Fan Mission: A House of Locked Secrets by Gelo "Moonbo" Fleisher (2015/05/28)

[Moonbo]

Since you mentioned city sections, I might as well throw in my two cents for those too :-P. My first recommendation would be to go and look at Melan and Bikerdude's city section maps in Dark Radiant as that's what I did when learning how to make city bits. In particular there's this old map which you can't get on the in-game downloader anymore called "The Dragon's Claw" which had a large city section. It wasn't very interactive but it had a lot of examples of how to build interesting houses in Dark Radiant (I noticed that Bikerdude would build a three level house which were essentially rectangles with each rectangle being slightly larger than the one below and each level propped up by braces).

 

The other thing was that for the starting sections for Requiem and A House of Locked Secrets I made a rule for myself that every building should have three levels be accessible. This might be "cellar", "first floor", "roof" or something like that. Each layer didn't need to be fully fleshed out (could just be an open window with a bit of loot) but having that as my goal made me think a lot about how to use the spaces.

 

I didn't always succeed, but I did always try and it made me stretch my mind. For example the little guard shack next to the church at the start of A House of Locked Secrets can be accessed via the first floor, then there's a bit of loot on the rafters that you can mantle up onto, and then you can get onto the roof (though there's nothing much up there). Or the inn at the start of Requiem has the cellar, a window you can climb onto on the second floor, and the roof you can get onto. Anyways, it made for a nice rule of thumb and players love finding these little nooks and crannies.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Moonbo

[DeTeEff]

Yes, I like those places and I try to add lots of those in my map. Usually when I build I cannot see how the house/street section is going to look before I build it. Then when the building starting to take shape, I notice that it would be cool if the player could jump on some boxes and enter the window.

 

For speed purposes it ought to be a lot faster to plan everything and how it shall look on paper/in the head at first. I don't have this skill so a lot of time is wasted for changing things as new ideas pop up...and to save me from pulling my hair later, I also add visportals and try to choke of the map at strategic points, which isn't that easy in a city section where (at least I like) the player to be able to reach high places. I mean, when you are high up, you may be able to look over walls and see over to places that (the mapper) will populate with details and thus needs to isolate for performance purposes. Then you might need to add unsightly high walls to hinder the players vision...

Edited June 8, 2015 by Fieldmedic

[kano]

 

I especially like the way you get to travel between two realms... and those enemies in the other realm are quite threatening, because they're super fast when compared to the traditional undead. I'm also digging the non-linearity of the mission. This is usually the case with mansion missions. The architecture is great!

Greetings! I would just like to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this mission.

[Moonbo]

Thanks kano!

[hanmin]

@Summer, thanks for the kind review! A secret list (and loot list?) might be a great project for someone to start putting together on this thread based off of everyone's discoveries :-).

 

So I guess, I'll start with this. Major spoilers ahead, you have been warned.

 

 

I did not care much for the loot, as I am a man of cloth now and my order will inherit the most of it anyway.

 

 

Here are the secrets I found (and remember):

 

 

 

Training Mission

1: Saint Jorras statue left hand side socket has a hidden door, giving you a key to the grotto across the hall within the realworld. Picking up the health potion on the healthgiver will trigger the secret.

2: Before you climb up the second room, make another trip to spirit world Father Martels room climb up to the balcony and pick up the health Potion to trigger the second secret.

3: In the real world, in the staircase on the second lowest floor, one above the crypt with the shorter dead end, there is the first statuette. Picking it up triggers the secret.

4: In acolyte Onzos room, und the Table under the pot is the second statuette.

5: Dropping both statuettes in the broken sarcophargue in the last room of the crypt will trigger a sequence, that tells you the combination of St. Lazarius tomb, in the first room to your right on the crypt.

 

Major Mission:

1: Climb (rope arrow should work, but you can also use the chair from the church office) behind the fountain close to the start and dig in the garden.

2: Climb the ropework on the upper warehouse and enter the lower warehouse (1st floor) via the spirit world using the hammer. In the real world, you will find a secret in the boxes.

3: Between the two lattice gates on the way to the house, look up and climb.

4: Climb above the outer balcony of the guard house. You can do so, before you enter the court or the guard house itsself, but it is easier to access the balcony from within the guardhouse later in the game.

5: Put 3 items in the jars at the choir of the house chapel in the spirit world. The crown is in the main wing attic, the lion on the upper floor library and the cup in the chapel. This gives you access to the chapel storage room.

6: Go to real world attic, where the bad mans heart is in the spirit world.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2015 by hanmin

[Summer]

In particular there's this old map which you can't get on the in-game downloader anymore called "The Dragon's Claw" which had a large city section. It wasn't very interactive but it had a lot of examples of how to build interesting houses in Dark Radiant (I noticed that Bikerdude would build a three level house which were essentially rectangles with each rectangle being slightly larger than the one below and each level propped up by braces).

 

Why isn't The Dragon's Claw available anymore? Just curious. I have a vague recollection of playing it....

[nbohr1more]

It was never processed to remove Doom 3 assets for 2.0 standalone. Biker rightly acknowledged that the mission, even in it's original incarnation, was very pretty buggy. I believe he was considering a fix up of that mission by Halloween?

[Bikerdude]

I believe he was considering a fix up of that mission by Halloween?

Well I spose, I should make a start on this then. As its only 3 months till the next halloween!

[AluminumHaste]

It would make a base for an awesome large mission though. There are a bunch of streets that could keep going into new areas and stuff lol.

[Bikerdude]

AH, you know what I am like, the chances are I will expand the mission a bit

[garette]

How do defeat the eternal dude, once you descend into the lava chamber?

[Moonbo]

Try seeing what happens if you frob the hammer on his back :-).

[GUFF]

So I ran into a bug while replaying it. Not sure what caused it but it could have been that I didn't place the seal from completing an area right away. What happened was I finished one area, went onto the next and completed it, then when I entered the spirit realm at the place where you use the seals, my inventory was messed up and I had the stuff I had in the real world minus the seal I didn't use before. When I went back to the real world I was missing my keys and a bunch of other stuff that I could then only access by entering that specific spirit realm. Weird bug, to be sure.

[Moonbo]

Yipes, do you have a save game? Nothing you did would have caused that so its probably a scripting bug.

[GUFF]

Sure, here's the savefile

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-rvJq1eUDoCejdQVGVnRFNKc2c&authuser=0

Edited June 9, 2015 by GUFF

[Moonbo]

Thanks, hopefully SteveL can shed some light on this one.

[garette]

How do I destroy the urn after I extinguished all 4 flames

Edited June 10, 2015 by garette

[Moonbo]

Hey Garette,

 

I heard that pottery doesn't respond very well to lava :-).

[csamba]

I'm approaching the final stage (I believe) of this awesome mission, but now I seem to be stuck. Where is the missing head of the guard captain? I hope the holy water will be somewhere near it....

[Moonbo]

Hey Csamba,

 

Where are you in the mission right now? If you're in the captains room in the physical world, check the desk :-).

[csamba]

Thanks a lot. Went back there, found the key, and the rest followed quite intuitively - but wow, and again: WOW! And since I finished with less than 6400 loot and only 11 of 15 secrets, I definitely have to go back and start again. But first I need some rest, 'cause I'm a bit dizzy after those revved up wormhole travels towards the end....

[Moonbo]

Glad you enjoyed it csamba!

[Lux]

This mission is such a surprise particularly after the introduction area. Shock and Awe. The back and forth mechanics, story telling, environments, audio and lighting are top notch. Along with the other supreme FM creaters for TDM, you certainly have a seat, Moonbo. SheeSH! I think your creativity and unique perspective will help inspire many an FM creator.

[Oldjim]

I am not sure about that - it might frighten them away when they see an FM of this high standard

[Lux]

Seeing as you're not just "jim", I'd have thought better of your comments.... anyway...

Edited June 13, 2015 by Lux