New Areas - The Plot Thickens

Time to check in and summarize the latest progress. Been very busy in the yard trying to get ready for summer. Major landscaping this year with a new retaining wall. Also had a family reunion and saw some cousins I hadn't seen since we played together as kids. Lots of fun, in spite of overwhelming heat and humidity. We had over 70 people in attendance - all camping out for the weekend at a site in Wisconsin. 

I have been busy on the Mod trying to finish up the needed area's - though it seems that just about the time I think I have them all, I find the need for yet another. Above are scenes from the "Inn of the Twelve Travelers"(inside and out). as well as a shaman's cave (internal) and some Dwarf halls - both outside and in (thanks to RWS). Lots of set decorating to do on the dwarf halls, but the other areas are close to "good to go". Besides "decorating", I still have at least two more internal areas to complete. Hope to get back to plotting soon - the main outline is done, but lots of details remain to be completed.

Hope everyone (in the U.S.) had a great and safe Holiday.

Long Holiday weekend

Took a few extra days over the Memorial Day weekend and when not doing yard work managed to spend some time with the toolset. Finished a new swamp exterior which ended up with the exact feel I was going for - and that doesn't happen all that often! After reading a post at the community site, I spent considerable time experimenting with ambiance - the end result being that I began populating my Oasis area with folks doing various things besides just standing around. Ended up using 3 different methods, but all are "playing nice in the sandbox". And I'm learning - which is half the fun. Still have a considerable way to go, but the more I do, the quicker it goes, so when I tackle the next area, it should only take about half the time. 

Began work on a new external area for a side-quest tentatively called "The Inn of the Twelve Travelers". Perhaps next post I will have some screens of that ready for viewing. In the mean time, I have included some shots of the new Swamp.

Map up and "running" in Game

Sorry about the long delay between posts. Have been busy at a steady (if somewhat slow) pace. I finally finished working through Sunjammer's tutorial on World Maps. What a great tutorial. It is well written, clear, and went without a hitch. I started with the Map I had used in the intro movie of Price of Honor. Dumped it into Photshop, and cropped the area I needed - then sized to 647X647 pixels. Next got rid of all the roads which wouldn't have been there at the early setting of the mod. Removed all the text, as I wanted a different font. Finally I added some color tinting to the mountains, forest, and lakes. Dumped it into Illustrator for the background, site locations and titles. Finally added a background and compass arrow. Then exported as a TGA file. From there I just followed the tutorial substituting my file for Sunjammer's. The great thing I discovered was that if you forget something on the map (which I did), you can just go back to the Illustrator file, make the change and export the file with the same name and answer yes when asked if you want to replace the previous file. Game doesn't seem to know the difference. Which means I can work on the map as I go - adjusting to plot changes as they come up. I have included a early screenshot of the map "in-game". Its fairly close to what I was after - especially considering my limited computer graphics skills.

Other than the map, I have been busy editing the sites from POH that will be re-visited in Winter Promises. I'm just about finished with that part. Then I will begin work on at least two more new exterior areas that I need. I have already started work on the conversations, and quite a few rough drafts are in place.

Been a while since my last post! Life has a way of intruding every once in a while. Go figure. Spent several weeks ripping apart my home studio and putting it back together. Got a new studio desk with lots of built in rack storage - so things are much better organized now. It was well worth the time and bother.

On the Mod front have been making slow but steady progress. Putting the final touches (are they ever really final?) on a new exterior area. For now I am calling it "Oasis", and it will be a key site, representing one of the few water sites in the Wastelands. I have included two screenshots - one of a campfire, and the second of a moonrise. Have been experimenting with exterior color settings and finally have some I can live with. Many thanks to Anduraga for his great work and notes. 

Finally - I managed to get around to Sunjammers World Map guide. What a great tutorial. I decided to use this in Winter Promises, rather than the Overland Map system. Baby steps you know. 

New Theme Music and Screens

The main theme music for Winter Promises is now available as a MP3 download from the link at the right. It is still a work in progress. The first verse, chorus and bridge will be used for the intro movie - while the last verse and a chorus will be used for the closing movie/credits. I'm singing the lead and playing one of the guitars. David VanDelinder (the same who created the new logo drawing) is singing backing vocal, playing the other guitar, as well as bass and the synth intro. The actual song is much longer - I have cut out one verse and a chorus so far, and may do more trimming.

Have made some progress on the Mod. I used Hellfire's "High Pass" prefab area, and the re-worked it for Winter. I am still changing out trees, grass etc, but it is going well, so I am including a screenshot. Have also included two interior screens - the first floor, and wine cellar of a monastery that I am working on. I will do a few more areas, then jump into the writing for a spell. Most of the main plot, and 2 quests are outlined. Let me know if you like the music!

New Beginnings...

It has been a while since I last posted anything, so I thought it was high time for some changes. First off - as you have probably noticed, there is a new blog header/logo to announce the commencement of "Winter Promises" - the next installment in P.O.H.. Many thanks to my good friend David Van Delinder for the pencil sketch. David is my musical writing partner and a fine artist as well. Before to long I hope to be able to post a sample of the main soundtrack theme( for the opening and closing movies) which is called - "Winter Promises" (funny how that works). I am going to try something different, and use both lyrics and music. We shall see how it works. Obviously nothing is written in stone at this point. 

Have begun work on one of the outdoor sites, and feel good about what the results look like so far. I am experimenting with a prefab - and am redoing much of the detail and seasonality. Have also started creating some NPC's and the initial convo (for the intro cutscene). 

Have also been having a ton of fun playing SOZ as well as a few other. All in all I enjoyed SOZ. I am still debating whether to use the overland map system or not. I may toy with it a bit - but I a still not 100% convinced that it is worth all the bother. 

Posts will probably be a little on the slow side till I get some momentum going. 

Thanks for dropping by - let me know what you think of the new "logo".