DA:O Rose of Eternity - Family & Country [Story Based Mod]

Dragon Age: Origins
Almost forgot. There was the cancelled Witcher: Scars of Betrayal project that we were working on, until CDPRojekt RED pulled the plug.

Then there was another NWN2 expansion we were working on that got cancelled as well, because the setting we were going to have it in turned out to be the same setting that NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer was set in.

Actually, I wasn't a part of the NWN2 expansion, because at that point, we had split the team into 2: some on the Witcher project, some on the NWN2 one.

Anyway, as you can imagine, after being burned so many times by publishers and the like, Ossian Studios are pretty much independent now, so their lives/fate doesn't have to be in the hands of some suit half way around the world that doesn't care…
Darkness over Daggerford was one of the better mods for NWN so thanks for making that wonderful mod, and your group released it for free.:thumbsup:

I don't thank Atari for how they handled the whole process though. I remember reading what happened behind the scenes in a few interviews on our site.

1. http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=211&ref=0&id=27
2. http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=145&ref=0&id=27

I didn't forget about Witcher: Scars of Betrayal, and I remember some other paid mods in the work for the original Witcher also. I seem to recall a demo was released.:thinking:

That's another side of modding that never took off as I hoped.:disappointed:

At least a few talented modders released some mods for the game. The engine was just a modified version of the Aurora engine.

Also I believe the DRM for Mysteries of Westgate. is gone on the GOG release.

PS:
Tell Ossian Studios to make a new PC RPG, or port the iOS game The Shadow Sun.;)
 
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Wow, thanks for the links. These really bring me back, will have to check them out tomorrow morning.

Yeah, The Witcher "Adventure Editor" never really took off alright... I seem to remember not liking it that much when I did use it, and that's saying a lot. Won't lie... If there is a toolset for The Witcher 3, I may take a peak. That game is gorgeous :)

As for The Shadow Sun... Well, we're currently porting it to Android, and have a whole bunch of people with various handsets testing. Because, as you can imagine, with so many handsets out there, it will be hard to make it work for every one, versus the iPhone, where we only had to support a small set. Who knows when that will finish...

With regards to a PC game, who knows. Would be nice to do something totally new, however.
 
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UPDATE 3

This very moment, I am in the process of setting up the download page for the game over at The Nexus. I have a question out to one of the mods, because the uploaded doesn't seem to like DAZip files, even though that's what the toolset generates. So we'll see... In the meantime...

Introduction to Ranon of the Aran Dynasty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKSbkGPn58I

Development Diary #1 (Combat Systems)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxI_KBXUpsE
 
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Wow, thanks for the links. These really bring me back, will have to check them out tomorrow morning..

We also have a few articles about Mysteries of Westgate if your interested.

Link- http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=120&ref=0&id=379
Link- http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=72&ref=0&id=9
As for The Shadow Sun… Well, we're currently porting it to Android, and have a whole bunch of people with various handsets testing. Because, as you can imagine, with so many handsets out there, it will be hard to make it work for every one, versus the iPhone, where we only had to support a small set. Who knows when that will finish…
I was was just Joking around a little bit as I tried the IPad version already.:)

I also covered the game on our site.

Link - http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/news?ref=0&id=618

One of our ex-editors txa1265 also reviewed it on another site.

Link- http://geardiary.com/2013/12/19/ossi…rience-to-ios/

Do you guys have any plans for the PC? I know it was mentioned in a few times in a couple of interviews? I remember one reason was due to funding.
This very moment, I am in the process of setting up the download page for the game over at The Nexus. I have a question out to one of the mods, because the uploaded doesn't seem to like DAZip files, even though that's what the toolset generates. So we'll see… In the meantime
Thanks for the update Challseus I will download the mod after it's uploaded, and give you my opinion. I'll stop with the wall of text now so good night to anyone reading this.
 
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Do you guys have any plans for the PC? I know it was mentioned in a few times in a couple of interviews? I remember one reason was due to funding.

I haven't heard anything official from Alan as of yet. I think they want to finish off the Android first, let that get as many sales as possible, and go from there. To be honest, it's hard out there in the mobile world, at least from the little bit of it I've experienced since it released.

No one wants to pay for anything :(

I'll stop with the wall of text now so good night to anyone reading this.

On the contrary, I'm loving this trip down memory lane. Now I have even more things to read, since it looks like I'll have just a little more free time, for at least the next few days, because…

————————————————————

UPDATE #4

The game is now available at Nexus Mods!
 
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I haven't heard anything official from Alan as of yet. I think they want to finish off the Android first, let that get as many sales as possible, and go from there. To be honest, it's hard out there in the mobile world, at least from the little bit of it I've experienced since it released.

No one wants to pay for anything :(
Just look at some of the new Indie games on the PC they get pirated over a million times, and sell for a quarter of that.

Probably why always online is looking to be the next requirement of all games.:thinking:

Then we have the the new wave of very cheap sales that make you very little money in return at the end of the day. The magic word is Bundle, and cheap Steam Sales.
On the contrary, I'm loving this trip down memory lane. Now I have even more things to read, since it looks like I'll have just a little more free time, for at least the next few days, because…
Glad to hear that as I thought I might be bothering you to much.:)
 
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One more post from me today, and that's it. :biggrin:

I just started your Mod Challseus, and I like what I'm playing so far. I'll try to give some more feedback in a few days after I finish it at least twice.
 
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I haven't heard anything official from Alan as of yet. I think they want to finish off the Android first, let that get as many sales as possible, and go from there. To be honest, it's hard out there in the mobile world, at least from the little bit of it I've experienced since it released.

No one wants to pay for anything :(

Yes, ads are generally more likely to create revenue than actually selling software or games, especially on Android. I'm currently working on a little mobile app (I'm a programmer), but I'm not expecting to make a single dollar. It's more of an exercise in mobile technology than an attempt to make money.

Of course, both mods and mobile games can be used as future references, so even if it doesn't make you rich it can still be worth it.
 
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Here is a short post of positives and negatives from playing the mod twice.

Positives

+ Good Level Design.
+ Well thought out NPCs.
+ Good use of choice & consequences.
+ Battle Bond system brings a new change to DA.

Negatives

- Voice Overs sometimes don't fit.
- To many Cut-scenes felt like playing a novel instead of a game.
- The campaign's game length was short.

Now don't let my negatives get you down as I still enjoyed your mod, and can't wait for the next installment. Just remember to take a break once in a while.:thumbsup:
 
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Here is a short post of positives and negatives from playing the mod twice.

Positives

+ Good Level Design.
+ Well thought out NPCs.
+ Good use of choice & consequences.
+ Battle Bond system brings a new change to DA.

Negatives

- Voice Overs sometimes don't fit.
- To many Cut-scenes felt like playing a novel instead of a game.
- The campaign's game length was short.

Now don't let my negatives get you down as I still enjoyed your mod, and can't wait for the next installment. Just remember to take a break once in a while.:thumbsup:

Ha. If this was 10 years ago, I may have gotten pissed at the negatives, and been like, "This guys doesn't know what he's talking about!!!!!!!!!". ARRRG!! >:O

I'm older, more mature, and ironically, I love the negatives. Helps me learn as a game designer.

At any rate, thanks for the feedback... Haven't gotten a lot, actually. That's the one thing I miss at the old NWVault. People seemed to take pride in writing reviews full of pros/cons over there back in the day. Today, I'm starved for feedback, lol.

With regards to the cutscenes, I totally hear you. Every time I was playing through the game, there was this one sequence of cutscenes/conversations where I was like, "Shit, this is going way too long". I think it was something like:

<SPOILERS>
- post invasion convo with Claudian
- Errani arrives cutscene
- post invasion Ministry of Justice meeting
- post invasion convo with Rayben/Vale/Errani
- Ministry Tribunal
- Vale's convo with the family
- Errani's rallying speech
- Boundary Warden safe house
- Arrival in Shinkara Forest
</SPOILERS>

But at the same time, I wanted to get as much story/lore in there as possible. I guess I over did it, but just gives me something to work on next time.

Again, thanks for the feedback!
 
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Yes, ads are generally more likely to create revenue than actually selling software or games, especially on Android. I'm currently working on a little mobile app (I'm a programmer), but I'm not expecting to make a single dollar. It's more of an exercise in mobile technology than an attempt to make money.

Of course, both mods and mobile games can be used as future references, so even if it doesn't make you rich it can still be worth it.

Agree 100%. I got my current job (also a programmer) based off of my previous experience at a prior job, as well as because of my NWN mods and work with Ossian Studios.
 
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I started playing the mod. I just reached the 2nd Act so it seems I still have a ways to go. Overall I'm enjoying it. The story is definitely much improved over what I remember of the NWN mods and I haven't been subjected to any fetch quests or other tedious quests that try my patience / insult my intelligence. I think most of my criticisms would be more my issues with the DA: O engine rather than the mod itself. Only issues I ran into was some of the area transitions are a bit buggy / wonky. I am tending to agree with Couch about there being a bit too many cutscenes, but at least they are pretty well done and relevant for the plot. I definitely recommend it to anyone who has DA: O.
 
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My, you already finished the mod Couch? O_O

I will download it tonight or tomorrow and start playing too! :)
 
My, you already finished the mod Couch? O_O

I will download it tonight or tomorrow and start playing too! :)
That I did twice in two days actually.:cool:

Though I had a lot of free time last weekend, and results may vary for each player.
 
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I started playing the mod. I just reached the 2nd Act so it seems I still have a ways to go. Overall I'm enjoying it. The story is definitely much improved over what I remember of the NWN mods and I haven't been subjected to any fetch quests or other tedious quests that try my patience / insult my intelligence. I think most of my criticisms would be more my issues with the DA: O engine rather than the mod itself. Only issues I ran into was some of the area transitions are a bit buggy / wonky. I am tending to agree with Couch about there being a bit too many cutscenes, but at least they are pretty well done and relevant for the plot. I definitely recommend it to anyone who has DA: O.

With regards to the area transitions, there is a thread about it in the forums on the DL page. Turns out, I developed this all on my laptop, using the WASD keys. For whatever reason, I ended up creating transitions/doors/etc. that could only be reached using those keys, instead of the mouse. In an upcoming patch, I will try to rectify that.

Anyway, glad you are enjoying it thus far :)
 
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I thought I would share the good news with everyone. Challseus has agreed to do a new interview with our site. I will hopefully have it posted in the next two weeks.

So thank you once again Challseus.:handshake:
 
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If you do another mod in I would recommend using the Divinity: Original Sin SDK for it and with that you won't need to do VO's.
 
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I have been following the mod scene for Divinity: Original Sin also. I see a few mods that have the potential to be good, but it's still to early to tell.

Also I think you would enjoy these NWN 2 mods.

1. http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/tales-lake-sorrows
2. http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/maimed-gods-saga
3. http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/dark-waters-full
4. http://www.nexusmods.com/neverwinter2/mods/18/?
5. http://www.nexusmods.com/neverwinter2/mods/52/?
6. http://www.nexusmods.com/neverwinter2/mods/30/?
7. http://www.nexusmods.com/neverwinter2/mods/840/?

You mentioned you have free time now, and they may even give you a few ideas. Just a warning each of those mods takes 20-40 hrs to complete.

Each of those mods could also make a good paid expansion.:)
 
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