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Fan Mission: Too Late by Nielsen74 (2009/12/24)


Nielsen74

Check the box against your score for each category:  

62 members have voted

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

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

  3. 3. Story & Text: Story. Text. Briefing. Graphic storytelling (eg, dead nobleman, empty safe open, items strewn.)



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Merry christmas to you all smile.gif Her´s a littel FM for The Dark Mod Grand Christmas FM Contest!

 

Description: You have been hired to get an Antique Scepter, but when you get there,

someone else comes out with your loot. You have tracked them to a warehouse by the docks,

and now it is time to get back what should be yours.

 

Build time: first save 25/11-09 - Last save 23/12-09

 

And please come back her to put in your vote!

 

You can nap the mission her Too Late

 

Keep Taffing, greetings from Nielsen74

 

EDIT: Mirrors

 

Southquater

 

http://bloodgate.com...ms/too_late.pk4

Edited by Nielsen74
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I'd like to add my recommendation to this FM as a beta tester. It's a great little mission, tricky in places, with some nice attention to detail. A guard with a torch adds some great lighting effects, which IMO adds a lot of tension to the level when that shadow you were comfortably hiding in becomes brightly lit :).

"We were travelling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign — and no memories" - Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

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Very nice - tight gameplay, I had to perform some pretty awesome stunts to get away the last second. This time I tried to ghost it and failed underway, but I didn't reload and kept on playing - I chose to not harm anyone and got 1235 loot and 4 pickpockets.

 

Congrats Nielsen on your contest entry, well done.

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Congratulations, nice little mission. I had little problems with a guy who got stuck at a chair other than that only little things. I really enjoyed it, loved the

hidden crate chest^^

 

 

edit: marry chrismas to you too

Edited by Sonosuke

Ich konnte mich nicht erinnern Teleportation gezaubert zu haben und doch stand ich da... alleine und nackt.

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This is really good so far. Gameplay is ideal for me on expert so far but I'm short of loot, 875 and need 1100. I've got everything else and seem to have gone everywhere. I may have a long wait before I can go back outside again in case I missed anything out there. But I'd hate to find I hadn't. So I can't judge yet whether it's my fault or the game. Ghosted all but two water arrows - one 'wasted' only to read some info I already knew. ;) I may find time later to continue; otherwise just after Christmas day most likely.

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This is really good so far. Gameplay is ideal for me on expert so far but I'm short of loot, 875 and need 1100. I've got everything else and seem to have gone everywhere.

 

If you need a hint, I'd suggest you...

look in the rafters smile.gif Also, one of the crates in the warehouse is openable from the top, if you haven't found it already.

 

Edited by bambini

"We were travelling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign — and no memories" - Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

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Eventually found enough loot 1260 (without the hint) but I think it is a little difficult. Probably these small FMs need a bit more available proportionally. 10% might only be 3 or 4 hard to find items.

 

Not a killer but what I did find a serious frustration was

that torch guy. He seemed to randomly patrol into the warehouse more often earlier. But when I was waiting to get out I waited 5 minutes then crept up to see if I could slip by somehow. Of course, as soon as I was near he turned and saw me. Reloaded. Now I waited well over 10 minutes and he never came in. I tried a KO but the doorway bug prevented it. Finally I gave up and caused an alert so he came in and searched around while I ran out.

 

I am sure the patrol is just random but I must have been really unlucky to wait that long. When I first came in I saw him going in and out regularly. In the end he didn't even seem to turn but just faced sideways constantly. Perhaps an alternate door opened from the inside might avoid this if others have the same experience.

 

 

Total play time: 1 hour 16 minutes (probably the 16 minutes used up by the above!)

 

One other thing: I suspect the ambient light was probably a bit high and probably contributed to some 'unfair' light in places where it looked like I was in shadow. I got busted several times. But the FM visually looked well lit except for one or two areas of no light and then the ambient was too flat. I'd generally try and put in some highlights

 

Apart from the above this FM was excellent and a good challenge throughout. Looked good. Played good. Interesting little places to discover. Progress smooth until near the end. Readables adequate. No glitches or errors that I saw. Nice one Nielsen74. Thanks. :)

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Very nice, the money bag wore by the guard with the torch is a nice touch. It is hard to steal without being caught, yet possible.

The 2 ko limit forces to some non trivial choices, I decided to

 

 

take the key and the bag from the two guys and KO the archer and let the other two to see.

 

 

 

I found the whole loot, but it is indeed hard.

 

No issue, plays well. Somewhat difficult, but never frustrating.

Edited by etdarkb
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Her´s a Loot list:

 

 

Printers Office:

silver bowl 10 gold - gold statue 150 gold - purse 50 gold

 

Printers Workshop:

vase 60 gold

 

Wreck in water:

religious symbol 40 gold

 

Warehouse 1:

Gray Crate; 6 x plates (6x35) 210 gold - 6 x goblets (6x15) 90 gold

Big Crate; purse 25 gold

Footlocker; gems purse 125 gold

Guard with torch; purse 50 gold

 

Warehouse 2:

Old Chest; gem purse 150 gold - bracelet 75 gold

"wineshelf"; Good wine 110 gold

Open crate; purse 50 gold

Footlocker; chalice 50 gold - amulet 100 gold

Rafters; purse 50 gold

Guard by brazier; purse 50 gold

 

Warehouse Office:

drawer; 5 gold coin

 

 

@Fidcal

that has not been seen by any of the betatesters? (or by me) hav you tryde recratede it in a new round of the mission?

 

that patrol is just from A to B to C and wait then to D to E to F and wait then to G to A

 

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@Fidcal

that has not been seen by any of the betatesters? (or by me) hav you tryde recratede it in a new round of the mission?

 

that patrol is just from A to B to C and wait then to D to E to F and wait then to G to A

 

Not random? Then it must have broke somehow. I think it broke earlier as he didn't show for a long while. I wonder if it's a gamesave thing? I think I have a slightly earlier gamesave. I might try and see if after reloading TDM if the patrol works again.
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Excellent - I really enjoyed the challenge, no simple walk in the park.

 

Performance was good considering the amount of AI etc, things looked well constructed.

 

About the high ambient, I think it was ok, any lower and inside would have seemed perhaps too dark - and it was a full moon so outside was meant to be a bit more of a challenge as I see it :)

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One other thing: I suspect the ambient light was probably a bit high and probably contributed to some 'unfair' light in places where it looked like I was in shadow. I got busted several times. But the FM visually looked well lit except for one or two areas of no light and then the ambient was too flat. I'd generally try and put in some highlights

 

Fidcal, are you using fast ambient? We have to remember that the current public release has that bug with the fast ambient multiplying when location settings are used with the ambient lighting.

 

I too was about to mention the ambient being too bright until I remembered the bug and switched to standard ambient. When I did, the light dropped considerably and I was able to play the game without the unfair reactions from the AI.

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Very enjoyable little mission. I tried ghosting it on difficult but failed, but it is possible. Got about 1200 loot. This being your first fm, I'm looking forward to your next. The various areas had some nice atmosphere in them. A few more light sources in the beginning would have been nice, but that's my opinion. I liked the guard with the torch, which made it necessary to look ahead. I also liked the way you could climb on the boxes and avoid some guards by doing this. The story was okayish, but maybe I'm already spoiled by other FM's, that took a lot more time to built of course. I'm hoping the future FM's have similar quality, nice work mate.

 

Edit:

 

Was a little bit harse on my voting for the story. Played it again and paid more attention to the story. I edited my vote, because it was tolerable.

Edited by Carnage
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Great mission! I posted a review here if anyone is interested. Really enjoyed the warehouse gameplay that really showcases how great the mantling is in TDM. Thanks!

 

Nice review, SneakyJack. I totally agree with the things you noticed and mentioned. The lights being so bright but not lit is a TDM thing. If I recall correctly this will be 'fixed' in a future release? Correct me if I'm wrong.

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"Very enjoyable" doesn't do justice to how much fun I had mantling, leaping, jumping, and sometimes scrambling to safety in this FM. ^_^

 

I chose expert mode just for the challenge. I found 1060 loot: just 40 shy of winning on expert. I felt a little bit cheated out of a victory, but the fun I had getting that far balanced it out.

 

 

Exiting the first building, I was immediately caught by the torch guard. I cursed and swore under my breath as I frantically ran back inside, shutting the doors behind me. After a while, the two guards gave up their search, and I was able to enter the warehouse.

 

This was the fun part. Hiding on top of crates, slinking down to douse a candle, and scrambling back up before someone sees me. The hollow crate with loot inside of it was a nice touch. smile.gif I used some of those boards to build a ramp into the rafters to find some more loot.

 

In the bad-guy's small "shack" in the warehouse, I spied a few candlesticks. I had pickpocketed a broadhead arrow off the quiver of the archer, and looked through a crack in the roof of the shack. With a well-placed shot, I flew the broadhead into the candle, knocking it under some furniture (and giving me more darkness to hide in). cool.gif

 

It was very tense trying to pickpocket the guard with the torch. Only in TDM can you hide in the shadow of your own foe. :ph34r:

 

 

From a technical perspective: all of those boards in the ceilings, and all rafters you can climb on, could be turned into func_static's. It'll draw fewer tris, and give you better performance. Otherwise, I was rather happy with your mapping. Portals worked properly, Dirty decals were all tastefully placed. I didn't have any problems picking up junk movables when all I wanted was to grab some loot.

 

For a small mission I really can't expect a compelling story, but a few more readable or more "visual" storytelling would make this FM a real winner.

 

I can tell that a lot of effort was put into this. Thanks for the χ-mas present, Nielsen! :D

yay seuss crease touss dome in ouss nose tair

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Fidcal, are you using fast ambient? We have to remember that the current public release has that bug with the fast ambient multiplying when location settings are used with the ambient lighting.

 

I too was about to mention the ambient being too bright until I remembered the bug and switched to standard ambient. When I did, the light dropped considerably and I was able to play the game without the unfair reactions from the AI.

Yes, I played this on my old machine with low settings so the fast ambient may be a factor. Since playing I read SneaksieJack's review saying it was rather dark so I checked my settings. My game settings were as normal but possibly I had changed the TV. My PC monitor rarely gets changed but TV gets tweaked for movies and varied programs so possibly it was slightly brighter than normal.

 

I checked and this map's ambient is 0.6 so definitely not too bright, in fact about right in the middle window. If fast ambient affects the light gem and gets you spotted differently to standard then it wants fixing.

 

[EDIT] omigod I just tried and the difference is dramatic - much darker. How did this happen? Can't remember what we discussed. I'm sure original testing when fast ambient was first implemented I couldn't tell the difference except some textures were slightly flatter.

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Short, but really nice! :)

 

My impressions:

 

 

 

The only thing I didn't really like was the water part. I dive in, but there was nothing there and I couldn't even use it to get to the other side, because there was no edge to grab. Actually, the only way to get off the water was from the boat next from where I dive, wich made the whole experience pointless (from the viewpoint of the thief, of course)

 

 

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The only thing I didn't really like was the water part. I dive in, but there was nothing there and I couldn't even use it to get to the other side, because there was no edge to grab. Actually, the only way to get off the water was from the boat next from where I dive, wich made the whole experience pointless (from the viewpoint of the thief, of course)

 

 

Actually THERE IS something... look better. If you want the easy solution:

 

 

A builder jewel in the boat wreck.

 

 

but I agree about the point of the lack of edges.

Edited by etdarkb
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What a great christmas present! Grats on releasing this little gem, Nielsen.

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