yandros on 27/2/2003 at 13:55
Quote:
Originally posted by Avalon The only situation where I could possibly understand a 'Known Issue' is when your grandmother tells you that as her last wish, she wants you to release that mission of yours before she dies. You can see the heart monitor fluctuating and you know she has only moments left, so you rush off and mail that thing to every FM site on the net.
It's not a race. Take a few more days to resolve the issues before you make it available. Actually, in the case of Contest submissions, it is a race... those of us who do FM's for the contest and also have very busy lives outsideof Thief usually work on them down to the wire, and even then there may be "known issues" which we simply don't have time to work out before the deadline. Other than Contest missions and dying grandmothers' last wishes, though, I agree with you.
Frisco on 27/2/2003 at 15:55
I don't like death-traps in a Fanmissions. It's ok when you are warned in a way by a scroll or other hints like a skeleton lying in front of a trap. When there is only one in a dungeon I can deal with it, but when there up to five or even more and each time you die it is very frustrating and not a sign of good missiondesign.
yandros on 27/2/2003 at 15:58
Allow me to disagree with you - I don't think lots of hidden traps is bad mission design, it just isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some taffers enjoy the thrill of not knowing what might kill them in the next room. :)
Jabberwocky on 28/2/2003 at 03:04
Quote:
Originally posted by Frisco I don't like death-traps in a Fanmissions. It's ok when you are warned in a way by a scroll or other hints like a skeleton lying in front of a trap. When there is only one in a dungeon I can deal with it, but when there up to five or even more and each time you die it is very frustrating and not a sign of good missiondesign. I don't mind a good trap every now and then. I find ducking guards to be tedious at times, and after I stack them all neatly in the bathtub, a trap is just thing to remind me that yeah, I'm not welcome here and I can't just sprint around the level and jump on the owners bed till the frame breaks.
But your right, too much of a good thing is equally bad. If I start the game with 5 healing potions I start to wonder.
Avalon on 28/2/2003 at 03:40
The really annoying ones are those that are completely unavoidable, and entirely impossible to find. The kind where no amount of caution will save you from them. I've only seen these in a few missions, thankfully - few things are as aggravating as walking into an innocent room, only to be turned into a pancake by all four walls closing in before you can blink.
(We designers often forget that "difficult" is not synonymous with "annoying.")
kfort on 28/2/2003 at 04:12
Quote:
Originally posted by Avalon (We designers often forget that "difficult" is not synonymous with "annoying.") Also under the annoying (rather than difficult) category goes:
2) 50 minute key/switch searchs, especially when there is nothing in the room/chest
3) Time limits
4) Mazes
5) The old hammer-in-a-chest-near-a-guard gag
6) Really long waits when picking a lock
7) Loot requirement so high you have to spend more time searching the emptied map for one gold piece, than you took clearing it of all guards and completing all the other objectives
wild_inferno9 on 28/2/2003 at 06:16
the only time i enjoyed spiders was in Ycatx's 2nd mission, name evades me as i write this, where one part spiders were enemies behind bars, then you release the spider godess then all the spiders are friendly to you then kill the AI for ya, now thats good, sorta takes the creepy factor out and replaces with humor. I dont mind the single or pair of killer spiders or zombies, but when it has 16+. and then not enough stuff to kill them. other thing is you get in a mission, and you find holy water in a brracks then you go dang zombies in this, then you finish the mission without finding one, so you end up carrying a holy water vial all game. when i make a mission soon it will have a pet spider for garrett, or maybe i will make it like somthing to tote around to kill AI much like frogbeasts hmmm now theres an idea. now what would the spider haters say?, like one or 2 zombies gaurding a crypt is good, but i dont like in mages area where a the room is so dark, and heavily booby trapped, then all of a sudden too unkillable zombies get spawned, no defence, just run and pray. although the traps did hold them up for a bit.
Frisco on 28/2/2003 at 12:05
I'm still wondering about all those eager taffers, who want to find all loot up to every single coin. I read it very often in this Forum that many people want to find ALL loot, so there must be a lot of taffers to whom this is an important point. This was never my style of playing, if the the loot objective is fullfilled, it's OK with me. Usually I don't search for more loot any longer then. So I don't like searching well hidden loot, which you have to find too tick off the loot-objective in some missions.
Origami Thief on 28/2/2003 at 13:39
I would have to agree with some of the above comments regarding loot objectives. As far as I remember the loot requirement on all the OM's was reasonably easy to complete even on expert as long as you were prepared to cover the whole area. I play virtually all FM's on expert because I like to complete all the objectives and often find myself spending a long time searching for those elusive few gold coins to tick off the loot objective. This often sours my opinion of the mission and I mentally tend to mark it down a few points even if it has been a cracking FM.
I would like to see FM designers design missions so that the loot objective is achievable on all levels of difficulty without the need to uncover obscure secrets and find tiny hidden rings. You can always leave total loot discovery for those who enjoy searching for hours and hours.
Don't hit me, this is just my opinon.
Jabberwocky on 28/2/2003 at 14:21
I really hate creeping around in a lightly guarded house, walking up to the required priceless ming vase and when I frob it, the secret door in the floor drops out and sends me down the super- fun-happy slide into a jail cell while a new objective pops up... "Now get yourself out of THIS one before Bubba gets any ideas."
Heh heh heh, not that it ever WOULD mind you
So Sayeth Lord Foreshadow
