Fan Mission: The Terrible Old Man

[Cambridge Spy]

Fuck that, by the time we hit Version 3.0 we need some wraiths riding giant Japanese spider crabs.

[waxhead]

Great little mission , what sets it apart from my point of view was the atmosphere, city design and the nice touch at the start of the mission. The only thing I miss (which I realize is a personal preference) is a bit of fog/mist in the city / garden, but other than that it was for me a near perfect mission albeit a bit limited.

Played on 64bit Debian 'Trixie' with the 'darkmod' directory on NFS. (For some reason the first time i tried this mission darkmod failed to load the savegame. Only happened once, but still worth mentioning I think).

Perhaps a bit off topic, but I wish the amazing city is being reused and made larger in another mission. Roaming the city (and it's roof tops) in another mission with a werewolf lurking around somewhere in the city would be a great second mission. Perhaps a second mission could be inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's 'the lurking fear' or 'the hound' if I may be so bold (and bald) as to say so.

Edited March 16 by waxhead
Fixed a few typos

[Ansome]

8 hours ago, hightide said:

I did find it a little strange that the moon was low on one side of the house, but there was such strong light coming in windows from both sides even on the lower floor. It added atmosphere, but I kept wondering where it was coming from (since the surround area has been built up, and probably overshadows the house).

The light coming from the windows was actually added in the very last update before release. Originally, only the windows facing the moon were lit up and projected moonbeams, but Dragofer remarked that following purely realistic lighting practices often results in an under-lit mission. Although I also find it a bit strange that such stark moonbeams are coming in from all the windows, I think the lighting of the pre-escape sequence is all the better for it. Thanks for playing my FM, Hightide, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Dragofer]

4 hours ago, Ansome said:

Originally, only the windows facing the moon were lit up and projected moonbeams, but Dragofer remarked that following purely realistic lighting practices often results in an under-lit mission.

Yes, I've been working with a mapper who ardently adheres to the principle that only moonfacing windows should cast moonrays indoors (so about 1/4 to 1/2 of all windows), even though this is a powerful tool for creating an atmosphere and for maintaining some gameplay challenge. I found that this approach often ended in scenes that had only dim and uniform ambient_world lighting, which meant players couldn't really appreciate many of the details.

Something I've seen in things like Dishonored is the use of sourceless lights to add highlights to scenes that otherwise contain no lit lights. That could be an especially viable approach in a mission like this which has a haunted theme.

[The Black Arrow]

Alright, I've tried this about two days ago and I had quite the fun in it.

I think saying anything will be a spoiler, so my whole review will be a spoiler itself, here you go:
 

Spoiler

The Start.
The start of this fan mission was rather great, I love how you put something in it instead of just being straight to the point.

I think there were scripted events, right? Such as, the door that was lid closing and apparently some coughing or the like.
It gave this eerie feeling that, despite being in a probably dangerous place, that is also probably haunted and/or creepy, there is still something going in this little village, some life, some sentience.

Personally, something like that always creeps me out more than going to an abandoned place knowing full well there will be nothing but ruin, and since this is the TDM lore, might have some undeath or two.
Presence of life is rather scary in The Dark Mod, ironic isn't it?

Anyway, funny story, I got into the main door first and thought it was glitched, but I of course checked around and saw the window. Found that to be funny honestly, heh.

The Atmosphere.

Some criticism for this one, but first positive feedback.

I was walking around the house itself, I tried to make my steps quiet, not knowing what could there be, there may even be a zombie or a spider, sleeping or not, I had no idea.
It might make no sense, why would a house where everybody knows a man resides in would have zombies or spiders? Well, you know, in TDM, any house can have anything, be it above, below...Or even in another bloody world. Just another thing I love in TDM itself.

I kept noticing these noises that I've never heard in any other TDM fan mission, it was a combination of creaking and moans, it really added to the environment, it made me feel uneasy and I say that in a very positive note.

Exploring the house was just fantastic, in a way I'd consider as the "morbid curiosity of a cat". Remember, curiosity killed the cat...But satisfaction brought it back! (Except in this case, although the protagonist's curiosity wasn't arguably a positive one anyway, so that quote and especially its last sentence still stands supreme)

The bad about it; some people have mentioned the too much blue fog I suppose. I myself have no problem with that, Dragofer is right, you don't need to be a genius to know that "realistic" lightning can be boring, especially in games where it's supposed to set the mood.
My problem was with the sound, specifically the music. It's not bad, it's good, sets the tone right, but it has this problem where it sounds almost the same and just repeats itself.
I am outside the house, it's a drone, in the house, drone, in the second floor, drone...It sounded very much the same, all of it.
I don't think you will be updating the FM anymore, that's fine, but I would recommend that in the next horror-oriented one, you should give it a Silent Hill type of treatment, which is...You leave music where it would be fit, like a scenery meant to inspire you, and then you have silence where you don't know what to do, like an actual creepy chase scene or so. I always found silence in those parts to be very evoking compared to either always having music or even a drone tune about.

The Rest.

I understand this is a limitation, probably more personal than engine/game-related, but sadly the Old Man wasn't exactly too scary, but at least he did have glowing yellow eyes.

The bottles that contained ghosts in them? Not too bad, it's better to just have shadows with cutlasses than yet another obvious Haunt repaste or so.

There also could have been more incentive to explore the house further after finding his two dead comrades, I know this is attempted with giving the Old Man a key on his pocket, but it's just to go back to the museum.
Meanwhile, the library itself? It changed quite a lot, would be great if it had something more.
And the little lorebooks that tell a bit more of the Old Man, they are great, but I have a feeling I was incapable of finding them all because I only remember volume 1 and 3? I should replay the mission some day and search every nook and cranny, thankfully most of these books were apparently easy to find, just right there in the open.

Overall, it's a great short fan mission, it captures the Lovecraftian atmosphere very well, I always loved Lovecraft horror and I hope to see more from you!

[Ansome]

8 hours ago, The Black Arrow said:

I don't think you will be updating the FM anymore, that's fine, but I would recommend that in the next horror-oriented one, you should give it a Silent Hill type of treatment, which is...You leave music where it would be fit, like a scenery meant to inspire you, and then you have silence where you don't know what to do, like an actual creepy chase scene or so. I always found silence in those parts to be very evoking compared to either always having music or even a drone tune about.

I intend to update the FM if any bugs/errors are found or updates to TDM necessitate it, but you're correct that I'm not updating it for content going forwards. The ambient tracks I used in this FM were a little bit busier than I normally would use, mostly because I knew this was going to be a very short FM going in and I had to deliver an atmosphere somewhat quickly. Rest assured that my next FM is going to be a bit less busy and more varied in terms of ambience.

8 hours ago, The Black Arrow said:

I understand this is a limitation, probably more personal than engine/game-related, but sadly the Old Man wasn't exactly too scary, but at least he did have glowing yellow eyes.

Don't worry, I don't view this as a major failing or anything. I don't really find Lovecraft's works "scary" in a traditional sense, if I wanted this to be overtly scary I likely would have gone way over the top and diverted too heavily from the source material. I've always enjoyed Lovecraft's works for their ominous tone, ambience, and mystery, which it seems from your feedback I more or less achieved. I'm glad you enjoyed my FM, Arrow, and thanks for the feedback!

[Marzec]

Hi Ansome.

Congrats on the release. It's a nice little mission.

Hey all, if you like this fan mission, please consider logging in to ThiefGuild.com and leave a 1-10 rating.

This will help to grab attention of others on the main page of the site.

The Terrible Old Man page: https://www.thiefguild.com/fanmissions/64085/the-terrible-old-man

Thanks!

Konrad

Edited March 22 by Marzec

[grodenglaive]

Wow, how did I miss this? Congratulations on the release!

[Geep]

This was overall an enjoyable FM for me. Thanks for making it. Thoughts/spoilers:
 

Spoiler

The briefing was clear and straightforward, if a little long. Continuity issue: one thief was described as having a fat ass, but later was not seen as being fat.

I liked the carriage start. In the village, I spent some time looking for rope arrows, or ways to mantle up house facades. Nada. Not a problem.

Inside the house, the shifting volumetric lighting and soundscapes with scraping (or distant thunder?) were particular highlights. The paintings of the sea captain and the ship with kraken amplified the storyline in the readables. The meaning of the bottles was nicely ambiguous (I thought the diary entry about seeing the dead crew in the bottles was a reference to alcoholism, not actual ghosts in the bottles.)

I figured in the enormous library, there was a 99% chance that there was nothing worth looking at on the shelves, but I surveyed them anyway. Could have used a little payoff. Or fewer bookcases.

The whole first part before the attic, while quite good from a loot, puzzle, and atmosphere perspective, might have benefited by breaking up the lengthy traversal with some unexpected threat (e.g., rotting floor giving way, stack of boxes and bottles falling over).

The statuettes were splendid, particularly the one with the projected silhouette. Although they didn't seem to a perfect match to the descriptive note and overall nautical theme (e.g., no tentacles).

Ubiquitous Terrible Old Man... kinda cool. The cutscene surprise ending was effective. Though I wish the last image could have had our heroes half covered in sand or sloshing water.

Also, there were 2 minor issues undoubtedly due to engine or asset shortcomings:
 

Spoiler

- When I first was in the nautical trophy room, I wanted to break through the glass case tops, but had no blackjack. So I tried picking up one of your cannon balls and dropping it repeatedly on the glass. No luck.

- I didn't notice this when I played, but saw it in Cambridge Spy's youtube playthru at times 19:53 and 21:27... when a Terrible Old Man walks in front of a vertical display case, the glowing glass panels appear in front of his body, not behind.

 

[OrbWeaver]

I can't figure out how to get in the house. The door can be lockpicked, but only opens halfway and I can't get through the gap. I tried running, jumping, leaning, crouching, mantling and bashing it with my sword, to no effect. I can't find any other entrances, and I don't start with any rope arrows or tools which would suggest another way in. I assume I must be missing something?

[nbohr1more]

8 minutes ago, OrbWeaver said:

I can't figure out how to get in the house. The door can be lockpicked, but only opens halfway and I can't get through the gap. I tried running, jumping, leaning, crouching, mantling and bashing it with my sword, to no effect. I can't find any other entrances, and I don't start with any rope arrows or tools which would suggest another way in. I assume I must be missing something?

Spoiler

Check the windows...

 

[Ansome]

2 hours ago, OrbWeaver said:

I assume I must be missing something?

Sorry for the late response, I hope ya found your way in! Fortunately, Nbohr1more always comes in clutch.

Spoiler

The large square window to the left of the front door is your way in. The front door can be unblocked from inside.

 

[Dragofer]

26 minutes ago, Ansome said:

The large square window to the left of the front door is your way in. The front door can be unblocked from inside.

Spoiler

In Orbweaver's screenshot it doesn't really look blocked, especially since the door opens wide enough that it could let someone slide in sideways. Maybe you've set it up like this to prevent the player from being able to frob the obstacle from outside? In a similar situation in The Painter's Wife we used a custom script and location scripts to make a func_mover that's frobable when the player is inside the house and that moves to the side when the player frobs it.

 

[Ansome]

7 minutes ago, Dragofer said:

Maybe you've set it up like this to prevent the player from being able to frob the obstacle from outside? In a similar situation in The Painter's Wife we used a custom script and location scripts

Spoiler

You're correct in that it opens just enough for the player to see into the entry corridor but not enough to frob the box itself. You can actually see it blocking the door if you turn and lean to poke your head through the crack of the door, but unfortunately it wasn't obvious to every player. I'll probably go for the scripting route in my next FM if I need to do something similar and perhaps even add it to this FM if an update is needed for bugfixing. I find it somewhat funny that because the entryway was the first area mapped, you can see me get more comfortable and sophisticated with scripting as you branch out from that area.

 

[High John]

Very enjoyable.

I did however need to look at an online video to find out about the

Spoiler

ship's wheel.

Was that mentioned in any of the readables, or is it something one is just expected to randomly stumble across?

Edited March 30 by High John

[OrbWeaver]

22 hours ago, Ansome said:

Sorry for the late response, I hope ya found your way in! Fortunately, Nbohr1more always comes in clutch.

Got it, thanks.

Quote

In Orbweaver's screenshot it doesn't really look blocked, especially since the door opens wide enough that it could let someone slide in sideways.

Yes, that is what confused me. It looks like you should be able to squeeze past, but you can't. It would be more obvious if the door only opened a few inches.

[Ansome]

2 hours ago, High John said:

Was that mentioned in any of the readables, or is it something one is just expected to randomly stumble across?

Spoiler

It wasn't mentioned in any of the readables. I very likely should have (and will do so in any future FMs) mentioned it elsewhere, but it was difficult to include it organically in the narrative. This also slipped through beta testing as it appeared beta testers are naturally inclined to seek out anything that looks even vaguely interactable, but this obviously doesn't apply to the entire playerbase. I apologize if searching for the hidden treasure room took you out of the mood and ambience! Either way, thank you for playing my first FM!

 

Edited March 30 by Ansome

[High John]

It's not necessarily a problem, I like being challenged(!)

You could actually say there is more logic with the

Spoiler

ship's wheel, since a wheel is meant to turn after all.

Some missions have a torch on a wall that rotates to open a hidden door.

That has less logic, but if you've come across it before, you will look out for it next time it comes up in a mission.

[BSmitty]

Thanks for a very fun little mission. Beyond expanding things, I really wouldn't suggest doing things much different. I particularly enjoyed the story. I even enjoyed all of the readables, which I seldom do with Darkmod missions.

[snatcher]

Last night I got to play The Terrible Old Man.

Spoiler

What I liked the most about this mission are the city outskirts. Darkness is upon us and the place is at rest: deserted streets sometimes illuminated by the Moonlight, a seldom working street lamp at a key location, occasional indoors human sounds in the distance, not a single window lit but one, the one. I haven't had this feeling in any mission that I recall and I wish this segment would have been a tad larger and intricate. I don't know, I think got used to having street lamps every ten meters in most missions and this setup took me by surprise. Mappers could explore Ansome's approach more often.

Nothing else worth saying that hasn't already been said.

@Ansome

Congratulations on your first release and thanks for sharing your work with us. Now do yourself and us a favor and bring on "The Raven" to TDM