OVERVIEW
The Brothers of Three was a Neverwinter Nights module created in the Aurora toolset. When applying for Bioware, design candidates were required to provide an example module in this engine to illustrate their skill set. The only requirements were a boss encounter as well as the integration of cutscenes using a separate, third party plugin to demonstrate camera choreography. Cutscenes were fairly primitive given that the engine was not setup to handle them, but this separate extension helped in achieving the requirement.
This was my first exposure to Aurora and I spent 7 days non-stop learning the editor as well as the C based scripting language to produce this module. It was a really exciting learning experience and the end result was a piece of content that integrated 3 new systems including a hint based companion system, moveable object system (which the engine didn’t support), and a piece of gear that let players view into the spirit realm. I’m really pleased with how it turned out given the time constraints. Once submitted, Bioware decided to use it as the example module for future candidates that applied to work on the game.
GAME INFO
- Developer: Self
- Release Date(s): 2009
- Platforms: PC
- Files: Module , ZIP file of scripts in text format
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Players were tasked with helping a High Council defeat a lord of evil known as Bethalus. With the aid of one of the Council members, Efayu, the player would navigate through a desert, into Bethalus’ temple, and finally encounter Bethalus himself in his chamber. Efayu’s magic was weakened upon arrival to the desert, so the player only has her assistance in an ethereal form that travels alongside the player.Walkthrough Video
Chamber of the High Council
The chamber was where the intro cutscene would play out for the player, giving them some context of what was going on. This cutscene was shortened due to time limitations, however, the final form was to include the player interacting for a few lines with the Council members prior to embarking on the journey with Efayu.
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SAMPLE SCRIPTS
VIDEO
Desert Outskirts
The desert outside of the temple served as an introductory area for the player. They’d get their feet wet dragging down an object and get through some basic combat. At the temple entrance, they’d have a chance to get a buff if they were willing to risk drinking the well water, as well as get some narrative of the temple’s creation in the form of writings on grave stones.
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SAMPLE SCRIPTS
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Temple - Corridors
Once inside the temple, players would work their way to Bethalus’ chamber. The players needed two pieces of gear that allowed them to unblock certain obstacles and ultimately open his chamber door. These two pieces were obtained from separate puzzle chambers.
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SAMPLE SCRIPTS
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Temple - Obelisk Chamber
The Obelisk chamber had players figuring out which items matched up with nearby obelisks, based on inscriptions at the base of each one. Unlocking this provided Dorimyn’s Gauntlets which let players lift heavier objects and bypass earlier obstacles.
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SAMPLE SCRIPTS
cs_pent_puzzle.nss, cs_pent_door.nss, pent_trig_01.nss, pent_trig_02.nss, pent_puzzle.nss, pent_ob_trig_01.nss, pent_ob_trig_02.nss, pent_ob_trig_03.nss, pent_ob_trig_04.nss, pent_ob_trig_05.nss
VIDEO
Temple - Treasure Chamber
Upon entering the Treasure Chamber, players would come across a helmet that let them view the spirit world when used. After killing spirits, the exit to the chamber would be unblocked allowing further progress. This item would be used for additional puzzle mechanics in the main corridor and the final boss sequence.
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SAMPLE SCRIPTS
corr_trig03_oe.nss, treas_wraith_od.nss, treas_trig_01.nss
VIDEO
Temple - Boss Chamber
Defeating Bethalus required the player to use the previous items they picked up. The guantlets would allow them to lure Bethalus out. In combat, he would continually get healed by an unknown source and be difficult to beat. If the player used their helm, they could see spirits continually healing them that could be taken out. Killing the spirits would give the player a window of opportunity to diminish his health.
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SAMPLE SCRIPTS
boss_encounter.nss, boss_trig01_oe.nss, boss_trig02_oe.nss, boss_wraith_hb.nss, boss_wraith_od.nss, boss_wraith_os.nss, end_trigger_oe.nss
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There were three systems introduced with this mod. I constructed these to be modular in the hopes that they could be used by others if needed.Hint Companion
The hint companion was similar to the companions seen in games like Zelda. In this system, players could place tags throughout the world that had variables triggering the companion’s pre-defined help statements. Additionally, the tags could have a text override to deliver custom statements as needed.IMAGES
SAMPLE SCRIPTS
lib_hs_main.nss, lib_hs_const.nss
VIDEO
Moveable Objects
The most difficult system introduced was the moveable object system. The engine does not support movement of objects in any way so I had to fake it (admittedly in a horribly inefficient way), by determining the coordinates around the player and despawning/respawning the object. Players could drag objects that were normal or heavy weight, with the latter requiring gear to be moved. The system also had concepts for objects already being dragged by others, as well as no definable areas that prevented objects from being taken out of valid locations.IMAGES
SAMPLE SCRIPTS
lib_ds_barr_ent.nss, lib_ds_barr_exit.nss, lib_ds_const.nss, lib_ds_gen_ou.nss, lib_ds_main.nss, lib_ds_pos_funcs.nss
VIDEO
Spirit Helmet
The spirit helm handled 2 dimensions the player could cross between. This item was built to handle toggling on and off the visibility of creatures between these two dimensions based on how they were flagged. It would intelligently clean up any behavior in the event that combat was taking place when the helmet was turned off.IMAGES
SAMPLE SCRIPTS
lib_sw_main.nss, lurimont_helm.nss
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