Morgane NPC mod - progress reports, questions etc. go here for now

[Domi]

This thread:

 

http://forums.spellholdstudios.net/index.php?showtopic=24125

[Guest John]

@John

Yes, Morgane will be romanceable. I've already written two lovetalks, and I think it will work. BTW, fighters and rogues (including bards, rangers and paladins) are similar in the number or realized mod NPCs, and almost monopolize the scene, although the picture gets less one-sided if you only count the romanceable ones (two sorcerers, two specialist mages). My decision was influenced by the lack of female romanceable arcane spellcasters (afaik, there's only Tashia) and some inspirations from literature and film.

 

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for it. Taking a break from the game for a bit of awhile at the moment.

 

When I posted, I had forgotten about Tashia, even though I had played the mod a few times and enjoyed it, particularly the riddles and the music. The overpowered amulets eventually took away the fun, although it might just have been that I played it one too many times

[Ieldra]

Morgane now has an "official" portrait since I've just obtained permission to use this beautiful work by Rowiel (based on a photo by Wyldangel):

 

 

Many thanks to the artists!

 

What do you think? Heh - I've been playing BG2 for years and never found one perfect portrait for any of my player characters, and now I'm making an NPC mod and this fits like it was created for the purpose .

 

(This is the "large" portrait which is itself a detail of the original work. The small one is a detail of this one, not just a smaller version. If you think anything should be changed, maybe include more of the body or concentrate more on the head, tell me.)

[berelinde]

Most of the existing portraits are more focused on the faces, I think, but it's a nice portrait.

[Guest Guest]

This looks neat. She sounds like a fascinating character, and her blindness would really add a unique element.

[Alinia]

Ah, that last one was me. Actually, if you want to PM me and give me some samples of Morgane's personality and how she speaks, I would be happy to try at some banters between her and the Bioware NPC's. When I have writer's block for other stuff I'm supposed to be writing, I sometimes write banters for fun, anyway.

 

I think the portrait is very pretty, but I agree with Berelinde that the Bioware ones zoom in on the face a little more . . . but if you want to keep it as is, it's fine with me.

[Belladonna]

Looks like a wonderful idea. I hope it bears fruitation in the future.

[Ieldra]

Regarding the portrait:

 

I've tried to fiddle with it some more, but there are two reasons the large version will probably stay as it is: first, this is the original size, and would lose detail when scaled up, second, the background illustrates her personality as much as her face does - I've even thought of changing the background to one involving even greater distances.

 

For comparison, here's the small version. For the interface bar, I considered it more important to focus on the face:

 

 

Alinia:

Thanks for the offer. You'll hear from me very soon.

 

One more thing I'd like some opinions on: non-verbal communication and moods not so easily conveyable by spoken words (because silence is a part of them) will be very important, especially in the romance, so I consider it unavoidable to include action text and narrative sequences in Morgane's dialogues. I've seen this used (by Amber, for instance) to very good effect, but I also hear this is frowned upon by some. What do you think about it? I promise it will not be on PS:T's level (great as it was in that game - I don't think there's been another game conveying moods as well as PS:T)

[Alinia]

I'm one of the people who likes action-style more. I think that some people like the "Baldurized" dialogues because they fit into the game as it was originally, but many NPC mods do add the action. In fact, I think most of them do. Flirts are also heavy on actions.

 

So . . . I personally think it's ok, especially if it's important to her character.

[Domi]

I don't like action-style things, save for flirts. What I usually do, is go over my texts a few times eliminating each and everyone that is unnecessary, conveying what I can with the word choices, breaking the text block appart etc. That's said, yes, an action sequence is needed sometimes, so trust your judgment! If you think you need it, go for it.

[berelinde]

I'm on the fence about this one.

 

I don't necessarily like loads of action text, because so many times, it's just there because the writer can't be bothered to come up with a way to say the same thing through dialogue.

 

MyNPC: ~(Her eyes scan the Adventure Mart, ever alert, ever on the lookout for new faces, or for new ways to put her devious talents of manipulation to use.) Hello, Ribald.~

 

would really be better as

 

MyNPC: ~Hello, Ribald. Any juicy gossip for me today?~

Ribald: ~You know me, just business.~

Ribald: ~Buuuut... you see old Gorlan over there? He just bought a set of very, very large shackles. I'm betting he's got something in his cellar he doesn't want any Cowleds finding out about.~

MyNPC: ~You don't say! Well, maybe I'll just have to look into that - discretely, of course.~

 

The former assumes that the PC is a mind reader, and knows far more about MyNPC's motivations than has so far been communicated. And that the PC has nothing better to do while shopping than stare at MyNPC, recording every detail of her ever-changing features. It implies that MyNPC and Ribald Barterman are at least on a first-name basis.

 

The latter shows the familiarity, but also a bit more about the NPC's character.

 

Whereas

 

MyNPC: ~Hello, Ribald. Any word?~

 

conveys a feeling of anxious terseness, and suggests a backstory that would support this familiarity.

 

For flirts, though, action text is a lot more acceptable. After all, how else would you say:

 

MyNPC: ~(Her lips are soft against your cheek.)~

[Ieldra]

Thanks for your opinions about action text. I agree with you, berelinde, about not using it where dialogue is sufficient. Also, things will change if I ever get my mod voiced - action text can be treated as stage direction in many cases and would then be removed from the final version. Otherwise, I'll find my own style.

 

Apart from that, here's a short progress report, just to say that this won't be a mayfly. I've written and coded one important quest dialogue, one rather complex lovetalk and three banters, have enough notes for some more and mapped out almost half of the romance regarding lovetalk topics.

 

I'm realizing the writing will probably be the hardest part of it all. I'm getting the hang of not becoming confused by all the different branches, but I'd never have guessed how much writing a non-trivial dialogue about an important topic can take out of you. And as Morgane has a philosophical bent, dialogue is sometimes complex in content as well as structure (even though there's a lot of necessary omission). Things are definitely going into the PS:T direction here...

 

That's it for now. Comments, questions, ideas etc.. are welcome.

[ericp07]

This is going to be a wonderful mod As always, I'm available for proofreading and editing any text for American English. I look forward to the completed work!

 

- E

 

[Ieldra]

This is going to be a wonderful mod As always, I'm available for proofreading and editing any text for American English. I look forward to the completed work!

Thanks. I'll certainly need proofreading and you'll probably hear from me once I have finished some part easily separated from the whole...

 

(Nothing specific to report regarding progress - some more dialogues written, a new magical item made. Apart from that, I'm trying to come up with ideas for lovetalks not yet used by anyone else, while being aware of the fact that in some regard, love stories are always the same.)

[Domi]

If you are interested in an advice on that last, what I was planning to do when I thought I might do another romanced character, I was interested in divorcing all the talks from the 'one every hour' sequences, and instead tieing them to the game events and followups for those, using the events to add personal info, observations of general nature based on a particular example, etc. This would for me resolve the problem of 'how fast do you play?' and give a much fresher material for the talks. Cheers, and good luck.