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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

We're going to be using NWN to create a "fast prototype" of a gaming environment which includes some land, a town, a dungeon, some "people."

So give some thought to your world using the ideas we discussed tonight. Once you have an idea in mind, use NWN to start fleshing it out. Tonight we begin with the land.

  1. Use the toolkit to create some land. One zone is fine and it can be of any size you choose. 1 x 1 will probably be too small (but congratulations to you if you pull it off!) and 32 x 32 you will find to be surprisingly big and overwhelming. Use any of the outdoor tilesets that appeals to you considering the world you've created and the area of that world that you're going to start constructing in. If you choose to use an indoor tileset, be prepared to justify your choice.
  2. Use any of the tileset Features, Groups, and Terrain tools to craft your area.
  3. Bear in mind the edges of the area and the mirror effect. Is that what you want?
  4. Use lighting and ambient sound--if you choose and can--to lend extra mood.
  5. Use any of the Placeables to dress up the area.
  6. Name your area. Does the area have a history from which it derived its name?
  7. Use creatures if you would like. However, most creatures (monsters) are set to attack players and we will be doing tours using wimpy level 1 default characters. So try to remember to:
    1. Right-click the monster and open its Properties
    2. Click the Advanced tab.
    3. Change the faction to Commoner
  8. In future projects we'll expand on this area by adding a town and a dungeon. So....don't put them in right now; just think about them and how they're going to fit in with this area you're building.

When you've got it done, email it to me before Sunday night. I'll take your mod and absorb it into mine, making a few changes to allow area transitions. My email is: damian@romeosquare.com

Then on Monday night, we'll tour them and see what's been created!

Reading:

Please read through Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 in the Rules of Play book.

Before you panic and start cursing me, bear these ideas in mind.

  • They aren't thick chapters.
  • There is no test.
  • I don't expect you to attempt to memorize them.

Just read through them at your leisure and get a handle on what the authors are saying and where they're coming from when they talk game design.

Chapter 6 is probably the most interesting for our purposes and you would probably do well to give it a bit more than cursory attention.