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File: Beethros day off.hold (12.8 KB)
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My debut hold featuring caged monsters of all descriptions

Enjoy.

Stephen4Louise
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 04-06-2005
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Thanks to those who have rated my hold, but I would love to hear some comments, good and bad.
Were shortness and difficulty a problem?
Were the puzzles clear enough? Apologies to zaubberer who fought his way through the guards in 1S only to find the door locked!
If there is anything you think I could have done better let me know. I am thinking through a couple of ideas for my next hold and any comments now should only make the next one better.

Steve.

Stephen4Louise
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 04-06-2005
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wallu wrote:
I generally hate force arrows directly in the entrance. This prevents entrance square and sword orientation optimization without restoring to previous room.

I agree, but don't forget sword orientation on entrance to each of the rooms shouldn't matter beacuse the rooms aren't highscorable anyway. Due to the linearity of the hold i didn't want people moving backwards between rooms.

wallu wrote:
Also, position of stairs to secret level was little cheap, but original.

Cheap is one way of putting it, sneaky is another. Personally I think secrets shouldn't be too easy to find. In most rooms I play now, one of the first things I do is scan for secret walls round the edges.

wallu wrote:
The last point, you can mark those impossible rooms as uninteresting in your profile. That makes high scores in CaravelNet cleaner.

I think I did that the day after uploading the hold, but I will check again.

wallu wrote:
Even if my post seems to be little negative. It wasn't my intention. Keep up good work!

As I said, all comments are good. Thanks for the reply.

Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1218
Registered: 05-12-2005
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Very enjoyable hold! Loved the atmosphere.

Interestingly in "Change location" it shows me as 0% complete.

Anyways, I too decided to kill all the guards thinking "the rest of this hold is going to be very tough

I agree, but don't forget sword orientation on entrance to each of the rooms shouldn't matter beacuse the rooms aren't highscorable anyway.

Not sure if this is actually true with the wraithwings.

I didn't find the secret so guess it was cleverly placed Having said that, I've just spotted it... original!

Look forward to more holds of this caliber...

krammer
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 904
Registered: 02-12-2003
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The percentage in Change Location is of secrets conquered, and only shows up once you have conquered the hold. As you said you hadn't found the secret this make sense.

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"Oook!"

larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1917
Registered: 12-09-2004
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Warning: May contain spoilers. Don't read until you've played the hold.

This hold's greatest asset is originality. You've got visiting the zoo, walking outside the exhibits, and going through the exhibits. Well done!

The hold was fairly easy (though I did need a hint on the WWs).

I enjoyed "defeating" the eye exhibit like other players did (even though you can't exit then).

It might have been better if you had to move through the snake exhibit in a way to prevent any from dying. I believe the tar exhibit could've been set up in such a way that you'd be able to not kill any babies.

I just finished the hold and it still shows high scores for "Under the Zoo" Entrance. You might look again at setting this room to Uninteresting/ Not High scoreable.


All in all, great job!!

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[Last edited by larrymurk at 02-22-2006 04:27 PM]

Stephen4Louise
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 04-06-2005
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Thanks for the comments guys.

I would be interested to hear ideas on how I could have set up the tar section to avoid killing a baby on the way out. The scripting on that part caused me some problems so I had to compromise on allowing a baby to be killed as long as it was right at the end of the section.
To set up the snake section so none could be killed would have meant either making it very easy by having very few snakes, or very hard due to the ammount of manipulation required.

I'll make the entrance to Under the Zoo non interesting now. I missed that one.

Not sure if this is actually true with the wraithwings.

Was there a way through this room after killing all the wraithwings? I thought I had that covered.

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
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Stephen4Louise wrote:
Thanks for the comments guys.

I would be interested to hear ideas on how I could have set up the tar section to avoid killing a baby on the way out. The scripting on that part caused me some problems so I had to compromise on allowing a baby to be killed as long as it was right at the end of the section.

By making the tar bigger, you could have allowd the creation of an circular path area, where you could get around the tar baby. You'd have to create two tar babies - one in creating the loop, the other in creating the end of the path; so you'd have then needed somewhere to put them. But it could theoretically be possible.

An easier solution would have been placing a tunnel in the tar area so that the end of the path isn't actually the border of the tar.

To set up the snake section so none could be killed would have meant either making it very easy by having very few snakes, or very hard due to the ammount of manipulation required.

I agree. This wouldn't have been fun.

I'll make the entrance to Under the Zoo non interesting now. I missed that one.

Was there a way through this room after killing all the wraithwings? I thought I had that covered.

Maybe you can kill the wraithwings standing on the door in the end. Not sure whether this is possible and I can't test it now...

____________________________
I got my avatar back! Yay!

larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1917
Registered: 12-09-2004
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File: ZooTar.hold (1 KB)
Downloaded 113 times.
License: Public Domain

Here's an example of passing through tar WITHOUT killing any babies.

Select this hold then Watch Demo from Drod Main Menu.

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[Last edited by larrymurk at 02-23-2006 12:45 AM]

Stephen4Louise
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 04-06-2005
IP: Logged

larrymurk wrote:
Here's an example of passing through tar WITHOUT killing any babies.

Select this hold then Watch Demo from Drod Main Menu.

I like it. I never thought of working through it like that, although something like that may have been a bit hard for this hold. Another idea I thought of was that I could have made a tar maze similar to bomb mazes in other holds. Have some babies waiting to come out of alcoves and force the player to avoid creating any more babies on the way. Maybe next time....

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
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Fun hold! I was inspired to try it out by the mention it got during the Death to Death contest, and I'm glad I did. The mud room (the first one you can actually meet a monster in) stopped me for a while until I figured out how to reach it, but after that all the rooms were not too difficult and quite fun.

I give it an 8, with 6 brains.

Josh



____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

the halphster
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 12
Registered: 06-10-2006
IP: Logged

I'm stuck on the wraithwing part, can anyone help?



thanks

____________________________
I can zig!
And also,
I can zag!
But I can't zig while I'm zagging.

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2936
Registered: 03-29-2003
IP: Logged

Post in the Hints and Solutions board for help with holds.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

Ezlo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1227
Registered: 01-08-2006
IP: Logged

Well, I mastered this hold finally. Great fun. Hopefully your next hold will be just as good!

I give it a 9 with 5 brains.

____________________________
Call me Citrus.

Neathro
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 41
Registered: 04-24-2007
IP: Logged

never got past the first mud room (i think it's 1E? posting on H&S soon

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Neathro
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 41
Registered: 04-24-2007
IP: Logged

AT LONG LAST!!! Now I can work on TCBTesting with a clear consience!

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