[Custom dungeon] Girth of Life [RTC] [Gronwold]

[linflas]

after

Spoiler

mapping by hand

that room (because there is no other way), i managed to complete the dungeon ! great one indeed ! looking forward for your next one Gronwold

[lbk]

after

Spoiler

mapping by hand

that room (because there is no other way), i managed to complete the dungeon ! great one indeed ! looking forward for your next one Gronwold

I did this too, but I must have messed up my

Spoiler

map

somehow because the

Spoiler

"safe" spots were not safe

. I found this particular puzzle to be the best on in the dungeon, though. It was very well done. A minor suggestion for this part is to make it so the party cannot

Spoiler

sleep when they are on the pressure pads

(I believe there is a mechanic in the editor that does this) Because after I tried to

Spoiler

map the room

(and failed) I decided it would be faster to

Spoiler

just kill the monsters that appeared and then sleep, then move forward and kill the new monsters and sleep, and repeat this until I finished the puzzle

.

[Des]

Excellent first dungeon, Gronwald - I've been enjoying it, though it probably was a mistake to deny myself a beer until the party found some water - it took a while

At the start, the choice of who to add to the party is an interesting one and should provide some replayability. Karnor is a strong all-rounder, you could choose to go with him on his own, but part of the fun is to nurture one, two, or three additional party members from bones. For my current game I chose to add just one character, Reisha, a female fighter. She's fully recovered now and has also managed to gain a priest and a wizard level. If I'd taken a wizard I'd probably be fireballing my enemies by now, but two fighters suits me fine as I like to boldy do battle rather than ducking and diving. The difficulty level seems to be just right for this approach as both characters had a number of very narrow escapes.

More comments when I complete it (probably next weekend).

[Chaos-Shaman]

Thanks Gronwold....

just finished the dungeon. you kept it clean and easy to play, felt like first time playing the game. the sargor passage had me for a bit, and good job on not using too many fake walls or spinners. first dungeon finished in a while.

[Gronwold]

Thanks for all the positive comments! I am glad that people are enjoying it - it has motivated me to try another one which I am testing at the moment. Will keep you posted..

[Trantor]

Really nice first dungeon! Here is a little review:

Gameplay: 6
There is a little bit of everything in here - throwing puzzles, shooters, fake walls, and lots of fights. For my tastes, the balance is a bit too far on the fighting side. The puzzles in here are not bad, there just could have been a few more of them.
There is one particular room (the one with the fitting pieces) that has a really good idea, but it seems to me it doesn't quite work as intended.
About the fireball room near the end:

Spoiler

I think the room is a bit too large for what is in there, and the fireballs themselves should probably stronger. They hardly damaged me, so I didn't really care about the combination.

Originality: 6
I like the basic plot behind the dungeon, though it is simple. The room I already mentioned is highly original, and I also really like the way you can recruit more champions (though I dislike that you cannot review them in any way before acquiring them), but apart from that, the rest is rather standard stuff.

Difficulty: 4
The beginning is a bit hard for the lack of food and water. The timing for me was perfect, as I found water just when my water bars were almost completely empty, but if you linger around too long, you might get into trouble. The fights usually aren't too difficult as you have plenty of room to maneuver, and if you look around carefully, you will always find a way to proceed.

Puzzles: 5
The dungeon is rather puzzle-light, and the solutions to them are mostly obvious. The room I already mentioned twice certainly sticks out, as it is highly original and practically forces you to create some sort of map - something I usually never do.

Size: 5
I completed the dungeon in 1 hour and 33 minutes, so this is a good adventure for one free evening. The good thing is that the dungeon doesn't feel dragged out.

Replayability: 5
I only found one special weapon, and there are supposed to be more. Also, since the characters are rather different, it might be worth another trip with different champions. Most of all, the dungeon is short enough to have a quick go at it again.

Craft: 8
The few levels have some nice interconnections, and you often come out somewhere only to realize you have just opened up a shortcut or a circle. Apart from the fitting pieces not actually fitting (unless I made a mistake), everything works as it should.

Game Ending: 5
It's a bit anticlimatic. The "boss battle" is very easy since you have so much room, and I was hoping for some more bits of plot. I was also a bit disappointed that

Spoiler

the villain was strongly hinted at in the beginning, but didn't appear at all in the end, not even in the form of some explaining scrolls.

Atmosphere: 7
The basic plot that is hinted at in the beginning of the dungeon is intriguing. I like the library as well as the inscriptions on the walls in the beginning. The sound effects in lower levels also add atmosphere.

Overall: 7
Girth of Life is an impressive effort as a first dungeon. It is short, but filled with enough stuff to do. I'd like the dungeon to have some more puzzles and maybe a few less monsters, but that might be due to personal preference. This is a good dungeon for some laid-back playing on a long evening. It is easily finishable in one session, and there is practically no risk of getting stuck.


Best part: The room at the very bottom of the dungeon, even it doesn't seem to completely work as intended.

Worst part: I missed a bit of a challenge and/or plot at the end.

[antraxus]

Hmm for some reason i cant start the dungeon cuz it simple doesnt show in the roster.
Anybody got an idea?
thx

[the master]

What version of RTC are you using? Try another version.

[antraxus]

Hi and thx for answering.

i m using 0.49 which i think is the newest version if i m not mistaken.

I also downloaded all the other custom dungeons, and i can use them all exept this one.

its just weird.

[Gambit37]

Some early custom dungeons will not work correctly in later versions of the engine. You need to play them in the version they were created for.

[antraxus]

hmm but girth of life is the newest custom dungeon, and it says its been created for 0.49.

Anyway anybody got a link to an older version plz?
thx

[Jan]

Antraxus, the issue must be on your side. I tried downloading the current RTC and Girth of Life "from a scratch" and it works normally. Try it again, the download you have might be broken or something.

[antraxus]

thats weird, i even downloaded 0.49 again and girth of life but it just wont show in my roster.
is the girthoflife file really only 196 bytes in size?

if not does anybody have a correct link for me,plz?

thx

[Jan]

You must have a damaged file. Right now, I downloaded "GirthofLifeV2.RTC" from the link in the first post in this thread (http://dmweb.free.fr/Stuff/files/dun ... LifeV2.RTC). It has 43 kB and works perfectly with the RTC 0.49. Try downloading the file again. 196 bytes only is impossible - you won't get a "Pong" game in 196 bytes, so your download is damaged. It happens sometimes (downloading stops after a while and the unfinished file looks as complete).

[antraxus]

Thx alot Jan, this really helped, it seems the download was somehow broken cuz it heven said the file was only 196 bytes.
Yours worked just fine, thx again

[terkio]

Thanks for this nice dungeon.

The large room with many pressure pads.
I mapped the two walls with the symbols, but I gave up, mapping more.
Monsters were too much, Karnor killed them all.