Weekly Updates!, Weekly Updates on the project's progress

[BlueKnightOne]

Sorry for the late update, lots has been going on with ETS and I didn't have a chance to do a proper update last Friday. But it's mostly positive stuff, I feel the C22D team is making excellent progress. Here's what's new:

I'd like to welcome Schee from the Bioware forums who is coming on board as a scripter (As in code scripting, not writing scripting). He's told me about some of the stuff he's been working on and I'm really excited to see how it turns out.

I'm also happy to announce that Catch 22 Designs will have it's own message board! I'm working today to put it together. And we should have a domain soon to go directly to it. Everyone already part of the team, please use the same handle there that I know you buy for consistency and so I can quickly give you access to the special team-only forums. Everyone else, I'll put up the URL when it's ready.

That's it for now, keep an eye out for more news as it passes me by!

[BlueKnightOne]

Player 1.... You Lose.

So, little, tiny, itty bitty setback this week. I was looking at the character placement in the Hawking's Wheel and decided that I didn't like how Mara and Danik were place, so I adjusted them a little bit. Just moved them a little farther each other and closer to the player.

Bad juju.

It completely threw off the camera movements I had written for them which were based off the direction they were facing. So I've had to go back an re-work the camera angles. Again. Then, for some reason, the script I wrote to jump the player from one area to another broke somehow. I haven't figured out why yet but it makes me not happy. Not happy at all.

Ughh. I need to break something.

Oh wait, I already did.

So, this weekend I'll be working on fixing that, finishing it, and hopefully starting on the next area. Hopefully.

Other news, Strider165 from the Red Vs Blue forums is joining us as a voice actor. Which, while I'm not ready to start recording voices yet, is awesome.

Also, the Catch 22 Designs board is up, and while it's not pretty yet, it is functional check it out by following this link.this link.

Alright. That about wraps it up. The Guess That Name's Origin contest is still going. Qoobalt from the Bioware forums won shirt #3 so that leaves two more left.

Query: Bead woven patches using seed beads. Yes or no? Seed beads are the little tiny ones most commonly seen in Native American crafts.

[BlueKnightOne]

If you're a C22D team member and you're reading this. Go to the Team Only Writing forum.

[BlueKnightOne]

This is one of the best days of my life.

I would put this up in a Friday update, but it's just too cool to wait.

Way back before I moved out of my parent's place, which actually wasn't that long ago, I watched with great interest a machinima series called Neverending Nights.

Well, long story short, the awesomely awesome TM Riddle brought them to my attention once more and I was able to pick up where I left off all those months ago. When I saw the Tawmis from the NeN team was here on this forum as well, I sent him a little message expressing my appreciation for the work they did.

Maybe I should let Tawmis tell the story.

So, there's going to be a bit of clean-up around the Catch 22 Designs message board today. Gotta tidy up for company.

And to all the Neverending Nights fans reading this. Welcome! Feel free to read past updates or ask any questions about Ex Tempus, Scientia, The Tapestry of Time, or Catch 22 Designs!

[BlueKnightOne]

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

My plan for this weeks update was to give everybody a visual tour of the City of Scion today, but even after pulling an all-nighter last night I haven't gotten it finished. All the main buildings are in place, but I haven't finished putting all the details. I could give you a tour now, but it wouldn't be a very interesting one.

And I was kinda hoping that I'd be able to show it off to you before I took some time off from the module.

"What? Time off?" Yes, that's right. I'm taking this week off from module development to focus on some other stuff I want to do:

Rose of Eternity Chapter 2 - Cry The Beloved - If you have NWN and you have not played this module, you should go get it right now. In fact, I'll do the hard work for you: Chapter 1|Chapter 2

I went and bought the Diamond edition of NWN and downloaded the CEP just so I could play these games. This module was one of my inspirations for sitting down and getting ETS going.

Also Star Trek: Encounters. It's a more arcadey time shoot 'em up. But it's Star Trek Plus it's a good warm-up for Star Trek: Legacy which is coming out soon for the PC and 360.

Wow.... I just realized this fall/winter season is going to kill my wallet.

I also need to finish Darkness over Daggerford, Perchance to Dream, and some other player-made modules for NWN. So I'll be quite busy this week. It won't be until tomorrow that my vacation will actually start so I'll try to finish up Scion and then have pictures to show you next Friday.

C22D: I'll still be around to answer any questions you have so just let me know.

[BlueKnightOne]

Been awhile, hasn't it?

Well, not if you've visited my RvB page. I've been running a contest exclusive to them since I have more immediate rewards I can hand out there. If you have a RT account, check out the contest here.

Anyways, here's what you really want to see, a first look at the city of Scion, one of the settings you'll be visiting during the course of your ETS adventure. So, without further ado:

SCION, CITY OF FOREVER
56k WARNING


We begin our tour here, at one of the two main gates leading out Scion's proper, or common area. This particular gate leades north to the foothills of the snow-capped Corint Mountains. The other gate, facing east, will put you on your way to the Larentine Forest. If you're in the sightseeing mood, you'll find ancient ruins both high in the mountains and nestled within the forest. No one knows what their original purpose was, but a visitor can feel the power lying within.


Moving on, we find ourselves standing in front of the famous Hawking's Wheel Inn. A historic landmark, this building has stood since before there was a Scion. Frequented by nobility and peasantry alike, it boasts warm beds, strong ales, and a neverending supply of entertainment by the resident bard Tam the Profound.


Our next stop is the Market, Here you'll find various vendors of vittles, vestments, and anything else a hardy adventurer needs. Here we see our resident blacksmith hawking his wares.


You'll also find Mithrala's Alchemic Emporium for your magical and potion(al?) needs. Careful, though, Mithrala is a tad... eccentric.


Stepping out of the Tour Guide persona for a moment. This square here has undergone the most revision. It's supposed to resemble an actual clock but I never could get it to look right. It still doesn't meet my original vision so I expect this to change quite a few times more before I'm satisfied.


The last stop in our little tour is the raised courtyard before Castle Scion, which you can see looming in the background. A shining symbol of the city, it houses secrets even the royal family no little about.


As our guide waves farewell, I'd like to thank you for joining me on this little jaunt about town. I'd also like to thank Schee for providing me with the first BETA version of his Random Ambience Generator to provide any of the background people you may see in the pictures. Keep checking back for more updates to ETS, and keep an eye out for our logo as the RT contest winds down as well as a board redesign too!

[Lysan Lurraxol]

It looks very nice. I'd buy a house there if it existed. And I lived in a computer.
Um...forget I said anything.
It does look very good though.

[BlueKnightOne]

This Week...
... has been pretty good.

I've been able to knock out a couple more areas in ETS, so that's always a nice thing to see. I've also been able to do a little re-organizing on how each person handles the job they were brought on for. Which is also nice.

Some fairly major news, I'm currently negotiating a trade with a local fantasy artist who is just starting up her own studio to do some character portraits for me. Not many details at the moment, but I'm pretty psyched.

[Shadow69]

It would be great to get an artist to do the artwork for the module.

If I come up with quests, should I post them in the writing thread?

[BlueKnightOne]

Yes, you can either post the general premise on the public forums, the details in the team-only forums, or both if you so desire.

[BlueKnightOne]

I really need to learn how to say "No." Either that or science needs to hurry up and figure out that whole cloning thing. Or maybe I could find a way to gain powers like Muliple Man from X-Men. Something so I could do 50 things at once.

Why do I say this. Well, let me show you this. It's a list of all the areas that are going into the module, and it's not even a complete list. Some areas have been grouped under a generic title and others that I've been considering aren't even on the list. In addition to that, you never know when some new idea comes up that needs to be implemented and requires the gameworld to expand even further. As it stands, Lira looks like a very, very small place. And it will expand over the course of the entire Tapestry of Time series, but that's something for later. (All I have to say about building the next chapter is thank God for Copy/Paste and Import/Export) That's just Project One.

Project Two is a 45-minute public presentation I will be delivering this Sunday. Speaking in front of a group has never been a problem for me, I talk to strangers everyday and have given other, albeit shorter, presentations before. So I'm not nervous about it, there's just a lot of work that goes into one of these things.

Project Three actually consists of two independant parts: Shadow69's Online Role-Play The Express which I'm trying to help out with, as well as Keizo Amano's (He's the guy who did the Catch 22 Designs logo) resurrection of the Nanika Gakuen roleplay which just started. Each of these roleplays involves me being both Moderator and Player (At Nanika it means I'm actually playing two characters, one a Student (Player) and the other a Teacher (Moderator/Player).

Then there's my day job. We don't just sell cellular service at the office I work at, we're also do printing, business cards, posters, forms, flyers, if it has a surface, we can print on it. This is actually the one part of my life that has been slowing down, oddly enough. You'd think that it being this close to Christmas we'd be going crazy with business. But no, not really. So if anyone in the Northern Nevada area is looking for cellular service for themselves or as a gift, or maybe upgrades, or holiday cards, or party invitations or anything let me know.

Okay, that's enough of my rant. you'd probably like to actually see an update. Well, I know Shadow69 and Lysan are busy at the whole "writing" deal. Lysan are busy at the writing thing. I just saw from Schee that he'll be out of town during the holidays. I'll be back at work on the areas after the deal I have on Sunday.

Starting the beginning of the year at the latest I'll be taking orders for the people on this list on items from the Catch 22 Designs "Store". I'll be starting with the people I have to ship internationally to (hobo_geek and Shadow69 are the only ones I know I'll be doing this for sure, but we'll burn that bridge when we get there) and then progressing down the list according to distance from me. After that, I'm not sure what'll happen. it may be prudent for me to open the store up to the general public, but I know for a fact that would be something I would want to talk over with Shadow69, hobo_geek, and Keizo since all the items right now consist of artwork that they did for me and not my own work beyond adjusting sizes and things like that. If opening a store is not a viable option, but there are people who want stuff, I may work something out with them.

Wow, this has been an update of Tycho proportions, if not as intellectually verbose. If you really wanted me to, I could probably throw some six-dollar words at you, I do have access to a Thesarus I could use, but would you really have fun with that? In fact, you probably haven't even read the whole thing, I'd wager that one look at the veritable essay contained within these scrollbars and glazed over. Skimming from paragraph to paragraph and only stopping to read these last few sentences. And yes, I did have fun linking everywhere.

[BlueKnightOne]

Killian's Irish Red

Yum. That's really all I have to say. It's especially tasty when completely rebuilding a city from the ground up to look like it's been through 100 years of war with intelligent man-lizards who bear more that a passing kinship with the Great Wyrms of the era. Plus I really, really like Irish beer. Maybe that's because I'm part Irish.

So, as you can tell, I've dove (diven? doven? have divenated?) right back into development on ETS. Which has been very enjoyable, despite my last link-laden entry. I'm also really starting to appreciate how much power was built into the original Neverwinter Nights engine to create these worlds. Sure, it may not have smooth rolling hills, but you could really do a lot of interesting stuff without a lot of extra effort. When I first pulled up the NWN2 Toolset and tried to re-create Scion, I got a headache from trying to make the small rise that Castle Scion sits on. I guess spatial thinking may not really be my strong suit. Either that or I just need to spend more time with the new tools to learn them better. I'll leave that for Tempus Fugit, the second chapter in this trilogilogical series.

There is quite a bit of coolness going on behind the scenes, beyond screens not even the likes of the other Catch 22 Designs members know of, though Hobo_geek may have an inkling, but he's sworn to silence. You copy that, mister? Anyway, he's been a help in the kind of "invaluable" way that so many people who have gotten involved in the project have made themselves. Many of my Red vs Blue.com friends have made themselves indispensable. If not for actual assistance, than simply for Moral Support. Strider165, Kay0s24, PrincessNybo( r ), and the oft-mentioned Shadow69 among them. So, at this interlude to what I was talking about at the beginning of the paragraph, I would like to take this opportunity to plug some of the projects they have involved themselves in:

Check out Shadow69's current Online Role-Playing Game, The Express here.
Check out PrincessNybo( r )'s appearance on MrEvil's regular podcast, Suspend to RAM here.
Check out Hobo_geek's podcast Geek Alert here.
Check out Strider165's... um... something special... somewhere... (Sorry dude, I don't know about any cool projects you're in besides what I mentioned already [smiley0])
Check out Kay0s24's Year-End Mod Point Giveaway here.

In other news, Catch 22 Designs is going to be at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show!

That is to say, I'm going to be at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show, and I'll be wearing my C22D hat if it gets here in time and it's allowed. So if you're there and you see me wandering the floor, feel free to come and say "Hi."

In other, other news, it's that time of the year where all us retailers have to do end-of-the-year inventory. Thankfully, this store is a lot smaller than the one involved with my last job. and I'm almost done. just gotta enter all the values and clear out the junk we don't carry anymore.

That's pretty much all I have this week. Look for special announcements in the coming days.

One final thing, for one of the parts of the "Special Surprise" I'm working on, I'd like to get links or pictures of all the people, places, or things that have been a help to me. Things like pictures of people in/with their C22D or ETS merch when they get that (I'm taking orders for the team now, so stay tuned with instructions for that), screenshots of places ETS has been plugged, and stuff like that. Anyone who turns one in will be rewarded with a "Friends of Catch 22 Designs" Credit and a (Extra Special Surprise" when ETS finishes. Thanks to everybody for their support, even in the little ways!

Ordering Instructions (Catch 22 Designs Team Members):
1) Pick an item from the "Store". Be sure to include size, color, and image placement. If you're not sure of size, send me your chest measurement and I'll ensure the correct size is ordered.
2) E-mail your order to --catch.22.designs@gmail.com-- (Remove Hyphens for Anti-Spam). Make sure you include your shipping information. If unable to e-mail send me a PM with the same information.
3) When orders are filled, a response will be sent to let you know that they are in production and a second will be sent when your order has been shipped. The shipping notification will include a tracking number for the order so you can see it's progress to you.

Any problems can be directed to me or that same e-mail.

Enjoy your weekend everybody!

[BlueKnightOne]

No Update This Week

Gone to CES. See you Wednesday.

[BlueKnightOne]

Finally, we have an artist. You have no idea how hard it's been to track someone down who would help us out.

Introducing the newest member of the Catch 22 Designs team: wycked. She's coming over from deviantART to do some of our character portraits. If you check out her gallery, you can see she's quite talented and I really can't wait to see how the portraits turn out! So, if you want to give her a warm welcome, head on over to my blog or the forums and welcome the newest addition to the C22D family!

In addition, I've put up some goodies in my blog so go check it out!

[wycked]

Thanks for the nice words ^^
So how is this project coming along?