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Fan Mission: In remembrance of him (by RPGista)


RPGista

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Just tested with 2.0 and could find no problems.

 

Did have a clipping issue though were I jumped through the wall trying to jump up to the pipe, thinking it was a ladder of sorts. Long time since i played this one.:post-20393-0-48888000-1377086694_thumb.jpg

 

Not a game changer though as there is no need to be up on that broken balcony.

 

Ps. Loved the mission. Totally awesome :D

Edited by Tr00pertj

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Thanks, boys. The shading issue is not caused by me, unless its coming from one of the new models (which nobody reported), everywhere else, only stock materials and models were used.

 

That balcony is indeed useful for you to get to the glass window you can see from the courtyard. Never had the clipping issue though...

 

Cheers for the playtest (and comments). ;)

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Hi RPGista,

 

I never used it for that only for getting out the way of AI. I never got to that window from this side only from the cemetery side using a shovel and plank of wood to jump up to the shuttered windows there, Then going through the house to the girl in front of the stove and the glass window.

Laptop:Metabox P370SM3- Intel Core i7-4800MQ- 2x GTX780M SLI- 16G 1600Mhz- 500G Samsung mSata-1TB Hitachi HDD- 120Hz LG 1080p.Desktops:i75930k-2x GTX980 SLI-16G 2133Mhz-Evo120GSSD-Swift PG278Q1440p Gsync.Spare:AMD A10-7850K-APU-8G 1866Mhz-seagate 4TB-120G ssd. LoL Old:P75-1:1FSB-8M ram 512MB Maxtor HDD-1MB Cirrus Logic video chip-still got the parts somewhere?First PC-Tandy 512K Color computer.

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  • 2 months later...

I found it somewhat disappointing. On one hand, the plot I think is good and the mapping is decent. I like how there is no loot objective, it's quite refreshing to play a mission that isn't about stealing as much as you can (not that there's anything wrong with that either). However my opinion of it quickly deteriorated after getting stuck for like 20 minutes in the chapel.

 

This section has numerous problems that completely disrupt the flow of the mission because of the way they are designed. The most glaring is the complete lack of ambient lighting in the crypt. Look, I know what you were going for and it was incredibly scary at first (which is very commendable - although perhaps you went a little overboard with the screaming) but there needs to be some light. It's just not fun to stumble around in the dark (even turning the gamma up did nothing) and it takes you completely out of the game. I just assumed this entire section was a red herring to get in a scare and combed through the rest of the area a couple of times to no avail. I had to come here to find out that a) that Richard was even in the zombie's cell (a note to that effect would have been greatly appreciated) and B) that the ring was under an arm - which was only interactable from a certain angle. Of course I wasn't about to bring a candle into the cell with me to search, although I actually did do that with the Hammerite high on my heels just to see if there was anything in the cell, and I concluded that there was only a note. Honestly, was it absolutely necessary to hide the ring? Maybe I would have been lucky and have it be highlighted in the pitch darkness. I would complain but at least the mission wouldn't be stopped dead in its tracks.

 

So… yeah. You need to seriously reconsider that. In real life wandering around a crypt in total darkness with a zombie patrolling would be scary as hell, but you would be able to navigate by touch and if you still felt compelled to find the ring you would be able to do so (if you had any reasonable incentive to go into the cell that is). Here it is just pressing the movement keys, keeping yourself oriented toward the little light there is down there and waiting until you stop moving. Give the player a lantern or something. In fact that would be much scarier, risking detection while searching for the ring (which the player would know was in the cell because of a note).

 

But I still have to give this high marks because I really like the concept, especially the reward for picking locks and exploring being more backstory and other reading material, with the little loot there is being merely incidental. The writing is, by the way, excellent I found. The long anti-religious tangent is a bit preachy though. You could have easily cut the length in half and still retain the same effect. All problems aside, kudos for making an FM with such an unusual story, which could even have been more detailed I think.

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Some very interesting points. I found your idea for designing the crypt area around a player with a lantern, flashing his way around while trying to avoid a zombie, to be really creative, I would never have thought of that. My aim was a lot simpler, Im afraid. The crypt is pitch black to force the player to grab a light source and come back (since the only one available was extinguished, and the moonlight is too weak to cover the area). This means he has to deal somehow with both the priest and the zombie, ultimately. I cant see how you can ghost that area, and it was designed partly to make the player "come out" and interact with the AI, at least in this instance. Not necessarily, but I dont see how it could be done otherwise. Theres no need to fight. You can KO the priest, and you can lure the zombie outside, and sneak your way past him, back in the chapel. But you have to do something.

 

That area was, overall, hard to "explain". The priest throwing a fresh skull into the grave was supposed to be a hint of what he's been doing. When you get in the crypt, Richard is not on the altar, just a (his) hat. Then the creature escapes. After dealing with it, you keep searching around the crypt and find the cell and more body parts. They are supposed to be Richard's remains. To put the ring right on the floor would be maybe anti-climatic, hiding it under the remains seemed more appropriate. A think several people didnt even find the priest's chambers, as you did, so those also lost a bit of backstory on the priest and zombie's relationship, which adds to it. Still, I wanted to give the story a pretty loose feel. The notes are never really very objective. Im glad you still found some enjoyment in there. Thanks for the observations.

 

The book you mentioned was not written by me, as you of course noticed, but by a french philosopher, baron d'Paul Henri Thiry Holbach. I used the initial paragraphs of the text Superstition in All Ages (1732) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17607, not only because its pretty fascinating, but also because it seemed like a fitting piece of text regarding the theme of mission itself, and could add a bit of a serious "oasis" inside the game.

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The book you mentioned was not written by me, as you of course noticed, but by a french philosopher, baron d'Paul Henri Thiry Holbach. I used the initial paragraphs of the text Superstition in All Ages (1732) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17607, not only because its pretty fascinating, but also because it seemed like a fitting piece of text regarding the theme of mission itself, and could add a bit of a serious "oasis" inside the game.

 

Hah, I'm actually not familiar with it so I did assume you wrote it. Nevertheless, I was considering the writing as a whole, even the intangible part of it when I made that statement. But really, I do appreciate you wanting to have the player have to be creative to evade the zombie. Originally when I noticed there was almost no light whatsoever it did immediately occur to me that bringing a light source would solve most of my problems, but I think most people play it with a stealth mindset. It didn't actually occur to me to lure the zombie upstairs, in fact I was understandably eager to avoid him completely. Well in any case, even though I got stuck I found the FM to be a nice experience. Have you made any other missions? I'm a newcomer to The Dark Mod (although I've been playing Thief for years) so I'm going through every available mission more or less haphazardly but I obviously want to prioritize the good ones and playing through this has given me a lot of faith in your abilities. If this is your only FM, please make more.

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What I like about TDM is the openness of it. AI are responsive and layered. The player, an apt adventurer, capable of using shadows, the environment, and vigorous enough to be capable of heroic deeds (facing dangers, accidents, duelling monsters). Everything works as it should, arrows dont do hitpoint damage, they kill. Steel plates actually protect agaisnt steel. Swordfights are quick and brutal. Its a good base for game stories.

 

Yes, its my only mission. I have been playing with an idea for another one but it wouldnt be about stealing something at all. Not sure if I can pull it off, or if I'll ever have the time. Anyway, thanks.

Edited by RPGista
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  • 3 months later...

Finally finished this one! I found some of the jumping sections very confusing so I had given it a rest. It's such a beautiful mission though I had another go and finished it today!

 

Final section scared the hell out of me. The intro sequence really sets the scene.

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Just played this, very late but it's never too late. :)

 

Really enjoyed it, frustrating in places. I got stuck in the pit (where the collapsed floor fell in - found no way out and had to reload). I went in their thinking their must be

a rope arrow down there as I couldn't see any way to get out from above, so since there was an easy way in, it made sense to drop down. Big mistake. lol

 

I also found the drainpipe (not invisible) but clipped through the wall and managed to jump back out again. So I jumped in again, and fell into the void. Reload

again. Never saw anything referring to an exit other than the objectives. It didn't make any sense for that door to be the exit since it was just a texture. It would've

been better if it had opened to a small room and you exited there. Only misaligned texture I found was ceiling of stairs going down to crypt.

 

However, that said, the positives of this was an excellent mission. Loved the story, and the whole layout of it. I even liked the platform jumping. A lot of

difficult jumps, had me often thinking "can I make that?".

 

I too thought the readable in the footlocker was a bit too long, however I read it all. Actually I liked it and agree with it lol. Seems more like your treatise on

why religion sux and science is the only truth. lol +1 there. lol I jumped like hell in the crypt, even made my hair stand on end at first when the screams

started. I'm thinking "ok is this just a voice over or is something other than a zombie coming out? lol Sword fixed the zombie.

 

Loved the mission, really well designed. I hope my first comes close to it's level of design. Prob not. We'll see I guess.

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

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Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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Hey, thanks... This is also my first (and only) mission, so theres no reason yours cant be better. Designing missions is helped a lot by having a clear plan laid out on paper, from plot to details to what you can find in each room, etc. Then you'll know what you will have to learn to get what you want and how much work needs to be put on on each stage of the mission.

 

Though you probably cleared that chapel area, making your way back to the door could be a last challenge to those who let the priest or the zombie live. The readable you refer to is actually an excerpt from a phillosopher called Baron d'Holbach, read more details on the readme. It was put in there in the hope some would find it an interesting read and take time off to consider these concepts, which also happen to be a part of this game's lore as well, with its brutal religious order and so on. And your right, religion sucks. ;) Cool to hear you had fun in the crypt.

Edited by RPGista
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  • 9 months later...

assessment:: mission is like an Extra Dark Chocolate after-dinner mint. Short, Black, and Bitter-Sweet.

 

Script problem: The intro assures us that there are no City Guards around the Maze...I start the mission appreciating the architecture, and guess who? ... 'Officer Bently' come around to whack me with his sword. :/

 

Potential bug. This mission, and not in others, candles will drop from my 'hands' after a second or two of holding them...which is a bit unnerving, and possibly deliberate? This is after restarting and stuff.

 

spoiler question:

Who was screaming for dear life inside the crypt. It seems unlikely to be Kevin. Must'a been rats.

 

Edited by Hecateus
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Loved that assessment.

 

Never thought about the officer in that way, but youre right, he's a retired guard who lives in there for the cheap rent - also a way of justifying having a man carrying a proper sword in a place where only peasants live. Thing is we dont have a way of making it clear people are neutral towards the player. So in the map, people carrying proper weapons are to be avoided (either someone who will catch you inside their property, or a gang member).

 

The candle thing is definitely a bug, candles only drop if you hit them hard against something or if you press the pickup key to drop. Never experienced that myself.

 

And the scream was supposed to come from the monster indeed, I never got it why zombies are only supposed to mumble, so here he screams, not because he saw you, but like a tortured soul kind of thing.

 

Glad you enjoyed it, my friend.

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  • 2 months later...

Just finished it.

 

This was a really enigmatic experience. A very strong point to note is the writing and the design of the mission - great, great job with that.

You simply broke the fourth wall with the priest's readable in the footlocker mentioning Montesquieu by the way B) I didn't expect such a thorough meditation on religion and power!

 

The criticism expressed earlier regarding the darkness, the spots where you can get stuck while platforming, in the dilapidated buildings - is especially valid but all worth it up to the end for the final sequences.

It's a really good mission but small adjustments can make it a big favourite (just because the platforming can be so hard).

Thanks updating the mission for TDM 2.0!

Edited by Anderson

"I really perceive that vanity about which most men merely prate — the vanity of the human or temporal life. I live continually in a reverie of the future. I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active — not more happy — nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. The result will never vary — and to suppose that it will, is to suppose that the foregone man has lived in vain — that the foregone time is but the rudiment of the future — that the myriads who have perished have not been upon equal footing with ourselves — nor are we with our posterity. I cannot agree to lose sight of man the individual, in man the mass."...

- 2 July 1844 letter to James Russell Lowell from Edgar Allan Poe.

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Hey Anderson, thanks. Im really glad you liked the mission and the story for what it is.

 

As you say it yourself, the mission was divided in sections by little puzzle-like bottlenecks that were supposed to make the player wonder what to do next. Perhaps because of my limited "physical storytelling" skills they turned out to be less clear than desirable. Like what to do if you jump through the broken wall and end up in a ruined basement, how to advance from the courtyard/barn area, and later from the derelict building, or what to do once you get into the church. The mission was always going to be "indie", theres no focus on traditional thief gameplay things like avoiding patrols, key hunts, etc. Its a bit more limited, its a small, focused map, but hopefully with enough points of interest to keep the player wanting to go foward. Im glad it made sense for you.

 

PS: I wish I could take credit for that book entry you mentioned. It is an excerpt from a book by the french philosopher baron d'Paul Henri Thiry Holbach (Superstition in All Ages (1732), you can get it on gutenberg.org), and it was put in there because it seemed like a way of exploring the theme of superstition, tradition and how that shapes the way a society lives, the moral values that keep a whole population in chains during long time periods (in the story, the priest leads a forbidden, secret life).

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Hey Anderson, thanks. Im really glad you liked the mission and the story for what it is.

 

As you say it yourself, the mission was divided in sections by little puzzle-like bottlenecks that were supposed to make the player wonder what to do next. Perhaps because of my limited "physical storytelling" skills they turned out to be less clear than desirable. Like what to do if you jump through the broken wall and end up in a ruined basement, how to advance from the courtyard/barn area, and later from the derelict building, or what to do once you get into the church. The mission was always going to be "indie", theres no focus on traditional thief gameplay things like avoiding patrols, key hunts, etc. Its a bit more limited, its a small, focused map, but hopefully with enough points of interest to keep the player wanting to go foward. Im glad it made sense for you.

 

PS: I wish I could take credit for that book entry you mentioned. It is an excerpt from a book by the french philosopher baron d'Paul Henri Thiry Holbach (Superstition in All Ages (1732), you can get it on gutenberg.org), and it was put in there because it seemed like a way of exploring the theme of superstition, tradition and how that shapes the way a society lives, the moral values that keep a whole population in chains during long time periods (in the story, the priest leads a forbidden, secret life).

Ah yes, that explains !

I was thinking - how could he write something like that, especially in a church?! But now that you mention it... It was just a chapel... So, why not revolt a little? (Although I want to think that most priests don't think like philosphers!) That's why it was so illuminating (at least in the struggle for power section) ^_^

 

Yes, it was really well focused with nice small stories around.

The small distances though don't make it instantly obivous on whose territory you're stepping into until reading the papers (the barn houses bandits, or the people who're supposed to guard the secret box with precious loot?)

 

But never mind all that. The mission had a great feeling for me.

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"I really perceive that vanity about which most men merely prate — the vanity of the human or temporal life. I live continually in a reverie of the future. I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active — not more happy — nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. The result will never vary — and to suppose that it will, is to suppose that the foregone man has lived in vain — that the foregone time is but the rudiment of the future — that the myriads who have perished have not been upon equal footing with ourselves — nor are we with our posterity. I cannot agree to lose sight of man the individual, in man the mass."...

- 2 July 1844 letter to James Russell Lowell from Edgar Allan Poe.

badge?user=andarson

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I found this the most frustrating mission I've played recently. I'm decent at jumping and mantling, but in this mission there are some points where it is not clear at all where to go, and you can't climb half the shit because there's invisible walls all over the place. Then if you manage to find some kind of candidate path, going the wrong way ends up in death or discovery, turning the mission in a quickload fest.

The lighting's also pretty bad. When you're outside, everything is super bright, and then when you get inside it's just black. I had to run around with a candle before I found the door to get out of the first drop-down area. What made this worse was when there was a climbing section in doors. I had to turn up the gamma. I never turn that up, it looks terrible.

Anyway, after like 20-30 reloads, I finally get to the church. I discover the library, and find a readable there. Do you really expect me to read a 20-page book? Inside a game?! If I want to read a book, I'll read an actual book. I get the point you'r trying to make with the book, but you could've made that without writing 20 pages filled with dreadful prose. Way too many passive forms and run-on sentences. Combined with phrasing that looks like something from /r/iamverysmart, just terrible to read, so I quit trying to read that. At this point I was not in the mood to read shit. I get to another readable about Kevin, and decide to just suck it up and read it. Once I got past the first page, I checked to see how many there were, and there were too. damn. many. I don't doubt you could've gotten the eerie feeling you were going for across in a single page.

I decided to quit when I got to the crypt. Again with the bloody lighting, and then important stuff happened, and I was not in the mood for that kind of stuff and already quite pissed, so I quit.

 

Needless to say, I won't be finishing this.

You can call me Phi, Numbers, Digits, Ratio, 16, 1618, or whatever really, as long as it's not Phil.

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The smart guy you mention is actually called baron d'Paul Henri Thiry Holbach (the in game book is an excerpt from his book Superstition in All Ages (1732)). I've only read this one work from him, now that you mention it, but Im still very interested. Definitely worth a look. Gotta read his stuff on nature, see if he passes the old speciesism test...

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Whoa... This is the first time I recall anyone being critical of the lighting in this mission. Gotta check it out again to see if something broke.

 

Maybe it's just too wide a dynamic range? @161803398874989 do you have a 24-bit or higher LCD panel?

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Yeah 32-bit LCD. I am colourblind, though, so if things are the same brightness but differ in red/green tones then I'm not going to be able to distinguish them. For instance, when lockpicking I rely on the sound to learn if the door is unpickable or not. The red flash that shows when it a door is unpickable is indistinguishable from the green one when it's not for me.

You can call me Phi, Numbers, Digits, Ratio, 16, 1618, or whatever really, as long as it's not Phil.

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Its most likely about the areas where its so datk theres no ambient light level (pitch black). That was obviously intentional, but its not something people are used to seeing in other tdm maps (if any).

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