Away 0: Stolen Heart by Geep & _Atti_ (2021/11/12)

[Geep]

Angling along alleyways, gliding among gamblers, fleecing the financiers, and lip-locking the ladies...

Here's the prequel to the earlier-released "Away 1: Air Pocket". That was a bite-sized nautical adventure, but this, the back story, is a full-featured offering.

Version 2 (V2) Now Available (2022/03/24).
Also BONUS illustrated document: Making of Away 0's Video Cutscenes

Why Version 2?

V2, built under TDM 2.10, is primarily a spit-and-polish release with little impact on the storyline. While a few of the many changes will be obvious to someone doing a re-visit, most are minor improvements. Also, you can now replay cutscenes without needing a workaround. For more, see the Release Notes.

Probably you should wait until after you've played the game at least once to check the docs below out, to avoid getting too many hints. if you get stumped, the Maintenance Guide may be helpful, or the forum thread here.

Additional Documents, Available Here and Within the .pk4

These are also included within the .pk4 in the /supplementals/docs/ folder:

Away 0 V2 Credits & Acknowledgements.docx        Now crediting those with suggestions about V1

Away 0 V2 Maintenance Guide.docx        Includes information for potential translators

Away 0 Use of Historic Paintings.docx    Unchanged from V1

Additional Documents, Available Here Only

Away 0 V2 Release Notes - Changes from V1 Release.docx    Of most interest to folks giving feedback on V1

BONUS (and NSFW): Making of Away 0's Video Cutscenes.docx

Alternative Downloads

It is recommended to simply use your installed TDM's mission downloader menu to get this FM (now V2). But if you want to bother with a manual install, here's a link to fetch it:

away0.pk4    Version 2

While Version 2 is dmap'd under 2.10, it should still work under 2.09; there are no 2.10-only features used. If you run into problems under 2.09, you can reinstall the old version from here (for a while):

away0.pk4    Version 1 (original). Does not includes the Dec 16 2021 patch for then-upcoming TDM 2.10

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by Geep
Version 2 official release

[Dragofer]

Congratulations on the release! This one has been a long time coming.

[Geep]

Thanks! Yes, it was a big bite for me. I started thinking about this in Dec 2019, got serious around April 2020, and by June had begun building on _Atti_'s prior work, with assistance from JackFarmer too. So the project was essentially the same gestation time as a giraffe or elephant. Felt like it at times too.

[JackFarmer]

Congratulations on the release and many thanks for the hard work!

[kingsal]

Congrats! Cant wait to play this one.

[datiswous]

What is the difference between easy and hard? I don't see a change in the objectives.

Edit: Btw. it's still possible to jump out of the map at the start of the level. I assumed it would have been reported by someone in the beta thread.

Spoiler

 

Edited November 13, 2021 by datiswous

[Geep]

The main difference with "hard" is that you are short a lockpick, so you have to do more key pickpocketing to succeed. At one time, there was a difference in an Objective, but it wasn't beneficial overall, so the difference was removed.

You are the first to notice & report that particular location as a problem... similar issues reported further up the street were fixed. I've logged it.

[datiswous]

1 hour ago, Geep said:

You are the first to notice & report that particular location as a problem... similar issues reported further up the street were fixed. I've logged it.

Where did you log it? Away 0 Release Notes? I encountered 2 other glaring issues (walk through wall and wall texture behind lamp missing) and some small ones. I can upload the screenshots with comments, so that you can use them for a possible 1.1 if you're interested. I like the mission overall though.

Edited November 13, 2021 by datiswous

[Geep]

Please do upload the screenshots and associated comments here (or by PM). Are you playing under Linux? Don't know if that's a factor.

As you can see, bugs never end. I'm logging them privately in a spreadsheet on my dev machine, for a possible future update, maybe at 2.10 TDM release time.

[datiswous]

Yes I'm playing on linux and TDM 2.10 . I also tested on TDM 2.9 . I don't think Linux would be a factor in bugs in maps.

[Tarhiel]

Congratulations! Looking forward to play it

 

Edited November 13, 2021 by Tarhiel

[Amadeus]

Congrats on the release! Can't wait to play!

[Heuli]

Congratulations on the release! a great mission i'm still playing thanks

[JackFarmer]

The new added ongoing

Spoiler

exorcism in the inn

was a great idea!

Moreover, with its addition, the

Spoiler

dense mist

in this particular area makes finally sense! 

As I have pointed out in previous exchanges, great interior decoration skills, really very creative.

[Heuli]

i can't finish the mission because emeli is gone, the ladle is on the floor. i can hear emeli am I doing something wrong?

emelie sas in the kitchen on the chair

I play the mission in hard

Edited November 14, 2021 by Heuli

[Geep]

@datiswous

Quote

Yes I'm playing on linux and TDM 2.10 . I also tested on TDM 2.9 . I don't think Linux would be a factor in bugs in maps

Speaking generally, I know that OS-dependent bugs (as well as hardware-dependent bugs) are at least possible, though I agree not real likely in this case. I've personally only been testing using Windows 10 (TDM 2.09 & 2.10).

After 3 beta rounds, I'm more than a little burnt-out on further testing at the moment, but will look into what you report eventually.

[Geep]

 

@Heuli -

The sitting kitchen women is not Emily, and it doesn't matter all that much if she runs away. (Yes, I know, it's the same AI face model as Emily... I exhausted TDM's set of unique female faces. I compensated by keeping her in darkness. At least, as you'll see eventually, the clothing differs from the real Emily. I tried hiding her face by putting a hood on her at one point, but too many artifacts.)

[Geep]

@JackFarmer

Thanks! I'm happy too with that change. I was looking to add another female character, and thought a mask and robes could work together. Once I realized I already had a location where this character made perfect sense.. shazam!

[datiswous]

-

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by datiswous
Forget about it, I figured it out

[Geep]

In letter 6, because I had Emily say "each scroll", there was a switch to the singular "her" from the plural "they". Grammarians may differ on this.

RE cutscenes - It is allowed to finish the mission by an alternative exit, without encountering the cutscenes (that would not make sense). The normal course, however, is as follows:
 

Spoiler

Get into Bleda's safe deposit box, and loot what you find, including the "Women's Lockup" key.

Go to the floor where the statues and printshop are (Floor 2 if the ground floor is Floor 0) and find the iron gate that uses that key.

Within are what you seek.

 

[datiswous]

Yeah I had some problems finding

Spoiler

Bleda's safe deposit box. Also I thought that the number lock system was something to open the round door behind me, which clearly hints at possibly being openable.

After getting the key and opening the gate all else makes sense.

I personally think it's better to give some of the info in the letter to the player after opening the grate. It was completely not clear that I had to go there because it seemed Emily was already waiting for me near the stairs, which is confusing.

I really enjoyed this mission. It's also nice that the map has it's own building shapes (it seems) instead of using only prefabs, as most new missions have (I mean this approach also has it's charm). Although using some sharper textures would be better.

I wondered why the endgame cutscenes looked like they have a low framerate.

I vote for more detailed models in tdm..

Edited November 15, 2021 by datiswous

[datiswous]

On 11/13/2021 at 11:27 PM, Geep said:

Please do upload the screenshots and associated comments here

Here are the screenshots with comments in them:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bPsUuIF8Tg44_L_6Gmembf8-bGtuE-ci?usp=sharing

3 of the bugs I found hindered the gameplay:

away0_2021-11-13_22.17.31.jpg
away0_2021-11-14_01.55.41.jpg
away0_2021-11-14_02.17.14.jpg

Edited November 15, 2021 by datiswous

[Heuli]

@Geep

I'm happy that is not Emily,

[Heuli]

@Geep

greetings from Emily and thank you that was nice 

finished the mission

Edited November 15, 2021 by Heuli

[Geep]

@datiswous, feedback on your comments...
 

Spoiler

Yeah I had some problems finding Bleda's safe deposit box. Also I thought that the number lock system was something to open the round door behind me, which clearly hints at possibly being openable.

> There are a few "red herrings"  to make things more challenging. Besides the round vault door, there's fake vents that look like they might get you somewhere, but don't.

After getting the key and opening the gate all else makes sense.

I personally think it's better to give some of the info in the letter to the player after opening the grate. It was completely not clear that I had to go there because it seemed Emily was already waiting for me near the stairs, which is confusing.

> In the earlier version of the FM, you didn't see Emily at all until you got to her room. Testers complained about that, saying "how can Emily see you and write and leave her notes if she's locked up in her room". So I made it clearer that she was around during the early evening (by giving you glimpses of her) and not locked up until late evening (as indicated in her final Note to you). Sorry if it's still confusing. Maybe the final note wording could be tweaked.

I really enjoyed this mission. It's also nice that the map has it's own building shapes (it seems) instead of using only prefabs, as most new missions have (I mean this approach also has it's charm). Although using some sharper textures would be better.

> Both the building shapes and choice of textures largely predated the wide availability of TDM modules. When I took over the project, these were by design left largely unchanged... just a few new interiors were outfitted with modular walls. There was 1 original wall texture that testers found just too awful lo-rez and was replaced.

I wondered why the endgame cutscenes looked like they have a low framerate.

> Because they do. I have a dev system with lame GPU (non-upgradable) that struggled to run TDM and video capture at the same time. That's a chief area of regret. Too much work to ever redo all that.

I vote for more detailed models in tdm..

> It would be nice to have more modeler involvement with TDM.