The_Red_Hawk wrote:
Is anyone far along enough to give me a "review"? I'd like to know what everyone thinks of my hold.
I was putting some notes together for level two, and I was going to add some more detail about level 1, and some stuff about level 3, but unfortunately my dats got corrupted and I lost my progress. Here's what I have anyway.
Also, did you read my feedback regarding level 1? Some things I noticed (e.g. the doors in the goblin room) you didn't change, at least in the version I played.
I'll play levels 3 and 4 later... Don't expect any quick feedback here.
There have been several rooms where I *want* the room to be unsolvable from certain entrances.
Why? A players reaction could be 'my time is being wasted on impossible tasks, why am I doing this? Sure looks nice outside, maybe I'll go for a walk' IMO it's not an entertaining design choice. But then, I can't think of a specific instance where it really mattered in your hold that I noticed (there are some rooms which are harder from a particular direction, but not necessarily impossible)
Anyway, if you don't want people to make the mistake that a room is impossible (thus wasting their time) consider blocking the route from the other direction, at least until the room is complete. There are a number of ways of doing so, depending on how navigable you want the level to be once the rooms are completed. The entrance to a room you don't want used could be blocked with a green door with a space behind, so the player doesn't stand ontop of it when going from the adjacent room. Green doors (or any doors) you end up standing on = lazy design (again IMO) If fixed, the player may be able to see the room, but won't, obviously, be able to play it. Other things you could do are yellow doors with orbs only accessible from one direction, or force arrows pointing one way. Or else, just change the adjacent room and move the exit to a different place, from where the room /is/ completable.
Also worth checking - if a room can only be completed from one direction, if the player somehow manages to get to the other side but not complete it, can he get back again?
I fixed L1 1S, and I assure you that level two is completable as it is. My next release (levels three and four) will be released some time today probably. Again, please tell me if there's anything else that needs to be changed.....
P.S. Where in level two *does* the tar affect the entrance to the room?
Just one place. I thought there were more, but I hadn't thoroughly played the level at the point I said that. Bad assumption...
OK, my comments on level 2.
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Entrance - Nice puzzle. We're already aware of the problems here, so it might need fixing (I haven't tested with build 43 yet, so this may no longer be a problem) It would make sense to make sure there's at least one way of returning to this room from the south. A small, or large, gap at the bottom... Have you tested whether it's possible to exit this room, and return to it from another direction, and still complete it? Perhaps stupid, but people might accidentally step through an exit, thus rendering the level incompletable. What's the green door on the left for? If I go south, west, north, east and enter from that direction, I'd be standing ontop of a green door (bad design) Can I complete the room from that point? Looks like it I think.
1S - The exit on the downward left of 1S, the return is blocked by tar at the edge of the screen. You can reach the area with the two scrolls but cannot get back out again, necessitating using the restore menu (never force a player to come out of the game - they may have to backtrack past a difficult room, if they didn't use a checkpoint) It's also possible to get trapped in 1S if you go through the entrance room to it twice, after completing both rooms previously. The top right passage is impassable without a tar mother present to grow the tar.
The scroll at the centre. 'Go read the other scroll' but it's blocked. The players reaction here could be 'this is stupid - why is he wasting my time, unless he perhaps doesn't like people playing his hold' If you give blatantly wrong advice with no clue, or joke, or riddle to point out the scroll advice can't be trusted, people are not going to trust what you say (thus meaning scrolls are no longer of use for imparting information)
And, since I took the exit stairs in this room /after/ completing every other room in the game, is it really necessary to call me a cheater? You're wrong, you made a false assumption, I didn't cheat, and it pissed me off. Why not just make it a 'detour' level instead? Even reward players for their thoroughness with a few alternative puzzles.
1S1E - could you reduce the amount of hack+slash necessary here? The room will not be hurt, since the challenge will remain, how to get to each area without cornering yourself. You can make the point with half the number or less...
2S1E - good use of mimics, interesting.
3S1E - again, good challenging room, good use of trapdoors. The scroll behind the blue door was of course annoying. Will being annoying encourage the player to return? Reward thoroughness, don't abuse the player. Perhaps you could have given a clue regarding where the level exit is behind the blue door. Or told a little story, put a recipe there, or something.
2S - Liked it, except the exits to the north. Why make necessary rooms secrets? Get rid of the crumbly wall, it serves no purpose.
2S1W - Another nice room, except maybe slightly too many goblins. Once I've found a way to deal with the goblins efficiently, it becomes a matter of repeating the same actions over and over. Exactly the same point can be made with fewer goblins...
1S1W - Far too many spiders. My hands hurt. I've already explained carpal tunnel syndrome to you...
1S2W - Far too many wraithwings. Dull and annoying.
2S2W - Good use of mimics, another one I enjoyed. The green door doesn't really serve any purpose and could be dispensed with. I'm guessing you were going for one entrance, and a different exit, but it's still possible to go back via the removed crumbly wall. If you're going to include game elements, ensure they have a purpose, otherwise the hold just looks incomplete and untidy.
1W - Another interesting room. Is it possible to complete this room from the south (another pointlessly hidden entrance BTW)? I presume so - if the player follows your advice, this would be the normal way of entering this room. I can complete the room by entering from the east, and the room solution might actually be more fun for doing so. Perhaps slightly too many wraithwings, though not as bad as some rooms.
The exit room could have done with a better hint. It's an interesting challenge to complete the room initially, but you need to realise that players are not going to put up with being messed around. Please, a hint somewhere in the hold. One of those trapdoors was extremely hard to find... I practically had to clear the entire room, but I guess that's OK.
Excuse any mistakes, that turned out rather long...
/dy
