Jump to content
The Dark Mod Forums

Fan Mission: In Danger of Judgment (2019/11/15)


krrg

Recommended Posts

Wow, thank you so much for this! It's an engaging little mission with a compelling story and a nice layout.

I played beta 5 last night, and I found 5230 loot and 6 out of 7 secrets.

The optional objectives were all easy (I think you intended it that way?) and the house was full of hidden areas and lots of loot all over the place.

It felt really intuitive in many ways, since I was rewarded in every scenario that I expected something to materialize. For example...

Spoiler

 

Lifting the upside down chalices in the kitchen and finding a ring beneath one was exactly what I anticipated from the moment I saw them. Credit to you for the smile on my face at the time.

I also explored the judge's bedroom thoroughly and would have completely missed the switch for the hidden study if it wasn't for a note upstairs that mentioned something about loose or moving bookshelves in the main bedroom. So I went back down and, sure enough, there are scratch marks on the floorboards near the bookshelves that made me search everywhere for a switch. It was a clever sort of mystery to solve without ever feeling frustrating.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to make this FM for us fans. A small, tight, and detailed mission was exactly the right choice for a first build on your part. I can't wait to see what you come  up with next. I suppose I can guess, since it's hinted at in readables throughout this mission :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats on the release! I hope to play it after work tonight. I'm in deep mapping on my own first FM, and in the middle of Thomas Porter campaign, but I am dedicating my free time to show some love to a fellow newb mapper. I read some of the test notes and it sounds like eye candy, CAN NOT WAIT.

Edited by Jedi_Wannabe
needed mo' hype

As my father used to say, "A grenade a day, keeps the enemy at bay!"

My one FM so far: Paying the Bills: 0 - Moving Day

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats on releasing your first mission! I had a great time testing it, and I already know that it's a high quality product!

My Fan Missions:

   Series:                                                                           Standalone:

Chronicles of Skulduggery 0: To Catch a Thief                     The Night of Reluctant Benefaction

Chronicles of Skulduggery 1: Pearls and Swine                    Langhorne Lodge

Chronicles of Skulduggery 2: A Precarious Position              

Chronicles of Skulduggery 3: Sacricide

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice mission! Lots to do in a very compact space. I got

 3820 loot and 5 of the secrets

I concer with Kerry000 - this mission is intuitive. Just when you're thinking "there should be something here", there is. Good use of context and clues.

I loved the

thunder and lightning in the upstairs library. The first time in, I was in the middle of the room and I had a little warning because the lightning was first, so when the thunder hit a split second later it didn't surprise me. But later I came back into the library, I had just walked in and I didn't see the flash, and suddenly the sharp, loud thunder hits and I jumped! Nice surprise, and totally random.

Great job! Looking forward to your next mission.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spoiler

Played it last night and had a lot of fun! Very beautifully decorated and laid out very well. For a first FM it's really impressive. You nailed the size perfectly; not too ambitious for a first project. The speed you accomplished it is enviable. I hope you can crank out pretty little micro missions like this every 3-6 months now that you clearly have the hang of it.

The lighting was good, nice use of shadows. I am glad I didn't blow out the candle by the sliding statue, it was cool watching the shadows do their thing after you activate the globe. How she was originally just staring out the window was also weird and unsettling, I liked it. 

Those plants by the painting that opens tripped me out too. I had to stop and stare for like 15 sec and did like 3 double takes because I thought I was having a flashback. It was weird and cool, but tell me more about the design choice on that one I am curious. Was that a wind affect that got left on, or did you do that on purpose to creep people out? Because it worked, made that whole room more atmospheric.

It was the right amount of difficult that didn't involve annoying excessive back tracking for the objectives. I liked the optional objectives and how the story (well written, nice readables!) opened up more and encouraged you to take a second look in places you may have already thought you cleared, and without making it a chore. It made for fun exploration that didn't force you into it or hold your hand or put you on a leash. For it's space efficient size it is a really dense map full of life a nice details.

I play through maps on medium my first time go, then go back and try to ghost on hard later, so I don't know if number of AI changes with that in your map. But for the political climate surrounding the plot I was surprised Malffourt didn't have more guards around despite his absence at the house. I like more around to keep me on my toes and keep the tension high. However, the low difficulty for AI avoidance made the balance for the high difficulty loot hunt sweet. Don't know if that was an intentional design choice but it worked really well and I appreciated the balance.

The loot and secrets were fun and hard! I got 5 of 7 secrets and 4420 out of 5385 loot. This is one of my favorite aspects of Thief and you made it really fun and perfectly challenging. Expert hiding/placement of loot. As others have said, your feng shui is believable as hell! The delight every time I thought to look around/under/behind something and found something clever in plain sight that I missed the first 2 times in a room, well done.

So many nice little touches, I felt the love you poured into the project around every turn. The lights from the windows, the sounds of the rain, the lightning flashes in the upper library, the mystery, intrigue and creep factor, everything was on point, and again I'd like to stress and add more hype to the fact it's your first FM. Bravo and congrats on the release. I wanted to beta test but didn't have time to commit, so the least I could do is play your map day one and show some love. Can't wait to see what you come up with next, don't stop mapping. Let's take down the Crushers!

Thank you for this gem.

the gargoyle by the stairs was floating a bit for me.

 

indangerofjudgment_2019-11-16_00.07.41.jpg

gah Builder's balls! I don't know why I can't move that pic into the spoiler tags, sorry

Edited by Jedi_Wannabe
  • Like 1

As my father used to say, "A grenade a day, keeps the enemy at bay!"

My one FM so far: Paying the Bills: 0 - Moving Day

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice! I like the whole architecture and design of everything. You really have good taste I think. I'm going back now to find some more secrets and stuff : )

Spoiler

I saw some crosses on the ceiling that I think you forgot to remove and some baseboards that have no "cap", at the door to the downstairs librairy.

 

Edited by STRUNK
Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, STRUNK said:

 

  Hide contents

I saw some crosses on the ceiling that I think you forgot to remove and some baseboards that have no "cap", at the door to the downstairs librairy.

Spoiler

Yes, when beta testing, several of us noticed the crosses; they are caused by some sort of weird shadow behavior from oil lamps on the floor above. I think I know how to fix it in future missions, but I was never able to entirely figure out how to get rid of the problem for this mission. The baseboards are predefined assets for TDM, so it might be a minor glitch in the model itself or the way that I'm using it there.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/17/2019 at 1:19 AM, krrg said:

Wow, thank you for the kind comments everyone, I'm beyond words! And thanks for the walkthrough video @Cambridge Spy, very nice!

I've edited the original post to include some helps and hints for those of you trying to hunt down those elusive secrets. Some of them are tricky, just be glad that my wonderful beta testers reigned me a little on not making those secrets too difficult ;)

I'm so glad the storm upstairs was so well received!  I spent a fair bit of time very early on in the design getting that thunderstorm put together.

It's still in the early phases as far as what to build next. Certainly we'll get some sequels for In Danger of Judgment in which we defeat (or get crushed by!) the dreadful Crushers gang. I've also got a document I wrote up back at the beginning of 2019 with all sorts of missions-in-embryo; that's actually where my ideas for In Danger of Judgment were pulled from, and I'm considering building out another one of those ideas into another 20-30 minute mission, particularly so I can get more practice doing decent outdoor scenes (you'll notice I very purposely avoided outdoors for this first mission :)). 

Also, I've been a little out of the loop with work recently, anyone know if the mission download server is healthy again?  If so, I'll have to go off and find the people that can help get this uploaded officially.

 

 

It's already on the official site and mirrors ;)

Wiki entry created as well.

  • Like 1

Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod

 

(Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got around to playing this. This was really great krrg! So many details, both story-wise and environment-wise.  All your rooms really came to life, they all felt lived in. Well done, looking forward to what you have in store next :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recent Status Updates

    • Petike the Taffer

      I've finally managed to log in to The Dark Mod Wiki. I'm back in the saddle and before the holidays start in full, I'll be adding a few new FM articles and doing other updates. Written in Stone is already done.
      · 1 reply
    • nbohr1more

      TDM 15th Anniversary Contest is now active! Please declare your participation: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22413-the-dark-mod-15th-anniversary-contest-entry-thread/
       
      · 0 replies
    • JackFarmer

      @TheUnbeholden
      You cannot receive PMs. Could you please be so kind and check your mailbox if it is full (or maybe you switched off the function)?
      · 1 reply
    • OrbWeaver

      I like the new frob highlight but it would nice if it was less "flickery" while moving over objects (especially barred metal doors).
      · 4 replies
    • nbohr1more

      Please vote in the 15th Anniversary Contest Theme Poll
       
      · 0 replies
×
×
  • Create New...