Fan Mission: A Good Neighbor (2020/03/08)

[Amadeus]

Hey, angelot! I hope you are enjoying the FM so far. To answer your question:

 

Spoiler

Check the safe in the basement of the inn

 

[Angelot]

Thanks a lot for the reply! I'll go take a look. As for the mission: I really liked it: well done and with nice graphics. I only have one doubt: what should be done in the aqueduct?

[Amadeus]

the aqueduct is an alternate path you can take when you leave the house, and it's also an area you need to explore to open the safe I believe. (turning on the pumps, generators, etc. I don't remember the exact mechanisms). But thanks for playing, I'm glad you liked it, as I had fun making it and I'm having fun working on the sequel! 

[Angelot]

Thank you for how you, and the other FM designers, give us fun and entertainment with your work.

[Amadeus]

And thank you for not only playing but reaching out and letting me know what you thought of the FM! Perhaps one day you'll pick up DR and make your own (it's not that hard  )

[Fiver]

I played A Good Neighbor over Christmas (on 2.12) and enjoyed it very much. Many hours of exploring, fun, and horror. And, let's be honest, my fair share of embarrassment (more on that later).

Spoiler

This mission was so well crafted: Beautiful design with late autumn look, lots of details, well distributed loot and tools, and multiple entry points into buildings allowing for open gameplay. I can tell a lot of consideration and hard work was put into this mission.

Here's where I failed:
* I didn't get the spyglass and compass from my own apartment, as I wrongly assumed all gear would be in one place. My bad. I also missed the broadhead arrows.
* I didn't find three secrets: the cup among the flowers, the diamonds in the tank, the neighbor's secret compartment (I'd perhaps consider making the button a little easier to discover).
* I didn't notice the footsteps other players mention the first time I played. Maybe just as well... I was already creeped out enough.
* I didn't find the burned note with the code even though I looked right at the fire (and I had to brute force the second half). Turning the note 10-20 degrees would make it easier to see, if you want.
* I didn't find the key to the waterworks. But I had already entered the inn from the shop and discovered the inside of the waterworks coming from the inn.
* I didn't bathe the doll, but I did work out how to handle the bracelet and what to do with it.

Possible bugs:
* I got physically stuck in two rooms (reported to existing issue: https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6361)
* Unexpected glow on edge of a plank in shop (-598.04 140.43 -120.75   65.9 90.5 0.0)
* No sound when failing to pick neighbor's chest with picks (777.73 -1018.28 130.25   21.9 53.9 0.0)
* The Builder treadmilling in the air in room III if you hide in the corner and wake him (63.78 -495.74 90.38   4.5 155.8 0.0)
* The cutting board (or meat?) rope cuts through bottom of kitchen cupboard shelf making it look like a possible gem on the shelf (-129.51 495.85 -27.75   43.1 -18.3 0.0)
* The wooden spoon cuts through kitchen cupboard shelf wall (-155.46 439.09 -61.75   -12.6 12.3 0.0)
* Neighbor's text reads "Alas, there negotiating with those zealots." should perhaps read "Alas, there is no negotiating with those zealots."
* The mirror near the sleeping man in the shop is black for me.
* The sound of running water stops after a while at (-275.46 55.89 -292.75   54.4 -124.9 0.0). It doesn't seem to loop as expected. If you come from the inn and approach the pipes, the water sound will disappear about 45s after you reach the coordinates at the water sound. Is this related to https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=5384 ?
* The center of vent fan is missing a shadow (-156.09 217.06 -292.25   33.4 -79.3 0.0)

Possible improvements:
* I was creeped out by the ghastly sound of the skeleton when I raided him, and I thought I had awaken something that would haunt me later (rather than that meaning he died). If you add some non-valuable object on the skeleton that you can take, an object that can then be lowered into the holy water too, then that would tie up the ends of that part a bit.
* I too was stuck for a while on the waterworks controls and the button that appeared to give no feedback. One way to make the controls more comprehensive could be to make the R3 indicator on the panel (and above the door) to show color yellow for state "closed but operable". When the player hits button "Res ctrl" it will change to green when the door is open.
* You mentioned in an earlier post that the voodoo doll was just a fun quirk. I thought there was a connection between the doll and the snoopy neighbor's wife's ailment. If you want, you can make that connection by making the neighbor's text describe where the wife has pain (same places as the sharpies in the doll), and perhaps somewhere else a paragraph about a conflict with "a moor". Dropping the doll into the holy water would then make the player a "Good Neighbor".
* You could add brief animations (and voice reactions) of relevant persons to go with the blue flash when lowering objects into the holy water.
* Is the snoopy neighbor living above the Copper Fox inn? The music outside could indicate this. You could add a sign above the door to make the connection to the writer's note among the bottles outside his room.
* I was surprised I could blackjack the waterworks guard with metal hat. Is it because I played on easy?
* I wanted to close the safe when I was done, either with a button or code 0000.

A big thank you to everyone working on this high caliber mission! You should all be very proud of this.

My embarrassment: I accidentally locked myself in the fridge. What is wrong with me? I was like a cat: "I bet I can fit in there! And close the door..." Then I had a brief pang of panic when I couldn't open it again from the inside for a few tries, and headlines from tomorrow's newspaper were flashing before my eyes: "After (almost) successful heist, world's most stupid villain turns himself into a thiefsicle".

Edited June 2, 2025 by Fiver
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[Amadeus]

I'm glad you dug the mission Fiver! Thanks for playing and writing some very in-depth feedback! I am planning on one day releasing a small quality of life update for this mission, so I will definitely fix some of these bugs you mentioned here and look into the possible improvements

[Fiver]

6 hours ago, Amadeus said:

I am planning on one day releasing a small quality of life update for this mission

Excellent! If you post a log of changes then that may work as an incentive to players to revisit the game and see the changes.

[datiswous]

Nice fm.

Just want to note that the efx reverb in the outside area is waaay too strong.

Setting "decay time" to 1.3 instead of 2.13 in reverb "outside" improves it somewhat.

 

There's also some range related warnings in the console related to reverb delay and echo time (the specified numbers in the efx file are outside the allowed range).

[Amadeus]

55 minutes ago, datiswous said:

There's also some range related warnings in the console related to reverb delay and echo time (the specified numbers in the efx file are outside the allowed range).

Thanks for playing, I'm glad you dig it! Also, thanks for the feedback on the EFX; you aren't the first player to have said that so I will revisit it when I (eventually)  update it

[datiswous]

I have to mention that the quality of this mission is high. I'm constantly surprised about the many details.

[Amadeus]

That is really nice to hear, I appreciate you saying as such! I know the map is far from perfect, and it certainly has some flaws, but I tried really hard to make sure that this would be a fun map to traverse and explore. Some of the finer, smaller details are just super fun to make, even though it's unlikely that every player would notice them.

[Fiver]

On 3/22/2023 at 8:19 PM, Amadeus said:

I'm having fun working on the sequel! 

Wait, what?! Sequel?!