I'm going to begin posting all of my progress on The Final Nights from now until its final release in THIS thread. I will be updating everything I’m working on like one might do on Twitter, that way you can track the progress and make comments on its progression. Feel free to visit on a daily basis to see what new and exciting things are happening in post production, and leave comments or ask questions if you desire. (I plan on this thread getting very large, lol)

3/4/2011 - March marks the 1 year anniversary since TFN's birth. It was exactly 1 year ago that I began working on TFN after a 2 month break from working on CE 1.2. I was still unemployed at that time and ahhh the memories of sleeping in, waking up late and modding all afternoon (what ever happened to those happy times). In fact I haven’t played any other computer or console games in the past year so I could dedicate ALL free time to TFN, NOW THAT’S DEDICATION! (I heard some cool games came out during that time too, like Mass Effect 2 and StarCraft 2).

Anyways, I can’t even list all of the changes we’ve made at this point because I did a horrible job documenting it over the past year, and we’ve changed SO much. What I can tell you is what I’m currently working on right now and what still needs to be done before I can release it. I just finished up with all of the new music in TFN and I’m happy to say that ALL of the original Bloodlines licensed music has been gutted (Sorry but “Swamped” by Lacuna Coil had to go). Last night I made some changes on the “Diner” music and the “Skyline Apt.” music so that the sound is more even regardless of where the character stands. You’ll understand when you’re playing it.

Tonight after I get home from the gym I plan on reskinning Burgermeister’s Asian Assassin model for CQM. We made a deal that he would write the script that would change the loading screen wallpaper to the appropriate TFN clan wallpaper (depending on which clan you are) if I would do some photoshopping for CQM. He made good on his side so I need to fulfill my end. After that is done I plan on finishing up TFN. Here’s a list of what needs to be done before I can release this beast.

1) Reskin all 4 tiers for both genders of the Baali clan (Can you believe this still isn’t done?)
2) Reskin all 4 tiers for the Assamite female character
3) Reskin all 4 tiers for the Salubri male character and do some model editing
4) Reskin all 4 tiers for the Samedi female character and do some MAJOR model editing (This is going to take forever)
5) Not critical but I would like to add a few more instances for using Obeah in dialogue, right now there is only 1

Once this stuff is done, I can finally release this to the public. I still have countless ideas for future versions but at some point you have to say “This is good enough, let’s get this out”.

3/10/2011 – I thought I’d post my current progress and some thoughts I’ve been having lately. I finished the Asian Assassin skin for Burgermeister but he wants some minor changes done so I still need to do those. I’ve begun reskinning/remodeling the male Baali model and it’s coming along very nicely, though I can easily see that my vision is going to take some real dedication and time to realize properly. I don’t want to skimp on him or the female Baali model which leads me to my next question.

Completely remodeling, reskinning, and making the armor icons for the male/female Baali is going to take a good amount of time. Plus, I don’t want to release TFN without adding several more instances where a Salubri can use Obeah in dialogue to earn some extra XP and Humanity boosts. To do all of this is going to take several weeks at least (especially with the testing), and it will take several weeks for Rudest to complete the new clan based loading screens. Taking all of this into consideration, and with the clock ticking, I’m thinking about leaving the female Assamite, male Salubri, and female Samedi out of version 1.0.

I know this has been discussed before and the general consensus was to not release 1.0 without them in it, but I’m tired of being under the gun with TFN and I feel it’s strong enough now to warrant it’s release to the world. If I REALLY wanted to have everything in it that I want then it wouldn’t be ready for another 6-9 months and I’m not about to hold on to this until then, I think you all would agree.

My full intention is to release a version 1.1 w/ bug fixes and most if not all of the missing content or ideas that we wanted in with the first version. This would include adding those last 3 characters, having histories with the clans, adding the Feeding/Humanity system discussed in the ideas section, along with many new ideas that I won’t list here.

This brings me to my last point. TFN is without a doubt the largest mod/expansion to date for Bloodlines, with the exception of the Unofficial Patches which have been worked on for years (but those don’t really apply here). With that in mind, advertising needs to happen to properly release this monster which also will take a few weeks of time. On top of all of that I plan on hosting a final Beta Test run through of the final product which will also take some time, finding bugs and all.

With all of these things needed before a proper release can happen, I feel leaving these 3 playable characters out to concentrate on these other things are a good idea.

Anyone’s thoughts?

If it takes the pressure off, I do think saving all the new goodies for the release of 1.1 would be a good idea.

If anything, it would give the community a chance to run through the mod, find bugs, and give you a chance to take time to release 1.1, with all you wanted to put into it, plus fixes. :D

As I also stated the first time, this was discussed. Better leave some thing out of version 1.0, than never get it out. Else you might end up like the resurgence project (or whatever they call themselves right now), or the antitribu mod. Lots of people, including me, think these two will never get published, and the names are synonyms for "It will never happen".
It's your choice of course, but I'd say get it out before the interest in it gets lost.

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Thanks both of you, I appreciate the support and I fully agree with both of you. I would think releasing 1.0 with the three PC characters missing (which you can still play the other 11), the histories not done, and the other various "goodies" will prove more than ever why we NEED to release a 1.1. Not to mention, if all I need to do is complete the Baali skins/models, and add several more Obeah dialogues then I'd say we should be ready to start Beta testing the final product in the next few weeks. I don't see why (after testing and advertising) we can't have an April release.

I agree with the previous and would add the following.

It is natural to want *it* to be perfect. Especially if it is something you are emotionally invested, however, large projects rarely are started and completed in one phase. Pace yourself and enjoy the process.

I appreciate all your hard work and excited to see your progress.

Thank you,

Shalun

Well I'm happy to just play the game really! The Salubri are perhaps my favourite clan from this expansion but I'd much rather wait until they are fully implemented before playing them anyway, so I say release it without them and add them later. Also, that way when you release the 1.1 you can advertise the addition of an entire new clan!

3/13/2011 – This weekend was a big success in terms of modding TFN. I managed to create and playtest a total of 5 instances where a Salubri character can use Obeah in dialogue. Here's what I did...

Mercurio - Can heal him of his wounds completing the "Morphine" quest without getting him morphine. You will also gain an additional 1 XP for it.
Heather - You can heal her of her wounds without giving her your blood gaining an additional 1 XP. By doing this however, you cannot make her your ghoul and you will suffer a Masquerade Violation.
Tin Can Bill - You can remove the plague saving his life gaining an additional XP point for the quest. Doing this will violate the Masquerade however.
Hannah - You can remove the plague saving her life gaining an additional XP point for the quest. Doing this will violate the Masquerade however.
Ash - When Ash is captured by the society of leopold, you can heal him of his burns gaining 1 XP point.

Any of these acts will also give you a Humanity bonus of 1.

The prerequisites to do these acts are that you need to be Salubri, your level of Obeah doesn't matter at this point. I haven't found a way to make it dependent on Obeah level and I'm not sure I want to. Of course if you complete all 5 of these saintly acts your character will be getting an additional 5 XP more than any other character standard. To make it a little more even I'm thinking about blocking off Regent Strauss's quest line to the Salubri.

Ideas on this?

I don't think it's necessary to do something about the 5 xp for this. Three masquerade violations, with your new hunter system plus not having Heather as your ghoul seems punishment enough IMO. Heather is a convenient blooddoll, and gives you at least 500$ unless you have changed that. And the xp for Ash is so late in the game that it doesn't matter any more. Most people have built up the important stats for their character by the time they get to Leopold.

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"That person has been making people feel better all over the city! Let's kill her!" - Hunters

What's the negative to being a Salubri btw? Feeding, social or both?