As far as development goes, I had a pretty standard day today. I did a bit more work on a cut-scene. Even though the cut-scene is only about 10-20 seconds long, I have to get just the right camera angles to get the effect I am looking for. Right after this cut-scene, there is some dialog, via the standard NWN conversation system. I have a good idea what I want to be said in this dialog, so I will try to mock it up as good as possible, so that perhaps one of the writers can take a crack at it to spruce it up. However, I hope to write it good enough so that if no one can get to it, it will be fine.

In general, I think that is what I am going to for the rest of development. I am not going to spend that much time dealing with dialogs, as they are something that can be done anytime, and by anybody. The things I want to focus on are the scripting intensive sequences that will take place for the remainder of the game. As far as I can tell, I will be doing things that haven't been done before, so I need to get it just right. If I have to spend the last month of development adding to various dialogs, or having people do them for me, then so be it...

While it is in my head, I just wanted to write down some of my thoughts regarding Neverwinter Nights 2. As you all should know by now, it is tentatively set for release in September of '06. One of the main things that will excite me are fully controllable party members. That's right. No more of this henchman crap...That said, I really think it is going to affect how I redesign The Coming & Cry The Beloved. There were so many things I wanted to do in these games, that I actually designed years before, that I couldn't do because of the limitations of the engine. Now that I have these features, going back and re-creating these 2 modules seems more likely. Plus, if I choose to continue the story, I couldn't just have thousands of brand new players start at Chapter 3. Besides missing so much of the story, they would be missing out on learning some of the fundamental things about Rose Of Eternity. Though I do have to say, converting the modules won't be that bad, as all the hard work would have already been done by that time. *Shrug* I don't know, just thinking out loud really...Just some things I need to think about...

Finally, I have a revised piece of art from Jonathan. If you look at this piece, and then the piece from yesterday, you can see how he defined the ocean, mountains, and land with more detail. Man, I really can't wait to have a finished map of Dantiras!

Till tomorrow...

As of now, the wireless card on my laptop isn't configured correctly, so when I do want to go on the internet, I have to go into the nearby computer room, and use one of the Ethernet cables. Not a big deal, but enough of a nuisance that I only really went on 4-5 times today, which is pretty good for me. Actually, the lack of internet most likely allowed me to get more work done:)

So when I began to work today, I actually had to take a little bit to clear my mind, and make sure I was okay with where I wanted to go. As you all know, I don't have the luxury of taking time to make design documents, and since I have more or less known what the content of the game will be like for the past 7 years, I just usually go ahead with something, and change things as I go.

Well, as always, once I got into things, the well... changed... And for the good I should point out:) With this new change, it will add extra replay value to the game, while also letting certain types of players do what they like, and not forcing them to do what they don't like.

As always, I am sure this idea will change a bit in the coming days, but once I had the core idea, I began to do some of my preliminary testing. Whenever I make a new area with new custom enemies, I always just set up lots of mock fights to try to balance things as early as possible. After a bit of fight testing, I began to mold the area, by shrinking it down to a manageable size, as well as adding the 1st layer of placeables. I also added a new OnEnter script for the area to make sure the correct things were initialized when the party goes there for the 1st time. Finally, I started what will turn out to be a 10-15 second cut-scene. Nothing major by any stretch of the imagination, but still tougher than just slapping some scripts together.

I also took a look at the new scripting commands (besides SetName() ), and I came across something very interesting. There is a new function called SetPortrait(), which takes a portrait name as a parameter. I obviously got very happy after seeing this, because I had high hopes of allowing old fans of The Coming to come into Cry The Beloved with their old saved version of Aramus (with the old portrait), and setting it to the new one I will be packaging. I also thought I could use this same functionality with some of the party members, but for whatever reason, it just didn't work. I made a note to make a post at the scripting forums.

I was also very surprised and thrilled to find I had a new dialog sitting in my mailbox, compliments of Phil Carter. I did not have a chance to add it to the game, but it is high on my list. I also have to redo another one he sent me a week ago, as I lost a week's worth of work.

Finally, the piece of art above is some concept art for a map of Dantiras, by Jonathan. In the middle of doing work on a portrait of Challseus, he mentioned that he liked creating maps, and since I didn't have anything like it yet, I was very happy to see him put all of his focus into it. That's not to say his work on Challseus won't continue. However, the map is definitely high priority, and as always, I can't wait to see what he comes up with!

Till tomorrow...

It was also good to actually get back in the groove of using the toolset. I actually received a little scare this morning, because the 1st time I booted up the toolset, it took a little while to start. And, I have been very paranoid about it being slow as it is, so when it happened (which it turns out it always does when I open it for the 1st time), my heart stopped a bit. After a while however, it ended up running even faster than before, which obviously made me happy.

As if things couldn't get any better, with the help of a co-worker, I was able to successfully squash a bug (work related!) I had been working on for the past few days. After that, I could breathe, and enjoy the rest of the day.

I also received word from Phil Carter that he was done with some dialogue, so I can't wait to take a look at it, and add it to the respective NPC.

Also, I didn't say much at the time, but I am very happy that the latest patch (1.67) was released this Wednesday. Among other thing things, I am happy we now have the SetName() function. I have already had some ideas regarding this new function for a while, and it will be great to finally implement it. I honestly haven't really checked out the patch notes to see what other scripts were added, but I am sure I will find something I like. I have to say, I was also pleasantly surprised to see like 3 times as many colors in the palette this morning when I was trying to change to hair color of a party member.

As for the screenshot of the day, this was actually done by David Timmons. Among the other things he does during the day (he is a real like jack of all trades), I guess he decided it would be interesting to see what our names were like in Japanese. Not sure how they get Rena-do from Leonard, but oh well...

Tomorrow, I will most likely spend a bit of time getting some other apps back on my machine, most importantly, Adobe Photoshop. Once I feel everything is back in working order, I will begin working on the particular cut-scene I have been talking about the past few days...Hopefully, nothing else will go wrong.

Oh yeah, and yes, I am now backing up daily, instead of weekly!

Till tomorrow...

Well folks, I am back up and running, finally...I won't bore you with the details of how everything worked out, but let's just say that I am going to be a lot more careful this time, regarding viruses and whatnot.

So, as I mentioned a few days ago, I lost a weeks worth of work, so I think that should be the 1st thing to take care of tomorrow morning. Luckily, the only thing I did last week was fix little big/issues here and there that I discovered while ALPHA testing, and since I still have all of them written down in my notebook, it shouldn't be much of a problem knocking them out again.

Once I finish up with those, I will start doing what I wanted to do on Monday...Making a particularly emotional cut-scene, with a new piece of music I recently converted to BMU format.

I guess these past few days, I can look at it as a sort of vacation, filled with a little worrying...What else is new:) Either way, I am glad to be able to continue with working, and hopefully get this game out to everyone who has been patiently waiting for it.

Finally, as you can see above, this new image is just a colored version of the concept art I displayed yesterday. It just keeps getting better and better!

Till tomorrow...

So tonight, I reformatted my hard drive. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the install disk for Windows, which was supplied by Dell, doesn't have all of the drivers. So, not a big deal, but enough that I couldn't do it all without getting extremely tired. Oh well, that is how it goes...

On the development side, I received 3 e-mails last night which brought a smile to my face. The first was from Preston, who has been working on some dialogue for a particularly nasty NPC. What amazed me was the research he did for it. What was even better was, the research that he did was based on a certain group of people that I actually thought of when designing the particular culture that the particular NPC is a part of. It's good to know I have people on the team that have brains that think like mine.

The 2nd one was from Rick Sanderson, who was helping me with the design of a quest in Dematol. He offered to do the dialogue for me, so I took him up on his word. He was basically letting me know I would have something from him soon, and that he had been very busy with work and such for the past few weeks. In general, I always love getting things sooner than later, but I always tell people that we are all doing this without getting paid, so real life is definitely more important. Well, not to me, but I can't try to make everyone as crazy as me:)

The 3rd one was from Todd Harrell, who had a very cool idea for a little Easter Egg that only certain players would get at the end of the game. How this Easter Egg would be unlocked wasn't designed, only the end result of it. I am very much interested in this idea, and will hopefully pursue it once I am back up and running.

Finally, the picture above was the next iteration of concept art from Jonathan. I was surprised that he was moving away from the standard portrait picture, and heading towards something bigger than that, and as always, I am very supportive. I am always eager to see finished work, and I can't wait to see what he comes up as a finished product.

Till tomorrow...

So, I am attempting to make a good thing out of a bad situation. Notice I stress, attempt. Anyone who knows me, whether it be best friends from years ago, to people I have met in the NWN community, knows that I let little things get to me, while big things don't faze me. Go figure...So, let's just say that this past day hasn't exactly been a cakewalk. Let me just give a small recap, for those that don't know what happened...

So, yesterday morning, I was busy trying to figure out how to get custom loading screens for the various areas in the game. As always, trying to make the entire game feel unique. Nothing different from the norm...Anyway, that didn't work out that well, so before I passed out, I converted the piece of music that I was raving about a couple of weeks ago. It will be used in the cut-scene I wanted to start working on yesterday.

After getting off the train, I proceeded to walk to 5th and 42nd street to hail a cab.  Oh yeah, it was raining like hell! That's very important to this story. Anyway, after I got a cab, I accidentally dropped my briefcase in a very small puddle. I didn't drop it from no more than half a foot off the ground, so I didn't worry about it too much. It should go without saying that my laptop was in said briefcase...

At work, the only thing I did with my laptop was run a diagnostic check on it. One of my co-conspirators, Todd Harrel, has been putting together an excel spreadsheet of the specs of the various machines of the people who are testing the game. This will really come in handy when more people begin to BETA test it, and some start complaining about lag, or something like that. Interestingly enough, when he got the report from me, he mentioned that I needed to at the very least defrag my machine. He obviously new that I wasn't really able to run at optimal performance with so much stuff on it (5% of free space).

So, when I was on the way home, I was really eager to create this cut-scene, and put the aforementioned new piece of custom music in it. As you can already imagine, I was very pissed to find my machine running slow as all hell. I mean, I am just flabbergasted. I have NO idea what happened in the span of 9 hours that would make it all of sudden slow down. Yeah, I dropped it, but I don't think that would make it run slow... I figure if I did damage to it, it just wouldn't start:)

Since I have absolutely no patience, and I really need to get back to developing, I will be copying all essential files to an external hard drive, and reformatting my hard drive. Perhaps it is not the solution, but I am not about to just sit around and waste time figuring it out. I don't want to list everything, but myself and LOTS of people at the office today tried all sorts of things, and nothing works. ANYTIME I load up some application, the CPU% goes up to 100%, without fail. Okay, just talking about this is pissing me off...Moving on...

So, the picture I am showing you today was the 2nd version of Challseus that I received from Jonathan. If I am not mistaken, I believe he modeled this from the famous sculpture of David, from David & Goliath lore. As you can tell from the picture, he is really into getting the anatomy looking as realistic as possible. Also, if I remember correctly, the left arm is arched up like that, because the finished version will have a staff in it. And for the easily offended, don't worry, he will have clothes on:)

As far as game development, I cannot really do any actual implementation. However, I can still design some things, so don't think that I have stopped development. After the emotional cut-scene that I wanted to code yesterday is finished, I will begin work on what will undoubtedly be the hardest thing I have ever done with the Aurora Toolset. I actually came up with a less intensive version, but seeing as I have a little more time to breathe, concerning the release date of NWN2, I will go full balls, and do it the way it should be done. As always, I won't go into specifics, but this section of the game is the climax of Cry The Beloved. It's funny how this sequence has evolved, and I want to share some key things that helped mold it to what it will be...

So, when I first started developing the game way back, I never ever thought it would be broken up into many small modules as a mod for NWN. Everyone pretty much knows this...I have learned that even if you are going to have many mods work as one, each mod itself must have the specific things a story needs, such as a climax, and whatnot. Well, the particular scene wasn't the climax of the entire story, and was designed to be a significantly smaller event. However, since it happens to occur towards the end of Cry The Beloved, I have to make it very grand. It should be the thing people think about when they have finished the game, among other things. This is another one of the reasons why I like the fact that I get to test out my game, which will be commercial one day, for free. I get to see what works, and what doesn't work. A Lot of things have changed for the good, and this particular sequence is one of them. Now, I just have to reformat my hard drive, and hope everything works out. Just writing about this is making me more eager to implement it:)

Till tomorrow...

UPDATE - Forgot to mention. I lost a week's worth of work after some shenanigans that occurred yesterday because of the slowness of my laptop. I don't want to get into specifics, but let's just say it is not as bad as it *could* be...

So, I have gotten a few e-mails asking me to post the interview from the newspaper, and I finally got around to doing it today. So, you can now check out the interviews page. Besides having the interview with the newspaper, I also show some excerpts and links for my other interviews. Perhaps this page might fill up one day:)

So, as you can see to your left, I have some new concept to show you. I have actually had this for some time, but I just decided last night to start rolling out a lot of the content I have gotten from various people over the past few months.

At any rate, this work is done by Jonathan. I met this gentleman from an anonymous contributor to Cry The Beloved. This particular anonymous person was already doing excellent work for me, so when they suggested I send Jonathan an e-mail, I jumped at the opportunity. What is it they say? Brilliant people stick together? Okay, maybe I just made that up:)

Since I already had a portrait for Clopon, and Aloia was already working on Aramus at the time, I told him he could take a crack at Challseus. 

Now, the way he does his concept art is very interesting. With this piece, it seems that he tries to make the model as realistic as possible. Just like some of the greatest artists of all time ( Leonard Da Vinci, Raphael, etc. ). Perhaps this is something all artists are taught in school, but hell if I know. I'm a game designer:) I was obviously intrigued with this new style of concept art, and it goes without saying that I eagerly await the finished results. Although, I cannot really say right now, but I am sure it will be delayed by something even greater that is coming from this same person. Perhaps I will show more of that work later this week...

Finally, I should have mentioned it yesterday, but this week will be a week of custom work people have been doing for me these past few months. So, come on over to this journal every day to see some one of the newest, and greatest custom content that has been created for me!

Till tomorrow..

P.S. I had a VERY bad day in terms of development. I actually wrote this update on my lunch break, as I was so enthusiastic about it. However, when I got on the train to go home, I noticed that everything was running slowly. And when I say slow, I mean SLOW. As in, I would never attempt to develop at that speed.

To be honest, I really don't know what is going on. I mean, yeah, I only have 4.5 G of space out of 30 something, but it has been that way for a while. I *did* drop my briefcase today, which had my laptop in it, but I didn't drop it more than 1 foot off the ground, and it *was* in the bag. To say that I am very pissed off would be an understatement. Right as I was so inspired to do a bunch of cool things this week, I can't. I swear, I can never win...

So, today started out like any normal Sunday. I figured I had a very long day of development ahead. I started out fixing the rest of the bugs/issues I had discovered over the past few days of ALPHA testing. As expected, this only took about 2 hours or so, which was good. Another nice thing is that every subsequent time I test the game, there are just the same, or less bugs as the last time. Now, that might not sound good at first, but you have to realize that the game is significantly larger each time I test it, so as it should be, there are less and less bug/issues each time for stuff I have already covered.

After that, I received a phone call from an old friend, named Jason Herzlinger. Now, when I say an old friend, I mean OLD. As in, from 1988...Man, that really puts some age on me...Sigh...At any rate, we met in 4th grade, and were best of friends for a long time after that. I know no one cares about my personal life, but I am going somewhere with this...I promise!

1988 also happened to be the year that I received my Nintendo Entertainment System. So of course, being one of my best friends at the time, all of the fond memories of the glory days was shared with him. So, imagine how great it was to be able to sit with him, and reminisce. Of course, the conversation led up to the glory years where Square Soft released one great RPG after another for 3-4 years in a row. That's right, I am talking about Final Fantasy 2 (4), Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Secret Of Mana, Final Fantasy 3 (6), and Chrono Trigger, which were released from 1992-1995. Hell, Square Soft had the gall to release Chrono Trigger mere days before the Playstation was released on 9/9/95...Yes, I remember the date. How could I forget all of those damn commercials:)

Anyways, while talking about these games, I started to go through my usual thoughts of "Hmm, what really made these games special?" I go through this about 2 times a month, and I can never really come to a real conclusion. There are so many factors to their success, that it couldn't be pinpointed. However, another factor came to me today...One of those things could be that I was a child. More specifically, when I was a child, I wasn't too picky on certain things, such as grade A writing, or if the character I was playing did something that I wouldn't have done (i.e. roleplaying, I think:) ). All that I needed was stirring music, a good story, great gameplay, and fun, strategic combat. 

It really got me thinking because, perhaps the type of games I want to create commercially, in the future, would be games geared toward younger kids. Or, maybe younger kids are so used to the complex RPG's of today that it wouldn't sell too well. Or perhaps, I am looking too deeply into this, as I always seem to do 2 times a month:) It's just so damn hard to really know how to bring back that magic I felt as a kid. I mean, I know it is not impossible. Look at what Disney has been doing for the past 60 years or so. Sorry for the ramblings, but these are the things that go through my head when I think about how to make the best game possible...

What I do have to say is that I am GLAD that I have had my experience with computer RPG's, as I sort of see things from the other side. It really has helped me in the long run in my quest to become a complete RPG designer. Especially the hardcore NWN DnD fans. They know what they want, and will let you know if you messed up:) Maybe I should look at the past year or so as a hazing session, like I was joining a fraternity, or something. Also, the debates that I see going on in the various forums is incredible. From "what is the best build for wizards" , to "how come this bone spider's INT is 26?",  to "Obsidian are fools! That new zombie model is way off. It looks nothing like what it did in the 3.5 edition book", it is so apparent how serious they take their stuff. That really shows how much they were inspired by DnD, much like how I was with Final Fantasy. At times, I really feel like I am over my head. Like, when I get comments on my download page about how come Aramus' INT is only 8, making him retarded in DnD terms, I just have to laugh. That stuff really doesn't mean anything to me, which is why I don't pay as much attention to it. When I play through the current version of the ALPHA, I don't worry about what things to pick when I level up...I only care about the custom things I put into the game. It's so weird, because I am really going against the grain. I now realize that me trying to come in with something that is different from a style of play that someone has been accustomed to for many years must just seem annoying...At the same time, I want to appease those same player's, but I just don't have the time to really get up to speed on what is normal. Oh well, nothing to do but just keep doing what I do best...

All of that said, I must say, after sitting and watching Jason play through my Final Fantasy 12 demo today, seeing the joy that came to his face, was great. It brought back the memories of playing Secret Of Mana with 3 people, using our other best friend's multi-tap, which allowed 4 controllers to be plugged into the SNES at the time. I really felt at home. After watching him play, I realized that this fall will be a great time for games for me. You see, by that time, Cry The Beloved will have been released, and I will have started to do what I wanted to for the past 2 years. Play some games I DIDN'T MAKE:) Of course, you all know how I am, and if NWN2 comes out sooner than later, well...

...And that folks, is how you go off on a stupid tangent:) I really just started writing this with the intent on saying that after seeing Jason, I was left feeling very much inspired to do that best job that I could with Cry The Beloved. That's not to say I wasn't already, but you get the point. In fact, I know the exact scene I will work on tomorrow morning on the train ride home. As always, no spoilers, but lets just say that it is a very emotional sequence between some key people in the game. I hope that when people see this scene, they will come away really feeling for these characters. As always, I have the music picked out. It was a track I mentioned a few weeks ago...One that I had on repeat for 3 days straight. One that I am playing right now as I type...

Finally, I hope you enjoy the old school art drawings, courtesy of David Timmons , a team member who has helped me out with finding me some cool hakpaks, as well as getting his hands dirty when it comes to dialog writing. It REALLY should go without saying, but clockwise from the top left, we have Aramus, Clopon, Challseus, Kain, Mathewin, & Auden. Again, it should REALLY go without saying, but these are in the style of the characters from Final Fantasy 1, which was released on the NES back in the 80's. I would really love to see these guys in a FF type, old school RPG, just for the hell of it. Perhaps I could code it up some time, as it shouldn't be too hard. Again, I am constantly amazed at the stuff that people from this wonderful community produce for me. Sometimes, it really is the small things that count:)

Till tomorrow... 

So, after yesterday's debacle, I bounced back, and via the changing of the start point of the game (through my initializing manager scripts), I was able to complete the rest of the ALPHA.

So, what did I learn? As I mentioned earlier, the combat needs to be toned down. And I mean TONED down. To put it simply, it is just too tough in certain places. One of the reasons why I never experienced this when testing specific sections of the game is because I had scripts that would give me a certain amount of items, such as Tonics Of Revival, and Tonics Of Heavy Robustness when I started a session, depending on what point in the game I was. Well, as it turns out, I was giving out too much via my scripts, because in game, things turned out differently, and I wouldn't have as many of said items when I reached certain points in the game.

Now that I have finished, I can move on to yet another section of the game tomorrow. Which one, I don't know...I have a general idea, but it all depends on the side of the bed that I get up on:)

Finally, I don't think I will release the current version of the ALPHA since I don't want to overwork the testers. I would rather give them more content in a few weeks. However, if you do want to test it out now, just shoot me an e-mail.

Till tomorrow...

Today, I continued to go through the game. As I mentioned before, it is getting to be so big that it is very tiring on myself to keep doing this. That is the exact reason why the last time I did this was more than a month ago (I think...).

Anyway, towards the end of the train ride into work, I got to what I want to call, the midway section of the game. As I got to the end, the unexpected happened...A show stopping bug...I can't even begin to tell you how pissed I was. Not because of the bug really, as I knew the solution to it, but where is occurred. It happened right at the place in the game where all the new stuff I had been working on for the past month was. So, I was not able to even get a chance to test the new stuff I had worked on:( I mean, there were ways around it, but I like to have full run throughs, not little hacks with changing the start position of the game to test everything. Oh well, it happens...

Till tomorrow...

So, not sure how this crept up on me. Actually, I do...When me and my best friend started coming up with the story, I vividly remember the incident at Columbine High School ...Well, I had the news on, and a story came on about it, and it triggered a memory in my brain....

So, here we are, 7 years later...And, I don't have much to say, as I am very tired...Perhaps I will reflect on everything tomorrow...Yeah, that sounds like a good idea...

Not much to report really...I went through another huge part of the game today, though I probably have a few hours more to go. It really amazes me how long the game has become. Also, there are some difficulty situations I have to readjust. When I have to reload the same fight 8 times in a row, while on easy, there is something wrong...Let's not forget the little fact that I created the damn game!

Till tomorrow...

So, even if I haven't out right said it, these past few days of development have been boring. More specifically, it was stuff that had to be done, but was stuff I had no fun doing. Oh well...I am used to it...

Today, on the train ride into work, the funniest thing happened. I was really tired, and felt like I was just going to pass out. Therefore, I put on some nice sleeping music, and closed my eyes. For whatever reason, I got a little bit of energy, and decided to fix a piece of this script that was pissing me off yesterday. Well, messing with the script, I ended up staying awake the entire time, which gave me the time to totally fix the script, allowing me to wipe my hands clean of the particular in game sequence. This is usually how it works on the train ride home from work everyday. If I can manage to stay awake for the 1st 25 minutes, then I can do it the whole train ride. However, those 1st 25 minutes are hell, and I literally have to fight myself to keep my eyes open. Hmm, I guess I am getting old, or something?

So tonight, I decided to do something I haven't done in a while...Play through the entire game from start to finish. I usually only would do this when I was preparing for a new ALPHA release, but my intentions were different this time. I feel like I have been working on certain pieces of the game for so long, I am almost forgetting what happens in the other parts:) I know it sounds silly, but for me at least, I need to keep in the right frame of mind when developing, and designing. What better way than to play through it again? Along the way, I will do my usual collection of notes on various issues, and most likely spend a day or so taking care of them. 

I have to admit, I had a lot of fun playing the game. There are so many different types of options available to the player, and their party members, and it was fun trying to pick what will work best for me. I only made it through about 2 hours of playing, but I literally had to tear myself from the computer, as it was nearing midnight, and I have to be up at 5:00am:( Another thing I am beginning to realize more than ever is that these testing sessions will start to become less and less of an option for me. The game is getting so big, and I can't spend as much time as I used to be able to when testing The Coming, which I could play through in about 3 hours. Another one of the issues with trying to make a game many times bigger than it's predecessor...

Finally, I know I have said this so many time, but I really found a GREAT piece of music to use in the game. I am not sure how I missed it before, but it is actually a variation of another track I just implemented a month or so ago. I am not sure if I am going to replace the current one with this new one, or just use both. I will probably end up using both, however, I need to figure out which one to use in which place. I had only planned on using this melody 2-3 times, so I have to choose carefully. As always, music is always first on my mind when it comes to this game...I also anticipate that I will be listening to this piece of repeat for the 2-3 days or so, so it can be permanently burned into my brain. Man, I really love music...

Till tomorrow...

Going to keep this short, as it is really late. I wrote some placeholder text for an NPC, and I hope to get it to someone tomorrow morning, or perhaps later in the night. I also continued to work on some scripts for this particular NPC. I have to say, I was getting quite frustrated, as things weren't really happening the way I wanted them to.

I have to admit, I was a bit distracted by some stuff going on at work, but I promised myself to get back on track tomorrow...Here's hoping...

Till tomorrow...

Today was really the ideal development day for a weekday. Last night, I got to sleep very early, which allowed me to get at least 6 hours of sleep. Remember, that is good for me...On the train ride, I finished adding the scripts to the dialog that Phil did for me. The plan changed slightly for what this NPC was supposed to represent, and I thought it might delay how long it took for me to be finished with it. However, everything seemed to work out fine, and thanks to the help of some fellow scripters, I was able to wrap everything up. As I mentioned before, I cannot wait to hear what people have to say about him.

Before watching an episode of 24 tonight, I was able to get in some more scripting for a particular fighting sequence. There were a few hiccups here and there, but I was able to make it through it. After that, I added yet another dialog, compliments of Phil to the correct NPC. 

I have been basically giving him dialogs I wrote earlier last year, and he has been sprucing them up. Let's just say that I now really know the difference between so-so dialogue, and great dialog. I guess it took someone changing something I wrote to become apparent to me:)

All in all, today was a very solid day of development, and I am planning on going to sleep early again, to hopefully repeat the success I had today.

Till tomorrow...

I hope everyone who celebrates it, had a good Easter! Now, let's get down to business...After getting home from some Easter related events, I decided to stick to my guns, and try to get as much work done as possible. Yep, that meant I had the TV off.

With the TV off, I was able to really focus on the matters at hand, and get into the groove of development again. I had a new dialog to get in the game, compliments of my newest writer, editor, and overall idea guy, Phil Carter. To say I was very pleased with his first piece of work is an understatement. Hell, it was so good, it had me laughing out loud. I am sure I will get some player comments about this particular NPC after they complete the game.

As expected, integrating the dialogue in the game, with the respective NPC was very easy. In fact, the only part I have to do is some very basic scripts that control the flow of the dialogue.

Finally, I just want to say I received a very interesting e-mail today. Apparantly, my 6th grade teacher read about me in the paper, and sent me an e-mail! It was great to get that message, and have him talk about the things I did back in 6th grade (i.e. read Nintendo Power in class when I should have been paying attention). He also mentioned how great it is for a teacher to find out that one of their students is actually making something out of their life. Man, those were some great times back in 6th grade...Getting The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past for the 1st time. Learning how to do my first Dragon Punch with Ryu in Street Fighter II - World Champions. Man, life was just so much more simple back then *wipes tear from eye* ...

Till tomorrow...

So, the interview that I had last week was published in the paper this morning, in the business section. I will create a transcript of what was written, and make a page at the site where people can read it. Just give me a few days...

Today in general was a very busy day, in which I don't think I touched the toolset once. Now, don't look at this as a bad thing...I spent most of the day dealing with various people, who are making various pieces of content for me, whether it be art related, or dialog related. So, even though I wasn't in the toolset doing anything, the work of others will be put in there tomorrow morning, which will actually be more than what I would have accomplished today. I am almost getting the hand of this project manager thing:)

Till tomorrow...

So today, I only got a chance to do some development during the day. In this time, I continued to write some dialog, as well as some light scripting. Nothing too exciting.

In fact, the biggest thing that happened was, I received a new physics processing card, called Physx by Ageia . I guess besides winning a nice plaque, and $2500, the IGF also planned on giving me this card. I totally had no idea what it was, nor did I know I was supposed to win anything else at all. Nothing better than getting an unexpected gift:)

Till tomorrow...

So, I figured I would get lots of development done, seeing as I didn't have to go into work today. However, the day turned into a day of replying to e-mails, sending out dialog requirements, and LOTS of web surfing.

To my credit, I did implement a small sequence, and started on the dialog for it. Sometimes, I can write good dialog, and sometimes, I can't...This time, I could:) In fact, it is dialog for a certain NPC that got little exposure in The Coming, yet people always seemed to mention that they like him/her. I will definitely finish the dialogue tomorrow morning...

So, I had lots of e-mails to respond to, and I am glad I had an entire day to do it. Just more of the back and forths with different people who are doing different things for the project. Yeah, I like to have my hands in everything:)

I also got around to sending some dialogue requirements out. All week, I knew what I wanted, but just today, I got this idea, and decided to run with it. One of the people on the team, David Timmons made a demo module for me last week. In it, there was this puzzle that I really wanted to implement in the game, so I asked him if I could poach it from him, and he agreed. So, the dialog I sent out requirements for is for that particular NPC that gives the PC the puzzle. I also was able to get a particular track for the game, which I have been looking for for ages. So, I am very grateful to him for it.

Till tomorrow...

I didn't leave the office until 8:30 pm, which means that I didn't get home until 11:3o pm...So, to say the least, I am not in the best mood, so I don't really have much to report. Tomorrow, I have to go to a funeral, so I won't be going into work. After the funeral, I will be able to get a lot of work done. In fact, the first thing I need to do is answer a lot of e-mails...

By the way, my latest interview by Bioware community manager Jay Watamaniuk is available. Check it out here .

Till tomorrow...

So, yeah...What a weird day...I always say that I want to be a game designer and all, and well, that is what I did today, and only only that. Yep, no actual implementation when I got home at all. Before I passed out this morning, I did put some final finishing touches on the current quest I was working on, but that was it.

When I got home, it was all business. First off, I spent over 2 hours responding to an e-mail about a little side development that is going. As always, this person wants to remain anonymous, as well as what he is working on, so I can't just say much yet. Anyway, since this is my 1st time dealing with a situation like this, I am finding out so much stuff that I never new. After finishing the e-mail, I really started feeling how I could understand how a Lead Game Designer/Director  would never actually touch any code. And, I am only dealing with 1% of what a professional would have to go through...

After finishing up with the e-mail, I moved on to more of them. In particular, there was another e-mail that dealt with the design of the very quest I have been working on for the past few days. As I mentioned before, I implemented the core scripting, but not all of the dialogue and everything. At any rate, there were a few small issues to iron out, and I decided to make a more formal post on the forums to keep everyone in the loop. Now that all of this stuff is behind me, I can do what I have been meaning to do for days...Get some more dialog requirements out to the writers. There aren't that many more NPC's that need dialog, but it just has to get done sometime...

Till tomorrow...

First off, I stayed up a little longer than I anticipated, so this update will be a bit shorter than I wanted. So let's just jump into it...

So, Back in September of 2005, I started work on a new side quest for Dematol. At the time, everything seemed fine. I knew what I wanted, and the implementation was going to be easy. I even went so far as to implement the main mechanics of it, including a rather detailed cut-scene. Then, for whatever reason, I shelved the idea, as I didn't think it made sense to have it anymore.

Then, a few months ago, I made a post at the official Cry The Beloved forums to get the opinions of some people. Even though nothing really came of it, I began to implement just a little more of it, which ended up being more than the cut-scene I had did 8 months ago.

Well, a few weeks ago, it got a little more attention, and some people from the team took it upon themselves to really design the majority of it. Then, 2 days ago, I was on IM with one of those people, Rick Sanderson. After a bit of back and forth, we mapped out the rest of the quest, including the different outcomes, and he even said he would take on the role of writing the dialogue. I couldn't have asked for anything more, since 8 months after it's inception, this quest was finally getting it's time to shine.

Well, since I had things to move on to this week, I figured this quest was just as good as anything else. Now, remember, I had implemented a lot of the core scripts of this quest over the past 8 months. So, when I began glue the pieces together today, everything just fell into place. To be honest, all I need is the dialogue, and this quest will be done. Thank god I took the 4-5 days to script the damn thing 8 months ago:) Now, I just have to get in contact with Rick...

After this, there is yet another quest that the kind folks over at the forums took it upon themselves to design. I have to say, this team thing is really starting to work out great:)

Till tomorrow...

Well, I finally did it. I finally tied up all of the loose ends for the many sequences that I have worked on for the past month or so. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to test them out before writing this update, as I really want to get to bed early. However, I am confident all will be fine, and if it isn't, the fix shouldn't be that hard...

After I verify everything works tomorrow, I will need to make the decision if I will go through the module, compile a list of issues to fix for the week, or move on to the next thing I want to implement. I have a feeling I am going to go with adding this new side quest that I initially started last October. Depends on how I feel I guess...More info on that stuff later.

Finally, I have still been listening to this new piece of music all day. And I still don't know how I will use it. I just know that I will...Decisions, decisions...

Till tomorrow...

This was probably close to one of the longest development days of the entire life cycle of Cry The Beloved. I didn't work the entire time, but if I wasn't working, I was traversing the internet for video game related stuff...

As far as development goes, I finally finished up everything that I wanted to. All the different small paths the player can take during the sequence are handled correctly. All transitions are working correctly. All the music is in place. There is one more part of it I might add at a later point, but it isn't worth it as of now. It will end up being a nice to have that I may get to before I release the game.

I also made a lot of tweaks to some various monsters the player will have to deal with before getting to the area with the aforementioned sequence. I just played with their stats really. I didn't implement any new custom abilities or anything like that.

In between working on the game, as I mentioned above, I was visiting the sites of various new video games. Somehow, by chance, I stumbled upon a few pieces of music that you could download for free, and let me tell you, one of these pieces is great. Great enough that after downloading and listening for the 1st time, I had it on repeat the rest of the night. And by the rest of the night, I mean 6 hours! It's that good! I believe I know where I can use it, but I will have to wait until I am building that particular area to know for sure...As a little spoiler, this piece has a very grand sound to it, much different from the somber, depressing themes I have been using in the game. Hey, the name of the game is Cry The Beloved! What kind of music did you expect? :)

Finally, I just have to publicly shout out one of my ALPHA testers, although he really can't just be called that anymore. This particular individual (yes, I forgot to ask him if he cared if I mentioned his/her name...) has been in contact with me, via IM, for the better part of the past 2 weeks. We have been conspiring together to get some new, fresh content into the game. After showing me various screenshots of things they could make in the toolset, I asked if they could put together some haks for me. Not only did they put together some haks, they actually put together an entire damn demo module. I actually just got done playing it, and it really served its purpose. Again, the demo module in itself isn't that big, but the fact that this person took time out of their life to do something for little old me says a lot. So, if you are reading this entry, thanks again!

Till tomorrow...

So, I was able to stay awake on the train this morning, and continue to implement this never ending, very annoying sequence. Under normal circumstances, this would not take as long. However, I am going through that monthly phase of wanting to do other things in life than just make games. I know myself well enough to know that this phase will pass soon. Most likely, when I move on to the next sequence to build, I will have forgotten about what I was feeling this entire week.

As far as other things, I received a very nice new convo from someone yesterday, which I still need to put in game. As a matter of fact, I will just do it right after I am done writing this update, as it isn't really a big task. I am also in the design process of yet another portrait of another character from Rose Of Eternity. I won't give any secrets away, except that I think this one will be the best so far!

Till tomorrow...

Yeah yeah, I know, I can't seem to get over these pics:) Anyway, these are some smaller versions, that I am planning on putting in various places. For one, I might replace the current versions at their respective pages, but I haven't decided yet...

So, I mentioned as a small teaser that I wouldn't be going into work today. The reason was something that meant a lot to me.

In short, I was interview by the Poughkeepsie Journal, a local newspaper in the area of New York I am from. The best part of it has to be the fact that I finally got a chance to sit down, and be interviewed by somebody, face to face, rather than fill out an in-personal questionnaire. Don't get me wrong, I love having the opportunity to be interviewed, but like I said, it is much better when it is impromptu, and you can look the interviewer in their eyes.

Before the reporter got there, the photographer arrived. As you can imagine, he was there to take some profile shots of me, as well as some shots of me while I am in my element (i.e. working on Cry The Beloved ). What was interesting was the fact that he ended up staying the entire time, taking pictures the entire time. Even while the reporter was interviewing me, he was constantly taking pictures. He did make a small comment, about how used to the camera I got. The reporter would ask me a question, like "How long have you been playing video games?", and while I was getting into my answer, the photographer would have taken 30-40 shots of me, when I didn't even realize it. 

All in all, it was a fun experience, and I am glad I got to go through it. I will post more when the interview is actually put in the paper next week. I am not sure if this will get me any more exposure than normal, but hey, you never know. I figure that at the very least, it can't hurt me, which is a good thing:)

Till tomorrow...

So, after 2-3 days of sub par development, I finally broke out of my shell, and devoted a lot of time today. On the train ride into work, I was able to continue implementing the never-ending sequence for at least 30 minutes before passing out. Since I have the day off tomorrow (will explain why tomorrow), I decided to leave work a little bit later than usual. And no, I wasn't doing work. I was doing what I do best at work. Playing foosball:) Man, I really love that game, and there is nothing better than having like 16 co-workers hanging out at the table at the end of the day, cracking jokes, and in general, having a good time. Reminds me of a fraternity:)

On the way back, I was able to stay awake the entire time. So, there were lots of lingering issues over the past few days, and tonight, I bit the bullet, and fixed them. However, something that happened that I should have expected. I had an epiphany about how the sequence could end, and more or less thought up an entire new scenario. Not all players will experience it, but I think it is something that will give the game variety. As always, it doesn't seem like it would be a difficult thing to implement, but you all know how that goes...

Moving on, as you can see to the left, there is a new picture of Aramus. This was actually sent to me the day I received the other ones. At any rate, I shrunk it down so that it could fit here, but the full size is perfect for a desktop image. In fact, all computers in my house now have this wallpaper as a desktop image:) As I mentioned before, I am thinking of releasing all original art for Rose Of Eternity on the Vault. Not sure how, or when, but something will happen.

Finally, anyone who read my daily updates when I was at the Game Developers Conference a few weeks ago should have remembered me talking about this reporter that asked me a lot of questions regarding music. Well, you can imagine how surprised I was to come across this article . It is a VERY interesting article regarding sound/music in video games...And we all know where I stand with this subject:) Anyway, my name is brought up at the beginning of the 2nd page. Nothing major really, but interesting nonetheless.

Till tomorrow...

So, I don't feel like I accomplished all that much today, yet it was definitely more than yesterday:) In the morning, I continued to run through the scenario, and try every possible solution. On the way home, I then began to document all the bugs associated with all of the different possibilities.

When I got home, I knocked out all but one bug, and this bug isn't really a bug, it is more of an addition I need to make tomorrow. I know I have been talking about how I should have finished this already, but sometimes things just don't work out the way I expect them. Such is life...

Another thing that has slowed things down is the fact that I have been getting out of work a lot later than usual. Hopefully, I will be able to start getting out of work at the normal time tomorrow...

Till tomorrow...

Not much to report today. Sometimes, in development, I get working on parts that are just difficult to finish. The main issue is that I didn't have my notebook, so anything that popped up, I would try to remember, and then forget later on...

I did a bit more work with a combat scene, but the AI is a little off, as the enemy is attacking the wrong person in the party. Also, a key NPC keeps going hostile on me. *Sigh* Just one of those days, I guess...

Towards the end of the day at work, I was in a bit of a foul mood, so when I got on the train, I just opted to sleep, instead of doing work. No point in rushing things anymore than I have already. Hopefully, I can just put an end to this current debacle, and move on in life:)

Till tomorrow...

Today was a little bit of a frustrating day, to say the least. Although, I have to admit, it did start off promising...Fresh off of the love of having some new portraits, I decided to get these bad boys in game. I did a Google search for custom portraits, and found something really fast concerning getting custom portraits for PC's. I was able to get Aramus' portraits working fast, and easy. I have not made an update to The Coming in a long time, but I think I will change the portrait for Aramus in the coming days. That all depends on what I will start talking about next...

Now that I had Aramus' stuff working, I moved on to Clopon, which made sense since I have artwork for her as well. Long story short, the implementation is a bit different for NPC's, and there were some issues between my custom portraits, and those in the CEP. I think I know how to move on from here, but I have an open thread at the custom content forums to get someone else's perspective.

On the game front, I implemented much of a new scene, getting the new custom music in there and everything. The only thing left is to get some dialog in there. Oh, and actually make the fight scene:) Again, I am trying to make it so that the player might not have to fight. For whatever reason, some people like to have the chance to not fight bosses. I don't understand it, but that isn't my job. My job is to put fun stuff into this game, so I don't really ask questions anymore:)

Till tomorrrow...

What can I smell you ask? Well, the end of this entire development process, that's what! I mean, don't get me wrong, there is still lots to finish up, but as far as the progress on the primary quest, everything is wrapping up just fine. 

I even went on a little development tangent, and began creating content that I wasn't even planning on putting in this game. Now, this usually happens, but this new part is something quite major. It will introduce a major protagonist to the player that they wouldn't have seen for another 1-2 chapters. Again, this is an example of having a general idea, and then when implementation comes, that idea changing a bit. Nothing wrong with that at all, considering the same thing happened in The Coming.

However, this little idea I had pushed back the finishing of the sequence I have been working on by a day or so. Not a big deal, but it happened nonetheless...I think if I concentrate, and not watch as much TV, I can finish it all up by the end of tomorrow night. That would be perfect, as I like to finish up major things on the weekends. That could give me another week go through the game, to make sure nothing is broken, and that I successfully glued all of the various pieces of sequences together correctly. In other words, no plot killing bugs, broken transitions, etc.

In terms of what I did today, I listened to the main theme that I was going to use for this particular character in a subsequent chapter. Since he/she will be making an introduction in this module, I have to get this track in as well. I think it might only be heard once or twice, but who cares. It's the little things that matter:)

I also created a new enemy, complete with custom armor, and animations. I had never created an enemy like this before, so it took a little bit longer than usual to get things the way I wanted them. This of course included play testing fights over and over again...As always, I will have to wait until the ALPHA testers get their hands on it to make the definitive decision to be happy with it:) As for everything else, well, it was just little stuff here and there. You know, a placeable here, a script fix here, just the normal. Nothing too exciting...

As for the daily screenshot, as you can see, I decided to show the same one from yesterday, in case somebody read the updates yesterday. Also, I just wanted to look at it while writing this update:) If you can't already tell, I really like this piece....A lot...I was thinking about it, and it reminded me of old school art from a Disney cartoon, before they made the shift to CG movies (i.e. Toy Story). I remember as a kid, I always imagined a cartoon that had the art style of a great Disney movie, but with the adult type story of a Japanese anime movie. Yeah, yeah, I know Japanimation has great art style too, but I still wanted to see it with Disney art.

Speaking of which, this art has inspired me to share something with everyone. This is an idea that I am not sure would fly in the current RPG community, but something I would want to try nonetheless...One day, I want to make a commercial RPG, that has...singing...Not just the type of singing you hear during the opening cut-scene for The Coming. No, I mean a full fledged, singing sequence, a la the standard Disney movie. Now, let me explain before I lose half of my fan base:)

I wouldn't want any hokey songs, such as Hakuna Mutata from The Lion King. However, I wouldn't mind putting some of the more serious type songs in there, such as God Help The Outcasts from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. I know everyone thinks I am mad when I say this, but you know how I am. I want to be known as one of those people that continually push the envelope. Now, I wouldn't use these songs as much as I used cut-scenes in The Coming, but they would definitely be used for sequences like the opening intro. Also, not every major character would know how to sing. There would be one however, who could sing very well, that would get the chance to show off her skills via a singing sequence. *Shrug* I don't know, maybe I am thinking too much out of the box. However, when I get the chance to do this commercially, and have the available talent, I will do it...If only I had someone who knew how to sing and write songs right now:)

So tomorrow, as I mentioned earlier, I will hopefully put the final touches on the sequence I have been working on for the last week, ever since getting back from the Game Development Conference. Also, community member Enigmalice sent me some weapon/armor packs that I think I will make use of. There is a demo module for it, so I will either check it out after writing this update, or early tomorrow morning. Either way, I am looking forward to it.