the Relentless Crunch

Project 0 has been suspended until further notice. Duty calls in the form of 12 hour days and it's a bitch. We've been wiped. Day after day, I've had to hammer on builds at my job as a game tester as we make our final push to deliver a finished AAA product.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but today I was ordering lunch a local spot, and when my cousin asked whether we eat it at the restaurant or the office, I responded that I'd prefer to eat it at home (my desk). Yes, crunch does strange things to the mind.

Going home from work is quite the disorienting experience. Each night I experience a micro-existential crisis wandering around the living room surrounded by games and I can barely muster the energy to put on a movie. I can barely do my laundry!

The point is that I've moved on from the mod project and accepted that it's not humanly possible to work 12 hour days and weekends, and go home and spend another three to four hours working. This may come off as an inflated excuse for my lack of work over the second week on the project, but it's truth: I don't have time to do a mod project right now.

So instead of giving up on this blog, I've decided that I'll admit to the mistake of trying something hardly ambitious during such a crazy time and move on without slowing down. With that in mind, I am turning back to a summer project that I can continue to work and write about on my downtime at my job.

With that introduction I present my Magic: The Gathering Classics Cube. I will be updating the goals of the project in the next couple of days.

Oxford isn't Finished: Lessons in Layout

After two nights of working on the Oxford area, it's clear that it will be the bulk of the level design work. At least I hope that the interior design doesn't require nearly as much hands on detail as the exterior area design.

So far my approach has been simple trial and error. I take a model, place it on the map, see if I like it, if not, it's gone. Same process goes with textures, layout and lighting. This seems appropriate as there is no other way to learn what models are at your disposal than to simply see for yourself.

On the other hand, there is a degree of city planning that is required to properly laying out a level. Same as the model placememt, there is a degree of trial and error, but I've quickly realized that I'm going to need some kind of layout to guide the rest of the design. One could use the editor to paint the layout in texture using an overhead view, but it simply makes more sense to grab an overhead screenshot and 'Paint' in the layout. :)



As you can see, after two nights of the trial and error, I've finally conceded that I need to layout the design. I still plan on doing quite a bit of trial and error - or baking and compiling as I should put it - however I don't want to blindly lay down models without having a plan going forward.

I must say that I'm impressed with the new Windows 7 paint. It's pretty damn fun :)

The big picture (even bigger than the project at hand)

Heading Jordan's advice, if we look at the process as a whole, I would do myself a favor by measuring the models relative sizes to the layout grid and do some old school woodshop layout on some graph paper. You can see in the overhead view that I sloppily layed it out in a couple minutes because I've hit my two hour ceiling (I'm not three hours in).

Like Jordan pointed out, there has to be a balance between the big picture and the minute tasks. I have learned pretty handily how to use the tools at this point; I've become much more efficient when navigating the UI. Now it's time to step back from my task and do something that has more to do with design thinking than learning a set of tools.

The next post may or may not contain scanned graph paper depending on my patience after working a twelve hour day...

Regardless of whether or not I'm behind on the project (yes, I am) I am proud of the work that I've put in thus far based on the limited amount of free time I'm given in a day. If I were to end today, I would know that I am in a position to learn tools very quickly. And it's been fun! Now I just have to get Jordan to put in as much time as I have :)

A conversation with Jordan 11/9/2009

This seems like a pretty standard question: should I be task focused or big picture focused. In this conversation Jordan and I discussed where we should be looking at this point in the project. I told him that I have no interest in dragging this project beyond two weeks. Whatever get's done within the allotted timeframe is what I'm going to call the finished project.

Jordan points out that just because we are working and doing essential tasks doesn't mean we should stop thinking about the big picture. His concern comes from wanting all things to mesh together while we are doing our tasks.

Here is the conversation:

Jordan says:
I'll see
what I can do
I'll at least start with a couple basic units and we can expand from there
I was thinking of basically making fighters, clerics, and rogues
with the rogues doubling as archers
as the standard enemies
[S]ean says:
I was thinking for one of the three scripting sequences we could set it up so that when the player enters the oxford village, his Blood Defenders start attacking nearby enemies
then by the time the player is done with the zone, all of his allies are killed except for him and Rasmus
Jordan says:
yeah maybe so
that's cool with me
[S]ean says:
so you would need to make two other blueprints. One for a barbarian warrior, and one for barbarian shamn
Jordan says:
for the defenders?
yeah
[S]ean says:
yeah
I want to see shaman casters for the barbarians
and I have a feeling that the scripted attack sequence could be more difficult than we think
we might want to look online for a basic script then edit it as needed
Jordan says:
probably so
we may not want to do it for sure until the second release
[S]ean says:
there isn't going to be another release, whatever we get done with this project is the end
that's what I get tired of hearing at my work :/
"we'll patch that later."
Jordan says:
yeah, but unfortunately it
is really neccessary
and there's a difference between putting off patches that effect functionality and versions that expand on the project
I don't know... I just think that we shouldn't necesarily trash all the work we do
doing one big project in chunks can be just as useful as doing several small ones
[S]ean says:
I have no intention of doing that
but that's what we're doing
several small projects over the course of two weeks
Jordan says:
I don't see the point in starting over each time
[S]ean says:
Maybe I haven't made it clear why I'm doing this project. I'm interested in learning the toolset while practicing skills in the development cycle. I want to make a mod that's a proof of concept that I can push something out the door under a deadline.
Jordan says:
right
I completely understand
so, if you take this idea and run with it, you can still do that
[S]ean says:
* 3+ separate and fully decorated areas with transitions to eachother
* 3+ different sets of scripted battles
* 1+ NPC conversation
* Fully written flavor text for all examined objects
Jordan says:
you just also run across things that would ONLY happen in a relatively big project
[S]ean says:
those are the only things I care about doing in two weeks
Jordan says:
I know
and that's fine
[S]ean says:
one of those three scripts should be a battle scene in the town
Jordan says:
but the nexty two weeks, we can keep our original template and create new goals
[S]ean says:
Sure
If we decide to expand on the project that's fine
Jordan says:
ya
[S]ean says:
but that's not something I'm concerned with at this point. That's something I'll concern myself with AFTER we've completed all the requirements
and hopefully we'll have completed them in the two week timeframe
that's my goal
Jordan says:
that's fine
[S]ean says:
jsec
can you do me a favor and copy this transcript and email it to me?
Jordan says:
hold on
[S]ean says:
thanks
Jordan says:
on a conference call
[S]ean says:
ah ok
Jordan says:
I'm just saying, there's no reason to overly compartmentalize, or be short-sighted. Taking a big project in chunks is extremely valuable for learning the toolset and meeting deadlines
probably moreso than a bunch of small, unrelated projects
[S]ean says:
But you can't just be a big picture thinker. That's always been my problem. I'm trying to quantify the work. Make this many NPCs, create this many areas, have at least three scripted sequence, etc
Jordan says:
it's a combination of both
take the section you're working on as a project in itself
[S]ean says:
I'm telling you that you have barely have used the toolset and your already thinking about what we'll be doing in a month
exactly
Jordan says:
but keep in mind that it's not a complete level or platform in and of itself
[S]ean says:
that doesn't matter when it comes to the pipeline. You have to do certain things before you can do other thing
Jordan says:
well, I know
[S]ean says:
You have to have the areas made and the NPC's ready to place in the level before you start writing the scripts
I'm not trying to argue with you Jordan
Jordan says:
I didn't know we were arguing
[S]ean says:
ok, I just wanted to make sure we were on the same level
Jordan says:
i know what you're saying
[S]ean says:
I'm trying to point out that there is a lot of work that needs to be done before we start thinking about the big picture again
the big picture is all thinking and zero work
Jordan says:
I know
[S]ean says:
right now, it's simply buckle down, use the toolset, show eachother some proof of concept then go from there
Jordan says:
but just because you're working it doesn't mean you shouldn't be thinking

First Playable Zone: The Shores of England

The backstory post could have been pushed out the door yesterday if I had really wanted to push my creativity. But just today I was able to fully sit down with the terrain editor and bust through a whole lot of the environmental details.

Truth be told, framerate takes quite a hit even on my mongo machine when I was rendering a level caked in grass. Once I added the tree's it seemed as thought the framrate didn't jump so much. It was quite a process of working with the terrain editor and choosing the proper textures to match the mood of an English coastside. I'm not entire sure I did the coastline justice, so I may go back and add more level change and cliff detail.

Again, the same exact motiff that I knew going into this project: I don't have enough time, energy, or focus. Luckily, as I began working, my energy and focus picked up a bit, but I rarely have three hours to sit and work.

These are the screen shots from the Shores of England zone:

Sunday Bloody Sunday

The time crunch is already being felt. Even before starting this project people had told me that the number one reason to set a deadline for a project is to see just how hard it is to do everything you want to do to a satisfactory degree. Needless to say, I'm already unsatisfied

Yesterday I tasked myself with writing the backstory and creating the areas. Jordan has been put in charge of creating the appearance and flavor for all the various NPC's that we'll be using.

I used to think that the hard part was coming up with a storyline, but once the ball began to roll it simply snowballed. In college I took a few Scandinavian culture classes. One of them being Scandinavian sagas. I've decided that this mod will be (very) loosely based on an English crusade against Pagan Danes that would lead to a series of raids by the great king of Denmark Sveinn Tjúguskegg. Following the St. Brice's Day massacre, an event that would be considered ethnic cleansing by todays standards, the king of Denmark began to send viking raids to revenge the massacre. Eventuall Sveinn would become the king of England, but would die shortly thereafter. The setting is very fitting since the St. Brice's day massacre occurred on November 13, 1002 A.D.

The backstory was pretty difficult to write. Not because I feel like I have poor writing skills, rather because I felt ridiculously geeky sensationalizing Scandinavian literature :). Yes, I butchered it and I don't care. One word: milestone.

Without further ado, here is the write-up I submitted to Jordan:

Backstory -
As the Anglo-Saxton wars of the 10th century slowed to a near stop, the great barbarian King of Scandinavia Svend Tveskæg was growing old and preparing for death. Svend was a tyrant viking ruler that expanded his empire to seven times it's size after taking the throne in 918 A.D. By his decree, he had ordered England to be subjected to continued raids even if he was to die before it had became a territory of his kingdom

As the legends goes, when Svend turned fifteen, his father sent him on a quest to slay the last red dragon prince Salazzan effectively ending the bloodline of Dragons. He was granted command of 100 of the kingdoms greatest barbarian warriors. Svend was the only survivor of the battle at the lair. When he returned from the adventure, he walked through the streets carrying the head of the great beast. Blood dripped from his mouth for Svend had drunk the blood of the creature. It was on that day that Svend slew his father and took his place at the throne.

On the morning of the king's 102nd birthday, a messenger rode to the gates of his castle demanding a word with him. "Sire, I come bearing word from England." cried the messenger; his head hung as he spoke. "Elthelred of the Crusade has ignited the masses and has slaughtered our people. Among the them was your sister Gunhilde" The weathered king looked encumbered as he sat silently listening. The crown lay heavily on his pale white brow. He pulled back his nappy hair and tied a crude braid. Suddenly, with viperous speed, the king lifted his axe and split the helm of the messenger down his torso. Entrails were strewn across the great hall as the Blood Defenders stoically awaited command.

They set sail to England that afternoon...

Characters -
Svend Tveskæg - the great barbarian king of Scandinavia.

Rasmus Tiertegard - Svenn Forkbeards right-hand man and head of the Blood Defenders. Not much is known about Rasmus. He was taken from his family at the age of five and raised to be a defender of the Tveskæg bloodline. He is extremely close with Svend

Ethelred of the Crusade - Ethelred is a Christian crusader of the highest degree. His war against the pagan Danes would eventually be his downfall. Svend has left his country to settle a vendetta with Ethelred.

Gunhilde - Sister of Svenn Forkbeard who was a residing diplomat in Oxford. She never appears as a living NPC, however, Svend becomes enraged after finding her body at the Frideswide church. Upon seeing his sisters corpse, Svend enters a state of rage fueled by Salazzan's blood.

Areas -
Shores of England - Svend and his blood defenders start the mod on the shores of England where they build a base camp and prepare for the march to Oxford.

Oxford Town - The Oxford town is still under siege by Ethelred and his crusaders. Citizens and soldiers alike have come out in arms to slaughter the pagan Danes. In the midst of the chaos, the mob burns down the Frideswide church where Gunhilde has taken refuge.

Castle Ethelred - Great Hall - After revenging the fallen Danes, Svend and his troops make there way to Castle Ethelred. The great hall is the precursor to the final battle with Ethelred. Svend and his Blood Defenders must fight there way through a mass of soldiers to get to the throne.

Castle Ethelred - The Throne - The throne room is where the vendetta is settled and names are written in stone.

Project Zero: Tools for Inspiration

Objects are the meat and potatoes of NWN2 adventures. Tonight I looked into the different characteristics that you can give to various objects. The surface was barely skimmed since objects can be any kind of creature, placeable or useable item, all of which can have very unique characteristics.

I spent the majority of my time looking into the different ways the scripting would identify the different objects in game. It's very obvious that NWN2 is driven by the scripting language since all object characteristics are given developer code written names.

The terrain editor is surprisingly intuitive and I was quickly able to lay out a desert sand textured ground with scattered ponds filled with blood of fallen adventurers! There is a very convenient feature that allows you to find and replace any instance of a particular texture. I used it to see what the various texturing felt like when it came to landscaping the level.

I mentioned in the first post that my design inspiration would mostly be coming from the tools that are availible to me. In other words, tonight was a good chance for me to sit down and visually look through the character and monster models, play with character sheets, look at terrain and get a feel for what kind of setting I want to depict. Based on my criteria for success I'd much rather have a well layed out level with one or two basic scripts than an unfinished level with complicated scripts.

Next steps

After the first night of opening and playing with the NWN2 toolset these are the next steps that need to be completed:

1. Submit a 500 word back story to drive character and NPC inspiration
2. Submit a list of characters and NPC with general characteristic descriptions
   
3. Build the physical layout for each level using the terrain editor

Project Zero Begins

Hello World!

It's 8pm on a Friday night and I've decided to start my two week project with the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset. I like to think of tonight as the honeymoon after getting married to my career this week.

A career in games is nothing short of an obsession. You will never make it unless you truly love what you are doing. Not just playing game, but the entire process that goes into making a game.

I have started this blog mostly to document my learning process. It is a tool to use and remind myself what I have learned since I started working in games.

Project 0 - Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset

It was only a matter of time before Jordan and I opened up the toolset for NWN2. We have been playing through the campaign for a couple weeks now and I can only do so much gaming without learning. Neverwinter Nights was not so much of a game as it was a platform for another game: Dungeons and Dragons. The campaign is fun, but the MODs and creativity of the community is what I found more interesting than the game itself.

There are three possible drivers for the development of a game:

1. Team - A team that has a particular culture and strong set of specific skills will naturally tend to develop games that cator to those things. Teams that enjoy a particular genre will naturally have more creative ideas to bring to the table if they develop there.
   
2. Tools - Tools that are readily available provide good reason for a team to adopt and learn them. Epic just released the UDK for non-commercial purposes.
   
3. An idea - Sometimes a person simply has an idea that is so clear and purpose driven that you really can make it into a tangible game.

Ideally, I would like to develop an idea, but with a limited technological understanding and virtually no budget the main thing that is driving my first project is a readily availible toolset: the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset.

The good part is that I've already convinced Jordan to buy the game, that was the hard part, the easy part is telling Jordan that I'm developing a test mod and he jumps on board.

So it starts, two weeks from this exact moment is the deadline for Project 0

Title: Project 0
Mission: To develop a basic understanding of the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset and discover how a technology can inspire the development process.
Deadline: 8:30 pm 11/20/09
Criteria:

• 3+ separate and fully decorated areas with transitions to eachother
  
• 3+ different sets of scripted battles
• 1+ NPC conversation
• Fully written flavor text for all examined objects

Hello World!

Hello world!