Mod in the making

[muffin-tacos]

Helloo everyone!

I'll get strait to the point, no chit chat on the way (OK, maybe *a little* ). I've been working on a mod for a while now, writing dialauges etc. Well, actually, I've *only* been writing dialauges.

 

I'm a lazy person and like all lazy people, I don't want to do this work all on my own. Firstly, because I'm not that great at coding and stuff like that (what? It's my first time - cut me some slack). Secondly, because I'll most probably give up the mod if I don't get some help and people to give me some pep talk. Which would be pretty sad because I really like the idea of this one

 

So what I was wondering was if somebody was willing to code my dialauges for me and maybe help me a little with other things (I don't know what those other things could be at the moment because I haven't got that far yet - I'm taking it step by step here .)

 

And you probably don't want to volunteer for doing something without knowing what it is, right? (seriously, who would?) So here is short introduction (or something along those lines) to what this mod is all about

 

I got very inspired by the Thiefling sisters mod. Wouldn't it just be great to have sisters in BG2? So I started coming up with ideas for sisters and I guess that's how this project started! This mod is going to be different from the Thiefling sisters of course (and the Thiefling sisters mod is probably going to be better than mine because it seems so great! ). First of all, my sisters are humans and I hope that they aren't going to be the same classes as the TS (theifling sisters). Since I don't know the TS that well, I couldn't really say that their personallities are different from the human sisters, but I hope they are!

 

These sisters are twins (not identical ones if you were wondering) and they come from a city called Esmeltaran in Amn. I've done my research on the city, so it won't all be lies that I put into this mod about the city. Keira is the oldest twin (like 5 minutes older) and she doesn't miss an opportunity to rub it into her sisters face. Keira is known as the "bad twin" out of them and she's the one that is more risc-taking than the other. Keira is a less-talk-more-action kind of person. Faye is the younger twin. She's not as outspoken as Keira. Unlike her sister, she has respect for people and she's more of the chit chat type. I've been thinking a lot if the sisters should be romanceable or not. What do you think?

 

Well, enough of this riff-raff. If you want anymore info, just ask. I will put in the Human sisters bio here soon.

 

Let me know if you're interessted

Cheers!

 

NOTE: The person that helps me in this will get credit for doing so - I'm not that mean that I'd hog all the credit myself.

[muffin-tacos]

As promised, here are the sisters biography and stats. (sorry about the non-portrait bit. It wouldn't allow me to use the pictures so I'm posting the links to the portraits if you feel like having a look)

 

Keira's Portrait

Keira Bio and stats

When you ask her about her past, KEIRA gives you a bit of a sinister look and tells you to bog off. When you ask her again she waves her hand at you angrily and threatens to seriously hurt you if you carry on bugging her. You chouse to let her be for a while. Maybe her sister would tell you more of their past?

(I chose this as Keira's bio because I found it boring writing the same kind of bio for both Faye and Keira, since Faye's bio explains about Keira as well.)

 

Human, Fighter/Theif, Chaotic Good

 

Stats:

STR: 15

DEX: 17

CON: 15

INT: 14

WIS: 12

CHA: 11

 

 

Faye's Portrait

Faye Bio and stats

When you ask her about her past, FAYE explains that her childhood was very happy and peiceful, growing up in Esmeltaran. She and her sister spent their days by Lake Esmel either exploring or helping their father. Faye explains that their mother died when she gave birth to them and when their father passed away too, they had to live with their aunt, who taught Faye to be the Cleric she is today. Their Aunt never liked Keira and called Keira the 'bad twin' out of them, which did not please Keira at all. Keira ran away, taking Faye with her and that is how they started their life as travellers. Up untill they met you in Athkatla, the sisters have been travling around Amn, learning new skills and visiting old friends. As you know them, the sisters stick together no matter what and their love and respect for each other is quite obvious - even if they do not always show it.

 

Human, Cleric of Lathender, Lawful Neutral

 

Stats:

STR: 13

DEX: 11

CON: 14

INT: 16

WIS: 15

CHA: 13

 

 

Don't be afraid of criticising this

[berelinde]

Thing is, I have been afraid of criticizing this, because I'd hate to shoot anyone down.

 

But you're up against three really gigantic challenges.

 

The first is that this is not really your idea. You are dissatisfied with the lack of progress on another mod, so you're doing something on your own. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with that. But then you have to start asking yourself if you're writing your own vision, or what you wish someone else's vision would be. Never a promising start. Better to just do your own thing from the outset. I'm sure you've got your own ideas.

 

Second, you're asking someone to code your writing. Sometimes, a writer and a coder share a vision, and it's a beautiful thing. At other times, one person might be a stronger storyteller, so that person might concentrate on telling the story *that both parties wrote.* That last part is crucial. It's absolutely no fun to code somthing someone else wrote, without any opportunity for creative input. There are few things more boring. If you believe in the project, it becomes a labor of love. Otherwise, it's just endless hours of neverending drudgery. Who wants to spend a sunny and mild Saturday doing that?

 

Thirdly and lastly, writing even one NPC well is hard. Writing two well is monumental. Also, many people only want or have room for one NPC. I never take NPC pairs.

 

I don't say all this to discourage you. I'd like to see you take on a project and finish it. Which is why I'm not exactly thrilled to see you taking on a project that has so many pitfalls built into it already.

 

You can always try learning to write code. Believe me, it is much easier getting help when you start off with something that isn't "Do you want to do this for me?" Much better to write "This is what I tried, and it didn't work. Can anyone tell me why?" And before you say you're too artistic/lazy/dyslexic/lycanthropic to ever manage it, I've done all right, and prior to this, the nearest I'd ever come to using a computer for anything but internet, email, and banking was working the calculator. I cringe when I read some posts I wrote not even a year ago, the ones where I repeatedly hosed my BG2 installation by attempting to install mods with the game running. The last 10 months have been very educational.

[Kulyok]

This was quite some post, berelinde. Almost makes me want to renounce my bastardly ways and hug MorningGlory - but anyway, yeah. I'd pin this in every "Mod Ideas" section.

 

And spellchecking/proofreading part. Word's spellcheck isn't decent, but it's the best you get now, I guess.

[Domi]

Uhm, not commenting on the idea per se, just on the fact that the authorization is required to view the portraits. You might want to download them on an independent server, and seeing how it DOES require authorization, it's a good idea to obtain a persmission to use them, seeing the author went into troubles of installing a watchdog on them.

 

I dunno if you could succeed or not, but I wish you luck. It's a tough project, and to be honest I think that a single romanceable female joinable NPC for both SoA and ToB would be enough to make many a player happy. I'd just pick the twin you like most and turn her into the joinable, and keep the second one as a story element. But then you run into problem that there are both female fighter theifs and Cleric of Lathander in making. Heh, I wonder why people won't do more clerics of different deities.

[Miloch]

Heh, I wonder why people won't do more clerics of different deities.

Eh? They do, don't they? At least a lot of the ideas I've seen floating around lately are for clerics. And how many NPCs are there for BG2? I looked at the lists on SHS and was just flabbergasted. Even for Tutu, there's a cleric of Deneir, a cleric of Lathander, not to mention the existing in-game NPC clerics.

 

Personally, I'd keep the fighter/thief and make her for Tutu - less of a saturated market there. But that's just my rather shallow opinion.

[muffin-tacos]

OK thanks for your oppinions guys. I appreciate you taking the time to write back and I'll have a think of what you said