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Module Profile - Candle in the Dark

Module Profile by Jay Watamaniuk Sept 18, 2002

Module Title: Candle in the Dark v1.1 Authors: Robert and Donna Burson Play Time: 2-4 hours Recommended Level: 1-5 (the authors highly recommend a brand new character) Single or Multiplayer?: Single HakPak Needed?: No Scary Children of the Corn Featured?: Yes Download locations: - Neverwinter Vault

Overview:

You begin this adventure by burning the remains of your family within your childhood home. Why has this come to pass? Why is the old woman outside your house cursing you? What is the mystery of the Gravekeeper? From this horrid beginning, you fall into a complex tale of corruption and villainy that will span the darkest corners of your homeland.

The authors have written a layered and engaging story and surrounded it with beautiful areas and some expert use of the scripting language. The attention to detail for small things like the remaking of common items into things that better fit the area created, the NPC dialogue, and subtle use of scripting to further enhance gameplay were handled very well.

Author's Description:

The village of Shadowrock labors under the yoke of unknown evils that walk the night mists, leaving the corpses of villagers for the morning light. They are the victims of a strange plague which has always haunted this sleepy valley, and so it has ever been say the Shadowrock elders. You have lived unquestioning like the rest, surrendering the dead to the Gravekeeper who watches the forbidden tombs of the forest. Then one morning everything changes when the dreaded night ills strike your own family down. A road of fateful decisions, whispered questions and bloody vengeance lies ahead. With all the forces aligned against your struggle, you are but a candle in the dark.

 

Interview with the Authors - Robert and Donna Burson

1. One of the reasons I wanted to profile this module is the to show a module that features a great, detailed story. Where did you come up with the idea for it?

Robert: The module grew out of the idea of fulfilling a quest for your own reasons. In role-playing games your character is always doing things for other people, and usually with no thanks. I thought it would be cool to have a module where the character becomes the quest. As soon as we sat down to work on the story, my initial concept meshed really well with our favorite genre – horror.

Donna: We are fans of gothic horror, and in most gothic horror plots, the protagonist experiences some type of tragedy. We tried to implement with Candle in the Dark.

2. Did the story evolve as you made the module or was it complete before you even starting working with the Toolset? What advice would you give to module-makers that are starting out?

Robert: The story was fairly complete in my head as we began, but quickly took on a life of it’s own. We actually reduced a lot of elements and boiled them down to what was essential to tell the tale. We had gone through the module tutorial on your website and tinkered around a bit with the toolset before beginning. Keeping in mind some of the difficulties that arose while tinkering, we tried to stick with what we had learned. I thought that we could always go back and add extra features later.

Donna: Creating this module was a learning experience for the both of us. There are things that we would probably have done differently. Now that we have a better idea of what people like and dislike about Candle in the Dark, I really feel that we can take all the feedback that was given to us to make Candle in the Dark a fun and unique experience for all.

3. You have rated your module mature- why is that?

Robert: I personally find mature tales more rewarding to develop and experience. While there isn’t any foul language, nudity or any more violence than other NWN modules, I don’t think the story and subject matter in the module is for kids.

Donna: Being a parent of two, you begin to realize that some children are extremely sensitive to certain issues. We know that many fans of NWN are parents, so we felt that rating this module as mature would give parents a warning that this might not be a module that you want your child to download.

4. You both used a great deal of scripting to implement some very specific special effects throughout the module. What has been your experience working with the NWN scripting language?

Robert: Being part web developer, I found the scripting language to be very similar to JavaScript (the curly braces and semicolons, oh my). It was a little unclear how to use some of the functions at first, but using the script wizard in the conversation editor and browsing the official modules helped a lot. There is also an invaluable resource available in the Bioware forums.

Donna: Umm...I’m not a very technical person, but browsing through the official module, and the Bioware forums helped. Truth be told, I left a lot of the programming end up to Robert.

5. Is the story of Shadowrock finished?

Robert and Donna: Not at all! We stopped working on the sequel to do a revision of the original module that expands the story a bit and adds a few features. Once that’s done, we are going right back to the sequel! We are looking forward to returning to the large, industrial/Victorian city that occupies a good chunk of the next module!