BioWare: Ghosts of the Past by Illemira

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Ghosts of the Past by Illemira

Interview by Jay Watamaniuk

Go to (Previous - Introduction, Myranni's Magic, Walking with a Ghost, A Hero's Death, Firestarter, The Realm Below, A Moonless Night, Aspects, The Badger, the Cat and the Book, Grains of Truth, Find the Fish!, Ghosts of the Past, To Hell and Back - Next )

Where can I take a look at your module, Ghosts of the Past?

My module can be found at NWVault.

If anyone's interested in waiting for a revised edition, I do plan to produce a version that adds a lot more PC choice, now that the contest is over and I can thumb my nose at the 3500 word count. I will keep the original up for download.

Was more than one person contributing to the development of this module?

Ghosts of the Past by Illemira The writing and area design were solely my work. Scripting-wise, I used LilacSoul's NWN Script Generator, which was a tremendous help and time-saver. Since I was still home on spring break at the time when I was finishing my module, I wheedled my dad and sister into testing/critiquing it for me, but I rather missed the whole point of testing and did this approximately an hour before the submission deadline, so their input never made it into the module.

Whether I would have been able to make any of their suggested changes is doubtful, as I was already stretching the word-limit almost to the point of bursting by then.

When you first read about the contest and the restrictive guidelines what was your first thought?

When I first read about the contest, I somehow completely skipped over the part about restrictions, and spent the next hour or so gleefully designing a long, complex story that would have required at least 20 NPCs and probably five times the 3500 word limit. Later, when I went back to re-read the contest guidelines and realized that I had to discard the story idea, I was disappointed, but also slightly relieved. Short, 10-15 minute adventure, 4x4 area? At least no complicated area design would be needed, and there would be fewer things to mess up. Only three NPCs? Okay, that was doable. The 3500 word limit made me frown a bit, but it didn't worry me because it felt generous enough at the time. Little did I know how much I would come to loathe that particular restriction by the end.

What other writing have you done?

Aside from the odd English assignment, I've done a fair amount of fanfiction writing, which I've found is an excellent way to practice writing and get useful feedback.

Where can I take a look at your module, Ghosts of the Past?

Was more than one person contributing to the development of this module?

When you first read about the contest and the restrictive guidelines what was your first thought?

What other writing have you done?

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