to get them from my desktop, copy them to my flash drive, load it on my laptop, and save them to the correct directories. Okay, it isn't that hard, but still, I am a busy man!

As far as game development, I made A LOT of progress with some scripting today. I know some of you are thinking that I waste too much time on scripting, but trust me, getting the foundation of this system now will save me headaches weeks from now. I am almost done writing this particular puzzle system, and when I am done, plugging in new puzzles will be easy. Those of you who used to read my updates from back in October may remember me talking about the standard puzzle system I am using in this dungeon. Well, I decided to extend it, hence the bit of work I have been doing these past days. Once I do get it working (definitely by tomorrow, unless my desktop blows up), I will be able to finish up the 1st room, and move on to the next. Every subsequent room should be easier to do, as I don't have to spend time writing the code for the puzzles.

Once I am done with this floor, I will focus entirely on getting a playable version of the ALPHA ready. In the past few days, I have actually been getting some e-mails from the testers asking about it. One of them, who most know as Hagaar from NWVault actually started playing The Coming again, to get back in the right state of mind. It was interesting to have some e-mail exchanges with him about it. Brought back memories:) Todd and his son Cameron also expressed interest, and since Cameron will be getting out of school soon, the timing will be perfect. I even heard from Phil tonight (though I didn't have time to write him), telling me that some dialog he was working on will be done by the weekend. Of all people, I know how things can get when people are busy, so I totally understand. Finally, Olaia will most likely start working on a secret project, which I obvious can't divulge the details of just yet. So, everyone is very busy it seems:)

RANT TIME

Anyone ever read the comic, Dilbert. It isn't just a comic...It is the truth. So, for the past few months, my company has had a deal with ESPN to port our games to their new set of phones. However, there are other priorities that the project managers don't seem to know about, even they are project that are being handles by their close colleagues. I don't want to get into too many details, because some of it is confidential, but let's just say I had an interesting conversation with a project manager today. Essentially, I told them we are short staffed, and that some things just can't humanly be done. What was their response? "Leonard, you just have to bring it home". I would reiterate my previous statement, and in turn, they would reiterate theirs. I just walked away, feeling like Dilbert. And they wonder why people are quitting left and right...

I really, REALLY need a job in the industry. I know it will end up being the same, but I can have my dreams, can't I?

As I did with the Aramus artwork, I simply stared at this, when I had the time. Whenever I get a new piece of art, I never really notice all of the details. It usually takes a while before I really start to pick all of those little details that make it so special. I mean damn, look at the designs on her dress. Look at her hair... Look at her emotion on her face. She looks like she has been imprisoned in the Garden Of Roses for 4000 years!

This was just the thing I needed to see today, because today was, well, one of those days. It started out promising...I wasn't feeling to hot this morning, and since I had to do some work from home, not being able to get into the office until 11:00 ish, I decided to stay home. I knew I had some tasks to finish, but they didn't seem to be too difficult. Boy, was I wrong...

The 3rd floor has a very unique custom system that is used. It is something I have wanted to do since day one, so it feels good to be able to implement it. The thing is, there are parts to it that are pushing the boundaries of my scripting skills. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know I can script it. It just isn't as easy as most scripts I put together. This was actually involves a lot more design. For all you programmers out there, I basically don't want to reuse any code, so I am trying to parameterize the hell out of most of the methods I have been creating. I think once I get the foundation of the code scripted, plugging in other parts will be a cinch. Still, I have to say, this might be the most difficult thing I have scripted for this game. What's worse is that not everyone who plays this game will get to see it. As I mentioned before, this particular floor is not mandatory, so for those that want to get on with the main plot, they can forego it. To whoever is reading this, I implore you. Please go through this dungeon so my work is not all for nothing:) Plus, you will get a very nice surprise if you manage to make it all the way though.

So, I would really like to have all 4 sections of this floor done by next week. Hell, Sunday would be better, but I won't push things. Once that is done, there is a TON of smaller things I have to do, mostly related to, that's right, you guessed... DEMATOL ...I am still waiting on the dialogue from 2 of the writers, but once I get those, there isn't that much left to do. I think I will also be ready for another round of testing. I have been putting it off for too long. I just hope there are still people out there willing to go through the game...Things have been pretty quiet over at the forums for a while, but I believe things will begin to heat up again when I release the next ALPHA. Well, of to bed now:)

Till tomorrow...

On the website front, I moved some of the cast info from the Cry The Beloved Status Page to the main Cast page. Nothing really major, but something I wanted to do for a while, nonetheless. I will continue to make changes here and there on the train rides, until my laptop situation is fixed. Speaking of with, something good happened. Sort of. I was watching some live feeds on the Nintendo keynote speech at E3, and about 10 minutes into it, my computer started to slow down to a crawl. What this means is that the issue definitely isn't just with Neverwinter Nights. It seems that whenever my laptop is stressed, it gets really bad. I think it is almost time for that phone call to Dell:)

Till tomorrow..

So, even with a slower machine, it is still faster than what my laptop can handle at the moment, which is great. The only obvious downside is that I can only work on it after I get home from work. So, I have worked out a new schedule in the interim, until I can get things sorted out with my laptop. First off, this will probably be my last update at nighttime, for the time being. From now on, I will be writing my updates in the morning on the train, and will publish them as soon as I get to the office. 

After I write the update for the previous day, I will try to do some of the little things I don't need the toolset for, like converting music, or working on my website. I have been wanting to update the Cry The Beloved Status Page for some time now, so what better time than now? I can also do what I should have been doing these past 2 years...Design...I mean, hell, I am going to be a professional game designer at some point, so I might as well start acting like it. More specifically, as far as I know, in the industry, most designers don't actually implement anything. The just don't have the time. They have to deal with everyone from the various teams, including the programmers, artists, other designers, audio guys, marketing, producers, publishers (if any), etc. So, I think I am going to do a little research on the tools that industry game designers use to write documents and what not, and see if I can get accustomed to them.

Now, don't anybody get scared now. Just because I don't have my laptop doesn't mean the release date will get pushed back even further. Quite the contrary. I actually get more work done on my desktop, where I don't have an internet connection. For example, tonight, I literally worked from about 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm, uninterrupted. Yeah, I watched the newest episode of 24, but I worked while I did. What does this mean? Well, even though I had access to my laptop on the train, I would often fall asleep. At home, I would find myself scouring the Vault, to see what the newest and coolest modules are. I am very bad at getting distracted, and I think this situation will get me focused, and put things into perspective. I have work to do, and I need to get it done as soon as possible. I am by no means rushing things, but I know what is at stake. Even better, I actually have about 15 days or so of personal time that I will be taking soon, so best believe, I will get as much done as possible during that time.

So, all of that said, today was a very good day for development. As mentioned before, since my desktop is a bit slower than my laptop, I decided to take a break from the current sequences, and go back to something I started back in October 2005. That's right people, my beloved dungeon. Long story short, I really wanted to work a dungeon into The Coming, so when I had a chance to do it for Cry The Beloved, I jumped at the chance. I actually implemented a lot of so long ago, but I always knew that I wanted to come back and do another floor. Actually, it looked like this floor would be cut out of the final game, but once I got word that the release date was pushed back, I figured I could squeeze in an extra week of development. This floor of the dungeon will not be mandatory, but for those that want to explore everything, fight every monster, get every item, and learn every skill, this is for them. 

In fact, I am very big on that in Cry The Beloved. The Coming was very linear in that there wasn't too much extra to do. In Cry The Beloved, I give people lots of different places to explore, that don't really affect the main plot line. I think it will be well received, especially a certain cinematic sequence that will play at the end of it:) Can't wait to script that baby up!

Till tomorrow...

So, community member El Dano, of Black Thorn fame, posted a thread at the NWN Modules forums, stating that a new issue of PC Gamer is out, which has a feature on what they classify as the must play mods. The mods are as follows:

So, I won't even beat around the bush. I am very happy about this. In the back of my head, even though I had never actually played any of their modules, I always looked at Adam Miller, Rick Burton, Stephan Gagne, & Kevin Chan as the elite mod makers.

Whether people like their modules or not, people have to respect what they authors have done for the community. I hate to use the old cliché, "We would never be here without them", but damn, who knows if people would have taken NWN modding so seriously if these guys hadn't kept putting out quality modules. Adam Miller in particular. Again, I haven't played his modules, but damn if he knows how to get a boatload of downloads. He must be doing something right:) Hell, I am just happy I could crawl up to the top of them mountain, so to speak. Not sure how long I can hold on, but we'll see:) Again people, this is just my opinion. I know there are lots of Adam Miller haters out there, but as one of my good friends always says, "If you aren't getting hated on, then you aren't doing something right!". Not sure if it makes sense, but it seemed like the best place to mention it:)

So, I actually knew about this article a few months ago, but I didn't post about it because I wasn't sure if it was going to happen. The author contacted me requesting some screenshots, and I never heard from him again. I wasn't even sure they were going to go through with it. I guess I was wrong!

While we are on the topic of PC Gamer, PC Gamer UK contacted me last week to ask for my permission to pre-package Rose Of Eternity - Chapter 1 - The Coming on their monthly demo disk. I obviously gave them my blessings, and hope I can find out which issue it comes out in, so I can pick one up myself. Might have to order through mail however...

So, with all of the good news out the way, let's get to the bad stuff. NWN is still acting up on my laptop. Not sure why it took a full 10 days to happen, but it did, nonetheless. I am not sure what I am going to do, however, I may be leaning to get a new machine if I can't get it fixed. I did just win $2500 at the IGF, so what better way to spend it than to invest it in a machine that will hopefully help me win some more money at next year's IGF! 

For any of you technically minded people out there, essentially, my machine slows to a halt whenever I run NWN. And only NWN...Not sure why, to be totally honest with you. I am going to run some benchmarking tools tomorrow morning at work, and also re-install it. For the time being, I cannot develop on my laptop. It is just too damn slow. I did get it installed on my desktop, but since it is 5 years old, it's still a pain in the ass to work with. So, I have to make some changes on what I was going to develop next.

Essentially, the areas I will be developing are very processor intensive, and I just can't test it on an old machine. So, I will focus on things like scripting, and other small things that need to get done eventually. I am going to try to stay positive during all of this, so bear with me...

Till tomorrow...

So, today was pretty interesting. Although I didn't add that much content, I got a lot done. There was a system of scripts I wrote 5 months ago that needed to be updated to reflect certain changes I have been making these past few days, so I took the time, and did that. It was a bit of a brain scratcher, but in the end, I think I came up with the most robust re-design. In fact, since I had initially designed it as robust as possible, making changes to it was easy, and didn't break much stuff. 

One thing that has been getting annoying is the load/save times for my module in the toolset. As the module file has been getting bigger and bigger, things have been getting worse and worse. It's something I will have to learn to deal with, but for the time being, to put it plainly, it sucks:(

Till tomorrow...

So, this sketch to the left is something Jonathan sent to me, to make sure he knew where all the important landmarks are in Dantiras. He was pretty much dead on with everything here. When he first started working on the map, he asked me to send him a preliminary version of the map. To do this, he pointed me to some mapping software. Using this software, I was able to take a map I had hand drawn 6 years ago, translate it, and send it to him. After a few back and forths, he sent this one back to me, for the final checking, in which I gave my virtual thumbs up.

This morning, I was a working machine! The only reason I had to stop was because I ran out of power on my laptop. It is quite frustrating actually, and I think I may pick up an extra battery, for times when I am really inspired to do some great work.

I do have to admit I am a bit nervous about what people will say when they play this sequence. Everyone knows the combat in Rose Of Eternity is supposed to be difficult, challenging, and strategic. Well, things are getting very difficult now, and the only reason I don't want to make it easier is because it is end game stuff. I mean, if the player doesn't make use of everything he/she has up to this point, they will die...Point blank...However, if they had been paying attention to how the combat works, and make use of every ability they have, it is doable. I guess for those that aren't really into fights much, and just want to advance to the next part of the story, they could always just put the challenge level on easy. I don't want to alienate anyone, but this is a design choice I made years ago, and I think I am going to stick with it...

Tomorrow, I hope to get to work on the new custom enemies, as well as possibly trying to find out why this particular piece of music won't convert to BMU format. I will also lay the foundation for the next area. It will be a Saturday, so if I keep the History Channel off all day, I might be able to do it:)

Till tomorrow...

Isn't she lovely? *Begins to hum a rendition of Stevie Wonder's hit song, "Isn't She Lovely"* Just looking at this portrait, and then remembering how I imagined this character would look 7 years ago, almost brings tears to my eyes...Seeing stuff like this really motivates me...

Unfortunately, motivation couldn't keep me awake this morning:) You see, I got to the train station very late today, so I literally had to do the 100 yard dash! Let's not forget that I am getting older, and don't have the stamina I had back in the day when I was on the school football team. What does that mean? Even though I got lots of sleep, running 100 yards very fast totally knocked me out. Hell, I couldn't breathe straight for like 5 minutes! I guess I should start working out again...Yeah, right...After Cry The Beloved ...Perhaps...

On the way home, I continued my work on the new sequence. Things are going pretty well right now, and I think I finally have the finalized concept of this 1st area. However, I have been running into little things here and there, which influence how I design the area.

The main one is lag. Point blank, it frustrates the hell out of me that I cannot have huge areas, with lots of stuff going on. I know it is a limitation of the engine, but it is still annoying. And, the way I design, every level has to look beautiful. So, in order to keep up that level of detail, the areas cannot be as big as I would want them to be. I have been consciously doing this all along through development, but it wasn't until today when I realized how bad it could get if I didn't pay attention.

Another thing that could be a small issue is the fact that I develop and test on a laptop. I really need to get it on my Father's computer to see how it runs on a good machine. Hell, I need to get this on a lot of machines. I might have to put together a special version of the ALPHA in order to have some testers try it out as well. Besides decreasing the size of the area, another thing I could do is only spawn certain items in the area when they are needed. I have never used the default encounter triggers, and I won't start now, as I always strategically place enemies before hand. However, I might have to start spawning some at pre-defined waypoints when the player is close to getting to them. *Shrug* I will figure something out...

Oh yeah...I really wish I had full control of party members right now. Their AI has been doing some annoying things during this particular sequence. I have found work arounds, but man oh man, how I wish I could have it now:)

Last but not least, I finally got a copy of last week's newspaper, when the article on me was written. I have to say that even though I didn't meet this guy in person, it was very well done. I am too lazy to type it up now, so I will try to get that done some time tomorrow...Perhaps on the train ride into work...

Till tomorrow...

So, the first thing I did today was very important. I backed up the damn module file! After what happened last week, I sure as hell am not going to ever lose a weeks worth of work again...

So, this morning, I did not get as much work done as I wanted to, mainly because I feel asleep. The main problem is that I did so much work last night, that I didn't get to sleep until after midnight, having to wake up 6 hours later. I will definitely try to go to sleep at 11:00pm, which for whatever reason, makes me able to stay up on the train. What a miracle an extra hour of sleep can be!

On the train ride home, I did something different. You see, there is a new dialog that I want Phil to work on, but I can't just send him the thing to change up. I have to give him the full scope of the situation, since he hasn't played the ALPHA. And as usual, I am just so damn busy with everything else, it is often hard for me to find time in my day to write long, detailed e-mails (what else is new...). So, I just bit the bullet, and wrote it. After about 20 minute or so, I was happy with it.

One thing that has been really pissing me off is the fact that this very integral piece of music that I am trying to convert to BMU format isn't working. I am using the MP3toBMU tool that you can download from the Vault, and it just won't work. I know nothing is wrong with the tool, as I have been using it for the past 2 years. In fact, just to make sure, I converted some other pieces, and they worked fine. However, when I convert this new piece, and try to listen to it in the game, I get nothing. It is quite frustrating, but I am sure I will get to the bottom of things...

So, since I cannot listen to the piece in game, I had it playing through iTunes, and I just turned off the regular NWN music. It's hard for me to test a new area without having the music accompany it at the time. Speaking of which, the design is coming along quite well. Every so often, I get to a new section of the game, when I really have to make some decisions on how it will look, and I get stuck. You see, I always have the general idea of what is supposed to happen throughout the entire game. When it comes down to implementing it however, sometimes I just have to sit back, throw on the music that will play in the area, and brainstorm.

Lately, I feel like I have had to do more brainstorming than usual. It was like I had writer's block or something. Lucky for me, I had a breakthrough today, and was able to actually implement something after 30 minutes or so of brainstorming. I can report that I designed the 1st part of the 1st area, and created the 1st encounter. I even added some placeables here and there, and messed around with the lighting and whatnot. Visually, it is all coming together.

Going back to the encounter, I believe that people will have lots of fun with them. At this point in the game, the player is at a higher level, has many party members, all with many different custom abilities. Though, the way the game is designed, not all people will have the same abilities at this point. It all depends on the choices the player can make before this point. All of that said, I personally had a lot of fun testing the combat of the 1st encounter. I am positive it will change a bit, but for right now, I am on the right path.

I should also mention that I spent some time this morning at work reading the Neverwinter Nights 2 forums. I have to say, I am getting more and more excited everyday. I think the game looks damn good. I mean, of course it could look better, but graphics aren't everything. I even began to work out my strategy for what to do when it is released. For instance, when I 1st bought Neverwinter Nights 1 back in 2002, I returned it within 2 days after I learned about the party system, or lack thereof. When I picked it up again to start working on Rose Of Eternity, I skipped playing the OC, Shadows Of Urentide, & Hordes Of The Underdark. This time, however, I think I will end up playing the OC of Neverwinter Nights 2. Although I don't know much about it, I am sure that there are many cool things the devs will do in it. I also might see some things done that I would have never thought possible. Since I won't have any huge time constraints when I start making games for it, spending a week or 2 checking out the OC will most likely be very beneficial.

I did notice that they said in the OC, the total people allowed in the party at one time will be 4. I am not sure if this is just for the OC, or if it is a hard limit for the engine, period. I hope not, but as always, I will find ways to work around it...Just the fact that I will be able to actually control every party member is good enough for me at the moment. I am going to have lots of fun creating strategic battles:) And don't get me started on how my Timed Unison Ability System will evolve as well... *Drools*

Also (yeah, I still have more to talk about!), I learned that I was featured in yet another newspaper in my area. I totally forgot to tell anyone (even my close personal friends), but a few weeks ago, I had a phone interview with a journalist. I had not heard from him since, and did not even know I was featured until today, even though the issue came out a few days ago. Oh well:) I personally haven't seen it yet, but once I do, I will post the transcript here in the new Interviews section.

Finally, I hope everyone likes the latest piece of art from Olaia Ferrando. This is her continuing work on a very special character in the Rose Of Eternity universe. I shouldn't even have to say who the portrait depicts, and you know what, I won't:)

Till tomorrow...

So, I finally did what I wanted to do a week ago. I finally created a very emotional cut-scene that takes place between some key people in the game. I was even able to keep it under 2 minutes:) Sometimes, I feel like I am going back on my word about not filling up this game with cut-scenes, but I have to keep remembering that 1) This game is a lot longer than The Coming, and 2) They are generally a lot shorter this time around. Oh well, I am sure there will be people who complain, but that's how it goes...Although, I will probably still complain when someone complains about them in some feedback:)

I also put some final touches on the dialog I have been writing over the past few days. I am now ready to send it over to Phil. Hopefully, he isn't too busy to take a crack at it. He hasn't before, so I don't think he will start now:)

Now that I have finished up the little cut-scene, I can now move on to bigger things. This particular sequence of scenes that I have been alluding to for the past few weeks or so is definitely going to test all of my scripting skills, as well as my ability to tolerate stress:) The first thing I have to do is get the music converted to BMU format. Unfortunately, when I re-formatted my hard drive, I lost all of the tools I use, including my compression tool and Audacity (tool to edit tracks). So, I will have to download them again...Not a big deal, but I am so lazy when it comes to little things...

So, I am not going to beat around the bush. I anticipate that this entire sequence of events will take me about a month of development. If I break it down further, it will probably take a week to do each event (4 total). I am sure this number will get skewed as time goes on, but I am sticking by this quote as of now:) I am sure it will be fun to come back one day to read this, and compare how long it really took, compared to what I thought.

However, I have an ace up my sleeve. I have more than 10 days of vacation time coming up, so technically, if I do some of this while on vacation, the time will come down a lot. Things have been very hectic at work lately, so I don't know when I will be able to get the time off, but it is something I should start thinking about...

Also, if you haven't already done so, check out the new videos for Neverwinter Nights 2 at IGN. The CEO of Obsidian gives a tutorial of the game, which is split up into 3 different videos. It was great to actually see the game in action for once. The BEST part in my mind however was when he showed he seamless it was to change control from the main PC to a companion, as they call them. Don't worry, they will be party members in my games:) Anyway, the change was seamless, and he even pointed at the obvious advantages of this, mainly being that they can finally create some strategic fights. I really, really cannot wait. This is how Neverwinter Nights should have been, out of the box.

Finally, here is some new concept art done by Olaia Ferrando. She made this, intending it to be for a particular character, but after seeing it, it reminded me of a new character that the player would be eventually. Actually, I most likely won't get to that part of the story that involves this character, but I may still ask her to do another portrait if she has a chance...We'll see...

Tomorrow, I will finish implementing some of the new dialogs Phil made for me, and get back to work on this new sequence. I had issues converting a track from MP3 -> BMU, but I hope the problem is easily fixable.

Till tomorrow...

...Another month falls upon us again...So many things to talk about, so little time. I will try to touch on some important subjects, but as I am a busier man than usual, I will probably miss something...

Well, let's start off with what I did today...This morning, on the way to work, I wrote up a bunch of placeholder dialog, which I believe Phil Carter will be getting to smooth over. I haven't notified him as of yet, but he is still willing to take on some assignments, so I will oblige. This particular dialog only takes place between 4 different NPC's, without the PC getting in a word at all. Normally, if this were a year ago, I would have made this a cut-scene. A year later however, I know better. In general, I don't have numbers, but I am positive that there is more than 2 times as much dialog than in The Coming. 

Speaking more generally, it looks as if Cry The Beloved is becoming the quintessential sequel. Let's take a look at some facts. It takes me about 4 hours to play though The Coming. So far, it is already taking me close to 8 hours to play through to the current end of Cry The Beloved. And that is with more content coming along the way!

In The Coming, there were 2 Unison Abilities. In Cry The Beloved, there are about 5, with more to come. In Cry The Beloved, there are about 2 times as many people that will join your party, as opposed to The Coming. In The Coming, there were 25 custom tracks, and in Cry The Beloved so far, there are 54 so far.

Then there are the new systems that I have added to set Rose Of Eternity apart from the pack. I cannot get into the full details now, but know that when I can, I will... There is so much that I want to show everyone, and I promise that the time will be soon.

So moving on, I wanted to talk about the Cry The Beloved Status Page . Simply put, I have not edited that page in almost a year. I had great plans for it, but ended up just talking about everything Cry The Beloved related in my daily updates. For instance, I just removed the percentage area at the bottom, where I would talk about how complete certain areas of the game are. I never updated it, and I am too deep to try to keep it up now, so I just nixed it. There are other things I might want to change, such as moving some of the new cast pictures to the Cast page of the website. Speaking of the cast, there are a LOT of new members (not necessarily party members), so I think a revamping of the Cast page will happen. In fact, it needs to be broken up into sections. For instance, there should be a section for all people associated with the Ministry Of Justice ( Kain, Oracine, etc. ). As for the status page, I think what I may start doing is during the next couple of weeks, as I wrap of the game, I will slowly add certain sections to the page, such as explanations on new systems and whatnot. As always, I will try to make it as comprehensive as possible, so people in the IT field might have something to do during their normal boring lunch break:)

Another thing that I have kept in the back of my mind lately has been the size of the game itself. As some of you may or may not know, the music for The Coming was very large (i.e.25 tracks over 30+ MB; I don't have the actual sizes right now). Currently, with new ways to compress the music, I have 29 tracks that are under 25 MB. Then there are the normal hakpaks, which are about 20 MB right now. I mean, I guess I shouldn't worry too much...If everyone who played and liked The Coming plays Cry The Beloved, that will be good enough.

Although, I have to admit, I am pretty much positive my rating will be much lower, even though this game is far superior than The Coming. Now, I know I have talked about this before, but this isn't my normal paranoia coming out. It's just facts. The day I found out I was a finalist in the Independent Games Festival, that very second, I knew my rating would drop. I know how the community works, and if they see a module that has won an award, or is a finalist in something, they are going to be more critical than if they just happened to stumble across it. Now, I didn't get any troll votes, but it is just something that I have actually learned to deal with. Whereas I used to ALWAYS worry about my rating, I barely check the page now. Anyway, I know I am most likely going to promote the hell out of this module. And I know that people might get tired of hearing about Rose Of Eternity, and play it, knowing it isn't their style of module, and give it a low vote. But alas, that is how the community works. I should consider myself lucky that I made it this far. At this point in time, I still feel way in over my head. Man, these people in the community are hardcore! :)

Oh, before I forget, anyone who hasn't seen the newest screenshots of Neverwinter Nights 2 should head over to their official website to check them out. They look quite good, and I am excited to find out what little tidbits we will learn at E3. I unfortunately will not be able to attend, but I am confident I will have my chance next year. In fact, I could go, but I am cheap, and I don't really feel like spending close to another $1000 for a week vacation. Although, it would be great to be in the crowd when they officially debut the Revolution, err Wii... I will not even comment on the name change of their new system...

Finally, I have a piece of art I received from Olaia Ferrando a few weeks ago. This is the 1st of 3 pieces she sent me, as we were having back and forths about how the new portrait should be. The fact that I get to choose between various pieces makes me happy. More choices are always better:)