Fan Mission: Away 1 - Air Pocket, by Geep (2020/02/07)

[Geep 190]

Story Tease

On the run from her husband, me and my girl. With a bribe to a ship's captain, we're away. What could go wrong now? Oh, dammit.

Links

"Away 1 - Air Pocket" Version 1.0 is available from the in-game downloader and its mirrors. As well as here.

There are two extra documents contained in your installed .pk4 and also conveniently available here -

• For gamers needing hints, this Q&A uses "invisible ink" to selectively hide the answers: Air Pocket - Hints and Spoilers [Jan. 29, 2020].docx
• For understanding what's under the hood: Maintenance Guide to Away 1 - Air Pocket [Jan 29, 2020].docx

For more about the innards and interations, see this FM's Beta Testing thread.

Author's Note

This is my first substantive TDM FM, a nautical adventure, and what I hope will be part of a longer story arc. Enjoy.

Gallery

Credits & Acknowledgements

Thanks to TDM community members for encouragement - and assistance with newbie questions - while building this, my first FM (not counting an earlier nanoMission).

Kudos in particular to Dragofer for the wonderful ship models (modified here), newly-created ship davits, and assets like kelp models from 'Down by the Riverside'. Also a custom cannon-ball hole through the hull, and much helpful guidance.

The skybox is adapted from 'lagoon' by Hazel Whorley (CC BY-NC; hw_lagoon.zip at www.custommapmakers.org/skyboxes).

Finally, my deep appreciation to all who tested or assisted during the beta: Biene, Cambridge Spy, Dragofer, duzenko, peter_spy, and stgatilov

 

Edited February 7 by Geep

[nbohr1more 1996]

Congratulations!

[Amadeus 267]

Congrats Geep! Looking forward to checking this out

[joebarnin 141]

Congrats Geep! Always happy to have a new mission.

[Jedi_Wannabe 145]

Aw man congrats on your first official feature length FM! I’ll try to break away from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. this weekend to show it some love.

[Bienie 359]

Congrats on your first release! Glad to see it has received some extra polish!

[JackFarmer 376]

Congratulations!

Just started playing a little bit, truly a different concept!

The scene with the horse provides for apocalyptic vibes!

 

Edited February 8 by JackFarmer

[joebarnin 141]

Finished the mission. Short and sweet! As Jack says, a unique concept. Nice to see a non-standard mission design.

I thought that the

Spoiler

swimming bits in the sunken ship were just right - challenging without being too difficult. You have to come up for air once in a while, but there's always air space to get to. Items weren't too hard to find (when you're underwater, there's always the "running out of air" panic).

One issue: I did get stuck (twice) swimming near the first crew member's body. Physically stuck - I had to noclip to escape. Probably a DM issue?

I really really really

Spoiler

wanted to get onto the attack ship. Tried climbing on the rope from the towed boat. Got almost all the way there, but then was blocked. Next mission, please?

Looking forward to further stories in the arc!

[Geep 190]

Thanks, everyone for the congrats. @JackFarmer, @joebarnin, maybe I should hire you guys as blurb writers, say...

 

[Geep 190]

...or maybe not. I've "over-egged the custard" there with that PR poster concept. But thanks for the interest in further episodes of the story arc, where l hope to have more ship (and ashore) exploration.

joebarnin, the getting-stuck issue you noted, in the waist hold next to the galley, wasn't reported during beta testing. Was it near the surface, or down in the debris?

[Tarhiel 29]

Congratulations on the release, looking forward to play it!

[Dopefish 1]

I hate to say it, but that felt rather underwhelming. I hardly did anything in this FM. Perhaps it would be better to wait till there's more content before publishing.

That said, the outdoor environment is gorgeous and I like the motif of a sunken ship.

[Geep 190]

Dopefish, glad you liked some aspects. I understand regarding "underwhelming". Some of the existing FMs have wonderful deep playability. I think of these as big novels, like "War and Peace". I'm only able to manage a novella at the level of effort and skill I can provide. This one took me a year (of calendar time, not manhours), and if it took significantly longer, I'd get discouraged and bag it. So, better a bit short (and quirky) than nada. That said, with more experience under my belt, maybe future episodes can offer more to do (but I still hope for some good quirkiness).

[Dopefish 1]

Understood. I really appreciate your reply, and honestly, with more time, I can see this turning into something quite grand. Keep at it!

[Swiggy 35]

.

Edited February 28 by Swiggy

[Geep 190]

OMG, this is the Internet I'm on? No wonder I couldn't figure out where to stick the postage stamp!

Yucks aside, thanks for the encouragement.

[Swedish Taffer 0]

Is it just me???  I cannot for my life find Emily. Any hints?

[Geep 190]

Sure

Spoiler

The rocks on the north side (direction the boat bows are pointing) enclose a pool of water. There are 2 recommended ways into it... the entrance on the east is the most obvious, the one on the west more obscure. Emily is within.

 

[Swedish Taffer 0]

Aah, thanks  

 

[joebarnin 141]

On 2/8/2020 at 9:39 AM, Geep said:

joebarnin, the getting-stuck issue you noted, in the waist hold next to the galley, wasn't reported during beta testing. Was it near the surface, or down in the debris?

Actually, I think this was player error. This happened in the mess, near where the crew member is dead in the bed. I just tried to recreate the problem, swimming near/into the bed. At some point I thought I was stuck, but by trying different directions I was able to proceed. I think the first time it happened, I just panicked because I was running out of air, so I assume I couldn't move at all. So I don't think this really is a problem.

[Geep 190]

Good to hear. Yup, not running out of air is one of this mission's motivators. In earlier iterations of this FM, you could swim into the lower fully-immersed bunks and easily get stuck and drown. Those bunks are blocked with debris now (and player clip) to solve that.

[peispud 15]

Great job on this small mission. It's certainly primed for a part 2.

[NeonsStyle 535]

Congratulations on your release :D

 

[NeonsStyle 535]

Robbed the safe with the Captains key and objective failed, end game. Nice. 

I hate it when I have to swim everywhere, it's so slow. Nice detail on the map though, but you 

need to fix that bug. I don't know what failed, it just sad objective failed, and ended the mission as

soon as I looted the dead captains safe. This was after I found the girl, and was told I had to

find the jewelery. 

[Geep 190]

Ah, sorry, that's a feature, not a bug.

As an optional objective, finding the jewelery is worthwhile, but as you have seen, has its risks. You didn't heed a warning, and paid the ultimate price. There was a small hint at the end to confirm why you died. Details:

Spoiler

The warning, that occurs when you acquire the safe key, is to not loot anything too heavy to swim with. That refers specifically to the only large, heavy object in the captain's safe, the gold ingot. If you frob it (perhaps by accident in a quick uncareful grab of everything in the safe), you drown. As the last thing you frobbed, you can see (briefly as the mission ends) that its inventory name is "Too Heavy".