70 réponses à ce sujet

[andysks]

I like to take a middle-ground approach, by only forcing the player to endure the least amount of text possible to get the basics across, but then offering optional conversation nodes if the player wants more detail. Reducing things down to succinct yet unambiguous sentences can be challenging though. You almost need a degree from the Readers Digest school of condensed literature.

This is good for replayable games. If I play a mod 2-3-4 times, well, maybe the last one I don't need the details. I can just accept a quest.

[PJ156]

I still have a bit of a personal attachment to the character, so I want to make sure I get her "right," at least as well as I can remember!

 

For me, that is the making of the very best npc's. If you can keep her coherent to her own alignment/values then your knowledge/development of her will shine through in the text and make her memorable. Love them or hate them npc's should be memorable. 

 

I like to take a middle-ground approach, by only forcing the player to endure the least amount of text possible to get the basics across, but then offering optional conversation nodes if the player wants more detail. Reducing things down to succinct yet unambiguous sentences can be challenging though. You almost need a degree from the Readers Digest school of condensed literature.

 

Not having a working journal makes it hard to refer to the journal but I favor having the text in the conversation. I tend to deliver long dialogue in for for of short colloquial sentences. No more that twenty words to a line if I can help it. You can then use the journal to summarize or feed back the detail. I keep most of the long development in the npc convo so it can be revisited should the player wish or not read at all if the player is not interested.

 

PJ 

[Tchos]

I possibly represent the furthest end on the side of verbosity.  My intent is to have my questgivers give context to the tasks you undertake, because for me, it's all about putting gameplay elements in an enjoyable and engaging context.  And despite putting a lot of care into the text, it's most important to me that the player enjoys my work in whatever way they most prefer, and if that means they prefer to skip the text and get on to the tasks, that's fine.  Since I use SoZ conversations, it's easy for them to do so.

 

My journal entries summarise the important information that the questgivers said, and most importantly this information is included in each stage of the quest, to aid the memory of anyone who may be playing the game over a longer span of time.

[rjshae]

That screen shot reminds me of that hanging cage placeable I want to add...

 

There's one on turbosquid, although it looks a little blocky.

[Jezla]

That would be cool, Bob.  I was kind of inspired by the sewer grates in the floor.  The crypt is an old burial crypt converted into an orc lair.  At first I thought about hiding all of the sewer grates, but then I had the inspiration to show how they might be used.  I started playing around with various placeables and hit on a torture area.  Sometimes that's how the best building gets done!

[rjshae]

When I added one of those, I put a lounge area next door where the torture master and his aides could go and relax around a warm fire after a long day at work. It was a little twisted, I suppose...

[PJ156]

That screen shot reminds me of that hanging cage placeable I want to add...

 

There's one on turbosquid, although it looks a little blocky.

 

Purgatory placeables has one of those. If you have my set then it is in the folder cc_rds_purgatory. There are three models on lines 6345 - 7 with models plc_rds_gibbets01 to 03. One of those is the cage, the other two are the support.

 

It's much better quality than the turbo squid one pictured.

 

PJ

[Dann-J]

I tend to deliver long dialogue in for for of short colloquial sentences. No more that twenty words to a line if I can help it.

 

PJ 

 

That's my preferance too. If you have quite a bit to say, then portioning it out in brief chunks seems to make it more tolerable. It's better to be hit by one brick at a time than to be crushed to death by a wall of text.

[Jezla]

Whew!  Who would have thought that writing a simple conversation would be so tedious and boring?

 

Nevertheless, the basic conversation for all the woodland creatures you can talk to is done.  What took so long is that it encompasses four different quests, and I had to write journal entries for all four, plus handle the options to have your nature-loving companions do the talking for you.  All that's left is to adjust the convo copies to be species-specific, and add the little extrras for each one so that it's harder to tell it's a cut-and-paste job.

 

And testing, always testing...

[Friar]

I love adventuring in the Dalelands too. I'm glad someone who shares my enthusiasm is planning on taking it there.

[Jezla]

Thanks, Friar!  I hope it lives up to expectations (including my own!).  Progress is a little slow at the moment, as I'm hip-deep in Borderlands!

[Friar]

Borderlands?! Well I guess you can't be 100% perfect in your choice of settings, j/k.

[Jezla]

LOL, I'm enjoying it!  I love the art style. 

[Tchos]

Heh, at first, I thought you meant you were playing The Keep on the Borderlands, either one of the two NWN2 renditions, or from NWN1, or even Neverwinter Online, or the newly released one for the Temple of Elemental Evil!  Such a popular module!

[ColorsFade]

Wow, I had no idea CO8 had done that. I love TOEE... still the best implementation of the AD&D rules, IMO. The turn-based combat is so cool. 

 

Might have to give that a try...

[Tchos]

I agree completely that ToEE is the best ever implementation of 3.5e D&D rules in a computer game, and I love it for its turn-based and party-based gameplay and isometric perspective.

 

 

(Since the "Advanced" was dropped with 3rd edition, "AD&D" only refers to varieties of 2nd edition and earlier.)

[rjshae]

I agree completely that ToEE is the best ever implementation of 3.5e D&D rules in a computer game, and I love it for its turn-based and party-based gameplay and isometric perspective.

 

 

(Since the "Advanced" was dropped with 3rd edition, "AD&D" only refers to varieties of 2nd edition and earlier.)

 

It's a good implementation of the rules, yes. But as a game it could have been so much better.

[Tchos]

Agreed there, too.

[ColorsFade]

It's a good implementation of the rules, yes. But as a game it could have been so much better.

 

Well, I think the fault there lies with the story. I mean, I have no idea what the original paper campaign is like, having never played it, but from the Atari game, I thought it was pretty thin on story. There's a temple. And it's filled with evil. And the evil is... fighting among themselves..? Wait, what? That's it?

 

My feeling was that TOEE was a module invented just for combat. And as a combat module, hey, it's pretty fun. But story? Just not much there...

 

Now, that's okay - the turn-based engine was so good, and so much fun, I didn't mind that the story was thin. But you're right - it could have been a lot more.

[Eguintir Eligard]

ToEE was probably the worst D&D based game I have ever played. Zero depth, no story, and it was over within 2 hours. I'm surprised the created a whole engine for such a fleeting experience.