Excellent hold, thumbs up
Somewhat echoing what Larrymurk said, themed levels and a nice difficulty gradient make this hold very playable, and there are some well thought out and/or fiendish rooms towards the end. And the rooms that aren't fiendish are still fun efficiency tests
Considering the first version of this hold that I played way back, I was pleasantly surprised with how well this turned out. Some ideas are still obviously 'borrowed' (though from very good sources) but there are enough original rooms, and the presentation of the ones that aren't are good enough, that it doesn't really hurt the game. Just one or two of the less interesting of the rooms from your first draft still remain, e.g. L2:1S2E
One other small criticism - some of the scrolls were a little unnecessary e.g. warning: the next puzzle could be frustrating. Either make the room less frustrating (or add checkpoints) or repetitive, or have more confidence in your own design decisions... e.g. L7:1E, or the scroll in L8:2E referring to L8:3E
Oops, considering your comment regarding the games ending, this should have had secret tags
Click here to view the secret text
×It was also a little strange to have 'notes from the author' and an attempt at a story (which amounted to a cheesy tacked on ending/excuse for sequel) in the same game. Not really a big issue, put perhaps a case for more consistency - or a little bit more effort on the story, if you're going to have one at all
)
Anyway, congrats - I'll happily play the sequel when it arrives
[Last edited by StuartK at 09-21-2005 01:01 AM]