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FM: Flakebridge Monastery by Jesps


Jesps

  

88 members have voted

  1. 1. Gameplay: Enjoyment. Fun duration. Smooth flow, ect. Versus Bugs. Frustration, Boredom, framelag

  2. 2. Appearance: Visual pleasure, lighting, visual style, deduct bad texturing etc.

  3. 3. Story & Text: Story. Text. Briefing. Graphic storytelling



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Thiefette, I had that same problem towards the end of my adventures as well; I sent Jesps a save and he had nonesuch so we determined it must have something to do with my nVidia 8800... do you have similar?

 

Also, I could spin around and find a sweet spot/direction/POV to bring the world to light again; did you experience that?

 

I have gotten this, but I use SLi with a 260M GTX but that card is based on the G92b (9800 series desktop parts)

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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So I finally got a chance to play this one. You've done great work! I hope you don't mind a detailed review. The lighting was fabulous in many places and you built a level that feels very realistic. Maybe a bit too realistic, because it lacks a little in texture variety in some parts and some spaces might be a little too empty. But considering what you pulled of gameplay wise, this is really just a negligible detail. You just seem to have a knack for placing lights in a way that makes sneaking (and climbing) very interesting. I played on expert and this was the first map that actually forced me to use nearly all my available tools, including the maps. At first I started randomly running around, but then it got confusing and I started to closely follow the map in order to clean out the monastery systematically. Some of the loot items are pretty well hidden, that was really cool! The atmosphere was very sweet too, mainly due to soundtrack, scenario and difficulty. Using those sounds made it scary sometimes and I even had a shock moment... :) There is one thing though, that would have made this mission even more interesting. If the story had been a little deeper and more connected, it would have been the perfect FM in my eyes. I was kind of hoping for a turning point towards the end or some cool scripted event

 

with some zombies spawning when you read the necromancer's book or something like that. Nice touch by the way with those flying skulls and the skull candles. That looked great!!

 

 

After more than 3 hours of solid gameplay I had finally finished the mission with 7579 loot out of 7899. Man, what an experience. Thank you Jesps! It's really hard for me to decide on my vote right now. Let's say Gameplay 5*, Appearance 4.5*, Story 3.5*. But of course I'll round those up! ;)

 

 

The player coughed occasionally (mostly in front of pictures). Was this supposed to communicate something to me. I was suspecting a secret, but couldn't find anything.

 

 

Here is a screenshot of my favorite lighting-moment in the mission. It felt so realistic and dynamic.

 

post-684-129194240247_thumb.jpg

 

 

Edit: By the way, I have also a nVidia 8800 GTS and had no problems with the screen turning black.

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Thiefette, I had that same problem towards the end of my adventures as well; I sent Jesps a save and he had nonesuch so we determined it must have something to do with my nVidia 8800... do you have similar?

 

Also, I could spin around and find a sweet spot/direction/POV to bring the world to light again; did you experience that?

 

I have a nVidia 9800 GX2 and yes I just had to "do a little dance" to find the sweet spot and turn the lights on again.

 

 

I forgot this happened one of the times I was up in the rafters in the cathedral - made for some tricky walking way up there. Had to kind of walk sideways and not look down for a short while. Dancing didn't seem to help much there I just had to get past the small area and everything was normal again

 

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Very enjoyable mission, this! I especially liked...

 

- The growling coffin - had to force myself to go near...

- The labyrinth of planks and rafters above

- The spectacle in the crypt - thought I was clever, using a broadhead to get the book away from the flying sculls, but it turned out they were not in attack mode

 

 

Also,

 

the spell on the last page of the necromancer's book gave me a craving for some Christmas brew wink.gif

 

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This is good stuff , finding loot fiendishly hard to find on the high end to complete my total haul . But can I ask a question?

Did our erstwhile thief purchase a dud lot of mines on the cheap , as I can't get them to work ! Perhaps it's me but I think I'm placing them o.k

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Yes, the mines are due for tweaking. There is already an internal discussion about them. They only go off when the enemy actually touches it, but there has been a suggestion (among others) to make them proximity triggered. There won't be any changes to them in 1.03 however, sorry.

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Yes, the mines are due for tweaking. There is already an internal discussion about them. They only go off when the enemy actually touches it, but there has been a suggestion (among others) to make them proximity triggered. There won't be any changes to them in 1.03 however, sorry.

 

I was thinking about this also, in Thief they were prox mines, but how does that work really? I think that most players would expect them to be proximity mines (me included)

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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Finally finished it. Wow, this map is huge. A bit too big actually. Not only did I get lost some times, but also got bored from running along loooong corridors. :wacko:

That is why I think it's only tolerable on that part. Still everything else is fine! There were some nice details in the rooms and

the rocking cradle and the closed coffin in the cathedral freaked me out.

I don't like the Undead. I really hoped to meet some courageous Builders somewhere in the mission to help me :P It would have fitted the story, I guess. But even without those, the story was great and coherent.

 

So to sum it up: Great Job and Thank You! :wub:

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Surprised this thread is only 3 pages long but here's my thoughts...

 

First up; Thank you Jesps. This mission was an absolute joy to play through and I can only imagine the work that went into it. Not to belittle the attempts of previous mappers but Flakebridge Monastery was the first time I truly felt like I was in a tangible universe and TDM was somehow gelling together in a cohesive way that I'd not felt before.

 

Lighting was definitely one thing you nailed. I'm so disappointed when a mission has an ambient lighting that is too bright or noticeable, especially on the LCD screen I use, that it makes everything seem washed out. But, with FM, you really seemed to have captured how Thief 2 felt on my old CRT and it helped me enjoy this mission so much more. Of course, a lower ambient level requires more effort in placing light sources and this was completed with a great touch too - do I need to mention THAT stairwell?

 

Sound and AI placement was also on a similar level and it kept the tension high for me the whole way through playing.

 

My only slight complaints would be; The cracked plaster/stucco walls of the upper quarters became quite repetitive and could maybe benefit from being broken up with different textures or furniture. The other would be the looping sample used in the starting area. The start of every loop has what must be a very bassy noise, or the sound is clipping. It causes a moment of cracking in my headphones and I'm forced to turn the volume down almost entirely until I leave that section. The isn't FM specific as the sound is used on other FM's, such as BikerDudes Cathedral (the last one).

 

Other than that, superb work though. Think I'll go and have another play through tonight :ph34r:

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Sorry for the late reply. Haven't been well lately.

 

@Thiefette

 

haunt [...] not moving from the doorway

Dammit, I thought that had been fixed.

 

the world went black when I opened the door - only able to see lit torches (I remember this happened in one other mission)

Do you remember what mission that was in? Or under what general conditions it was under?

 

@STiFU

 

The player coughed occasionally (mostly in front of pictures). Was this supposed to communicate something to me. I was suspecting a secret, but couldn't find anything

 

 

Actually it was the paintings coughing (it was supposed to scare youph34r.gif )

 

 

@Diego

 

Couldn't find the treasure map, though

 

It is

hidden

in room 4

in the desk

look for a hidden switch

 

 

 

 

 

@fraten

I really hoped to meet some courageous Builders somewhere in the mission to help me tongue.gif

 

 

I had actually considered making the undead incapable of entering the cathedral because it contains 10% more holiness than the next leading building. But it is supposed to have happened quite some time ago, so any builders would have starved to death by now.

 

 

@Mr Mike

Surprised this thread is only 3 pages long

Huh, on my computer it is only 2 pages unsure.gif

 

@everyone. Thanks for the replies, comments, and votes.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've been a Jesps fan ever since first playing Pandora's Box. Xmas holidays prevented me from finishing this one in one go. Thanks, Jesps, for another entertaining mission!

 

Voted excellent across the board. Here are some observations:

 

The light patterns from the colored window hitting the walls of the staircase were visually one of the most stunning sights I've seen in TDM.Ambient music good and scary tense, but pretty loud. Probably fixed in 1.03., I'll have to give it another go.

 

Coughing paintings - awesome!

 

The zombie in the coffin: I was so sure that the moment I got close to it, the lid would open or the coffin brake apart and I'd be in a world of hurt... Good one.

 

Flying skulls. I thought they would attack me the moment I snagged the book! Nice! But, just out of curiosity, were they suppose to attack when taking the book? Just wondering if I had a bug or did something wrong...

 

The room where the baby's crib was still swinging... freaked me out - and crashed my game once. But just once.

 

Story was very well fleshed out. I knew what to do and the map was a huge help! More TDM maps in missions, please.

 

Some areas were a little empty, but the whole place was so well planned out that I didn't mind. They were more like little breathers in between the horror-filled rooms. Still, there really seemed a reason to enter every room either for a readable or loot, so the hallways didn't really bug me as too empty.

 

The rafters of the cathedral were a lot of fun, and useful, too.

 

The dead musician guy on the bed... I knew, I just knew, he was gonna do what he did when I got close! Dang! Scary...

 

The courtyards were impressive. The sky, the embattlements, the ropes you could walk across... yeah, they made the insides of buildings seem dark and menacing and claustrophobic. And still gave the impression that in its active days the place must've been booming and filled with life.

 

To my shame, I didn't find the treasure map w/o the help of this thread. I also didn't find all the loot, but maybe on the next run-through. And I mean run: Damn zombies, cursed revenants..

 

 

Good job, Jesps! wub.gif I await for more missions by you!

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I agree with all of your praise there, Summer. I think this mission should be mined for screenshots if any of the various TDM sites need some excellent screenshots.

 

 

 

I mentioned to Jesps during the beta how nothing has ever freaking frightened me any more than the first coughing painting I experienced! An absolute masterstroke, IMNHO!

 

 

I wish there were more FM authors working in TDM, but I gotta say the best ones appear to have caught on... which makes perfect sense.

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I'm not making up what I said in the "Player Tip O Da Day" re:blackjacking -- if you smack 'em at the base of the neck they slump like a sack of cold potatoes. I've always been an archer at heart, but, I swear I have never had so much fun with the blackjack as I do now in TDM. I repeat, I am not making this up. It works beautifully and realistically. It's not hard, or inconsistent; it is fun! I repeat one more time, this is one of the many IMPROVEMENTS that TDM has to offer.

 

I am still an archer at heart, but now I only have to use my precious water arrows, as I am most wont to do anyhow (except I do still like to plug the twits (aristocrats) and mercs {police, guards, hammers and other class-betraying scum} in the spaces betwixt the skull and the skull)...

 

I can now more easily leave those of my choosing with the gift of slumber and continued life...

 

I repeat one last time here: the blackjack has never been, worked or felt better.

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Funny how differently people react to the coughing pictures. To me it was just confusing... I thought the coughs came from the player and were a hint to a secret of some sort.

 

"*cough-cough* Dear player, please look a little closer in this area!! *cough*" :)

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Finally got around to playing this. I had an interesting experience, because the first time I played, I managed to get into the cathedral quickly without reading a single readable. I had no idea what was going on and felt a bit put off by the mission.

 

Then, my saved game crashed (I think I did a SVN update) so I had to start again. This time I went a different route, and I enjoyed it MUCH more the second time, as the story slowly unfolded.

 

 

 

Pluses:

 

-- the rocking cradle freaked me out

-- the coughing definitely scared me...I though the necromancer was still around somewhere

-- some beautiful lighting in spots

-- a great scripted moment where there was a bang on the door and a puff of dust (no idea what it was, but scared the hell out of me)

-- loved the growing coffin

-- the cathedral was great; felt very much like the OM: RttC to me

-- crypt skulls were awesome--I was sure something was going to happen when I grabbed the book

-- creative loot placement

-- optional objectives were good

 

Minuses:

 

-- some areas could have used more love--some were a bit too sparse and uninteresting

-- could have used a bit more AI to avoid...the cathedral was the only place I really had to worry (the first time), the second time I had enough equipment to clear it out rather easily.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Great mission. I enjoyed it thorougly and there were some awesome looking places like the cathedral and the stairs of the Barracks/Rooms. Also, the ambient music was nice and helped add a good atmosphere to the game, and I kind of see that you applied some of the same gameplay from the craddle from TDS (The first half was empty from any enemies and I kept expecting that around the corner something would jump at me).

 

The problems I had were these:

 

  • I couldn't find the treasure map inside the smugglers room. I found the note saying that the treasure was on an island and that they had to hide the map so the builders didn't find it. Perhaps some clues as to where the hid it?
  • I felt a little disappointed at the lack of a challenge. The patrols are somewhat scarce and the water arrows are plenty so I ended up with like 11 still in my inventory. Maybe add more zombies/haunts if the player chooses higher difficulties?
  • I think that the musician bugged on me. Even if I was standing on top of him, he still didn't springed back to life.

Overall, I enjoyed the map and it was fun finding the loot in hard to get places. I finished the map with over 5000 loot :laugh:

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Jesps I absolutely LOVE your missions. This is actually the first level I tried loading after playing the tutorial - I got scared off pretty quickly and decided that as a RTTC kind of level I would "save" it for later when I got the hang of things and could appreciate it properly.

 

Finally got back to it - completed it with all objectives inc. optionals done, about 6000 loot found, can't believe I still missed some but guess I could go back to ransack every corner. =-P

 

5/5 across the board, votewise.

 

 

This seems to be the only undead centric mission with a real sense of freedom to explore - I had no idea how many horrors there were so was very sparing with all my equipment, forcing myself to sneak past so man revenants and zombies - which was brilliant!

 

Most importantly - you made it possible to do so which was great. I allowed myself to alert and then outrun a couple of isolated zombies - but I think the AI was fine - enough enemies everywhere, I was on tip toes the whole time! And surprised by nice touches like the spider lurking in the bell tower or lying zombies you have to sneak around to get the book from.

 

There's so many good equipment placements as well - the caved in section by the bell tower with broadheads on the wall and a ring on the finger of the skeleton... The fire and water arrows by the blacksmith zombie etc.

 

BIG QUESTION though - I think I missed something important in the courtyard roof area - there's a big grating with light coming out of it and horrible ghostly noises when I go near it - was this meant to be something important which got abandoned? It is REALLY bugging me!

 

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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Thanks for the review Glyph Seeker, I'm glad you like it.

 

 

BIG QUESTION though - I think I missed something important in the courtyard roof area - there's a big grating with light coming out of it and horrible ghostly noises when I go near it - was this meant to be something important which got abandoned? It is REALLY bugging me!

 

 

 

There is a ventilation shaft behind it. It provides a shortcut between two rooms, but is not accessible from the outside.

 

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Ah! Thanks Jesps, must be something I completely missed as I found no such thing...

 

Oh! One thing which seems simple but a lot of maps don't have and it really annoys me: A map! Without the map and compass I would have felt lost in a bad way. It's the first map where I've really felt that my survival relied on knowing where I was and where to go. Very cool!

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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  • 3 months later...

Thanks Jesps for this great mission. Huge map, great story, very close to the original Thief serie. Making it a bit smaller would have been perfect (lots of run in empty places).

One question though: at the beginning of the mission, I

shot an arrow on a little traget above a stone hammer, which made it go down in the ground

. What was it supposed to do ?

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