BigRob

Thanks for the encouragement Stnemele Faerie. The savage workload that slowed the writing up over the last couple of weeks has let up and I'm hoping to do some catching up this week. There's only 2 Aerie Romance talks to go, so hopefully I should be able to post a more complete update in the progress report thread very soon!

Thanks for that vote of confidence Proserpina. A heavy couple of weeks at work have slowed the writing somewhat, but I'm still hoping to get all the principle writing out of the way before year's end. In terms of being able to actively tell Aerie where to go, this option already exists in the conflict interjections the PC has. However, I'll have a think about adding some more comprehensive options for a private conversation between Aerie and the PC.

Thanks Domi. From the NPCs it's mostly simple Peanut Gallery stuff, but for the PC, I figured sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, so why not let the PC be able to break in on some NPC canoodling.

All the options are for verbal sniping/getting Aklon away from her only, though you can get rather... upset. I figure if players want to pluck out Aerie's eyes, there's always the attack button to click.

If I can keep up my current speed, I hope to have the writing finished by the end of the year. Then I'll work on getting things coded. That might take a while, but there's a lot of reseources and expertise here, so I'll try and see if early next year will work for an alpha/beta release. As for spoilers, I'll see about psoting a little something from the banters/romance sometime soon. No, there's not all that much anti-Aerie in the mod. Aklon certainly isn't against her (they are romancing, after all). What there is is mostly PC driven, so you don't have to snipe if you don't want to. You can even be encouraging to the two of them, if you want. There is some abuse of her from certain NPCs, but it's rare and I've tried to keep it in character with what's already in the game (Korgan, for example). You've got that right, Edwin and Aklon do not get along very well, for all kinds of reasons... I'm making sure that each NPCs interactions with Aklon (and his with them) are written in character as much as possible and not bashing NPCs for the sake of it. Aklon will have some conflict with Anomen, for example, as the two of them are not really compatible personalities and they might also be rivals for CHARNAME's love, but I won't have Aklon "win" all the conflicts. I'm also balancing this with some instances where they show respect and even camaraderie for one another.

Do I detect a hint of anti-Aerie feeling in the air? As I may have mentioned before, there will be opportunites for those unwilling to share Aklon (or Aerie, come to that) to snipe, sabotage and generally object to their relationship. In terms of progress, I finished another dialogue last night and have made a start on the next. There's only about three to go before I'm done with her. I'll post something up on the progress thread when I have a little more done.

Nothing goes from cute and loving to terrifying and violent quite as fast as a cat can. So, the moral of the story is, never code with animals, or children. Neither of them can spell. Thanks very much for the kind words (and singular word ) all, it's nice to hear that everyone can understand and even tolerate my delays. That said, I'll be striving (being the operative word ) to allow Aklon mobbing in as short a time as I can. But why do I smell ozone?

Has it really been three months since I posted here? To make up for that long absence, I can report that I've completed the first ten of the Aklon/Aerie romance LTs. Most of that time was taken up by one particular LT, with a lot of potential for player interaction, but I am now moving on to the final phase of the romance, which should take less time to complete. More progress as I make it (and hopefully more regularly).

Thanks for the encouragement SMichelle. I have made a bit more progress over the last few days (as posted in the progress report thread), and now that I'm getting into the final phase of the Akon/Aerie romance I'll try to get (and keep) a move on.

*gives embarrassed cough* I'm still working on the same dialogue I was working on before. To be fair, this one is a major turning point in the Aklon/Aerie relationship and it has a substantial amount of PC interaction with it as well (giving all those choices really slows things up, unfortunately). I am currently nearing the end of the dialogue and I hope to get it finished tonight and move onto the rest of Aerie's romance and interactions.

Giddy-schoolgirlishness excused. I'm glad Aklon has spurred your interest in other areas of Faerun. I'll be working to try and get things into the coding stage as soon as possible so keep watching this space (or the pinned thread above). I hope to have some proper progress to report shortly.

Thanks for the kind words, I'll be working to make sure he doesn't disappoint. As for besting Edwin and Kivan... well, let's just say he'll be different. If people enjoy the mod, that's all that really matters.

Then welcome to G3, and thanks for posting here first. I'm working on it still, and I hope to have some proper progress to report soon.

Thanks to you all for the interest in Aklon, I'm getting there... Well Aklon is already there on the list of mods signed up for Crossmod and I know for a fact that BigRob is still interested. Yep, Grim is absolutely right. I will be doing cross-mod banter with as many different NPCs as I can arrange for. I have had some thoughts about a couple of NPCs To answer your questions, after the relationship gets to that stage (if not in a spot before), you will be able to speak with Aklon about the possibility of having children together. As for what eventuates from it, well, I might just keep that under my hat for now.

Thank you for the well-wishes, I'll be working to help Aklon live up to expectations. As for comments on specific events in the Strongholds (such as obtaining Carsomyr), I already had a few of these in mind, both for romanced and non-romanced NPCs. The idea is quite a good one though, and it might be worth expanding to a wider range of events. I have already written up options in the player initiated dialogues to discuss the major happenings in the game, but I'll have a lok wen I do final editing and see if I can add options to discuss things arising from the Strongholds as well. Thanks for commenting.

He has that, and comes with a free collar too. Vicci will indeed be giving that a go, but there no real romance there. Actually, I think such a banter or banters between Vicci and Aklon would be quite interesting, possibly with other party members commenting, agreeing or perhaps even being protective of Aklon. There will certainly be some tension involved, and I can see comments coming from several NPCs, not to mention the player. It's going to be a bit more complex than simple flirting. Aklon is curious to learn all about the drow, after all.... Oh no, he won't like that at all.

He has that, and comes with a free collar too. Vicci will indeed be giving that a go, but there no real romance there. Aklon and Aerie's romance is driven mostly by Aerie, so if you play your cards right, he will be letting her down at some point. You won't have to jump through hoops to romance Aklon, even with Aerie present. You needn't comment on Aerie's attempts to attract Aklon if you don't want to. The options for conflict are there so that you can have your say when Aerie gets a little too close to Aklon for your liking and don't have to suffer in silence. You might indeed be the only one. Well, consider it a personal bonus then. Why kill her there? Just dump her in the Underdark to have some fun with the drow. as you guys may be able to tell...i do not like Aerie. She is the most annoying person in the entire game. Anomen outside of the romance is a close second though. Thanks all, I hope when it's done you'll all like it. And those of you so inclined enjoy giving Aerie hell.

Thanks for the prodding SMichelle, KIrving and Menelanna. Time for writing over the last couple of weeks has still been bad. I want to try to forge ahead in the next few days and get Aerie's Romance done and on to the Anomen conflict as soon as I can. I will post something serious on the Progress thread when I make it. Sorry about that. I'm planning on making him as voiced as possible. While I did say that AKlon would be fully voiced, I underestimated the number of lines required for that and voicing every line may result in a ridiculously huge download and a lot of time for the eventual voice artist to commit. Especially with banters for NPCs I may cut back on voicing, to help him blend into the background, as it would be odd to hear a voiced line fomr him followed by silence from the NPC. Hmm, I don't recall saying that, but sorry if I did. I don't intend to release the two simultaneously. I know this will cause some disjointment in playing the second part of the romance, but in this case, everyone's been waiting a long time, so I figure letting out the first bit should keep everyone happy until I can get the second part done. Being smaller, I'm hoping to get ToB out a lot faster. At this time, not so good. If I can get writing and keep writing quickly, I may have all major work on SoA finished by then and begin coding. Unless anyone has a time machine they'd like to lend me. OK, consider me prodded. I will make every effort to get some serious writing in this week and leave Aerie's stuff behind. So the option to get into some of Aerie's LTs and steer Aklon away will be welcomed?

Thanks for delurking to give me a some encouragement, viking style. As always, I'll be trying to make sure the final product isn't a disappointment for the high expectations. Work has proved problematic over the last couple of weeks, but I've been making a bit of progress over the weekend and hopefully should have some more info to put up in the Progress reports thread soon. Hang in there!

Then the problem becomes the fudge deposits in my lungs, doesn't it? It would certainly be a step up from his usual diet of trail biscuits and wild game. You could always cook it and ask him, when you can find the option.

Welcome to G3, and thanks for the comments. Writing this week has been abysmal (that's real life for you), but I'll keep my fingers crossed for Christmas. On the subject of pet names, one or two pop up here and there in the romance and flirt options. The one that appears most often is "love", but even that not very often. I haven't gone for that many to avoid trying to second guess player preferences (like for, say, Akky). I suppose I could always do a poll. I'll take them, but that won't guarantee faster writing I'm afraid. Probably slower, since fudge is so hard to get out of a keyboard. Well, if you're all volunteering... Hmm, I dunno if I'd want to...'Akky' sounds like you're choking on something And the Heimlich maneuver isn't exactly a romantic start to the evening, is it? Well, I'm going to start hounding you from about the first Tuesday in December! I'll help with that. Oh oh. I've done it now.

Yep, Minarvia is right, I'm hoping for an initial release near the end of the year. That date will firm up as the writing progresees further and I find out how much coing and testing this thing will need. A little while to go yet, but hopefully I can use the word "soon" soon.

In my experience Happy dance + Headcold = Passing out, so that's probably for the best. Good luck shaking that cold KIrving, I'll try to make sure next time you check in there'll be something else to happy dance for.

Thanks for the words of encouragement all, I'll try to make aure that what you see at the end is something quality. the last couple of days have been pretty busy overall, but the upcoming week looks clear, with luck there may be a fortnightly update instead of a monthly one next time.

Okay, another month or so has gone by, so here's a bit of an update on progress. It's been a bit of a mixed bag for writing this month, the last two weeks or so have been pretty poor, but overall I've managed to get the first six of the Aklon/Aerie lovetalks finished. If writing time improves, I hope to get their fling cut and dried and move on to other NPC banters within two weeks (but, er, don't hold your breath ). More to come soon...