slowdive

I agree that having the conversation file format would be a great start. A strong conversation editor would be key. We could get started on developing that tool as soon as we have the file formats. Obsidian has stated that they have an in-house tool for conversation editing that they have used on their other projects which leads me to believe that they might have the file format already figured out. I think the IE games just used a few different bitmaps for each map. One for the map, one for walkmesh information, one for occlusion information, etc. Color information was used to define walkable and occlusion areas. I may be wrong there, just my observations while using Infinity Explorer.

Thanks zdsdead! I appreciate the post as the project needs more visibility. Here is what I posted in the NWN2 forums: Solenttar is a adventure module using the openForgeRPG engine + toolset that I am creating from scratch. "It is a simple 2D, grid-based and turn-based engine. The intent is to create a game engine that results in a virtual table top, Pen and Paper type feel in a single player computer game. The engine and toolset will be free, once they are completed, but Solenttar will only be available to backers of this Kickstarter project. The toolset will allow anyone to create their own adventures to share with the rest of us. What does this mean for players, builders and writers? The goal is to give writers and builders the ability to easily, quickly and effectively tell their story. Since the engine and toolset will be free, players can experience your stories without having to purchase a game first. That means all of your friends and family can enjoy your story, yeah! Solenttar on Kickstarter

I'd love to have the dialog file format information as soon as it is more or less final. They said they will be using an in-house conversation tool that they have already used on other projects. This leads me to believe that the file format is already known. We could start making our own conversation editor now with that information :-P

Yeah, jclef is all in too! Okay, I'm just hopeful and optimistic )

Great stuff Luridis. Not sure if they would do this, but c# has it's own compiler built in to compile c# code at run time. I'm using this in my project and it works very well and was very simple to set up. You choose what functions and properties you want to expose or not and you can use Visual Studio Express to write scripts. The problem is that some may not want to use c# as a scripting language.

I wonder of it would be a good option to create a bunch of "placeables" at the proper camera angle that can be used as drag and drop into your GIMP or photoshop file...similar to how dundjinni makes maps.

Adam is all in! Okay maybe just lurking, but heck, we'll take it. Adam is my hero, great to see him here! I've been learning c#, it is very easy compared to c++ or java (so I am told). Did you see the new picts showing the map making process? Super cool :-P http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0025/PE-TempleEntrance-ProcessStack-1340.jpg

I second this, I completely agree with Carlo (carlo one maybe?) and frisk. This two part process is the way I have taken with my latest project as well and it seems to be work great. Since maps are just 2d images, they can be created in many different ways depending on your skill level. It also sounds like they will have 2d backgrounds, but the characters will be 3d models...not animated sprites. That should be fun for all those max and blender community members (hopefully no granny this time!)

I'm sure the community will make character and/or save game editors as they have done for most games. This should be very easy to do since OEI will be giving us all the file format information that we will need in order to read and write files.

I agree with Anek as well. The file format information is the most important part since this will be a data driven game. The community will make whatever tools are necessary to do just about anything they (we) want. I'm sure that ability to mod this game should be much easier than the IE games due to OEI owning the IP and their willingness to share and help modders (it is a kickstarter project after all). In the podcast interview they mentioned that they already have a few in house tools that they plan on using (Conversation Editor for example). Exciting to see what they come up with and what the community can create tool wise. Maybe even make our own adventures