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Caravel Forum : DROD Boards : Architecture : Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (A result of NaDRODArchMo 8 work)
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Xindaris
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File: Everybody Hates Beethro.hold (12.6 KB)
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icon Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (0)  
For NaDRODArchMo8, I came up with a dumb idea and ran with it. I know the month isn't over yet, but I'm very happy with the configuration of rooms currently in the level and don't want to add any more unless it's just a simple "secret room that's a more challenging variant" type of thing. So I feel it's appropriate to push the hold here and make a proper request for feedback before HAing.

Primary concerns:
-General testing, as always. I have verified all rooms and currently-scripted challenges to be solvable, but need to know about leaks and/or excessive difficulty, etc.
-1S1E in particular: Is it a magic sequence? I didn't feel like it was all that hard, but Someone Else had a lot of trouble finding the solution. If everyone finds it substantially difficult/unsatisfying then I need to retool it.
-A potential challenge is written out in a scroll in 2S. I would like to know if it's actually possible, so feel free to attempt it if you're good with the elements in that room.

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 06-12-2024 09:15 PM]
07-21-2023 at 06:42 PM
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disoriented
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
Can't really test this, as "this file was created by a newer version of DROD and isn't supported in this earlier version".

I'm running the 5.1.1.515 beta which is the newest Mac beta available.

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[Last edited by disoriented at 07-21-2023 10:07 PM]
07-21-2023 at 10:06 PM
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Xindaris
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (0)  
Oh, right...even though there's nothing exclusive to newer betas of DROD in the hold, they changed the format or something. Sorry--I suppose that's what I get for always trying to use the latest version of DROD.

For now, I did some sketchy file copying to get a "downgraded" DROD at version 5.1.1.459 in a separate folder to my main installation, and re-exported the hold using that; that's what's now in the first post. Hopefully it will import properly, but let me know if it's still broken in some way.

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 07-22-2023 07:16 PM]
07-22-2023 at 07:14 PM
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disoriented
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
Yes, that worked.

My suggestions:
Click here to view the secret text
Click here to view the secret text
Click here to view the secret text


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07-22-2023 at 11:34 PM
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Xindaris
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (0)  
Thanks for taking a look! A couple of responses:

Click here to view the secret text


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[Last edited by Xindaris at 07-28-2023 09:50 PM]
07-28-2023 at 09:45 PM
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Xindaris
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (0)  
On review, it looks like this hold still needs feedback. It seems I especially still need opinions on what was mentioned in the first post, and possibly also whether 1S1W is truly unpleasant. I'm seeing 26 downloads on the first post, but of course there's no way to know how many people attempting the hold that actually represents.

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06-08-2024 at 05:09 PM
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Red-XIII
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File: EHB demos.demo (5 KB)
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
This hold feels both easy and hard at the same time, I completed most of the rooms in 2-3 minutes, and I am utterly stuck in others. Overall, though, fun quick hold, here's some comments:

Can you move the text "xxx hate Beethro" to the north or south of the room? Since it's in the middle I often got annoyed that I could not see what was happening.

Click here to view the secret text


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There's just this one, just this rock.
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06-08-2024 at 11:00 PM
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Xindaris
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
Thanks for taking a look at yet another hold, Red-XIII! Here are some responses...

First: The "[whoever] hates beethro" text is from the flashing message command, whose only parameter is what color it is, so there's no way to configure where it appears on screen. It's a very intentional part of the hold's style, so I really don't want to remove it, and changing it to 'normal dialogue text' would basically be just as bad to me. It really doesn't show up at a crucial moment in any puzzle (always basically right at the beginning), and it goes away if you just wait a second or so.

Second: Is "the button" really that ambiguous when there's only one pressure plate you can possibly ever press, and zero orbs, in the entire room? Since it's apparently really that bad, I'll change it. I just don't comprehend the source of the confusion with that wording, and would love to know what specifically the issue is for future reference.

Third: Some more room-specific replies.

Click here to view the secret text


Fourth: Update:
-Scripted in the challenge to 2S. Also put the south-bound tunnels in 2S behind green doors, both to avoid confusion with the challenge's requirements and prevent any unintended solutions involving tunneling south to lure everything before entering the room proper.
-Changed the wording in the scroll in 2E.

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Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by Xindaris at 06-09-2024 04:58 AM]
06-09-2024 at 04:52 AM
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Red-XIII
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File: EHB demos2.demo (3.8 KB)
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
2E: the challenge was not easy, but not as hard as I expected. I just needed to figure out which queens were problematic, and then fiddling around.

1S2E: "since you otherwise forfeit the opportunity to be hiding in shallow water". I like the sun, I did not need to hide!
Also, I tried hundreds of different combinations (snake trapped on the eastern arrows, in several spots, and releasing the spiders at certain turns, and so on. I was close, but not enough. However, I think that it might be possible to clear the room with Beethro releasing the spiders. Keep in mind that the solution I used abused horizontal and vertical preference of the snakes and that without the "snake clock" which I recently installed, I could not have done it.

1S1W: I knew that was the case, but still, finding the first configuration was complete trial and error to me. Going up was more fun, but overall I did not enjoy the room. Also, is it really necessary that I have to kill "all" of the aumtlichs before activating the bombs? To escape the room you already need to kill some aumtlichs.

1N1W: I'm afraid I need specific hints here. It is really a pain to manipulate the gentryii, which is the main problem of this room. I would see this room much simpler and fun with a caber, and a tough challenge with the sword. Then again, these are just my 2 cents.

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There's not some other world out there where everything's gonna be okay.
There's just this one, just this rock.
-33th Skywatcher

[Last edited by Red-XIII at 06-09-2024 07:33 PM]
06-09-2024 at 04:16 PM
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NoahT
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
It looks like the level can't be completed if you leave 3S to the north once it's clear.
Click here to view the secret text


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My stuff:
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[Last edited by NoahT at 06-10-2024 10:27 PM]
06-09-2024 at 10:24 PM
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Xindaris
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
Thanks for spotting that, NoahT. Naturally it never occurred to me that a player would go north after finishing the last room, but I guess someone might do that to get to the secret room.

UPDATE:
-3S now "magically" opens the way to the exit if you reenter it after clearing-then-leaving it.
-Removed the force arrow at (19, 11) from 1S1W (which should make the room a little less annoying).
-Most importantly, I have temporarily added the level "1S1E", which contains THREE variants of that room to try and tweak its difficulty a bit. All three support more or less my intended solution to the room, but should be more generous about it--each in its own way. Please someone try those three out and let me know which one feels the best compared to the original, or if some combination of two or all three would be likely to be even better.

And, some more response to Red-XIII:

Click here to view the secret text


____________________________
109th Skywatcher

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Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by Xindaris at 06-10-2024 07:13 PM]
06-10-2024 at 07:12 PM
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Red-XIII
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File: demos and screen.zip (3 MB)
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License: Public Domain
icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
After Xindaris gave me a hint for 1N1W in a PM (and he taught me a slayer interaction I did not know) I managed to complete the room. The first part is definitely the toughest, for the second I did not even had to do what you said in the previous post.

About 1S1E:
I tried first “comfort eagle” variant, and I could not do it, neither your way nor by trapping the adder on the east force arrows. Then I tried the “longsnake” variant, and things were even worse, could not do anything. Longer adder was actually more of a problem to me. Lastly, I tried the “4 less spiders” variant. I immediately felt that it was more lenient, but still it was not easy. Finally, I found the approach! I attached a screen to show overall what I did, but basically I started from SE with the help of the adder and of the invisibility. After finding this solution, I now feel that this is NOT a magic sequence room, BUT I felt this way only after playing the 4 less spiders variant. However, after finding this strategy, I tried again the other variants. The “comfort eagle” was a piece of cake, but only because I knew the strategy. As for the long snake, I still could not solve it! So, after all these thoughts, what I can say is that you should not go for the long snake solution or the original room, but either “comfort eagle” variant or a mix of “comfort eagle” and “4 less spiders” (maybe 2 less?).

3S: I thought I could use the mimics and guards to kill the golems and do not drop the black doors, but I don’t think it is possible due to the presence of 1 token only. I assume there are several strategies here, but if the thing I did with the adder and construct is intended, this is one of the most frustrating room I have ever played. Then again, I am 99.9% sure there is an easier way to do it. However, on the bright side, the roach queen trap was not cumbersome at all; same thing goes for the aumtlichs. In addition, the horn was useless. I exited north as soon as I cleared the room, then I had to “solve it again” but it took me like 2 minutes.
Apart from the construct adder part, I liked it a lot.

____________________________
There's not some other world out there where everything's gonna be okay.
There's just this one, just this rock.
-33th Skywatcher

[Last edited by Red-XIII at 06-11-2024 10:29 PM]
06-11-2024 at 10:02 PM
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Xindaris
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (0)  
UPDATE:
-1N1W: Changed scroll's wording to hopefully be super clear. It now says:
Click here to view the secret text

-1S1E: As suggested above, the room is now slightly wider, and there are two less spiders, both to allow a little more leeway in solutions.

And some more feedback responses:
Click here to view the secret text


____________________________
109th Skywatcher

Here are some links to Things!
Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by Xindaris at 06-12-2024 09:30 PM]
06-12-2024 at 09:27 PM
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Red-XIII
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icon Re: Everybody Hates Beethro!!! (+1)  
Xindaris wrote:
The adder/construct part is much easier if the brain is dead and the adder is a bit longer from eating those spiders, because that makes it quite manageable to keep it on the "island" north of the one the constructs are on. My demo throws away 2 of the constructs immediately, then brings the adder northward before pushing the remaining 2 south.
You shouldn't need to re-solve the room if you left north, as I mentioned above; the black doors open themselves if the room was previously cleared. Or is that what you were saying and I misunderstood?

Sorry I forgot to reply.
Yes, that makes much more sense actually. Good room indeed.
Yes, what I meant was that I had to redo only the first part with the slayer, but that's ok of course.

____________________________
There's not some other world out there where everything's gonna be okay.
There's just this one, just this rock.
-33th Skywatcher
06-20-2024 at 10:27 AM
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