Fan Mission:Dragon's Claw by b1k3rdude (31/10/2011) updated

[AluminumHaste]

I voted 4/4/5 for you man, I'm sorry. Visually this mission was stunning to me another Biker map that is amazing to look at and runs well....except at one spot. When I finally got to the area with the fog on the ground, I was in the building with the sleeping ghost on the second floor. When leaving that building the game would freeze up for 2-15 seconds periodically but the ambient music would keep playing so I knew it would come back. Very weird issue.

Also there was a broken vis portal in the building where the screaming girl/guy sound is played. When looking into the open door I see skybox, and when going through the portal the street is then gone, and I can see skybox.

Other than that OMG! I had so much fun knocking out all the guards in the beginning. Got 100% loot but had to cheat for 2 things I think.

This mission was incredibly polished for the time you had you are so good at that, I loved it! Stayed up til 4 AM playing it too.

[nbohr1more]

Biker, you poll is still broken. You need 1 through 5 stars. Currently you are limited to 4. You will need to delete and rebuild it. If that doesn't work, create a new thread with a proper poll then provide a link to it in the first post.

[Bikerdude]

Apologies, poll has now been corrected!

[Bikerdude]

I voted 4/4/5 for you man, I'm sorry. Visually this mission was stunning to me another Biker map that is amazing to look at and runs well....except at one spot. This mission was incredibly polished for the time you had you are so good at that, I loved it! Stayed up til 4 AM playing it too.

Once the contest is over I will be working on it with Flanders to fix all the leftover bugs and polish the map some more.

[nbohr1more]

Thanks for fixing the poll Biker.

 

I think you've done a helluva job here with the time-scale involved. (I am certainly impressed that you pulled-off that Biker magic and made the mission playable for me after that low performing beta).

 

That said, if v2 needs more AI to fix the game-play challenge aspect, please don't hesitate to add them. It would be more than understandable for this caliber of mission architecture to outclass low-end hardware.

 

(Though... who knows what kinda performance is still being wasted by that broken visportal... so...)

Edited November 1, 2011 by nbohr1more

[Bikerdude]

I fixed that broken visportal/s, the draw call count never got about 1200 outside, so there is room for more Ai, little nooks and cranies and more streets! If flanders is upfor it iwill be doing a similar aproach to the way I worked with Melan, he does a chunk of the concept with contribs from myself and I then perf optmize is and nooks/crannies the odd room or 10 and we both work on detailing (decals etc) and story!

 

The biggest 2 bugs were the Ai not crossing the bridge and the ghosts, and Feidlmedic is working on the ghosts for me (I wanted different mines to be behave differently to the ones in his mission) and I could have probably quashed them had I used the time I worked on SirTafs mission souly on this. But then I wouldnt have the awesome story work to fiddle with.

 

This map was very much a mixture of lots of contributions that I had lots of fun merging into a mission.

[nbohr1more]

Sounds like you and all your helpers have the same idea. The contest is more about making the mod shine than the actual comparison between authors.

 

Bravo to all involved.

 

[Bikerdude]

Well I know what thing, we function better as a team than individuals. So on that note I ave a suggestion, I would like to make joint missions with all those that entered the contest. And also to those who didnt get to release, need a hand? I'm not working on anything atm :-D

[Shadowhide]

I'm not working on anything now :-D

unbelievable

[Bikerdude]

LOL, I know, letting things slide a bit...

[AluminumHaste]

Yeah dude wtf?

[Bikerdude]

well I have something super secret I can work on while i wait for people to get back to me....

[Glyph Seeker]

I am excited by the idea of more ghosts generally as a concept - whether passive or aggressive!

[kittykat]

Bikerdude, your poll does not follow the Halloween contest specifications: please adjust it so we can vote on it.

 

My impressions: this is a very good-looking mission where too little happens. I spoilered the details just in case:

 

 

The architecture of the place (occasional minor bugs notwithstanding) is up to very high standards, and sometimes it is even hard to determine whether we are seeing very good patch/brush work or very good models. Smooth. As a lesser technical issue, I must remark that applying the caulk texture on unseen surfaces is good practice, as long as these surfaces are really unseen: in a lot of places, they aren't, since it is both logical and very easy to climb up to them, resulting in a break of immersion.

 

I have problems with the gameplay. The map is very empty, which is a problem from two respects. First, a lot of it is spent admiring the scenery but not actually interacting with your environment beyond going through it. There are streets, then more streets where you can occasionally find places to climb up to, but there are no guard patrols to evade, citizens to eavesdrop on or even many readables to read. You aren't kept busy, and the AI aren't really a challenge. Much of the exciting scenery is kept from you, since there is no reason to get up on it.

 

Second, the emptiness of the level becomes a frustrating puzzle when you have to find the way from one part of the level to another. To me, it was like finding a needle in a haystack - I even searched the general area, and even saw the place, but never made the connection - instead spending a lot of time trying to find an entrance at two other parts of a level - which seemed like logical ways into the plague ward (and guarded appropriately) but weren't. I think this could have done with more hints - and as much as it pains me WRT the city architecture, <em>maybe</em> that entire section could have been cut and used elsewhere (actually, it would be cool if the locales of some missions would be revisited in different contexts, like Ambush / Trace the Courier in Thief2 or various fan missions reusing the originals). The FM would have lost nothing if it started in the tavern and the streets were closed off - and been less confusing!

 

In comparison, the final objective was a cakewalk, and I would not have minded if it was more of a challenge - extra lights, more AI, some sort of puzzle to it all, or extra challenges on the way back (and I don't mean the "try to get into the well, not the top of the well, damnit!" thing).

 

 

Congratulation on your mission Bikerdude, I so am on the same page as Melan about this mission except I found the entrance right away. It would be awesome if you would build further on it and make some of these houses accessible and maybe more people around town. The map is so cool.

[Bikerdude]

Congratulation on your mission Bikerdude, I so am on the same page as Melan about this mission except I found the entrance right away. It would be awesome if you would build further on it and make some of these houses accessible and maybe more people around town. The map is so cool.

Thats the plan, think of it this way - remember what version 1 of 'Business as useal v2' was like compared v1, well thats what I have planned for this map.

[Glyph Seeker]

I found a big FPS boost at the start of the map. Not sure what you did, Biker but it made a noticeable difference around that beautiful arch!

 

And sorry for not beta testing properly - I was waiting for 0.4 last night but then I totally crashed out RL.

[raymeld]

Can someone tell me what the loot objective is on easy level ? I've only managed 130 so far so I guess I've got a way to go , having difficulty finding it but saying that haven't had much time to play ! Enjoying it a lot though.

[Bikerdude]

I don't think its much more than you have atm, if you cant find loot you can bring up the console in-game and typ ' tdm_show_loot ' and this will show you were I have hidden the loot throughout the mission. :-D

[raymeld]

Thanks for your reply Bikerdude. I'm guessing I don't have enough to meet the objectives .Will sniff around some more.BTW where is the spoiler button now , it used to be under fonts.

[Bikerdude]

Thanks for your reply Bikerdude. I'm guessing I don't have enough to meet the objectives .Will sniff around some more.BTW where is the spoiler button now , it used to be under fonts.

 

I don't know either, I think ModeTwo should remove the twitter (or is that twatter) button and replace it with a spoiler button.

[raymeld]

Thanks for your help on that , will check through the controls.

[raymeld]

Thanks for your help on that , will check through the controls.

Seems to be under the 'Special BB Code' button top row , third from left , at least there's a spoiler entry there. Thanks again.

[raymeld]

Can someone who's competed this mission give me a few clues

where the loot is in this mission. The console has told me there is about 900 loot to find ( I've found just 130 being a chalice near the well entrance to the plague area plus the rest near the dragon's claw.) I'm missing a big stash somewhere obviously . Is it outside the plague area itself? I don't think you can steal any in the tavern itself. I've tried getting up high with a few rope arrows too.

Thanks for that , I'd like to finish this excellent mission and look forward to it being expanded in time as Bikerdude intends.

[Bikerdude]

when you use the tdm_show_loot command you can look around for where the loot is, also there is no single location for a big stash.

[Flanders]

When you use tdm_show_loot it shows you where the loot is for 5 seconds after you entered it. It's the small coloured boxes you should look out for, they can be tiny if the loot is far away.