BigRob

I'm glad you're both looking forward to it, I'll try and make sure not to disappoint.

But that should be hopefully a summer release, as in hopefully a southern hemisphere summer release... meaning a winter release for all you Northerners. Yeah, still a little while to go yet, unfortunately.

*Grumbles about reversed seasons*

Well, it's almost a month since the last progress report, so I figure I'd better make some effort to keep everyone informed. Last week was a total bust on writing, unfortunately, work shoved its ugly head into my free time.

But over the two weeks previous, I've managed to get all of Aerie's banters done, the outline of the Aerie/Aklon romance and the first of her NPC lovetalks. I hope to get a few more finished this week and hopefully complete Aerie's stuff some time next week. More progress as it happens.

I've also posted one of the Aerie Banters as a sample, go here to view it.

Since you asked so nicely, see the progress and sample banter threads.

Thanks everyone.

Work's progressing, a little slower than I'd like, but I've got a few banters done and a few more ideas floating about. I'll post something in the progress thread with a summary in a couple of days when I get some more finshed.

Thank you. I have a lot of thinking ahead of me for the banters, but I'll do my best.

There's not really than many Underdark banters though, so I might just keep those under my hat for now. I'll see what I can do about a sample banter soon.

Here we are 10 days later and I've finally finished the last part of the Underdark flirting. So now with all PC flirting behind me, work will now start on NPC banters, Romance and Romance Conflict.

The majority of these should go rather quickly as I have a number of ideas already in mind for most. But be prepared for a little wait, as I do want to include a decent number of banters for each NPC.

Thanks for the enthusiasm Celtic Rose.

Hand stamps can be obtained from specially marked packs of Cornflakes.

And feel free to post in here, that's why I split it off from the main progress thread.

It's been a month or so since the last update, so I figure I'd better post something. The "Dance for me" flirt is done now and I've almost completed the last Underdark Flirt. Hopefully I'll get it completed this weekend and move on to banters. Then again, I thought that last weekend too.

Anyway, more progress as it comes....

The line for beta testing is not yet open, please retain your hand stamp for entry.

Thanks for all the offers everyone. I promise when the time comes, there'll be announcements bold enough for all to see.

Welcome back Domi, no trip is complete without a little boxing, eh?

2 Jan 2006

Yes, I've made some more progress on the last flirt and added a few extra options (I told you it was a big 'un). Christmas/New Years has eaten up a few days, but it should be finished soon.

2 Feb 2006

Unfortunately, January has turned out to be a bad month for writing, what with starting a new job and some personal issues, so I'm still going on that final flirt. There's just a few more options to fill out and I'll be into the Underdark flirts and then into the last phases of banters, interjects and quests.

17 Feb 2006

Some progress was made a couple of days ago, but it slipped my mind to post up here. The late stage romance flirts are done and I'm now onto the the Underdark specific flirts, which are for PCs at any stage of the romance. There's only a few of them, however, and I hope to get them finished shortly. More progress as it comes.

20 Mar 2006

Some progress on the Underdark Flirting has been made, but not as much as I'd like. Three of the six Underdark Flirts are complete, which technically means there are six flirts done, because all these have a pre- and post-committed version.

Part of the slowness in the writing is distraction from the game of Icewind Dale 2 I just finished (Yes, I know, naughty me) and part is from having to switch back and forth from pre-commitment Aklon to post-commitment Aklon, who both have some quite different takes on what CHARNAME is trying to do...

The kissing one, which I have just finished, will probably be the worst for that, so I'll try to knuckle back down and see what I can come up with for the others. I'll see if I can get the Underdark flirts done this week. More progress as I make it (or as I'm reminded to post).

Apr 3 2006

And even though it's only been two weeks (I was horrified to think another month had gone by), I'll give an update. I've finished the majority of the "Lick my ear, male" flirt, with just a couple of bits for committed AKlon to flesh out. With luck, I can get those finished tonight and move on to the second last one, "Dance for me!"

17 Jan 2005

I'm about four more flirts onward from where I was on the 31st of December. A bout of real-life caught up with me for a while there, but I think I've shaken it off now. Flirting proceeds apace.

26 Jan 2005

The number of flirts from low-level romance to mid-level romance has almost doubled, so it will take me a bit longer to do them. Progress has been pretty swift of late and I've got nine done in the last two weeks or so.

18 Feb 2005

Yep, Aklon's still alive and well. Unfortunately, I've lost count of how many flirts I'm up on the last update, but I've only got three to go before I move onto final stage flirting and from there onto quests, banters and interjects.

1 Mar 2005

Another bit of progress. I've now completed all the early and mid stage flirting (you know, the stuff I said I'd finish last week ) and I'm now getting started on the high-end and underdark stuff.

25 Mar 2005

And progress is a little slower than I'd like at the moment (I've only managed six flirts since my last update), but things are coming along.

28 Apr 2005

I've been going pretty good recently (in bursts anyway) and I've done two flirts. One of those flirts is pretty big, consisting of 8 subflirts, some with secondary choices as well.

For my own notes (because I've started to forget where the last update was), I've just started the "Hug Aklon" flirt.

25 May 2005

And, since it's been about a month since my last update, I've done seven flirts in the meantime and am currently part way through the last choice in the "Play with Aklon's hair" flirt.

Jun 4 2005

This week's been very slow writing-wise, real life stuck the boot in and all my time vanished. But I did finish off the "Walk Close to Aklon" flirt.

Jun 17 2005

All up, not very much to report, unfortunately. I've had a mixed couple of weeks with a hell of a lot of work shoved in front of me, but I did get one small flirt finished, and just yesterday I completed the "Kiss Aklon's hand" option in the "Kiss Aklon" flirt.

Jul 2 2005

Things have been still pretty busy for me still this last couple of weeks, but I have got a little writing done. On the upside I've got all that extra work behind me and I should be getting back into things now.

I'm still somewhere in the "Kiss Aklon" flirt, which is giong to take me a little while to finish, since it's going to be one of the bigger ones.

Jul 23 2005

Not counting some lost time as I wrote for something else, this fortnight hasn't been too bad and I'm on the last of the "Kiss Aklon" options now.

That may not sound like much, but the kiss flirt currently makes up a quarter of all the space in the high-level flirts I've written and it's not finished just yet.

25 Jul 2005

And in a further burst of progress reporting, I might as well mention that I'm past the kissing flirt and into the "Seductive gaze with finger nibbling" one.

19 Aug 2005

Progress has been pretty good of late, I've done four flirts over the last couple of weeks, two large, two small and I'm partially into a fifth, a sort of general "Invite Aklon to pamper you" kind of thing. There are roughly ten more flirts to go for this stage, before I move onto the Underdark flirts (which I'm putting provisionally at six). After that it's banters and NPC romance, Quests and Interjects.

Because I won't have to make random repeatable content for the quests, banters and so on, these should go much faster than the flirting has. I will be trying my hardest to get all principle writing done by the end of the year, if not sooner. *crosses fingers*

6 Sep 2005

And it's been two weeks, so I'll preempt everyone and report some progress. I've got four more flirts done this fortnight and I'm just into the last part of a fifth, the "Pinch Aklon's bottom" flirt. With just seven flirts to go, I should be onto the Underdark options in a couple of weeks. More info as it happens.

16 Sep. 2005

And ten days is near to two weeks, so some progress. We're two more flirts down, so that leaves us with five to go, including the one I'm currently writing, which was the very first flirt I put on my list "Tag, you're it!"

27 Oct. 2005

Okay, there's been a bit of a delay since the last progress report, mostly because real life work has kept me from doing much in the way of writing over the last month and a half.

That said, I've got two more flirts done in that time, as well as finishing off the "Tag, You're it" flirt. Just two more flirts to go now, before getting onto the Underdark versions.

7 Nov. 2005

Real life has still been eating up my time and it's only going to get more hectic over the next couple of weeks, but things should get better after that. In the last week and a half I've basically finished the current flirt and I'm now just doing the two special versions for characters with high/low stats.

4 Dec 2005.

I haven't actually answered this anywhere before, but I'm intending seperate SoA and ToB releases. I know it would be better overall to release them both at the same time, but if I do that you could be waiting a long time. Also, as this is my first mod, I'd like to get a basic version tested and out there so I can learn to start dealing with bugfixes.

However, I'm thinking about Aklon's ToB content as I write, so with luck I should be able to get ToB out very fast.

On another note, my real life commitments have been dealt with, I'm getting back into the writing now.

18 Dec 2005

And on a progress-y type theme, the current flirt (the last in the normal series) is about three quarters done... It's a big-un though, so I might still be a few days on it.

16th December 2003

Goodness me, it's a progress report in the progress report thread!

I've finally finished Aklon's "Childhood and Education" talk and am finally moving onto other (hopefully shorter ) talks.

11th Jan. 2004

Well, so much for shorter dialogues. Finally finished "Aklon's whirlwind tour of Toril" and, unless I go into some kind of drug-crazed writing frenzy, the following chats with Aklon should be a bit faster to produce.

There's still a few to go, but some wll be fairly breif. More as it happens.

14th Jan. 2004

And speaking of breif dialogues, there's another one down. On I go.

21 Jan. 2004.

Got another two PC initiated dialogues done.

Now only 4 general dialogues and the romance specific ones (number indeterminate, sorry) to go.

2 Mar. 2004

Ok, after a vast gap, I've finally finished another dialogue. It's a pretty big one, describing the various people Aklon's met and befreinded in his travels, so I haven't spent all this time swanning about doing nothing. The next couple of dialogues are short, so they should be done much more quickly.

8 Mar. 2004

What wonders a weekend trapped in one's home with no power does for one's writing speed.

Two more down (for a total of 16 PC initiated conversations).

18 Mar 2004

On that note, I've finished another dialogue, making 17 total PC initiated dialogues. Now, I'm moving onto the romance specific PC inits. There will probably be slightly more of these (20ish), but some of them are going to be very short. There will also be the "story" PC init, which is available to all players, but draws on things said to Aklon during the romance as well as in other PC inits, so I'm doing it last.

After that, it's flirts, quests, banters, cleanup and coding.

25 Mar 2004

OK, just a quick update. Two more interactions down and about half-way through a third.

5 Apr 2004

OK, another little update. Two more interactions done. With twenty now complete (excepting one that needs to be re-written) we're half way there.... ish.

13 Apr 2004

Yet another incremental progress update. Finished the romance version of "How's that collar going Aklon?"

10 May 2004

Ok, the latest dialogue is finished. What was meant to be a dialogue of snippets too small to rate their own entries turned into a hulking conversation (That's not a conversation about shipwrecks).

21 May 2004

Ok, another update, two more dialogues down, about Aklon's lovelife and related matters.

26 May 2004

Another short PC initiated dialogue done. Only one more to go and we're into the post-serious stage.

31 May 2004

Another one down. Now starting on the post-serious relationship talks, currently the "I'm an elf, I'm gonna live for a thousand years and you're not" dialogue.

14 Jun 2004

I'm nearly finished the dialogue I'm working on now, just a couple of minor pathways to deal with, probably just a couple of hours work.

24 Jun 2004

And another dialogue done. still 10 or so left, as well as late romance revisions of previous ones, but most of those will be short. Er.. I think.

3 Jul 2004

Hmmm, percentages. I'd say 65-70% done now. But I said something like 60% three books ago, so I could be off.

I've got something like 10-15 more PC init dialogues to go, before PC flirts, banters, interjects, NPC romances and quests.

Most of the remaining PC initiated dialogues are short or modifications of previous dialogues, so they should be swift to write. I'll keep updating things as I go.

And speaking of updates, another dialogue down.

5 Jul 2004

I even managed to get a (short) dialogue done over the weekend.

12 Jul 2004

Another dialogue down this weekend.

Now looking at my little list, I've got eight modifications of previous talks (should be pretty quick to do), six responses to incidents in the Lovetalks (mostly quick) and three unique forcetalks left to go. One of those unique forcetalks is "Give us a story Aklon", which isn't very complex, but I want to shove in some good tales, so I may leave that one until later on, so I can think some up.

22 Jul 2004

Okay, two more dialogues down today, one very short, one slightly longer, in which CHARNAME and Aklon can discuss the possibility of having a family.

26 Jul 2004

3 more dialogues down. Only 1 unique dialogue to go before I begin romanced modifications of existing ones.

28 Jul 2004

Heheh, see I said these'd be quick to write. Speaking of which, two more done.

Now I'm on to romance versions of previously existing talks. Should be quicker to do than the originals.

25 Aug 2004

Having rocked on for almost a month now, I've done another one. Part of this time was taken transcribing several original dialogues from paper to computer (Yes, I am crazy enough to write an NPC on paper).

Also, the dialogue about Aklon's family was only supposed to be a minor rewrite, but it turned into a whole new dialogue. OK, on I go!

2 Sep 2004

Several days (and numerous papercuts) later, another dialogue's down.

According to The Plan, There's now seven dialogues/edits to go before I move on to the flirting.

9 Sep 2004

Things are coming along at a steady pace. At the moment I'm typing out one of Aklon's bigger dialogues to get it on computer. After that it'll be edited for the changes that happen after CHARNAME and Aklon have gotten serious about things. I'm about half-way through that now, and it's the biggest dialogue I'll need to reedit, so things should go swifter after I get this done.

17 Sep 2004

... and the editing of that dialogue is complete. On to the next one....

22 Sep 2004

Nope, still in the process of catching dinner.

And that's another dialogue down. But it's got nothing to do with dinner.

5 Oct 2004

Now for some progress: Two more dialogues done, on to the lovelife and collar quest dialogues

18 Oct 2004

And Now for actual progress: The advanced romance love-life forcetalk is done. Onto the last two.

22 Oct. 2004

Now for some progress. The last two forcetalk options are complete. Now I'll begin to gather my thoughts and start writing flirts.

19 Nov. 2004

After nearly a month, time for another report. Currently, I've written eight PC initiated flirts (some short, some long), examples of which can be found in the "Flirts, flirts, flirts, spam and flirts" topic.

6 Dec 2004

I'm still writing away. Not as fast as I'd like, but there you are. I've got five more flirts done now and I'm hoping to get several more done in the next couple of days. I wouldn't hold your breath for a 2004 release, but I'm getting there.

31 Dec 2004.

Okie dokie, another progress report on the verge of the new year. I've completed first stage flirting (20 in all) and have made a start on later flirts. More as it happens.

So, here's where I'll be posting what progress I'm making on Aklon. Don't expect updates too often, but I'll report here as often as I can.

Today (17th May, 2006) The following stuff has been completed:

The Romance Dialogues (In total, 31)

Aklon's self-initiated flirting (That's flirting with CHARNAME, not with himself )

38 PC initiated conversations with Aklon (some available to non-romanced PCs and all available to romanced PCs)

PC initiated flirting

Underdark PC initiated flirting

So, still remaining to do is:

Banters (Including with the PC, Aklon's romance with Aerie and Aklon's rivalry with Anomen)

Special Aklon/PC Interactions (What happens when his Annoy stat gets too high, the Tree of life Dialogue, Bodhi's abduction of Aklon, etc)

Aklon's Freindship Talks with a non-romanced PC (Essentially similar to the early Romance talks)

Quests (Those innate to Aklon and those which will be given by a new NPC, and not requiring Aklon to be in the party.)

Interjections

Coding

Just a little tidying up so that people can see the progress reports more easily.

Thank you for all the words of encouragement everyone. I hope you find the finished product to your liking.

holy crap i can't wait for this mod!!! i've done just about every other romance mod there is, and i have a feeling this one is going to surpass them ALL.  just a quick question: any closer to releasing a beta? if so, how many beta testers will you need?

Becoming a beta tester for this particular mod would carry the joy quotient of, say, finding out that an obscenely rich relative you never knew you had suddenly got penned in the dead book and left all of their earthly posessions to you.

 

Note the subtle hint in above sentence. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Beta testing should hopefully not be all too many months distant now. I have just finished the dancing flirt and have moved onto the last of the Underdark flirts (this one's complicated, so it might take a little while). After that we have Banters, Quests, Interjects and then the coding starts. I won't give any specific time yet though, because I'll surely overrun it.

In terms of numbers, I'm guessing I'll need at least 4 beta testers (anyone who's done this before, feel free to correct me ). But bear in mind that beta testing can be exhausting stuff to do.

I hope you will give the PC a chance to defend her claim/rights/protection of her man in the underdark. . . .if he dances half as well as I think he will, some other "female" drow may make the mistake of butting in, could be some interesting fireworks though 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was planning on a little something in the vein of the Pherae encounter for Aklon, but I needed to scout through the dialogues for a sensible place to put it. I may link this to his dance numbers, but I'll have to see how it works out.

Hmm.. dancing..

 

Will we get to dance with Aklon in the mod? I think he'd be a great dancer..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In answer to that question, yes, you will be able to dance with Aklon (that flirt's already written). Currently I'm attempting to write some solo performances for the underdark (Drow females need their entertainment, after all) and have got a few more to go before I'll be done with this one. More as I write 'em.

Thanks for the interest, all.

Aklon is currently out back working on his dancing, and may be at that for a few days to come, so please leave the cookies with his trusty trainer.

Thanks Domi, KIrving and Patty-O, I am trying to keep things moving forward, even if I'm not going as fast as I'd like to.

And even though it's only been two weeks (I was horrified to think another month had gone by), I'll give an update. I've finished the majority of the "Lick my ear, male" flirt, with just a couple of bits for committed AKlon to flesh out. With luck, I can get those finished tonight and move on to the second last one, "Dance for me!"

Ouch, I know that feeling!  I've found it extremely difficult to resist Star Wars KOTOR at the moment.  I swear my dreams have a Star Wars soundtrack with the occasional sound of blaster fire and duelling lightsabers in the background.

You can always tell a good game by how thoroughly it invades your dreams.

Thanks for the encouragement Megiltura and Patty-O.

But, er, yes, it has been a month, hasn't it? Some progress on the Underdark Flirting has been made, but not as much as I'd like. Three of the six Underdark Flirts are complete, which technically means there are six flirts done, because all these have a pre- and post-committed version.

Part of the slowness in the writing is distraction from the game of Icewind Dale 2 I just finished (Yes, I know, naughty me) and part is from having to switch back and forth from pre-commitment Aklon to post-commitment Aklon, who both have some quite different takes on what CHARNAME is trying to do...

The kissing one, which I have just finished, will probably be the worst for that, so I'll try to knuckle back down and see what I can come up with for the others. I'll see if I can get the Underdark flirts done this week. More progress as I make it (or as I'm reminded to post ).

Again I have to thank you all for your well wishes, and I'll keep striving to make the wait as short as possible.

As you might have noticed here, some progress was made a couple of days ago, but it slipped my mind to post up here. The late stage romance flirts are done and I'm now onto the the Underdark specific flirts, which are for PCs at any stage of the romance. There's only a few of them, however, and I hope to get them finished shortly. More progress as it comes.

Thanks for the encouragement all!

Unfortunately, January has turned out to be a bad month for writing, what with starting a new job and some personal issues, so I'm still going on that final flirt. There's just a few more options to fill out and I'll be into the Underdark flirts and then into the last phases of banters, interjects and quests.

I still won't venture a release date yet, but I'll keep my mose to the grindstone as much as I can.

I just have one question I just tought of. WIll Alkon have any special talks (love or not) with <char name> if he/she is also a monk?

Yes, there is such a special talk available, as part of the LT line-up (or the banters for non-involved CHARNAMEs). There will be one available for each class and monks will be one of the more developed ones, as you might expect, though I'll try to make sure there's something for everyone.

Yes, I've made some more progress on the last flirt and added a few extra options (I told you it was a big 'un). Christmas/New Years has eaten up a few days, but it should be finished soon.

As for the whole mod, I should (touch wood) get it released this year.

Thanks for the enthusiasm for Aklon, I'll pass your compliment on his portrait to my artist. By the time you get the finished product in your hands (so to speak) I'll try to make sure that that "well thought out" statement was worth saying.

And on a progress-y type theme, the current flirt (the last in the normal series) is about three quarters done... It's a big-un though, so I might still be a few days on it.

Hey, Rob, glad to see you working again. You might consider what I am thinking of doing with Kivan:

 

1) Finish SoA and put the SoA into closed Beta.

2) Work on ToB part.

3) Put ToB into closed beta

4) Fix all the stuff reported in SOA portion.

5) Fix the stuff reported in ToB part

6) Release the whole thing open beta.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's an interesting way to do things and I might actually take that plan up. There are a couple of things in Aklon's storyline that would be easier for the player to remember if there wasn't a six month break between playing SoA and ToB.

And thanks to everyone else for the enouragement. I'll keep at it.