I’m very pleased to announce that I have officially resumed work on the Sanctum of the Archmage module series.

During the time since my last announcement, I’ve been working on and off to complete the v3.2 update to Sanctum chapters 1 and 2 that I started working on last fall. I had originally planned to release it before the end of last year, but as many of you may know, that plan was delayed by events related to a custom content authorship controversy that arose at the time. Since that controversy now appears to be largely resolved, I have decided to return and pick up with the series where I left off.

Right now, I’m putting the finishing touches on the Sanctum v3.2 update, which I hope to be able to release within the month. Sanctum v3.2 will have major feature upgrades to include both ridable pegasi and (the now final version of) NinjaWeaselMan’s Romantic Animations Suite. It will also feature a large number of scattered improvements in various places, including some new dialogues, rebalancing and other improvements to some of the combats, and compatability with CEP 2.2.

After Sanctum v3.2 is complete, my next project will be to continue the series with Sanctum of the Archmage 3: The Miracle Worker, Act II. My current plan is to substantially re-vamp the scripting and custom content infrastructure for Chapter 3, and in particular to improve the series’ companion AI, with which I’ve never really been entirely happy. Sanctum 3 should also include a number of new tilesets, particularly for mountain scenes, which will dominate much of the next part of the series. The new ridable pegasi and romantic animations, of course, will be integral to the follow-on modules as well. And finally, I’m currently planning to use Project Q for the rest of the series, which should give a distinctively new look and an overall artistic facelift to the entire experience of Neverwinter Nights gaming. 🙂

As for the status of future chapters: I’m still debating whether or not to build Part III of the saga — “The Alliance” — in Neverwinter Nights 1. I do have a number of compelling reasons to consider doing that, many of them having to do with the newly available NWN1 custom content that I expect to be able to make use of in the process. I can also provide some useful information for the benefit of those players who dislike NWN2, the idea of changing games in mid-saga, or playing a module that they regard as “unfinished.” First, I’ve firmly decided that Part II — “The Miracle Worker” — will definitely be completed in NWN1, and it will have an ending that should provide a sense of closure for players who may for whatever reason not want to continue the saga after that. Although I’m unlikely at this point to build “The Alliance” in NWN2, I have been giving some thought to the possibility of continuing it in Bioware’s new CRPG, Dragon Age, which should be released later this year. But my main concern right now is to complete “The Miracle Worker,” and as I’ve said, that’s definitely going to be finished in NWN1.

In other news, I’m also pleased to announce that I’ve just been elected as the new Chairman of the Academy for Modding Excellence. More information about that can be found in the latest announcement on the front page of the AME Website here.

Thanks to everyone for their continued interest in and enthusiasm for the module saga and the story!

Sincerely,

Andarian