Level Editor - Whoooo Boy.

A few weekends ago my wife had to go to school to do some work while I was stuck at home for a couple of hours by myself.  Usually this time is boring, or spent doing chores...but this time I felt like diving into the DA Toolset to get some work done on my MOD.

I fired it up and was working on some of the basics when I realized something:  I don't really know how to add areas to the game.  I mean, I know how to add the pre-rendered areas, but I don't know how to create my own!  This would be a problem.  Some of the areas and things I had envisioned would require creations of my own hand...

So I browsed to the Wiki and started poking around a little until I found a resource that showed me how to utilize the "level designer" -- this was fantastic.  I finally found something I could use for my MOD that would allow me to create my own level.  The problem with the level designer is that it is VERY confusing.  There is a lot of information going on in the level designer, and not a lot of information explaining what it all does, what it is, or how to make it all work.

I would have to start basic.

I fired up a "day time, field" level and I did some more searches and figured out how to create "sunlight" to indicate that it was, in fact, during the day.  Progress.  Then, I started to mess around with the land scape a little bit.  I used the morph tools and got comfortable with the way they allowed me to change the landscape.  I messed with the texture painters and finally when I was ready to put my vision to life...I got stuck again.

"Where the heck is...everything?" I thought.  I knew about placeables, but I didn't necessarily want to use placeables.  I wanted to use something else..something like, environmental...you know?  I wanted to put down boxes, and rubble, and fence posts, things like that..

A few more searches on the Wiki revealed that there is a way to put placeable "props" into the world by browsing to the specific directory and utilizing the tool that comes with the DAT..perfect, the only problem is that there is NO idea what anything is unless you're really good at reading code names.

I did a little more searching and found that there is an application that someone wrote which works wonderful with the Toolset.  The application goes into the databases and allows the user to browse through the categories of the system and look at all of the placeable items prior to putting them into the world.  It's set up in a way that it helps you find which folder, which item, and which name the item is under.

I then spent the next hour or so browsing through the database, looking at all of the awesome items I might want to include in my new level:

-Bails of hay, check.
-Fences, check.
-Wagon?  Check.
-Old rubble?  Check.

There were so many items.. I started to finally put my artistic side to use and instead of finding an item, placing it, lining it up, and then finding another item, rinsing and repeating, I decided to take another approach.  Instead, I started placing all of the items onto the level at the same time in a giant pile and I figure I can then sort through them together later on, as I paint the landscape with my props.

The bad news is, I haven't had a lot of time to work on the editor while being sick and working on a lot of other art projects..so I haven't made any progress on my MOD for a long time.  It's starting to feel scary...if I don't keep practicing I might lose out on how to properly work with the toolset, which can compromise the completion of the MOD..

At any rate, I will continue to work on it as soon as I can!

Personal Dev Blog - Entry 2

 Jono DAO Dev Entry 2 - 2/9/2011

I finally had an opportunity to hash out most of the story for the campaign that I want to create.  For me, most of the hard work comes from having to figure out the use of the tool set and then finding time in my busy day to actually create the level.  If there was some way for me to sell my ideas and or stories to someone, it would be a dream...much easier, I'd say.

I want the player to have a clear opportunity of selecting two paths.  I want them to be able to say "Yes, I want to do XYZ" or "No, I don't want to do XYZ" and their choices along the way actually create the story for them.  I think in the first iteration of the game (version 1?) there will be no neutral selection or choice.  There is actually no "Evil" choice either, there is a clear moral "high road" and a more "unique perspective" so to speak.

I have hashed out who the main followers are if the player selects the moral high road and I have hashed out who most of he characters are going to be for the unique perspective role.  There are still some sticky areas that I want to fix and certainly some re-writes I need to do as the characters develop their own personalities.  

This weekend is going to be big.  I hope to get my first "real" experience with the tool set and walk through the tutorial that is posted on the Wiki and see if i can do some real basic cinematic, conversation, quest, etc.  Once I do that, I will work very diligently on the opening cinematic.  


With luck, I can get a "viewable" cinematic by the end of Feb!

Personal Dev Blog - Entry 1

 Jono DAO Dev Entry 1 - 2/3/2011

So I have this blog for writing reviews on various restaurants that I have the pleasure and opportunity of trying.  The problem with that blog is that it is infinitely easier to find time to go out and eat, sample the food, take photos of the food, than it is to write about it, upload my reviews (with photos) in a timely manner.

As I ventured into other projects and things, I wanted to keep a journal/blog of my experiences.  In order to build a portfolio I have been working on installing, and learning how to use the Dragon Age Origins: Toolset.  The tool set is an add-on that registered users of the game can use in order to create mods, campaigns, stories, cinematics, and more.

I didn't want this blog to be so "official" -- I wanted it to be off the cuff, something I just wrote down in to track my progress with whenever I was working with the toolset.

So far, I have managed to come up with a great story for my campaign.  I loved Dragon Age and played through the game several times using different origins, classes, characters, choices, love interests, etc.  I tried being "good natured" I tried being "evil hearted" I tried being "neutral" I tried being mercenary. 

Despite all the various ways I have played through and experienced Dragon Age, I found that the most important aspect of the game was actually the story (as is usually the case with Bioware titles).  So when I started thinking about taking on this project, the first thing I needed would be a good story.  For me, that was always the easy part.  I thought about it a few times on the treadmill and in the shower and came up with what I believe is a great story.  The next thing to do would be to get the tool set installed.

Meanwhile...
Now a few months ago, I had the tool set installed and ready to go.  Like many things in our hectic lives one thing (work, WoW, etc) lead to another thing (more WoW, Civ V, Minecraft) which eventually ultimately lead to me completely forgetting about the tool set.  I also had issues with bugs and weird errors when I would run it, so I needed to start fresh.  Apparently version 1.01 fixes a lot of bugs and issues, so it's probably good for me to re-install from scratch anyway.

Installing the Toolset
The Bioware community is one of the best communities in the world when it comes to game design, mod design, and general awesome helpfulness.  Some of the good folks in the community have taken it upon themselves to create a Wiki which helps users like me greatly when it comes to the more technical tricky aspects.

So following their checklist...

1. Install the Game - DONE!
2. Create an Account - DONE!
3. Register the Game - DONE!
4. Download the Toolset - DONE! (latest version)
5. Install the Toolset - DONE!
6. Troubleshooting - UH OH!
1. I had some issues here, where the DB files were not pointing to the correct location.
2. Additional issues arose when I realized my partition of the C:\ drive was out of space...
3. I ultimately had to delete a bunch of things on my C:\ drive, and then create the database manually using SQL Server Express.  Then I was able to restore the dragon age database over the newly created DB.  
4. Finally, the LDF and MDF showed up, enabling me the ability to actually run the toolset

That's all for now.  I will start studying the Wiki extensively to see what I need to learn next as far as my own campaign goes.