Trinity retired, enters Hall of Fame

Trinity has just been retired. It's an honor to make it into that hallowed Hall, but it's a little sad at the same time. It marks a culmination of sorts, and therefore an end. It had a good run on that first Vault page and I'm glad place has been made for other mods.

Hall of Fame status is a great addition to all the positive feedback Trinity has garnered on and off the Vault. To this day, I'm proud of what we achieved and how the game we built resonated with players.

Thank you again to everyone who played Trinity and supported us along the way.

P.S. New edition is still forthcoming. I'm so swamped with work these days that time, energy and motivation has become hard to find. Instead of an Anniversary edition I might just make it an Hall of Fame edition. :)

P.P.S. Congratulations also to Amraphael whose Zork module also just made it in!

Trinity One Year Anniversary – New Edition Coming Soon

As posted on the NWN2 forums:

One year ago today, the current version of Trinity was released. The mod occupied such a big part of my life over the two preceding years that I wanted somehow to mark that anniversary.

I’m proud that Trinity remains the highest rated complete NWN2 adventure set in the Forgotten Realms that is open to any class and race (Hey, it fits the niche! I’ll take it! ;) ).

Thank you to everyone that downloaded the mod and those that came back to leave feedback. And once again, because I could never say it enough, I’d like to thank all other modders and players that gave their support during production. And lastly, thank you to all the content makers whose creativity and talent helped make Trinity what it is, to the playtesters and, especially, to my two fellows in arms at the time, Daronas and Sirchet. All of you made building Trinity something memorable.

I’m currently testing the new edition and it should be ready soon. It will feature a new batch of fixes and tweaks in a consolidated download and, most importantly, fog of war!, thanks to the work of Lance Botelle.

The joys of playing on my belly

I know many of you have had and iPhone or Ipod Touch for a while, and even perhaps an iPad.

I got mine, an iPod Touch 64 GB, just about 6 weeks ago, after accepting that my iPod classic had kicked the bucket.

And this opened up the wonderful world of the App store, and, especially, the world of iOS games. Too bad there’s not a NWN2 for iOS yet… ;) But I’ve got other games on there, my favourites being Tower Madness (I never get tired of hearing these aliens explode!) and Civilization Revolution  (a dummed-down Civ-game, but just as addictive), Carcassonne  and, of course, Grokion  (great music and graphics! ;) Though I haven't been much of a platformer kind of guy since the heady Shareware days). The Diablo-like Dungeon Hunter is pretty good too, though I’ve only played the Lite version so far. I was quickly turned off on the other hand by GTA Chinatown Wars’ controls and the 3D CRPG Ravensword with its wafer-thin story and poor writing, not to mention the game breaking bug I hit. More than ever now, I'm looking forward to Ossian's "real" RPG on iOS.

How pleasurable I’m finding now to disconnect from my computer to play quick, fun sessions crashed on the living room couch or lying on my bed. These days I’m spending more time playing in that position than sitting at my desk.

I’ve had a GBA for years now however and it never caused me to part with my computer in this way. It was more of a poor substitute when off travelling somewhere, in some hotel room. Perhaps its the games (and the fact they cost much less on iOS and therefore you can try out more till you find one you really like : gotta love App store pricing and demos!), but likely the actual machine and its interface has more to do with it.

The position of the hands on the iPod Touch and the tactile relationship with the game is something that feels natural and pleasurable. In fact, I’m noticing I’m enjoying more iOS games that you actually interact with through the screen rather than those that use a virtual joystick and buttons.

That’s not to say that PC gaming is dead for me, far from it. I’m still playing : NWN2 of course, Wyrin’s fantastic White Plume Mountain in particular, Mass Effect 2 and Wheelman (I’m a big fan of Vin Diesel, and I’ll enjoy anything that has to do with him, I’m not even sure why!). And I just bought Borderlands, just because it was $10 on D2D. On my PS2, I'm still strumming along to Guitar Hero and Rock Band games from time to time.

And you, if you’ve got an iPod, iPhone or iPad, what games are you playing? I’d like to know what other NWN2 fans are enjoying.

Thanks for reading!

Grobnar as Gandalf

Just found this video of LOTR meets NWN2. Absolute nonsense, but hilarious. Casting is perfect, for the most part. Reminds me that the OC was finely written and acted. I should play it again someday soon, but busy right now playtesting Wyrin's latest, and playing through every Guitar Hero and Rock Band game I can find on ebay for less than 10 $, shipping included. Playing on my new, second-hand PS2 slim. First console I've owned since my Colecovision.

U is for…

…Upset

That I was not fast enough with my blog entry, and that Wyrin took the “T”. ‘Cause we all know, what T really is for … ;)

…Update

Patch 1.06, Final of Trinity is in testing. Am testing it as I’m playing the mod with my wife for the first time. That might take a little while… I might push it through QA if it lingers...

…Urges

Still split between getting back into modding and playing games. Playing is winning right now. Of all things, I’ve gotten into Frets on Fire lately. Am also playtesting PJ156’s The Caravan Club , which is well polished and a lot of fun.

…Umbrella

It’s raining today. But we had a lovely weekend.

…Uri... Got to go! :P

Trinity Goes to Asia

This is fun! Master Kaelic, administrator of the Korean NWN2 Community site, seems to have enjoyed Trinity quite a bit, and decided to feature the mod. I wish I could read the pretty lengthy write-up!


He's also got some great screens up, including this one, one of my all-time favorites.


NWN2 has brought me into contact with people around the world, and I love that about the game, that it can draw together people from all over the place.

In other news, I've uploaded to the Vault the model for the student cloak that can be found in Soloria. The files are in override format and can be used by players and builders alike.

Trinity Releases

Trinity OST

The official soundtrack of the mod was recently released on the GPS label. The OST in mp3 format comes complete with album art and playlist!

It’s great fantasy/game music. If you like that kind of stuff, give it a listen. I LOVE it. :)

Udpate v1.05

Text taken word-for-word from the Forum post:

"A new version of Trinity is now up on the Vault. Update 1.05 is a pretty big one : it fixes well over 25 miscellaneous issues.

By order of the President (Mr nice-"NEAT"-thugbert himself), Trinity now has in-game levelling and basic equipment purchasing. So if your character is below level 7, you will be given the option early in game to level him up and get a few gold pieces to buy starting equipment. (I've also tweaked the walkmesh a bit in a certain spot for you, Mr President. Hope you approve.)

Thank you to the 1500 people who downloaded Trinity thus far and to those who came back to leave feedback and issue reports. Since version 1.01 some 50-70 tweaks and fixes have been introduced thanks to you.

If you haven't played the game yet and plan to, then I certainly hope you have fun and that you'll let me know of your experience."

Next releases

I think I have the time now to assemble a Trinity custom assets pack. It will contain new placeables, VFX and cloak. Look for it soon.

And then what?

I’m liking my current modding vacation. Like I said I’m enjoying playing again: gearing up for the final encounter in Storm of Zehir (after going through all the new SoZ locations from the community add-on – some very good stuff in there! Got bored, again, with Fallout 3 (finished the “main” quest and am now slowly getting into some of the DLC stuff) and Assassin’s Creed 1; am nearing the end of BioShock 1 and have just received a cheap eBay copy of Resident Evil 4 for PC (never played these games but I hear this one’s pretty good), so might slowly get into that. DA:O is starting to beckon, but Mass Effect 2 will have to wait a while still (played ME1 pretty late actually).

And THEN what?

NWN2 or DA:O. We’ll see.

Pleasant downtime

Trinity has been out for 3 weeks now. The first week was busy with updates and responses to players, but now it’s calmed down somewhat. The download count reflects that too: from 500 the first week, to about 250 the second and 150 the third. Still Trinity is nearing 1000 downloads as we speak and the speed at which it will reach that point exceeds my expectations by far. And players are clearly enjoying the mod. So I’m (very much still) happy! :)

(Maybe not as happy as JClef and crew! : MS Madness has clearly swept the community! The love for Misery Stone that players are expressing looks to me unprecedented. Job well done Jason et al.!)

Right now, I’m getting ready to release a new update to Trinity (v1.05), and looking to release our custom placeables and items separately, perhaps as well as creature blueprints, voicesets and soundtrack (in mp3 format). Also planning additional content for the mod that will go in a future update (Platinum Edition? ;) ). Stuff I did not get around to before initial release.

I’ve also been spending a couple of evenings with dunniteowl in IRC, who's interviewing me for one of his upcoming Community Updates. My hat goes off to DNO for working so hard on reinforcing the fabric of the NWN2 community. Very valuable work!

All the while, I’m now PLAYING more that I’ve had the chance in the past: NWN2, Fallout 3 and Assassin’s Creed (the first one). Fallout 3 and Assassin’s Creed are great pick-up-and-play games thick with atmosphere and immersion, though quite thin on gameplay. They do fine for the time being, while I work myself up to continue DA… Probably will get to it soon, when I have more than an hour’s time before me to really get into it.

As for What’s Next…

Don’t know yet. I’m thinking about it. One thing’s for sure: my modding days are not over. Just don't tell my wife. ;)

500

I'm happy: Trinity has been downloaded more than 500 times in its first week. Pretty good I think for a platform that's 3+ years old. I told myself I'd be pleased if Trinity got 1000 downloads altogether. Looks like it should surpass that. At this rate, Trinity will make Hall of Fame by April.

Ya right. I'll be stunned if it ever makes it: nowadays, the 5000 downloads requirement imposed on NWN2 modules seems unsurmountable.

Be that as it may, right now, my heart warms at the feedback and that's what matters at this stage. I do wish the feedback ratio could top the 2% mark, but that's ever been the norm, so that's just the way it'll have to be.

Trinity Update v1.02

I've just released a first update (1.02) to Trinity, which (among other things) adds Kaedrin PRC pack compatibility.

Also released this weekend was a Trinity Hints pdf. So if you absolutely want to find all magic items and secrets in Soloria, or don't know what to tell that magic mouth, then you might want to have a look.

Reaction thus far to Trinity is fantastic. I could not be more pleased.

It's up

Vault Download

Thanks again to all you faithful blog readers and commenters for your support. I'd also like to thank my team members who put their own stamp on the mod: Daronas and SirChet, the playtesters (Amraphael, dgraf, Jet Truebow, Lance Botelle, and Starwars) as well as all the content providers who allowed me to give Trinity, I think, a unique feel. And all the players to come: without at least a few of you, there's not much point.

I look forward to reading your feedback.

Thanks.

Any last minute bug reports?

Trinity is being uploaded to the Vault today. If you are among the 50+ people who have downloaded it already, then now would be the time to let me know of any bug/issue you encountered, if any.

If everything went fine, then I look forward to reading your feedback on the Vault!

Thanks!

P.S. I'm taking the download link offline as a new version of the mod will be up on the Vault in the next couple of days. Thanks to everyone who played Trinity thus far!

Trinity Patch #1

Here is a patch to apply after installation, whether you're in mid-game or not, and even if you have not encountered this specific problem.

-Attempts to fix issues with "A Father's Revenge" quest (by far the most complex quest script-wise in the mod :) )

Download

Play Trinity NOW!

Trinity is ready!

While I await FTP access from the Vault, I've uploaded release 1.00 of Trinity to FileFront so you can get to play it first if you want! (and get back to me with some early bug reports if any! :) )

Leave comments here or at ecpatterson at sympatico dot ca.

Download (self-installer only for now) (Mod taken offline as new version will be up on the Vault in the next couple of days.)

ReadMe here: be sure to read it before you play it. :)

I'd like to thank all you faithful blog readers for your support over the past months. Not sure I would have completed the mod without it.

Hope you enjoy!

Screenshot Contest!

Merry Christmas one and all! Hope you're enjoying the day!

Beta testing over this holiday season is going great!, thanks to Trinity's playtesters: Starwars, Lance Botelle, Jet Truebow, Amraphael, Dennis Graf and Sirchet. A few adjustments here and there, one game breaking bug found and solved, a few typos and misplaced commas: things are going well and I could not be more pleased. Release in a quite near future seems very likely.

To prepare for that, I'm holding a screenshot contest! Ok, so they're screenshots of Trinity only, and that I only have taken... The contest is to determine which screenshots I should post with the Vault release of the mod.

So take a look at the shots below and vote in the poll to your right for your THREE favorite screenshots, or shots you feel would best accompany the Vault submission (i.e. would be most likely to attract players). (Note: you can select more than one option in the poll.)

Shot #1

Shot #2

Shot #3

Shot #4

Shot #5

Shot #6

Shot #7

Shot #8

Shot #9

Shot #10

You can find more shots here. So if there are shots in there you prefer, don't hesitate to post and point them out.

Thanks!

You are my only hope

So maybe I’m not really a panicked Leia Organa wannabe. But if you love me – or at least don’t think me an absolute wanker – and if you’ve had any sort of passing interest in the development of Trinity, then please help me, if you can.

Trinity will go beta in the coming days and I need testers. This won’t be an alpha or other partial version, but a proper release candidate, as far as community-made mods go: i.e. it will be in a state that could be released on the Vault.

With Chet's help, I’ve spent a lot of time during the past weeks on fixes and polish. But after spending a good part of my leisure time over the past 24+ months on Trinity, I’ll be damned if I’ll risk getting bit in the ass upon release by some unforeseen gameplay or story-related issue that could have been avoided by proper playtesting.

I’m not just looking for bug hunters (though I don’t doubt a few gnats lurk here and there still…) but also for playtesters who will want to tell me what some of the shortcomings of the mod are in their view and how the playing experience can be improved.

What’s in it for you, besides my sincere gratitude and a hand in getting another NWN2 single-player mod out there? Check out the partial ending/credits movie below:

If you’d like to volunteer for playtesting, rest assured that you shouldn’t be “ruining” your experience with this mod by doing so. This will be a release candidate, so think of it as if you were one of the first to download and play it as it hits the Vault. Know also that it is not possible to experience all the options in one playthrough, so you’ll even be able to replay the mod when it is officially released if you want to.

As an added enticement, here is the opening movie for the game:

If you’d like to help, please write to me at ecpatterson at sympatico dot ca.

Thank you!

Drider vs. Gel Cube

Thought these shots I took while testing were cool, though not necessarily pretty. I liked the idea too that they showcased two community-made critters... This scenario will be entirely possible in game by the way... :)

Back on Trinity in full swing now. Flu's over and done with. Finally.

Bugs, Virus and other Abominations

Bugs
Chet and I must have hunted down over 100 bugs and other issues since alpha began. I fixed most of them now, classified several as low priority (will get to them if and when I feel like), and have been really stumped by just two or three bugs thus far but they aren’t critical ones and, if need be, I know there are workarounds for them.

It’s amazing how bugs just keeping creeping up though. All you need is to forget a journal advance at some point or put in the wrong conditional on a convo node. I cross my fingers we will have caught all of these subtle errors before release.

So bug hunting and polishing has been going at a swift pace… until about two and a half weeks ago.

Virus
It started with my 5 year old daughter contracting a flu, with fever lasting a full week (most likely H1N1). Wife and I split the time at home. Paid-work productivity went down of course, and so did time spent on Trinity.

And then it was my turn. Woke up the day after my wife left for a 12-day business trip to South America with flu symptoms: test results two days later confirmed H1N1. So have been struggling to get over this since. Still not fully recovered. Wife is back now, so that is a measure of relief.

At one point even, my 3-year old had flu-like symptoms, but she was out of commission for just 3 days. Good to see how the young ones spring back so swiftly.

Although at home every day since, I haven’t had much energy to put into Trinity. Did feel good 2-3 days late last week and started work on a brand new area (felt good to sculpt and texture again) for the “drider and destruction” quest. Got a new alpha out to Chet too for a fresh runthrough, and looking forward to seeing the results of his hunt. But I haven’t had the spirit to do much more.

Abominations
Instead, I’ve have been putting time into Dragon Age, and killed a ton (certainly feels like it) of abominations and other darkspawns. Playing as a mage, which is hugely different than playing a wizard or even a sorcerer in NWN2. The quick spell refresh and low spell variety means the same strategy again and again in combat. Though combat is fast and furious, and the animations and especially sounds are extremely satisfying, it’s gotten a little old already, and I’ve put aside the game for now, still, after no less than 40 hours of playing.

Picked up Fallout 3 again, installed a couple of mods from Fallout Nexus, and I’m enjoying the exploration and the quests once again, though I expect killing Super Mutants, Super Mutant Brutes, Super Mutant Masters, and more Super Mutants to get old soon again. But for the time being that’s where much of my time before the LCD screen is spent.

Should be back on Trinity soon.

Thanks for reading.

TRINITY enters alpha phase!

This is a huge deal for us. TRINITY has gone alpha, meaning we’ve reached a point where the game is playable from beginning to end, and has all the required content to test out gameplay and story flow.
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The adventure in TRINITY begins as you stand before the Lord of Shadowdale. Lord Falconhand, acting on behalf of the Dalelands Council, selected you to lead a party of adventurers on a mission to stop one would-be tyrant from succeeding where another one failed twenty years before. Setting off from the Twisted Tower of Shadowdale by the Ashaba river, you will be taken to a section of the old elven forest of Cormanthor near the ruins of fabled Myth Drannor. From there, you will plunge deep underground into one of the area’s abandoned schools of wizardry on a hunt for magic, and a chase for one man.

With gameplay inspired by PnP adventuring, TRINITY is a module for level 6 to 8 characters in which your decisions really do matter. Play length is estimated at 6 hours for now.
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The alpha version is in the hands of our QA department (i.e. SirChet ;) ) for continued testing and we’re moving steadily towards private beta.

The beta version will :

- No doubt fix many bugs discovered during the alpha
- Tie up some story and gameplay loose ends
- Add more creature and object descriptions
- Further balance combat
- Add a couple of cinematic cutscenes
- Integrate opening and closing movies
- Have edited dialogues and descriptions
- Add a sidequest involving driders and blowing up stuff

To celebrate here are four of the custom loadscreens, beautifully mounted by Daronas.

Twit-style

Working towards official alpha version of Trinity. Should be there in next few days.

Got invited to join the Dragon Age Toolset and Community Site Beta. Can’t say more (I believe).

Hellfire got a new screen.

Soundset selection fix made HoF.

I’m kind of busy these days.

Thanks for reading friends! :)