The Music: I had some Technical/Licensing issues with using bought tunes, so I ended up writing several myself using royalty free loops. The result isn't too bad considering, although not up to the standards of professional CRPGs, of course. Still, it'll do until a better solution presents itself...

To install music in DD2, download the 6 tracks (mp3s) with the links below, and place the tracks into the music subdirectory (I have a max upload file limit so it's necessary to do it this way!):

The Campaign: Part 1 of official campaign comprises of 20 odd levels and is primarily centered around the City of Durwich. It is essentially the 'hub' for the rest of the game. Contrary to my prior ramblings, the game WILL now contain an over-arcing plot, though it will, like DD1, sit somewhat in the background.

Part 1 should be considered BETA- it's bound to have some bugs and it hasn't been extensively playtested so it may not be very well 'balanced'.

Also, if anyone is interested in helping out as a BETA tester, please send me an e-mail! I'm particularly interested in:

(1) Bugs

(2) Contradictions, inconsistencies, confusing things

(3) Typos

(4) General Balance (Combat to easy/hard? Puzzles too easy/hard? Certain skills too powerful, or useless?).

(5) Oh, any sending me your characters once you've exhausted the options in part 1 would be really useful too !

My plan now, is to patch up Part 1 as bug reports come in and work on the next 'module'. The rest of the game has been divided up into 'modules' (each of which will consist of around 4-6 levels) that are more or less self contained. I'm planning to release a new module every month, although who knows how accurate that estimate will turn out to be (although the first 2 modules are already half done, so they're probably not far away).

One more note: I've set up certain events in the city that only will become useful in the future when further levels are released. For example, there's a NPC offering to buy dragon eggs - you won't find any in Part 1 however. They will be found in later modules, don't don't spend hours looking for them. ;)

Update: 8th February, 2008

OK, lots of news today:

Updated Editor v1.1

Below is the link for the next version of the editor (v1.1) which incorporates a bunch of small fixes (thanks to those who e-mailed me with bug reports) and a few extra features and changes.

Also character alignment has been removed from the game since it was just leading to unnecessary complications. Firstly, it ment that many quests required a good versus evil solution (doubling my workload). Secondly, it should be the player's decision about what they choose to do, not mine - especially in 'grey' areas where I was having to decide if an action (e.g. killing an inoccent guy for the greater good) was really 'good' or 'evil'...and of course, it also left no room for situations where a player might want to (say) 'accept' an evil quest to infiltrate a cult, only to turn around and rat them all out to the authorities. I suppose I could have stuck ridgidly to a cartoony form of good and evil (i.e. rescue the princess or murder her for a profit), but that also ran into problems: if the PC is really defined as *that* evil, then there needs to be an 'evil' alternative to just about every posible situation. The player is going to wonder why he can murder the inoccent princess in a quest, but not be given the option of robbing 2gp from some poor shmuck on the street. I technically *could* implenment all the possible senarios an evil character might consider, but it's just not a practicality. Yup, simplest solution was to just do away with alignment altogether.

Music in DD2 Editor

Anyone who tried to download the music enhanced version of DD2 will have noticed that the link was broken. I'm actually holding back on the music for the moment because I need to resolve a couple of technical problems first, to ensure I'm proprtly complying with the licence I purchased for the music. It will be up some time in the near future, though.

FAQ

The editor download contains a 'crash course' document but as technical questions come in, i'm adding them to a new Editor FAQ. So if you're unsure of how something works, check out the link on the left hand panel. If you're question wasn't answered there, feel free to e-mail me. I'm more than happy to help. Also, bug reports are most welcome! As always, I can't fix it, if I don't know about it. :)

Levels

In my last post, I talked about how I had more or less abandoned the single player campaign I was working on. The problem was that it was taking forever to get levels done. After thinking about it for a bit, I singled out the two biggest time 'pits':

1. Writing overly complicated NPC scripts and trying to implement way too many interactions between them all. While this makes for more interesting NPCs and more player options, it also ment that a single quest could take days to write and more days to test. To solve this problem, I changed tact: the NPC scripts I'm writing now are much more compact and straight to the point. I'm also sticking with 1 quest per NPC script (where applicable). It suffers a little from 'Hi my name is bob, here's a quest' syndrome, but it's a necessary evil. DD1/2 was always more focussed on exploration and puzzles, anyway, so I'm not too worried about it.

2. Implementing a good versus evil solutions to most quests. Essentially I'd doubled my workload in one hit (actually more, since complexity tends to increase geometrically rather than in a linear fashion). The solution? Ditch character alignment.

Future of the DD2 single player campaign

With the above 'lessons' firmly in mind, I'm resurrecting the single player campaign, but it will be different from what was originally intended. My first port of call is to build up a set of maps for Durwich City (in fact, it's mostly completed now, just undergoing testing - it will become available for download soon). The city comprises of 9 districts. It contains all the elements that a fantasy city requires and is essentially a 'home base' for the PC's operations. There will also be a bunch of quests within the city to complete.

The purpose of this city is two fold: Firstly it serves as a launching pad for mini campaigns that will be released as they are created (and will become available in the council building). Therefore DD2 has now addopted an 'episodic' format. The big advantage here is that I'll actually be able to release content regularly rather than just claiming a full game will magically appear one day. Note that each campaign will comprise of an independent plot or quest: there will therefore be no overarching plot in DD2.

The second reason for the city is that it serves as a set of useful examples for editors of how to construct levels, scripts and quests. Also, feel free to use/change the city levels any way you like for your own creations. Using the city as a home base, means you can concentrate on designing adventures.

Well, that's it for now. :)

Update: 2nd January, 2008

THE GOOD:

Well, lets start with the good news: The DD2 editor is now available for download (see link below). The editor should be considered BETA - its essentially fully functional (you can create an entire DD game using the editor if you so feel enclined), but still a little buggy.

Note that there are two different versions of the editor: the second is identical to the first except that no music files are included (and therefore the file is much smaller). If music isn't important to you, or your download speed is limited you'll want to download the second version.

Before using the editor, it is HIGHLY recommended you read 'Editor.doc' (located in the documents directory). It's not very long - treat it as a crash-course for the editor. If there is a reasonable interest in the editor, I'll write a more comprehensive manual in the near future.

My primary mandate at the moment is to support the editor itself. Therefore I'm really interested in:

(1) Bug reports of all kinds (big or small)

(2) Suggestions on how to improve the editor

(3)Thoughts on new features you'd like to see

(4) Thoughts on what functions you found easy or difficult to understand or use.

So please feel free to contact me for any reason, as often as you like. For example, if you're writing an adventure and need a new EVENT implemented, send me an e-mail and I'll see what I can do. :)

e-mail: llafebre@bigpond.net.au

Oh, one more thing I should probably point out just in case your wondering: You can make levels with the current version of the editor, without having to worry about the level files being compatible with later versions of the editor. If, in the unlikely event, that it becomes necessary to alter the level file structure, I'll include a 'conversion' utility. So any work you do now, won't be lost as the editor is updated.

THE BAD:

Now for the bad news: the DD2 campaign I was writing has been posponed indefinately. It's kinda depressing since I've already put alot of work into it, but it's time to face facts: I simply don't have the time anymore to complete it, and I just don't have the heart to 'dumb it down' sufficiently to make it completeable.

THE DIFFERENT:

One significant change I should probably mention (for those who have been following the infrequent updates), is that the skill set has been reduced to 11 skills, all of which are available at character creation. Around 8 skills were stripped away either because they were unnessesary or undully difficult to balance correctly.

Update: 14th October, 2007

Looks like I missed the September update. Oh, well. Here is the October one! This month, there's some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that, despite an extended holiday and extra time to work on DD2, it is still nowhere near finished. At this rate, Duke Nukem Forever will see the light of day before DD2. *sigh*. Sorry folks! I still love working on it - and still do regularly - but I'm having to face facts at this point: there is simply still too much to do not enough spare time. So, I'm having to play with some options (such as scaling down the project). One thing I want to be clear, though: DD2 WILL NOT been abandoned! :O)

DD2 Editor Beta. The good news is that I've spend a fair bit of time working on the editor to make it as powerful and user friendly as possible. In the next few weeks I will *hopefully* be putting out a beta version of the editor in the hope that some interested folk will be happy to play with it and report any bugs/inadequacies. A major addition is that, unlike in the DD1 editor, users will be able to import their own item/monster/wall tile pics. Essentially everything intended for the campaign I'm writing can be achieved via the editor.

Team effort. One option I'm playing with, is to get some help with level building from the DD community. The idea is for me to slide the core plot into the background and make DD2 more of a freeform explore-where-you-want game (kinda like oblivion, but without the scaling monsters/treasure mechanic it uses).

DD2 has pre-existing wilderness scale maps - there are 5 in total: Homelands (Classic d&d theme), The frontier lands (tribal, new world theme), Kintara (oriental theme), Araboria (Arabic theme) and Osiria (Egyptian theme). Interested folk from the DD2 community could design a 'quest/dungeon' area and nominate a spot on a wilderness map for its location. Once submitted, I could then simply integrate it into the game after approprite play testing etc. There are a few obvious issues with this kind of solution, but I'd be very interested to see what people think of the idea, and if they'd be interested in contributing. Please e-mail me with thoughts, ideas, concerns, suggestions! (I'll put up new posts regarding the outcome of these discussions).

Screenshot. This month's screenshot shows off a simple but very effective change made to the fog-of-war algorithm: the jaggard black edges had been irking me for a while, so I added in extra code to round off the edges - the solution was simple and the effect is, I think, much more attractive.

Update: 11th August, 2007

Well, a month or so has passed, so here is the August update.

I've been very busy, so not a whole lot has been done - however the good news is that I have 6 weeks off (starting today!) so I intend to go HARDCORE with dd2. :)

Oh, also, it's been confirmed that DD1 (and DD2 for that matter) runs fine of Vista which is handy.

Here are 3 screenshots of the new editor for DD2 - it's a much cleaner design than DD1, and more user friendly.

(Above) The monster editor.

(Above) Tiles are divided into logical categories which makes them easier to find than in DD1 where there was no disernable order (other than the order in which they were drawn).

(Above) Here is the editor 'main view'.

Update: 5th June, 2007

Hi all,

I've decided to implement a monthly update for DD2, to let people know where the project is at, and allay any fears that it has been abandoned: DD2 is still very much alive, and whenever I work on it, I still feel excited about it. And frankly, I've spent too much time and effort on it already to even consider abandoning it! :O)

So here's some more info about what will (and won't be) in DD2:

#1 MP3 Music - Many people commented very favourably about the music in DD1. The author of these midi tunes, Bjorn Lynne, is extremely talented and generously allowed me to use his midi music for free. For DD2, I've purchased a bunch of high quality .mp3 tracks from Bjorn (and a number of other musicians) for use in DD2 - they are great pieces of atmospheric sound scapes and eminently suitable for a game such as DD2. If you want to hear an example, have a wander over to and play the demo track 'The Desert Ruins'.

#2 Always something different - One design feature that I am putting a lot of effort into is the idea that wherever you are in the game, there should always be something new to see and do (as opposed to just killing bigger monsters and collecting better loot). I really want to invoke a sense of mystery about what's around the next corner and get the player to want to explore just to see what is 'out there').

#3 Monsters - One of the admitted flaws with DD1 was that all monsters pretty much did the same thing - advance towards the PC and melee attack (even the Wizards!). In DD2, monsters much more varied and interesting. They can shoot bows, spit acid, breath fire, cast spells, suicide explode, radiate supernatural fear, and so on (this has all already been implemented). The A.I. have also been given a significant overhaul: pathfinding is much better now so monsters won't get 'stuck'. For those who know something about programming, I've used the so called A* algorithm to achieve this.

There are heaps of new monsters in DD2, including a couple of gargantuan 3x3 monsters (i.e. 9 times larger than the hero!). Monsters also now have left and right facing times, so they don't sometimes look like they're walking backwards!

#4 NPC allies (NOT) - A feature that I considered and half implemented in DD2 was to add NPCs which could fight along side the hero (including summonable monsters). The idea has been discarded. I found that NPC allies, while at first kinda interesting, just got in the may (both literally and figuratively) and didn't really make the game any more fun (and added a number of frustrations). Allies also introduced a butt-load of other problems and complications which needed to be resolved and coded.

#5 NPC Life cycles (NOT) - I briefly considered implementing NPC life cycles (i.e. where NPCs would walk about, go to bed etc - like in the Ultima games). However after some consideration, the idea was dropped. It was simply to much work for too little pay off. There was also the issue of potential frustrations, like trying to find NPCs who had wandered off, waiting outside shop fronts because they're closed etc

At the end of the day, I'm more concerned with 'fun' rather than 'realism'. So DD2 will be like DD1 - there won't be an explicit day/night cycle (only an implied one in that when you 'rest', you are considered to have slept overnight).

Where is DD2 currently at?

Coding is essentially complete - all the game features have been implemented. At the moment I'm spending my time about 50/50 between bug fixing numerous small bugs and making game content (levels, quests etc).

Vista Request:

I'm a little concerned about how Vista will react to DD1 / DD2 (they use the same code base). Could someone out there who is currently running Vista let me know if DD1 works on the new OS. Thanks! e-mail: lafebre@bigpond.com

Monthly screenshots:

(Above) The Hero is currently in the Form of a Falcon (courtesy of the 'Shapeshift' skill). In this form, you are combat ineffective, but able to fly over chasms (the reason the form has no combat skill and no damage is becuase I used the cheat menu to put the PC in that form, and those stats rise according to the character's 'Shapeshift' skill, which is currently 0!)

(Above) The mini map function has been overhauled. It is now more visually attractive and informative (NPCs are marked on the map and you can right click on them to get info).

(Above) The hero is in Enda territory. The Enda worship aspects of nature and are considered 'pagan' by the encroaching Seafarers. They place their dead upon mountain tops, to be eaten by crows, thus releasing their spirit to the afterlife. The Enda also venerate their ancestors, who are mummified and entombed in caves, so that their spirits remain on the mortal plane. Enda chieftains and shamans regularly consult with these dead ancestors to gain wisdom and insight about current predicaments which affect the tribe.

(Above) The hero is in kintaran territory. The Kintara is modeled after mythological ancient Japan. Ninjas and Samurai abound.

(Above) This runic circle on the ground has the effect of enhancing combat gemlore spells when the hero is standing within it.

Update: 1st April, 2007

OK, it's been quite a while since I've updated the website and i've had a number of queries as to whether or not DD2 is still 'alive'.

So, where is DD2 at? Well, it's most definately still alive and I'm still very much enthusiastic about the project. I'd guess it's around 60% complete (in terms of time). There are two reasons while DD2 is taking so long to complete: Firstly it's more ambitious than DD1 (although its general look and style is similar). Secondly - any this is the big one - I simply don't have as much spare time as I used to. Oh well. I'll keep working on DD2 when and where I can. I won't make any ETA predictions this time, since clearly the previous ones (for those that remember all that way back) were utterly wrong!

Oh, and just so it's clear, me posting an update on the April 1st is purely coincidental - this is not a joke or hoax update!! :)

DD2's new features and plot are pretty much all set in stone now. The vast majority of the programming is complete, and I'm busily constructing content (levels).

#1 Characters now have a complete skill set available to them. The skills are:

Armsmaster - improved melee combat
Critical Hit - improved crit damage
Disarm Traps - obvious
Gemlore - 'consume' gems to create spell-like effects (e.g. Ruby (fire motif) can be used to cast fireball or fire shield)
Pick Locks - obvious
Prayer - recieve cleric like spell effects by praying to a good diety
Resilience - acid, cold, elect, fire resist bonus
Stealth - hide in shadows
Targeteer - improved missle (bows) combat

Blood Magic - 'spend' HP to evoke tribal (Enda) magic
Bonecraft - craft magical bone weapons
Curse - evil spell-like effects
Dual Weapons - a Kintaran for of dual weapon combat
Martial Arts - a Kintaran martial arts combat technique
Pathfinding - navigate dense forests and high mountains
Translation - decipher runes and heiroglyphs
Shapeshift - transform into a hawk, bear, wolf or snake
Smite - 'divine wraith' spell effects
Warcry - tribal (Enda) enpowering effects

The first set of skills are available at character creation. The second set are only available when you find a teacher ingame.

#2 There are 2 scales of map - the 'real' scale a-la DD1, and the wilderness scale for wilderness travel.

#3 Context sensitive help and info panels - This is one of my favorite new featues. If you right click on just about anything, an info panel will appear. For example, if you right click on your strength stat, the info panel will display your base stat, any bonuses you currently have (and where they come from), any penalties you may have (e.g. an affliction) and what the current value actually is.

#4 Good or Evil - Unlike DD1, whether you choose to play an good or evil character will make alot of difference to the game. It will also alter the 'end game' conditions.

Features removed:

#1 A hit location system had been fully developed in DD2, where separate limbs could become injured. However it was eventually removed, because while it sounded cool on paper, it really didn't add anything to the gameplay (except perhaps some aggrivation).

#2 The whole idea of 4 separate campaigns (where you played from an Enda, Kintaran, Araborian or Seafarer perspective) has been shelved. There is now only 1 campaign, but you will travel through Enda, Kintaran, Araborian and Osirian lands. While I loved the idea of playing campaigns from completely different prespectives within the same game world, in practice it was simply too big a task to complete.

#3 Alchemy (as a skill) has been removed. It was just to much hassle to get it balanced and working right.