Ottoj55 on 2/10/2005 at 22:58

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now that we are discussing it, i thought rosaries are red was the nicest of them, it was like a lost thief gold mission with a really nice story under the action. i didn't vote of course, that was left to all of you.

Nielsen74 on 4/10/2005 at 20:03

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Now there fokes don´t be shy, do as ffox, Ottoj55 and demagogue, I for oun want to know what you all thing of/about my mission, good or bad :eww: thats whay I postede this:

Moghedian on 9/10/2005 at 03:05

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Well... Okay :) All of the authors did well, although it was clear that those that had more dromed experience had an easier time of building and had more detail work put in their missions. This was a good group of missions, and I hope Ottoj55 runs another newbie contest again, and that it makes more news than this one did.

...On to the reviews ...

A Bank Job:
Great use of space. It seemed like it was bigger than what it actually was... a whole section of town ! There was a fair amount of gameplay and occasional necessary guard-stalking involved. There were also some new objects which were well done and well used. The cigar box was especially cool. Good use of ambients. The sound propagation seemed to work OK, and the guards were well placed. There was a good level of detail (for example, the grass that was growing up between the pavement and the mini-park in the center of town, the weather hood over the outdoor gas light). The architecture was good as well. Most of the rooms were not just plain cubes... they had wainscoting, ceiling beams, moldings and whatnot. The buildings also had a realistic shape instead of the plain cube. It is evident that there was a fair amount of planning involved with this mission.

Mechbank:
I only completed this on easy-peasy, and got most way through So-So. The major holdup was time, and a secondary one was the Golden Skull puzzle with the switches. That was a tough puzzle. The puzzles in this mission were exceptional in that they went beyond the usual ones deployed in fm's. The sunlight puzzle was really unique, and well thought out. This fm also had a good sense of humor - The bank's formula rejections were pretty funny. "Mechbank - For the impersonal touch" sums it up really well. Another funny part was the loan defaulter's special treatment. The only problem that was that the sound, and sound propagation with this mission was a bit off. I had to listen to the poor AI downstairs that was running the alarm system twice before I could understand what she said. There were also a couple of places where the guards were hard to hear, or else would be far away and easy to hear. There was a good level of detail in this mission (out of order tag on the elevator, a pipe leaking steam, etc.)

Rosaries are Red:
The author did a great job with the appearance of this mission. It looked just like a decrepit old haunted bank should look. The author also made sure to include a lot of details, such as the cuts in the floor, and the water dripping off of the loose ceiling board. The story line was also good, and there were reinforcing touches in the mission such as the armbone with the key sticking out from under the dirtpile. I actually felt sorry for Brother's Sears and Frederick having to stay there and guard past death. Poor guys. The texts gave a good impression of what was happening when the place went to the zombies. The mission would have been improved if it had ambients, and if the sound propagaion worked better. The gameplay was an 8 because there were only a few ways to get around the zombies and phantoms. The puzzles were pretty good, particularly the saint statue hints for the vault combo. The vault itself (and perhaps this player) had an odd problem : the light flickering outside the vault was rather fast, and it made me nauseous. I had trouble completing the mission because of that. It appeared that the author was intending on making the objectives for the different difficulty levels different, but ran out of time to do it. I sincerely hope that the author will take the time and implement those objectives in a re-release.

The Taffer's Bank:
It seemed as though the author was a bit rushed. It would have been nice to check out the tavern, and the little area with the drunken guard. The sound propagation needs some work, and there didn't seem to be any ambients. This mission was also a bit plainer than the others. On the plus side everything seemed to work as it should as far as keys and objectives. At any rate, it really seems like the author didn't quite have time to finish this one up.

There were two that I had betatested: Serge Bank and Last Gleaming of the Rising Sun. Both of those were good, and rest assured that both of the author's got a full report :sweat:

The last one, Evendale, was removed from the contest so I didn't try to write any notes on it. :erm: I should remedy that.

Moghedian on 9/10/2005 at 17:23

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It was a little too quiet. I could hear her say something the first time, but didn't really catch the full statement until I had reloaded and listened again. This may have been just me :) I usually listen for guard's footsteps and bot noise instead of listening to what the AI are saying :erg: In this instance, I was almost expecting an additional trap of some kind, with those mechanical spiders dropping from the ceiling or something :sweat:

Aja on 12/10/2005 at 02:26

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I apologize for not playing these sooner and voting... I still haven't yet, but I plan on it, and I promise to write detailed comments afterwards.:)