Fan Mission: The Smiling Cutpurse by Airship Ballet (2016/03/25)

[Airship Ballet]

I'm still alive!

The Smiling Cutpurse

Screenshots

I've been hired to break into a modest inn--locally dubbed the 'Smiling Cutpurse'--an inn located in a wealthy part of town. Stealing sleeping guests' valuables is amateur work, a deed done by the desperate to pay their rent, so when I was asked to take this job on, I refused. The client expanded on their offer, however, and detailed the presence of a repository, a store room for valuables.

Title: The Smiling Cutpurse
Theme: Inn
Release: 2016/03/25
Mapper: Airship Ballet
Special thanks: Oldjim, Baal and Phi for beta testing this forever ago!
Build Time: ~2 weeks

This mission has been finished for ages, but I always intended to take it further. This was supposed to be the first half of the third Quinn Co mission, but I ended up disliking how the two came together, so decided to make this its own standalone mission and to go and work on the next Quinn Co. I forgot all about this for the longest time, and only last night came back to tie up the loose ends and make it into its own mission.

I made the mission itself as a proof of concept for completely modular architecture. Every wall, floor and ceiling inside the inn is part of a prefab. The rooms, corridors, all of it is modular. I realised how easy it is to create huge areas within minutes, and ended up with a space big enough to accommodate a proper mission. It's turned out pretty well, I think!

It's a standard mission, nothing too special. Sneak around, steal things, have fun! As always, let me know of any problems you find, and leave feedback anyway if you're feeling helpful!

Cheats
I'm already infamous for unfair hiding places. There's no shame in being stumped! I'm totally judging you though. Obviously don't expand spoilers if you don't want spoilers.

Where's the vault?

On the ground floor, to the right of the reception.

How do I get inside?

The trail starts with a key in the office behind the reception desk.

And?

The next key is in the owner's office, inside a cabinet.

...go on...

The final key is in the noble bedroom upstairs.

Where, though?

On the floor behind the left-hand side of the bed.

But how do I leave?

Either the sewer behind the bar or the attic in the owner's room.

Where's the sewer key?

Beneath the kegs behind the bar!

 

 

Download links

cutpurse.pk4

[Bikerdude]

Nice, will create FM page in due course.

[grayman]

I couldn't get TDM to recognize the pk4.

 

I changed the pk4 extension to zip, but Winzip says it isn't a valid archive.

 

Edit: This looks to be an aborted download problem. I'll report back when I can get a good complete download.

 

Edit 2: That was it. It downloaded in spurts, and took a while to complete. Ok now.

[Airship Ballet]

Workin' alright for me! Maybe try re-downloading?

[Oldjim]

works for me - now to start playing with no hints

[SuaveSteve]

Build Time: ~2 weeks

 

Excellent. Looking forward to you pumping out another in two weeks time!

[Bikerdude]

Mission added to FM page.

[Airship Ballet]

Excellent. Looking forward to you pumping out another in two weeks time!

Hah! That's only counting days spent working on it. I actually started it 5 months ago, then worked on it for a fortnight, then didn't touch it for nearly half a year. I just jump around a lot between all my vaguely productive hobbies to avoid burn-out on any one thing, but never really found myself in the mood for finishing this specific mission until last night. I'm awful, I know.

[Nico A.]

Finally a new mission! I feel like it's getting less and less.

 

I only checked it out a little bit (will finish tomorrow), but I really like it! Compared to your other missions I enjoy not having to read too much before starting the mission - it's nice and simple. I like it that way. Yes I'm completely lazy.

 

And the sewer section seems kinda familiar.

 

As for the build time - for me it would be interesting to know how long it's actually been since starting the mission - in your case 5 months - but not for this mission specifically, but for every mapper. That would give a more realistic estimate how soon the community can expect a new mission to be released.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Nico A.

[Spooks]

I got to play through this, the only part I had trouble with was

finding where the Owner's Room was, since the 1st floor is symmetrical and I was left with the impression there was only one redbrown wood door - the noble's one.

Otherwise, it was great fun to murder pretty much everyone in the inn including people in their sleep (don't judge my bloodlust)! For feedback, I spotted a couple of black paintings in the room with the blue wallpaper so that skin's probably not included and one of the notes in the delivery room didn't have its frobdistance to 1 and I think that's about it.

[athalle]

Congrats on the release Airship Ballet ! So nice to play a new TDM mission !

[161803398874989]

Screenshots

 

 

 

 

"Hmmm this looks familiar..."

 

 

 

 

Special thanks: Oldjim, Baal and Phi for beta testing this forever ago!

Oh, right.

[Oldjim]

This is embarrassing - I don't remember testing this one at all

Checking it was only 5 months ago - is this a sign that memory is failing with old age

Edited March 26, 2016 by Oldjim

[Airship Ballet]

Like two amnesiac peas in a pod. Do you guys play golf together at the country club, rant about the youth between holes?

[161803398874989]

Like two amnesiac peas in a pod. Do you guys play golf together at the country club, rant about the youth between holes?

No, but we do play bingo on wednesdays.

[Melan]

This was an enjoyable mission, with a generous amount of content for the two weeks of work spent on it (although I assume a lot of extra effort went into actually making the modules you ended up using).

 

The construction would be just a little bit "samey", which is an inherent consequence of modular building, but this is neatly counterbalanced by the imaginative and varied way the rooms are stocked, and how they are linked to the main story. It all comes together well. The only place where modularity becomes an issue is in the corridors (granted, the inn theme makes it challenging to introduce variety). There is also a room right at the start that doesn't have a proper exit - spooky!

 

The gameplay is surprisingly straightforward after getting used to the more demanding puzzles in Quinn Co. I expected the hidden room to be something genuinely devilishly well hidden behind layers of security and mechanical shenanigans, and, well, it isn't. Not a fault, just odd in comparison.

 

But really, two weeks? A lot of good content for that kind of building time.

[s.urfer]

Just started playing this mission.

I did run into an non extinguishable candle in the bar. It is the one next to a guy sitting on a bank. Since other candles behave normal, I reckon this is a small bug?

[Airship Ballet]

But really, two weeks? A lot of good content for that kind of building time.

Yep! The modulars took two days, building everything with them only took one, and after that it was just a fortnight of scattering decorations and building the exterior!

[Nico A.]

I did run into an non extinguishable candle in the bar. It is the one next to a guy sitting on a bank. Since other candles behave normal, I reckon this is a small bug?

I was about to also tell about this. It is on the table in the little recess at the north side of the bar.

I finished this mission in 1 hour on easy, missing 500 to all the loot. Not quite a master thief yet I guess. xD I really enjoyed it. I can go with some more modular building if that means a higher frequency of mission releases.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Nico A.

[Cambridge Spy]

Is there any significance to the book you can steal from the Inventor? Or is it a relic left from Quinn Co.? Also, what's with the sliding door opening sound after picking up the log book? Does something actually open after that?

[Airship Ballet]

Is there any significance to the book you can steal from the Inventor? Or is it a relic left from Quinn Co.?

Oh, whoops. Like I said, it was going to be a Quinn Co. mission. That was a side objective at one point. I'll take it out when people are done finding things to fix.

[Airship Ballet]

I can go with some more modular building if that means a higher frequency of mission releases.

I could pump these fun little things out every week, but it'd never be anything adventurous!

[id3839315]

for the new mission.

By the way: What happened to Quinn Co 3 1/2 ?

Edited March 27, 2016 by id3839315

[Araneidae]

I did run into an non extinguishable candle in the bar. It is the one next to a guy sitting on a bank. Since other candles behave normal, I reckon this is a small bug?

I had a problem with the same candle (and it's in a rather vital spot): I couldn't pick it, and had to extinguish it twice! However it stayed unlit after that.

 

 

Is there anything to be done with the inventor's schematics?

 

 

Definitely enjoyed the map, managed to play through with a stealth score of 0 (and 6 level zero bumps), but missed quite a bit of the loot and used more water arrows than necessary (I think one is unavoidable).

 

Found the "cutpurse" theme unconvincing -- seems a bit too much of a high class establishment for that.

[Araneidae]

Oh, I see the book is a leftover. Sorry, missed that!