Jump to content
The Dark Mod Forums

Fan Mission: In A Time Of Need by kyyrma (2013/11/12)


kyyrma

Recommended Posts

Just to finish off with no black jacking and a really impressive first mission

post-8491-0-57465100-1384283000_thumb.jpg

 

Interesting to note that 20 minutes seems to be about the average time for an Expert run. It's actually more playtime than I expected, which is a good thing. It's funny when you have both designed the map yourself and playtested it possibly even hundreds of times, how you start manouvering around the map like the guy in the movie Groundhog Day. I can do a pretty mean speedrun, believe me ;)

 

edit: apologize for the double post, thought I was editing.

Edited by kyyrma
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Also, about getting out of bounds. Man, that is some determination. When I noticed that pile of furniture there on the balcony I just burst out laughing. This is simply the kind of antics that the engine allows you to do, I friggen' love it. I haven't had this much fun with gaming since I dunno' - Arx Fatalis maybe?

 

Yeah, getting out of bounds is my TDM 'game within a game'. Yours was one of the most challenging yet. :smile:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, getting out of bounds is my TDM 'game within a game'. Yours was one of the most challenging yet. :smile:

 

In hindsight it is pretty annoying for the player that all verticality has pretty much been disabled, because most of us are used to being able to climb on rooftops and such without invisible walls. The problem was that I had already designed the level pretty far when I realized that allowing the player to climb on stuff breaks gives the player too much advantage over the AI. So it was either go back to the drawing board, or simply block off most mantleable surfaces. I chose the latter.

 

My testers were also very determined on getting OoB, especially Numbers who kept surprising me time and time again. That's why all the level borders are locked up so tight :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats on the release. Great little mission! My game in game is getting all the loot, which I did :D .

I liked your secret ways in (or out) well maybe not the one I used the dirty little key for so much but the idea was a good one. :laugh: I have one comment - when I turned the light off in the bedroom upstairs, the guard came in, did his waiting than left the room. After he was gone the light came on. Did you put a ghost in the mission cause it wasn't me. ;)

Thank you for hard work and I look forward to more from you!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a lot of hard work and not quite as much fun at times as you would expect (think leaks, visportaling, monsterclipping...) but I still can't recommend it enough. Not many things beat how satisfying it is to finally release your own level :)

Go for it! if someone who's as useless with computers such as myself can make anything resembling a TDM FM, then I believe anybody with some time and patience can.

Thanks for the encouragement! I am still so intimidated at the thought of making a mission. If you guys think my posts are annoying now, just you wait until I'm constantly bothering everyone with questions about mapping :laugh:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats on the release. Great little mission! My game in game is getting all the loot, which I did :D .

I liked your secret ways in (or out) well maybe not the one I used the dirty little key for so much but the idea was a good one. :laugh: I have one comment - when I turned the light off in the bedroom upstairs, the guard came in, did his waiting than left the room. After he was gone the light came on. Did you put a ghost in the mission cause it wasn't me. ;)

Thank you for hard work and I look forward to more from you!

 

Thanks! That is really creepy by the way.

 

The only thing I can come up with is that maybe one of the light switches is connected wrong, so that turning on the lights for example downstairs might also trigger the upstairs light. That OR your copy of TDM is haunted ;)

 

Edited by kyyrma
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! That is really creepy by the way.

 

The only thing I can come up with is that maybe one of the light switches is connected wrong, so that turning on the lights for example downstairs might also trigger the upstairs light. That OR your copy of TDM is haunted ;)

 

:laugh: cue Twilight Zone theme music. :laugh:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, kyyrma. A nice tight mission.

 

 

 

If you do another version, "tacksman" should be "taxman", unless there really is a guy who collects tacks from people. ^_^

 

 

 

Thanks. And about that!

 

 

 

tacksman (plural tacksmen)

  1. Obsolete spelling of taxman.
    I still agree that it stands out because the letter otherwise doesn't stick to ye olde english :D
 

Edited by kyyrma
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only other problem I had was that you had playerclipped the outer walls and roofs rather too effectively for my liking, but with a determined effort and (if I may say so) some rather creative stacking of furnishings & fittings I managed to get somewhere I shouldn't:

post-9265-0-29692900-1384284922_thumb.jpg

[/size] I am truly, truly sorry.

Anyway, my near-OCD determination to go skybox-walking aside: well done again! Excellent first-time map which may even stir me into trying to go through the tutorial.

Dammit, I knew I didn't check thoroughly enough. You managed to get up on the chimney (which has a bit of player clip) and from there onto the roof of the barn?

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dammit, I knew I didn't check thoroughly enough. You managed to get up on the chimney (which has a bit of player clip) and from there onto the roof of the barn?

Nope - was forced to do some creative stacking (check the corner of the balcony in the pic I posted).

 

The feeling of accomplishment when I launched off and found myself mantling 'solid air'...

 

post-9265-0-16041000-1384374327_thumb.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice misson: small, short and perfect.

Almost crapped my pants in the main bedroom. I was approaching the door and just 1m away the door opened and a guard came in. I literally lunged straight into the crapper and the AI behind me said.. "hmm.. the door..." When I peeked out the toilet he closed the door and was gone. A great moment! Very tense.

 

 

Almost the same thing here. I turned off the light when the guard came in and when I jumped back in the toilet he followed me. :wacko:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the toilet from a gameplay standpoint but it really doesn't make any sense, unless they allow the waste to accumulate over time (that bathroom would smell horrible) and then open the hatch and shovel it out. Wouldn't call that a particularly bright way to design your sewage system.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I liked this mission very much. I especially liked readables - which were great, especially for a first mission - and the gimmick with

 

guards searching for their missing compatriots. I initially didn't even bother with hiding the unconscious guard properly and just dumped him into the corridor upstairs. I were rummaging through the bedroom shelf, when suddenly his friend walked into the room, already armed and ready to fight. Earlier, I almost got detected when a guard decided to turn the lights on when I were crawling through the middle of the room.

 

Edited by Gantolandon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the toilet from a gameplay standpoint but it really doesn't make any sense, unless they allow the waste to accumulate over time (that bathroom would smell horrible) and then open the hatch and shovel it out. Wouldn't call that a particularly bright way to design your sewage system.

 

These sort of inside privies have existed, especially in colder climates where baring your buttocks outside would guarantee frostburn and digging a cesspit in the ground might not be an option. They would usually have empty space below them however, just like toilets in medieval castles. The only difference is that the waste would be collected in the box until someone came and opened the hatch from the outside and it dropped out.

 

Anyway I agree my toilet has no place in the setting of TDM (and especially in a house that has just been renovated! :D) but I decided to add it anyway for gameplay reasons. Sometimes fun gameplay > realism, although in this case I understand it might be immersion breaking if you stop to think about it too much.

 

I liked this mission very much. I especially liked readables - which were great, especially for a first mission - and the gimmick

 

Thank you! Glad to hear you liked the readables, I had a lot fun writing them.

Edited by kyyrma
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The toilet thing is THE thing I love most. It`s a little but, yes, unpleasant detail typical for the middle age.

Yes. Those things exist. If it comes up to dumping the ...mmhh..bodily waste...there are al lot of interesing things

I could post here, but I dont want to mess up ur appetite.

 

But..wait..it`s fun..so yes..here it comes.

 

There`s a castle, close to where I live

 

http://de.wikipedia....ki/Schloss_Burg

http://commons.wikim...Burg?uselang=de

 

They`ve throw their doody simply down the wall into the castle moat. And guess what: Every approx. 100 years they have to leave their castle because of the

pestilence-like smell and YES the moat where full ..puhh.. . Then after a while, when all the ******* have dried and the smell was gone they returned and it repeats from the top.

 

I want to see more of this unappetising details. :-)

 

And it shows by the way the different lives of being a servant or a an aristocrat. I think it`s no fun to despose other peoples **** with a shovel :-/ .

This in combination with the submission-letter makes it even more fun for me to steel all I can carry :-)

 

I`m looking forward to play a whole castle designed by kyyrma!

 

(by the way: I didn`t even have to blackjack any guards. nice mission-design and realistic patrol-behaviour..thx again)

Edited by vvGarrettvv
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want to see more of this unappetising details. :-)

 

And it shows by the way the different lives of being a servant or a an aristocrat. I think it`s no fun to despose other peoples **** with a shovel :-/ .

This in combination with the submission-letter makes it even more fun for me to steel all I can carry :-)

 

I`m looking forward to play a whole castle designed by kyyrma!

 

(by the way: I didn`t even have to blackjack any guards. nice mission-design and realistic patrol-behaviour..thx again)

 

Thanks! I tried to make it so that the player can see how different the life of the servants is.

With the common outdoors toilet (although maybe I should have made it more dirty), not being allowed to use the door in the hallway, having to clean Ferryman's inside privy etc.

 

It's the same thing with Ferryman. When testing the level, one of the things Bridge pointed out was that the character of Ferryman was not characterized well enough. First we thought of adding more written notes by him, but then I decided to go for a more subtle approach by using items and the environment. I wanted to emphasize his love for sea by adding things like the anchor outside, and the compass mural behind the front yard light. Same thing with the ships wheel on top of the fireplace and spyglass in a holder on the edge of it. It's all small details but I'm glad many players have appreciated them :)

 

Edited by kyyrma
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want to see more of this unappetising details. :-)

 

I started my first fanmission (it will take some time) and you'll find some stuff like that in it...

 

@Kyyrma: Looking forward for more stuff by you. I had a lot of fun playing this small mission. Well done!

edit: Played it 2 times - on easy and difficult.

Edited by Jasp
  • Like 2

$guard.moveToPosition($player1.getOrigin());

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Recent Status Updates

    • nbohr1more

      TDM 15th Anniversary Contest is now active! Please declare your participation: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22413-the-dark-mod-15th-anniversary-contest-entry-thread/
       
      · 0 replies
    • JackFarmer

      @TheUnbeholden
      You cannot receive PMs. Could you please be so kind and check your mailbox if it is full (or maybe you switched off the function)?
      · 1 reply
    • OrbWeaver

      I like the new frob highlight but it would nice if it was less "flickery" while moving over objects (especially barred metal doors).
      · 4 replies
    • nbohr1more

      Please vote in the 15th Anniversary Contest Theme Poll
       
      · 0 replies
    • Ansome

      Well then, it's been about a week since I released my first FM and I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised by its reception. I had expected half as much interest in my short little FM as I received and even less when it came to positive feedback, but I am glad that the aspects of my mission that I put the most heart into were often the most appreciated. It was also delightful to read plenty of honest criticism and helpful feedback, as I've already been given plenty of useful pointers on improving my brushwork, level design, and gameplay difficulty.
      I've gotten back into the groove of chipping away at my reading and game list, as well as the endless FM catalogue here, but I may very well try my hand at the 15th anniversary contest should it materialize. That is assuming my eyes are ready for a few more months of Dark Radiant's bright interface while burning the midnight oil, of course!
      · 4 replies
×
×
  • Create New...