Sunday, June 12, 2011

AD&DRPG Visual Renovations - Traloria and Traloria Sewers

Hey everyone... my work continues in AD&DRPG world and has focused on the large town of Traloria.  I had started on Traloria as of the last photo blog, but really underestimated how long it would take to work on.  I'm still not quite done there, but I've completed several areas, including the popular sewer dungeon.  Take a look:

This isn't actually Traloria, but an unrelated dungeon.  Mostly untouched, I've made simple changes for lighting and effects.

The main square in Traloria has been completely redone.  A fire-lit path leads past interactive characters and shops.

A market now exists in the main square, where players can purchase items and join the Traloria Army.

A chamber within the Traloria Sewers where the various tunnels flow out.  Look out for that dragon!

A safe-haven within the sewers, where players can heal and purchase special equipment.  There are various helpful characters around as well.

Many familiar areas have received mostly cosmetic changes.  I really wanted to eliminate all paper-thin walls.

Some areas, such as this stream next to the path, exist purely for detailing to make the dungeon more interesting.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Classes Begin Today

Hey everyone.  Summer classes begin today and I suspect they'll eat away at much of my time.  Oh well.  :)

I also have a link to share:  a thread containing the changelog of my progress in AD&DRPG world.  You can review it here.  There are also some suggestions from other users posted there that are worth a view.  If you have any ideas, feel free to let me know!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Recent Updates with AD&DRPG and an upcoming break

Hey everyone.  Married life is going well and I'll be starting summer classes here soon, so I'll be cutting back on the posts.  I have a few more in the pipes... but I've cut down on AW projects as well.  Most of my time the past few weeks has been in AD&DRPG world continuing my efforts at renewing some of the older builds.  The updated visuals have gotten a lot of good feedback and I've seen a positive upturn to the amount of people in the world, including a few new players.  My goal with all of this was to help AD&D continue to be a stable gaming destination for AW users, and as more people are playing (a lot of tourists especially!) I can feel comfortable that my goal has been achieved.

If AD&D isn't your thing, you may want to check out AWMyths world... they've seen an upswing in activity as well and there seems to be a lot of good things coming out of the world.

Friday, May 27, 2011

AD&DRPG Visual Renovations - Photo Blog

I don't really want to go into another in-depth explanation of things while I'm away on honeymoon, so I've decided to post a photoblog of my progress so far. :)  The visual renovations span over several areas, and I'm trying to work in the order which places the player would generally experience.

A redesigned town fountain in the entry town of Meriel.  The benches surrounding the fountain are movers that allow the player to lay down and relax, or perhaps take a nice AFK. ;)

The Magic Users guild.  The area in the middle of the room is an anti-gravity zone that lifts players to the next floor, and the cloths in the doorway are cloth objects.  All avatars in the building have sequences applied.

Some new landscaping in the southern part of Merinel.  The knight in the foreground is actually an enemy NPC spawn-point, and I thought it fitting to position them in what seems like an ambush.

A dense scene in Turkel forest that leads players to an important location nearby.  Since players can't fly, the felled trees make a nice transitional barrier from one area to another.

Gro Lahr mansion.  The mansion is plagued by a dark fog, and surrounded by a dying forest.  There has been extensive work on increasing area of this atmosphere outside the immediate area of the mansion, and the trees from Turkel forest now continue into this area.  A sharp gradient occurs where the trees begin to die off.

Turkel forest has been graced with a new mist, low-gravity zones (for good jumping!) and numerous firefly particles.  The low gravity zone makes jumping from trees very enjoyable!

The new appearance of the entrance to Traloria.  Notice the lowered terrain from the original entry as well as the new procession into the city proper.  A lot of detail work has been done in Traloria, though I'm trying to keep with the original vision of the build as much as possible.

A handy newsboard at the ground zero area.  If you click on the postings, they are elaborated upon via the say command in the user's chat.