93 replies to this topic

[Komag]

Finally done with my vertical contest entry...

Swing
You'll get your sea legs ... or die trying ...

Thanks to my beta testers:
SiyahParsomen
Diego
Baddcog

----------------------

README:
SWING
a Dark Mod mission, by Komag
for the Vertical Contest held summer 2010
find me on TheDarkMod.com forums,
or via ShadowDarkKeep.com

This mission is a "platformer" with slight puzzle elements
(figuring out where to go next and how to get there).
Be prepared to do a lot of falling, dying, and quickloading!
Quicksave anytime you are sure-footed, about take a risk
Getting off the swing for any reason is not recommended!
And try not to get sick ;-)

Have FUN!!!
Komag - Ben Ramsey

--------------------------

BRIEFING:
The King's steward has seen you in action aboard His Majesty's Ship Vertigo, and he is pleased with your potential. You are hereby granted an opportunity to prove your quality by successfully navigating the King's Royal Navy training swing. You need only retrieve the high crown (a replica of course) from the top of the swing, and return it to the docking area.
As a bonus, see how many of the ten hidden bottles you can find - the more you come back with the more impressed your superiors will be, and that can only be a good thing as you know."

------------------------

Known Issues:
- It's possible to stop the motion of some of the moving things, and even the entire swing itself, if you mess with things enough

ENJOY!!!

http://www.shadowdar.../Swing_v1.2.pk4

[aidakeeley]

Been checking all day...

It is here! Thanks!

[Xarg]

Wow... this isn't your normal FM that's for sure... gotta keep makin those jumps!

[lowenz]

Komag FM! Here we go!

[aidakeeley]

Spoiler

U R 1 Evil something or other... I feel absolutely sick, thank you. I went in all bold on expert and was soooooo happy to find that bottle next to the staircase coming up out of the entrance... it was my #8, or I'da had to go down and get that one hanging or back up to find the one I never spotted....

EVIL!

If you don't win, you've gotta get a special prize for creativity/making us all regret the very idea of the theme/making me wish I was playing with demons and ghosts and zombies and such so I wouldn't be so freakingfrightened.

ETA:
So, I'm waiting on voting... but I will give this a one word "meantime" summary as I did for FieldMedic's: I've already said EVIL, and I meant it; but really? LEGENDARY, I think will be the word for posterity... This has got to be one of those missions that will inspire a thousand more -- bring many over to the DR?! While the mission is not Thievey, the potential for so much thievey goodness is showcased here.

Edited by aidakeeley, 26 August 2010 - 03:58 AM.

[jdude]

Wow!

I've never been one for motion sickness or anything like that, but wow... I played hl2 and never got motion sickness and always thought it was impossible to get it playing a game. But right now my eyes feel like the world around me is rotating I usually only feel like this after a long day snowboarding, skiing or mountain biking...

Spoiler

I must admit I was blown away after exiting the beginning and I was really surprised to see that box you can chuck over doesn't bounce around due to the rotating of the scenery. It took me about 5 mins to realize the backdrop was rotating, not the platform lol, and then when I finally finished the mission and noclipped out and saw the big box it made me feel like a hamster. The bottles were very well hidden almost to a point of evil Certainly was a memorable map! Then the Sonic parts (where you fly around like Sonic the Hedgehog scared me at first then I relized you set them up like that. ALSO EVIL The only problem I had was getting the thing in the middle which required millions of quick mouse clicks to swing a rotating rope over there lol

[Fidcal]

Yeah just reached a place looking everything moving in different directions - need vomit bag.

Imagine this in 3D! Anyone playing with the 3D specs?

Have to break off but will resume later. This really demonstrates some of the awesome possibilities of Dark Mod. We've not even scratched the surface.

[Bikerdude]

I shall play this when I get back home this afternoon

Looks like it between you and me atm then

Edited by Bikerdude, 26 August 2010 - 06:39 AM.

[LEGION]

Oh hell, now I have due to RealLife-interference three contest missions to play. If I´m able to finish them all in the next two days I have a feeling that I will suffer from a vertical-overdose and won´t touch a rope-arrow the following couple of days. Or can´t live without them, I´ll see...

[nbohr1more]

Wikified!

[Fidcal]

Finished on Easy and got 5 bottles. Ingenious puzzles and spectacular views all the way through. I had been contemplating a single 'room' (place) contest and this is what this is - with knobs on - just one 'room'. But what a room!

Original and totally different gameplay focusing on the vertical which is what this contest is about. I shall definitely have to give the highest score for vertical useage.

I was totally absorbed and the gameplay was perfect for me (within the limits of its type.) More than once as I figured out a possible route forward I thought to myself "you have got to be joking! I'm not getting on that thing!" But in fact, things that looked near impossible where not as hard as they looked. And one thing that looked not too difficult was hard and I inched forward hitting quicksave literally after each step! Never done that before.

Spoiler

(inching along one of four chains to central section.)

The tiniest nitpick was

Spoiler

the end because I kept trying to get across that bridge earlier by jumping expecting to find a bottle and then the drawbridge to be lowered. Then right at the end it occurred to me that was the exit so it would have been nice if it had been made clearer what that platform was and it had lowered automatically when all objectives were complete.

That would have been more satisfying and rounded it off perfectly.

A great contender in this contest Komag! Well done.

[Sotha]

First thoughts after seeing this post:
"A platformer? Oh, no! It simply CANNOT be GOOD."

First toughts after seeing the player spawn place:
"Oh, no. It IS another platformer. Booring. "

First toughts after seeing the outside:
"WHAT THE!? OMG. *stunned* <big pause>"

And after that I was just giggling at your ingenuity. And yes, I felt somewhat nauseous. Never had that before with a computer game.

Um.. Hard to evaluate this.. I fiddled my grades up and down and this is the final grading.

Gameplay: good. Can't say more. It's not a sneaking game. It's a platformer. But it was great fun gameplay wise. Not too easy. Not too hard. Good. But because TDM is a SNEAKING game, one would expect some sneaking or thieving. So no excellent grade, unfortunately.

Appearance: Excellent. It looked good. But the verticality aspect upgrades my grade to excellent. This map uses verticality very well. It is dependant on it. It does it quite nicely.

Story: Tolerable. Nope. No story here. It would have been cool to jump from the swing into the kings suite with tons of readables on the history of the swing. Might have been cool to have some crowd watching the swing from the distance. But hey! It's a platformer! It does not need a plot.

So finally, I suppose I was wrong when I saw the post. It's a platformer. It's good.

This mission is the proof that TDM can be used to create unbelievably large diversity of missions.

I'll end in a silly comparison:
If TDM is Half-Life 2, then this map is Portal.

[SiyahParsomen]

congrats on release!

I think this is one of the very few dark mod missions I want to play again. After thinking a little bit, I have found a way to land on ground w/o cheating or dying. yes, no kidding.

Spoiler

[id3839315]

Sotha, on 26 August 2010 - 11:38 AM, said:

First thoughts after seeing this post:
"A platformer? Oh, no! It simply CANNOT be GOOD."

First toughts after seeing the player spawn place:
"Oh, no. It IS another platformer. Booring. "

I agree with Sotha ! Great 3D graphics in motion to get seasick but ...

Spoiler

Jump & Run missons are not my cup of tea. It reminds me to Donkey Kong.


Finding the bottles was ok but I have no clue how to retrieve the replica of the kings crown.

[Fidcal]

The solution is outrageous. Are you asking for a hint?

[id3839315]

Umm... yes.

[Bikerdude]

Sotha, on 26 August 2010 - 11:38 AM, said:

I'll end in a silly comparison: If TDM is Half-Life 2, then this map is Portal.

Quote of the week

[Komag]

Thanks everyone for the detailed feedback! It's fun to read this thread and very encouraging - all authors love to hear stuff about how their missions are played, what the player though, what bits and parts stood out, various thoughts, etc


To get the crown...

Spoiler

If you are the top near the rope arrows, look around a little lower than you and notice the second launcher platform (you used one to get launched all the way up to the top area, this second one looks just like it).

Ride a rope arrow around the top rotating ring, jump off on the platform above the second launcher, carefully wind your way down, and use the launcher to help you "reach" the crown!

For anyone who's interested, here's a list of all the bottles:

Spoiler

There are 10 bottles, and 6 of them are in very close proximity to the six generators around the map (so if you hear a generator, look for a bottle!). Here they are in the earliest order you could possibly reach each bottle:

1 in the beginning area, by the stairs leading up out of the interior
2 tucked in the generator at the top of the spinning spiral stairs
3 behind the generator on the other side of the long barrel roll
4 on the left side of the elevator bars
5 underneath the super-launcher seat
6 tucked in the support beams of the high platform (grab from upper nail)
7 sitting on the side of the generator running the big rotating wheel
8 half-way up the skinny stairs (before the rope arrows)
9 on the back corner of the platform with the crown level launcher seat
10 way way down on the below-the-swing platform (need two rope arrows to reach)

Has anyone gotten down to that platform below the swing?

and SiyahParsomen, how the heck did you get down there?!?!?

[Chiron]

Yes I've gotten down there just the way you described it.

Spoiler

Needed one to get down (took some damage) and one additional arrow to get up again.

Brilliant idea to use the madhouse principle (or whatever this is called) for the swing. How did you come up with that?

Edited by Chiron, 26 August 2010 - 04:53 PM.

[Bikerdude]

Chiron, on 26 August 2010 - 04:52 PM, said:

Yes I've gotten down there just the way you described it.

Yeah used one of the spare rope arrows

[Berny]

hahahaaaa funny mission

[PranQster]

I didn't (properly) finish this one yet. I didn't get motion sickness because my first few steps on the swing...

Spoiler

made me realize that the swing was stationary and the world around was moving. I just focussed on the swing and ignored the background.

But I exited the game 5 minutes ago and I am still wiping sweat from my palms.
If I have a railing to hold onto, I don't mind heights at all. But teetering on the edge of something with just my feet to hold me there...? ... sweaty palms.

And for those of you who like that lift of the stomach when you crest a bump on a roller coaster really fast... check out a sim called No Limits Coasters. You don't need real momentum and centrifugal forces to feel that stomach lift after all

Edited by PranQster, 27 August 2010 - 12:16 AM.

[Jesps]

Wow, crazy mission

It was a very fun mission. I'm sure it will be used as inspiration by authors in the future.

[Fidcal]

I forgot to mention what made me laugh. After getting up the most outrageously risky steps, jumps, climbs, ledges, etc. then stood on a tiny platform which had ... a safety rail!

[Tels]

Mirror: http://bloodgate.com.../swing_v1.2.pk4

Edit: Very very impressive mission, crazy building style! However, it is a shame that our most-used wood texture is so blurry:

Doesn't some texture artist want to do something about this?

 wood.jpg   187.32K   51 downloads