Faithless: The Making of an NWN2 Module

Good day, hero. The acorns you are holding are magical and may only be planted in a specific grove. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to deliver said acorns to our queen at the Windspear Hills. She will know where to plant the acorns. As always, should you or any member of your party be killed on your way there, we will not recompense you for your carelessness. This message will self-destruct in five seconds. All right, that’s not exactly how my player character received this quest in Baldur’s Gate 2 , but the gist of it is there. The type of quest described here, which is known as the delivery or Fed Ex quest, is a staple in many role-playing games. It is often done poorly, which is probably why players complain when their characters are asked to fill in for the mailman. Another common type of quest is the kill quest, which involves having player characters kill one or more creatures or NPCs. Because a typical role-playing game is already brimming with hostile creat...

This is my fourth and final post in a series on linking stories to games. Readers may want to read my three previous posts to put this into context. A few years ago, I created a hakpak for NWN1 called the Vampire Hak Pak . Included with the downloadable file was a short demo module entitled “Vampire Kobolds from Outer Space.” I deliberately made the module silly because I didn’t want to waste my better ideas on a mere demo. Nevertheless, the plot follows the basic formula that I outlined in an earlier blog post on story writing. Act 1 . A band of wights attacks everyone in the village where the PC is staying. The PC has to find out where the wights are coming from before more of them return. Act 2 . In a nearby cave, the PC discovers a large group of vampire kobolds from outer space led by Count Alucard, another vampire kobold. The kobolds plan to turn all the villagers into undead creatures and have been creating wights for that purpose. While trying to chase down Count Alucard, the P...

This is the third in a series of posts on linking stories to games. Readers may want to read my two previous posts to put this into context. Game designers don’t seem to have much difficulty in coming up with meaningful choices for good-aligned characters. Creating dialog options and story endings for evil PCs, however, has been something of a challenge. Few game designers seem to understand how to come up with evil options that aren’t petty and nonsensical. Because of this apparent lack in designing well-thought-out evil options, I’d like to tip the balance by sharing a few insights on creating them. The first thing to understand is that evil manifests in different ways. Serial killers are not the same as spree killers, and both are completely different from terrorists, even though they all kill large numbers of people. What differentiate “evil” people from each other are their methods and their motives. For example, spree killers don’t go on a rampage for no reason. Over a long peri...

This is my second blog post in a series on linking stories to games. Readers may want to read my previous post to put this into context. Few Branches Role-playing games from Bioware and Black Isle/Obsidian are noteworthy for allowing players to affect the outcome of the games’ story. Nearly all of the opportunities for directing the flow of the plot are presented through dialog. Most conversation options don’t affect the story, though. If we set aside conversation nodes that deal with gathering information from NPCs, much of what we’re left with are there just for flavor. For example, in the official campaign of Neverwinter Nights 2 , PCs may speak with Daeghun bitterly or kindly, but none of these dialog options will affect how the story turns out. They give players the impression that they are role-playing their characters, and a good number of these dialog options may change the PCs’ alignment. Even so, few of them will affect the story in any way. In the OC, how PCs treat their NPC...

Players of the Neverwinter Nights games sometimes complain when the role-playing choices open to their characters are limited. They want their characters to act the way they imagine they would when faced with the situations that the game presents them with. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, the options they would have wanted to take are sometimes not available to them. Perhaps the game designers had not thought of making those options available, or maybe they deliberately left them out because these options would have led to certain defeat. It’s also possible that time constraints prevented the creators of the game from implementing them. The question of what story choices to present players with is not a simple one to answer. With the current state of game technology, it is impossible to implement all possible choices that players may want. Nevertheless, this question has to be answered during the design phase of each game or module. This blog post is the first in a series wherein I...

After a quick spurt of posting tips on story writing, I haven't been updating my blog lately. Much of my time has been spent trying to learn how to create new creature models. So far, my progress has been slow but promising. I'll be sure to document my model-making process in the hope that others may pick up on it and create creatures of their own. Anyway, I interrupt my blogging silence to wish everyone a merry and joyous Christmas. May you receive great video games this season, and may you find the time to play them.

This is the fourth and final chapter of my three-part series on story writing. (If that sounds confusing, let’s just say that I should have planned my blog posts better.) The content herein does not list all the techniques that I use when creating interactive stories. Nevertheless, there is enough material in this series to set aspiring writers on the path. Everything that I’ve written in this series of blog posts counts as suggestions. If my techniques don’t work for you, ditch them and try something else. Those who are serious about writing may want to buy books on how to craft fiction. Although most books on this topic deal with writing non-interactive fiction such as novels and screenplays, much of the material therein is applicable to interactive fiction as well. It helps to read a lot of fiction with an eye toward studying what the authors did that makes their work effective. Even if you aspire to write exclusively in the science fiction or fantasy genre, include a lot of mainstr...

This is the third part of my series on story writing. To put this blog post into context, readers may want to refer to my two previous posts. Having created the plot and decided on the setting of our module, we writers started pitching ideas for the main NPCs. By this time, we all had an idea of what types of non-player characters we needed; e.g., town mayor, companion #1, villainous mastermind, etc. All we needed was to provide specifics on personality, background, and character classes. At the bouncyRock website, the members of our team have a private forum for discussing all matters related to our project. We created a thread in this forum for anyone to post their character write-ups. Although we stated that more than one writer may post different write-ups for the same character, in actual practice, hardly anyone provided alternatives for characters that had already been suggested. If we had more than one candidate for each role, we could have chosen the one we liked best or maybe ...

When it comes to writing plots, I have some very definite views on the matter. I count myself fortunate that Dirtywick, Anduraga, and Indira Lightfoot have indulged me in expressing these views and applying the structure that I advocate. Here, I share the plot-writing method that I use. Readers who find this technique useful are free to apply them to their own work. Please note that this is not the only way to write a plot, but it is the method that I personally use. I once wrote in this blog that regardless of a story’s length, I find it useful to structure its plot as a three-act outline. In fact, I have a specific formula for how the acts are written. Act 1. The hero (that is, the PC) becomes aware of a problem to be resolved. Act 2. The hero tries to attain an objective, to which a strong antagonist is opposed. At this point, the hero gets a complication that makes it more difficult to attain the objective. Act 3. It seems that the hero has no chance to defeat the antagonist. Ne...

For the upcoming module from bouncyRock Entertainment, our writers’ first task was to come up with the story premise, from which the plot, setting, and characters were eventually created. The initial story development involved Dirtywick, Anduraga, and me. Eventually, we were joined by Indira Lightfoot, as well as a couple of other writers who later bowed out because of real-life commitments. One of these writers was ScarlettThorne, whom I feel deserves to be listed in our credits. ScarlettThorne created an intriguing non-player character that we will be using in our module. (Thanks for your contribution, ScarlettThorne, and best of luck in all your endeavors.) As may be guessed, having several minds trying to bring the story together was tough. Each of us had our own ideas on where to take the story, and since we had never worked together on a story prior to this, we had difficulties trying to develop it. I won’t go into all the details of what happened at our meetings. Instead, I’ll d...

Yesterday, I asked the project leader for the new module that I’m working on if it’s okay for me to reveal who the rest of our group members are. He said yes. All this time, I had kept everybody else’s names secret because I wasn’t sure if those can be made public knowledge. Since I’ve been given the green light, I shall now unmask the perps. (Drum roll, please.) The new module (whose title shall not be revealed at this time) is being developed under the banner of bouncyRock Entertainment . Only two members of the group working on this module are members of bouncyRock, however. The rest of us were recruited specifically for this project. To the best of my knowledge, I was the first person recruited by the bouncyRock guys. Over the past two months, more people were recruited to the group. Only yesterday, we welcomed a new team member, and there’s a chance that we’ll be recruiting at least one more. A few people were recruited but had to bow out later because of pressing commitments. The...

Admittedly, I haven't been busy with Faithless lately, but fortunately, Henry Solberg continues to compose music for my module. Some time ago, he created a somber piece for an NPC who made his first appearance in Mask of the Betrayer . This NPC's name is Rammaq, of whom I shall say no more. I feel that Henry's music captures my version of Rammaq perfectly. Those who want to listen to the music may download it from the following link. Rammaq's Theme

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I have been recruited to work with a group that is building a new NWN2 module. To the best of my knowledge, nearly all of us have not worked with any of the other group members before, so some of the growing pains that we’ve been experiencing involve learning how to work together. The fact that the members of the group are scattered across several states or even countries doesn’t make it any easier. In this group, I’m the head of the scripting team, but I have also been deeply involved with creating the story, painting concept art, and making 3D models. (More on those in a later post.) During our meetings, a lot of ideas get bandied around, most of which are rejected in the course of our discussions. Only a few ideas are eventually approved, usually with modifications suggested by other team members. As a member of the writing and art team, I’ve had my share of rejected ideas as well as approved ones, although there seem to be more of the former t...

It has been some time since I last posted anything here, and I feel that an explanation is in order. Shortly after blogging about the Temple of Kelemvor , I started work on another outdoor area, Bloodstone Village in Damara. Unfortunately, I made a stupid mistake that caused irrecoverable file corruption. Because I create a separate module for each area that I work on, the damage was limited to Bloodstone Village alone. None of my previous work was affected in any way. Nevertheless, I was so disheartened that I haven't worked on Faithless since then. About a week before this incident, I had been approached by a talented group of NWN2 modders who invited me to work on their project. The strong track record of these guys was reason enough for me to accept their offer. I haven't been given the go signal to provide details on this project, although I expect that we'll all be promoting it by January or February of next year. This is my first time to work with a team on a module,...

Rejoice, players of NWN2, rejoice, for the Halloween 2008 campaign from BouncyRock Entertainment is now available at the Vault. This campaign is packed with delightful tales of horror from over twenty module makers. Decapitated heads, blood all over the floor, entrails from a corpse -- what's there not to like? My son says that this is the most fun he has ever had with a computer game. Isn't he the most precocious three-year-old?

Atop a hill in Eternity's End stands the Temple of Kelemvor, a place where the records of the dead are kept. Those who have played Mask of the Betrayer may remember this temple because it is one of the few places in the Fugue Plane that are featured in this game. The design of the area was certainly adequate, but it could have been better, in my opinion. As is my usual practice, I ripped this area from MotB and attempted to improve on it. Taking a cue from Anduraga (a.k.a. Josh), who did a marvelous job of giving the Basilica of Lost Hope a face lift, I laid out the area using the RWS Pocket Cathedrals hakpak from Robinson Workshop. I changed a few placeables and visual effects here and there and applied the same lighting that Anduraga used in the Basilica of Lost Hope. The result is a hauntingly beautiful piece of work, if I may say so myself.

It has been a long time since I last posted in-game screenshots of areas from Faithless. It's high time that I end this hiatus by presenting pictures of Eternity's End in the grip of war. Although I kept OEI's original design of this area mostly intact, I made a number of significant changes to it. As mentioned in my previous post, I replaced a few houses with burnt shells. I also replaced two of the buildings with piles of rubble. Aside from these cosmetic changes, I put up a number of makeshift barricades along some of the pathways. These barricades are made from whatever the locals would conceivably have on hand -- crates, wagons, pieces of wood nailed together, those sort of things. Characters may attempt to destroy these barricades, but they stand the risk of being mowed down with missile fire while they are at it. Perhaps the most striking change that I did to this area was to put a very large crater in one of the streets. In the Forgotten Realms, things that go boom...

Making the Halloween module that I submitted to Bouncy Rock took a lot out of me, so much so that I decided to take a week off to relax a bit. Well, I'm back in the saddle now, plugging away at the toolset once more, this time for Faithless. The next area that I've chosen to work on is Eternity's End, which I ripped from Mask of the Betrayer . In MotB, Eternity's End looks dreary but pristine, nothing like one would expect from a war-torn city. I decided to roughen it up a bit by replacing some of the houses with burnt shells. Of course, the ground on which the houses stand must look sooty. Normally, a modder would create this look by coloring the ground grayish-black. In Eternity's End, however, the houses all stand on city curbs, which are placeables just like the houses. The only way to make the curbs appear sooty is to re-texture them. I didn't want to do this because not all houses that stand on the same type of curb will be burnt. Hence, the parts of the c...

Yesterday, I submitted my Halloween horror module to Jclef of Bouncy Rock. A few hours ago, he sent me feedback on my module. Here's what he had to say about it: Dear Frank, Played through last night with no bugs/issues. The module had an intuitive system, and the gameplay was scary and fun. Oh yes... they will scream. Frankly, that was frankin' amazing - Great work, buddy! I felt really good about Jclef's feedback, particularly since I poured a lot of effort into my module. I was worried at first that it might be too frustrating to play, but Jclef dispelled those concerns. It's especially good to know that my horror module is actually scary. Trying to elicit chills and thrills without resorting to splatterpunk gore isn't easy, but it can be done even in a computer game. Here's hoping that the Bouncy Rock Halloween Campaign will give us NWN2 players a fun and scary experience. Now that that's done, I shall be working on Faithless once more.

My little contribution to Bouncy Rock's Halloween campaign will be the first (and perhaps only) module that will feature me as a voice actor. Since my alter ego, Elysius, will be greeting player characters at the door, there was really no question as to who would lend his voice to the role. Of course, I could have settled for having all conversations play silently, but I felt that my module would have made more of an impact if it had actual voice overs. Over a span of three days, I recorded, edited, and finalized thirty sound files to be played during the conversations with Elysius. It wasn't easy. Each sound file is the product of several recording takes, from which I chose the best segments to splice together. To make matters worse, I have an awful voice and a bit of an accent. I wasn't too worried about my accent, which I felt may lend an air of mystery to my character. It was my voice that needed fixing. I wanted Elysius to sound sinister, but my voice normally sounds ...

My Halloween module is almost done, but there seem to be a million and one details to take care of before I can declare it completed. There are bugs to be squashed, placeables to be retextured, sound effects to be added, and who knows what else. I've playtested the module repeatedly, and each time, I find something new to add to my list of tasks. Considering that I've been working on the Halloween module for about a month, I find it somewhat appalling that I can play it from start to finish in a matter of minutes. At the start of my Halloween module, player characters will meet my alter ego, Elysius. This NPC resembles my avatar at the official Neverwinter Nights boards. I'm seriously considering recording a full set of voice overs for the conversations with Elysius. The advantage of this NPC's costume is that his helmet hides his mouth, which means I won't have to worry about synchronizing his lip movements with the voice overs. Nevertheless, voice work takes a lot...

This is my third post on the Halloween module that I'm making for the Bouncy Rock campaign. Yes, it's the third successive week that I haven't been working on Faithless, but it looks like I will be able to finish the Halloween module by the end of this week. After that, I'll be plugging away at Faithless once more. Although I've made several rooms for this module, I'm showing only a couple of in-game shots in this post. I'd like to keep the rest of my areas under wraps if only to retain some element of surprise for players. The picture on the right is a view of the kitchen, one of the most important rooms in this game. Anyone who hopes to complete this module must know their way around a kitchen. Those who can't tell a potholder from a panhandler need not worry. There will be recipes scattered around the house, all of which will be simple to follow. The design of this module is similar to those of adventure games such as The Longest Journey and Syberia ...

My upcoming module, Faithless, is still taking a backseat to another module I'm making for Bouncy Rock's Halloween campaign. I have less than three weeks to complete my little mod of horror, but I'm hoping to wrap it up by next week at the latest. I'm not going to say much about what my module is about. I'd rather have players find out for themselves when Bouncy Rock releases the entire campaign. To compensate for my reticence, I present the following pictures, each of which is worth a thousand words.

I haven't done any work on Faithless over the past week. Instead, I've been working on another module that will be part of Bouncy Rock's Halloween campaign . Deadline for module submissions is less than a month from now, so I'm prioritizing my Halloween module over Faithless. Hopefully, I'll be able to post a few teaser screenshots of this new module over the next few days.

In my last post, I mentioned that my computer self-destructed for reasons unknown, which prompted my sending it to the repair shop. Well, my computer is still at the shop, awaiting delivery of replacement parts. It seems that the supplier has a delivery schedule to follow and won't deliver the parts that I need before the allotted time. I'm hoping that deliveries are made at least once a month. It certainly doesn't look as if the supplier does weekly deliveries. In the meantime, I have to content myself with using Old Unreliable, a computer of mine whose specs barely meet the system requirements to play NWN2.This machine is slow and has a tendency to shut itself down twice a day (but thankfully not more often than that). I'm fairly certain that the more I use this machine, the quicker I'll be sending it to its grave, so I'm hoping that I can get my other computer from the shop before that happens. Speaking of the grave and all things dead, I created yet another ...

It has been a bad week for me. Seven days ago, I found out that I could not turn on my computer and external modem. To make matters worse, I also found out that my phone line was dead. It seems an odd coincidence that three separate machines would choose the same day to malfunction. When I brought my computer to the repair shop, I was told that both my motherboard and video card weren't working and had to be replaced. I can't explain what brought about this massive glitch in my devices. My guess is that my Intel Core 2 Quad processor and my GT8800 video card generated so much heat that they fried each other. Maybe the heat was so strong that it radiated to my modem and melted its innards. In its death throes, my modem then short-circuited my phone line. Sounds like a plausible explanation. Or maybe the gods do not want me to finish my module. Faithless is so blasphemous to the deities of Faerun that the gods have reached across the multiverse to zap my motherboard, video card, ...