<Username> on 10/4/2020 at 20:08
The concept of Ten Little Taffers is unusual and ambitious. The scenario reminded me of the T1 classic Returning A Favor. Like others in this thread, I think it could be made into something really great with some tweaking.
Having a mission in the TMA20AC that is not set in the City was nice. A hotel next to a large waterfall was a pleasant change of scenery.
I recommend playing this on Garrett difficulty first.
Garrett:
Finished in 1 hour and 31 minutes with 2333 of 3000 total loot. Gerard was the killer.
This was the best of the three difficulty levels. It took me a while until I realized you are basically on a timer as the guests get killed on by one. Seeing mutilated bodies appear as the hotel got more and more quiet was tense. I needed a hint for the book puzzle because I did not realize the order in which you read them is the puzzle. I had heard the clicks, but triggering a mechanism by reading a book did not seem like a possibility to me. The safe I found purely by accident when I tried to frob something else in Capezza‘s office. One question to Balboa: How do the kill triggers work? Gerard patrols through the hotel and whenever he is at the location of another guest and when the player is not nearby, that guest is killed?
Bumbleson:
Finished in 39 minutes. Masterson was the killer.
Bumbleson freaking out about each dead body he discovers was hilarious. I also liked how valuables are disappearing from the rooms as time moves on. I was wondering if I would at some point get to meet Garrett.
Owen:
Finished in 36 minutes. Owen was the killer and replaced Horridge.
Owen's happy whistling as he is killing victims is awesome. It made me want to play another mission in which you play as a whistling murderer. On the other hand, I would have preferred killing all guests the same way they died on the Garrett and Bumbleson difficulty levels. I too was very surprised you cannot kill Bumbleson by trapping him inside the steam room.
Bugs:
On Garrett difficulty, the mission fails when you step into the light in front of the door leading to the storage room. This might be intended, but it feels like a bug.
Also, if you mantle onto the cupboard next to the body of Katya Signoli, you float in the air above the cupboard.
Balboa on 10/4/2020 at 21:47
Username, thanks for the commentary.
Garrett: The clue to the book puzzle was in Gerard's bedroom. The clicks you heard were a suggestion of my excellent beta testers.
The kill sequence was pre-determined, but as random as I could make it. The mission kept a tally of the number of new rooms/corridors you visited for the first time. Once a specific threshold was exceeded, AND a victim was in the right place, AND the player was elsewhere, then they died. It worked out beautifully.
Bumbleson: No, Garrett doesn't appear here. He is the 'perfect thief', as it were.
Owen: Actually, there is no 'Owen'. Uther Nathaniel Owen is the pseudonym for the killer (per the Agatha Christie novel), as in U.N.Owen, or UNKNOWN. In the third difficulty, it happens to be Gov. Horridge.
And, yes, it is possible (within reason) for Owen to kill everyone the same way in all three difficulties.
Poison Katya with an apple.
Freeze Fretus in the freezer.
Drop the Countess onto the statue.
Bash Carlysle with a wine bottle in the wine cellar.
Shoot Erlen with an arrow on the archery range.
Bludgeon Gerard with a Hammer icon at the Chapel (sadly, not IN the Chapel - last minute pathfinding issues I'm afraid).
Kill Dorcas with the meat cleaver in the kitchen (and no, you can't cut her head off - come on).
Drown Brenda in the pool.
Kill Bumbleson in the Steam Room.
The last two I leave as an exercise for the reader. It is absolutely possible, but difficult and tricksie.
The problem with the light at the entrance to the shipping dock is, indeed a bug (if you don't enter the mansion through there at first).
The issue with the cupboards in the ballroom I didn't know about till now. At any rate, all of the known bugs have been fixed in the maintenance release (after the contest ends).
But, if you take into account that I hadn't touched Dromed in ten bloody years, this mission is almost a miracle. True, it may not be in anyone's top three (it's not in my top three, to be honest), but it is exactly what I tried to build. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
andyln on 11/4/2020 at 00:05
Oooooh, now I understand; the three levels do not start at the same point in the story, do they.
That's why on Garrett the bridge explodes right after you cross it.
Does that mean that on Garrett the killing starts immediately after you begin to lurk around the house? The way of sequencing the killings you described is indeed very clever, but I wish it triggered a bit later - in my gameplay I was so unlucky/had such bad eyesight that I first found all the bodies and only then the diary :laff: which obviously spoiled a lot of fun. Yeah, I always manage to break things.
I loved the atmosphere of the house, anyway. Your mission was very enjoyable, thanks.
Balboa on 11/4/2020 at 01:20
Everything starts at the same point in all three difficulties. The bridge is blown, then Katya is poisoned. From there, things can happen somewhat differently.
Vikare on 12/4/2020 at 07:02
I must say this was a very unique FM. It was very interesting to see the events unfold from different viewpoints. I played in the correct order and once I got to play Bumbleson, I was surprised to see things had changed, noticing the killer wasn't Gerard this time, it kept things fresh. Being the killer was pretty fun as well, it took away the feeling that you were in danger, until the last moment, when you encounter Garrett. I don't remember playing an FM like this before, it's amazing what you were able to acomplish with the scripting, and I feel the concept can be improved even more, congratulations Balboa :cheeky:.
P.S. The way the loot around the mansion kept disappearing as time passed when you played as Bumbleson and Owen, was a nice detail :P
Pavis on 13/4/2020 at 07:12
Playing as Owen I can't find Fretus anywhere, he's the last one on my list :)
I think I never saw him on the 2 first missions, is this a bug ? Where can he be ?
McTaffer on 13/4/2020 at 07:29
Quote Posted by Pavis
Playing as Owen I can't find Fretus anywhere, he's the last one on my list :)
I think I never saw him on the 2 first missions, is this a bug ? Where can he be ?
I'm not sure if this is also a bug, but when I played he managed to
kill himself in the freezer without me having to lift a finger. I only had to see he was there to check off the objective.
Balboa on 13/4/2020 at 11:37
Not a bug at all. Fretus dies in the freezer, just as the killer planned. Read the journal that the killer(s) kept.
Pavis on 13/4/2020 at 16:23
Quote Posted by Balboa
Not a bug at all. Fretus
dies in the freezer, just as the killer planned. Read the journal that the killer(s) kept.
Sorry, I didn't catch the hint in the diary nor did I check
the freezerAll is working fine!
MrMunkeepants on 13/4/2020 at 21:42
I had the same problem as Woodsie1 on Owen, where the doors wouldn't close to start the mission, while using FMselector. I switched to Angelloader and it proceeded as expected.
Now, after trying to replicate the deaths in earlier iterations, I need to kill Garrett! :eek:
