'El' Pascal Moser

'El' Pascal Moser

@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Stuttgart-based author and mod developer. History major. DE/EN/FR Released: The Living Desert (FNV mod); Venus Fly Trap (Novella). Currently working on: "Westside Noir" (A New Vegas quest mod). https://www.nexusmods.com/profile/ELPascal/mods

311 followers533 following1K posts

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Working on finally giving you all something a little more substantial to chew on, i.e. explaining what the mod is actually about after years of teasing and vagueposting. Will probably also also attach a short Q&A section, or maybe do a separate, dedicated video just for that if it is too much work

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Checking in a little over 4 months later: the mod's side content is getting ever closer to the finish line, with a majority of characters voiced and little in the way of writing left to be done. With all that out of the way, the main quest will start receiving more attention again soon.

'El' Pascal Moser@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Checking in 7 months later: cut another side quest, got a bunch of dialogue voiced and am about to conclude the editing process for the final side quests' script. Level design is shaping up to become the biggest overall roadblock, so will make it a point to set more time aside for it.

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Something not properly accounted for by this tracker: non-quest / tangentially quest-related content, which has seen leaps and bounds of progress, such as new generics and vendors populating the streets of Westside.

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

No more Microsoft, society has evolved past the need for Microsoft

Sinnoware 🔶 232.778@sinnoware.bsky.social

Arkane Lyon is on the verge of closure. Negotiations are not going well, consultation process ends on November 13. Unions criticize Microsoft for an "incoherent" decision and a "disrespectful" attitude.

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Something I love to do in my writing is to make antagonists reveal something personal early on so the protagonist can weaponize it and taunt them with it during later confrontations. Players can have a little toxicity, as a treat!

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Very early blockout for a large apartment complex I'm planning to wrap up sometime next week. It's going to be a central housing hub where NPC spend the night after a long day of sandboxing and questgiving all over town

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Here I'm going for a mix of industrial and office kit pieces, drawing inspiration from Cyberpunk 2077 (see reference); this should show that this town is capable of restoring pre-war infrastructure, but in a somewhat limited & utilitarian manner compared to the more elegant restorations on the Strip

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

After a week of sporadic progress: - shrunk down the size of the interior to better match exterior - settled on design and positioning for arcades, catwalks and skylight - first rough detailing pass

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

It's so important to cue in on a work's intended tone at the very beginning. Anytime I feel like I can't get into the right mindset to write for WSN, I re-read the script for MQ1 and its crime scene investigation segment; it's like a tonal compass that reliably takes me back into the zone.

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

It also reminds me that the guy who is arguably the mod's main villain is one funny, charismatic motherfucker, slimey and ruthless though he is. I'm so looking forward to getting his part voiced once everything is ready!

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

But hey, on the upside it means offering the player a reprieve from the endless loop of "Hey!" "Had enough?" "Ya like the sight of your own blood?!" you get with vanilla voice types, so it's a more than worthy price to pay!

'El' Pascal Moser reposted

Elsa
@erli.bsky.social

I can't stop thinking how wrong the tech bros have understood creativity and creators. Or even just having hobbies. #erliart

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

It's kind of funny how I can write hundreds of pages of prose and dialogues that may reach thousands of people without a second thought, yet anytime I need to write a 10-20 page academic paper that a lecturer will give a half-hearted lookover, I get paralyzed by writer's block from hell

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Just like how animals are disproportionately prone to evolve into crabs, my writing has a tendency to turn into surreal metafiction unless I watch myself, which I always try to do. For the sequence I'm now working on, though, I'll indulge myself. It's nice to get weird and absurd sometimes.

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

There are people in the community who are more successful, prolific & skilled than I'll ever be, but it doesn't matter for I'll always be the first to have put on a spectacularly inebriated live karaoke rendition of Earth Wind and Fire's 'September' with lStewieAl Career-best achievement tbh

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

We wanted to go up on the stage for another round, but the DJ skipped over us because our previous performance was so good it scared him. This is what years of modding New Vegas can and will do for your charisma and social perception

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Spent the afternoon implementing a generic NPC variant's voicelines, and while this process is always tedious, the effect of finally hearing characters speak after they've been walking around completely mute for years before truly can't be overstated.

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

It also makes me wonder how some creators can be fine cheapening their work with worthless AI slop. Doesn't matter how good the writing and level design is, it's the voicework that lends NPCs, their stories and the spaces they inhabit the human touch, makes them feel vivid and believable.

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Been running around like a headless chicken all week, which left me little time and energy to work on the mod... so I guess I'll just have to make tonight count! Gonna import the lines for a generic NPC variant into the game and maybe splice some voice files. Every bit of progress is worth pursuing!

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

In whatever the opposite of today's news is, academic deadlines are the bane of my existence and I can't wait to be out of uni for good so I can earn enough money to get by & focus on making cool shit in my free time

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Okay, this was the best thing to ever happen to the mod - I've fully wrapped up a side quest & two levels since then, all of which had been gathering dust for months previously. Turns out that introducing a minimum of organizational structure into your workflow is actually... useful?!!

'El' Pascal Moser@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Set some time aside this week to go against my disorganized, ADHD-addled modder instincts and build a task tracker in excel. The goal is to list, prioritize and eventually check off every task remaining on the road towards the mod's completion (excepting writing-related tasks)

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Set some time aside this week to go against my disorganized, ADHD-addled modder instincts and build a task tracker in excel. The goal is to list, prioritize and eventually check off every task remaining on the road towards the mod's completion (excepting writing-related tasks)

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Following some revision passes, it turns out I'm doing a House of Leaves. Kinda, sorta fell into it. No regerts

'El' Pascal Moser@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Trying to nail down the script for Westside Noir's drugged-up dream sequence rn. It's pretty difficult to write something this abstract, but years of watching David Lynch and the Sopranos have prepared me for this

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

It's simultaneously also P.T., and the Kellog memory sequence from Fallout 4, underfed by a hefty helping of Max Payne levels of world-weary private eye narration. I wasn't necessarily planning on having it pan out that way, but hey, here we are

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

It's always fun when you want to watch a classic film for research purposes, but it's not streaming anywhere that won't give your computer the clap & the last few used BluRays are 50 bucks a piece. Why enforce copyright on your 80 year old film if you're not going to offer it legally?

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

I'm not gonna go all copyright abolitionist here, but shit like this, basic concerns of media preservation, are why any rights holders' claims to media should expire WAY sooner than currently the case. How much money could Warner Bros possibly be making off 'Murder, My Sweet's (1944) still?

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Trying to nail down the script for Westside Noir's drugged-up dream sequence rn. It's pretty difficult to write something this abstract, but years of watching David Lynch and the Sopranos have prepared me for this

'El' Pascal Moser reposted

Connor W. Goode / Author
@cwgoode.bsky.social

‘Gazing upon his waxen face up close…she found herself a witness to a nightmare of grotesquery cast into flesh; the tangy pores…the dye oozing out of his failing hair transplant and down the sides of his surgically tautened scalp, his unnatural white smile…it was too much to take.’ — Venus Fly Trap

'El' Pascal Moser reposted

Connor W. Goode / Author
@cwgoode.bsky.social

I think one of the sad things about publishing in this environment is the countless books with obvious ai covers. A lot of time and money goes into trying to at least give your book a professional look but then it sits along side these low effort ai slop and they’re innumerable.

'El' Pascal Moser
@elpascalmods.bsky.social

Going to Berlin this weekend! Gonna get catastrophically drunk on craft beer & visit dingy back alley venues to watch obscure stand-up comics who couldn't make it in New York! Might also take a river cruise on an overpriced tour boat and overindulge on street food! The possibilities are endless!