A House Call by thebigh (Mar 10 2022)

[thebigh]

1 hour ago, maxrenn8 said:

The way the letters were arranged in the book I would not have guessed that was the sequence in a million years...LOL.

That puzzle solution didn't quite work the way I imagined it would

[Jabberwocky]

Thank you for the mission. I thoroughly enjoyed it

As for the main puzzle

Spoiler

I deciphered the code but with my poor colour-sense I just couldn't tell the colour of either the books (wrong) or some of the lights. I just had to check here. But that's not to say the concept is bad. I like your approach.

 

There's another thing I'm not sure about whether I broke the game or whether it was meant to work like that.

Spoiler

I managed to enter the Doctor's room without the key simply by meddling with the door when he was closing it. The AI tried several times and then went for another round inside the room. At that point, when he was turning his back to me I crawled in. Not really very immersive story-wise but fun nonetheless

 

[thebigh]

Thanks for playing! I'm glad you liked it.

[Rio_Walker]

So I'm like - He-he the doc is an idiot, he couldn't remember which book is supposed to open the compartment so he made sure all of them open it, and then I find the desk key and find the manual... Guess I'm an idiot!
Also, the torn pages - nice touch, gets you thinking.

And then I find the clue how to open it and... I struggle bad. Because, like others. I thought "Color of books, no that's not it, color of bookshelves, also not it" (really hard to see colors on the left side, I got it right but they blend in too much, for me at least) and then I read HERE that it's a different order(!)

I read the recipe, and I am just going to ask - Six ounces of Snooze berries?! Excuse me?!

Spoiler

Where the hell am I supposed to find six ounces of DICK?!

Also, whoever made that ambient track that included fire starter sounds - damn you. DAMN YOU! XD

(How do you get into a dilapidated room? I couldn't find a switch anywhere)

[thebigh]

Thanks for playing! Glad you had fun, and I deffo learned a lot from building this mission.

[Keruah]

Walked through the mission. As everyone else here had some problems with the books puzzle. Also, opened the secret entrance to the laboratory through the wall, with the lever on the other side. Had to replay to open it with a prober books alignment. Otherwise, a very interesting short mission. 

[Tuomas]

I liked the book puzzle, however,

Spoiler

I had to check here for a hint to realize to pay attention to the dim lighting above the book shelves. Then I needed to adjust the in-game gamma setting to properly discern the different colors. But otherwise, encoding the book positioning with the upper/lower case letters was well thought of in my opinion, and having the letters in two rows also makes it explicit. Having more challenging puzzles is welcome, especially in this day and age when you can readily look for tips online if necessary. For the color blind it could be more of a challenge.

Like in the comment above, I initially entered the secret area by accidentally activating the lever through the wall. Do you have any tools as a mapmaker to prevent object interaction from certain directions?

Surprisingly I didn't manage to find the necessary loot (even playing with easy difficulty), even after finishing other objectives and re-scavenging the whole area. Am I the only one here?

[thebigh]

If I update this map I'll see if I can figure out how to fix that bug. As for the loot, I do tend to hide treasure a bit more thoroughly than most mappers. People keep giving me grief for it. But if you've looted the decoy secret and uncovered Mr. Pidgeon's secret stashes (big clues if you read all the pages of the notes he's left around), as well as scoring all the pickpockets, you should be almost at the Easy loot goal already.

[codiflow]

Hey @thebigh,

thanks for this great fan mission – had a lot of fun playing it. Many great details in there. I like them

I also finished the book shelf puzzle completely on my own

But currently I'm stuck finding the remaining 3 secrets. It says I already found 3 secrets and 3 are still to go. I went through the whole map multiple times now inspecting almost everything. Would you mind providing a list with hints to those secrets so one can find them?

Don't know if this is relevant: I'm playing on the easy level.

Thanks,
Christian

[thebigh]

Thanks for playing, and I'm glad you had fun @codiflow

Spoilers incoming:

 

Spoiler

Two of the secrets are the expensive wine bottles Mr Pidgeon has stashed around the house. There's clues written on the scroll in his kitchen footlocker. One bottle is in his bedroom; look carefully for a secret compartment. The other is in the stairwell leading up from the basement machine room. You might need to stack a crate or three to reach it.

One secret is the decoy in the doctor's bedroom. You find that pretty much by default.

Another is in the mildewy guest bedroom at the end of one of the hallways. Mr Pidgeon has left a note complaining about the damp and wondering why someone has screwed the wardrobe to the floor. Obviously someone didn't want anyone moving it. It might be worth searching around it thoroughly.

Another secret is in the machine rooms. Check out the machines. There is a valuable component you can take.

The last secret is a purse carelessly dropped by one of the doctor's guests on the foyer balcony. It's difficult to see and reach, but crates or a rope arrow should help.

 

[codiflow]

Thanks a lot

Could complete the mission now

Just 4 your info which secrets were the ones I hadn't found:

Spoiler

1. I already knew something must be in the stairways going up from the generator basement but I haven't seen the anomaly in the wall I also have been preparing the crates on the hallway already as I was sure there must be a purpose that there are so many movable packages lying around

2. I must have missed the secret in mildewy guest bedroom – I was sure I already inspected everything thoroughly

3. The purse on the balcony was really really well hidden

Thanks again for this nice mission – let's move on to the next

Edited June 16 by codiflow