Pegasus3d.com

[Jeremy Reimer]

Well, if anyone has been wondering why I haven't been on WoW lately, it's because I voluntarily kept myself from playing in order to hit the Jan 30th (11:59 PM EST, I just got in under the wire!) deadline for the Bioware Writing Contest.

This contest was pretty cool, you had to create a NWN mod in a single 4x4 area with only 4 characters (including the player) and less than 3,500 words including dialogue, journal entries and descriptions.

For those of you who have played around with the NWN editor, you'll know that a 4x4 area is pretty damned small, maybe 40 meters square in the scale of your characters. There could be only this one area, so you couldn't zap out or teleport anywhere during the module. Oh, and you couldn't have any combat in it. So basically it's just talking! But you have to make it a complete story and adventure anyway.

I have to say, I always knew writing for games was hard, but I had no idea how hard it actually was. Of course I drastically underestimated the time needed for everything, from writing the dialog to scripting to testing and debugging... egads! I feel completely wiped out.

I know I have almost 0.000 percent chance of winning the contest or even being one of the 8 finalists, because there are hundreds of mod writers with extensive mod writing experience that are sure to beat me. But that's okay, I did this for the experience. Just getting it in on deadline was an achievement enough for me. Mind you, the judges aren't going to be marking on the cleverness of the scripting at all (which is a good thing because mine was really barebones, just what I could learn during the two months I had since the contest was announced, and I really only got into the scripting a couple of weeks ago) Only the writing is being judged. So maybe I have a 0.0001 percent chance instead.

In the end I had to cut out some of the cool features that I had planned (like different reactions at the end depending on what you had said to the characters in the middle of the story) It's really hard to do truly interactive games, where the player is in control of the story. The branching possibilities get huge the moment you start giving choices, and suddenly the writer's work goes up exponentially. I knew this intellectually before I started, but having done it, now I really know it.

So, as a person who is very critical of writing in games today, I thought I should at least put my money where my mouth was. And I did. It was definitely a learning experience.

Once the judging is over and the winners announced, I can let anyone who cares download my mod and see for themselves. It's pretty short-- you can finish it in about 10 minutes if you hurry. But that ten minutes took two months to create from conception to finished product.

Time for sleep.
_________________
"Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries."
-- Carl Sagan

"Its not a rule. Its just something I noticed. Several of us have more than one sig." - Mord

"No, you are a troll, and I should have never let you back to Ars in after the first 16,000 bannings." - Caesar, to He Who Shall Not Be Named

[the twinkster]

I was interested in this contest, but there's no official version of the toolset for Macs and the freeware toolsets that are available are incomplete. Congratulations on your ability to follow through! I'd love to play your module after the contest is finished.

So do you basically have to tell a story through dialogue trees? Offhand, maybe I would cast the player as an officer of the authorities coming upon a crime scene and interviewing witnesses or something. Then at the end you have to decide "whodunit..." but I'm sure a million people tried that one.

I haven't scripted a game mod since my Escape Velocity days, and my mods -- on those rare occasions that they actually contained mission trees -- were pretty linear. I've had varying amounts of interest in modding since then, but never quite enough to follow through on it since the learning curve for NWN modding is so steep and there's no official toolset available to me.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Mord]

I have a lot of respect for people who can write good game scripts and environments with compelling content and convincing layouts. I find the whole process exhausting and grueling (yes, BOTH). I get more satisfaction in the game engine itself, its mechanics and rules.
_________________
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God. - Superintendant Pang, Lashou shentan (a.k.a. Hard-Boiled)
I note that you don't have any OSY member quotes in your sig. - the twinkster
Nonsense. "Bias" is people whom don't agree with me. - FondueDaredevil

Gabe: I wish you weren't a fucking liar.
Tycho: I'm not a liar.
Gabe: Well, I wish you didn't lie.

[Jeremy Reimer]

[the twinkster]

caesarbear just posted a link to the contest mods (there are 302!) in the "Recommended NWN mods" thread in the GESC. I may have mentioned yours there. Uh, in passing.



I don't have time to play it tonight, but will be doing so after work tomorrow.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Mord]

Yeah, the Aurora toolkit was really awkward. Especially with large modules it was nearly unmanageable.
_________________
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God. - Superintendant Pang, Lashou shentan (a.k.a. Hard-Boiled)
I note that you don't have any OSY member quotes in your sig. - the twinkster
Nonsense. "Bias" is people whom don't agree with me. - FondueDaredevil

Gabe: I wish you weren't a fucking liar.
Tycho: I'm not a liar.
Gabe: Well, I wish you didn't lie.

[the twinkster]

Apparently Tycho made a mod too. I'll try that one after work as well.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Harbinger]

I've not been around much the last week, so let me just say to JR: Congrats on meeting your goal (and I will try the mod too ). Hope you get some rest.
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Gaah. I don’t tend to bother about slashdot, because quite frankly, the whole _point_ of slashdot is to have this big public wanking session with people getting together and making their own “insightful” comment on any random topic, whether they know anything about it or not. -- Linus Torvalds, 20 Aug 2005

I heard that even small amounts of smam are highly unstable. Like anti-matter, only with polka dots. -- Mord

I don't make up rumors, I just falsify them. -- HitScan

Pentium-M eats G4 alive so quickly that the G4 is still breathing when the P-M shits it out. End of story. -- Hat Monster

[AllYorBaseRBelong2Us]

Having messed around with the editor. Maps, doors, etc were the easy part. Dialogue was hard! Jeremy is a good writer, perhaps he will win


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This and other statistics can be culled from Jeremy Reimer's Personal Computer Market Share: 1975-2002, a very impressive piece of information gathering. The numbers tell some very interesting stories.
- http://lowendmac.com/musings/03/0131.html

Man, I need to get out more. You know smam is getting to you when you go to a canadian restaurant and start wondering about moose cock. -OscarWilde

[the twinkster]

I tried to play the module.

When Drokthar arrived I couldn't get him to respond in any way apart from turning to face me, so after a few minutes of trying various things I gave in and attacked him. Then my sister tried to get between me and Drokthar and I delivered a killing blow courtesy of a natural 20. After that, I couldn't do anything -- the old guy wouldn't respond, he just kept saying "go talk to your sister," but I couldn't because she was dead. I'll try again after I get back from the gym.

Added: Did I lose?
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Magus]

Nope, sounds like you Thundarred it fine.
_________________
<Paolo|Work> anything that has to do with Java is by definition stupid

1 The Network is my domain, I shall not want; 2 though it makes me wait upon collision, it leads me to the Internet; 3 it restores my connection. It leads me in paths of hypertext transfer for google's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of power failures, I fear no data corruption; for backups art with me; thy UPS and thy status light, they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a firewall before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my CD-R with BurnProof, my buffer never underflows. 6 Surely good deals and pr0n shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Datacenter for ever.
-HitScan

Wilde is a 4' chinese man in a bright pink tutu, lime green pimp hat with peacock feathers, and a purple feather boa, wearing tissue stuffed snakeskin combat boots, holding a gun bigger than he is, smoking a cigarette in the parking garage, trying to look menacing while pouting and head banging to Godsmack I stand alone

[the twinkster]

Okay, the trigger worked my second time through -- a conversation started automatically, without me having to click on anything. No killing this time, and I let her go with him but then immediately set off to rescue her. That ending was good! Lots of moral ambiguity.

There doesn't seem to be an "end" when you kill Drokthar, though. I could never get anyone else to talk to me again after killing him.

Very cool, JR.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Jeremy Reimer]

Yeah, the module is designed to be played at level 1, and at that level you really can't kill him easily (or at all, not with my level 1 ranger anyway) The module submission rules stated that there could be no combat, but I kept everyone's faction at "commoner" so that you could still kill people if you really wanted to.

For fun, try "taunting" the old man early in the game. I guess he's not quite as feeble as he said, huh?

I'm glad you enjoyed playing it, twinkster, that's awesome.
_________________
"Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries."
-- Carl Sagan

"Its not a rule. Its just something I noticed. Several of us have more than one sig." - Mord

"No, you are a troll, and I should have never let you back to Ars in after the first 16,000 bannings." - Caesar, to He Who Shall Not Be Named

[the twinkster]

Ah, no combat. I had forgotten. I really like how the choices you presented aren't morally clear-cut.

I know I'm too late for the contest, but this has piqued my interest. I played a few of the other modules as well. There's some cool stuff there, but of the ones I played I do think that JR's is the best.

Another cool one I played is "Trial by Error," which is a whodunit complete with jealous ex-lovers.

Maybe it's time. If I ever want to get back into modding I need to learn to write branching dialogue trees, and something like this wouldn't be a bad place to start despite the steep learning curve. Perhaps I'll give it a go.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Jeremy Reimer]

[the twinkster]

Does the tutorial specifically reference the Aurora tools? (I can't check 'cause I'm at work and IIRC the BioWare domain is blocked.) If so, it would be less useful to me, since I don't have access to Aurora (no Mac version). I'd probably be using NeverEdit, an open-source NWN editor.

I agree with you about obvious choices. If you win the contest and take the job, make BioWare's future titles better in this regard!
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Mord]

twink, do you have a copy of Virtual PC? You could run it under windows that way....
_________________
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God. - Superintendant Pang, Lashou shentan (a.k.a. Hard-Boiled)
I note that you don't have any OSY member quotes in your sig. - the twinkster
Nonsense. "Bias" is people whom don't agree with me. - FondueDaredevil

Gabe: I wish you weren't a fucking liar.
Tycho: I'm not a liar.
Gabe: Well, I wish you didn't lie.

[the twinkster]

I was a licensed VPC owner back in the latter days of OS 9, actually, but now I don't have it. It took so long to be released for G5 systems that I'm not even sure that it's out now.

Anyway, no, emulating Windows fast enough to run the Aurora toolset satisfactorily isn't really a possibility. That was actually a big part of why I didn't buy NWN right when it came out, and was reluctant to buy it for some time after that.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Mord]

You're a clever guy. You'll figure it out with the tools you got.

On the more general topic of software availability, I now have some sympathy for Mac users after using my own. I've had to install both Fink and Darwin Ports to get some the utilities I like to have available (network admin/tcp hacker type stuff).

Actually it was rather funny. I searched high and low for a binary OSX version of nmap, couldn't find one, then installed it through Fink. Then, I'm farting aroung the Apple.com OSX software page and there I find Xnmap. At first I figure its just an application droplet and front end, but on closer inspection it has its own shiny little OSX binary, a few revs behind, but close enough. So now I have two.
_________________
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God. - Superintendant Pang, Lashou shentan (a.k.a. Hard-Boiled)
I note that you don't have any OSY member quotes in your sig. - the twinkster
Nonsense. "Bias" is people whom don't agree with me. - FondueDaredevil

Gabe: I wish you weren't a fucking liar.
Tycho: I'm not a liar.
Gabe: Well, I wish you didn't lie.

[the twinkster]

We'll see -- there doesn't appear to be a solution for easy editing of dialogue trees. NeverEdit claims to handle most stuff, but not that. I will continue to investigate.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[lewis]

Sooo, Mord, how long have you spent holding down shift and minimizing windows and hitting F9 to see the screen effects in slo-mo so far?
_________________
"I don't think that's where their brains are." - Paul Hill

[OscarWilde]

More importantly, does mord use expose and corner of the screens to activate them. I use left bottom corner to activate show desktop; bottom right corner to show all windows; and top right corner to get to dashboard (i have the dashboard icon removed from the dock).

Everyone has their own working style and I think everyone should spend time working on efficient habits that works for them in the long run. One of my sisters kinda uses the computer the way it's been setup, rarely learning to do things better and more efficiently. My younger sister actually learns to use her computer, and now can't live without expose and mouse gestures. To me it's an amazing contrast in learning habits between two people who just use their computer to work with and beyond that, aren't really into computers like geeks are.
_________________
'An urban myth. Like the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa.' - Robert Rankin (Raiders of the Lost Car Park)

'Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.' - Milan Kundera (Immortality)

[OscarWilde]

What I do find even more interesting, and only because at first I had my own doubts about Apple's widgets when I first saw a demo, is how BOTH my sisters use widgets and can't live without them now.
I never force them to use a computer in a way that I think they should. I just show them how they can approach tasks in different ways, encourage them to spend some time figuring out what works best for them and leave them to it.
A month later I was checking out my sisters powerbooks, and damn, they're both widgets addicts. Even my sister that never really learns to use computers beyond just web surfing and typing articles for magazines has widgets, like Wikipedia, britannica (iirc), etc.. My sister in the US uses the yellowpages, weather, wikipedia, and some other widgets for research.

They use more widgets then I do! I just use sticky notes, weather (pretty accurate so far), dictionary/thesuarus (which I can't live without now), and some network widget for IP addresses.
Then there are those people that hate widgets and feel like they must make a stink to every fucking board in the world, thinking that Apple MUST do things their way. God I hate those people. Just turn the damn thing off if you don't like it and stop bitching about it. Damn it!
_________________
'An urban myth. Like the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa.' - Robert Rankin (Raiders of the Lost Car Park)

'Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.' - Milan Kundera (Immortality)

[lewis]

I have my Windows Exposé-alike (Entbloess) in the top left corner, because all the other corners I'm frequently whacking my mouse into to reach Start, the system tray (sorry "notification area") or close on a maxmised window.

Never really used Exposé on the Mac with mouse gestures, but I was normally just using one app at a time to do real work

I can't find an Exposé imitator for Linux that works properly... Kompose works well but only in KDE, yuck, Skippy and Skippy-XD are much too slow, and Expocity which worked okay is only around as a patch to really rather old versions of Metacity.
_________________
"I don't think that's where their brains are." - Paul Hill

[Mord]

Does Expose really do gestures? All I've seen is a way to do gestures.


Hey how do you set up hotkeys? I want to set up Apple-L as "lock" sort of like Win+L is on XP.
_________________
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God. - Superintendant Pang, Lashou shentan (a.k.a. Hard-Boiled)
I note that you don't have any OSY member quotes in your sig. - the twinkster
Nonsense. "Bias" is people whom don't agree with me. - FondueDaredevil

Gabe: I wish you weren't a fucking liar.
Tycho: I'm not a liar.
Gabe: Well, I wish you didn't lie.