Contest 3 Missions are Released!!!

Lytha on 30/7/2002 at 12:29

Mind Master

Technically, this is a masterpiece. Random color patterns for each game, isn't it? :) The architecture of the mission looks also beautiful. :) It is also a very nice touch that there is not only the game itself, but some further AI chatting and walking around.

However, I was never able to finish the mission (not because I am too dumb, why thank you.) I will try to summarize what I did in my last attempt, maybe that can narrow the bug down? I don't know.

I played in Expert, his combination was green - red - blue - yellow (grby).
Frobbed the bell, I waited until he had said his part, and my lights became bbbb.
I frobbed the button, he said "1 right color, right spot".
I made rrbb, frobbed his button, he said "2 right colours, both right spot".
I made ryyb, frobbed the button, he said "3 right colours, none right spot".
I made yrbg, frobbed the button, he said "4 right, half in right spot".
Now it comes.
I made grby, frobbed the button, he said now two different things at the same time, which made it hard to understand both. I am sure I heard a "4 right, only two in the right spot" though.
After this, he refused to talk to me anymore.

This is prototypical for all the times that I played the mission, and I have given it a lot of tries, because I am (on the theoretical level) very amazed of it. :)

I have my Thief patched, I have the MM version with the gamesys, I even have the UserScripts of VK installed. I don't have dromed installed in this Thief directory... maybe that would make a difference? I don't know.

Overall, I am still very impressed of the technical level of this mission. :D But this foolproof bug (100% of ~15 attempts) made me nominate other missions (those with Rube Goldstein Devices and Conversation Bluerooms) for the best technic, because their effects worked flawless for me.

Breaking and Entering

This mission had a very nice and well done Sword<->Escape effect. It is also cool that the enemies are monkeys instead of normal guards; monkeys ("apebeasts", I know) are used so rarely that it's sad. It was very nice that the monkey teleported into the normal rooms after the second portal, that was unexpected and a sweet shock effect. :)

Also, the no weapons of this mission made it nicer; I always felt unsecure since I could not neutralize the monkeys; but the shadows and vision abilities of the monkeys were cleverly adjusted, so that it wasn't really that difficult. :)

Give us more of this, but bigger? Please! :D

Lytha on 30/7/2002 at 12:32

Night's Recourse

Who wouldn't like a mission in which you take a break from the computer and beat dromed-created things to death with a stick? :D

LOL, this mission is great for after several hours of dromed bitching and crashing and doing all these venomous, hateful little things for that we love it (or why do we spend hours fighting and struggling with it?)

It is nice that you gave the player all these health potions (since the no_endgame does not work ingame, and the "ALT+G; stare at the lightcolour and the texture alignment while the stupid guard tries to kill me, get bothered by him waving his sword in my field of vision, draw the dagger, and kill him without even looking at him" works only in missions you're designing yourself, I guess ;) ), and that the AI is so dumb. I always go into the bath, backstab the thing in the bathtube, and then they come one for one through the bathroom door, ready to get clubbed to death.

Yes, it is not at all a thiefy mission, but it is definitely fun! And the music! Haha! :D

(only, why is Karras in full screen on my monitor?)

Deceptive Perceptions

Well, this mission was on the first time through my favourite. Maybe I should try to summarize the cascade of feeling that this mission sent me through? ;)

The first effects stunned me a bit; did not make me scream yet though - they were surprises, but made me chuckle ("I want to see the bluerooms of this level to see how he did it!") I went then to items in question and had a closer look.

The training dummy and the angel statue freaked me out, and I started to have the feeling that something nasty was about to happen.

Then I snuck up and took the dagger, and nothing happened at first (I went to investigate everything once more, then I decided to wake up the "zombie" by walking over him. And yeah, then you had me screaming. I screamed all the way to the ladder (I did not know that I could scream so long without breathing, actually.) It was late at night, and my neighbours surely want to thank you for this. ;)

Well, then I sat at the top of the ladder and I was chuckling like mad again, and this continued until the end.

It was a GREAT first impression and fun and everything!

But, the little but that I always have... but, during replays, the mission becomes weaker... the effects were mostly "one time only"s. And I am a fan of replayability. This mission is still my second in line favourite, even if it is only because of the memory about the first time through. :D

Old Comrades, Old Debts

I love this mission!!! :D

Uh, maybe I should go more into the details as of why I love it? ;) It has snow. It looks beautiful and perfect and it gives the feeling that the area is a lot bigger than it really is. It has ghosts&apparitions, some seriously creepy. It has nice new skins for the AI. It has glowing spiders (who doesn't love glowing spiders?) It starts like Escape with reduced hitpoints for Garrett (at least, in Normal, I think it didn't in Expert?) It had this intro with a CamVator or a CamVator-Similar. It was creepy. It was dark and thrilling. It had good books. I loved it upstairs, downstairs, outside, and on the ground level. I loved the special effects, i.e. in the explo-room. It scared me, it was immersive (highly!), it was thiefish. And it had snow (did I mention the snow already?) :D

The only minor drawback was that it was a bit frustrating in the start, close up or in the FM difficulty level that I call privately "professional" (it shares this difficulty level with CL and the Inverted Manse, or with levels like Koobze or Oblivion (the last of the Wrichard's series. That "professional" means... enough reloads needed on the first time through to drive the player (a bit) nuts.) Well, on replays, the difficulties of OCOD became just merely challenges though; and it was relatively easy to find the strategies and moves to deal with the difficulties (compared to some other FMs). :)

Overall, I loved this mission most of the contest missions.

vesuvius on 30/7/2002 at 14:24

lytha I was joking around, it had been a hard level for me and I usually am crud at ghosting. I changed the message however if it offends.

diana50322 on 30/7/2002 at 15:57

Vesuvius - it had sounded more like a complement than a stab to me. I would brag too if I ever beat NightWalker with an answer. IF

Lytha - I couldn't see a thing in "TGSOLF" (even with the gamma maxed) which makes it hard to tell what the architecture was like - thus my comment. Many others had the same experience. It was not critical just alluding to the fact that it was a shame to hide it in the dark and not let us appreciate it.

And most users realize that a smiley means that they are joking.

Lytha on 30/7/2002 at 17:46

I guess you meant to post a ";)" then instad of the ":D". If you look at these facial expressions, you will understand that most people interpret the first one as an emoticon for "joke/sarcasm/irony", while the other one just expresses "laughter/joy/good mood" - and not that you only "made a joke".

Laughter/joy/good mood behind a definitely dissing comment about a mission opens all the way up to an interpretation like "ROTFL, this mission was so bad."

Anyway, if you seriously want to continue argueing about these semantics or about why "haha! I beat X!" is noteworthy enough to post, then I believe that it should be done in a different thread than in this one. :)*

(*) ":)" just showing a friendly smile, expressing nothing more than what a cat expresses when she purrs.

ah, enough of this.

vesuvius on 30/7/2002 at 18:06

I didn't say it was noteworthy in and of itself, that's why I posted as much of a solution as I could provide as well.
I already apologized for offending you, and it was more a way of expressing my amazement that I accomplished something (after much difficulty) that you had (earlier at least) not been able to. Given your reputation in the community, and given the style is a form of the style that (supposedly, I honestly haven't looked it up specifically) you created, I was somewhat proud. it wasn't a barb at you- just a way of showing I was a little happy with myself. (I was laughing in amazement, not as a taunt)
-------------------
on the topic of Thief CTF
I can't believe how blind I was, I thought I was so clever to see the connection to Megatokyo, and yet he mentions it in the middle of the readme.
D'oh.

Sharga on 30/7/2002 at 18:42

Nice reviews there, although I didn't always agree with your opinion I must say it was tastefully done and full of good compliments. :thumb:

Quote:

(only, why is Karras in full screen on my monitor?)

LOL!! I was wondering the same thing. :D

Hey, I thought the smilie limit was 8 but you have gone over it. They must have changed the limit while I wasn't looking, I wonder what it is now. LOL, I still remember the days of old when Black used to post hoards and hoards and armies of marching smilies, creating much chaos and some very long sidescrollers. Those were the days! ;)

jericho on 30/7/2002 at 22:06

I got stuck in "Old Camrades, Old Debts". I got the Ringsleader schema, my objectives are now to find Ringsleader key and find an exit. How do I enter the basement?

Also with Eastwater Bank, I can't find the enterance. I noticed that someone posted about the same problem, but I didn't find the answet to this question.

And I love Mind Master, very innovative idea!

vesuvius on 30/7/2002 at 22:25

have you read the various story scrolls?
then you know the ringleader fought someone before he lost his key.
have you seen any sign of where he fought this person?
have you seen this persons apparition anywhere?
look where you last saw this person.
here is the explicit answer:
[spoiler]the key is on the ground in the chapel, under an overturned font, at the feet of the 'haunt' who appears [/spoiler]

Nightwalker on 30/7/2002 at 22:26

Jericho - OldComrades, Old Debts - [SPOILER]Once you've read the stuff up in the attic, go back down one floor and into the room with the holywater fountain lying on the floor. The key's there now.[/SPOILER]

Eastwater Bank - [SPOILER]Walk all the way from your starting point around the bank to the far side, Search behind the last bush for a tiny lever, then go back to the next little nook and a door will be open. When you enter there, climb the ladder and search the corner of the ceiling for a tiny, tiny lever. It's very hard to see.[/SPOILER]