Kerry000
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Days Won
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Posts posted by Kerry000
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Thank you for that shining review! I did try to flesh out the backstory as best I could and I now have a monumental task if I want to tie up all the loose ends in the sequels!!
I see you did a fair bit of exploring through the city streets, and I'm glad you spotted many of the little touches I added in the nooks and crannies of the map. Some characters, like Paul, and "Jackablade Jones" have almost as much backstory as the Lady Harrington herself, despite not even being in the mission! I wonder if you were able to follow their story arcs to find the loot (Pauls drugs and Jones' payoff money). I'm glad you enjoyed the Raven part. I originally meant to have the raven character eyeing the player from the top of the inn, but couldn't get it working correctly. I made him though and thought he looked pretty bad ass, so maybe he will cameo in an upcoming sequel!
I'm fully aware that the coin on the windowsill of the boy's room was the very definition of a "dick move", but I couldn't resist when the idea popped into my head!
Ah yes, the guard's riddle. I was afraid it would be a bit too simple, but I didn't expect the player to focus on the Lady's bedchambers, though that makes sense. Aside from the fact that the guards don't patrol in there, in fact they are not allowed in. If you're intending on replaying the mission I can give you this extra hint: A dark, forgotten corner hints at somewhere in the mansion where people don't regularly go, or give a second thought even though they pass over often. The Madame hides her dirt, meaning junk is stored there, and finally looking up a Lady's skirt is quite literal, except that neither the Madame nor the cook patrol here. If you just want to know where it is:
It's on top of a crate with junk on it that is stored underneath the stairs connecting the sitting room with the library. Basically next to the hidden room where you find the codes.
You did a great job of it all. This is one of the first missions where I've stopped to admire the embossed/plush wallpapers and parquet ceilings (especially in Sir William's flat). The AO seemed to have a lot more contrast in this mission than any others I've played (or maybe it's just the first time I've paid attention to it) and, even if it's baked and not real-time, it still added a little something extra to the look and feel of the level.
I only ever play these missions on the hardest difficulty for the added realism, and this one was certainly a challenge. I was only forced to use one of the allowed knockouts, on Karl in the inn, because I wanted to save my water arrows for later.
I did indeed find Jones' payoff money and I might have found Paul's drugs (but I'm not sure). It was nice that trying to get to the open window high above the door with "cockwit" scratched on it led me not only to the stash of payoff money, but also to the wind chimes and then Annabelle's house. I like discovering surprises like that.
Speaking of Annabelle, the beams in her flat really look like a place the player should explore, but then they turn out to be empty. I could only get up there by waking Annabelle, then jumping on her head in order to vault onto the beam (just to see what's up there). Maybe you should make it possible for players to get up there stealthily, just to confirm in their minds that they aren't missing anything on top of the beams? That's just a very minor nitpick though. Hardly worth mentioning.
That's great that you made the Raven character! I hope we do indeed see a cameo of him in the future.
Regarding the guard's riddle, I did find that payment beneath the stairs below the library (without realizing it was part of the riddle) because that was the first place I hid after coming in from the garden. It's also, incidentally, a good place to hide the lamp from the nearby table in order to stop the guards from re-lighting it.
This was a really well designed mission with lots to discover and multiple paths (like the inventor's flat, although I also felt bad robbing his stash from the book) and multiple entryways to the mansion. I went in via the sewage pipe that leads to the guardhouse toilet, which allowed me to discover Percival's diary on my own without any clues. That was also a fun discovery - "I guess I better check if there's anything under the desk, even though I know there wo... holy shit!"
I know these fan missions take up a lot of time and effort to create, but please don't stop. The Chronicles of Skulduggery looks to be an awesome little series and I can't wait to visit the...
Mage academy that locked itself away from the world, as well as the tomb where Duncan got up to all of his "skulduggery".
These fan missions always remind me of a time when gaming was pure, without all the political grandstanding and money-grabbing involved in today's mass produced "epics" that rehash the same old nonsense again and again. I remember when games were about escapism and immersing yourself in a fantasy world where you could just forget about everything else for a few hours, and that's exactly how missions like "Pearls and Swine" make me feel again.
Thank you very much for that experience, and please keep it up!
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I really enjoyed this mission. Thank you, Bienie!
The textures, lighting and models were all great. I also like the underlying story and the hints as to where the "Chronicles of Skulduggery" is headed as a series.
I found 3275 loot, and 8 out of 11 secrets.
I also really enjoyed...
1) Helping Annabelle and William find each other (while robbing the both of them blind!) It was a nice touch.
2) "Cockwit" (and the notice about the honorable sport of cockery with the "prefix of d", lol)
3) The actual wind chimes. You often hear the Pagan-esque wind chimes in these missions, but it was nice to actually see the source of the sound for once, blowing in the wind up on high.
4) The distant city, when you see it from the rooftops. In some missions it looks terrible, but you made it look believable.
5) The little scene with the drunk who was lying to his mother in his letters (after throwing her portrait in the trash), as well as the other NPC who was fearful of "The Raven" - They both did a good job of adding to the immersion.
One thing I did not like...
Stealing the little boy's money from the tooth fairy. That was fucked up
With regards to anything I might have missed...
What was the deal with the guard's riddle referring to the place where "the lady leaves her dirt and a bugger looks up her skirt", about payment for a bet? Because that sounds to me like it has to be a bathtub, basin, or toilet, but none of those things contained any treasure in Cordelia's bathroom. I did find the switch above her bed and the secret area within the bathroom, but I wasn't sure if that was related to the riddle or not?
Thank you again for this wonderful mission. It was really detailed and a lot of fun to play!
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Hi Bienie,
Congratulations on completing your first mission! Thank you very much for all of the effort it would have taken to create and share it with us. It looks fantastic and I can't wait to go home and play it
Discovering that a new mission has been released at TDM is one of my favorite things these days.
Thanks again.
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Im glad you had a great time and were able to respark those old thief feelings
As for the criticisms
Ill explain some of the design decisions that went behind what you experienced and how I interpreted the world.
1 - Unfortunately I was only made aware of this bug after the mission was released, introducing the ingame fence shop and different than usual objectives tends to break other unexpected things because youre stepping outside of the normal boundaries of the tdm world. I thought we had thoroughly tested this but there are always a few bugs that slip away, even after crushing over 150 of them during the testing phase.
2 - That is totally on me, this is my first mission using rope arrows as usually I avoided for the reasons that you mentioned. However as I build more missions with that level of verticality in mind I will keep that in mind too. Its tough giving the player tools and freedom to do as they please but I think its a worse experience if youre limited to only doing exactly what I design and makes it a linear experience too.
3 - That sort of makes me laugh because originally in the design of the thieves highway there was only one way through, you couldnt get to the thieves guild until you had visited Lord Wivertons apartment. It was an interesting design challenge to make it non linear and more open because then I was faced with the challenge of what if the player visits the thieves guild before his place. It wouldnt make sense for the player to be searching through there and knowing theyre linked to his murder without having read the clue first.
So I thought well a happy compromise is to have just the thieves guild masters room locked and then you had to steal her key which will only happen when she returns back to the base. I guess I hadnt anticipated someone doing something like what you did and could have resolved that by moving the hood upstairs but it is what it is now. More food for thought in the future for sure.
4 - The nobles dont goto that part of town. Theyre separated because they dont want to be around the commoners there unless they absolutely have to (such as when Lord Julian has a party). However there are other ways over there such as the bayview estates which that moat leads to.
They use their boats to get around Northdale and feel that the moat acts as both a literal and a metaphoric barrier between them and the commoners.
I really appreciate the praise and the constructive criticisms. Ive learned a lot from reading your review, so thank you
Ah, that makes sense, regarding the canal. They get around using boats, like a private driveway? Got it :-)
My criticisms are minor, to be honest. I still loved the mission.
Did you see the edit I made regarding the door with the buzzer?
This one...
So, that builder entrance that mentions the buzzer and taking deliveries by day? Well, everything about the way you climb up to that hammer statue above seems to suggest that you want people to explore up there: I looked up from the buzzer to see a lit balcony high above. It just looks like a place I should visit. So I shot a rope arrow into the nearby roof, and low and behold, the rope is just out of reach after it hangs down. So I wonder if there's a box I can carry there to get a little higher? Well, right next door in the packing area of the warehouse there is indeed a perfect box for the task (the secret with the urn). So I carry the box back to the rope, and it's just the right height to allow me to jump up to the rope and climb up to the hammer statue. Everything about that series of events feels like a calculated puzzle on your part, and makes the player feel satisfied at having worked it out. But then you get to the hammer balcony and there's nothing up there, making you realize that you were never meant to climb to that spot. But it should be a place for a thinking thief to climb to, and there should be a secret or loot up there, because everything about getting up there in the first place feels like a calculated puzzle.
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Hi Goldwell. Thank you for the awesome mission, I really enjoyed it. I've been a Thief fan most of my adult life and it's missions like this that really take me back to that feeling of immersion I experienced when I first played The Dark Project.
I'm really glad you're working on a new campaign, especially at such high quality. There are a lot of little things I loved about this mission:
1) Side quests! Those contracts were great. They really added to the feeling of a lived-in environment, filled with petty jealousies and shady characters.
2) The intro, the voice acting, and the level design were all neat. Much appreciated.
3) The little gags...
The skeleton running away when you take the candle maker's money, the eggplant with the glasses and hat in the lady's bureau etc. I love that kind of stuff :-)
All in all, I just want to say thank you for all of the effort that went into making that. I love that there are still people creating TDM missions.
If you care for some things I believe could use improvement, then I'll state them here. I don't really have a right to be a critic since I could never create something so awesome, but there are one or two little things that might just smooth the edges, so to speak...
1) The loot bug, obviously. The final statistics only count the loot acquired after placing the 1,500 in the safe, so the final tally is way off. It doesn't include the money you banked in the safe.
2) In some areas you can accidentally find yourself in a spot that breaks the immersion by revealing the empty gameworld beyond the rendered faces. One example is above the fence's shop. I saw the ladder leading up to his home behind him, so I went outside and shot a rope arrow into the roof of a nearby building and climbed all the way up. That clearly was not something you wanted the player to see (the missing roof of the fence's shop), so maybe make it impossible for someone to rope up there?
3) This is just my opinion, obviously, but I did not like that there are two paths to Wiverton's house, because it broke the game for me: I went left from Corbin's balcony first, discovered the thieves den, knocked them all out and dumped them in the training room. Then, when the new objective appears, I was now backtracking to an area I'd already "cleared," to discover the woman thief wandering about. Which implies she went to the training area to put the thief's hood on the hook, thereby stepping over the unconscious bodies of her posse, and it didn't phase her? It just felt to me like going right from Corbin's balcony should have been the only way to go, so that you "discover" the thieves den after the new objective pops up. That way you arrive to a thieves den you haven't already explored and "cleared." I guess that's debatable though. I was just a little annoyed that the thief woman wasn't too bothered about her entire posse being missing after she comes out of the room.
4) I guess it's silly of me, but it annoyed me that the luxury apartments are on the other side of a canal that you have to leap/swim across. I mean, does Nicholas Baron and the posh lady also leap across a canal to get into their luxury apartments? There should be a bridge there. It doesn't make sense to have luxury apartments in which the only way to gain entry is via a death-defying leap over cold, dirty water. It would be a great location for an inconspicuous hideout, though :-)
Anyway, as I say, I have no right to criticize. I still loved that mission and I can't wait for the next installments in the campaign. Again, thank you very much for all of the hard work you've put into it. I enjoyed it immensely :-)
Edit: Oh, one more thing...
So, that builder entrance that mentions the buzzer and taking deliveries by day? Well, everything about the way you climb up to that hammer statue above seems to suggest that you want people to explore up there: I looked up from the buzzer to see a lit balcony high above. It just looks like a place I should visit. So I shot a rope arrow into the nearby roof, and low and behold, the rope is just out of reach after it hangs down. So I wonder if there's a box I can carry there to get a little higher? Well, right next door in the packing area of the warehouse there is indeed a perfect box for the task (the secret with the urn). So I carry the box back to the rope, and it's just the right height to allow me to jump up to the rope and climb up to the hammer statue. Everything about that series of events feels like a calculated puzzle on your part, and makes the player feel satisfied at having worked it out. But then you get to the hammer balcony and there's nothing up there, making you realize that you were never meant to climb to that spot. But it should be a place for a thinking thief to climb to, and there should be a secret or loot up there, because everything about getting up there in the first place feels like a calculated puzzle.
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Hi Kingsal,
Awesome fan mission! The first Volta was one of my favorites and this one completely lived up to my expectations. High quality work, well done.
Two things, if I may...
Is there really a pearl as big as your head in the section with the spiders down below, after you find the scroll mentioning it? I've searched and searched, and it's driving me nuts.
And in that same area...
The statue wants you to bring an "offering of a strangled priest," but the offering you place there is from a poisoned priest. That needs a fix.
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@prjames
Hint:
Candles :-)
Stronger hint:
Overlooking the pews.
Solution: You can find the key by...
...toggling the one lit candle on the landing where the woman was sitting. Just extinguish it and then click on it again. A key will fall out :-)
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Well done on an amazingly detailed and very atmospheric mission. I love the new textures and meshes, and the overall originality is exactly what I was hoping for.
I'm completely stuck in...
...the church, as I have no idea how to access the storage room (despite the clue in the journal). But I'll keep looking :-)
Also, in the beginning...
...the first guard had already been alerted when I entered the mission, no matter how often I restarted. Something to do with a lit candle that goes out as you spawn into the game? Seems it'd be better to just not have that candle there at all. Anyway, I don't know if it'll affect my stealth score yet.
Thank you for all your hard work
This FM is a massive improvement over One Step Too Far, and I enjoyed that mission too. Congratulations! -
There's one glaring error I need to point out, with regards to this mission. The note on the door states...
"When the bad man comes, all you can do is hide!"
But that's not entirely true, is it? Because...
...when the bad man comes, you can also poo your pants!
His arrival was intense. Got my heart racing, not knowing what this new type of villain was!
This FM (like Requiem) is absolutely fantastic. I left a note on your blog asking if you'll ever create your own stealth game, because you've certainly got the creative talent!
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I've been checking the missions list every day to see if this FM has been released yet. Come on, dammit! I'm dying in anticipation here
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I've created an account in order to thank you for this awesome FM. Your lighting is by far the best I've seen yet, and I loved the atmosphere of the environment. This is definitely somewhere in my top five missions. Loved every minute of it!
Please, PLEASE make another one. I know it takes a lot of time and effort and that you don't get any financial reward out of it, but I'm selfish and I want you to make another one for MY enjoyment! Lol.
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A Night To Remember v2
in Fan Missions
Posted
Thank you for this mission, Fieldmedic.
It was certainly different, and quite tense.
I liked the fact that there was a delay between the flashes of lightning and the arrival of the thunder. So many big-budget game studios and Hollywood films completely fail to get that right.
I had fun playing it