CMPUT 250 Labs

Lab attendance is required. Each lab until the lab exam will involve a check off by a TA, and will be part of your Lab Assignments marks.

Lab 1 (Sep 11-13): Welcome to Neverwinter Nights

Your goal for this lab is to familiarize yourself with NWN and start exploring ScriptEase. To familiarize yourself, play the Prologue of the original NWN game (this will introduce you to the basics of the NWN world and teach you a few computer role-playing game rules) and play the sample module.

To access the sample module:

Double-click on the "username UC##" icon on the lab machine desktop. The "username" should be the id you used to log on to the machine and the "##" should be the machine number.
Double-click on the "shared on 'Games course PDC (gateway)'" icon
Right-click on the "000002 - SAMPLE_MODULE" and choose "Copy" from the list.
Click the "Back" button then double-click on the "Local Disk (C:)" icon.
Double-click on the "NeverwinterNights" folder then double-click on the "NWN" folder.
Right-click on the "saves" folder and choose "Paste" from the menu.
Open NWN (by double-clicking on the "Neverwinter Nights Platinum Edition" icon on your desktop.
Click the "Play" button from the menu that opens.
Click the "Load" button from the menu that opens.
Choose the "SAMPLE_MODULE" from the list and click the "Load" button.
Talk to the priest in front of you and you're on your way!
When you have successfully completed the trial, ask one of the TA's to come over and check off your progress. This counts as part of your lab mark.

If you'd like you can also try out the best games from the past few years. Go to the shared drive as described above, and double-click on "SampleProjects" and then double-click on "projectinstall.pl". This should install four modules into Neverwinter Nights. Inside the game you should be able to select the following games from under "Other Modules" when starting a new game:

Mask of Mephist. Best of Class, Winter 2006. Use the premade character "?".
Silent Voices. Best of Class, Fall 2006. Use the premade character "Markus Manning".
Battle of Elbereth Tor. Best of Class Co-Winner, Winter 2007. Choose whatever character you'd like.
Planescape: Fallen Blood. Best of Class Co-Winner, Winter 2007. Use the premade character "Valen Dreth".

To start working with ScriptEase to make your own game, have a look at these tutorials. They are part of the next lab's check off, so it would be a good idea to get started on them:

Making Your World: the first of a series of tutorials that help you make a simple module from scratch. This one focuses on the creation of the physical world.
Making Your World Work: the second in the series is aimed at adding some basic functionality to the world you've created.

These tutorials are provided for reference but are not required:

Introduction to Aurora: Included for reference as it is long, sometimes confusing, and most of its key instructions are covered in our other tutorials.
The ScriptEase Tutorial: This is produced by the makers of ScriptEase and does a good job of covering most of its basic functionality.

Lab 2 (Sep 18-20): Aurora Toolset and ScriptEase

This lab will continue our work getting familiar with the tools you'll be using for your projects. Your goal is to complete the first two "Make Your World..." (MYW) tutorials and start working on the last two. When you have finished the first two MYW tutorials, ask one of the TA's to come over and check your progress. This counts as part of your lab mark.

Here are the second two MYW tutorials. Completion of these is not required for your lab mark, but the lab exam will cover concepts learned in these tutorials, so we recommend doing them.

Making Your World Interesing: the third tutorial in our series looks at adding scripts to help create a more dynamic world.
Making Your World Leverly: the last tutorial in the series seems to be focused on levers.

Lab 3 (Sep 25-27): Lab Assignment

In this lab you must create a small module containing a simple puzzle. Begin by opening the aurora toolkit and then create a new module with a single 4x4 area. All action must take place within this area. You can use any tile-set for this area. Your area should be divided into two parts. The player should start on the first part of the area and escape to the other part. The method of escape should not be immediately obvious (e.g., you shouldn't be able to just open a door and walk there). When the player reaches the other side of the area they should receive some acknowledgment that they have escaped successfully. For example, another character may congratulate them, they might get XP and a message about escaping, or they could find a parchment with a message on it.

Some ideas you might consider:

A magical forcefield blocks the player from crossing to the other side.
The player is in a jail cell.
The player trapped behind rocks in a cave.
The player finds a magic object to enable escape.
The player performs a special action to escape.

Be creative and have fun.

When you are done, check off your assignment with the TA.

Lab 4 (Oct 2-4): Practice Lab Exam

In this lab, you are given the opportunity to complete a practice exam before next week's lab exam. The exam (and practice) test you on the material learned in the lab tutorials. It is closed book and closed internet and must be completed in two hours. Make sure you arrive in lab (this week and next) at least 2 hours before lab ends.

Practice Lab Exam

There is no official checkoff for this lab.

Lab 5 (Oct 9-11): Lab Exam

Lab 6 (Oct 16-18): Cooperative Development

In this lab, you will learn about one method for having multiple team members working on a module simultaneously.

Basic Guidelines for Collaboration

Talk to the TA when you're finished for the checkoff.

Lab 7 (Oct 23-25): Swords, Sounds, and Behaviors

There are three tutorials in this lab, but all three are optional and there is no checkoff for the lab. The first tutorial involves using some new features of ScriptEase which allow easy scripting of ambient NPC behavior. The second and third show you how to add custom models and sounds into your games.

Making Your World Fleshy
Making A Sword
Making Sounds: You'll also need some extra files for this tutorial.