318 réponses à ce sujet

[Arkalezth]

Nice screens! I'm looking forward for the beta testing. I haven't asked in a while, is there much left to do yet?

[Hellfire_RWS]

I want to play this, when are you going to finish it? I need something to stop me from working on mounts!

[kamal_]

Still plenty left to do. While the main plot stuff is in place, many areas and conversations are placeholders. But my real life stuff that was stopping me from working on this is now mostly out of the way.

I've been reading the Dragon Age 2 boards, since this is a single city adventure like Kirkwall from DA2, taking notes on things to hopefully avoid the problems people voiced with that. Not the DA2 combat of course, because NWN2 combat is different, but in terms of making a "living" city and questing in an urban environment.

I've also been brainstorming on urban quests and locations. The urban environment is a lot different than what your adventurers would find in villages and wilderness. And of course since a design goal is an adventure completable without any combat, there has to be non-fighting solutions to everything (you might use your skills to trap someone somewhere, but you are never required to pull out your trusty sword.).

Anyway, Crimmor is five times the size it was for the proof of concept Arkazleth and NTB played back in February. And that's taking some filling in. If I hadn't started showing it when I only meant it as a proof, I'd probably just be showing it now. The feedback from the prop testing was very useful though.

[kamal_]

Crimmor has enough custom stuff going on that I might be hiring good old Volo, that inveterate writer and avoids of danger in SoZ, to come up with a "guidebook". There certainly will be a thieves cant dictionary, as rhe Shadow Thieves and their contacts speak with you entirely in Cant (when they know you are a fellow Thief), and their Cant is a combination of lower class Elizabethan English, Planescape Chant (itself based on Elizabethan english), a real world cant dictionary, and some made up combo words to express things not otherwise covered such as "flesh tinker" for a cleric.

There is a lot of stuff like that going on, and it's taking time to get right. But Crimmor will hopefully be more interesting for it. As you can see from the last screenshot, it looks like Frank Gehry is working in Faerun now. I've spent a couple days on that building.

[nicethugbert]

NEAT!

Good to see this Crimmor is still on track.

[The Fred]

Looking very nice. That area design is great.

[kamal_]

Want to see what people think of this writing style before I continue...

Volo's Guide to Crimmor:

Ahem, My apologies dear reader. I have been laid up at a large and pleasant inn known as The Pearl for the past tenday and so this post has been delayed. I have been recovering from some rather foul water served me upon my arival. I'm assured that despite the laughter of the barmaid while bringing me the water that it was entirely unintentional that I was served water from the Alandor River instead of proper water from pristine cisterns in nearby hills. I remain in a weakened state, but my pen hand has strengthened sufficiently.

While Crimmor is by no means the largest city in the Realms, it is significantly larger than several more well known cities such as Neverwinter. The broad avenues of that city are also little to be found in Crimmor. With the exception of a few major thoroughfares known as The Coins and The High Ride, Crimmor's streets are narrow, twisting and turning affairs, full of the dirt of the city and the poisoned air floating over Crimmor from the numerous tanneries nearby. The tannery air is, I am told, responsible for the brilliant colors of sunset in Crimmor.

The Coins is certainly representative of business in Crimmor. Crimmor is said to be not only the caravan capital of Amn, but of all Faerun. Much of the actual caravan work is handled outside the city walls however, as the tighly packed city has no room for large caravan camps. Instead, the numerous caravan merchant companies and their related businesses have their headquarters within the city while the horses, oxen, wagons and the rest of the miscellanous makings of a caravan house outside the city. Crimmor also has a thriving docks district, with ships regularly coming up the Alandor River from Athkatla and farther afield to transfer their goods to caravan.

With all the commerce flowing through Crimmor one would think the Shadow Thieves, that guild that makes it their habit to keep a hand in the purse of the unwary from Calimshan to Neverwinter, would busily be in conflict with the local government over who could extract more gold from the populace. Instead, the Shadow Thieves are known to stay their hands in Crimmor. This is believed to be due to the influence of one of the local ruling families, the Crytrappers, in providing safety for some senior Shadow Thieves early in the guild's hundred year history. In return for allowing them to escape the hangman's noose, the Crytrappers extracted a promise that Crimmor would be safe from the worst of their predations.

This has resulted in an unusual situation for a thieves guild. The Shadow Thieves certainly do not operate openly, and indeed they often mark particularly valuable caravans for their interest elsewhere. But instead of actively preying on Crimmor they exist in an uneasy and often hidden alliance with forces within the city, helping to protect Crimmor from the kinds of outsiders and threats that they are best equipped to handle.

Lest you think the rulers of Crimmor have found some solution to the problem of thieves that has eluded the rest fo Faerun, let me assure you this is not so. They remain a problem for those in power in the city, for instead of working purely for their own interests they are also believed to occaisionally aid the large families and Guilds of Crimmor in their shifting relations with each other. Indeed, common rumors have the Shadow Thieves siding with both the Ophal and Crytrapper families, both against each other and in support of and to the detriment of Mayor Braen. Of course, no group admits to employing the Shadow Thieves, and it may well be that all, or none, of these rumors is true.

The other group in Crimmor that is well known to those outside Amn is the Cowled Wizards. Indeed, their Enclave dominates the Wheel Ward in the south of the city, and a small Enclave also exists in Purse Ward in the north. While they do not as actively oppose those outside their group who use magic as they did in Athkatla during the Time of Troubles, they remain inscrutable and actively hostile to those outside their ken who would try to gain entrance to their Enclaves. With such a presence, it strains belief to think they do not have influence in Crimmor, with various groups trying to curry their favor. They have steadfastly denied so however, stating they prefer to be turned inward in development of magic, and woe be unto any who would interfere with their work. Indeed, so powerful are they, that they form their own system of punishment that the rest of Crimmor does not interfere with. Reader be warned, for this includes death to non Cowled Wizards who enter their Enclaves, much like an embassy, inside the Enclaves their laws apply. While who is a member of the Cowled Wizards is no secret, for they do not wear the Cowl outside their Enclaves, who leads the Cowled Wizards of Crimmor is a mystery to all save themselves.

The great news of note for the adventurous in the current year is the reputed discovery of the location of an object known as the Fell Talisman. Exactly what this Talisman is and exactly what powers it has depends on who you ask, as does the actual location of the Talisman. It's reputed powers range from none, a prank by a trickster deity, to allowing it's owner to change the face of Faerun. It is my professional opinion that the truth lies somewhere in between this vast gap. One thing is definitely true, the reputed discovery has attracted attention both from the sorts of heroes that wander the land as well as Crimmor's local powers.

[M. Rieder]

I like it.

Modifié par M. Rieder, 31 mai 2011 - 10:06 .

[Arkalezth]

kamal_ wrote...

Want to see what people think of this writing style before I continue...

Maybe I'm not the best one to ask about writing style in English, but looks good to me. The only "bad" thing is that it's very long, I wouldn't like many walls of text in-game, unless they're optional.

[kamal_]

Arkalezth wrote...

kamal_ wrote...

Want to see what people think of this writing style before I continue...

Maybe I'm not the best one to ask about writing style in English, but looks good to me. The only "bad" thing is that it's very long, I wouldn't like many walls of text in-game, unless they're optional.

I was going to make a "Volo's Guide to Crimmor" pdf download complete with pictures and such, sometime before release, to provide an in character introduction to the city for players, since the game assumes you are a local. This was I can introduce major people, the general situation in the city etc that the character would know but of course you as the player wouldn't. Like a backstory or something.

/There's already plenty of reading you can do ingame.

Modifié par kamal_, 01 juin 2011 - 12:32 .

[Arkalezth]

That sounds good, I like the idea.

[kamal_]

Wheel Ward is now completely built except for sounds (and npcs).
600x300http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ANSUEb1xfyc/TfQX4zk9elI/AAAAAAAABFM/z3iclsF8_8E/s1600/cr_wheel3.jpg[/img]

600x300http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p1BpUHmdRxE/TfQX2ddGldI/AAAAAAAABFI/Fy6ptcD90lg/s1600/cr_wheel2.jpg[/img]

[PJ156]

These look sweet Kamal_ thats a very inviting looking alleyway.

You use a lot of coloured light in your areas, it looks good.

PJ

[kamal_]

PJ156 wrote...

These look sweet Kamal_ thats a very inviting looking alleyway.

You use a lot of coloured light in your areas, it looks good.

PJ

Those are streets, Crimmor is packed like a proper medieval city. I have to use a lot of colored light where I can get away with it because most urban buildings are pretty plain. Your safehouses are purposely drab for instance.

Wheel Ward safehouse.
600x300http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3879894/crimmor/cr_wheel_safehouse.JPG[/img]

Modifié par kamal_, 12 juin 2011 - 02:41 .

[PJ156]

That's not drab, that's about as bright as my interiors get

I like the use of the city wall to take the squareness out of the room that looks pretty good.

I was playing with placeables earlier and I discovered that one of the blanket placeables is tintable and has depth. It makes very fine planks though they come about a little black looking. Thought, I would throw that in, don't know why ...

PJ

[kamal_]

Daynight setting for Crimmor, replacing the original. This should be the final setting for the city.
video at youtube

[nicethugbert]

NEAT!

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to give the player a mechanism that allows them choice over combat to dialog ratio. Hmm, how about something like a Mass Effect 2 Paragon/Renegade system with "interrupts"?

[kamal_]

nicethugbert wrote...

NEAT!

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to give the player a mechanism that allows them choice over combat to dialog ratio. Hmm, how about something like a Mass Effect 2 Paragon/Renegade system with "interrupts"?

Since xp is only granted for quest completion, you can always opt for combat outside the fetch type quests. All quests are designed with a way to complete them that does not involve active combat (for instance you might rig a cave in to kill enemies so you don't have to directly fight them). The main quest is completable without killing anyone. So how much combat you face is up to you, unless you get the Dark Soul pseudo prc, which takes some conversational control away from you. Don't worry about Dark Soul though, it's awesome.

[nicethugbert]

That sounds great, Kamal. Actually, it's more like NEAT!

[BartjeD]

That's a lot of creative work I'd love to see screenshots! Have you gotten around to implementing quests already?

[kamal_]

BartjeD wrote...

That's a lot of creative work I'd love to see screenshots! Have you gotten around to implementing quests already?

I have plenty of quests. Some were repurposed from Path of Evil. I took a lot of those when I was just planning on a proof of concept. Arkalezth and NTB tested it at that point when it was just a single city area. I need to fill out many of the new quests, as there are a number that have significant placeholders even though they can be completed (lacking enemies, or not fully written dialog, or empty area for instance). I need to add some quests that make use of some of the special items I've prepared. Like any good thief I've got some unreleased tricks up my sleeve.

Working out the commoner AI system is the largest remaining challenge. It's very important to make the city look alive, and it was time to address it. I will be very happy when it's finished and working.

600x300http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CM8IhGqllOw/Tg954xMKnlI/AAAAAAAABFQ/OZTJDchiq_Q/s1600/cr_wheel3.JPG[/img]

[BartjeD]

OOh this looks neat, I really like your areas very creative use of textures and placeables. Will this module work in a coop multiplayer setting? I'll help you test if you want!

Modifié par BartjeD, 02 juillet 2011 - 08:24 .

[kamal_]

BartjeD wrote...

OOh this looks neat, I really like your areas very creative use of textures and placeables. Will this module work in a coop multiplayer setting? I'll help you test if you want!

Crimmor is meant for single player solo rogue based play only. Everything else would be unsupported, I'm not even sure you could finish it with a pure fighter for instance. I always tag my quests as updating for all party members, but I'm not paying attention to multiplayer otherwise, I'd bet it would break somewhere.

[kamal_]

Have a quick stroll in Crimmor.

www.youtube.com/watch

[PJ156]

Very nice Kamal_ clearly a lot of work gone into that city. I like the use of different levels, for me using dead flat terrain is one of the worst things you can do in an area like that.

PJ