Fan Mission: The Gatehouse by Bikerdude & Goldchocobo (updated 02/11/2014)

[Lux]

 

 

 

Great mission! Architecture top notch!! The torches / candles being lit on one side stood out to me.

 

Wish there was a trinket for the curious wanderers under the initial bridge before the drawbridge gate lowered. I climbed under there and found nothing but stone!

 

Figured from early on, once I couldn't get the bow or arrows that there was going to be no weapons needed.

 

Loved the use of traps and puzzles.

 

The classic pressure plate triggering arrows! Woohoo!

 

For the spiked balls, I jumped from the chest onto the stairs. I liked the creative use of warnings to signal the player a trap was near, like the skeleton laying over the chest. Had to make a mad dash back to the entry door.

 

The lock picking while the crushing ceiling came down was a winner for sure, harkon back to the days of yore with original DOOM traps. Very tense!! I remember there was some conversation not too long ago about how to make lock picking engaging, and Sotha mentioned that it needs to be at the right spot. This lock surely was! I play with 'door does not open on unlock' just in case there is something on the other side, this was a time I could've used the door opening right away as I was crouched down and turned around to see the ceiling coming down. I got through just in time. Nerve wrecking good!

 

The light mirror puzzle, I don't even know how I accomplished it, it was hard to decipher the pattern from the buttons to which mirror they adjusted, but once I heard the stone piece move I knew it was over. I couldn't tell you how I solved that one. Good reference to St. Lucia.

 

Loved the use of the shadow undead again. The creepy statue with the red eyes was nice too. Collecting the statues and placing them was nothing too fancy, but I was under the impression that once I got the sword, the mission was probably only half over. I was wrong! The lava jumping was the hardest part for me. The sinking of the rocks once landed on was very good touch, added a great suspense to it. Only thing that messed me up was the camera shaking. It definitely was not my favorite part of the mission, but a good finale nonetheless, given how it was the most challenging part for me. I wish the speed of the lava flow was a bit faster, it looked like a non-moving texture until I really stared at where the walls met the lava and saw the difference.

 

Maybe I missed readables along the way, but there doesn't seem to be an answer to what happened during the ceremony and why the castle became abandoned?

 

 

 

Great work Bikerdude & Goldchochobo!!

 

^ What he said. Save you having to read it twice. Masterful suspense and architecture conversion. A lot of fun!

 

 

I actually did enjoy the lava section and the pillars crumbling beneath, absolutely brilliant. No issues here for jumping/mantling, only issue was ME missing the jumps in some spots but I enjoy the challenge.

 

There are a couple sounds that were looping that need to be fixed in TDM. When the stop/start to loop again there is tiny bit of static or clipping noise when they repeat. This completely ruins immersion in a mission.

 

The two I believe are the howling wind ambient sound when you enter in to the central starting courtyard with the little arch bridge in front of you right inside the front doors of the castle. You don't hear it until you're up on the the arched small walkway/bridge. Another odd issue with this howling wind sound was that it randomly stopped and after a number of seconds continued again, then stopped seemingly randomly over and over which was odd and immersion breaking.

 

The second sound that was looping and you could hear the stop/start of the loop was the one played in the lower area with the Guardians with the red eyes.

 

I'm using Realtek 889 onboard codec, Win7x64 with latest drivers. Not sure that's relevant but just in case.

 

The other 2 issues I noticed that could be related to 2.01 or the FM are that when I initially started the mission there was the briefing and nice music playing in the background. I hit ESC to go to audio settings and make some adjustments and when I returned back to the briefing there was no longer audio, just the briefing overlay and silence all the way to mission start.

 

At the end of the mission walking through the woods I saved just outside the cave exit. Then walking further in to the woods you get the "Mission Complete" dialog. The issue was that it pops up only for a second and then disappears and the screen is just dark grey/black and it just sits there. I reloaded and this behavior occurred every time I reloaded as I thought it was hung up or something. Turns out if you just tap ESC on the black screen the Mission Complete/Statistics screen pops up but not until you hit ESC. Doesn't seem like that's by design so I mentioned it.

 

 

 

Issues aside, fantastic small FM guys! Hats off to you. Ineresting story draws you in and gives you a great sense of place and the audio cues and puzzles are fantastic. Very enjoyable and another classic!

Edited January 30, 2014 by Lux

[Bikerdude]

A lot of people have been wondering how the mirrors puzzle was done, well Goldchocobo came up with the initial idea but we had to enlist the help of the coding god that is Grayman to fully realise our vision. Even after looking at the spreadsheet he made all his notes and calculations on I'm still left scratching my head.

 

And who knows, if GC and I feel motivated enough we might come up with a sequel.

[Lux]

Awesome. Yeah the mirror puzzle was amazing.

 

 

I would push a button and then look to see which mirror it moved. It appeared there were multiple ways to solve it. In the end it only took a random pushing of the buttons to solve. I'd wished it were harder and maybe had a diagram readable to explain its complexity or maybe a fallen adventurer's readable explaining how he couldn't solve it just to build the image in the players mind that they wouldn't be able to either or that it would be difficult.

 

I struggled to find the key after aligning the mirrors. I heard the noise and looked around for back and forth between rooms to see what had happened but couldn't find anything for 5 or so minutes. Then I found it. Initially I'd thought the Lucia statue holding the covered pot, her right arm would swing up lifting the lid off the pot and there would be the key but that didn't happen so I kind of set myself up for..."where did it go?" Really creative and intriguing puzzle though.

 

 

[brethren]

Just for reference, here's Nameless Voice's version of the puzzle for Thief 2 (Temple of the Tides). The puzzle solution starts around the 8:15 mark. Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but I thought it would be interesting for comparison's sake:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwOKSbxMI6c

 

I use dromed a little, but I still haven't the first idea of how it's done.

 

Btw, is there more than one solution for the mirror puzzle in The Gatehouse?

Edited January 30, 2014 by brethren

[grayman]

Btw, is there more than one solution for the mirror puzzle in The Gatehouse?

 

There is only one solution.

[Ryan101]

I liked this mission overall...

 

 

I liked the non-criminal set up for the plot - pretty competent voice actor, as well, though he might have sounded more fitting for the classic thief role than a pious Builder acolyte on pilgrimage.

 

Atmosphere was pretty spot-on as well - the church section and the ridiculous fire pit at the end were awesome. That last part really struck home with the whole "religious journey" angle. At times I was wondering if the character would suddenly wake up from an apparent hallucination at the end, given how surreal it was at points.

 

I liked most of the puzzles - except the mirrors, which I found tedious and unintuitive, especially how the buttons don't correspond with the apparent positioning of the mirrors. I kept having to remind myself which one went with which and felt tempted to grab a notepad at one point. I gave up after a few minutes cause I really don't like puzzles that slam the brakes on the plot, so I noclip'd through the next door.

 

The enemies towards the end were cool - I grabbed only one statue before realizing I had to go back for another, so that created a tense moment for me as I had to sneak my way back into the ghost infested corridor.

 

Anyhow! Really good job Short, but sweet.

 

[AluminumHaste]

Just for reference, here's Nameless Voice's version of the puzzle for Thief 2 (Temple of the Tides). The puzzle solution starts around the 8:15 mark. Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but I thought it would be interesting for comparison's sake:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwOKSbxMI6c

 

I use dromed a little, but I still haven't the first idea of how it's done.

 

Btw, is there more than one solution for the mirror puzzle in The Gatehouse?

 

That was a great mission! Winner of the Water contest if I recall correctly.

[stumpy]

I had about 70 reloads on the lava section, kept flying through the pillars, or just missing them due to momentum.

Edited January 30, 2014 by stumpy

[Loa4ever]

Gratz on release will try it .

[brethren]

That was a great mission! Winner of the Water contest if I recall correctly.

 

Actually, What Lies Below by Yandros was the winner (with TotT a close second).

[Oldjim]

Played through again and this time managed to navigate the arrows and the spiked balls without losing health :D

Even managed the lava with only losing a bit - dead chuffed

First time ever - stealth score of Zero

[161803398874989]

I feel so noobish. I'm stuck already!

 

 

Where do I find the headress/stone thing? I looked everywhere twice, tried looking in the areas before I got the note (since the headress thing is above that item on the note), but no cigar. Tried the church as wel, and everywhere in between.

 

[Deadlove]

I feel so noobish. I'm stuck already!

 

 

Where do I find the headress/stone thing? I looked everywhere twice, tried looking in the areas before I got the note (since the headress thing is above that item on the note), but no cigar. Tried the church as wel, and everywhere in between.

 

 

 

 

 

The gemstone is in a painting, on the head of a royal lady, in the room across from the room you got the bloody dagger in.

 

 

Also got stealth score of zero for first time, although for this mission it's nothing to brag about.

 

I actually managed the entire mission (save a couple reloads) without losing any health. UNTIL THE LAVA. Actually fell a couple times, but was able to mantle, and then use a health potion. I was expected immediate death, glad it gave a couple seconds to allow the player to reach a safe spot.

 

 

 

 

 

[161803398874989]

Thanks, Deadlove. It's where I thought it was the first time, but for some reason I didn't manage to get it then.

 

Finished now. Neat mission.

 

 

The thing with the eyes is a Revenant, right? Scared the shit out of me, because I didn't know those existed!

 

[darkside]

Classic old school puzzle mission, jumping and pixel hunt included. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Thanks for the release!

[Bikerdude]

Scared the shit out of me

ROTFL, that was my intention, glad it worked on one person atleast.

 

You can thank Sotha though as mine were based in his design.

[Lux]

I had my scared instance as well. In my excitement I forgot to mention it.

 

 

At the very beginning when you encounter the two dead people on the floor I was very leary of goings on. I picked up the note and read it and then picked up the health potion. Then I went past the two corpses and from my right the first arrow fired and hit me and I jumped and gasped hitting my left knee on the underside of my desk very hard. Then I laughed about it having completely failed to see the arrow holes in the walls and noticing the tile underfoot returning to the non-stepped-on position.

 

 

 

 

It was quite the thrill. After that I was much more cautious!

[Bikerdude]

LOL, awesome.

[Oldjim]

I had the opposite experience - if there is such a thing

from the very start I crept carefully along expecting a haunt/zombie/etc. to appear at any time. The only bit which really caught me out was getting squashed because I didn't use the lock pick quickly enough.

I did appreciate the warning about the ghost though otherwise I would have been caught

 

[Bikerdude]

The irony of the ghost section is even after I created it I still got a scare and ran like the wind, then laughed hard (or maybe an evil chuckle) as I thought of other people doing the same thing.

[raymeld]

Thanks Biker and Gold. Had a run of bad health recently and not felt much like playing. Think though i might have a bash at this tomorrow , I've always enjoyed your missions Biker.

[Bikerdude]

grand, enjoy mista.

[Obsttorte]

Just played this, very nice.

 

• The graphics are very good, although the inside of the gatehouse looks a bit repetitive
  
• The puzzles are implemented well and funny, although a bit too easy for my taste
  
• The puzzle with the three statues didn't work properly, have to replace them several times to get it working (or did I miss something?)
  

 

 

Overall a very enjoyable mission, especially as it is not the standard TDM food. I'm pleased.

 

Btw.: You name me in your credits for scripting, but I can't remember I've added anything to this mission.

[Bikerdude]

• Statuette puzzle, did I miss something?
  
• Overall a very enjoyable mission, especially as it is not the standard TDM food. I'm pleased.
  
• Btw.: You name me in your credits for scripting, but I can't remember I've added anything to this mission.
  

• Yes,
  there is plaque on the floor that hints about how to place them, also the colours should have been a dead giveaway, black, white & gold
   
  
• Thats what Gold and I were aiming for, but it was a team effort.
  
• You did make a start on some scripting for the mission, so fair is fair.
  

[Obsttorte]

Regarding statues: I've placed them correctly, but the gate didn't open.