[Custom dungeon] Nightkin [RTC] [Zed5Duke]

[Zed5Duke]

Version: V1.1 for RTC V0.49
Platform: RTC
Author: Zed5Duke
Date published: 2009, February 4
Date last updated: 2008, February 27

Notes:
Version 1.1
(already finished playtesting, everything ok)

Size: 3 levels
Dificulty: hard
Graphic: DM2 + many new stuff
(15 new monsters, over 50 new items, and some new scenery)
Story: Someone strike you in head and next day you wake up in small room..

At begining i have idea to made only one, but big and extremly dificulty level
But later i found its too small for my every new ideas so finally it have three levels
There is some brand new inventions, and game ending is totally surprising
Game have strongh combat part, but also contain adventure humor and puzzles

Download:
Download this dungeon from this Shared OneDrive (in the 'Custom Dungeons' folder)

[ian_scho]

Story: Someone strike you in head and next day you wake up in small room..

Sounds like how I got my current job!


One thing with zShare you should be aware of in the future:

> How long will my files be hosted on zSHARE?
> There is no time limit, but files not downloaded for more than 60 days are automatically deleted in order to keep our hard drives clean.

[Gambit37]

@Zed5Duke: You must the most prolific dungeon creator ever! How many's that now? 6? 7?

[Jan]

@Zed: Wow! I'd need days to be twice longer to be able to play all the dungeons you produce!

@ian_scho: I just wonder... may I ask you what is your current job? Or is it normal in Spain to get new employees like this?

[ian_scho]

You know Zed. I've never started off with a character with just 1 HP before. It took me 2 minutes to wonder why I was randomly dieing!... I'm ashamed to tell you that I can't get out of the small room!

Jan, current job is web developer - don't need windows, or light even. Just a monitor, keyboard, box thingy,...

[Des]

Gonna give this one a blast now.

@Zed - do you have a "proper" job?

[beowuuf]

Maybe a little delayed, but DM.com link added

[Antman]

Anyone gotten far in this dungeon? It's exceedingly hard, took me a while to get out of the first room but now I think I need to restart as I saved without realizing a pit appeared behind me with a monster on the other side. I like it so far though.

[ian_scho]

Go on, tell me how you got out! I tried clicking, punching, kicking, screaming, throwing, couldn't successfully cast any spells...

[Des]

The little room right at the start? The scroll tells you EXACTLY what to do!

[Earwig2112]

OK, so I managed to explore all four corners, kill all the tissue and organ challenged denizens and get as far as decoding the messages on the walls. I'm obviously missing something obvious. But I will find it, or die trying...

You're an evil man Zed.

By the way, I'm STARVING!

[linflas]

Very interesting beginning !..
i found several messages :

Spoiler

T R A ? G O H

and

Spoiler

A L G

, opened the

Spoiler

hidden cell but that wasn't necessary because i had already found the translation rule

... i'm stuck too, can't pass the pit. any help ? by pm maybe ?

[ian_scho]

I think I need to restart as I saved without realizing a pit appeared behind me with a monster on the other side. I like it so far though.

I wasn't the only one then. I think you could maybe grab at least one loaf of bread without setting it off....

[Earwig2112]

ian_scho wrote:
I wasn't the only one then. I think you could maybe grab at least one loaf of bread without setting it off....

if you need to be well bred.. (sorry)

Spoiler

you can get 3 loaves if you stagger around

[Zed5Duke]

i found several messages :

Spoiler

T R A ? G O H

To make progress you must find and understand every messages
In this example its:

Spoiler

TRAP = GOH so everytime you find GOH it mean its trap around

And some clue to food/water problem:

Spoiler

slime is consumable

[Des]

Hard but addictive - I like it

[linflas]

it is really a good dungeon, i reached the third level !

[linflas]

hmmm.. can't find the third gold coin

[Zed5Duke]

First:

Spoiler

behind hook puzzle

Second:

Spoiler

small switch inside food room

Thrid:

Spoiler

south from hook puzzle, crack on wall near food room open secret small corridor with alcove

And important gem:

Spoiler

behind stone door

[linflas]

thanks Zed, i finally completed NightKin !
very addictive dungeon, especially at the beginning, i liked :
- crypted messages to translate : these were really helpful. i never felt lost for long moments.
- new objects, equipment
- clever design of levels and puzzles in only 3 levels !
- graphic work is very good, integration with DM2 wallset and skeletons.

8/10 ! i would put a 9 if there wasn't that low stamina boring issue. couldn't it be possible to increase the way it grows up ?

[Zed5Duke]

Congratulations!

Amulets give small bonus to stamina (each item have inforamtion about armor and magic bonus)

[ian_scho]

(each item have inforamtion about armor and magic bonus)

I liked that

[Joramun]

I'm on the second level and I like it so far !

There are "dead ends" but once you've got the message, it's not annoying, it's part of the fun.

Also, it's such a pain to gain levels (and stamina) that I don't see anyone resurrecting the additional characters and split xp gains !

Spoiler

I have some "bugs" in the translation code: no Y (maybe replace an unused letter by Y in the code), and the code letter (ful rune) is flipped on walls compared to the scroll

[Zed5Duke]

There is no small Y letter, so its unvisible in few places.
Stamina is major problem it dont raise so qickly during experience as other stats. How you think is there any connection to Vitality and amount of HP gained per level? (or wisdom and mana amount) For what is vitality anyway?

[Des]

If you do a search on Vitality you will see that what George has implemented in RTC may or may not be what was intended in the original game - in CSBWin it is an important stat for wizards so maybe more about Mana recovery than stamina (?)

Back to Nightkin - I didn't take any of the extra characters as they were all 1 hit point wonders and more mouths to feed with a limited food supply. I think I'm getting close to completing this dungeon - so far it's been really addictive

[beowuuf]

One gold coin, no moon. any hints? If it helps, I never found any other exit than death in the alternate area, and I have few items that are without water before there

Thoughts so far:
I found the solution to the initial room puzzle, the no stamina grind of fighting and collecting food and the overly punishing floor switches in the first area a complete turn off. I only kept playing the start because people like linflas and des have given such glowing reviews.

Certainly the monsters are amusing, the wall inscription hints clever, and so far the puzzles have been cool. The item descriptions add a nice element, and things like the vanishing invisible walls and consistent feel of the dungeon are very nice.

However, for me personally those two initial elements didn't let me enjoy or appreciate any of that. Since no one else has complained about the initial room solution, I guess it's just my playing style. I think a 'hint' saved game with that already partially solved might be nice thought.

As for stamina, I think if you had a starting value of 20ish you would still get the effect you want, without it being tedious to walk around the initial area.

Also, perhaps the floor switches could onyl inflict their punishment once?

Anyway, sadly just when I was starting to enjoy it, now I'm stuck! Maybe there's an area I haven't explored yet, or a switch I missed, maybe I'm being brain dead about what '25' means - tried the disable trap lever, but it was stuck. Maybe I have an obvious moon solution already, or I'm missing the death/water thing.

Anyway, will give a tour around again and await a hint from someone!

[Des]

If you haven't got the

Spoiler

gold key

you won't have found the moon item yet. I nearly chucked away the Sun item.

25 is

Spoiler

the percentage chance of the pad closing the pit when an object lands on it. One of the gold coins involves a 20 per cent pad. One of the coins is right opposite a keyhole.

I thought the start was a good challenge - realising that you had to train up a bit to get through a corner damage tile knowing that you were severely limited by lack of food. Perhaps you could chuck the boulder around and cast stamina potions, or maybe rustle up some fireballs? Then when you get through to a corner lots of new problems arise....

Also, I found it very satisfying, after lots of luring skeletons into fireballs or onto damage tiles, that later in the game you can just stand there and smeg them

[beowuuf]

Yeah, I empited the fireball launcher pretty quickly - I had not thought the damage pads worked on the skeletons. Certainly, the one that initially drops you down a pit didn't trigger when the skeleton walked over it.

Thanks for the hints, I hadn't thought of it as a percentage chance, I thought it was a translation I would need later. I had assumed a count on the pad or a particular item needed when my initial throws did not work there.

Eh, I hate training as a gaming mechanic though, hence why I said I guessed my style of play was different.

I can't remember if i used the same game where I had simply rested to see if a gaoler came or not. If so, I had less food to behin with too.

I guess lots of things combined at the start so I felt more frustrated than challenged. Battling mutliple lesser monsters say with limited resources so you needed to use the environment, skill, and intelligent tactics would have been challenging, but somethign to overcome and then it's over. I found having to hack slowly at a monster, running away alot to recover stamina, then come back, all with the clock ticking more tedious than a challenge, and frustrating to use the meta game of opening a way and blowing all resouces just to see if that path was worth opening up, then restarting the game properly to know killing that critter got you that food item, etc then hoping the cost of makign the way safe didn't outway getting the item.

I think it really is just the low stamina, otherwise the progression of monsters and dropped items is nice, as is the puzzles and lay out.

Anyway, enjoying it better now (although I guess I will need to figure out the pad thing you were talking about now)

Edit: Oh, I could always get passed the barriers, I just meant that the lack of food meant that resting for mana and stamina restoration used up your time, and so having the constant drain on them from the environment was an additional niggle.

I think the monsters are balanced well enough that by the end of the lower level I could stand toe to toe with the skeletons for a limited time and heal if needed - I think I needed it once when I was low on stamina and health and didn't want to retreat back through a barrier - so used mana for health potion not stamina and stayed on the skeleton side of the barrier!

[beowuuf]

My bad, there was an entire tunnel bit I hadn't finished going down - I am very bad at mapping in my head.

Onwards!

[Joramun]

Stuck !

Spoiler

II'm on a second floor, I have no keys, no way to go, I have opened all button-doors and smashed everything in the way.

Spoiler

I clicked the button not to be clicked, is it a game-stopping trap ?

Spoiler

if yes, I will not play this dungeon ever again, because I have no savegame.
I won't redo all the first floor just for one little "experiment", that's too much punishment

Anyway, I liked what I saw so far

Spoiler

(last thing i did was death gate)

.