1 reply to this topic

[Tassadar88]

Today you can find out more about the author of wonderful mods for Planescape:Torment, about the nature of a man, or perhaps find a great programmer if your company is looking for one

[Tassadar88]

Hello Qwinn, how and when have you first entered the modding community here?

Qwinn:

I've been posting on and off at the Pocket Plane Group and the Gibberlings 3 forums probably for five years now. I playtested some of the earlier versions of the BG2 Quest Pack for simding0, and earlier this year I tried to help the guys doing the BG1NPC Project with a test run (a very well done mod, that, IMO).

As a modder? I didn't know one damn thing about WeiDU modding until around April 2008, heh. My very first successful bit of WeiDU script was written 45 days before I released version 1.0 of my mods. The guys and gals at G3, and SConrad, were very helpful in answering my really dumb questions, though, and within 7 weeks I'd produced my first pass at all 3 mods. It really went surprisingly well, considering.

Tass:

People here know you best for your outstanding work at modding Planescape:Torment, have you been modding other games too?

Qwinn:

Thanks for the kind words And nope, PS:T is the only game I've modded to date. I have been implementing new content for The Broken Hourglass, though. Which I will be getting back to with a vengeance as soon as the new year starts.

Tass:

About half a year ago, you posted here at SHS that you were interested in a job in programming or editing ? your mods were and are a good display of your skills ? you were tipped to an indie game designer for one - so how is your job situation at the moment?

Qwinn:

Other than the occasional TBH work that Jason Compton has kindly sent my way for Planewalker Games, it hasn't changed much from then. As rewarding as the work for TBH is, I'm still truly hoping that a company (gaming related would be nice, but not required) out there will see my work and bring me on for some more consistent, full time work. So, yes, I'm still looking, and thanks for asking that question!

Tass:

In modding, you try to keep as close to the original authorial intent as possible ?asking Chris Avelonne his opinion regarding a bugfix is a good example- Even the PST Restorations consist of original Bioware content as much as possible ? how do you think about creating wholly new content?

Qwinn:

I really do do my best to keep to the original designer's intent for my existing mods. And yes, there is very little new content even in the Unfinished Business mod, almost all of it is original Black Isle content. The closest I've come to wholly new content is the Expanded Deionarra's Truth mod that's installable as a separate component in PST:UB. I'd say it's about 85% new content, and once you've gotten through it it restores another 15% or so of original dialogue. I'm particularly proud of it because a synopsis of the new content was remarked on with high approval by both Chris Avellone and Colin McComb, original PS:T designers. I'm really hoping they'll get a chance to play it sometime, and find out if they feel my actual implementation measured up to my synopsis and a raw dialogue file.

I haven't received any feedback on it yet from anyone, but if it is well received (and people let me know they liked it, of course), I may try more along those lines. If I do so, my next attempt would almost certainly be to do an Expanded Pendant of Yemeth quest mod. The restoration of the Pendant of Yemeth quest is definitely interesting and worth playing for the oodles of original dialogue it lets you read, but the ending isn't as satisfying as most of the other quests in game. I have what I think are some really good ideas for giving it some proper closure. It would be entirely new content, though, added to the end of a restored quest... sort of the reverse of the Deionarra's Truth mod, where I add new content in order to be able to unlock restored content.

Tass:

Talking about new content, there was once a project called Planescape:Vengeance, which was a fan attempt at creating a sequel to Torment? did it sound interesting to you for any reason?

Qwinn:

Indeed, I even wrote a bit about it in my Fixpack Readme FAQ. It was apparently (don't hold me to any of this, this is what I've picked up via the grapevine) an attempt at a Total Conversion for PS:T that met with tragedy in the form of a crashed hard drive somewhere during its development, and Cilantro's Restoration Pack was an attempt to salvage what could be from the ashes. There was some good stuff in there, and I gleaned what I could from it that fit the missions of the Fixpack and UB.

I think the PS:T engine is hugely underrated in some respects, and would be at least as good a candidate for a Total Conversion as the other IE game engines that actually have gotten that kind of modding attention. For example, did you ever notice that most of the townsfolk in Baldur's Gate, Amn, and Icewind Dale just kinda stand there, while practically EVERYBODY in Planescape: Torment walks around and actually does things? That right there is, in my opinion, a big unrecognized reason why PS:T is looked on with such fondness. That's the key to why Sigil just seems to be so much more -alive- than the cities in the other games out there. And technically, it's all made possible by one simple extra trigger in the game engine, NearLocation(), that none of the other IE games have. It lets a creature script detect when that creature gets close to a certain set of coordinates, and do something else when it gets there. The scripting applications are nearly endless, and I'll let the vibrancy and simple alive-ness of the citizens of Sigil and Curst themselves speak as to how much can be done with it.

Tass:

Are there other games that attract you as strongly as PST?

Qwinn:

My first playthrough of Arcanum, I hit a lot of bugs that turned me off to it despite its merits, and I'm now really looking forward to trying out Drog's mods that do for Arcanum what I've tried to do for PS:T. Same for Killap's efforts to restore and fix Fallout 2.

And of course, all the other IE games have their virtues, in different ways. The only one I've never played is Icewind Dale 2, and I'm looking forward to it... should be interesting to see how they implemented 3.5 D&D rules in an IE engine, and how it's different from NWN and TOEE. I do prefer 3.5 rules to 2nd edition, and consider the old ruleset to be the biggest drawback to the other IE games, though by Throne of Bhaal they did get enough "optional" 2nd edition rules in to overcome the vast majority of that problem.

TOEE and the Fallout games are my favorites as far as combat mechanics go. The biggest tragedy of games being produced today is that no one seems interested in developing turn-based combat anymore. I can't imagine why. There's a -lot- of people who prefer it, I think it made both those games hugely more popular than they would've been otherwise, and I would also think it'd be a LOT easier to code.

Tass:

Modding is one heck of a time eater ? what makes it worth your while?

Qwinn:

Yes it is. As you noted, it is an attempt to display some skills that will hopefully land me a job in the industry someday, and yes, that's my primary justification for doing it. But the gratitude and kind words of the players, and seeing that download count get pretty damn high, is exceedingly satisfying as well.

Tass:

Is there anything else you would like to say to the people here at SHS?

Qwinn:

Yes! Thanks -very- much to the entire staff of SHS for giving me a home here. I've had a blast so far. I can only hope my mods and my presence has helped SHS a fraction as much as SHS has done for me by letting me set up shop and putting me in contact with so many great and helpful players that give me much needed input into how I can fix the game in a way the most people can enjoy.

Tass:

Finally ? what can change the nature of a man?

Qwinn:

Of all the answers suggested by the game, I do think the one given by your prior incarnation near the end of the game is the best.


Tass:

Now a few last quick questions ? pick what you like best

Annah or Fall-From-Grace :

For a fling? Annah. Way more "physically" attractive to me. (Any voluptuous redheads reading this that are willing to wear that outfit, call me.) Any longer than that? Grace. Much smarter, better at conversation, and more intriguing.

Mebbeth, Ei-Vene, Marta or Ravel? :

Mebbeth. She's easily the sanest of the bunch. The rest all remind me of one or another of my ex-girlfriends.

Modding for money or Modding for fun :

Y cant I haz BOTH??!1? *crai*

Any suggestion that that was my true original answer to the "Annah or Fall-From-Grace" question is utterly unfounded and a heinous lie.


Tass: I thank you very much for your time and answers, and I am looking forward to seeing you around.

Qwinn:

Thank you too