Special for Nacaal

Seahorse Cove Prefab slum area, default lighting: nighttime
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PrefabAreas.Detail&id=10762&id=331

Same area, relit using "Exquisite Lighting" daynightset, made darker at nighttime and using soft windowlights. The lights are SLS "3 Candles" with lerp off. For small windows the "3 candles" radius is reduced to 2. Notice the window glow at top right.

Same area, another view. Notice the glow near the windows from the 3 Candles light, especially visible in the two larger windows near the center of the picture.

Same area, relit using "Exquisite Lighting" daynightset, made darker at moonset and using soft windowlights.

For reference, the same area, using "Exquisite Lighting" daynightset, daytime.

For reference, the same area, default light

Same area, default moonset.

Polishing

One thing I'm doing in my polishing is changing the lighting. Here is the prefab of Riverbridge before went to work, the time of day is set to moonset.





And here it is after, still at moonset. Building windows with lights in them actually light. The lighting actually looks like it's nighttime. The lightset is based on the "exquisite" set on the Vault, but darker during the night.


The other main thing that get the once over during the polishing pass are conversations. I'm going through the conversations to make sure placeholders are filled in and journal updating looks right (and making the journals multiplayer friendly). Companion interjection and greater pc dialog choice also happen during the polishing phase.

Areas also get some extra work if they need it, for instance the prefab that is serving as Murann was much too "clean" for a city under control of a goblinoid army. It got extensively scrubbed with dirt and irregularity. Now it looks more natural and more like an occupied city.

I am also checking area names, music (most areas have none), making sure areas connect to the overland map, things of that sort. It's an effort to giving everything a "final" look and bring the areas into a state where only bugfixing is needed. Ideallly, after polishing no one will look at an area and say "hey, it really seems like this area is missing an oxcart".

Companion teamwork

Path of Evil has two types of ways you can team with your companions. Here is an example of each.

A particular companion is in the party: Your companions have particular skills that you can access by asking them. One companion is a skilled forger for instance. So in a quest involving forgery, if the companion is in the party you can simply ask them to do it. You can try your hand at forgery yourself if you'd like, but there are skill checks involved. The companion automatically succeeds.

This type of teamwork requires you be able to talk to the companion, typically without anyone who would find the action hostile being there to notice. You can't have your companion forge something if the NPC's are standing there.

Friendship teamwork: The companion Kvas is your best friend from childhood. Because of this, you have teamwork options with him that you can carry out even if you're being watched. For example, you can distract someone while Kvas steals from them.

Friendship teamwork involves a skillcheck, but not one for the action being attempted, rather it's a check to see if you distracted the NPC sufficiently for Kvas to perform an action. For example, there is a quest that involves putting poison in someone's drink. You can try this yourself with a sleight of hand or Dexterity check. If Kvas is in the party, you can check Craft Weapon and make small talk about the NPC's scimitar, or try a Perform check and sing a quick song in the NPC's honor. A successful check distracts the NPC enough for Kvas to put the poison in the drink. Kvas's success is dependent on your skill.

Custom loading screen Screenshots

As with the first module, there are custom load screens for each area. Here are some before and after shots. The first three pictures are taken in the toolset.

And here they are as loadscreens. To get this effect I take the screenshots and loaded them into GIMP. First I applied the Oilify filter (Filter -> Artistic -> Oilify) using the default settings. The border was done by using the Fuzzy Border filter (Filter -> Decor -> Fuzzy Border) with a 32 pixel black border.

Oilify works well when there's significant color contrast or strong colors.

The middle picture in each set is the Solvheil Ruins prefab (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PrefabAreas.Detail&id=363)

Stronghold screenshots

In Path of Evil, you will be able to rule a stronghold. And here's some screenshots.


Your throne room:






A merchant you can hire: (yesssss, he'sssss a yuan-ti)

Path of Evil progress update

Since I didn't feel like too much writing and scripting this past week, I focused on filling in the random overland map areas the party can visit. With all these being prefabs, the only work needed was placing monsters/treasure and the like. As a result, most are now ready for exploration, hacking and slashing. A few small sidequests in there as well. Think of them like the areas off the main path in BG.

A few prefabbed areas came prelinked/thematically related, and their design suggested some quests ideas that I haven't fleshed out yet. So those two areas are on the overland map and can be entered, but currently are empty.

Still to do:
a remote desert oasis town on the edge of faerun needs more population besides it's current lone merchant. ditto for a town in the far north. Both these areas are just quick stops on the overland map, so they don't need to be extensively filled in, a few more merchants and some random commoners would do. They are just pit stops for players to sell loot or restock.

The town where the players stronghold is needs to be developed. There will be 3-4 quests here as well involving the players interaction with the current powers of the town. The stronghold itself is built but needs to be filled in more, and the generic stronghold system conversations need to be converted to campaign specific ones.

Another town is complete, but was a prefab set outside faerun. The lore and conversations needs to be converted to Faerun lore/conversations. As it's the location of one quest mcguffin, it needs to have more quests put into place other than the single current quest leading to the mcguffin. Fortunately, the built in conversations for the area suggest several quest hooks, so I only have to fill them in and give them an evil spin.

Companion conversations about quests are almost all written (8 companions x the number of quests, plus many have different things to say depending on the quest state = lots of work). They still need to be able to say what they think of each other and important npc's. Then the conversations need to be moved into the toolset. Their interjections into pc conversations need to be added in many cases, and their "flavor" conversations for different areas have to be done. Currently they are silent SoZ party creation type companions.

Seems like a lot remains, but filling out the overland areas seems like a hilltop and completion and the beginning of testing now seems downhill.

New and Redone Creatures

Meet a few new or redone creatures.

The ghost of an ogre mage.

A phase spider, out of phase.

A rime skeleton from the frozen north, rime skeletons are internally lit by the sheer cold that exudes from them. I should add that rime skeletons are a redo of the Hellfire skeletons on the Vault already, subbing cold effects for fire effects, so while new, they aren't "new".