Speaking of chapters, now that I've further refined the script and created more of the in-game content, I'm reversing my decision on releasing a demo. Now, the demo will be chapter one in its entirety. I'm doing this for two reasons: First, I don't want people to replay through the content twice to test my mod, although I appreciate everyone who offered to! Second, chapter one is basically the introduction, so I know it won't contain many profound branching options, so it makes the most sense to get that content out of the way before I start going crazy with the rest of the story. The less stuff I have to worry about transferring to chapter two, the better. With this in mind, it's possible chapter two will be one big giant final chapter. Considering it's the year 2016, I want to see how much content I can cram into it before people's computers croak, or my own as I work on the editor. I mean it's crappy Neverwinter Nights graphics, how bad could it be, right? I believe Demonheart's author, Lamb, broke hers up to make it easier for her to work, and not necessarily for user performance reasons, so I think as long as the mod is editing fine on my end, I can make it as big as I want.Chapter one consists of the protagonist meeting the main cast, traversing parts of her city, the lore, and various miscellaneous events to further define the type of character you want to play. I'm still open to improving upon the chapter after its release - based on feedback - but the story is final.
Meanwhile, my script file has become so big, it's hard to scroll through it! I predicted this would happen, so I made a table of contents at the top with bookmark shortcuts linking to different parts of the file. That procedure worked for a while, until I noticed having a single file made it awkward for branching decisions! Navigating certain non-linear segments was becoming a nightmare, especially when taking a break and revisiting it later. It was affecting my writing enthusiasm! To counter this, I converted my single script file into multiple files; then, I used Microsoft Excel to point to the different files, forming what visual novel enthusiasts would recognize as a decision tree. It's been a great resource to organize my thoughts, and I figure after my mod is finished, I can provide the file as an optional walk-through. It's helping me navigate my script, so it should help others navigate the game.
I promise this won't be a hard mod. Any mod or game requiring a walk-through is not good game design. I don't like players getting lost or confused, so I'm providing detailed journal entries, adding landmarks to the areas (fountains, statues, etc.), and keeping the main quest as the focus. There won't be many side-quests, and when there are, they will focus on the main cast and be short, and certainly not fetch quests. Going back to what I said in an earlier blog entry, I want to keep the story focused and treat the player's time with respect, especially because there are mystery elements to the story, and I can't afford for the player to forget who the characters are because they were too distracted killing rats from a random quest giver.
I'll end this entry by saying I've been dabbling with an
under-appreciated PC game called The Age of Decadence. It reminds me a
bit of my mod, favoring character interactions over combat. Depending on your class, the story
changes dramatically, with many choices and consequences; however, that part is too ambitious for my mod, considering I'm a single developer! My only issues
with Age of Decadence are it's turn-based combat and the women are ugly as hell -- they look
like men! It's pretty sad when Neverwinter Nights graphics are superior
to some of today's titles, but it's also refreshing to see good game design and stories take precedence over graphics. Maybe developers will one day distance themselves from the Call of Duty clones and work on real games!.. Or not.