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kyyrma

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Everything posted by kyyrma

  1. Now I want to make fine cigars as a custom loot item... I've been thinking of what kind of FM I'd like to work on next, and one thing I have in mind is a level with no other threats but the environment. Just puzzles / exploration, no sneaking around. Are there any FMs with this style that I should look into?
  2. Thanks! I tried to make it so that the player can see how different the life of the servants is.
  3. This is pretty old now, but it seems it haven't been posted so... After seeing this I pretty much stopped following news about the new Thief, because I simply couldn't bear watch what they do to one of my favorite IPs. Apparently some of these decisions have been reversed since, like the XP system?
  4. These sort of inside privies have existed, especially in colder climates where baring your buttocks outside would guarantee frostburn and digging a cesspit in the ground might not be an option. They would usually have empty space below them however, just like toilets in medieval castles. The only difference is that the waste would be collected in the box until someone came and opened the hatch from the outside and it dropped out. Anyway I agree my toilet has no place in the setting of TDM (and especially in a house that has just been renovated! ) but I decided to add it anyway for gameplay reasons. Sometimes fun gameplay > realism, although in this case I understand it might be immersion breaking if you stop to think about it too much. Thank you! Glad to hear you liked the readables, I had a lot fun writing them.
  5. Krypt, that looks fantastic. Really detailed, I like it! I know its a four year old post, but still...
  6. In hindsight it is pretty annoying for the player that all verticality has pretty much been disabled, because most of us are used to being able to climb on rooftops and such without invisible walls. The problem was that I had already designed the level pretty far when I realized that allowing the player to climb on stuff breaks gives the player too much advantage over the AI. So it was either go back to the drawing board, or simply block off most mantleable surfaces. I chose the latter. My testers were also very determined on getting OoB, especially Numbers who kept surprising me time and time again. That's why all the level borders are locked up so tight
  7. kyyrma

    TDM Combat

    I think it could be something as small as the AI just jerking his head or upper torso slightly back. In general what I'm saying is that the combat lacks the feeling of impact and motion. I just fired up the training level and tried out different enemies. I just stood there and blocked every incoming strike, and started thinking that the whole thing looks a bit like two people taking practice swings. I have no idea how difficult it would be to achieve, but IMO the combat could use some more motion. When blades hit each other the combatants should recoil instead of remaining largely motionless. Currently it looks like there is no weight behind those swings. Also, there are neat sparks thrown in the air when blade hits armor. The same effect doesn't currently seem to apply for swords? I know it sounds I'm being overtly critical, but don't take it the wrong way. I think the combat is completely fine as it is, but there is always room for improvement.
  8. Interesting to note that 20 minutes seems to be about the average time for an Expert run. It's actually more playtime than I expected, which is a good thing. It's funny when you have both designed the map yourself and playtested it possibly even hundreds of times, how you start manouvering around the map like the guy in the movie Groundhog Day. I can do a pretty mean speedrun, believe me edit: apologize for the double post, thought I was editing.
  9. Thanks, I really appreciate this coming from you Sotha. Some previous experience in programming has taught me that being too ambitious when still learning the ropes is a recipe for failure, so I'm glad I managed to restrain myself when building my first FM. I had quite a few features planned for the level which I decided to cut in favor of a smaller polished level. I agree on difficulty. Of course the TDM community is a tough crowd, as most here are pretty much stealth gaming veterans
  10. kyyrma

    TDM Combat

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but the main elements of combat in TDM right now are simply blocking and attacking. Combatants can swing in four directions, and block in four directions. It's sort of like a fast paced game of Rock Paper Scissors. Then there is the environment and footwork, however in both the AI is terribly disadvantaged. Now a lot of you have been saying that the combat experience really comes in two extremes. The first bunch of players find it way too hard, and end up avoiding combat altogether for that reason. The other group finds it too easy, which can break the tension of the level. Now what if there was a third element to it? What I'm proposing is parrying. Parrying, as opposed to blocking, would push the attacker off balance and leave a clear opening for a counter-attack. Parry could simply be a perfectly timed block: block just as the enemy's sword connects and you not only deflect the strike but push the enemy off balance. This should also be shown clearly through animation, with the enemy staggering and dropping guard. To emphasize the importance of timing, enemies could be made much faster and accurate in deflecting oncoming blows. That would make parrying the best method for finding an opening to attack. The player would also be pushed off balance by striking at an enemy at the wrong time, which would leave him unable to act for a few moments and maybe shift the camera around a bit to visualize how the characer staggers. This already exists to an extent - enemies that have been succesfully blocked are "flat-footed" which means they will not chase after the player. I feel that this is not communicated well enough through visual ques. I personally only learned about it by reading about combat on the wiki. If not for parrying or other sort of improvements to combat, I'd at least suggest that the flat-footed state should be more clearly animated on the enemy NPCs.
  11. When building a level its really hard to try and put yourself in the shoes of all the different players out there. It's really interesting to hear all the different ways people play through the level, and in what order they pick up readables an such. I'm hoping to learn as much as possible from player feedback, and use that when the time comes to make another FM. I know there are a few people out there who do Let's Plays of FMs. If at some point somebody would be willing to do one of In A Time Of Need, that would be really fascinating to watch.
  12. Thanks for the impressions! Regarding the difficulty, there is a change in the map when going from Normal to higher difficulties. The only difference between Hard and Expert is the loot limit however. I'm sorry if I worded that wrong in the OP post. I'm glad to hear someone appreciated the readables. I tried to add a bunch of mood-setting stuff despite the small scope of the level, just for the sake of immersion. My own favorite is the book that describes the various safe uses of spice. --- For those of you who have already had the chance to play the mission on both Normal and Hard / Expert:
  13. Because you will be doing it a lot you might also consider adding something like bind "F9" "dmap maps/mymap/mapname" bind "F10" "map maps/mymap/mapname" in Darkmod.cfg located in the root folder.
  14. What a warm welcome! Thanks everyone! Updated the OP post with correct links, thanks for pointing this out and taking the time to add it there! It's a lot of hard work and not quite as much fun at times as you would expect (think leaks, visportaling, monsterclipping...) but I still can't recommend it enough. Not many things beat how satisfying it is to finally release your own level
  15. Show spoiler for screenshots: Map: In A Time Of Need Version: 1.00 Released: 2013/11/12 Theme: Mansion Author: kyyrma Testing: Bridge, 161803398874989 In A Time Of Need is small-sized mansion level in which the player is tasked with stealing a cache of spice from the house of a seafaring merchant. It is my first and (at the time of writing) only FM. The difficulty level is low to moderate, and the mission is well suited for new players accustoming to the world of TDM. For players looking for more challenge I suggest ghosting, as the level has been designed to lend itself well for that kind of playstyle. The map and objective layout change slightly between "Normal" and "Hard" / "Expert" difficulty levels. If you want to experience all the content the level has to offer, I suggest you start by playing the map through on Normal and then move on to higher difficulties. Download links: Mediafire Private mirror Installation: Drop timeofneed.pk4 in you darkmod/fms/ folder Run TDM and select New Mission. In A Time Of Need should now appear on the list of downloaded missions. Install and play. Known issues: AI pathfinding can be slightly erratic at times Outdoors can cause performance issues on low-end hardware Sleeping AI can glitch through the bed if KO'd or killed Thanks: My testers Bridge and 161803398874989 whose input helped me shape the map into what it is today. All the TDM devs for creating such a great game Fidcal for creating the A-Z guide for beginners All the people who contributed to my thread at the Editor's Guild Finally, my hat off to the community that has produced so many high-quality missions and made TDM thrive. The bar has been set frighteningly high! I'm really not one for numerical scores or polls, so I decided not have any for my thread. However I would appreciate any criticism, comments and feedback you may provide. Leave me a message in this thread :-)
  16. tbh, it took me a while to learn as well. once it clicks with you, taking out guards is almost too easy. how to auto-parry.jpg
  17. So, I've been getting into using patches lately. I completely rebuilt the balcony railing using patches for trimmings and other decorative detail, and also merged a big number of brushes. I now get better FPS with full shadows on the railing than I used to get without shadows. Check it out. I think the benefits of using patches should be emphasized even more to new users. Maybe the patch tutorial could be integrated into the A-Z one instead of just having a link to it?
  18. Yeah, its real alright. Mainly victims of the black plague and the Hussite wars. Here is a video of the place: http://youtu.be/LM0DdWxWtQA
  19. So, Numbers and Bridge came back with their first findings on the level. Now I've got about 40 issues listed up that need to be looked into. Fun! I've tried both supplying a new icon and using the one from starpack, but for whatever reason both still fail to load in-game. I'll try to check the console for errors if that could tip me off on what is going wrong. I'm using the map entity from startpack, but I'll make one from scratch if all else fails.
  20. For those looking for inspiration for a haunt, what would be better than the Chapel of Sedlec, where all the decor and furniture is assembled from the bones of 40,000 people? Check Google for more.
  21. Thanks! So the file should be kept named map_of_icon.tga instead of changing it to map_of_whatever_icon.tga? Appreciate it! I'll get in touch once I've finished the first playtesting round with Bridge and Numbers.
  22. Bridge, Numbers! Check your inboxes, I've sent you the beta and some instructions on what kind of stuff I'd like to hear from you guys. Get back to me if you have any trouble setting up the mission I've func_staticed most of the external architecture now. Let's see how well it does performance-wise with testers, my own performance seems much more stable now at least. Another problem though: I can't get the icon for my map entity to show. I've named the .tga files as follows. guis/assets/game_maps/map_of_ferryham.tga guis/assets/game_maps/map_of_ferryham_icon.tga And set the paths similarly in the map entity. The map works just fine (shows the map image when used) but for some reason the inventory icon doesn't show up.
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