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Rabscuttle
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icon Serpent Tutorials (+5)  
Here is a hold that will (eventually) teach you how to manouever serpents like a pro.

I was originally making this for the Al Dente contest, but I didn't have enough time to do it properly.

Currently there are just the basic of the basics. There will be one or two more basics room and the next level will be how to manouever serpents.

I'd appreciate suggestions if the lessons aren't clear. I know I don't always express myself completely comprehesibly.

[Last edited by Rabscuttle at 03-17-2007 02:19 PM]
02-23-2007 at 12:24 PM
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starwed
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icon Re: Serpent Tutorials (+1)  
That sounds like a good idea... unfortunately my lifeline to the internet is not one I can play DROD on, so I'll have to look at it later.

But it would be nice to have a single hold which explained the different types of monster movement clearly. ^_^ Perhaps a board collaboration would be a good idea. (I made a half-hearted start at a wraithwing movement tutorial once.)


02-23-2007 at 12:52 PM
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Chaco
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icon Re: Serpent Tutorials (0)  
Being somebody who actually figured out a few of Larry's serpent rooms, I'll give this a go and complain if you crammed too much stuff into a single room.

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02-23-2007 at 04:23 PM
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noma
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icon Re: Serpent Tutorials (+1)  
This is a wonderful thing you're doing Rabscuttle. It'll be a great asset for new players. And, as I've said before, I'm always seeking to improve my skills, so in that spirit I started to play this training hold.

Comments:
1. Am I correct that currently there is just the one level? If not, the exit seems to missing (or I'm just really being dense.)

2. The first two lessons are good and (speaking as someone who vividly remembers her first encounter with serpents) absolutely necessary.

Suggestions:
1. If this is to be a training hold for absolute beginners, you might want to add a room before 1W that demonstrates the horizontal/vertical lessons in a very simple stark fashion. More along the lines of the timer room in 1S/1W. After a basic lesson the player then enters 1W to see how that knowledge could be used to advantage.

2. Perhaps after being shown the technique, there could be a "you try it now" section of the room. That way, the player immediately uses the technique, and if they are having trouble, they can step on the diamond again or re-start the room.

I look forward to testing more of this hold and, in the process, learning "..how to manouever serpents like a pro."
02-23-2007 at 04:57 PM
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Sergenth
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icon Re: Serpent Tutorials (0)  
This is a good hold idea! Playing through Master Lock, I had to re-learn every snake manipulation trick that Ssslitherin used, and it took me a good half-hour. If I ever forget it again, I could use that half-hour to go through a fun hold instead of struggling.

02-23-2007 at 11:07 PM
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Rabscuttle
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noma wrote:
This is a wonderful thing you're doing Rabscuttle. It'll be a great asset for new players. And, as I've said before, I'm always seeking to improve my skills, so in that spirit I started to play this training hold.

Comments:
1. Am I correct that currently there is just the one level? If not, the exit seems to missing (or I'm just really being dense.)

It's a work in progress. So the current version up above should only have 3 rooms with stuff in them.

1. If this is to be a training hold for absolute beginners, you might want to add a room before 1W that demonstrates the horizontal/vertical lessons in a very simple stark fashion. More along the lines of the timer room in 1S/1W. After a basic lesson the player then enters 1W to see how that knowledge could be used to advantage.

OK. I was thinking of breaking that room up into two rooms anyway.

2. Perhaps after being shown the technique, there could be a "you try it now" section of the room. That way, the player immediately uses the technique, and if they are having trouble, they can step on the diamond again or re-start the room.

There should be more interaction in the next level. The first level is really just to make sure you can always tell which direction a serpent is going to move.
02-24-2007 at 04:22 AM
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Rabscuttle
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Minor update.

I have divided the first room into two separate rooms.
I have done half of the final instruction room. (The other half will be more examples of the NESW preference.)

There will be one more room after it on the first level - a 'test' room which will basically be "work out where the serpent will end up, then hit 5 a bunch and see if you are right."

Sergenth wrote:
This is a good hold idea! Playing through Master Lock, I had to re-learn every snake manipulation trick that Ssslitherin used, and it took me a good half-hour. If I ever forget it again, I could use that half-hour to go through a fun hold instead of struggling.

Fun? It's meant to be educational, not fun. :)
02-25-2007 at 02:53 PM
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golfrman
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Rabscuttle wrote:
Minor update.

I have divided the first room into two separate rooms.
I have done half of the final instruction room. (The other half will be more examples of the NESW preference.)

There will be one more room after it on the first level - a 'test' room which will basically be "work out where the serpent will end up, then hit 5 a bunch and see if you are right."

Sergenth wrote:
This is a good hold idea! Playing through Master Lock, I had to re-learn every snake manipulation trick that Ssslitherin used, and it took me a good half-hour. If I ever forget it again, I could use that half-hour to go through a fun hold instead of struggling.

Fun? It's meant to be educational, not fun. :)

But if it's not fun, then why would people continu playing? They'd go, bleh this is boring! I'd rather go play a larrymurk hold! Although i have a feeling against your best wishes, it will turn out to be fun. :)

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02-25-2007 at 05:23 PM
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noma
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I like what you're doing here and I am trying to play this imagining I am a rank beginner (instead of just a beginner).

1W
Splitting the room works and it's a nice finish having those 4 serpents self implode all around you.

Note: if you exit and re-enter the room, the tunnel at 23,17 is blocked by doors. (Don't know why someone would re-enter, but they might want to return to the entrance.)

1S, 1W
Effective, well-done. I like that I got a chance to kill something myself. By this point, even rank beginners should be able to figure out how to kill a rattlesnake, having seen it in 1W.

2S, 2W
Excellent lesson. I didn't even know about the N, E, S, W. (See, this hold is perfect for me.)

Notes:
Could there be a checkpoint before each note? I found myself wanting to see some of the lessons again (this time counting moves as being on a Mac: no serpent clock for me :weep ) and had to re-start the room.

Sand reference: this threw me for a moment. I guess because I've never built a room and so never thought about the names of the different types of floors. For a moment I wondered: Sand? What sand? Do snakes act differently on different floors? Then I realized - duh - it's the brown tile you used to direct players where/when the lesson would be demostrated. Maybe write it: "When the snake hits the brown tile..."

Minor typing thing: there are underscores between words in the diamond instructions "will_want_to move" and in the notes at 33, 4 and 34, 13 "it_wants_to go."

Overall Request
Is it possible to make the (non-Beethro striking) door-release orbs invisible? They're a little distracting.

Upcoming Test Room
Rabscuttle wrote:
a 'test' room which will basically be "work out where the serpent will end up, then hit 5 a bunch and see if you are right."
Maybe toss in 3 serpents/rattlesnakes that you can release on at a time, trying each of the lessons?
--------

Thank you again for taking a project like this on. Many future delvers will be grateful.
02-25-2007 at 07:43 PM
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Blondbeard
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noma wrote:
2S, 2W
Excellent lesson. I didn't even know about the N, E, S, W. (See, this hold is perfect for me.)


:w00t

I didn't know this either, Have a bunch of mod points!

[Last edited by Blondbeard at 02-25-2007 08:02 PM]
02-25-2007 at 08:01 PM
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Rabscuttle
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Small update, as I haven't had enough time to work on this as I would have liked.

* completed 2S2W except for the scroll text.
* Added dodgy last room and an exit room. These will definitely improve.

I'll probably start on the second level before I tidy up the first level text etc.
03-17-2007 at 02:23 PM
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Blondbeard
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Bump! :)

This is an excelent hold to try if you find serpent movement difficult at all.
05-30-2007 at 07:54 AM
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Neathro
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:w00t at last, my dream hold that will let me beat the second room of Sslitheryn (or however you spell it lol) :thumbsup !

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05-30-2007 at 09:09 AM
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west.logan
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I was looking for something like this. Why did no one tell me?

Please finish. Thank you.

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04-06-2012 at 03:19 AM
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