urban
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This is my first hold; I hope you enjoy it, as much as I enjoyed designing it. I must say that I find this game very well designed and I’m looking forward for more games from the same author (are there any? ).

In this hold most of the rooms are not very difficult; only two or three rooms are a bit harder. The main idea is for you to have a bit of fun solving them. All the rooms in this hold were tested.

It would be very kind from you to send some feedback!

PS: Sorry for stealing ideas from everybody!!!!!!!


Urban

urban
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forgot to attach the file

Mattcrampy
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urban wrote:
I’m looking forward for more games from the same author (are there any? ).

Check out "Smallsome Swicks" on the Architects/Holds forum.

Also, Google the name "Erik Hermansen". Erik's been involved in a fair few games, building bonus levels, doing graphics, so on.

Of course, you can wait for Journey to Rooted Hold, which will probably be big enough to be called DROD 2.

Hold comments later!

Matt

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eytanz
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I've only played the first room so far, but I must say I've really liked it - unless I'm missing another solution it's the only room I remember that



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Scott
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I have only done the first room so far too but your way sounds hard. I

eytanz
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Heh - didn't try that - I just assumed that there won't be enough time. Anyway, I'm not regeretting it, my way was a lot of fun.

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zex20913
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I can't for the life of me figure out "rate". I can hit the orb, but after that I'm toast!

[Edited by zex20913 on 11-19-2003 at 02:52 PM GMT]

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urban
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I can´t figure out how to write secret text ?, but concerning "Rate" perhaps your entering the room form the East isn't it?

Oneiromancer
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urban wrote:
I can´t figure out how to write secret text ?

At the top of the screen there's a link to the forum FAQ, it's the fourth question in the "Posts and Posting" Section. Or, click "Quote Reply" under eytanz's post to see how he did it.

Game on,

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urban
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Thanks. The easiest solution to Rate is:

zex20913
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Wow. That is a lot easier. You've got some extremely challenging puzzles here. I didn't even see that.

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Tscott
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1N is giving me a lot of problems. Tar babies keep spawning between the orb and the scroll in the center of the room but that becomes inaccessable when you drop the trapdoors.

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Schik
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1N is giving me a lot of problems. Tar babies keep spawning between the orb and the scroll in the center of the room but that becomes inaccessable when you drop the trapdoors.

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Oneiromancer
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urban wrote:
In this hold most of the rooms are not very difficult; only two or three rooms are a bit harder.

From what I've seen there must be only two or three rooms in your hold then.

(By which I mean that so far all the rooms are quite hard, so if you think they're not very difficult I'm afraid of what's later in the hold.)

And for what it's worth, I didn't kill the brain first in the Entrance, although not for lack of trying. Although after I solved it the other way I saw how I could get around that...stupid hidden breakable walls.... Anyway, depending on the room design, brains can make dealing with hordes of monsters easier, so that's okay.

Game on,

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Scott
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I have only done around 4 rooms I consider every room to be in the very hard category.

urban
Level: Goblin
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This hold has some hidden entrances, nevertheless, it is allways possible to see if your missing a room. Actually there are hidden entrances, by the way with 41 steps i meant . Have fun, and if you´re getting bored with one of the rooms just reply to this forum.

Schik
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I'm on my 15th room of this hold, and yeah, they're mostly pretty tough.


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Tscott
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Schik wrote:

1N is giving me a lot of problems. Tar babies keep spawning between the orb and the scroll in the center of the room but that becomes inaccessable when you drop the trapdoors.

Click here to view the secret text

×Then perhaps you shouldn't let the tar grow there!

Thanks that's what I needed. I sort of tried that before posting but getting it started (as well as realizing what needed to be done) was the hard part.

I'm on my 7th room now and getting way too upset in the 'garden'.

btw, my pet tar baby rolls his eyes at this,

In this hold most of the rooms are not very difficult; only two or three rooms are a bit harder.

I thought I'd be downloading a pleasant diversion for a half-hour sitting or two of DROD, instead I'm faced with room after room of very well crafted, very challenging puzzles, most of which requires a break before attempting the next one. Keep up the good work.

____________________________
And I can recall our caravel: a little wicker beetle shell with four fine maste and lateen sails,
its bearings on Cair Paravel. O my love, O it was a funny little thing to be the ones to've seen.
-Joanna Newsom "Bridges and Balloons"

Scott
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I am stuck in that room too. I keep making stupid mistakes at the start then when I finally get past that I do something else I shouldn't have done.

urban
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Garden is one the hard ones, perhaps you should try to . There is a lot of kiling in this room.

Good luck

eytanz
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In the "be patient" room (1S5W):



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urban
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Yes that was the idea(Be patient - Red snake) but it is possible to do it the hard way.
What did you think about the Houses?

eytanz
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The houses? I liked them a lot - I think the medium house was the easiest, but that's probably because I am very experienced in manipulating goblins but not so good at manipulating snakes.

Another comment: in the red room (1S6W):



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urban
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Red room -

I'll make that change.

Thanks

The_Red_Hawk
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I haven't been able to download this yet, but it sounds good.

Just out of curiosity.....

urban said:
Sorry for stealing ideas from everybody!!!!!!!

Who did you steal ideas from?


[Edited by The_Red_Hawk on 11-20-2003 at 05:22 PM GMT]

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urban
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From no one in particular, but a little bit form each one.

Atch
Level: Delver
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I have not looked at all the available holds but to me The Steps looks just as fresh and innovative as any apart from the inevitable influence of Dugan’s. One thing is certain though an architect cannot give an objective opinion on how hard or easy rooms may be – a puzzle isn’t a puzzle to he who sets it. To date I have completed 11 rooms of Level 1, and although there are some fun rooms such as Maconde (2N, 2W) and Metropolis (2N, 4W), I would rate the general standard as very hard.

Easily the hardest so far has been Rate (2N, 3W) with the demo’s statistics (1484 moves in 16.53min) masking reality’s 4 or 5Hrs. I entered from the east and was later dismayed to find that there was a hidden entrance that would have made the room much easier. I thought that the scroll Choose the right path referred to the path through the spiders. Anyway I have the satisfaction of having done the room the hard way, as follows:

I see that The Steps is a work in progress Rui: might I take the liberty of making some comments on this? I wouldn’t want to dissuade anyone from creating a magnum opus or from trying to emulate Erik (but remember that he started with relatively easy levels) however my favourite holds are the shorter ones such as Tscott’s single levels and those that have no more than say 30 rooms in total - Treasure Hunt and The Tomb of Nomb for example. I think that it would be a shame to use all your best ideas on a single hold or, dare I say, run out of fresh ideas altogether.

Finally, my main reason for writing: I am stuck on Lisboa (2N, 5W). Can anyone give a hint as to how to prevent a roach or wraithwing from entering the inaccessible pocket just in front of the base of the mainsail?

eytanz
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I believe, though I may be wrong, that Lisboa is only solvable if you enter from the west.

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Aris Katsaris
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Atch wrote:

I see that The Steps is a work in progress Rui: might I take the liberty of making some comments on this? I wouldn’t want to dissuade anyone from creating a magnum opus or from trying to emulate Erik (but remember that he started with relatively easy levels)

Hmph. Erik started with relatively easy levels because he was introducing us to the game itself. In that scenario the gradual approach is the only one that works.

But in this kind of fan-created holds, there's no real reason to start with easier levels -- it's a given that anyone who gets his hands on this hold will have already finished (or atleast progressed a lot) on the official hold.

I think this hold here can become a classic in its almost-impossible level of difficulty... It's the hold for the self-admitted masochist. :-) It's the hold we'll point out to people saying "Hey, Erik's hold is *way* too easy. Don't you have anything tougher?"

In this respect it'd probably be a shame *if* urban chose to divide his hold into separate ones.

Let's have this one be one of the most indigestable holds ever, one that even the most seasoned DRODers will quail to play! :-)

Finally, my main reason for writing: I am stuck on Lisboa (2N, 5W). Can anyone give a hint as to how to prevent a roach or wraithwing from entering the inaccessible pocket just in front of the base of the mainsail?

I'm currently stuck in Golden Square (1N 6W) myself.... Literally stuck as there's no other room I can play unless I finish this one...

eytanz
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Aris Katsaris wrote:

Atch wrote:

I see that The Steps is a work in progress Rui: might I take the liberty of making some comments on this? I wouldn’t want to dissuade anyone from creating a magnum opus or from trying to emulate Erik (but remember that he started with relatively easy levels)

Hmph. Erik started with relatively easy levels because he was introducing us to the game itself. In that scenario the gradual approach is the only one that works.

But in this kind of fan-created holds, there's no real reason to start with easier levels -- it's a given that anyone who gets his hands on this hold will have already finished (or atleast progressed a lot) on the official hold.

I think this hold here can become a classic in its almost-impossible level of difficulty... It's the hold for the self-admitted masochist. :-) It's the hold we'll point out to people saying "Hey, Erik's hold is *way* too easy. Don't you have anything tougher?"

In this respect it'd probably be a shame *if* urban chose to divide his hold into separate ones.

Let's have this one be one of the most indigestable holds ever, one that even the most seasoned DRODers will quail to play! :-)

It's a tough hold, but I think it's not quite as tough as Wesley's hold, or the early levels in Red Hawk's hold. Or maybe I'm just more skilled than I was when I first played them, but with one notable exception (Garden of Delight), no room here gave me the kind of serious trouble some rooms in those hold did.

That said, I may have done something very stupid right now in the hold - related to the answer I gave to Atch; since I didn't notice that Lisaboa is solvable from the east... And I'm trying to solve it from the west right not and if that's not possible, I'll be in serious trouble since there's no way to return to the east side.

Ok, now I'm confused - to test things, I restored an old save and went to Lisaboa and tried to solve it from the east, which still seems impossible - a roach gets trapped in the unreachable area no matter what I do, brain alive or not. Aris - did you actually solve it that way? If so, what did you do? Urban - could you please let me know if this room is solvable from the east, west, or both (if it's only solvable from the east it's possible to get stuck since the "in out" room doesn't allow you to return east).
[Edited by eytanz on 11-21-2003 at 03:34 PM GMT]

[Edited by eytanz on 11-21-2003 at 04:00 PM GMT]

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