A long overdue update..

Hello all, Sherincall here.. Sorry we've abandoned this blog lately, we're both very busy with building. No matter, here comes a full update to make up for leaving you folk in the dark.

First of all, scripting. Progress is really good, and soon we should have all the basic (and not so basic) systems in place. The only big piece that is really missing is a crafting system. However, my SHC project originally started as a crafting system, and luckily it's very modular, so we can recycle huge portions of that code. All in all, scripting is the least of our problems.

Haks. These things are problematic, as by the time we've collected everything we want, a lot of new content appears. So, best approach is to wait for as long as we can. We have the placeables pretty-much finished, and they are at 55 megabytes 7-zipped. Tilesets are a bit more annoying, as for example, Gothic City was made using old BioWare models before full camera control was unlocked, and is thus missing geometry on the bottom side of the models. These bugs have been fixed by BioWare and CTP, and we need to take all those models, and apply the gothic texture to them. Not really a hard job, just tedious. Then, some textures in the Gothic City are dull and boring.. Or just don't fit, so there's the job of retexturing as well. I think (hope) other tilesets won't need this much work.

And now, here are some screenshots using default tilesets to show our placeables..

And finally a lore tidbit: Here's one of our NPCs.

Alaenna the Witch

Alaenna is a half-elven sage, alchemist and sorceress, living in a tower about 15 miles away from Midport. The church of the Archons despises her, and has given her a bad reputation. She doesn't really care, though, as long as she is left alone. It is said that the church had attempted to remove her by force in the past, but was unsuccessful, however it is uncertain how much of that is true. One thing is certain, should the church, or anyone else invade, she would never leave her tower and valley again, and is willing to fight to her death.

Alaenna is very fond of mirrors. Rumor has it that she has the ability to create fast and slow mirrors, that allow you to look a few seconds into the future / past. Alaenna is not naturally beautiful, however, through alchemy and practice she has managed to change her facial traits to that of a very attractive woman. This is very exhausting though, and when she is alone she will relax her face and revert to her original appearance.

Her only servant, and closest friend is Isrrak, a blind monk, who is one of the last connoisseurs of the forbidden alphabet, symbols that when written in a special manner cause death to any who see them. Isrrak speaks only when it is absolutely necessary, so most who've met him think he is dumb as well. Alaenna sometimes asks him to inscribe the forbidden symbols on her eye-lids, to keep her protected from enemies while she's asleep.
Alaenna spends an hour every day living the life of her mother. She dresses in her clothes, and acts like she would. During this trance, she forgets all the details of her own life and only knows what her mother knew. This is her way of repaying her mother for dying while giving birth to her.

Alaenna values knowledge above anything else, and will always trade an information for an information. Even material objects she is willing to part with for a good tale or some news. Once she gives herself an assignment of understanding something, she will be able to do little else until she is satisfied with her knowledge of that thing - Meaning until she has full understanding of everything about it.

Onward!

The blog has officially been moved to blog.shadowsandsilver.com, though the old address will still work. I've also finished moving the forums to forum.shadowsandsilver.com, so all that's left to do now is get the new site to have some other content. That will be a while, though, since there's not much to put up yet.

Lore tidbit: Midport is a city-state, with a republican form of government. It is officially a member of the Confederation of Adun, an alliance of states on the Adun River Plain. The Confederation is weak, and Albus Engelhardt, governor of Midport, largely ignores its rule. He uses the city's strategic position at the mouth of the Adun River to control trade in the region, squeezing his political opposition into respecting his autonomy. Midport's upper class profits greatly from this, so few oppose his cruel and efficient rule.

Progress!

But not the kind with screenshots, unfortunately. I've finished the lite version of my core scripting system (thanks to Edward Beck, creator of HCR2, whose code I murdered trying to pare down) so now Sherincall can start scripting things too. I'm getting to work on a basic rest system and then fixing up the nearly-completed XP system for the new framework. We've also got a whole lot of other things in discussion, including firearms, some player background customization, and that magic system I mentioned (though I don't think it will be as spectacular as I'd originally hoped, due to time constraints).

Also in the news, I managed to purchase the domain name shadowsandsilver.com, so I hope to be moving the blog and the forums soon.

How about a lore tidbit in the meantime?

The world Shadows & Silver is set in is called Enna, roughly translated from ancient elven as "tears", while the continent Midport rests on is Emorlad, roughly translated as "it is barren". Elven culture has left its mark on scholarly work, and in more than just names of places. Most of the ancient history of the world was recorded by the elves, who possessed a writted language long before men. It is only through the account of the elves that we know of the gods' wars, and it is only because of their knowledge of nature and its courses that we know so much of alchemy.

Ironically, elves have all but vanished from the world. They're rarely seen in the cities, having been less able to adapt to the changes of society than any other race. Most of them cling to their old ways in whatever scrap of wilderness they can find. What elves are found in the cities tend to be very hesitant in getting involved with society. Scholars speak of this trait as the Shame of the Elves, though not even the elves are certain what they could be ashamed of. What is certain, though, is that the long-lived elves have watched the magic that is their life-blood drain away from Emorlad. In a world devoid of magic, there's little place for them, and they know it.

An Update

No, I'm not dead. Both Sherincall and I are snowed in with work. I'm also looking for a third job, so I have even less free time than normal. But never fear, there's still work going on. I've been reworking the core scripting framework, and, with Sherincall's advice, things are coming along well. I just need to get over my incessant need to rewrite everything myself, and maybe the scripting will get done sooner.

In other news, Shadows & Silver applied to the Project Q Builder's Program, so we'll hopefully find out soon if we'll get an early version of Q to play with. If we do, expect to see lets of new screenshots, and not just of Midport. I've get several new locations that I'll be excited to show... whenever I get the new content to populate my areas with.

Cheers!

Help!

No, I'm not crying for help. I'm rejoicing at having help. I'm pleased to announce that I have officially added Sherincall to the build team (bringing us to a grand total of two members). He was working on his own PW, but he graciously decided to put his server on the shelf and help with mine. He's excited about the project and is helping to move forward quickly. See that new link to the Shadows & Silver forums? *points to the sidebar* That's thanks to him. With his enthusiasm rejuvenating mine, I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more updates here soon.

Thanks, Sherincall!