Pescua [title work in progress!]

[Pongo]

Thought I'd post something about the module I'm working on! It doesn't have a name yet - "Pescua" is the name of the area it takes place in so will do for now. It's also a long way from completion, but I've already sunk dozens of hours into it and I'm really enjoying pulling it together.

It's a fantasy RPG with a six character party, all player generated. I haven't finalized all the race and class combinations yet. The current version has human, elf, dwarf and half-orc; and Fighter, Paladin (human only), Ranger, Arcane Archer (elf only), Sentinel (Dwarf only - a bit like a dwarven defender), Wizard, Blood Mage, Cleric, Bard and Barbarian (half orc only). I've got all the spells and traits for each class working at level one, with an aim of getting them all up to character level 7 in time (ie level 4 mage spells). I'm going to keep adding to race/class design as I go along rather than doing them at the start though.

I toyed with using an overland map created on the awesome Inkarnate (which I've posted about elsewhere), but graphically it didn't work and I think I'd rather have interconnect areas in any case. It's more work but it allows more scope for some of the random encounters and quests I want to include.

I've been enjoying games that capture the non-epic "low level D&D" experience recently, where the party are clearing out goblins and being excited by +1 swords and so on. I'm really hoping to capture that mood in the early parts of the mod (the bit I'm building at the minute). I’m aiming for a Pool of Radiance style for questing in the early stages - you get three quests at a time from an order of knights and you can decide to tackle them in any order you like. Certain areas are gated at the start (collapsed bridge here, closed mountain pass there) so you're not able to freely roam an open world. This means I might be able to release it in stages as I develop it.

Some screens below. Most of the tiles are from OpenGameArt (although I made a few), the character sprites are mainly FRUA, icons from game-icons.net, and portraits from Epic Character Generator. I've posted links to most of this stuff in the separate graphics thread. UI is currently WIP and will change as it goes along.

Anyway, some pics!


Juicy traits at character creation:

pic1.png (298.57 KiB) Viewed 69199 times

Meeting the Marshal of Castle Grimtol, which acts as a base in the early part of the module:

pic2.png (470.66 KiB) Viewed 69199 times

Exploring the castle:

pic3.png (752.14 KiB) Viewed 69199 times

Out on the road:

pic4.png (353.03 KiB) Viewed 69199 times

And finally - attacked by the Pool of Radiance orcs, who are dug into a nasty defensive position on the beach!

pic5.png (439.23 KiB) Viewed 69199 times

[slowdive]

How exciting and this looks amazing! I’ll provide more comments and questions after I get off work... I’ll edit this post.

EDIT: A couple of questions and comments:
1) Are you using the tile system only or are you using single image drawing for the maps?
2) The area design looks great so far and all the art goes well together.
3) I like the idea of having a central location to get quests and then work on those a few at a time (similar to PoR).
4) Is this based in the same setting as your previous modules (Elderin Stone, Raventhal, and Blackwinter)?
5) I also like the idea of releasing in chapters/episodes/parts/acts similar to how Dorateen has done with Hearkenwold. I did this for Lanterna in NWN2 and it helps stay motivated and get feedback early on.

[Pongo]

Thanks Slowdive!

1. Its all tiles so far. Quite a few of them are animated props - the torches have a three frame flicker animation and the water at the beach moves in and out, for example. I'm trying to animate as much as I can this time (there are crabs on the beach, butterflies in the woods etc) - I replayed Knights of the Chalice recently and was inspired by how the screens are never static, there's always something moving. I might use single image drawing for specific purposes later in the mod, such as large props I only intend to use once (such as a shipwreck), which would save a lot of time.
2. Thanks! I've spent a lot of time browsing for assets, its gone through a few iterations over the last couple of months. Sites like OpenGameArt are fantastic, its great that so many folk are happy to donate artwork for those of us with no artistic talents. I've gone with a slightly top down perspective (eg you can see the top of the walls) so I've had to adapt some of the existing props to fit in - eg, I re-used the bookcase tile I made for the Elderin Stone but had to add the top of the bookshelf so that the perspectives broadly matched.
3. It certainly makes writing the opening section easier!
4. No, this will be separate.
5. Yeah, its great how Hearkenwold has become so massive over the years, step by step! This one won't be as big as Hearkenwold when its finished, but it will be considerably bigger than anything else I've done so far so a staged approach will help. I think I lost my way on the island project (my last bigger scale one) because the design meant it couldn't really be released until it was completely finished, which became a bit daunting. I'd sunk a tonne of hours into it though and I've still got all the work, so I might go back to it at some point - I really enjoy the concept, and it looked great with all the Oryx art assets.

[Dorateen]

Good work, Pongo. I think the tiles look great, and those trees in the outdoor area have a lot of charm. I'm really impressed with how you do the top down look of the walls, it blends together on the 2d map so well.

Are you working with build 197 of IceBlink? If so, how are you finding it so far when testing the module?

[Pongo]

Thanks Dorateen! I had just intended to use the tiles from DungeonSoup unmodified, but the top down perspective on the overland map clashed so I decided to modify the wall tiles. The perspective is inspired by one of the Oryx tilesets, which I'm not using this time due to licensing etc.

Yes, I'm using Version 197. So far its working smoothly - the only bug I've noticed is that the line-of-sight option outside of combat isn't working. Everything else is great. I haven't used all the options yet though for stuff that has been introduced since I last did a mod. I need to learn how things like locked doors, traps, and height etc work in the coming months and start fitting them in.

[cartons]

That looks great, Pongo! I've enjoyed your other modules and I'm looking forward to see what this entry will look like after a few years distance from your earlier work.

I agree that the trees and walls are looking great, as well as that Trait list! Looking forward to some of the more exotic party compositions we'll be able to put together with classes like Arcane Archer and Sentinal.

[Pongo]

thanks cartons!

[Pongo]

I've managed to find an hour or two every day to work on the mod this week, so I've made good progress.

I've mainly been adding maps. The wilderness maps are all 20x20, but some of the dungeon maps and named areas are bigger (up to 30x30). I've now made nearly two dozen maps, which nearly (but not quite) covers all the areas I think I need for chapter one. I've done most of the complex maps, but I still have to do an entire village called Horngrim, its separate quest area, and a large roadside tavern, all of which will take some time and will probably require some additional tile hunting on OpenGameArt. Some of the maps will be content light so I reckon maybe six or seven are basically complete, but most of them need lots of actual content.

My favourite map so far is a swamp area. This is possibly going to be an optional area - I've not quite decided yet - but either way it will very challenging for the party if they try to tackle it too early. I think chapter one will take characters to level three, so I'll be aiming for it to be a challenging area for level three characters. You'll eventually be able to revisit these areas in chapter two so you could level up your characters beyond three before tackling the optional stuff if you wanted.

Here's a screenshot - I think I posed a link to the tileset in the separate graphics thread:

marsh.png (480.55 KiB) Viewed 69105 times

When I start adding encounters to the swamp area I'd like there to be penalties for characters fighting on water tiles (maybe -3 BAB) that are avoided if the character is on the dry land tiles. Some enemies with water affinity would be immune to this, giving them an advantage. Also, going into the water would give the character a permanent "soaked" trait that reduces movement speed, which can be removed by resting at a campfire. I'll explore this stuff and see if it's possible / fun when I get to combat.

I added a few combat encounters to the wilderness areas with wild dogs, ogres and trolls. I based their stats on 2ed information from the Monstrous Compendium - the trolls are therefore pretty nasty, with three high damage attacks! I tested a few party builds against them and everything seems to be working well. I may have made the Blood Mage class a bit OP though - it's meant to be a glass cannon class, but I think I've overdone it a bit. I'll wait to get more content before taking a pass at balancing though. The Blood Mage will have restrictions I haven't implemented yet (eg, cleric heal spells won't work on them, which will be a real problem in areas with limited rests), so I need to get that stuff in place first to see how it works overall.

Next week is probably a write off for mod building (it's a busy work week), but if I get time I'm going to work on the tavern maps.

[slowdive]

The swamp area looks great! I think the BAB penalty for the wet parts of the swamp sounds like a good tactical addition if it works out. The forest encounters sound like fun especially the trolls, haha . The blood mage sounds interesting with some pros and cons. Good luck with the busy work week.

[Dorateen]

Yes, looks like this is really shaping up nicely. I'm a big fan of allowing the player to tackle content in any order, whether risking a tough encounter, or coming back to mop up monsters with stronger characters. I'm really impressed with the depth of system design.

Look forward to playing this!

[Pongo]

Thanks both! I had more spare time than I expected this week in the end, so I managed to make quite a bit more progress.

I completed the tavern and town of Horngrim maps. I like the town, but I'm not sure about the tavern - the tiles I found are a bit too JRPG for my liking, so I might go back to basics and just make it a bit more abstract.

I finished all the wilderness maps I need for the chapter, and I'm enjoying just roaming around it all at present - it's about 30 20x20 maps, so it's quite a big space to explore but shouldn't be overwhelming. The quests will all come with directions and I'm adding signs into some of the maps that point to major landmarks.

I added a couple of encounters and had fun getting destroyed by trolls. There isn't enough experience in the chapter to reach level 2 yet, so the poor PCs don't stand a chance!

I wanted to add rain to an area, and I got playing around with Iceblink's weather editor. I've never really used it before, but it's great - the rain and fog effects really help the screens to feel less static. It's a nice addition. I've added it to all the maps at the minute in the "autumn" setting, but I'll probably fiddle with the settings a bit further down the line to make it more bespoke.

Next week I'm adding questing content. Looking forward to it! I'm not approaching it in a particular order, so I'll see which one I feel like doing at the time.

[Dorateen]

Thirty areas of 20x20 maps sounds pretty spacious to me! It should be a pleasure to explore. I've been wanting to see the weather system in action, that will add a lot to the atmosphere. Keep up the good work!

[Pongo]

I've been chipping away at quests this week. Completed the first one, which is a fairly simple murder hobo exercise you get right at the start of the mod - a local lighthouse has been overrun by monsters, and the players are sent to resolve the situation. Its nice to finally have some proper content in the module though. The player can now get the quest, make the journey across several screens (encountering a few encounters and NPCs on the way), clear the map, and return to the castle for a reward with their collected loot and XP. Result!

I'm about half-way through adding another quest, which is an optional one some players might not find. Inspired a bit by Knights of the Chalice, its a limited rest area - once you've started the quest you can't leave the area or rest until its finished. This makes resource management important, especially as the player doesn't know how many encounters are needed to clear the map. In this case, there are four in total - three routine encounters to chip away at HP and SP etc, and then a more challenging boss encounter.

Both of the quests have alternative paths if you pass skill checks. The lighthouse one is a fairly minor alternative (passing a "wilderness lore" check gives you a better starting position for a challenging combat encounter), but the optional quest is a bit more significant - passing a "bluff" check skips two of the encounters completely. I've been debating how to handle XP for that, and I think I'll give the party all the XP they would have otherwise earned had the fought the two optional encounters. I don't want to incentivise players to avoid passing skill checks. Its a tricky balance though - I want skill checks to (sometimes) feel meaningful, given players have given up on combat traits to take them - but equally, I don't want to make them OP or make too much of the content skippable.

So its slow progress, but progress all the same! I'm going to complete the optional quest next week and then maybe do one of the other three quests the player gets right at the start.

[Dorateen]

I think the best solution is awarding the player the same XP for avoiding combat. It depends on how many fights you end up with. In a scenario where an area is combat heavy, then bypassing an encounter can be it's own reward.

[slowdive]

Sounds like some great progress to me and I agree with Dorateen, giving the same XP rewards the player for investing and using those non-combat skills.

[Pongo]

Thanks both - yeah, that's the conclusion I came to as well. Hopefully it will work out!

I'm not claiming any credit for this, given the tiles all come from OpenGameDev and the weather effects are built into Iceblink , but I like how all the animated effects are starting to stack up. The gif is of an area by a river where the rain effect has just kicked in alongside some early morning mist.

It reminded me how far the Iceblink engine has come over the years. Its a real pleasure to work with - easy and flexible and with so many options.

pescua rain.gif (7.04 MiB) Viewed 36149 times

[slowdive]

The GIF looks amazing! I love look of the tiles and rain selection, the art works well together.

[Dorateen]

Pongo, are you working with the same selection of custom spells from the Eldarin Stone for this project?

[Pongo]

Thanks Slowdive!

Dorateen, no, not quite. I suspect they'll end up broadly the same as I'm trying not straying too far from D&D, but I'm doing them from scratch. Mainly because there are more classes in this mod and I need to work on balancing.

For example, this is the new bard song:

bard.png (248.79 KiB) Viewed 36120 times

It works at level one, but I haven't added the other levels in yet (and you won't be able to get most of them in this module anyway). It makes it quite a bit more powerful than the D&D bard song - so I need to add restrictions to the class elsewhere. (Bard Song II is only available at level 3 - not sure about the other increases, but probably caps out somewhere between level 12 and 15).

Likewise, there are new spells for the Blood Mage class:

bloodmage.png (170.14 KiB) Viewed 36120 times

The other spells there are an armour spell for protection and an aggressive mage bolt type spell. I'm still working out this class - blood mages use HP to cast spells rather than SP and can't be healed by cleric spells, which makes them quite vulnerable. Their aggressive spells need to be a bit more effective as a balance. It would probably also make sense to give them a spell that specifically targets the reflex save to make the most of the Sticky Boots spell (in addition to slowing enemies so they can be taken out by archers in the party). And I'm now also thinking about giving them access to general mage spells, albeit with a much smaller SP pool to call on, because they just feel a bit too weak at low levels.

There's also the arcane archer to factor in - basically a magic user with some bespoke ranged bow attacks.

I haven't got the balance right yet, even amongst the level one spells, so I'm still tweaking them. Having said that, I'm not particularly bothered if one of the classes ends up more powerful than another, as long as they're fun to play and the difference isn't gamebreaking!

[slowdive]

This is great! I love the background image, UI elements, font, and the spell icons. They work very well together. Once I get the vampiric type effects in, maybe the blood mage can use vampiric touch (which requires a successful attack roll) to gain HP back

[Pongo]

Yes, that's a great idea! It would solve a few of the balancing problems as well. Can the vampiric touch spell be set up as a ranged attack as well as a touch attack? Might be nice to provide the blood mage with a short range variant so you don't need to stand them right next to a troll to get your HP back (albeit you still need to get uncomfortably close).

Edit: it would also make the blood mage vulnerable in areas with lots of undead that were immune to vampiric touch. I like it!

[slowdive]

Yes, the transfer hp/sp effect is just like a damage effect, but it transfers the damage done to the caster/user. It is a new interface below the damage and heal sections in the effect editor. The effect can transfer hp or sp. the spell that uses the effect can be ranged and even AoE. The need for a successful attack is a flag property that I added to spells. It always uses dexterity as the attack modifier (I good I could make that selectable at some point as well). I used this flag for a mage blast spell. You could use the transfer effect for a “dagger of life draining” that transfers hp and sp on each hit (have two effects, one for the hp and one for the sp transfer). I will also be adding the number of uses per day traits system so you could have a transfer type trait that can be used once at level 1 and maybe three times per day at higher levels.

[zach_holbrook]

This is looking really good--love the icons. Visually things just click together!

[cartons]

The mist produces a nice light gradient on the grass tiles. It's a very pleasant effect!

[youngneil1]

Wow! Phil - amazing! This looks so fine . Seems like you fine guys got the ball rolling big time here. The water animations are just mind blowing. And you use the weather - I always looked forward to see made good use of this system (was one of the first things I tinkered with like 10 years ago, oh oh...).

I will need more time to truely appreciate your work, Phil, but I am so happy to see you at it again.

[Pongo]

That sounds great, Slowdive. It opens up lots of options - I can imagine a battle set up with a bunch of inanimate totems that slowly suck the life and energy out of the party whilst they're struggling with a bunch of relatively low level creatures, things like that. And as you say, a weapon that drains SP and HP would be very cool.

Thanks Zach! Yeah, I'm pleased with how all the individual elements are coming together. I'm using the icons from this great website:
https://game-icons.net/
My attempt to colour them has been mixed though. I started trying to make the colours significant (eg green for defensive spells, red for aggressive spells), but it was more difficult than I expected when I factored in all the different traits and classes so it has all ended up a bit random. I'm aiming to have another pass and sort out the colours a bit more cleanly at some point in the future.

Thanks Cartons - the weather effects are really nice. There's a swamp area in the game that was looking a bit too static, and the Iceblink mists make it seem much more dynamic with constant subtle movements on the screen. I'm just using the inbuilt engine pre-sets here with no tweaking, they're great.

Hey, Karl, good to hear from you! Yeah I'm pleased with the water animations - its the one thing I added myself. The original tiles are beautiful, but they're static - so I played around with them in GIMP and added the two stage animation. Yeah, weather is great! I'm still catching up with some of the other stuff you and Slowdive have added into the engine over the years that I haven't used before, like the "new" prop options, which make them really flexible - I'm thinking of adding invisible, randomly moving (or maybe chasing) props onto maps for "random encounters" that keep the areas fresh even if you've been through them a few times, for example. And I've only superficially looked at the day/night options as well, which look cool. And then there's all the new height stuff as well.... its really, really good work, thank you!

[Dorateen]

Where are the weather effects added again? Is it in the module properties, or is it on the area properties level. I forget if this was something that only works using the tile maps, or if it would work on preloaded map images.

[Pongo]

It's in the individual area properties. I'll screenshot it later.

Edit:

weather.png (389.82 KiB) Viewed 43034 times

Open the map; click Area Properties; and then its the "areaWeatherName" option. There are a several defaults already in the system. I'm using "autumn", which is largely mists and occasional rain, but the others are good as well ("winter" introduces a nice snow effect). You can change the settings (eg the frequency of rain etc) in the Weather Effect and Weather Editor wizards.

Hope it works for your preloaded map images, let me know how you get on.

[Dorateen]

Thanks! I'm going to play with this tomorrow.

[Pongo]

Not as much progress this week as I'd have liked.

I finished that second quest, and started on a third (the second of the three you get from the castle at the start). I'll need to go back at some point and add some pictures to the convos, which are blank at the minute - I might find a few general images for some of the convos rather than having a specific image for each one.

Then I spent quite a bit of time re-editing existing convos to tidy up the narrative and introduce some plot points earlier. I expect that's an ongoing process - I've only got a vague idea where this is going, so rewrites are likely to be a constant feature going forward!

[slowdive]

Not as much progress this week as I'd have liked.

Well, our motto around here is any progress is progress
We like to move at our own pace I don't want it to start feeling like another job, I already have one of those (and it isn't fun, but it pays the bills )

[Pongo]

True enough! It's more that it's a sign I've spent too much time in bill-paying work this week and not enough time having fun.

[Pongo]

Quite a bit of mapping and planning this week. I'd been keeping a map of the mod on a piece of A4, but I'd changed it so many times that it had become a total mess of scribbled corrections. So I spent a fair bit of this week copying my notes across to an excel spreadsheet. I think I'm going to stick with excel this time round, which seems to do everything I need, but has anyone tried using any of the mapping software like Grid Cartographer? It looks pretty nice for mapping games, but would it add anything useful here?

I then completed the first part of an optional thief class quest. I really enjoyed putting it together! Its basically a short heist quest that involves trying to steal from a powerful mage without combat. Its a change of pace from the rest of the mod, and the tone is quite playful so the convos were fun to write. If the player both finds this quest and then completes it it will open a path to a slightly different interaction with a thieves' guild later on.

I also upgraded it to v199, which adds a few nice features I need to take advantage of! I'm particularly looking forward to getting the Blood Mage set up with vampiric spells. I think a few small bugs may have been introduced - I'll see whether I can resolve them in the toolkit, but if not I'll flag them in the bugs section. Nothing major though.

[Dorateen]

Sounds good. I think the thief is a valuable part of the classic D&D party combination, so it's always appreciated when content is made to play to their strengths.

[slowdive]

Sounds like some great progress Pongo. I don't have any suggestions on mapping software for planning out a module. I have only used drawing on paper or using sketchpad on the tablet. I do use Excel for any data/text type stuff.

Let me know what bugs you find and I'll get them out in the next version, v200.

[youngneil1]

Good to read about your progress (and also about "not progreessing" -> just look at me ). I like to map stuff pen&paper (also I often make notes ideas on the samsung note phone via stylus and my scribbly handwriting).

[Pongo]

Thanks everyone!

I've converted a load of the lovely DungeonCrawlSoup item graphics for use in the module. They look ace. Its great that those guys have made all of their assets freely available - I'm going to definitely be thanking them and sending them a link to the module when its ready. Here are just some of the graphics in context.

equip.png (285.18 KiB) Viewed 43155 times

fighter equip.png (547.97 KiB) Viewed 43155 times

Aside from that, I've finished the thief's quest, added a paladin quest, and added several new flavour convos, such as for shops and temples - including a tattoo shop where you can pay to have protective wards tattooed onto your body that alert you to the presence of ghosts or demons (which are otherwise hidden convos).

I'm currently working on "populating" the town of Horngrim and trying to move the main quest forward a bit.

[cartons]

Nice, those item graphics match well with the default character tokens. This next generation of IB modules is going to look great!

Fun idea with the tattoos. I wonder what sort of secrets your deaders might reveal.

[Dorateen]

That studded leather armor looks sweet!

[slowdive]

I like the idea of the tattoo wards. The item graphics fit really well and make everything look well polished and cohesive. I also, if I haven't mentioned it before, really like the backdrop image, it looks really cool.

[Pongo]

Thanks all!

I added the shops and some random NPCs to Horngrim, but it still feels a bit empty. Its so hard to get a town to feel right - something enjoyable to explore, rather than a chore. I'll overhaul it a bit later on in development and try to make it feel a bit more alive and interesting. Giving it a bit more of an overall "theme" or unique identity would be a good step, but I'm not feeling the inspiration at the minute.

I'm much happier with how my dungeons are coming on. This month I've worked on an evil temple, a tomb, and a series of monster filled caves. They mainly use DungeonSoup tiles but I also made quite a few myself (eg stone doors) or adjusted them (eg the wall tiles to keep the perspective consistent). Several of the background tiles are animated, giving it a nice, dynamic feel.

I think the locations feel dangerous and different, and there are a nice balance of enemies. I'm having fun with monster attack effects to create some nice challenges - a particularly nasty one is the Wight, with two attacks that temporarily but cumulatively drain strength. They're total bastards, I love them! In other areas, giant spiders cause havoc by throwing webs at the party before charging in with poisonous bites, orc clerics throw out spells whilst their bigger brothers charge in to engage in melee, and I'm working on two types of "exploding zombies" (one gas cloud, one immediate impact damage) to shake up undead encounters - although I'm having a few difficulties getting them to work properly at the minute (If I can't figure it out I'll post a question at some point, but hopefully I'll work it out).

There's a long way to go and plenty of bugs, but it's finally got to the point where it's actually good fun pulling together a party and chucking it into the fray to see what happens. I'm seeing that as a nice milestone!

This month I'm going to continue fleshing out these dungeons, getting combat effects working, and adding convos etc. Good fun.

[Dorateen]

Ah, I remember the exploding zombies from the Eldarin Stone. All this sounds very good, facing enemies with dangerous ability.

One idea for towns, how about just a side quest associated with a particular location. That might help give some flavor, something players will attach to visiting that town.

Look forward to seeing more, and can't wait to play the module.

[slowdive]

This all sounds great to me. Your areas and encounters have all been top notch so I'm sure you will figure the town out and it will have the feel you are hoping for. The encounters you spelled out sound like they should be fun, varied, memorable, and challenging. I very much look forward to giving it a go once it is ready for testing, hopefully I have all the engine bugs fixed by then

[Pongo]

Thanks guys!

Dorateen yeah the exploding zombies are making a comeback! I liked them in the Elderin Stone but I thought I could have implemented them better, so they'll be slightly different here (still basically "a zombie that explodes" though!)
Good tip on the town. It does have a side quest but it just feels a bit generic at the minute. I'm sure inspiration will strike at some point.

Slowdive, most of the bugs are of my own making you'll be pleased to hear - typos that kill scripts and missing convo lines, that kind of thing.

[Pongo]

I think Dorateen already asked this question somewhere, but I can't find the thread.

In the screenshot below there are multiple combat square effects in place caused by magic. It looks like affected party members should get a symbol on their token/portrait to show the effect, but I haven't added any so its currently just coming up as "blank". Could someone please explain where I need to add the pngs to get these effect icons to show up properly? Thanks.

magic effects.png (481.15 KiB) Viewed 44349 times

Also, do area of effect spells always dispel previous area of effect spells, or can they be cumulative? I wouldn't want a high level spell that applies burning damage to an area over time to be easily dispelled by casting a darkness spell over the top of it, for example.

[slowdive]

It is the effect's spriteFilename

I think the way Karl has it setup currently is that a square can only have one effect on it at a time so the last effect added to a square is the one attached to it. I'll dig into the system a bit more and see if I can adjust it... I'll add it to my task list.

[Pongo]

Great, thank you!

[Pongo]

I've fixed the towns, I think. I renamed Horngrim as Tull, and added a little optional haunted house quest, some forshadowing of characters that will appear later in the mod, and set up a quest-line that will trigger in Chapter 2. It's feeling much more vibrant and alive now - I'm happy with how it's turned out! The other town you can visit is Culcheth, which is a little larger and attached to a large graveyard. Three further towns are mentioned but you can't visit them yet (at least in chapters 1 and 2).

I've completed three of the four critical path quests that make up Chapter 1. These are the quests that you are given at the start of the mod by the Kingsguard, that you can tackle in any order:
- unknown monsters have taken over a local lighthouse. The Kingsguard want you to drive them out;
- the Mayor of Tull has put out a call for urgent aid. The reason for his request is unknown - go and resolve his problem;
- one of the Kingsguard has gone missing after visiting a roadside tavern - you need to find out what happened.

After those three are completed, a fourth quest triggers that ties up the themes of chapter one and forshadows chapter two. I haven't started that one yet - it's next on my list, so will get that done in August.

So good progress overall! I think I'll wait until the critical path for chapter 2 is also done before uploading anything though - there are too many empty areas and incomplete optional quests at the minute, and I think they'll be a bit more fleshed out when chapter 2 is complete.

This month I'd like to finish Chapter 1 and get Blood Mage, Mage and Cleric spells added up to level 3.

[Dorateen]

So far, I really like the way you've structured the module. Sounds like a fair degree of openness from the start.

As slowdive mentioned, the name of the png file needs to go in the Effect spriteFilename.

[slowdive]

The starting towns of Tull and Culcheth are sounding great so far with lots of lore and hints at things to come as well. SOunds like waiting until chapter 2 is ready is a good plan. Do you plan on releasing in chapters like Hearkenwold has been doing (that would be great if the story allows for that format)? I'll stream them on my first attempt/playthrough to capture that for my own memories

[Pongo]

Thanks Dorateen! Yeah I'm aiming to make the mod as open as possible. There are challenges here given the big jumps in power between low character levels. It's currently possible for a player to experience some very tough fights as their first combat experience of the mod if they explore areas off the critical path (although there are also lower level opportunities as well, so the game encourages you to do it). I figure the kind of people who are likely to play Iceblink mods are going to be ok with that and understand to come back later if they find something too tough for the party rather than getting frustrated and quitting, but it's going to be a challenge getting that balance right.

Thanks Slowdive, yes that's the plan! I don't have a timescale for getting the opening chapters out there - I was aiming at Christmas, but experience tells me that there will be loads of stuff I'm underestimating. The old adage that the last 10% of a project requires 90% of the time is usually very true. So I'd hope to have chapters 1 and 2 ready for "early next year sometime".

I'd really enjoy watching you stream it. Always enjoy your vids.

[Pongo]

I realised one of the reasons I wanted to move straight onto chapter 2 was because I was enjoying making new content. On reflection, I'm going to spend August and September playtesting and addressing bugs and gaps in the Chapter 1 content before I move on. There is plenty of stuff I've been putting off, which I should just get on with really.

So I've been spending time:

Adding missing NPC portraits and environmental graphics, moving the conversations over to party chat, and adding in additional race/class convo options and uses for traits. At some point I'm going to have to go over this again and either remove or change traits that are just getting totally underused - I have one on "streetwise" that hasn't seen the light of day yet, for example, although I've got some ideas for how it can be used in the town areas so it might come good in the end. Anyway, here's Sergeant Vrai (who isn't really new), who gives you your quests and rewards...

Vrai.png (573.58 KiB) Viewed 43258 times

Sorting out character portraits. Clearly you can add your own and you don't need to use them, but I've put together these black and white portraits from Epic Character Generator that would provide consistency if you wanted to use them. I just need a better dwarf or two! This is the first page of portraits, not the full list:

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Adding missing flavour side-content and NPCs etc where the world was feeling a bit empty. So the starting level of the castle now has an additional paladin and trainer hanging around to talk to, and the journey to the lighthouse has some optional stuff to find. I need to do this for the other two main chapter one quests as well, which will take a bit longer given they take place in a) a town and b) a tavern!

castlestart.png (703.21 KiB) Viewed 43258 times

Completing spells up to level 3 caster level: This picture shows the wizard spells. There are five for each level, with an additional low SP cantrip as a fall back. I've got Blood Mage spells to level 2 but haven't progressed Cleric yet, so quite a lot to do. Each spell is tested and works (although I need to add the exemptions - eg, Frighten shouldn't work on undead). Some of them have their own animated effects (slow, haste, frighten, veil of darkness etc), which are pretty basic but gives a nice feel of variety.

magic.png (337.91 KiB) Viewed 43258 times

Working out BAB and saving throws the the classes, how I'm dividing experience, costing items etc. Its not very exciting, but I've basically set up a mammoth spreadsheet so I compare what I'm doing for all the classes, and how things like the cost of items compare. Its really helpful to be able to see everything in one place and compare across rows. For example, this is the fortitude table (its in blue after level 9 because its a projection, I haven't added the stats yet).

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Getting the journal working All existing quests (main and side) now have 3 - 5 journal entries that you can use as a reminder for what to do. I haven't decided if I'm using the faction options yet, but they look pretty nice and I'm tempted.

journal.png (1.07 MiB) Viewed 43258 times

And just generally finding bugs and typos... of which there are a lot.


Its actually a lot of fun getting down into the nuts and bolts of the design and checking that stuff is working ok. I kinda wish I'd done it earlier! The plan is to get this all completed by the end of September so there isn't a caveat on saying "Chapter one is done", and then move onto Chapter 2.

[slowdive]

Everything looks to be coming together so nicely! The portraits, tokens, tiles, spell icons, background, and UI elements are very cohesive and well polished. I understand the working on the fun stuff and avoiding other aspects. I don't enjoy tracking down and fixing bugs as much as working on cool new features, but I have to do it if I want a good final experience (bugs make the experience frustrating and unenjoyable). I too have been using Excel a lot recently for IBbasic when working on spells, traits, classes, races, default creatures, summons, etc. It really helps to see everything in one place and next to each other. I'm looking forward to the end of September or whenever something is ready for testing!

[Pongo]

Thanks Slowdive. Yeah I'm finding bugs all over the place, my own errors usually. My most common one is getting the "action" and "conditions" the wrong way round in the convo editor, which is at least a quick fix!

I think I'm still going to wait to complete Chapter 2 before putting the beta out. The areas for both chapters intertwine a lot, whereas chapter 3 can be more easily gated. Level 3 caster spells etc will get me to the end of Chapter 2 though (I'm aiming for the pc to be about level 5 at that point), so after this I should just be able to focus on content generation. Christmas is my optimistic estimate, but more likely Jan or Feb I think.

[Dorateen]

Sounds good! That's an outstanding attention to detail for the underlying systems. Look forward to playing this module.

[Pongo]

Progress update

I've added in traps and spent a bit of time learning how they work. In this clip, the party approach a trap and try to disarm it (space bar) with a character without the correct skill; and then change to the party's thief, who successfully passes a disable device check and removes two of the three traps. Both lose 1SP for using search. At the end of the clip, just for the hell of it, the party trigger the last remaining trap anyway.

1traps.gif (8.02 MiB) Viewed 43157 times

It works great. I'm going to readjust the traps so the difficulty goes up in increments of 1 rather than 5 (which I think is more intuitive with the corresponding trait, which will improve in increments of 1 also), but I'm really happy with the extra challenge traps add.


I've also been having fun with mobile encounters. I've added them into maps as moving/chasing props. It works well. The game world is fairly open, so it gives the player an opportunity to visit a map that is technically too high level if they think they can dodge the mobile encounters. It gets very tricky on some maps though - here is one with imps, traps, and very limited manoeuvrability (most maps aren't as nasty as this one!).

3imps.gif (5.68 MiB) Viewed 43157 times

For portraits, I've often been using the NPC's token - I find this works quite well at minimal hassle, and means I can progress building in other areas more quickly:

4aRanger.png (468.86 KiB) Viewed 43157 times

Some deserve more detail though, so I'm building them unique portraits using EPIC Character Generator. I'm happy with how these are coming along. Here's Xil, who you meet cleaning the castle:

4Xil.png (719.86 KiB) Viewed 43157 times

And Anwyll the mage, who is off the critical path but not hard to find:

5Anwyll.png (710.99 KiB) Viewed 43157 times

These are the kinds of things I wanted to come back to, so its nice to be finally adding them in. I reckon I've slipped a bit on polishing Chapter 1 (inevitably ), but it should be done by mid-October - and then I reckon maybe four months to do Chapter 2 (which uses lots of the same locations and NPCs so a lot of the building blocks are already there). So end-February 2022 for the release of Chapters 1 and 2 is still feeling about right I think.


A few low priority thoughts occurred to me whilst building this month:
- it would be nice to be able to add an animation when you set off a trap (like an explosion or something). I don't think that happens currently.
- I'm going to add a new optional tutorial section at the start so players know to use space bar to search / disarm traps etc. I hadn't realised it was a function myself until I looked into how traps work - but I love it now!
- Might it be possible to add an "autosave" function? There'll be a few maps where a low level player might go very wrong and get into an unescapable death loop. I could add soft gates or something to those areas to deter low level players , but a subtle automatic save point creation before the dangerous area might be a nice alternative.

[Dorateen]

Great detail, Pongo. The living world project that youngneil1 put together gives a lot of interesting options for a dynamic map, nice to see it in action. I love the way you do the walls to give it that psuedo-3d look. And the purple skull flashing arch is very cool.

[slowdive]

Looking great! The tile animation, the trap system, and the wondering imps are a nice touch. I like the suggested features of traps triggering an explosion animation or other ending Fx. I think there is a way to trigger audio using a script trigger [gaPlaySound.cs(parm1)]. I think there used to be an autosave feature that could be called from a trigger script, but it may have been disabled awhile back due to some threading challenges. I'll make a note to look at it again.

[Pongo]

Thanks Dorateen - yes, youngneil's living world stuff is brilliant. I feel I'm only really scratching the surface, there's a ton of stuff he's added over the years that I haven't figured out yet, but I'm really happy with what I have. The purple flashing skull portal, like 90% of my tiles, is from the Dungeon Soup guys - they have some really nice animated props.

I'll add the audio trigger, that'll be a nice touch - thanks Slowdive! I haven't added any new audio yet at all, either music or effects, which is a bit of a gap. There seems to be a load of stuff available for free online so I'm planning to pull it together late on in the build. Nothing bespoke this time though (despite feeling a bit inspired after listening to Zach's awesome Malkin soundtrack on Spotify!)

[Pongo]

Real life ambushed me this month and I've made very little progress. About the only thing I've actually done is darken the background image so that it doesn't conflict with the text. It wasn't all lost time though - I spent a lot of time unexpectedly on trains so spent the time doodling on a pad, and I've thought of some nice ideas for quests and story (some of which considerably simplify things, which is probably useful).

[slowdive]

Well, you know our motto around here, “any progress is progress” and “we have no deadlines and we like it that way”. But it does sound like the note taking on the trains will come in handy, I like simplifying, it helps me avoid scope creep

[Dorateen]

Definitely, having time to think about your project and plan quests/encounters/plot ideas is still important development time.

[Pongo]

I've had more time to put into it this month. I've mainly been revisiting convos and updating them to line up with the new, simplified story. I think its better - there's less exposition and random political stuff to remember, so it cuts along at a faster pace and feels more fun. There's a clearer overall villain too. Might not be the last time I do this, it's been quite useful.

[Dorateen]

Interesting to hear about the design development, and how ideas or narratives evolve. From everything you have described so far, it sounds like it will be a fun adventure.

[slowdive]

Sounds like some great progress and more focused scope. I'm looking forward to this one very much.

[Pongo]

I've finished the rewrite and gotten stuck into making some new areas and quests. I'm working on a lizardmen camp at the minute and having fun pulling it together.

One thing I noticed when redoing the convos is how often my NPCs sigh after saying something. They do it all the time, all of them! There definitely needs to be less sighing involved. And sitting back/forward in chairs as well...

[slowdive]

I've finished the rewrite and gotten stuck into making some new areas and quests. I'm working on a lizardmen camp at the minute and having fun pulling it together.

One thing I noticed when redoing the convos is how often my NPCs sigh after saying something. They do it all the time, all of them! There definitely needs to be less sighing involved. And sitting back/forward in chairs as well...

Haha, these NPCs need some more action in their lives I suspect that will be happening soon enough Happy to hear about the progress and focused rewrites. Looking forward to this one.

[Dorateen]

It's funny how certain mannerisms will creep into descriptive text. A little repetition/exaggeration is OK I think especially where most of the "action" takes place in a text window, it helps the reader visualize the scene. Camp of lizardmen sounds great, I wonder if they will be immediately hostile, or neutral and the party has to explore carefully. Keep up the good work, Pongo!

[slowdive]

It's funny how certain mannerisms will creep into descriptive text. A little repetition/exaggeration is OK I think especially where most of the "action" takes place in a text window, it helps the reader visualize the scene.

Also, it is possible that a group of people in a small town will start having similar mannerisms and jargon. That's just what happens to people who are around each other long enough . Another town further away may have a different set of mannerisms all together.

[Pongo]

Wish I could claim it was part of the plan, but it's just lazy writing on my part! I've now think I've cut all references to sighing, but there were so many I've probably missed some.

The module is now onto its twelth name change. I briefly had a great name for it which I later realised was the title of an 80s gamebook literally sat in front of my pc on a bookshelf. I'll probably only settle on the proper name for this mod the day I upload it!

I've spent much of the last two weeks on a Tull sidequest it would be very easy to miss. Basically, you need to go to the Castle Grimtol dungeons (easily overlooked), get access to the cells (you don't have permission) and then talk to a prisoner who claims to be wrongly imprisoned. Worse, there's a cut off point in the mod where all the prisoners are shipped off to the bigger town of Culcheth and hanged, so if you don't speak to her relatively early on you miss the chance. Two weeks is a big investment for a quest lots of people won't see, but I really enjoy building in optional content like that. Whether or not the pcs find the quest or succeed at it (it's also possible to fail it!), some NPCs will reference the outcome in conversation.

Aside from that, I've built the lizardman camp and surrounding area (good question Dorateen about their alignment - they are slightly ambiguous. They have a non-aggression agreement with Tull and largely keep to themselves, but the finger of blame appears to point at them for something that happens in the town and the player is asked to investigate...). But a lot of work left to finish the quest itself.

The lizardmen camp is the "fourth" core quest in the mod. Quests four-six become available from the knights at Castle Grimtol only when quests one-three are completed. I'm still aiming to get a build out that covers quests one to six (basically chapters one and two) before finishing the rest of it. First half of next year is the plan!

[slowdive]

This is great and I love hard to find quests because I am always trying to find them and I very much appreciate them Most of the great RPGs have lots of content that many (the ones who play fast and are not thorough) never see, but the "true" RPG players appreciate Chapters 1 and 2 in first half of next year sounds great! I should have my IB and IBbasic bug/feature list done by then (side note: I'm working on my IB to IBbasic import tool and will be using Hearkenwold as a test to make sure it works well).

[Dorateen]

Yes, I like the way this adventure is shaping up. A good amount of optional content, and secrets for players to explore. The development process, working through various concepts, is also very interesting to read about. I look forward to seeing more as we get closer to the new year. Unless I'm mistaken, 2022 will mark the ten year anniversary of IceBlink.

[Pongo]

I had a good night of building yesterday - family were away, so I got to spend a good chunk of hours alternating building and slowly progressing my Hearkenwold playthrough A good Iceblink night.

I'm building chapter 2, which has three main quests and a conclusion quest:
- the lizardman camp I mentioned earlier, which now has maps but little content;
- the town of Culcheth and in particular it's graveyard, which I built ages back. The town is populated but the journey to it needs a bit of work (the maps are all there, but some content is missing or bugged), and I need to add the graveyard content;
- a journey to a new town to the south of the coast, which I haven't started at all and will probably take the most time (it's 8 new maps I think);
- the "conclusion quest", for want of a better phrase, which has been planned for ages - I've got a very clear idea of how things end up at the end of Chapter 2! There's no content yet, but it's a contained quest within an existing area so won't need new maps or anything.

This month I'm still working on the lizardmen camp for the most part I think.

[Dorateen]

Good to hear. I'm looking forward to meeting these lizardmen. And the graveyard sounds appropriately intriguing. Do you have a master world map that you use when connecting all the areas?

[Pongo]

Yes, I have a master world map on excel. It helps me keep track of things like rivers and coastlines that cross multiple maps. Each map has a grid ID - A1, B2 etc - and all the convo, encounter, and container names begin with that ID so I can find them easily. It felt like overkill when I started, but I'm very glad I did it now - I always have the spreadsheet open in the background when I'm building.

[Pongo]

Some progress over the last month. Mainly I've been developing the swamp area around the lizardmen camp. I'm aiming for it to feel unpleasant, so there are lots of creatures with poison attacks and plants that release noxious fumes etc. Its an area you can actually get to quite quickly from the start of the module if you know the way, but its aimed at a level 3/4 party really.

swamp.png (537.51 KiB) Viewed 93596 times

These swamp dragons might look like simple crocodiles (ahem!), but they have a nasty attack and breathe deadly poison gas clouds - avoiding them is sometimes an option worth taking...

swamp2.png (295.79 KiB) Viewed 93596 times

I've been tweaking the end of Chapter One a lot. Its still not quite right but its getting there. The final part of the chapter is set in the city of Bastion and more specifically its castle, and introduces characters who are going to play a key part in chapter 2. I'm still using free images from the internet (usually freeimages.com) for the portraits, so Bastion came out looking like this:

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Finally, this is the tileset I've pulled together for the inside of the castle - works quite well I think!

castleBastion.png (294.51 KiB) Viewed 93596 times

And finally - I think I've actually settled on a name! The module will be called Lords of Skaule. I've gotten through quite a few abandoned names in the last six months so maybe it'll change again, but this one seems to be sticking.

[slowdive]

Lords of Skaule, sounds great. I wonder if these Lords will become my friends or enemies...
The swamps sound very inviting and cozy The map tiles, portraits and UI are coming together very nicely.

I may try and clean up the way toggle buttons work, maybe have a single "settings" button that pulls up a selection box with all the toggle buttons on it (similar to how IBbasic does it now). That may make sense since you don't usually change the toggles much throughout your play session.

It is a lot of work to track down all the artwork for a cohesive module, but you have always done an excellent job in that area.

[Dorateen]

Very, very nice! I love the screenshots, I was looking forward these. Environmental hazards on a map are always a fun thing to throw at the player. And those swamp dragons should be a worthy challenge.

I'll say it again, the technique you use to give walls some depth on that map is outstanding. Everything looks solid. When can we play?

[Pongo]

Thanks! Slowdive, yeah the "settings" option would be a nice addition and would clean up the interface a bit. Dorateen, my plans for putting something out keep changing. I was going to wait until I finished chapter 2, but realistically that's going to take most of this year which feels too long. I do want to at least finish some of the interconnecting areas though so it feels less linear, and I'm enjoying building the lizardman quest as well - I'll take stock after finishing them and probably release a work in progress build. Late spring hopefully!

[Pongo]

Continuing to make good progress, but I'm going to focus now on just getting a build ready to publish. I'm cutting all the Chp2 content for the minute and focussing on making Chp1 a better experience - finishing a few side quests and unexplored areas, and expanding the ending a bit, revisiting some of the stuff that doesn't work quite how I wanted. Maybe ready for April, more likely May. Then a little break and some quality time with Hearkenwold before picking up Chp2 again!

[Dorateen]

I'm going to focus now on just getting a build ready to publish. I'm cutting all the Chp2 content for the minute and focussing on making Chp1 a better experience

Sounds like a good plan. The Chapter 2 content, you will then add back in after the build is published? In other words, not scrapping completely, but just separating for now so you can release Chapter 1. I'm looking forward to trying this one out.

[slowdive]

Sounds like a great plan, Pongo! It'll give us a chance to try out the first chapter and make a few playthroughs. Looking forward to it.

[Pongo]

Thanks! Yes, that's right Dorateen - I'm not binning Chp2 content, but I'm being more ruthless at gating it off from this build. There will still be plenty of content to explore in Chp1.

[Dorateen]

How is your project coming along? I look forward to playing another IceBlink module, and it's a great chance to learn from other builders. This one sounds like exactly what I enjoy in an RPG. No pressure!

[Pongo]

I've gone totally off-track in the last couple of months - I had an unexpected work deadline that kind of took over my life for a while. Its now done though , so I can turn my attention back to my more enjoyable hobbies!

I think I'm into that final 10% of development that can take 90% of the delivery time. The mod is full of content, but there are still lots of bits that just aren't quite right. I'm going to run through it again with a few parties and continue fixing it for a while. There is also some content I want to go back and change as well to make it more interesting and fun and to improve the overall flow.

It really is getting there, and I'll post a more interesting update in a few weeks! But I'll avoid giving an estimate for completion because I'm continually wrong with those...

[slowdive]

Yeah, estimating completion time is pointless for me too since I'm always way off, haha. Sounds like you have made some good progress and that is great. The last 10% taking 90% of the time sounds about right to me

[Pongo]

Made lots of progress over the last few weeks. I'm basically playing the module repeatedly to pick up broken convos (more than I expected), broken global integers (far fewer than I expected), and issues of flow (level development, items, story etc - all of which need work).

I've revamped level progression and made it much slower, and rebalanced the combat so its a bit easier. I think the pace works much better now. The current content would take 5hrs to get through I think (although its hard to predict), and would leave the player at around level 3 which feels about right. I've removed some enemies that were too hard, and I'll add them into later missions where the player will be higher level.

Story pace is a challenge. I've made it simpler (again!), which helps. I've also made the quests a bit less specific. They were basically "go there and kill that" type things, which on reflection didn't encourage exploration - which was a shame given there is "off path" stuff to find. So now they're more in the "go somewhere around there and work out what's going on" style. It hasn't actually taken too much input to change the style - the actual content broadly stayed the same, just now reveals itself more slowly. I feel it makes a big difference though. I've also gone back over convos to add in more race/class/trait stuff.

I'm trying to avoid adding too much completely new content at this point, but there are few areas that sagged and needed it. This is the opening combat in a three-level tomb I've just completed:

skels.png (332.06 KiB) Viewed 92313 times

Its a bit of a maze, and there are some fun encounters and puzzles. I've gone a bit "Pools of Radiancey" with monster numbers in this fight - skeletons are fairly weak enemies and the party are well equipped/second level, so they would have no problem with a smaller group, but they could still be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Its a war of attrition!

Finally, I've been playing with ways to introduce a "bandage" skill or spell that stabilises a bleeding character. Haven't quite worked out the best way of doing this yet, but will get there!

[Dorateen]

Looks great! That tileset works so perfect for a skeleton infested tomb.

I also like the idea of slowly revealing information to the player, letting them "work out what's going on", as you put it. This will be a lot of fun.

[slowdive]

Looks Anna sounds great! I have a bandage system that is built in to IBbasic that can be used or not by builders. It is a trait that needs to acquired. It basically sets the hp to zero. I had to make a number of changes to the code to make things work so IB would also need code changes, I don’t think a trait with the existing v203 would work correctly.

[Pongo]

Thanks both! OK no worries about bandage, it was just an idea because I was getting annoyed with my characters bleeding out when I ran out of healing potions. Its not a big issue though, can work around it.

Had an amusing panic this morning. My ancient laptop appeared to have died on me, which it has been threatening to do for a long time, and I had a horrible, sinking realisation that I hadn't gotten round to backing up my Iceblink files in months. Fortunately I've now got it running again (turned out the power brick had become unplugged lol so nothing actually wrong with the laptop this time...) and I've now rectified that on cloud and memory stick. Phew!

[slowdive]

Fortunately I've now got it running again and I've now rectified that on cloud and memory stick. Phew!

Something to think about would be to use GitHub desktop for your projects. It works great for having a free online backup and tracks all changes made to your module's folder so you can easily revert to older versions of a file if needed (Zach uses it for his IB module). I've always used GitHub for the IceBlink code, but Unity does not have a built-in GitHub system like Visual Studio has. So most Unity coders use GitHub Desktop for their Unity projects.

[zach_holbrook]

Yes, GitHub has saved my life several times -- or my sanity anyway!

[Pongo]

My "to-do" list is rapidly decreasing - I'm definitely in the final stages.

I've started using Craiyon, the AI art thing, for some of the module art. Its actually pretty good! Here are some that have made it into the mod:

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craiyon_085114_spooky_old_room_with_a_big_window.png (649.82 KiB) Viewed 91729 times

craiyon_083522_family_crest_black_dragon.png (840.37 KiB) Viewed 91729 times

They don't all turn out great though. Its particularly awful with people:

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craiyon_090012_dwarf_fighter_with_an_axe.png (525.03 KiB) Viewed 91729 times

...is that a dwarf or a gerbil? But overall its speeded up the process for finding art quite a lot. For inanimate objects like books, or environments like rooms, its generally pretty useful - I'd recommend it if you're struggling to find a particular resource.

[Dorateen]

Great work, I like the room, very atmospheric and the dragon crest, too. I read about Craiyon last week in a post on the Codex. It's a nifty tool. Definitely can be a time saver, and should generate some memorable art.

Still looking forward to playing your module!

[slowdive]

That is an interesting idea for a tool. I see how that could help with module building for those that are not doing all of their own custom artwork (like Zach).

Great to hear that the list is slowly getting smaller. That is a good sign because my lists are usually getting bigger, haha.

[zach_holbrook]

AI is capable of doing some really interesting things. I can see artists and modders and taking AI images and tweaking/putting their own spin on them as a really efficient way of making art. Spooky old room is really cool!

[Pongo]

I've been working on the map of Skaule for a while using Inkarnate. I want to use it in the mod's intro to help set a sense of place. The bit of the mod I'm working on is essentially the whole south-west section - its a pretty large area of about 45 interlocking 20x20 maps (not including specific dungeons etc). I've tried to be generally consistent with map sizes to help mapping, but the towns are a bit larger than that (eg Culcheth is 40x40 and has a separate graveyard map) so its not 100% consistent.

The background is that Skaule is an isolated island that forms a proxy battle for two larger powers elsewhere - the Ustryan Empire in the west, and Skalavic in the east. This occupation is relatively new, and the island is full of ruins that speak of a longer, now lost, civilisation. Bastion is the imperial fort that marks the current divide of the two territories on the island. When the PCs arrive, both sides are living by an uneasy truce that might collapse at any time. The PCs travel to the island as mercenaries to take paid work from the Empire in and around Castle Grimtol - but, ultimately, they owe no allegiance to anyone.

The north of the island was once also occupied but was laid waste in a mysterious event now long forgotten. Only a desolate red wasteland remains. However, some who have braved the bleak wastes tell tales of ruined cities, lost in the red sands, that are still inhabited by deadly creatures. And tucked away in the north-east of the island is a large settlement of orcs in an ancient mountain home - they have their own concerns and internal battles and largely keep to themselves, although some will go ranging to trade or to raid...

(I've just noticed the typo in Gloomwood, ha! Will fix it. I expect I'll keep adding to the map as it develops in any case).

The Island of Skaule (1).jpg (1.86 MiB) Viewed 91603 times

[Dorateen]

Outstanding! I love seeing fantasy maps, and the background lore that goes with it. Nice sepia tone for the colors, I think. The island and its history appear quite inviting... for trouble.

The section of the game world sounds huge. Should be excellent for exploration.

[slowdive]

This looks and sounds amazing! I love the map and all the lore you have developed so far. I think Glooomwoood would be fine or Gloomwood, either way is good .

[Pongo]

Thanks both! Yeah I did consider doubling down on Glooomwood and making it a thing - will probably revert to a normal spelling though!

[Dorateen]

I did consider doubling down on Glooomwood

I imagine that's how an NPC might say the name, trying to make it sound spooky for dramatic effect:

"Beware the Glooomwood!"

[Pongo]

I haven't updated in ages, but I've still been happily tooling away in the background over the last couple of months.

I'm basically on the final path for critical content now, and then I'll put it out there. There will be a few bugs no doubt, and I won't have fixed all the playable classes as well as I would have liked (I'll include an indication of which ones are most "complete"), but I think its at the stage where its ready to go. I'm basically aiming for April, although it could slip into May.

And then, finally, I'm going to sit down and sink some relaxing hours into a long promised playthrough of Hearkenwold before I go anywhere near chapter two!

[Dorateen]

Sounds good. I have been looking forward to seeing an update about Pescua. Will definitely check out the module when you have it ready.