80 réponses à ce sujet

[M. Rieder]

Hello all,

As there as already been a strong positive response from the community, and I've been itching to do some building, I have just created the first area for TWAIII.  I've been working on the plot pretty much ever since TWAII was released and it is coming together nicely.  I will be using this thread to update the community on development progress and to gather input on the game's mechanics. 

If you have any feedback - things to include, things you'd like to see, things you saw in TWA2 that you think I should leave out, please let me know.

Expect minimum 12 months development time.  TWA2 took me about 20 months and I doubt TWA3 will be smaller.  Hopefully I've gotten better at modding and maybe I'll be more efficient.... maybe...

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Matt

[kamal_]

I figured the first area of TWA3 would be the last area of TWA2.

Realizing how to use quests from old works as templates sped things up for me. Especially since the old quests were already tested by their release, so bugfixing is quicker. Basically there's that whole speedbuilding thread I posted somewhere.

Modifié par kamal_, 06 avril 2012 - 01:16 .

[rjshae]

Sounds good, M. Reider. I look forward to seeing your next module.

About the only thing I noticed was a certain lack of emphasis on rogue-like aspects and personas, whether for good or evil. Maybe you could have a back-stabbing, double-crossing weasel, a cunning sexy spy, a wise-cracking pick-pocket adventurer, or a crafty black market operator NPC or two? Perhaps even a well-done swashbuckling bard pirate? I understand the module emphasis is on wizardry, but rogues can make interactions more interesting (and more dicey). For example, I think they are by far the most interesting companions in Dragon Age II.

Hope this was useful.

Modifié par rjshae, 06 avril 2012 - 04:00 .

[M. Rieder]

rjshae wrote...

Sounds good, M. Reider. I look forward to seeing your next module.

About the only thing I noticed was a certain lack of emphasis on rogue-like aspects and personas, whether for good or evil. Maybe you could have a back-stabbing, double-crossing weasel, a cunning sexy spy, a wise-cracking pick-pocket adventurer, or a crafty black market operator NPC or two? Perhaps even a well-done swashbuckling bard pirate? I understand the module emphasis is on wizardry, but rogues can make interactions more interesting (and more dicey). For example, I think they are by far the most interesting companions in Dragon Age II.

Hope this was useful.

What, you didn't think the golem was sexy?  Gosh... tough crowd...


Agreed.  In retrospect I wish I had put more goodies in for the rogue class.  I'm definitely going to do this for TWAIII.  Now to figure out how to make a back-stabbing, double crossing, sexy, spying, wise-cracking, pickpocketing, crafty, black market operating, swashbuckling, rogue/bard/pirate/assassin/shadowdancer! 

Kidding.

I'm planning on adding a new PC and I am definitely in agreement with the ideas you have laid down here.  It will be fun to balance out the relative goodness of our companions from TWA2.

[kamal_]

I think any of those rogue types would have been out of place in the deep wilderness setting of twa2. Twa2 has a rogue companion, but there's really no justification for why the companion is a rogue, especially since the companion seems to have difficulty expressing any intelligence (given the line where you are surprised by the companion seeming to show some emotion, the one before the ending). Not that I don't like rogues, of course.

The pc being an arcane trickster is more of a possibility to me, though I didn't play mine as one.

[kamal_]

I easily saw the barbarian classed companion as more neutral. His commentary tended to be more along the lines of "this is how things have to be, deal with it". He's doesn't actively do bad things for their own sake, he's just very pragmatic. Neutral, maybe with some antihero good tendencies. Remember, the clerics tribe, and they are apparently good since she is their priest and is good, doesn't like him.

[M. Rieder]

Blaerdrig, the barbarian, was definitely intended to be a neutral character who is inclined to the better, more honorable side of things without being overly sentimental. I also agree that a rogue would be a bit out of place as there are no cities to speak of in TWA2. There will be more cities in TWA3 and there will be ample opportunity for a rogue companion or arcane trikster pc to shine.

[Arkalezth]

There's those bracers with a particular unique property that I'd like to see used, if possible.

Maybe some more alchemy. Some necromancy stuff would be cool in a wizard module too, but it probably wouldn't fit the PC and the story much. A spell that may have some out of combat possibilities (I don't remember if it had any in TWA2) is Gust of Wind.

[M. Rieder]

Ah, yes. Very good suggestions Arkalezth. I will keep those in mind.

[rjshae]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS ALERT

kamal_ wrote...

I think any of those rogue types would have been out of place in the deep wilderness setting of twa2. Twa2 has a rogue companion, but there's really no justification for why the companion is a rogue, especially since the companion seems to have difficulty expressing any intelligence (given the line where you are surprised by the companion seeming to show some emotion, the one before the ending). Not that I don't like rogues, of course.

The pc being an arcane trickster is more of a possibility to me, though I didn't play mine as one.

Well yes, if I had been talking about PC characters that should have been in TWA2, then you would be correct.  But I was just giving some examples of colorful NPC characters, and not necessarily for combat encounters. Still, I don't think rogues would be all that out of place in a wilderness setting; you'd have your standard robbers, bandits and thieves just like in a city. A con-artist could probably still make a living duping gullible wilderness types. There's no reason why a scout character couldn't double as a sexy spy.

The rogue companion in TWA2 was unique, yes, but I don't recall him having a lot of rogue-like activities like defusing traps or picking pockets.

Modifié par rjshae, 06 avril 2012 - 07:00 .

[kamal_]

Arkalezth wrote...

There's those bracers with a particular unique property that I'd like to see used, if possible.

Maybe some more alchemy. Some necromancy stuff would be cool in a wizard module too, but it probably wouldn't fit the PC and the story much. A spell that may have some out of combat possibilities (I don't remember if it had any in TWA2) is Gust of Wind.

Let's face it, the spell everyone really wants to see is "Summon Miniature Cows".

[Arkalezth]

Maybe for the final boss.

... seriously.

You can also do like Vaarsuvius from The Order of the Stick and use Bigby's hands to grab things. Or the tentacles.

[rjshae]

I'd love to see a scenario with a dragon that maybe isn't so power-mad or hungry for a fight. Maybe a wise-cracking, sardonic Bronze dragon that likes to make food jokes and secretly desires to be an elven drag queen. All the locals are terrified of it because it has been magically attaching the heads of sheep onto the bodies of dogs.


Joking, sort of. Might be fun though.

Modifié par rjshae, 07 avril 2012 - 12:39 .

[likeorasgod]

Just remember major save points after major story line points for us idiots that forget to hit F12 all the time....

Would be nice if you could get a familar type char since this is higher levels....Maybe an imp like char that has rougish type skills/class. kinda shaddy like, but since your powerfull he likes you and sticks around....are cause you summoned him....or his master realy has him spying on you instead.

[OfficerDonNZ]

Get ride of the dumb mapping systeam please. This is the one thing that turned me off TWA II in a very big way. I haven't finished it and am unlikely too. Some people will like the 'realisim' it brings where as I don't. I hate such things with a passion.

I'm playing TWA for the entertainment value and the story not for silly game mechanics that just annoy the hell out of me.

Not to denie those that like the mapping system and it is a cool idea in THEORY in pratice however for some people it can make or brake a mod's enjoyment. Be aware you might be turning off people that might otherwise have enjoyed your mod.

I don't know how realistic it would be to have two versions of the mod, one with the mapping system and one without.

And auto-saves are a good thing

[rjshae]

OfficerDonNZ wrote...

Get ride of the dumb mapping systeam please. This is the one thing that turned me off TWA II in a very big way. I haven't finished it and am unlikely too. Some people will like the 'realisim' it brings where as I don't. I hate such things with a passion.

I'm playing TWA for the entertainment value and the story not for silly game mechanics that just annoy the hell out of me.

Not to denie those that like the mapping system and it is a cool idea in THEORY in pratice however for some people it can make or brake a mod's enjoyment. Be aware you might be turning off people that might otherwise have enjoyed your mod.

I don't know how realistic it would be to have two versions of the mod, one with the mapping system and one without.

And auto-saves are a good thing

I didn't have a problem with the exploration-style mapping system, but then I'm pretty old school. You young-uns are spolied rotten with your easy-button style maps.



Still, it might be a little better if the area of map revealed is made a little larger so that it better matches what you can actually see in the game world. Shrug.

[OfficerDonNZ]

Who are you calling young?

As I said some people won't mind but others will

We all have our own play styles after all.

[Tchos]

If you're talking about the fog of war, the reason I like that mechanic is not for realism, but that it helps me keep track of what areas of the map I've visited already, and what remains to be explored.

[Arkalezth]

I don't have a great preference for one map system or another, but I agree with Tchos.

I'm surprised about how many people mention auto-saves. I save a lot and rarely use auto-saves so I don't really care, but is it so common in all modules? I've seen it mentioned on the comments of both of Matt's modules, but not on others.

Autosaves may be good, yeah, but frankly, if a player doesn't save often and then has problems because of that, it's the player's fault, not the module's author's. The "save often (and in different slots)" advice has been repeated so many times already that every player should be used to do so by now.

[M. Rieder]

FOW is optional in TWA3. 

Autosaves aplenty.

I think I may be able to take the FOW out of TWA2 as well, but some of the maps may look odd, and the part of the plot where you aren't supposed to have a map will be strange because you will have the map. But if you don't care about that, then we'll see what we can do. I'm not sure it can be done. It's coded int at least 42 scripts, so changing the code is sort of asking for bugs, but I'm going to try to take out the custom XML files so the default will be used and maybe that will get rid of the FOW. It seems like it should.

Testing now...

Modifié par M. Rieder, 19 avril 2012 - 10:54 .

[likeorasgod]

Arkalezth wrote...

I don't have a great preference for one map system or another, but I agree with Tchos.

I'm surprised about how many people mention auto-saves. I save a lot and rarely use auto-saves so I don't really care, but is it so common in all modules? I've seen it mentioned on the comments of both of Matt's modules, but not on others.

Autosaves may be good, yeah, but frankly, if a player doesn't save often and then has problems because of that, it's the player's fault, not the module's author's. The "save often (and in different slots)" advice has been repeated so many times already that every player should be used to do so by now.

I'm pretty good about hitting my F12 in most games, but the key to autosave is haveing them after key plot moments and change of Act's.  Some times I get so caught up in a game (which is a good sign) I forget to hit F12.  Than bang I die and find out I just lost 3-5 hours of game play cause of pour user friendly game options.  I seen this on major conceal/PC games too. Some I have stopped playing for months cause of this to return later to make up for the lost time.  It's not that we are bad players and our fault, it's one of those simple game designs that should be thought about when you design a game for the players as a whole.  Not every one is a F12 stricking ****..... 

Most the times it's getting killed and not game/PC crashes that cause this.  You make a run for it and just keep playing.  Now the game crashes are something diffrent.  LIke certain locations that I have to save over and over every time I move from one level to anouther gets old.  My current play throuhg of White Plum I have totaly skipped the Gnoll mines cause of this fault in the game.  Love the rest of it, but I can't be waisting the time on doing 5 reloads to move from one location to anouther.

I can't wait for the next WA III to come out.  I'm trying to do a new playthrough since the one on my home desktop was stopped with looseing three hours of play after the champion arena fight.   LOL but I found out how limited being conjure spell limited sucks in the start.  I know these are ment for chars realy who played all the way through so by this level it might not be a problem, but bringing it up as it might be something you might want to warn if there are certain shools of specialty that might ahve more problems than others.

[Arkalezth]

I save in pretty much each new area, it's an habit. Autosaves are fine and all, but if a player doesn't save regularly and then experience a crash or something, you can't blame the builder for being irresponsible. And I've seen some people do so.

I agree about autosaves being handy if a fight triggers after a long, unskippable cutscene (Mass Effect, I'm looking at you, and that's not an amateur game) or something like that, but otherwise, I don't see it as a big issue, and that's usually not so common in NWN2. I can count with the fingers of a hand the times I've loaded an autosave in this game.

I also skipped the gnoll caves in WPM, I don't know if there are autosaves there but if there are, it's not going to be any less annoying. It's a bugged area and the saving system isn't going to solve that.

I understand that people like autosaves, but I'm still surprised about the importance they are getting in the comments of this particular module (and its predecessor), while not in others (that I have seen, I don't see everything so I could be wrong).

[I_Raps]

likeorasgod wrote...

I'm pretty good about hitting my F12 in most games, but the key to autosave is haveing them after key plot moments and change of Act's.  Some times I get so caught up in a game (which is a good sign) I forget to hit F12.  Than bang I die and find out I just lost 3-5 hours of game play cause of pour user friendly game options.  

I think you have that backwards.  Anyone contemplating adding autosaves to their module should look to MOTB for guidance - player about to walk unwittingly into a major hubbub, complete with multiple cut-scenes?  NOW is the time for the autosave - not after they've been chewed up and spit out (or crashed to desktop by the too-much-going-on-and-memory-is-already-full gremlin, or stymied by the group-died-but-so-did-script goblin).