FM Release: Sneak and Soufflé - April Fools mission (01.04.2024)

[Goldwell]

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N-xwkYCuVzGnVESGCdsJrIbphw50hW9Z/view?usp=sharing

[nbohr1more]

What is going on here?

Spoiler

This thing has an actual FM folder structure. Is this a reverse April fools prank? Real mission pretending to be a prank?

Gotta check this out when I get off of my work shift today...

[nightmare]

Volumetric lighting and atmosphere is fabulous.

[joebarnin]

"Subtle" French accent?

[Kopfrkingl]

That soup sounded delicious, I'll have to try it with one of Sven Mynell's steaks.

Spoiler

Eat zombie soup. Get infected. Become a zombie. Get turned into zombie soup. The cycle of life!

 

[Heuli]

Thanks for the great mission

Edited April 2 by Heuli

[nbohr1more]

This has been added to the mission database now that April Fools is over.

[hightide]

I have a special item I'm sure is needed for a certain secret, but I can't figure out how to use it

[Goldwell]

18 hours ago, hightide said:

I have a special item I'm sure is needed for a certain secret, but I can't figure out how to use it

The early bird gets the worm. 
 

 But the second mouse gets the cheese!

[Tarhiel]

Mondieu, this mission is magnifique!

[hightide]

4 hours ago, Goldwell said:

The early bird gets the worm. 
 

 But the second mouse gets the cheese!

yes, I can see what I need to do but can't accomplish it. I can't drop the item from inventory, it can't be used on plates or anything in the area...

updated to 2.12 and got it to work. might have also been user error

[SeriousToni]

What a nice name for a mission!

[Petike the Taffer]

On 4/1/2024 at 11:48 AM, Goldwell said:

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N-xwkYCuVzGnVESGCdsJrIbphw50hW9Z/view?usp=sharing

Argh, sacrebleu ! Mon ami, I owe it to myself to try zis mazterpiece, hon, hon. Very... avantgarde !

Will provide feedback later.

Edited April 4 by Petike the Taffer

[Goldwell]

4 hours ago, hightide said:

yes, I can see what I need to do but can't accomplish it. I can't drop the item from inventory, it can't be used on plates or anything in the area...

updated to 2.12 and got it to work. might have also been user error

Spoiler

Select the cheese in your inv and then frob the hole where the mouse is hiding (it will frob highlight), no need to drop it.

 

[Petike the Taffer]

I wrote earlier that I owe this masterpiece a review, so... Here is my detailed review of this groundbreaking and seminal Mission Fan.

SPOILERS ABOUND ! TDM PLAYER BEWARE, YOU'RE IN FOR SPOILERS AND MAYBE EVEN A SCARE !

This mission... subverted my expectations.

Starting with the briefing video. Not since the days of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns have I seen such daring subversion right at the start. You're expecting one thing... then, bam !

I tried everything to infiltrate the mansion from the outside ! No luck ! Well and truly, expectations subverted !

NPC dialogue heard from the inside... stellar ! Brought a tear to my eye. Or was it just one of the raindrops that fell on my head ?

What else brought a tear to my eye ? The senselessly slaughtered guard at the courtyard ! Clearly, a cautionary story that he who grabs a sword... and yet, forgets to dim his lantern, the fool... shall die by someone's sword or arrow. Figures !

That you hid the masterful sidequest of collecting the pennies-for-a-thought from the rather racy fountain, in order to later thoughtfully redistribute them to the poor and hungry street urchins of Bridgeport, is nothing short of design brilliance worthy of at least a two hours long, detailed GDC lecture. I'd watch such a lecture on a loop, 24 hours a day, twelve times a day. Brilliant stuff !

Ah, the side-yard, with steps and a basement entrance that looked and felt straight out of Thief II's opening mission, Running Interference... Could the cunning TDM homages to the classics get any better ?! Could they ? Well, soon enough, I discovered that, yes, they could get even better ! There was an even more amazing homage that I didn't expect ! Read on to find out what...

The chefpick was... indescribably cool. I now yearn for it to be included in every single FM. The classic lockpicks feel completely passé.

I knocked out both NPCs and... what is this unexpected social commentary ?! The knocked-out have names ?! I applaud your deeply incisive observation, worthy of a skilled chef with a kitchen knife, that the NPCs in games are not mere fictional constructs, but fictional beings with names, hearts and souls ! I confess, upon this moving revelation, I started shedding tears so uncontrollably, I nearly had to quit playing the mission. Yet, I pressed on, heartened and refreshed by such displays of humanity in a work of stealthy interactive fiction ! The commentary was no less subtle and stealthy, I tell you ! As subtle as the protagonist's gritty, grounded accent !

Two different entrances into the local vent system... I... I can't even... So many possible routes of entry. Truly, in the grand tradition of the TDM immersive sim design philosophy !

The choice of giving the intrepid protagonist a temporary rat companion, bribable by cheese, who fetches priceless hidden loot, was equal parts innovative and a hard-hitting social commentary on the abuse of animals for theft and burglary, and people "ratting out" their fellow tenants by revealing the hiding places of their priceless belongings ! I was deeply impressed ! I was thoroughly amazed ! You even had my 'stalgia sense tingling ! Why ? That minor element of your FM even reminded me of the old but gold Thief II FM campaign The Flying Age: The Abominable Flying Machines of Dr. Zeppelinger, where you escape a prison cell by giving a mouse a bit of cheese you've managed to find, and the mouse then provides you with a means of escape.

I have scarcely ever seen such a wonderful duo of homages to other past LGS missions and fan missions !

Of course, the shocking revelation with the undead in the freezer was an even more biting commentary on the undead precariat of today, and their ruthless and dehumanizing exploitation by The Man, maaan, the snobby culinary establishment. Undeadkind merely want to roam their abandoned tombs and catacombs in peace (pieces ?) and get a bite or two out of a stray vagrant or drunk guard every now and then, no big deal. Society needs to be more charitable to undeadkind ! 

And you've even included a gas arrow up in the rafters ! You well and truly know your audience, as I'm an old, die-hard gas arrow collecting enthusiast. I am a sophisticated, yet simple man: I see a gas arrow in Thief or The Dark Mod, I immediately grab it, owing to its rarity. Thank you for such generous mission design.

To cut a long story short, I have had a thorough, engrossing and moving cultural experience with this short-but-dazzling mission !

In the shadowed alleys of TDM fan mission sites, I have crossed paths with missions that were ruthlessly difficult and confounding, yet rewarding, but never have I played a mission this... authentic... avantgarde... thought-provoking... It even made me feel hungry !

Riveting, simply riveting. Like working on the skeleton of a 1930s Art Deco skyscraper.



Ultimate verdict: 22 frommages out of 20, with a happy cheese-filled rat as the cherry on the top. (But what kind of frommage ? Cheddar ? Swiss cheese ? Gouda ?! I dunno. Don't have a cheesemaking degree.)

In other words, I cannot rate this mission other than with the Chef Excellence Award for... Excellence !

*chef's kiss*

Le Mission Légendaire Magnifique !

Roll over, Requiem !

Roll over, Crucible of Omens !

Roll over, Iris !

This, this... is the pinnacle TDM fan mission of all time.

 

Edited April 5 by Petike the Taffer

[STRUNK]

Nice menu : P
The intro is grandious!! Who draw these?

 

[Amadeus]

6 hours ago, Petike the Taffer said:

I wrote earlier that I owe this masterpiece a review, so... Here is my detailed review of this groundbreaking and seminal Mission Fan.

The thing that I love about this review is 

Spoiler

that it takes as long to read as it does to play the actual mission

 

[Goldwell]

14 hours ago, STRUNK said:

Nice menu : P
The intro is grandious!! Who draw these?

 

You did... don't you remember? I gave you a French kiss for your beautiful effort!

 

14 hours ago, Amadeus said:

The thing that I love about this review is 

  Hide contents

that it takes as long to read as it does to play the actual mission

 

I thought the exact same thing hahahaha!

[SeriousToni]

On 4/5/2024 at 11:08 PM, STRUNK said:

Nice menu : P
The intro is grandious!! Who draw these?

 

It seems to be ai generated if I'm not mistaking. Sometimes the people have six fingers, sometimes the eyes are strange, sometimes the text is gibberish. But if it is done well I guess it's a comfortable way to enhance your mission intros.

Very nice little mission BTW I really enjoyed it! Loved the rat secret.

[STRUNK]

On 4/6/2024 at 11:24 PM, SeriousToni said:

It seems to be ai generated if I'm not mistaking. Sometimes the people have six fingers, sometimes the eyes are strange, sometimes the text is gibberish. But if it is done well I guess it's a comfortable way to enhance your mission intros.

Very nice little mission BTW I really enjoyed it! Loved the rat secret.

Well, it looks very good!
I tried generating some textures with AI, and it look quite good but the free model(s) lost the option to generate images and I'm too cheap to pay for it : P

[SeriousToni]

1 hour ago, STRUNK said:

Well, it looks very good!
I tried generating some textures with AI, and it look quite good but the free model(s) lost the option to generate images and I'm too cheap to pay for it : P

Yeah it's not an easy to go option, more like an inspiration. There's always lots of artifacts and inconsistencies which take so much time to fix that it is nearly the same time to create images as painting them by yourself if you have an eye for detail.

I tried it for creating textures too and it worked pretty well (I think it was dalle 2 back in the day last year). Most difficult part was making it seamless. I think the time it took for rerolling prompts was nearly the same as searching for stock textures though. But the results were as least as good as stock textures. A thing I couldn't say about artwork. There's no coherent style or consistent features for story actors. I would say you didn't miss anything of value. We'll see what the future holds.

[ecbert]

how to get inside

[STRUNK]

13 hours ago, ecbert said:

how to get inside

Spoiler

Through the side door, you have to use the chef's special lockpick.

 

[grodenglaive]

Merci pour cette mission délicieuse, c'est magnifique!

[thebigh]

I agree; a very tasty little morsel of a mission.