Hey guys. This shouldn't be taken as an official announcement, but I am working on a multiplayer prequel to the SP module "July Anarchy Prologue" (yeah, a prequel to a prologue, I know). The problem is that every module I've built so far has been single-player. Most of the modules out there seem to be multiplayer, so it can't be that big a leap, but after the headache Prologue turned out to be, I want to have a better idea of what I'm jumping into here. This new module (July Anarchy: Incursion Namibia is the current title) is carrying over most of the concepts from Prologue, but adding in even more stuff to make it feel like a seperate game from NWN.
So do any experienced multiplayer scripters know if the following concepts are at all impossible, or if adapting to NWNX would make them easier?
1. Factions. The players can now choose to join either the Nomads or the UN at the start. Each player can join either faction, but the differences between each are pretty huge. I'm hoping I can add the player's faction as a custom feat, either to the PC skin or directly to the PC via NWNX.
2. Character Backgrounds. Like factions, the PC picks their background at the start, which affects some subplots and gives them certain bonuses or penalities. For example, a Nomad that is an Anarchist builds Adrenaline faster, but has a sour reputation with UN officials. I'm also hoping to apply these via custom feats.
3. Reinforcements. In Prologue, the PC gained reinforcements in the main battle by completing side missions. In Incursion Namibia, any PC that belongs to the UN faction can call for reinforcements into most areas, from a few more soldiers to tanks and air support. The trick is finding a way to give the player a quick way to access the reinforcements menu without going into a conversation menu, which can't be activated during combat. I could add them as special abilities attached to a radio item (NOT a unique power ability), but I haven't tried adding custom item properties yet. Would it be easier to make each reinforcement call a feat ability?
4. This is the tough one. Dynamic enemy/ally spawning. Like Prologue, there's going to be lots and lots of fighting and explosions and guns and metal and fun. However, Prologue had a relatively simple creature spawning system that I'd like to redo. Instead of creatures being spawned at fixed points when the player enters a region, and being deleted when they leave, I'd like to spawn creatures and allies at a random location beyond any PC's point of view, and then remove them if they are a certain distance away from the PC. That way, as the player runs around an area, it looks more like a huge constant battle is being fought through the entire region as opposed to just resetting. This obviously becomes more complex when you have multiple players in an area that cover more ground. It shouldn't be too hard to write a script that picks a random location a certain distance away from one PC, but can it find one out of view of all PCs?
5. Score/AP building. This module might be longer than Prologue and may not be accomplished in one sitting. So if a player leaves, then returns later, is there a way I can store their points and the AP they've accumulated? This might require the use of a database, but I get the impression databases are for PW modules, which Incursion Namibia is not.
That's all for now. You guys don't have to write any of these scripts for me, just let me know if they simply can't be done. Of course, if anybody wants to help build the mod with me, I'd be happy to have you :happy:
