Blood and Lyrium - Monthly Report - October  

The past week has been extremely hectic - with the Scripting contest coming to a close today and my projects at work throwing up nasty bugs, I haven't had time to work on BaL as much as I wanted to. I have a couple of go-lives this month too - one on 15th and another on 29th so this is going to be another busy month! I have decided one thing though - no more Community Contest stuff till BaL is done. Well, unless it is an exterior level contest, in which case I can submit one of the levels I am currently working on.

I did manage to finish up my entry for the Scripting contest - The Cranky Harem and you can download it from DANexus or BSN.

A 7x7 game board with highlighting turned on when you place game pieces

With that out of the way, on to the Monthly Report.
In the October monthly report, I had mentioned how I need about 6 small exterior levels to serve as entry points into other areas. I am happy to say these are done! They are primarily reworked OC levels but it did take a fair amount of time to edit those levels and get the lighting right.

I am also close to completion on the first custom class for BaL. This will be the class the player will play. I know I have mentioned previously that the player will be allowed a choice of 2 custom classes but I've restricted it to one now. Why? The whole module now integrates the background of this class as an over-arching story within and will continue to do so in the next iteration of this module. The second custom class will now be restricted to a particular party member.

The prototypes for 2 other external areas are also complete and I will start building the levels this month. It's going to be a fairly intensive process, as level building always is but it should go much faster now that I am comfortable with this aspect of the toolset. Also, all the interior levels for the alpha release are done! I made an excel workbook to keep track of areas, creatures, conversations, etc and realized BaL will have 57 areas! I can tell you, it took some time to digest that as I had never quantified that - in my mind, it was always the the function of that area that was predominant.

On to the percentages then!

Story - 100%
Quest Design - 90%
Companion design - 40% (no change!)
Custom Classes and Abiltities - 50%
2D Art - 0% (again, no change!)
Level/Area Design - 90% (just one more level to go!)
Level/Area Implementation - 40%
Conversations - 30%
Scripting - 20%
Cutscenes - 10% (no change!)
Monster/Encounter Design - 0% (I should really start on this)
Custom Systems - 40%

Overall, the module is around 30% complete. I was hoping to make big gains in October but sadly, that didn't materialize.  Here's to hoping November is better!

Plan for November:
  • Finish up the alpha release for testing - target: Nov 15th
  • Finish the 2 prototypes exterior levels
I am going to keep it simple this time so I can report more-than-expected results next month! The things one has to do...

Till later!

3 comments

  • Ivan  

    November 1, 2010 at 7:37 PM

    "I have decided one thing though - no more Community Contest stuff till BaL is done."

    haha .. that's good to hear!

    mmm .. just wondering .. what's involved in Companion design, 2D Art, Monster/Encounter Design?

    I'm an artist so I may be able to help if you're talking about concept arts/illustration type of things.

    but if they're programming related .. then I won't be of use =P

    I also have a degree in graphic design so I'm good in photoshop. but I don't know how it works with the toolset.

    let me know if you are looking for any help.

  • Timelord  

    November 1, 2010 at 7:58 PM

    That's awesome, yic17 :)

    Encounter design is mostly scripting and companion design is just a bunch of 2das, conversations and scripting. However 2D Art should be right up your alley!

    Assuming you are the same yic17 from BSN, I'll PM you there with some details. Thanks again!

  • Ivan  

    November 1, 2010 at 8:43 PM

    yep, I'm the same yic17 from BSN. so go ahead and PM me the details =)

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