Migrated to an SSD. Finally adding scenes from script.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! It's been a while -- time for an update.

First, I acquired my first Solid State Drive (SSD) for Christmas. I had to backup and migrate my old data to the SSD. Everything went well and the SSD runs great. It's a Samsung 840 EVO ~750GB. The data transfer speeds are insane compared to my old spin drive. The data below is my spin drive. The data above is my SSD. I'm not 100% sure what the numbers in this benchmark screenshot mean, but the graph indicates huge improvements! Judging by my speeds in the NWN Aurora toolset, this means less painful load times and faster modding.

Since the last update, I've mostly been implementing additional resource files. I have all the portraits settled on and installed, including new characters I haven't mentioned yet. I'm writing some in-game books for lore purposes. I also added custom loading screens and increased the number of playable classes, so you can now play as a Fighter, Rogue, Barbarian, or Paladin, as opposed to only Paladin. Finally, I think I've settled on a soundtrack. Depending if NWN Vault accepts the mod with this soundtrack, I may have to release two versions of my mod -- one with the soundtrack and the other without. I know for a fact the Nexus won't accept this, as they're anal on copyrights. I tried uploading a Skyrim anime Berserk soundtrack mod to the Nexus, which didn't work out, lol. Anyways, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm keeping the soundtrack a secret until release.

I'm finally taking some of my script and creating scenes. Until now, all my in-game content pertained to resources, so it's nice finally seeing things fleshed out. I must stress it's important I nail down the script and resources first, because working with the Aurora conversation editor is cumbersome. I'm waiting for it to grow on me, but it hasn't, lol.

As I expand my script, I am concerned about a promise I originally made in my FAQ I may backtrack from, especially since I'm a one man crew. I said, "I'm striving for a Japanese visual novel approach. Unlike most western games offering a huge decision near the end (ex. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), the Japanese visual novel approach provides major decisions near the middle of the story. Each route branch caters to a specific in-game character based on your past decisions." There's a problem with this I didn't account for: Japanese visual novels typically aren't detective stories. For a good detective story to work, it needs a strong conclusion. Ultimately, only one path will truly satisfy the player, as it is the only path where you discover the main culprit.

I think this is how the endings will work: One path is the true ending. This ending further branches into extended segments with whoever your romance option is. Your romance option is decided by choices you've made and scenes you're witnessed unique to your romance. Any other endings are "bad endings," generally involving rape, sexual slavery, etc. The problem with the true ending approach segmenting off into these romance endings is I must put it near the end of my mod and not the middle, because once the culprit is captured, all sense of suspense is lost, and I want to avoid degenerating the mod into a sappy love story. Romance is definitely a strong theme, but my hierarchy of importance is still mystery > sex > romance. I'll create a flow chart for those interested in seeing all the endings.

Hopefully, I can keep this blog more updated. I work a full-time job, so I'm trying to juggle this behemoth of a project while I can. Part of me wonders if I should have quit a long time ago, but I'm too deep into it now and I'm excited to know what you all will think of it upon its release.