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Help! My mod is corrupted!

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Week of June 15th, 2009

Topics:

  • Getting Help
    • The "Assistance" windows
    • The Lexicon
    • The Forums
  • Variables
    • Type-casting and the types
    • Conventions
    • Constants
  • Who Dun' It?
    • Who Spoke?
    • Who Used the Placeable?
    • Who Activated the Item?
    • Who Crossed the Trigger? Who Entered the Area?
    • Was it a Player? a DM?
  • Creating Objects
    • Preparing the Object
      • The Resref
      • The Object Type
    • At a Waypoint
      • Find the Waypoint
      • Find the Location
    • Where the player is
      • Find the Location
    • Create the Object
      • Deciding on a Tag
      • Spawning in the Object
      • Doing Things to the Object after Creation
  • Tracking Variables
    • Local Variables
    • Persistent Variables
  • Some Useful Scripts
    • Making Changes to the Avatar When It Enters the Game
    • Fiddling with the Avatar's Inventory
    • Destroying the Inventory Items
    • Destroying "Non-Destroyable" Items
    • Taking Gold From the Player
    • Giving Gold To the Player
    • Giving General Inventory Items to the Player
    • Giving Equipable Items and Forcing an Equip Action
    • Random Walk

Homework: Dungeon and Quest

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Week of June 7th, 2009

Topics:

  • Items
    • Properties
    • Building your own items
    • How to make an item have a conversation.
  • Creatures
    • Properties
    • Building your own
  • Triggers
    • Choosing the right one
    • Drawing a trigger
    • Trigger Properties
    • Trigger Events and Scripting Preview
    • Examples of Trigger Use
  • Waypoints
    • Waypoint Properties
    • Waypoint Directions
    • Uses for Waypoints
    • Scripting Preview
    • How to Set Up a Patrol Route
  • Conversations
    • How they're used
    • The basic tree.
    • Branching
    • Links (or "Loop backs")
    • Tokens: Built-in and Custom
    • Colorizing the Text
    • Including Other Speakers
    • "Actions Taken" and other events
    • Conditional Nodes
  • The Journal
    • Categories
    • Entries
    • Updating the Journal through Conversations
    • Updating the Journal through Scripting
  • How to Test Your Mod
    • The Build Module Option.
    • The Real Way
    • The Test Module Option

Homework:


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Week of June 1st, 2009

Topics:

  • Areas
    • Area Properties
    • Module Properties
  • Tiles
    • Tile Properties
  • Names
    • Blueprint / Resref
    • Tag
    • Display Name
  • Doors
    • Door Properties
    • Transitions between doors
    • How to make a door close itself
    • How to have a transition without a door
  • Placeables
    • Placeable properties
    • Spawning placeables.
    • How to stack placeables
    • How to have a placeable hold a conversation

Homework:

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May 27, 2009

Topics

Homework

 

  

GAME CONCEPT AND DESIGN
COSC 320.101_SU09
SUMMER 2009

Book and Software Requirements

The following two items are required for this semester:

1: The book Rules of Play by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. You can almost certainly get the book from the bookstore. You can also very likely find it online at Amazon.com or Half.com. You might find it advantageous to read the Preface and Chapter 1 "About This Book". We'll talk more about the book and its role in the course when I join the class.

2: The game Neverwinter Nights. You can get the game at Best Buy, CompUSA, even Wal-Mart and Target. You can probably order it online as well. Please take time to read these important points:

A: There are what appear to be two versions of the game. You do not want to get Neverwinter Nights 2. You want simply Neverwinter Nights.

B: Neverwinter Nights has had a number of incarnations and updates since it was originally released. The first release was Neverwinter Nights. The second was Shadows of Undrentide. The third was Hordes of the Underdark. If you had been around for all those releases, you'd have bought them one at a time. They are now available in one all-encompasing package. Go get the package that says it has all three of those titles. It will (as I recall) be labeled as the "Platinum Edition".

C: You may find a box that has all three titles as well as some extra stuff, user-created content and so forth. You can get any packages that have that "extra" stuff if you wish. We won't be using that extra content, but it won't hurt us either.

3: Install the game, and run it. One of the first screens will give you an option to Update the game. Do it. It may take some time.

4: If you'd like, click this link to learn How to hide those intro movies!

5: FINAL NOTE ABOUT NWN. We will be using NWN as part of the course. However, if you absolutely cannot buy the game, you will have to come to the lab to do your design work. That's OK by me, but just make sure you can get here and can get the assignments done.