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Fan Mission: One Step Too Far, by Dragofer (2014/08/04)


Dragofer

Rate One Step Too Far  

33 members have voted

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

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

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    • Good
      12
    • Excellent
      19
    • Near Perfect
      2
  3. 3. Story & Text: Story. Text. Briefing. Graphic storytelling

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Hi Guys: How do I find the destination of the ship? Except that I was able to complete all the other "ship"-board objectives. BTW, I cannot "pick" the haunted tome. Is there any special key I need to press? Thanks, -Garette

 

 

Read the tome multiple times (the text should change), then it goes to your inventory automatically. Did you pick up the loot near the skeleton? If I remember correctly the destination should tick off, when you read the captain's log.

 

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I have read the

Tome several times and the text is he same??

 

 

What's meant to happen is this in this order:

-You read the book, then you loot the chest, then you read the book again (it says 'Take me'). The book moves to before the door and can be picked up. Taking it ticks off the objective.

 

 

 

It's good to see people are getting something out of this, thanks for the reviews :)

In part two I tried to have the focus on what's happening to you right then and there and rely on this visual storytelling people keep talking about rather than writing stories (i.e. fresh fish and ducks in the kitchen to warn the place might still be inhabited, or abandoned in haste, the body in the attic as hinted by the arrows and how it's stowed away might've been caught by the bandits for whatever imagineable reason, or he's a bandit who's had a runin with the natives), but it turns out Thief players like to know every detail and solve all the mysteries. That's something to remember for the future.

 

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(...) , but it turns out Thief players like to know every detail and solve all the mysteries. That's something to remember for the future.

 

Guilty as charged! I finished the mission two days ago and I am still thinking about it... so I am addicted to the story now! :D

Edited by fraten
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What's meant to happen is this in this order:

-You read the book, then you loot the chest, then you read the book again (it says 'Take me'). The book moves to before the door and can be picked up. Taking it ticks off the objective.

 

 

 

...

 

FYI, it does appear that there is a bug where

if you grab the loot at the chest first in the skeleton's closet before reading the tome, you can't move the "text" forward (it only goes as far as "take me, we'll have an adventure together")

but doesn't continue beyond that. The first time I played,

I grabbed the loot first before reading the tome

and got this result that I couldn't continue. I returned to a save

just before entering the skeleton's closet and read the tome first before I grabbed the loot

and things progressed properly.

 

- prjames

Edited by prjames
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Very well done... and sure enough... keep more missions coming!

 

 

I loved all the details on the ship, such as the soup swashing from left to right in the cooks pot.

It would have been nice to place a little reward into the highest outlook. Maybe a note where one complains about the boredom and seasickness that one has to stnd up here, ... or something else.

The small cabin near the cabins quarters was a real pain, though.

No space to stand tall. No place to hide.

And no space to navigate through the room and see where something worth taking might be located.

And then - off course - some stuff is located right where you could barely ever get it without being spotted.

And other stuff that looks precious, but isn't ... and you can't tell wether you are simply not in frpb range yet.

 

I got all the stuff anyway, since I exploited a bug that I ran into by chance:

I was in that very cabin when the captain came in as well.

Sure enough hell broke loose and I jumped onto the furniture.

To my surprise the two stopped atacking me.... in the tdm console I saw that they had changed to team 0 (neutral) for some reason.

So, I cleared the place without any objections by the two and left.

 

Edited by gnartsch
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@gnartsch, prjames, it looks like I'm being overly adventurous with my newfound scripting abilities

 

 

Text in the book not advancing

That bug was found early in testing and it seemed to have been fixed when I changed the trigger at that part simply to fire when the book is closed. Now it's back like a curse. Sorry to all those affected, the only ingame solution I found was to use an earlier save.

 

Suddenly the two stopped attacking me

There's a trigger in the door to outside that sets them to neutral if they're about to chase you onto the deck. One reason is that they prefer to keep you alive, the other is that as far as I know AI don't really like to use horizontal doors like those of the hold so they'd start throwing stones. I don't know how they could've pulled that trigger if you kept them busy at the furniture. (By the way you could hide on the crate in the corner)

 

 

 

In any case, it's all experience towards the next map, which counts 90 bed spots so far for the denizens. Not a tiny map I'll say ;)

Edited by Dragofer
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@Dragofer

 

 

There's a trigger in the door to outside that sets them to neutral if they're about to chase you onto the deck.

Yeah, I noticed that this spot seems to trigger a change and they changed their status whenever I crossed the line later on.

I assume I must have touched some roombrush while I was still in that little cabin, probably while jumping on the desk or the furniture on the right. Don't know.

(By the way you could hide on the crate in the corner)

I did not note that crate. Oh well, it was too late anyway, they caught me red-handed and they would have slit my belly nonetheless.

It was just bad timing.

 

 

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Excellent work! Nice, mysterious story (lot of omens in this one) that's well told, mostly through readables and judicious use of cutscenes. The ship is very well made and I think my favorite detail was the rather simple addition of swaying that made it seem like we were actually moving. Very life like! I also really like the sequence towards the end with the house - excellent use of music to establish tension.

 

This is also practically begging for a sequel (which I'm pretty sure you're cognizant of :P) so get it done quick, damn you!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Very good concept, but moving among the crates&stuff is a nightmare :D

 

I actually quite enjoyed the cramped space and I tried for the life of me to climb on everything and tried hard to get stuck but it never happened :P

 

The ship was very well realized, excellent lighting, mood, and audio. The audio was a really great. I did search and search and forbid myself from checking the forums to progress and eventually

 

 

I went back in to the secret area on the ship and thought....this isn't how I left things.... :) Then progressed from there.

 

 

 

I did encounter a couple issues. One where I was on the deck of the ship climbing on things and looking at the captains quarters outer door from the deck, up to the top right corner of the roof above a barrel. The first time I tried to mantle there I don't know if I clipped out of bounds there or what but the first time I jumped to mantle there above that barrel, I got gibbed! aka... instant death landing on the deck 5 feet below me and red screen like I'd fallen 5 stories.

 

 

 

The only other issue was when the baddies came back to the cabin. I had checked and entered through the front cabin window initially. I was poking around inside the creepy atmosphere of the cabin and was sneaking up the stairs and got the message that they were returning and to hide. I went up in the rafters and because I'd entered through the front window, the front porch was not wide enough to allow them to pass the open window so they were all stacked up on the porch with the open window blocking their way and the fourth guy was running around the house with a torch! It was pretty funny. I jumped down and cleared my path back up to the rafters and then climbed on the table and tried multiple times to close the window with them stacked against it until finally I got it closed. Then I ran back up to the rafters so I could experience them coming in and hunting for me the proper way. :\

 

In any case, I shot them all in the face with arrows and they're all dead on the floor and the book hasn't updated to tell me to do something else. Its "all knowingness" apparently isn't aware that all the guards are dead and there IS no one to hide from. I went down and searched the bodies and found a key that opened the chest in the rafters I'd tried to open earlier. Then I went outside and continued toward the mist. Climbed all over that damn mountain and never got stuck once. Lots of fun and just like the ship, never got stuck a single time so excellent job with the playerclip and all that. Extremely tricky sealing off all the areas a player can get stuck.

 

And yeah, up to the mist and on I went.

 

I did find the fade out/fade in, fade out/fade in, fade out/fade in, to get a little tiresome after the second time and it did take what was initially for me a very immersive experience and broke it unfortunately.

 

It was still very creative and honestly not something you see in a first FM; so kudos to your talent as a mapper.

 

Loved climing up the webbing on the ship and getting up to the crows nest and crossing the ropes looking all the way down, really fun and exciting.

 

...Oh yeah... and JUMPING from the top IN to the curled sail and sliding down it to the boom!.... AWESOME fun!! I felt like a swashbuckler!

 

 

 

So overall, yeah, tons of detail everywhere <3, excellent atmosphere and audio and a lot of fun and intrigue in the story that makes the player want more.

 

Well done and for a first FM... wow, amazing and creative work.

 

Thanks!

Edited by Lux
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I just finished this mission and here are my thoughts:

 

Mission:

 

 

The part on the ship was were well made, enjoyed it. Loot was hidden at good places and the design of the map made sense. The land part lacked detail and it felt confusing were to go after the men arrived, climbing the hill felt like glitching, and if you ever do a v2 of this map, you should change the part after the house, because it is really dragging down this otherwise excellent mission. Also, more detail at the coast could be added and a hd 2d skybox while on sea (some distant land, actual sea with moon reflecting in the water...). In the end I enjoyed the mission, but it wasted a lot of potential.

 

 

Bugs:

 

 

- after leaving the ship, a tiny rock at the beach is floating

- the hidden loot place (caliph letter) had a light bug when observing it with the lamp activated

- if you manage to get on the desk in the lieutenants room without being seen, the ai won´t notice you after, even if you stay in the light

- the hidden door to the room with the sceleton could be opened with the cook´s key, but it still appeared red and made the "wrong key" sound, of course

 

 

 

Overall very nice mission and I hope you improve its flaws in the near future :).

Edited by Cookie
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everybody,

 

So I am enjoying this unique mission, I was able to take the book and treasure, but I still wasn´t able to tick optional objective about finding a good hiding spot for my good later.

I already scouted through the whole ship and didn´t dind any.

 

What am I missing?

 

PS: Oh, and where can one find medicinal spices? I thought maybe in cook´s place, but I couldn´t find any.

Edited by Tarhiel
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@Tarhiel, look again for the hiding spot.

 

 

 

IRC there's a chest by the stairs that is the spot you're looking for and there are also some hidden compartments in the walls of the ship back behind the storage stuff in a couple places.

 

 

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@Tarhiel, look again for the hiding spot.

 

 

 

IRC there's a chest by the stairs that is the spot you're looking for and there are also some hidden compartments in the walls of the ship back behind the storage stuff in a couple places.

 

 

 

 

Hm, I wasn´t able to find said chest, but after your advice about

secret compartments

I noclipped in storage area and was able to find one in the more upper storage deck. Thanks to that I had enough money to thick the money objective off (honestly, spices and herbs are pretty confusing objective title, one might thing you MUST find some kind of spices, so I was looking for some kind of pouch or small crates, whereas mapper simply had in mind good ol´ loot - just wanted to give it a new spin by naming it differently) and set things further in motion.

 

 

I was a bit disappointed that you cannot go back into the ship once it shipwrecked, but from there it was pretty straightforward and I didn´t lost my way.

I thought I will encounter sooner or later that skeleton which (presumably) killed the crew, but... I guess it should represent the skeleton form captain´s closet (writer of that book)?

 

It confused me it came from the deck, I thought it is "some other", but now that I think about it, it seems it was the one and only.

 

One minor thing: it might help others to insert one more message into cursed tome - some players might be confused by "follow the mist", where suddenly if you are in the house (of course, you will go inside, what kind of Thief player would you be?), it get changed to "hide quickly, dangerous men are coming" - but after you deal with them, it never gets changed back to "okay, now go to the mists".

 

I suppose the "quick, hide" objective was element of surprise the book didn´t predicted, and I took it as such, but I still think it should get changed back to "follow the mists" after you either:

- knock out the men

- kill them

- simply leave the house

 

 

 

 

Overall, unique, short and interesting mission. Definitely congratulations on your first release!

Edited by Tarhiel
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  • 2 weeks later...

The link to this mission is dead. Could you please put up a new link to the pk4

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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I actually quite enjoyed the cramped space and I tried for the life of me to climb on everything and tried hard to get stuck but it never happened :P

This is very relieving :P

 

 

 

because I'd entered through the front window, the front porch was not wide enough to allow them to pass

That one's really a 'doh!' moment... I guess I didn't expect anyone at all to enter through the front window when you have a hatch in the roof, a window at the side straight into the attic and all that. Heh

 

I did find the fade out/fade in, fade out/fade in, fade out/fade in, to get a little tiresome

That's a fair point, they're best used sparingly. The last fade in the tunnel could've been easily avoided.

 

...Oh yeah... and JUMPING from the top IN to the curled sail and sliding down it to the boom!.... AWESOME fun!! I felt like a swashbuckler!

Lol :P

 

 

 

 

 

if you ever do a v2 of this map, you should change the part after the house

I remember that part changed a lot in the final days of beta, because my testers constantly made valid points on how gameplay, cohesiveness and aesthetics could be improved in this way and that. On Monday you'd have a snowy wasteland (therefrom the loading screen), on Friday there were instead the bay and cliffs. In any case, for me this project was more like a model shipbuilding exercise - the house and its setting were also interesting to make by the way - with a mission for the Dark Mod coming out at the end of it.

 

 

 

 

 

and the book is stuck so i cant continue :( (1st i read it, then took the treasure and read it again)

That bug keeps showing up... when you've picked up the treasure, the game waits for you to reach page 4 of the book and then close it, which triggers the book to move somewhere else. It seems that this part breaks when you scroll too fast through the pages, and it can only be solved by quickloading.

 

What would be less elegant but could work is to remove the 'reach page 4' part. Whenever I have an editor at hand to try it.

 

 

 

 

 

What am I missing?

There are 3 secret places on the ship:

- Upper deck of the cargo hold, at the very front

- Upper deck of the cargo hold, at the back and left

- Captain's room, inside the wardrobe

 

Medicinal spices are simply plain purses (usually next to unfrobbable bowls or chests visibly filled with coloured powders). The cook also has some on his shelf next to the cauldron.

 

I was a bit disappointed that you cannot go back into the ship once it shipwrecked

I got as far as 'knocking over' all the things in the captain's and lieutenant's rooms, but then realised it'd give some headaches with continuity and it wouldn'tve been possible to lay the ship on its side because of performance (problems with separating the spaces inside the ship)

 

I thought I will encounter sooner or later that skeleton which (presumably) killed the crew, but... I guess it should represent the skeleton form captain´s closet (writer of that book)?

 

It confused me it came from the deck, I thought it is "some other", but now that I think about it, it seems it was the one and only.

It's always the same skeleton you see, and it does write the book. You could hear it stabbing one of the crew, the fate of the others isn't certain though. And yes, it came from the closet, over the deck down to the crew bunks, then down again to the galley :P

 

it gets changed to "hide quickly, dangerous men are coming" but after you deal with them, it never gets changed back to "okay, now go to the mists".

That's certainly the logical next step. I don't know what stopped me from doing it, maybe not wanting to have too many 'updates' playing. Also, how would one figure out if the bandits were dealt with? Maybe something like leaving the house, or knocking out / killing all 4 of them, or opening their chest of loot. An objective that checks if one of these is done could work.

 

 

 

Thanks for all this feedback, it is very much appreciated :) (and there is a lot of it, that's probably what happens when you try to do sequences in a first mission)

 

And that's right, I deleted the Dropbox file to make way for other things because I thought everyone uses the ingame downloader. Without editing the main post, oops.

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