×There is no way to kill the brain in exit room 1E1S

×There were two additional walls and without them I have no clue how to do it

×Level 1
Quite a lot of level 1 is fairly decent, although excesses of monsters or guesswork in some of the rooms do reduce the enjoyability of this level a lot.

I would recommend removing 1N 1W for its annoyingness - killing several hundred queens isn't very interesting, and the message at the top of the room isn't encouraging either. Also I'd remove 1S as well; since the tar hides so many things, it makes the guesswork factor far too high.

In 1S 1E, 1N 1E and 2S, The rooms are good, but the numbers of monsters they contain are quite excessive. I would suggest reducing the numbers of them, which puts more focus on the interesting techniques required for them, and also reduces similarity to rooms like this in later levels.

In 2S and 2N, the tar also hides objects. Although this isn't really bad, considering the number of rooms like this in later levels, you might want to give more of a hint about exactly what is under the tar and where.

The rest of the rooms are fine, 1S 1W, being probably my favourite, but I recommend 1E, which is quite complicated, to be moved to a later level, since it is quite a lot harder in some respects compared to some rooms on this level.

Level 2
This was also quite decent too.

Tar over objects comes back on this level, however, with a very nasty twist in 1N 1W. Although there is a hint there, it's nowhere near enough - although you can see where everything is, you have to remember that everyone else cannot, so this room will be more frustrating than anything else. I'd remove it and put something else there instead.

In 1S and 2S, the problem isn't as bad, but I'd still suggest at least revealing the green doors in 2S. Otherwise, 2S is quite a nice puzzle.

The Entrance is interesting, although perhaps fewer spirals might make it a bit less tedious once the goblins are cleared up. 1S 2W is also similar - it's a nice puzzle, but it gets pretty tedious after a while with such numbers of monsters in the room.

For both 2S 1W and 1S 1W, the rooms themselves are not hard at all, so the basic idea is just hack and slash. Since this is not very interesting either, these rooms also get tedious after a while, so perhaps fewer monsters will improve these rooms.

3S 1E was a relatively easy room, although fun, but the scrolls within it are annoying, so I think they should be edited.

2S 2W, however, was a very nice room. It was a little complex, though, so I'd also suggest moving it to a later level.

The rest of the rooms on the level are fine, except 1W, which doesn't look solvable, since you can't stand anywhere without dying on the first few moves, as the first mimic potion needs to be used immediately.

×Level 3

I thought this level was rather mixed in quality - some were good, others not so, and a few were very irritating.

1S 1E, 2W and 1N 1W were the most annoying rooms - here tar hides objects entirely again, while 1S 1E misleads really unpleasantly with its empty squares. I'd advise removing these rooms completely, since their only real challenge is the guesswork required to solve them. 2N suffers from this, although to a slightly lesser degree. If you expose most of the walls, then it should alleviate the problem and make the second, more interesting part more accessible.

1N and 1N 1E are relatively nice puzzles, but the numbers of monsters they contain are a bit too excessive - you don't need that many to give the rooms their desired effect.

1S, on the other hand, was rather pointless - it was just a simple slashfest, since you could just stand on the south-facing arrow and swing to kill the wraithwings. I'd recommend getting this room removed too, since it doesn't really add anything to the hold, and it is quite boring.

1N 2E is also a very irritating room, as I have said before earlier in this thread, since it appears to be purposely designed to be a slashfest (does the serpent need to be that long?). Also, the number of spawnings per 30 moves is very high, up to 25-30 at times. Since you are basically trapped at the start by the snake, and need the mimic to protect you, you cannot kill more than 15 monsters per 30 moves, which makes this room impossible, unless I'm missing something.

The rest of the rooms were okay, 1S 1W being my favourite.

×I disagree with agaricus5 about the tar rooms, but then I like tar. My favorite room in the original webfoot drod was on level 8 the tar levelLevel 8 - 7 South, 3 East. That said, agaricus5 is probably right that they might be better in a later level.

I completely agree with agaricus5 about Once East (1E)

"I recommend 1E, which is quite complicated, to be moved to a later level, since it is quite a lot harder in some respects compared to some rooms on this level."

It really was frustrating/i.e. challenging because you had no save spot until the snake was ready to be killed and that was after taking the second mimic almost all the way through the room. You could add a save spot to the entrance and that would make it a little easier, and you might be able to keep it on level 1.

Also I liked that you had stairs to all the levels in the entrance. Maybe everyone does this while test but this is my first testing and I thought that was really great.

I noticed that my carpal tunnel was flaring up from all the sword work. I suggest that you look at some of the heavy monster rooms and keep the same puzzle but reduce the monster level, it is really more fun that way I think. Or reduce the total number high count monster rooms overall.

×This level had some heavy monster rooms as well and the same thing I said above applies here as well. Once South, Two West (1S 2W) is one of those rooms. I would take out some of the rows and reduce the monsters by half. I do not think the challenge of the puzzle in this room would not be reduced by doing this.

This had some good minic rooms and I liked the tar rooms but the tar - room Once North, Once West (1N 1W) - was a little disappointing. If you put in an exit to a room in one of the upper corners that might make it more exciting.

Right now I am still trying to find the exit... So when I move on to the next level I will have more to say.

×
I have been continually playing contest on the forum since Dec 2004. Having often been addressed as a he my new avatar shows that I am a "Lady". And one with a very sharp sword, too.

I love the monthly contests but it took me a long while before I even placed. 21 contests in fact.

Virtual Burning Man was the first contest I took any place in and I got 1st, wow!. Yes, I have received my prize, a sweatshirt from the DROD store, and I love it.

It took 14 more contest but next I took 1st prize in Media of the Eighth Nov07, followed by a win in the Secret Santa 2007. Check out my entry: http://www.gailswebplace.com/NightSky/index.html

Suddenly I was a winner but, still the goal of a winning hold based contest eludes me....

I keep trying so come and join me.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewboard.php?BoardID=83

×That it was hidden was the hint I found.

×That took me back to the tar room I spoke about already -

but the tar - room Once North, Once West (1N 1W) - was a little disappointing.

Well I thought I had ruled out anything of importance being in that room but I was wrong. I still think a breakaway wall to another room which has the exit is a better idea than hiding it under tar. Or do the hiding under tar at a higher up level.

I personally, do not like having to look for help at the forum, though I am glad it is there, and feel that when I have to look for help on finding the exit on level 2 maybe the whole hold will be too hard and just give it up. I think you want players to enjoy the hold you have made and holding off on the harder puzzles may do that more then frustrating us early.

Just my 2 cents

×
I have been continually playing contest on the forum since Dec 2004. Having often been addressed as a he my new avatar shows that I am a "Lady". And one with a very sharp sword, too.

I love the monthly contests but it took me a long while before I even placed. 21 contests in fact.

Virtual Burning Man was the first contest I took any place in and I got 1st, wow!. Yes, I have received my prize, a sweatshirt from the DROD store, and I love it.

It took 14 more contest but next I took 1st prize in Media of the Eighth Nov07, followed by a win in the Secret Santa 2007. Check out my entry: http://www.gailswebplace.com/NightSky/index.html

Suddenly I was a winner but, still the goal of a winning hold based contest eludes me....

I keep trying so come and join me.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewboard.php?BoardID=83

×Level 25

Entrance: Very annoying, just like your other tar-over-walls rooms, since you need to clear all tar over trapdoors, and guess where the walls are. I'd suggest completely replacing this room with something else, since it doesn't do anything but frustrate the player. If not, you could do something similar to Bavato's Dungeon L13 2S 4E by showing all the walls, adding a few more in strategic places, and then adding a Mother.

1N: Interesting, but the method I'm using (create a safe passage using pits to block the sides of the doors) is highly time consuming, and tedious. Is there a faster way to complete the room? Also, if you leave the room and return to it from the east, you cannot complete it.

1S 1W: This is quite a tedious and time-consuming room. I'd suggest making the trapdoored area smaller, and make the walls more irregular, which will make it more interesting.

2S 1W: I guess really like your guessing orb/gate puzzles, since they're popping up all over your hold. I guess that since this is the final room, however, that it's understandable. I can't say that I'm looking forward to playing it, though.

2N/2N 1E/1N 1E/1S 1E (Impossible rooms): For 2N, I don't think this room is solvable, since you wouldn't have enough time to get to the mother even if there were no spawn. 2N 1E also doesn't appear solvable, since the serpents always seem to be able to get me within 3-4 moves. 1N 1E appears impossible, since you cannot both protect yourself from the hordes of roaches being spawned and stop the tar mother growing into the 2 square wide corridor at the same time. 1S 1E looks familiar; I'm sure I've seen something very much like it in another hold. However, it too appears impossible - how do you kill all the brains without getting the roach in the lower-left trapped?

1S: This room is okay, but it could do with a checkpoint or two, perhaps near the mothers and in the passage just before their chambers. The spiders at the start are very annoying, however.

2S/2S 1E/1W/1N 1W/2N 1W/2N 2E/1N 3E: These seemed to be very easy compared to some rooms on this floor. I'd suggest moving them to an earlier level, unless they are intended filler rooms.

1N 2E: This is a pretty boring room, since it's just a large, tedious slashfest. I'd suggest replacing this room completely, or reducing the number of queens, since having 800+ queens is a bit pointless.

2E: This is a much more interesting room, although it resembles some of the rooms in A Quiet Place, L3/4/5, so it isn't particularly original. I'm not sure if it's solvable, since the diagonal move restriction means that getting the queens before the brain is pretty difficult (if possible), and if you try to go for the brain first, you get too many roaches on either side of the passage afterwards to escape.

1S 2E: This is also quite interesting, and pretty tricky, although it looks like it had its origins in the same place as 2E.

2S 2E: This is quite a boring slashfest, since it's not very challenging, and is very repetitive.

2N 3E: This was a decent puzzle, although not very challenging. Is it intended that you are able to kill the brain before all the queens are dead?

3E: This, like 2S 2E, is also pretty repetitive and tedious. I'd remove some of the goblins and add more passages.

1S 3E: Apart from the spiders being invisible, this is a pretty easy room. Playing this in JtRH is going to be extremely annoying, so I'd recommend replacing it with something else, or you'll risk annoying players with it.

2S 3E: This room seems trivial, as you can just stand on the arrow and the serpents will kill themselves in the growing tar mass without producing any babies.

×That's actually possible.

×That one's possible too.

×I don't know how you managed to get to that square with the goblins alive, but thanks to your hint, I managed to do it with all goblins dead.

×<Exclamation>! How on earth was I so blind not to see that? I guess I shouldn't test or play at 1 a.m. Thanks.

×Level 13

Well, as I think I said a long time ago, I very much dislike this level. Even the entrance text and scroll are extremely annoying, as is the Entrance room.

The puzzles are, as stated, excruciatingly repetitive, since not only do you need to make 4-5 circuits of the level to complete a room, but after clearing one, you need to start the process all over again. At least green doors should be added to allow passage to the outer circle, but really, this level serves no purpose except to act as a filler - its repetitiveness is boring and tedious, and acts as a discontinuity in the quality of the hold, since it's already full of hack and slash puzzles already.

I'd recommend removing it.

Level 15

This was a rather peculiar level, and in light of this, I do agree that Architects can be weird sometimes. This level is mostly room art, and contains very few challenging or unusual puzzles (some are quite empty, like 1E, or just hack and slash, like 3E). I think it breaks up the dungeon's overall feel, since it doesn't look much like a dungeon level, and feels as if it was just thrown in as another filler.

It's interesting to look at, but doesn't really warrant a place in the hold. I'd remove this one too, although you could create a "Deleted Scenes" section for after the hold is finished and include it there (although this probably may detract from the overall quality anyway).

Level 17

This was your "Master Map" entry, and admittedly, it is very nice indeed.

It is, however, room art taken to a very high level, so again, it interferes with the hold's overall feel, and doesn't really look like a proper dungeon level. I'd advise removing it and making a completely new hold just for it, releasing it separately, which will also give anyone not able to progress down to L17 a chance to look at it as well.

Level 18

This level is, in my opinion, pointless. From the opening text to the scrolls in the entrance, this level is plainly a filler, and serves no purpose but to increase the room and level count.

Most of it is boring, tedious, and really detracts from the hold's quality a lot. It's not enough to say "you can come here to mow down thousands of monsters and let a bit of it out", for that's just putting in a level just for the sake of including it, not for any playability quality. This is further highlighted by there being many rooms like this in the hold anyway, so it doesn't have any novelty at all.

×you can drop the trapdoors in such a way that you can safely watch (most of) the serpents die

×You don't need any protection. Stand on the northernmost square in the entrance to the room and you should be fine.