Advent Calendar with SoD-Screenshots, yes please? :3
justfeelinathome
Member Posts: 353
As people all around the internet (or mainly this forum) have noticed: It's high time for some news/eye candy. 
I can understand that you guys are probably working hard on the game even as I write this, I've had an idea (kinda late, sry):
Why not keep people happy with an advent calendar, showing us a new screenshot (or voice acting line, that'd be awesome, too!) each day and maybe, maybe something special on the twenty-fourth. It'll have bigger impact than releasing them in one swoop. Christmas is the time when dreams come true, right Beamdog?
After all, grownups love a nice calendar just as much as kids do! 
I can understand that you guys are probably working hard on the game even as I write this, I've had an idea (kinda late, sry):Why not keep people happy with an advent calendar, showing us a new screenshot (or voice acting line, that'd be awesome, too!) each day and maybe, maybe something special on the twenty-fourth. It'll have bigger impact than releasing them in one swoop. Christmas is the time when dreams come true, right Beamdog?
After all, grownups love a nice calendar just as much as kids do! 20
Comments
I can give you a little info on the fiction piece coming out in Dragon+ next month! As you've probably heard, Dragon+ is printing an original short story by @AndrewFoley that centers on the character Glint Gardnersonson, one of the new NPCs from Dragonspear.
I love writing fiction because it can plunge the reader into the world of the game and make it seem more developed and more realistic when you're actually playing. When we got the idea to write fiction pieces, Andrew, Phil and I got together and brainstormed some ideas. We decided we'd write one piece each for the four new NPCs in Dragonspear. Andrew took Glint as the first character to write about. (So yes, there will be more stories coming in the future!)
We tossed around story ideas until we had a good idea of what Glint's tale would be about. Andrew then wrote a one-page outline to submit to WotC for feedback. They had a few suggestions on things to change or refine to make sure the piece fit in with Forgotten Realms lore and flavour. Then Andrew wrote the piece, which came out to just under 4,000 words. Ok, it actually was more like 6,000 words and then I did an editing pass.
I hope that's a fun insight into how the Glint story was developed. I'll try to think of something to post for tomorrow, though I can't promise to get you 25 days of content.
You're a saleswoman, too: Now I'd definitely want to get the magazine (and will). Thank you for sharing, everything is appreciated.
I think chickens are hilarious. Melicamp the Chicken's quest from the original BG killed me. The dialogue was awesome, and...I mean...a polymorphed chicken! Yes, this is how highbrow my humor gets. Maybe it's my childhood love of the Muppets, I don't know.
When we designed the subquests for SoD (which was a time consuming process, there are over 75 subquests in SoD, which doesn't count all the main "critical path" quests) I managed to get permission to design a very tiny, very out of the way subquest that involves a chicken. I also convinced one of the artists to put chickens in a particular dungeon level (where it made sense, I don't want areas of the game to look ridiculous for the sake of tickling my funny bone). So there are at least two chicken-related incidents in SoD that you can look for when you play.
Hehe, that's almost like the 12 Days of Christmas, but with chickens instead of turtledoves.
Two subquest chickens,
And a short story in Dragon+.
My Beamdog sent to me
... (etc., etc.) ...
On the Twelfth day of Christmas,
My Beamdog sent to me
Twelve portraits picting
Eleven screenshots teasing
Ten gazebos attacking
Nine backstories arcing
Eight clips a-streaming
Seven rings enhancing
Six sounds a-playing
Five magic spells
Four joining bods
Three fixed bugs
Two subquest chickens
And a short story in Dragon+
I've been a little bummed at how little I've heard about Siege of Dragonspear from the devs lately, but that was just enough of a cool teaser to get me excited about SoD all over again. Thank you for sharing! As a fan of Beamdog and the BG series, I appreciate all that you do
Should the hypothetical day ever come that I'll forget all about BG (it won't), I will certainly think, when spotting it in a classics collection: "Oooh, wasn't that the game with the talking chicken in it?"
Hehehehehe
We designed almost entirely new areas for SoD, as you know. Besides the city of BG itself, I think all the zones are new. Many of them had already been designed when I joined the company, but I did get to work on one with artist Mad and it was a really cool process.
The area involved some tunnels/caverns where monstrous humanoids live. When you design dungeons, especially if you've been doing it a long time, you run the risk of them all looking the same. You know: rough stone walls, firepits, bedrolls, maybe some bones. We wanted something different. Mad and I tossed some ideas around about texture and lighting, when I mentioned I loved The 13th Warrior/Eaters of the Dead. Mad was like, "I LOVE EATERS OF THE DEAD!" So we decided to base the lair on the wendol from the movie.
Obviously we looked at the movie itself, but we also brainstormed elements we could add that would create a similar atmosphere as the wendol cave. We researched different kinds of cave drawings and were really inspired by the hand paintings at Cueva de las Manos. Instead of bedrolls, Mad designed some hide lean-tos and draped animal skins around. Her final drawings were fantastic and we were both giddy over them.
Playing through the level will probably be "another underground dungeon" for a lot of people, but I hope some of the little touches Mad put in there and the atmosphere we created will feel unique and exciting to players. Once we're able to get another round of screenshots through approvals I'll try to get a shot for this thread (may be a while on that, though!)
Three creepy caverns
Two subquest chickens
And a short story in Dragon+.
But ... it's an unnerving precedent to draw inspiration from The 13th Warrior. Obviously you and Mad love it, but you do realise that it was the worst commercial failure in the whole history of movies, don't you? There again, if your efforts now inspire gamers to watch the movie, maybe you can suddenly transform it from "notorious flop" to "cult classic" ... and Touchstone Pictures might owe you a favour. And a commission.
pics or it didn't happen.......
The office here closes up on the 19th so that will be our "final" day before the holiday break.
Ok here's a minor fact, not SoD related, but... Last year I wanted to do a "Twelve Days of Midwinter" calendar featuring Alveus Malcanter doing a bunch of winter activities tied to Forgotten Realms holidays, but it never got off the ground. Boo.
Or
James Johnsensen
Or
Jan Jansensen
Doesn't that seem strange to you?
And a joke is only fun for so long, while annoyance builds up.
Glint's grandfather was a gardener by trade. He and his wife were unimaginative and couldn't think of a name for their son, so his son was known as Gardnerson (as a substitute for a given name, not as his patronymic). Therefore when Glint came along, his patronymic became Gardnersonson.
(That'd be in accordance with Nordic patronymic customs, wouldn't it?)
When choosing a name, the parents have to stick to a list of legal first and middle names. Currently there are about 1,712 male names and 1,853 female given names on the list.
You also wouldn't use a name that ends with son, or this situation would arise. If we followed Noridc customs, then the correct name would be Gardner, and his child would be Gardnerson.
What if Glints father had a daughter?
Gloria Gardersondaughter
See how it gets really obscure?
It could be interesting to see how this is explained in the game, but if you compare it to real names, it really is an eye sore.
As for Glint's last name, @AndrewFoley created it and it is very in keeping with Glint's character. I don't know any details beyond that, but I love it precisely because it's the sort of semi-ridiculous name a gnome would have.
He also ended up being one of the less silly members of that party, as I recall. And he blew off one of Tiamat's heads using a bazooka and real-world physics.