FM: Flakebridge Monastery by Jesps

[Jesps]

Flakebridge Monastery

 

 

In this mission you will visit a Builder outpost to steal some

valuable books. It is the first in what I hope will be a series about Selis

Woderose.

 

I would like to take the opportunity to thank my beta testers:

Aprilsister, Bikerdude, Chiron, lost_soul, and prjames. As well as Fidcal for

his starting map, and Melan for his texture pack.

I'll be going on a trip out of town

today. At the foot of the mountains to the north lies an old Builder outpost, by

the name of Flakebridge Monastery. It is no longer in use by the Builders and no

one knows why. The Builders have never stated anything official about it, so

little is known about what really happened there. Most rumors are either wild

stories about undead monsters, or simply a Builder priest who has gone rogue,

and broke off from the order. Either way I will have to be prepared for a

challenge.My target is not the usual gold or silver, but a book. It

contains the unpublished works of Jerome Dunham, a musician whose last known

location is the outpost. Furthermore the priest in charge of Flakebridge

Monastery had or has a rare copy of the Builders holy 'Book of Amos'. This

should fetch a nice price if I can get my hands on it.This is the first

mission in (hopefully) a series where you play as Selis Woderose, an orphan who

was taken in by one of the thieves' guilds and raised, and trained to almost

perfection in the arts of thievery. He now works for the guild, carrying out

some heists for the guild, but keeps most of them to him self, to avoid paying

guild taxes. A confrontation will eventually be

inevitable.BackgroundFlakebridge Monastery was build more than two

hundred years ago next to the village of Flakebridge. Overlooking both the road

and river leading to the once wealthy region around Lake Coulter, the outpost

soon flourished from tariffs and donations. Like many other Builder outposts,

Flakebridge Monastery offered travellers a safe haven on their travels, provided

that they could pay for it.Little is known about what has happened there

recently, but anyone who has gone near has not been heard from again. The few

travellers that still need to get through choose the long way around through

pagan infested lands.

 

Known bugs:

A small number may appear at the bottom left corner of your

screen when the mission loads. Press sheath weapon to make it disappear.

As already mentioned this is the first mission in a series. When

you have completed it you may know what you'll be going after in the next

mission. You may even know where!

Enjoy! And please use spoiler tags where appropriate.

 

A couple of screens: (thanks lowenz)

http://2.bp.blogspot...0/shot00001.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot...0/shot00003.jpg

[Melan]

Building comes first, but I'll so play it tonight.

[ungoliant]

YEEHAW!!!!!

[fibanocci]

Congrats

 

Mirror

 

http://www.file-uplo...bridge.pk4.html

[Jesps]

Thanks fibanocci. Added the link to the original post.

[greebo]

Mirrored on fidcal.com, and listed on thedarkmod.com:

 

http://www.mindplaces.com/darkmod/fmdetails.php?id=37

 

Congrats on the release, Jesps!

[7upMan]

I already know how Shadowhide will vote... 

[Sotha]

In this mission you will visit a Builder outpost to steal some valuable books. It is the first in what I hope will be a series about Selis Woderose. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my beta testers: Aprilsister, Bikerdude, Chiron, lost_soul, and prjames. As well as Fidcal for his starting map, and Melan for his texture pack.

Have a link:

http://rapidshare.co...flakebridge. pk4

mirror: http://www.file-uplo...bridge.pk4.html (thanks fibanocci)

Known bugs:

A small number may appear at the bottom left corner of your screen when the mission loads. Press sheath weapon to make it disappear.

As already mentioned this is the first mission in a series. When you have completed it you may know what you'll be going after in the next mission. You may even know where!

Enjoy! And please use spoiler tags where appropriate.

 

Thanks! This is gonna be good!

 

BTW: am I the only one to whom the initial post text was unreadable due to too large text size?

[lowenz]

Finished

 

Very good

zombies & haunts

mission!

 

Some screenshots for the first post:

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7gN_AOpo0Sg/TPt0xtvIdvI/AAAAAAAAAD0/r9TqHwaBIDg/s320/shot00001.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7gN_AOpo0Sg/TPt0_SM2REI/AAAAAAAAAD8/Y4RqiqftprY/s320/shot00003.jpg

[lowenz]

Thanks! This is gonna be good!

 

BTW: am I the only one to whom the initial post text was unreadable due to too large text size?

No, we are 2 and I think some others

[Jesps]

Finished

 

That was quick

Thanks for the screens.

 

Is the original post more readable now?

[lowenz]

That was quick

Thanks for the screens.

 

Is the original post more readable now?

Still the same

[nbohr1more]

Wikified!

 

also

 

De-Wikified (from the Upcoming wiki)

 

also

 

Posted a "News" item at Moddb (but it will probably be until Monday or Tuesday before they "authorize" it... )

[lowenz]

OK, now the first post is correctly formatted

[Fidcal]

How did I miss this earlier? Anyways, got it now and look forward to playing it in another hour or so. Congrats Jesps. Also nice to hear it's the start of a series.

[SiyahParsomen]

Congrats!

 

I have enjoyed the mission and voted already considering this is your fourth map which means we have more expectations.

 

 

 

Gameplay: It could be perfect but I have voted for good. Why? Because, I have bored really bad in some areas. Although it has a great start, there are many big empty areas with lack of objects where player has to walk/run continuously.

The best visual part was the big colorful light that falls to stairs imo. That was really sweet and rare in darkmod fms. Cathedral was also great in visuals and sneaking. Apart from it, there wasn't much for challenging sneaking. This is the important factor I look for in fms. Ambient music is good for missions, but you have overused it imo. I have heard some commoner cough sounds several times. It probably came from sleeping undead. What I have liked and found unique in overall tdm missions is zombie was carrying a bone in its hand and attacking with it. What comes to my mind next is those flying skulls in crypt which is also first in tdm missions. Oh, and breakable gravestones! At first I tried to broke them but swinging sword didn't help in two side strikes. Later, I realized them by chance thanks to loot cheating. Besides, it was poor in animation. I should share my script for realistic breaking animation in one direction which is suitable for this case.

 

Appearence: Excellent. Actually more than excellent but not perfect (in between) because of big empty rooms and corridors (again). I think there were some new textures (of Melan?) in the mission. I should say I really liked them. A simple wall looks more beautiful since the texture is new.

 

Story: Excellent. Readables are enough and well balanced in rooms. Not perfect because I would like to see a video(in game) for this beautiful mission.

 

That's all. Remember, I considered this is your fourth map which means you are experienced mapper. For me, this is your best mission so far, and I have a feeling that your next mission is going to be something releated with pirate or treasure.

 

Tell me that you have read this because my fingers are tired.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2010 by SiyahParsomen

[Sotha]

Alright. Finished.

 

Jesps! I hereby declare myself as official Jesps fan! The mission was most excellent and I had 2 hours of sheer joy playing it. Thank you very much! I eagerly await the next mission. This truly has certainly been one of my favourite TDM missions so far.

 

Mission review:

 

 

 

First of all, this mission was very, very well written. You gave clues and you did it perfectly. The mission flowed really nicely and the clues you gave were always such that they just built up tension and interest. The plot flowed well and I was always curious to see what is going on in the location. I was always interested to see what's coming next.

 

After that commendation, I'll proceed with ordinary mission review protocol.

 

Gameplay: Excellent. What can I say. Great fun. It could have maybe used just a few more undead around. Plus maybe more light. There always was plenty of shadows to hide in, but if there were only little less shadows or some of the monsters in darker areas carried light of some kind, it certainly would have been perfect for me. You also gave plenty of equipment to the player. That also would have been a justification for more monsters and less shadows.

 

Appearance: Excellent. I really like your style, it is quite much like mine. Functional, clear geometry without much photorealistic bells and whistles to ruin performance. Plus of course the areas of occasional areas with very high beauty. You strike the perfect balance between performance and looks. The mission looked good and believable, but provided high framerates at all times. You also did some magic with existing assets, like the glowing red eyes on a painting in the excorcists room. Plus the exorcist spell made me extra careful in the crypts. Looked great. I was sure the skulls will attack me when I steal the book.

 

Story: Near Perfect. I liked the story very much and its execution was perfect. You provided optional objectives, which was also really good. There was no stupid artificial-feeling mission halting keyhunts or similar. I was very reluctant to go near the growling coffin. And the merchants family room was just plain sick. I loved it!

 

I expected something terrible to happen when I steal the spellbook. And also I expected vitae-phlogiston to ignite or something when I dumped the book in the holy water. The disappearance of the book was rather bland. Since the objective was optional, it would have been cool if the destruction of the book would have yielded some extra-obstacles and challenges. Maybe the exorcist would have teleported the player to some death trap or the exorcist would have appeared to fight the player? Or simply a great light filled the cathedral so that all the monsters suddenly could see the player pants down on the altar.

 

Other:

I decided to go on this mission autoparry disabled (cause I'm a tough guy;)) and decided not to load at all. I saved just in case the game crashed or something.

 

In the library, the haunt went to look at the bookshelfs and I decided to search the outside balcony. When I returned to the library I bumped into the haunt. We opened the door simultaneously. The haunt noticed me in the moonlight and bravely I pulled out my sword to fight it, like many times before.

 

Autoparry disabled the haunt kicked my lily ass. I landed a few pathetic hits on his armor and he landed solid hurting blows. I was one hit away from death and managed to parry the hit that would kill me and ran like girly. I crawled on the support beams in the warehouse, hid and waited the haunt to stop searching. Badly wounded, this only made the remainder of the mission much more exciting and fun. Luckily I found some healing potions later.

 

Lastly: this is the only haunt I killed. I used holy water arrows and I got rid of him because I was sure I'll be running from something after stealing the spellbook.

 

He got a rest from his eternal guard post in the crypts:

Rest in peace, mate...

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent mission!

[Jesps]

@SiyahParsomen

 

 

Boring areas: I suppose this is the hallways mostly. The problem with them was that I made them too big from the start.

The gravestones can be a bit tricky to hit. And the animation is bad because there is no animation The intact stone is just replaced with a destroyed one.

Yup the stone texture used almost everywhere is Melan's.

An in game video? I suppose you mean for the briefing right? Not some 90" LCD monitor in the map.

Spot on on the next mission prophecy!

 

 

 

@Sotha

 

 

Wow, praise from Ceasar, I mean Sotha

You just gave me a good idea. Some lightning that shines though the windows when you destroy the book, would have been cool.

Considering the crypt haunt's alternative; walk between 6-7 predefined spots for all eternity, I think you did him a favour.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad you liked the FM.

[lowenz]

Sotha spoke for me too

 

Really good performance for a such big place!

Edited December 5, 2010 by lowenz

[Fidcal]

Been playing solid for two and a half hours and ain't done yet! Smooth gameplay and no problems. I'll resume tomorrow I think.

[fllood]

Hi there!

 

long time Taffer (T1/T2 FMs), new to TDM ...

 

... started with trying a couple of the smaller missions lately. So far most of them have been nice short looting fun and good to get myself familiar with TDM. However this mission now gave me 'real' Thief atmosphere. It's great to see that dark mod and mappers are able to archive that!!

 

Things particularly well done in Flakebridge Monastery:

 

 

 

* the use of undead and a big fat spider! - ok, okay ,-) ... that's just personal preference!

* size of map and non-linearity

* dimensions and sizes of rooms and architecture (felt often wrong in TDM missions I've played so far)

* good use of stakes (always welcome)

* the use of ambient sounds

* the absence of non-ambient tunes (non-ambient music seam to be used in TDM more often than in T1/T2 FMs. for me the use of music just distract or even hinder gameplay)

* the visuals, lightning, set of AIs ... well, everything in the Cathedral

* many fine graphic details like the light-shadows of the colored window glass on the floor, etc.

* little things and details about all the Monastery guests

* the undead in the coffin trying to get free. hey, I expected the coffin to burst open any second ;-) ... nice idea!

* performance!!! ... this mission gave me doubled frames even having double map size in comparison to the missions I've enjoyed so far. so I guess it's about FM optimization rather than the engine or my mediocre PC. great job done with that Jesps!

 

A few things I didn't favor:

 

* too many corridors without purpose ...

* ... which came from a segmented, (in parts) unrealistic and meander floorplan. for example: would the Builders really arrange a Monastery where their members have to walk miles through serpentine corridors to get their supper? ;-)

* the kitchen/diner wing felt too bleak to me

* overuse of lockpicking (I do much like the mechanism in TDM. but i'm not in favor having to pick each and every chest. or for multiple-locks on non-special containers and ordinary doors)

* exploration felt somewhat to safe.

* I would have liked to see something about the motivation and further plans of the Necromancer (but just being evil dude)

 

Overall excellent mission!

 

 

 

... looking forward to discover more missions with similar feel to it.

 

Thanks Jesp!

Edited December 7, 2010 by fllood

[Aprilsister]

I've said it before and I'll say it again in celebration and as expression of the FM being public:

 

Brilliant!

 

 

 

Cough!

 

 

[Melan]

This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience - so, thank you! Detailed commentary:

 

 

The visuals were generally very good. Some of the map may have used a bit more mess - decals, bumps, rubble, destroyed objects or scattered junk - but I can understand how that would be a problem in such a large place. But the basic architecture was impressive and imposing; I liked that the monastery buildings had a "weight" to them. This really felt similar to a place like Chartreuse or Cluny, a major monastic centre. Crawling over a courtyard or peering down from the grand battlements emphasised this feeling.

 

The small details were very imaginative and gave the mission a lot of its charm. The guest wing itself was the best (it could have been a mini-mission by itself), but I also loved things like the grand staircases, the crypt, the coffin in the cathedral, the barricaded door and the clocktower - well done. The room of Brother Alarus was a hoot! I think the only place that let me down a bit was the library, which seemed lacking. But that is in part due to TDM's bookshelf models, which, I admit, I am not a fan of, too sparse and too neat.

 

AI were not a huge challenge due to their small numbers even while ghosting, but I can accept the mission was more about exploration than sneaking. Plus the cathedral made up for that with its patrolling undead. On that note: the variety of undead AI equipped with various tools and accessories was a good feature.

 

Music was good, but the main tone became slightly monotonous after a while - it is never easy to get the balance right, but a little bit more variety might have been to the level's advantage.

 

 

All in all, I liked the mission a lot. Be proud about it.

[_Atti_]

I didnt finish but i really really like how it looks and feels! I think this is one those maps that doesnt seem to leak any amateurishness, its simple yet unique architecture/lighting is charming, textures are a fine choice. I would recommend this to people getting friendly with TDM, even with the undead..

Edited December 5, 2010 by _Atti_

[pwl]

Jesps: This is AWESOME!! one question though Where do I destroy the book?? I tried it in an oven but that did not work!