I've been working on some of the new ideas I have for the start of the game, and some of them involve a bit of scripting. Usually it's a good idea to separate your script to different modules, name them, and have one main script call them. To that end, I added two new script activation options: Start and Never. "Start" activates the script immediately at the beginning of the level. I'm using it for torches. "Never" means the script can only be activated by other scripts, useful for making modular scripts that shouldn't be activated by the timer or the player.
But lazy as I am, I ended up working on one longer script. It didn't all fit into the screen, so I made all of the script actions and conditions take less space vertically. Soon I realized I wanted to know where the script target was changing, so I would know when further actions weren't affecting the target I had. So I added color coding. After that I wanted to add an action to the beginning of the list. But adding actions always throws them to the end of the list, and you had to manually click them up the list one by one. I mentioned I'm lazy, so I didn't want to click it over 20 times! That's why I added dragging. Just grab the name of the action, and drag it to where you want it.
And don't do like I do, but do as I say: comment your scripts! 
I just got news that the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture awarded me the 50 000€ (about 66 000$) Sammon Tekijät Award for Creativity and Innovation! I'm deeply honored to receive it!
The Sammot Tekijät Award is a one time award given to ten creative young individuals. I was awarded for my career in game development. My latest project is of course Driftmoon (which is, incidentally, available for preorder). The Jury was very prestigious, consisting of a couple of ministers and many other important people, half of whom I suspect were cleverly infiltrated Driftmoon and Notrium fans. 
I owe thanks to a lot of people, especially my friends and family. And a special thanks goes to the people who play my games! Over the years I've received feedback from thousands of players, and I've treasured each and every comment. I'm still eager to hear more.
What does this mean for Driftmoon? It means that a lot of people see Driftmoon having the potential to be a great game, and I'm determined to make it live up to those expectations!
As mentioned in the comments of the previous post, I'm planning a slight change in the start of the game. It's nothing big, just a bit of clarification on who the baddies are, and why you end up fighting them. My current idea for the start involves a group of lizard-like warriors known as the Rakan. Obviously I wanted to start by drawing one, so here he is!
Quite a few people have now played the preview version of Driftmoon, and I've received about as much letters and feedback as Santa Claus gets this time of the year. Thanks for every one of them, it's been great discussing game design with all of you, since most of you seem to know much more than I do.
These past few weeks I've been thinking about one thing in particular. That is the sense of urgency in roleplaying games. I mean of course the feeling that you get when you see a timer running out, a bomb is about to explode, and you have to find a way to disarm it.
In Ultima VII there was a quest, where someone poisoned you when they met you. The game just told that you were poisoned, now you have to find a cure or you'll die. At first I frantically searched every clue I could find, skipping much of the side quests and exploration, both of which I normally loved to do. But then I realized that I wasn't losing health points, there was no timer anywhere, maybe I was just poisoned within the plot, not in any real sense that would affect the game. So I took my time to do the poison quest, and nothing happened, nobody told me I was dying, I got on with the plot and went far away. All of the sudden, I start losing health, and I drop dead within minutes.
That was a good lesson to me as a game developer. Not only did I hate the sense of urgency at the start of the quest, I also felt that I got cheated - that the urgency wasn't real. And then the worst bit, I dropped dead without a warning a hundred miles away from where I could find the antidote - the bomb was ticking after all, but there was no visible clock on the screen.
I don't want to spoil the Driftmoon plot for anyone, so I'll just say that one of the motivations for the player to beat the enemy is that he'll die otherwise. I don't know if that bit fits the game, since it gives you pressure to be quick to solve the main quest, but it cheats you, nothing ever actually happens to you and you won't die no matter how slow you take it. If you've had the chance to test the game, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. I've got a couple of ideas on how I could improve the plotline there, but I'd love to hear how people have felt about it.
PS. Our second child was born yesterday. He came a month too early, but he's in fine health now.
Reputation is something I've been pondering on and off for the last few months. Good deeds giving you a positive reputation, killing innocents giving you a bad reputation. At first I disliked the idea, thinking it was another useless number that modern RPG's could do without. But then I changed my mind.
First we have to think about player choice. Whether it's allowed or not.
- There are games where you don't choose what your character says or does. What makes these games great is that they have the ability to tell a story about the main character. The game can show what your character says and does without the player interfering. In my mind I've always put most Japanese RPG's to this category.
- Then there are games where you get to choose what your character does. In a sense the character is an extension of the player. What matters in this kind of a game is the choices you make. Some say the choices have to be big, do I kill the king or do I spare him. Or the choices can be a grey area, do I spare the king's life, knowing it will kill the princess. I think Driftmoon falls into this category. It's always been very important to me in any roleplaying game that you can choose what to do. I always play a good guy, but being a good guy means nothing if the choice to be bad is not there.
That's why I've decided that having a reputation system is a good thing. It's a clear way of saying that whatever you do has a consequence in the world. It's overly simplified, but I don't think it has to be that complex. Of course it remains to be decided on what reputation actually does in Driftmoon. Usually in other games I've seen it affect relations to certain characters, you might get some quests depending on your reputation. And I think in Baldur's Gate it affected prices in shops. Please comment if you have any (good or not) ideas on what a reputation could affect in the game.
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