bukary on 15/8/2002 at 22:19
If I am reading all these tables at the Keep correctly,
"OCOD" is a winner of 3rd Komag's contest! :eek: :eek:
WOW! :eek:
Thanks everyone for voting on "Old Comrades, Old Debts"!
And thank you, Komag, for hosting another contest!
Now, when everything is over, I would like to explain myself and tell you a little bit about basis of the creation of OCOD.
The mission area (40x40x40) is VERY small. --- Curse you, Komag! ;) ---
And that's why I had some problems with:
A) story,
B) architecture,
C) AIs.
A) I wanted OCOD to be a 'classic' mission with OBJECTIVES. Yes, objectives.
In other words, the player MUST have had something to
do...
Therefore in OCOD Garrett has to get out of the cell, escape from the haunted area, find some keys etc.
I also wanted to have
'about-turn' in the middle of the story.
So in order to get out of the chapel Garrett (after reading ringleader's journal) has to RETURN to the chapel. And he gets back to the place where he started (basement).
Furthermore, this had to be
THIEF fan mission.
And that is why I wanted Garrett to sneak past few guards, read some books and steal some items (keys, equipment and loot).
Unfortunately, I couldn't avoid key-hunting. Sorry for that. But I suceeded (I hope!) in allowing player to SNEAK. And that means: to be a THIEF.
B)
Sneaking. That is the reason for excluding blackjack from this misssion.
And that is the reason for such architectural shape of OCOD.
To recompense the lack of bj I placed some water (bassin and well) in my level. If the guards chase the player, there's always a possibility of jumping into the well or bassin.
I also designed alternative routes between chapel areas (stairs<->hatch, doors<->well/bassin) for better, varied sneaking and allowed player to open small outside gates with lockpicks.
There's always some place (and shadow) to hide, wait and listen.
On the other hand, this couldn't be too easy.
That is why I placed glowing spider (dynamic light/shadow) in the attic, used tile floor in the very important room with Vilmor's ghost and changed ice texture properties.
Obviously, I also tried to make sneaking more difficult by setting AIs' behaviors and patrol routes.
C) I must admit that finishing alpha version of OCOD was almost impossible: all thieves had standard above-average hearing and ringleader was walking around the attic! Considering size of the chapel area, they could hear every Garrett's step.
I had to completely rebuild my room brushes. And this was the hardest part of building this mission.
40x40x40 - it's the size of two or three rooms! And I had 12 rooms and outside area. And the sound should travel between them in a very specyfic way.
For example: when Garrett is upstairs, the guard from downstairs should not be able to hear his steps. Furthermore: when Garrett is in the explosives room
(basement), the guard in storeroom (basement) should not be able to hear him too. Etc.
I must say that I did not fully suceeded in changing sound travel routes. And I also had to change guards' hearing abilities and patrol routes.
But right now the player can fully ghost this level. It just requires timing and observation.
There'a always a place (shadow) from where you can observe the guard's patrol route and plan your move.
Of course, I tried to make Garrett's life a bit harder and suprise him sometimes, therefore - for example - the basement guard ocasionally goes (a little bit) up the stairs, the chapel guard does not walk in the straight line (outside) and "visits" the pond and the ringleader turns "randomly"...
I think that OCOD is very similar to previous contest winners: "The Blackstone Crypt" and "The Hightown Museum". All those missions have something in common: they are... MISSIONS (with story, objectives, classic gameplay).
I don't know why, but you, PLAYERS, seem to be quite conservative... ;) You prefere "predictability" from "experimentation". You have chosen "The Blackstone Crypt" (not for example "The Turtle On Its Back"), "The Hightown Museum" (not "The Wickerman"), "Old Comrades, Old Debts" (not "The Fireshadow's Barrow"). Perhaps this is some kind of tip for future contest participants.
And I must say that I REALLY LIKED "The Turtle", "The Wickerman", "The Barrow" and ALL other contest missions. :thumb:
And that is why I am so suprised that in your opinion OCOD deserved to be a winner in four categories (best use of space, architecture, story, gameplay)... :wot:
I thought that "The Fireshadow's Barrow" (or "Deceptive Perception") will win this contest and "OCOD" will only score in architecture or use of space...
"OCOD" was the first thing I did in DromEd (I was learning everything along the way). Therefore I am so happy now! :D
I also want to thank
ERNIE for great custom stuff (skins, some textures, movie etc)! He is co-author of this mission.
And - thank you,
AGNIESZKA! Sorry that you had to suffer two months with DromEd.
Special thanks to: PiotrS, Nightwalker, Hit Deity, Timon, Edward Vaillancourt, MsLedd, Saturnine, SilentSleep, schwaa, telliamed, Yametha.
As you can see, there were many people that helped me in many ways.
You can visit (
http://3dactionplanet.com/thief/master/projects/ocod.php3) OCOD webpage now, see some nice screenshots, 'read' the making of OCOD history and try to answer some questions for observant players.
This webpage is part of (
http://3dactionplanet.com/thief/master/index.php3 ) THE MASTER GUILD site. (See (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55131) this thread for more info about the Guild).
You can also download UPDATED version (1.1) of OCOD from this site.
Thank you once again! :angel:
Please post any comments on OCOD in this thread.
I would like to know what you think about this mission and its webpage. :)
I would like to hear any negative comments too. In other words, I want to know what you did not like in OCOD. This will allow me to avoid mistakes in the future.
