Stealth Bastard

[Xarg]

Oh my god, YOU made grab the sphere?!? I ended up having to ragequit that one after 5 minutes of trying to proceed after getting the sphere. This game is far too much fun.

[Diego]

LOL Sorry about that

 

Have you played both parts? If you grabbed the sphere I assume you played the second, at least. You could come back the same way you came, if you're fast enough! The official route is through the upper right corner of the sphere room. To get there I suggest this: you can wait as long as you want near the left camera door. From there climb up, you can pass behind the bot unnoticed. Now just hitch hike on the little laser platform. However you can't jump directly on it because of the diagonal lasers, but there are other platforms above, grab the closer one first then drop to the movable one. From the other side you'll do something similar, grab the upper platform, wait for the laser to go to the other side (so the diagonal lasers switch) and jump to the exit.

 

It's hard to know when something is too difficult there, because there is no beta testing.

[Xarg]

I downloaded all the levels and started on page 1 (which in retrospect, appears to be the latest missions), so I guess I've only played part 2. I played through a couple of pages of levels, then realised what was going on, and went back to page 100, and started working forwards to page 1.

 

On the topic of difficulty, I've noticed that with quite a few of the fan missions, I've had to quit several because the way to proceed just wasn't intuitive in the slightest (yet people had finished it so the mission wasn't hopelessly broken). I've also noticed quite a few of the missions have to be done right the first time (typed that in the guard's voice, heh) otherwise you can't proceed, making them broken unless you restart. I've been voting those ones down quite nastily, 1 and 2 stars, but I doubt that'll have any effect on them. If only feedback existed..

 

I get the same problem with my Beginner's Contest mission, knowing where everything is makes the playthrough quite fast for me, and I worry that the mission is too easy (I consciously chose not to send the player on a loop-the-loop key hunt), and I imagine that despite the hours put into the mission, it'll be over with quickly. I guess that's what happens when you know where all the objectives are, where the loot is and what the guards are doing.. and yet adding more guards or making the existing ones gain hyper-acute senses is just fake difficulty.. it's all a delicate balancing act, and the more mapping I do, the more I appreciate the effort put in by people who've already released missions.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Xarg

[Diego]

I know what you mean.. Most of the levels are the wrong kind of difficult. You have to memorize the pattern of a blinking laser and then hop at the right time - i mean, frame - on a platform. Which requires you to die many times, and it's rare to see a level with well placed checkpoints. (sometimes they even break the level as you mentioned) So, yeah, I vote down mercilessly the ones I actually finish. What I don't understand is that some of the worst levels not only have good rating but were played by hundreds of people!

 

Mine wasn't supposed to be hard, but no one leaves feedback at the official forum (it's almost dead). Since I hate precision platforming and memorization, anytime you see something that seem to require it in my levels, search for alternative ways.

 

On a side note, I think the makers are being incredibly unwise (to put it gently) with this game. Stealth Bastard drew a lot of attention! People really liked it. But their attitude towards the game is like "meh.. this is just a prototype. We know there are bugs, we don't feel like fixing them. We won't make a campaign either. Actually, we are not going to do anything! we'll just wait for people to eventually forget about the game" What indie game producer would just sit and watch while your successful project slowly fades away? Beats me..

[Xarg]

There seems to be a 4 part campaign of sorts, but I've noticed that some of the levels seem to turn up in the download missions, so I wonder if they just grabbed 28 or so solid missions and packaged them. That and theres some crazy guy called nathan(numbers) who seems to have set the best time on almost every map I've played, some of the times are ludicrously low, makes me wonder about exploits or what-have-you. Definately a very promising game. Has a nice retro feel with the graphics and looping music, and the platforming. If they truly are just abandoning it now... that's just silly. Stealth Bastard has immense potential, especially given the cost required to play it to its full extent is ~40mb and $0.00...

 

I've been giving a few 4's for creative levels, but you better believe I'm handing out 1 and 2's for the retardo levels, if I even bother finishing them, pretty much what you've been doing.

[Diego]

Well, there is a campaign. But it's a short draft, with no story. Good levels though!

 

A few levels I remember enjoying: "the museum" (by monkeypuch) and levels made by hamish.

[STiFU]

I found a similar game called PID on Steam today. It looks fun and features a lot of gimmicks like smokebombs etc. . It is not free, however!

[7upMan]

This game is also available on GOG.com for 10 EUR, of course without any DRM crap.

[Diego]

On a side note, I think the makers are being incredibly unwise (to put it gently) with this game. Stealth Bastard drew a lot of attention! People really liked it. But their attitude towards the game is like "meh.. this is just a prototype. We know there are bugs, we don't feel like fixing them. We won't make a campaign either. Actually, we are not going to do anything! we'll just wait for people to eventually forget about the game" What indie game producer would just sit and watch while your successful project slowly fades away? Beats me..

 

News for Stealth Bastard fans. They've finally released a deluxe version! I'm considering buying it.

 

I'm quoting myself here to point something out. I didn't hear about this deluxe version from any news website, reviewer or indie forum, I went over to their site myself just out of boredom. Indie games are not like Eidos making Thief 4, where they can say "hey, we'll make thief 4", go completely silent for 4 years and people are still talking about it. People move on and forget all about it, and they had a whole momentum back when it was released. Even the forum died a long time ago (it will probably repopulate though).

 

Of course remaking the game takes time, but keep the community busy. Make more official levels, start advertising the deluxe version early with videos and features, organize contests etc.