Playing Dragon Age

November 16, 2009 by Adam in Dragon Age

Well, needless to say, it's been awhile since my last post. Mostly I've been playing the official Dragon Age campaign with my surprisingly limited free time, getting ideas for what I want to do. I'm loving the game itself, and thought they did some pretty amazing things with cutscenes and I'm generally enjoying the story and personalities of the characters.

I'm still trying to figure out which systems I want to bring into my campaign. I'm still pondering items like gifts and friendship bars. There won't be an overland map for the first module, but perhaps later on.

My main issue continues to be lack of time, which I suppose could change any time.

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Testing Dialog

November 05, 2009 by Adam in Dragon Age

I continue to work on the beginning of the module, trying to set the mood and humor of the place. Today it was writing dialog and seeing how recorded dialog could be properly attached to the game. So far, it's working relatively well.

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NDA Lifted, All Systems Go

November 04, 2009 by Adam in Dragon Age

The Non-Disclosure Agreement has been lifted and I can talk freely now. After over a year of silence, I just want to say how impressed I've been with Bioware. At our first toolset conference, they listened carefully to all our thoughts and concerns. Now that the game is released, I can say that all our major issues have been addressed. While the toolset is challenging to work with at times, it's an amazing platform that should let me build some wonderful modules. I have a long road ahead of me. I'm starting fresh with the story, dialog, scripting, and have much to learn about the toolset. That being said, I have faith that I can put something together that entertains and enlightens. Since we can now share everything, I thought I'd show off the intro cutscene to Dreamer.

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Once More Into the Breach

November 01, 2009 by Adam in Dragon Age

Just to clear up some of the mystery of my last post, I'm in the process of getting divorced. Not having foreseen this particular life event, I was pretty incoherent for a few weeks. Strangely I seem to have adjusted and am working hard towards making my new life. My wife and I are relatively amicable, avoiding lawyers and generally agreeing on finances and child custody, so we're hoping for a relatively good divorce.

In terms of module making, I completely lost interest for awhile. In the last week, I've reinstalled the Dragon Age toolset and have cheerfully started writing dialog and making areas. It's a pleasant distraction during this transition and my son likes to help me work. The story is largely changed, but not entirely bleak. I'm hoping for moments of humor and hijinx as the player wanders through Nightmare.

I'm still not sure how much time I'll have to spend on module making. My current thinking is that I focus on story, dialog, and avoid some of the more time-consuming scripting systems I've done in the past. I'd love to do another card game, but we'll see what I can manage in the months ahead.

It feels good to be back and I appreciated everyone's notes and e-mails of support. They helped carry me though a hard time and I deeply thank you all.

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I've won multiple awards for my Neverwinter Nights modules, which I've been working on since the year 2000. In the real world, I'm a web developer for a healthcare organization. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.