Ravon
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-19-2004
IP: Logged

I made this small hold a while ago, but took my time adding details and more puzzles. While it is nothing at all like Cave, I think some might enjoy it...

Notes:
-It's kind of a maze, so it's definately not for everyone. It's no level thirteen, but think maybe Nightmare Roses (excellent hold).

-There are almost certainly backtracking issues and trivial solutions. It's quite hard to find such things with any hold like this. If playing it many, many times is going to be too much of a problem, I would definately recommend waiting for some preliminary testing to occur.

-It is possible. I just played it for the umpteenth time to make sure.

-It might be too linear, and too easy to see what needs to be done next. If this is the case, I will try to add more variety.

-The hold is four rooms huge, and has a grand total of four roaches (hence the name). I am however, thinking of adding another level, which would be called Two, and, you guessed it, have two monsters per room.

-Again, this hold is nothing like cave, so don't expect anything similar (well, except the way the rooms look, I guess you could say I stuck with the same style...).

Edit: Updated hold below. (Now with more calcium! I mean, levels!)

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[Last edited by Ravon at 02-12-2007 12:13 AM]

golfrman
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 165
Registered: 07-10-2006
IP: Logged

Mastered!(Even if there were no secrets.) I must say that even though i didn't enjoy it a whole lot(only becuase i am not a big fan of mazes), but it was very well made. The only backtracking problem i had is if you go into the room with the bule door before beating everythingm you have to restore to the begging of the room south of it.

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Jesus is Lord and Messiah!

Citrus
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1233
Registered: 01-08-2006
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I like it! It's like an introduction to Figure or Ground! The only problem is that there are plenty of ways to get to a position where you need to restore. That's certainly frowned upon. If you got rid of that I would give this hold an 8, as of right now it would get a 6. For brains, I'd say a three and a half, or a four. I'm not that good of a judge on brains.

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Call me Citrus.

Ravon
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-19-2004
IP: Logged

Yep, restoring issues were mainly what I put this up for. I'll have a go at the 1s/1w issue. Are there any other specific issues I should look at?

Edit: Fixed.

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[Last edited by Ravon at 02-10-2007 02:09 AM : Update]

schep
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 865
Registered: 03-01-2005
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That was fun, for a quick little easy hold. And as far as I can see, it's not possible to get yourself stuck in this version.

Spelling issue in the end hold text: should be "definitely"

Ravon
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-19-2004
IP: Logged

schep wrote:
Spelling issue in the end hold text: should be "definitely"

Fixed, hold up top.

Is the level too linear currently? Are there simply not enough options at any one point to make it unobvious enough to be a little difficult? Am I worried about something I shouldn't be?

Thinking about it, this would make for quite the contest, "Design a hold where the number of monsters is the same as the number of rooms." I bet there would be some truly genius entries.

Ravon
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-19-2004
IP: Logged

Sorry about the double post...

Anyway, let me tell you a story. It's fairly short, but you might enjoy it:

It was Ravon's birthday today. Not his real one, which occured about half a month ago, but his dangerously belated party. Relatives visited his house. There was cake.

Apparently, Ravon had a bit too much chocolate cake, and now he can't fall asleep. Oh Noes!

Well, happy ending time, you get another level to play! Probably riddled with more bugs than the first (and not the bugs the signs are mentioning), you're challenge is to find them! And beat the level!

Notes on Two:
-To my mind, it has a much different feel than One. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Should I try to keep a similar feel and look throughout, or is it fine how it is?

-Two has many more dead-ends than One. It also has many more areas where the correct moves are to simply leave the room and re-enter. I tried to hide these, however, instead of making it obvious.

-In order to stay true to the population density gimmick, I occasionally (read: half the time) doubled up on roaches where there need be only one. I kind of felt like I was almost cheating by doing so. I know it's no big deal, but should I work to get more places for roaches?

-Lastly, I'm going to set up a beta-board for this, if anyone wants an invite, PM me. Note that if there are enough testers this may be the last incarnation of this hold on architecture.

Hold below.

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[Last edited by Ravon at 02-11-2007 09:43 PM]

golfrman
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 165
Registered: 07-10-2006
IP: Logged

well, played it through, didn't really have anypoints i noticed where a restore was neccesary (although there might be some i just haven't found) but there was way too much backtracking, very confising. Well made though.

____________________________
Jesus is Lord and Messiah!

golfrman
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 165
Registered: 07-10-2006
IP: Logged

Ravon wrote:
Thinking about it, this would make for quite the contest, "Design a hold where the number of monsters is the same as the number of rooms." I bet there would be some truly genius entries.

oh god, keep larrymurk away from this thread, we don't want him getting any evil ideas.

____________________________
Jesus is Lord and Messiah!

Tim
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1979
Registered: 08-07-2004
IP: Logged

I'm too lazy, so the rest of my replies are in blue.

Ravon wrote:
Notes on Two:
-To my mind, it has a much different feel than One. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Should I try to keep a similar feel and look throughout, or is it fine how it is?
Do you really want to? If not, just tell the player why there was a style change. It's easier that way.

-In order to stay true to the population density gimmick, I occasionally (read: half the time) doubled up on roaches where there need be only one. I kind of felt like I was almost cheating by doing so. I know it's no big deal, but should I work to get more places for roaches?
You know, I never figured this out if you didn't say it here. Perhaps I can tell you that, at the moment, I don't think anyone would get it. And there's a brain in Two as well...

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Ravon
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-19-2004
IP: Logged

Tim wrote:
Do you really want to? If not, just tell the player why there was a style change. It's easier that way.

Yeah, I decided to just leave it the way it is.

Tim wrote:
You know, I never figured this out if you didn't say it here. Perhaps I can tell you that, at the moment, I don't think anyone would get it. And there's a brain in Two as well...

Oof, that is kind of a problem. Any suggestions on how to make it more clear?

Tim
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1979
Registered: 08-07-2004
IP: Logged

Ravon wrote:

Tim wrote:
You know, I never figured this out if you didn't say it here. Perhaps I can tell you that, at the moment, I don't think anyone would get it. And there's a brain in Two as well...

Oof, that is kind of a problem. Any suggestions on how to make it more clear?

I don't know, sorry. Is that fact of any importance? At the moment, it's just a (nice) gimmick, but nothing more. Someone else?

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The best way to lose customers is to let little kids running loose on a forum with too many mod points.

Ravon
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-19-2004
IP: Logged

File: Population Density.hold (4.6 KB)
Downloaded 55 times.
License: Public Domain

Last chance to test. A couple changes have been made on the beta-board, not many, but I thought I'd upload it here to reach more than one person. The second level is basically the same as it has been, but there is a secret room on the first.