I got into modding for the Infinity Engine about eighteen months ago. Since then I put up a few mods, of some of them I'm more proud than of others. A number of ideas fell by the wayside. A few mechanics were nearly ready when my interest moved on to something else, more interesting or relevant. Eventually I settled on the idea of a mod that would mostly concern magic but include other elements not found in these games. "Uncommon Elements" is what I decided to call it. The name came when I decided not to put the new spells in a store but spread them around the game (BG:EE was the one I focused on, though I thought of bringing a portion to the sequel), to be found in chests, drawers and inventories of enemies. I wanted to refresh the old habit of searching everywhere - something that players probably no longer do, because they know just where to look and in any event guides exist to tell them.
Time wore on. At this point I have a good number of spells, with impressive screenshots that I could upload here. Some other mechanics also began to be made. For example, there is convergent research, where spells can be acquired by learning others (Dimension Door + Fireball = Izoara's Bombing Run). This I implemented for just that one spell, but the method was ready. Another idea that I know how to implement (I wrote about fixing custom strings here) is suffixes for the main character's name. Certain spells cast a certain number of times would furnish permanent suffixes - until replaced by another. For example, the Perscrutation spell lets the caster learn some of the spells a killed and reanimated mage knows. Casting it a lot would give the character the Necrosavant suffix. From the technical point of view this is as simple as editing the <CHARNAME> string to read <CHARNAME><SUFFIX> and then fixing the suffix content with globals. I made a real Animate Dead, too. Then there is Chronomancy, which at this point has enough real spells to qualify as a proper and very manipulative school.
Outside of magic there were, and are, mini-quests, some extra store items, and I looked forward to setting up a mercenary service in Beregost, with soldiers to hire and take along. But now, ironically, that I finally have most of the information and know how to go about these things, I find myself very short of time. I need someone to share the work and the credit with. I don't mean a simple yes-man, I mean an actual partner who would have as much say in shaping this whole mod as myself. Because I want it to be made, and I prefer not to go the cop-out way and just stick scrolls in some vendor and set that up in Downloads. I realize that I wasn't at all the most enjoyable presence on these boards, and that's part of the problem and has to do with the way I think. But you have to admit that I contributed much, and these spells, and rite magic, and plants to pick, and illusions, and vestiges etc. etc. use many new mechanics, and sometimes old mechanics in new ways. Virtually everything that I have proposed on these forums works. That's why I need a partner - to help bring these ideas from prototype stage to the product stage. There is a lot of vested imagination and effort here, and I don't want to serve the mod half-baked or abort it. But real life calls. It wants imagination and effort too, and I want to give all I got to it. I began "Uncommon Elements" (or whatever the mod will end up called) to refresh a stagnant pool of gameplay, move accents from hack-and-slash to mystery and ingenuity and generally make an old game young - as far as that can be done. But that takes comprehensive changes - touches here, and here, and sometimes a kick there. I really started it, and the mod deserves a proper finish.
So, if you want to have a go at this with me, leave a note here or write me a PM, and we will go over what already exists and what's still being written, and decide which direction to take.
