Volcano Productions reveals first mod

[Aion]

Volcano Productions has revealed its first mod in development. It is a big one, and very ambitious. However, it can be done. It will just take a long time. Though perhaps things can be speeded up a bit with some help.

 

Soul Exchange is a mod I have thought of during 2008, and I have been very fond of the idea ever since. It's no secret I'm a big fan of NPC mods. Most NPC mods add a new character or two, that blends into the game world, bantering and interjecting, sometimes even romancing another character or the PC. They add a new story, some quests, and so forth...

 

But what if you get tired of the default Bioware NPC's? Tired of reading the same character lines, hearing the same voices, experiencing everyone's interpretation of the existing characters? From that thought, Soul Exchange was born.

 

Its aim is to disable the Bioware cast, and to introduce an entirely new cast of characters. There will be a total of 18 characters (6 good-aligned, 6 neutral-aligned, 6 evil-aligned) of various races and classes (gnomes are the only absent race), making sure one can form a completely evil, neutral or good party, or a combination of them.

 

Aside from the standard banters and interjections, it will feature 6 romances (3 for male PC's, 3 for female PC's, divided between good, neutral and evil, including 1 gay and 1 lesbian romance).

 

There will also be character-related quests. Flirts, friendships and voicing will be included as well.

 

The mod is in open beta, and new versions will be released when new content has been completed. Anyone may assist in the testing. Any other help is welcome too, be it writing, coding (definitely coding), voicing or anything else.

 

The mod can be found here.

[Gay Lord]

including 1 gay and 1 lesbian romance

 

Yay!

 

May I suggest though considering making all the NPCs bisexual? This way, all the romances would work regardless of what gender (or race) charname is. It would be up to each player to decide who their current character is going to flirt with. Having choices is a hallmark of RPGs.

 

Unless you plan on making very gender-specific dialogue for them, you would only have to write one romance dialogue, and then switch the pronouns.

[Ankhesenpaaten]

Personally I find romances that just change the pronoun bland and colourless (Solaufein). As fine as the Sola romance is, I soon got tired of him not really knowing if I was a man or a woman. Gender specific dialogs and flirts have the most "life" imho.

 

No offense to you, Gay Lord, as I love as many romances as possible! I just like them to feel "real." Of course maybe that could be done. Sola, however, after a while, bored me with his bland sexlessness. Oh, and the constant goddess dialogs. (Argh!)

[yarpen]

Moongaze? Yeah, I remember this project announced something like a year ago. -.- You know, in open beta there is rule - if it's open, people can download it.

[Gay Lord]

Personally I find romances that just change the pronoun bland and colourless

 

I understand. Yes, banters and flirts are nicer when they're thought out, complex, and specific (as an aside, I once had a boss write me a reference that was OBVIOUSLY a generic letter he used for everybody and just switched out people's names. ). However, not everybody wants to put in that much effort, or can write, or has the time. As I'm sure you're aware, 99.94% of all major mod announcements for games never materialize. So, my suggestion was thinking along the lines of reducing the workload to increase the chances of it being finished.

 

Also, I'll admit the reason for my suggestion was pure selfishness. Yes, gender-specific flirts are better than gender-neutral ones, but gender-neutral ones are better than gender-wrong ones. How many hetero romances are there, dozens? How many gay ones, one? For me personally, I'm not fond of playing females in games just so I can get a male romance. Really, my dress brings out the color of my eyes? Really, I need a man to protect me? Do I want to have children with you?? Hrrm...

 

I know that there will never be a plethora of gender-specific romances for me in any game, so gender-neutral is the best I can hope for; it's better than nothing. It's why I generally don't play NPC mods.

 

I completely understand your perspective, just thought I'd share mine. In any case, the author is certainly free to do as s/he wishes.

 

No offense to you, Gay Lord

No worries, none taken.

[Guest Guest]

At the risk of knocking the topic off... well, topic, how exactly does a romance need to be "gender specific"? I think we pretty much tossed traditional gender roles (barf) out the door the moment we started a character who has pointy ears, lives for 350 years and throws fireballs at things.

[Ankhesenpaaten]

Gender roles and gender specific aren't the same thing at all. Gender roles are like saying only males can be fighters. Gender specific, say, has the NPC saying, "lovely lady, may I help you with your bedroll tonight?" And flirts that make it obvious the pc is a woman (her womanly curves, breasts, etc) or a man (muscular arms, chest, and maybe flirts that include physical sparring.)

 

That's about the best I can explain it. You'll know what I mean if you play a few and play Sola's.

 

Gay Lord, I understand your desiring a finished product rather than none. You are right. So many announced ones end up just going down the drain and we never see them. I would rather have neutral than none. But I'm glad at least there are good quality same sex romances such as Sarah and Nathaniel (but that only makes 2). But those modders we know we can count on to finish their work. I hope Volcano mods does, too! It does sound exciting. A whole new cast and new romances will really breath new life into the game.

 

Edit - why doesn't the link work now???

[Ankhesenpaaten]

Aw, crap! Did he/she run off? It says the board does not exist...

 

I was getting truly excited about this.

[the bigg]

Aw, crap! Did he/she run off? It says the board does not exist...

 

I was getting truly excited about this.

In case you missed it, it's Moongaze, not a new user. He regularly registers under an alias, start a new forum and 200 NPC projects, then reveals himself (by throwing a tantrum and wishing/threatening painful death for 5/6 of the world population), hangs around a bit more, and then leaves.

 

If you truly wish to know more about him, just ask - somebody more in the know than me is bound to come and post a summary and a list of threads to read.

[Ardanis]

What, ALREADY?

Previously it took at least a week.

[Ankhesenpaaten]

Aw, crap! Did he/she run off? It says the board does not exist...

 

I was getting truly excited about this.

In case you missed it, it's Moongaze, not a new user. He regularly registers under an alias, start a new forum and 200 NPC projects, then reveals himself (by throwing a tantrum and wishing/threatening painful death for 5/6 of the world population), hangs around a bit more, and then leaves.

 

If you truly wish to know more about him, just ask - somebody more in the know than me is bound to come and post a summary and a list of threads to read.

 

 

Oh, I remember now. D'oh! (Head slap) Yes, I was sort of familiar with Moongaze and liked him in general, but yes, sadly, his projects mainly never got done. Loads of great ideas, tho, and I do recall him being angry with Jastey (I think) and some others.

I wouldn't mind knowing more...I know, I know, gossip is a weakness of mine if anyone is willing to post a few links.

 

I didn't know he was still interested in BG and the communities and I thought he had retired.

[yarpen]

Angry about everyone. And his project 'great'? Sorry, but they were lacking of basic rules of writing characters. -.- And that's maybe because I've recognised him already? I always liked how whiny and emo he was. ;]

[Guest Guest]

"...like saying only males can be fighters ... muscular arms, chest, and maybe flirts that include physical sparring..."

 

I say that's still very much based on stereotypical ideas of what men and women "should" be. A female fighter with 17 STR is going to have more muscular arms than a male mage with 9 STR, and most likely more interested in sparring as well.

 

Obviously if you want flirtpack-level (MyNPC fondles your tits) flirts, you need to know the bits involved, but I'm not convinced that those are necessary. That seems more on the side of "titillating" than "romantic".

[Ardanis]

somebody more in the know than me is bound to come and post a summary and a list of threads to read.

I thought most of them got deleted. At least BWL ones, as old CoM's skin is too painful for my retina.

[Ankhesenpaaten]

"...like saying only males can be fighters ... muscular arms, chest, and maybe flirts that include physical sparring..."

 

I say that's still very much based on stereotypical ideas of what men and women "should" be. A female fighter with 17 STR is going to have more muscular arms than a male mage with 9 STR, and most likely more interested in sparring as well.

 

Obviously if you want flirtpack-level (MyNPC fondles your tits) flirts, you need to know the bits involved, but I'm not convinced that those are necessary. That seems more on the side of "titillating" than "romantic".

 

True, but now you're shifting the goalposts. I was trying to explain the difference between "Gender roles" and "gender specific." I was not advocating anything titillating necessarily, or anything else, clearly (I thought) I was just making my point. I like the characters to be able to "know" the other's gender.

 

But this is off topic and I'll cease the derail.