For all that it's worth, please try to read everything I wrote here? I know I write a lot, but indulge me ::- ).

I'm a crazy over-imaginative snow and my dream is to create the greatest open-ended adventures, with story, dialogue, multiple choices in the game. Open Ended Worlds. And since besides being a writer and game designer, I am also a programmer, I made some tools to help me. These are the tools, these are stories, this is everything ::- ).

What you have here is a DEMO MAP + A complete set of tools (including the ERM used) to help you write really cool open ended story maps, with dialogue between characters! ::- D.

Go here: http://www.echysttas.org/AxonnEchysttasH3.rar

You will have there all that I worked until now ::- ). Hell, I even included the source code, all of it, including for my ERM Dialogue Builder and the ERM Dialogue function.

What you got there is this:

1. My Heroes 3 map project - which I put here because it's a demo of the ERM Dialogue Generation function and it shows how I built dialogues and stuff. You will need to copy the map The Stand 1.h3m into the well known "maps" folder AND, VERY IMPORTANTLY, copy the "Data" folder over your Heroes 3 "Data" folder. Don't worry, I won't overwrite any files. Actually there is an "AE" folder there which needs to be in your Heroes 3 data folder because I use images from it. No other way to do it nicely in ERM.

2. The ERM Code Generator that I used to generate all the dialogue in the map. NOTE THAT I WILL BEGIN WORK AT A NEW CODE GENERATOR, not only for dialogues but for EVERYTHING. I will create a new topic with that in a few weeks, when I get more time to work at it. Until then, this is just a part of what I plan to build.

3. Source code + ReadMe file which will explain exactly how the ERM Code Generator works.

4. I also put in that RAR archive my ERM dialogue "engine". It's a WOGIFY FRIENDLY function which can generate dialogues for you. 2 years ago when I built it, I made it so it's compatible with The List of The Claimed. I don't know how that list looks now, but changes should be easy enough to do.

ATTENTION: To see an example of what the Dialogue Master can do, open with it the file "The Stand Part 1 Dialogue -01- Gard Bulur.h3dm" located near my Heroes 3 map, in your maps folder. Actually you don't need to have that file in your maps folder. I just included it so that you can open it with the Dialogue Master and see what it can do.

WARNING: You need .Net Framework 2.0 for the application to work. Execute ASDH3DM.exe.

Sooooooooooo...

WHY AM I DOING ALL THIS:

Initially, I wanted to surprise everybody with a 100% ready map and with some neat tools for you all to work with.

However, I've been dragging on with this for the better part of the last 3 years. And 2 years before that just fiddling around with ERM. I feel that I lack motivation to continue.

So, you just take a look at that map and those things and tell me what you think ::- ).

Regardless of your answer, I will finish everything, but a bit of interest in these things will probably make me move a bit faster.

Next month I will start development at the new ERM Code Generator which will be able to COMPLETELY take over 100% of the ERM development for a map. Without it, I cannot complete such a huge project I got myself into. As you will see if you play the map demo, it branches in lots of directions and it took me MONTHS to work only that much.

WARNING: the map is not even a demo. It's just 15% complete! So all you can do is go towards the village there and do some of the quests. You WILL get a GENERAL FEELING of what I'm trying to build here. DO REMEMBER that it will be less dialogue from this point on, but the map WILL still remain a story-driven adventure.

P.S.: Some thoughts about the map's future:

- You will be able to escape the island in 4 different ways, allying yourself with 4 different factions: the Rogues, the Bandits, the Lizards and one surprise faction which I will not divulge yet ::- ).
- On the map, you will be able to ally yourself with various factions.
- You will be able to talk to some vital-for-the-story Heroes before attacking them and you will be able to become allies with some.
- The final purpuse is to make this map so open-ended that you will be able to play it 10 times without getting bored of it.

So yeah, it's a huge project ::- ). But now, at least I show you that I'm commited to this ::- ).

I hope you enjoy my work!