Modding Again?

[origen]

Okay, I am a little disappointed in how things worked out with the modding contest, as only 2 people (myself included) participated.

Why don't we try to get a few people who visit these forums to help with a stand-alond mod? We can make it as simple or as complicated as we really want.

Here is a quick list of some of the things we need:

1. Someone to make a list of all items and their attributes to be put in the game.
2. Someone to make a list of all monsters and their attributes to be put in the game.
3. Someone to edit the actions file to add any of the new monster attributes.
4. Someone to write the general storyline.
5. Someone to write the dialogue.
6. Someone to create customized textures. (walls/paths/signs, etc.)
7. Someone to create customized monster portraits.
8. Someone to create the dungeon levels on graph paper.
9. Someone to create the script and map files into the DW format.
10. People for anything else that I forgot about.

Is anyone interested in this? Unlike the last attempt, this requires no programming if you are not comfortable with that sort of thing.

I just get bored doing the same things, and while the modding capabilities are still not perfect, there is some potential.

[dragonbait]

OK. sample story line I could do. Here it goes:

The party traveling outside Rennibister stumbles upon an old graveyard. In the graveyard they meet an old man who greets them. Says his name is Marden. and he needs your help. Marden says that the undead have been attacking farmers from the plains near Rennibister and that a Lich has been using a wand to control other undead to attack the living and must be stopped. He offers a substantial reward of gold and loot. So the party travels into the catacombs with Marden. Battles through a maze maybe two levels of dungeon or so. Then they come upon the main room at the bottom of the catacombs where they find the Lich and confront him. The lich denies attacking any villagers and claims that he has no need to travel to the surface, but since the party has invaded his domain and killed his guardians, the party must face his wrath. The Lich sends his minions to attack the party, which then (hopefully defeats the minions) and gives the Lich a mortal wound. Marden then goes up to the Lich and takes his wand. and then turns to the party and says. (something along the lines of) You fools! now I have the wand. I will use it against your wretched Rennibister. Your pathetic little town won't even know what happened until it's too late. I will conquer and rule these lands. (insert maniacal laugh here) activates the wand as the undead turn to obey Mardens command. One last battle against undead that Marden sends to fight the party as Marden escapes. Then after the party defeats the battle they must rush to defend rennibister from Marden and the undead. The last battle is within Rennibister when the party finally defeats Marden and destroys the wand. (or something like that)

[origen]

It looks like we would need to find some farm textures for this. Any volunteers?

Also, since we would have to create customized items and monsters, we should probably make this a stand-alone mod, since if we compile an items and monster file, some quests in the Devil Whiskey game will not be able to be completed.

So, instead of using the town of Rennibister, we would need to create another town.

So, in this case, I think we should have everything take place on a rather large island (we would need to come up with a name), and we would have to create a starting city (we can make this a small farming community, which will go along with the storyline. We should probably keep it from being any main place, such as a capital, since it is early in the game.)

If we make the island large enough, it will allow us room to keep the city growing as large as we want.

So far, I like the proposed storyline. Let's keep it going. Any other volunteers?

[mbdil]

Hey guys,

This sounds like the answer that I'm surprised no one had suggested before. Making full-blown mods is kind of mind-boggling, but dividing it up among a bunch of volunteers.... that's a formula for churning out hours of exciting gameplay.

Count me in. I've never tried ANYTHING as far as modding goes, as I just downloaded the game a week ago and I keep crashing in the guard tower, so I'm looking for side stuff until I hear back from support or get someone to email me a useful patch, but that's stuff for another post. My computer-art ability is modest at best, and I don't have much knowledge of monster stats. I can handle taking some graph paper and drawing out some labyrinths. I think I can help with storyline development. (Honestly, would a lich be the best final enemy in that dungeon? Would we really strike up a conversation with the lich and let him argue it? If we want to keep that conversation aspect - a good one, I think - what if we make him something living?) I'd also be happy to type the mapping data in. Whatever helps ya most, origen...You name it and I'll figure out how to do it.

So can we use the monster stats and images in Devil Whiskey, or do we need to create our own from scratch? What level characters are we making this for?

[origen]

Good to have someone else willing to join in.

Just a few quick answers:
As far as the monster stats and info, we have no limitations. We can use some of the DW attributes, grab attributes from other places, or decide on our own as we see it. There is no limitation.

We are looking to start off at a beginning level party, and build it up to almost limitless possibilities. So we would need a broad range of enemies/items/maps.

The mapping and scripting aspects are not that hard, but everyone can chip in with whatever they can. Drawing up different types of maps is important.

I will let others discuss the Lich option as an enemy. Are there any other suggestions for this?

I would like to gather some more people, we can then work on the specific quests.

[dragonbait]

- what if we make him something living?

We could use a Necromancer instead of the Lich.

[mbdil]

I thought about using a necromancer too, but it seems a bit cliche and/or too similar to a current storyline. Now if it was possible to have a half-undead character of some sort...

[origen]

Since we are creating this, we can have a half-undead character.

How about we have an evil Growler? That is about as half-undead as I can think of.

[dragonbait]

Cool. That sounds good. And maybe since he's half undead. The party would have to kill him. Then he would rise from the dead and we'd have to battle him a second time. and then race back to the city to finish off Marden and the rest of the undead that are attacking the city. 8)

[dragonbait]

And i think if we're making an Evil Growler.......in battle it would have to bite and claw the party. or maybe occasionally breath fire or something.

[origen]

Or shoot fire out of his a$$...Nevermind. :

[mbdil]

I don't know... Growler's name's bound to be trademarked. Even if the name isn't, the fire from the tail section would be his signature move. We'd have to pay him royalties on our distribution profits. (Sorry, Growler... after reading half your posts on this forum, I feel like I know you well enough to pick on ya. )

I like the idea of having a character that's "rumored" to be some kind of half-undead creature. We can build that reputation nicely over the course of a few NPC encounters. Killing him twice would be great.

There's a part of me that wonders if we should back up and find a way to include this within the existing build. Origen, is there really no way to add custom items and monsters to the existing stuff without making it impossible to finish the game? Just from a design perspective, I'm thinking it would be great down the road to have a distribution that includes all of the mods that people have made. What kind of obstacles are there to this approach?

[dragonbait]

Well i'm sure if we got Growlers permission (aka growl) we'd be OK. and we could list all the credits to everyone who participates in the mod. guess we'll just have to wait to see if the Growler accepts the part, otherwise we might have to make an Evil Origen instead Bwahahahaha! 8)

[origen]

Evil Origen is too predictable, although I would be more than willing to take over the world.

But, since this is a beginning quest, an Origen would be too strong.

If we would be able to get the updated DW item list, than we could add new items. But, without the DW admins, we are unlikely to get that.

Since we are proceeding without any Admin support, I would say that unless we will not add any new enemies of items, we can not make this part of the existing game.

That is assuming the devs do not come back and shower us with their toolkit support, fixes and files.

[Rickstavern]

I'll help as I can. I do not want to create any plot or story points, but I can help to assemble and debug. I can also try to create some graphics if any are needed.

You should probably avoid creating any new skills/spells, items or monsters right now. If this is to be a learning exercise, then it is best to concentrate on map making and scripting at first.


You can try to send a poilte email to Shifting Suns asking for support. Sometimes you get an answer, sometimes you don't. You might even try sending one every day. The fact is that without some support, you are limited in what you can effectively accomplish.