Back after a long, long time

[Mac Addict]

Dear DM Forum members,

Back in the day (~2004) I was an avid RTC player and GG had just released a version of RTC with a visual editor. Then my PC crashed and I decided to get a Macintosh laptop. At the time, macs did not support windows opperating system, but of course now the new ones do because of the Intel chip. So I have not been able to play DM for over 5 years! Now I'm done my graduate work at university and I have some money to get a new MacBook Pro, and I'm looking forward to loading up RTC again.

I've browsed the forums off and on over the years but really haven't kept up to date with what's been going on. So basically, I'm wondering if any kind souls out there would be able to summarize briefly the activity of the last half decade!
(Any politics, big development decisions, etc.)

In particular, I'd like to know which custom RTC dungeons I should try tackling. Way back, I had what I considered a great idea for a grand custom RTC dungeon, but never got around to putting it together for the reasons mentioned above. Would love to get back on that in my spare time, give something back to the people who've provided me with hours of DM entertainment.

[Trantor]

Hi and welcome back!

RTC has more features than ever, but GG has practically vanished in the meantime, real-life is getting in the way. Apart from CSBWin and RTC, we have a new, more powerful clone called Dungeon Strikes Back (DSB) made by Sophia. There are no custom dungeons for it yet, but Sophia is currently developing a very good one.

As for custom dungeons, Sophia's two creations Surgical Strike and Dark Portal are very good, but they won't work properly with the newest RTC version. Look in the Custom Dungeons forum for details. Also, Sukumvit's Labyrinth by linflas is pretty good, and the new Tower of Champions by Adamski got a lot of positive feedback, too. I can't comment on it as I haven't played it myself yet.
If you are looking for a dungeon that focuses mainly on atmosphere instead of gameplay, THOM's two Xarostak dungeons are good, too. Oh, and my dungeon that will be released in a couple of weeks will be super-awesome!

[Sophia]

at Trantor's glowing praise.

Welcome back. I'm a mac addict now, too. I got one earlier this year.

[beowuuf]

Welcome back!

Zed's dungeons are also good experiements with good humour or puzzles, though have tough design choices sometimes. They seem to split the forum about them, and can even split the player's own opinion. They are worth a look at too. I think Villain Pit is a good example to gauge against.

Definitely Tower of Champions is a good current one to check out, though I don't recall the new version being up yet - I'm sure someone can send you an interrum copy.

[Des]

Nightkin is my favourite Zedder followed by Bloody Hell.

[beowuuf]

Oh yes, Nightkin is good, but does suffer from some of the hard design choices in starting. The low powered character is thrown into it a little harsh if I recall. And I think the puzzle at the start had me confused as to what to do. But yes, those early ones show some great alternative puzzles and a good sense of humour.