[Custom dungeon] Tauroggs Lair [RTC] [DMDM a.k.a Mindstone]

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 6:59 pm

Version: 1 for RTC V0.33
Platform: RTC
Author: DMDM a.k.a Mindstone
Email address: manny_fandango2000@yahoo.com
Date published: 2005, June 22
Date last updated: 2005, August 18

Notes:
Here is the first few levels of my latest dungeon. I done all this yesterday, and has a pretty fun time making it.

Give me feedback. What do you dislike/like, any suggestions, whatever basically I need you guys advice

Oh save regulary, you do die easy, frail characters you have.

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

Post by **Ameena** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:10 pm

Right here we go...minimising game as I play to type this

-The "I lost my ring" message has a "Thank you very much" message overlapping it - that text needs to be set to invisible and triggered to appear when you return the ring. I still need to find said ring atm...
-Gentlemen don't hang THERE garments. They hang THEIR garments.
-I found the ring (had missed it in the dark) and got the second copper coin. I used it in the same slot as the first one but it didn't appear to do anything. The slot should be deactivated unless I've activated something at a bit I haven't reached yet.
-"Pour away the dirty water" only seems to be a way to destroy flasks I really need (since both my people have injuries) in order to open up a door I've already been to the other side of by pressing the red button or whatever it was...
-D'OH!! I have all six gold keys and had backtracked to the gold locks. But on putting the second key in the lock, it was the doorframe that disappeared, not the door!

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:45 pm

Yes you see that gold key....is...err....special it's a door frame....remov....ahem
Many bugs I see. I shall first and foremost correct all grammatical errors. Maybe I should put a torch in somewhere to combat the light problem, and change the copper coin thing so that it only eats up one coin!

Thanks for the feedback

Oh and you only need to pour away one flask of water, blast again!

Post by **Ameena** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:49 pm

There were torches, don't worry about adding more. I just don't use them because I prefer to rely on magic and build up my skills.
Once again, stamina seems to run low. Mana is a bit of a problem but that's 'cause I can never be arsed to rest fully before I move on, just enough so they're not half dead and can cast a couple of potions.
And there is a room near where you get the last key which has two coin slots in it...one is in front of you when you enter the room, the other is if you turn right when you enter, near the door. I don't think that coin slot did anything when I tried a coin in it. But it might have done, I can't remember...
If you could change that doorframe thing and re-upload it, I'll see if I can finish it and give you any more feedback. I'll also probably try resurrecting the Black Knight and see what happens, probably you get blown up or something. But I wasn't thick enough to take him

.
Oh and that "That sounds like a dragon" thing was scary

.

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:57 pm

Yes i remember now, the second coin slot was for a gold coin i think. Only I forgot to put a coin in the dungeon, I shall playtest more carefully next time. Ill make all the neccesary changes when my exams finish, and then shall finish the dungeon.

BTW Ameena, have you got any completed dungeons? I wish to play them.

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:58 pm

Oh, after the part with loads of gold keys the dungeon ends, i havent got any further then that.

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 9:03 pm

Encountered the removed door frame as well, so I think I will try this dungeon again when all the bugs are sorted out. Looks promising, though.

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 11:14 pm

That door frame will come back to haunt me until the end of my days.
Well actually it's sorted now, but I'll wait till ive finished the whole thing before posting it.

Man, i cant wait for people to see the tense stone golem bit............no must resist, ruining surprises....For the final boss im going to draw an Evil Giant killer Dragon...........okay thats it, im shutting my mouth now.

Post by **linflas** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:29 pm

lots of cool ideas in this dungeon, but i didn't take a companion (did this also in the rookery), so when characters were talking it didn't have any sense.
when you design a dungeon, you must think of all the way people will play it, and that's why this is such a big work..

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:17 pm

NNOOOO!
The first time i play a dungeon i do what it says. Then the second or third time i do it with one character. Anyway, weren't you curious as to who was behind the pit???
Anyway Linflas thanks for playing and your avatar is quality, did you draw it yourself, it actually makes Linflas the elf look good.(i hate his DM portrait)

Post by **linflas** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:06 pm

curious ? of course, i got upstairs when 'I' said to myself, 'I need a companion', but i didn't resurrected him... because i prefer playing alone.

about my avatar, it's my personal artwork, and i don't like Linflas original DM portrait too. in fact, my very first DM team was composed by balanced stats characters : Hawk, Daroou, Leif and Hissa. But then I chose Linflas because he was the first guy i changed in CSB portraits editor ! btw, i lost my ST floppy with a dozen of manga stylish DM portraits a long time ago..

Post by **Ameena** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:35 pm

Your avatar reminds me of Link from the Zelda games on GameBoy (spiky yellow hair, pointy ears, wears green).

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 1:55 pm

Ill post the finished product in a few weeks. Im going for 50 levels!!!
Ive got 20 done so far, im coming up with loads of idea's to keep it original. By the end you'll have a team of Archmasters (or there abouts) hopefully!

Post by **Ameena** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 2:31 pm

50 levels? Jeez, lol.
Aww so I don't have a dungeon to play while I wait?
Oh well, hopefully this one'll be worth waiting for

.

Post by **Gambit37** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:15 pm

50 levels? Are you crazy? Trust me *no-one* is going to play that and enjoy it -- I'd stick with the twenty you already have, that is way more than enough for a good length adventure. Just because you have that many levels at your disposal is not an endorsement to use them.

Good gameplay is about giving meaningful and 'chunked' objectives to the player that they can be satisfied with upon completion, and before moving on the next thing. You have already destroyed any possibility of that by stating up front that your dungeon has 50 levels. Even if your small puzzles are great, the player is not going to feel good about solving them because he's started the game already thinking "I've got 50 levels to beat". It is just too overwhelming.

I would suggest not even mentioning how many levels your dungeons have while they are still in development.

And remember: Quantity != Quality

Post by **linflas** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:19 pm

i don't think all 50 levels are 50x50 sized (i hope so!) : maybe DMDM uses several level for small areas just because this is easier to design..

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 7:32 pm

What Linflas said was right on the mark,most levels are small maybe 15 by 15. I just felt that 50 levels would make it more epic.
I was worried loads of levels might be exhausting actually, hhmmm, I'll have to think it through again I think.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:23 am

If each level had a new feel,and small, then you could get away with it, as you would have the feeling of travelling and be epic.
But if you don't have alot of wall sets then it will just feel like alot of travelling! Demisity in a dungeon and a little is always best. Look at DM level 4 - it feels liek a long jounrney, yet when you look at the map is just seems very small and compact from how you remember playing it.
I've always found that routes that seem fine to the eye are actually longer and less fun to walk

Anyway, good luck with it all!

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:55 am

Just finished it, liked the puzzles in this one - food was almost going ot be a problem but them I came to the prison...still a concideration as I don't sleep, so people who do might have been getting worried.

Like what is there so far, the black knight area was funny with all the smoking corpses, didn't have a problem with him so far though...

Liked the obnixiously lightened level, also liked that the first few levels as you decended got impreceptibly darker.

Also like the start, the fact it was an inexperienced youth goign on a quest- howevr it kind of faded away with the blakc knight, as then he and the priest guy were better fighters! (i dided to an attack aswell so poor Al gothis healt hseriously crippled)

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 3:02 pm

Again, thank you for pointing out the good points Mr.beowuuf

Ironically I find it a lame cliche, the young character going off to become a hero, but I'll bung in a twist which should redeem me of this RPG cliche.
I think the obnoxiously bright level was an accident, which was there for playtesting purposes. Oh well, ill leave it in now

thank you for your wisdom, fellow Dungeon master fanatics.

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:52 am

http://dmweb.free.fr/Forum/download.php?7,105/HISS.RTC

Here is the latest version of Tauroggs lair. I said id wait till it was finished, but their were so many bugs when i playtested, including an Antman who somehow carried a lever that activated a teleporter!, that I can't possibly find them all.

I would appreciate feedback on this latest version, which made me jump a few times in fear (Scorpion noises are scary) and I actually found it very entertaining until it crashed against that Lever-carrying-ant-man.

Enjoy!

Post by **linflas** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:21 pm

i'm testing your new version (i'm on holidays yeepee !), but i'm stuck in the baldor flames area. one torch sconce opens a wall but there's nothing behind...

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:46 pm

This is not meant to be rude, but I refuse to play a dungeon when its designer knows of several bugs, including one that crashes the game. I just think that debugging is as important as designing. I'll be glad to play it when you fix all known issues, though.

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:30 pm

Trantor i fixed that crashing bug. The remaining bugs are minor and few and far between. And the dungeon isn't finished yet, which is why I'm asking people to tell me whats wrong with it so i can fix it.

I got stuck there as well Linflas! I'll sort it out and post up the new version fairly soon.

Post by **PaulH** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:03 pm

I think if you can get just the one or two testers, it will be better, or by the time you finish the dungeon then everybody will know how it plays and might not bother! I will play when the final version is posted.

Playtesting IS one of the hardest parts!

Post by **linflas** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:13 pm

sure it is.. DMDM, i suggest you to first of all finish you dungeon, then playtest it with a super strong character to find the big bugs first, then retest it with normal characters to check if playability is ok.

Post by **Ameena** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:33 pm

And once you've tested it yourself, maybe send it to one or two people to playtest themselves - it's all very well you playing your dungeon yourself, but you know where everything is and how to solve all the puzzles etc. There might be something in some little empty corner which is bugged and would crash the dungeon, but which you wouldn't find when you played it because you might not go there, knowing there was nothing there. Give it a quick run-through with an uber, maxed-stat character like Linflas suggests, then send it to a couple of others. Once they give you the all-clear, THEN post it up for general access.

copperman · Post by **copperman** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:07 am

The key holes leading into the armouries will eat more than 1 gold key each, is this intentional ?

Mindstone · Post by **Mindstone** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:14 pm

http://dmweb.free.fr/Forum/download.php?7,106/HISS.RTC

Right here is the finished, fully playtested version. I was meant to put it up over a month ago, but i didnt have to means to (No CD's, No MP3!!!)
But here it is, tell me what you think, the ending might be seen as a bit dodgy though.

Thanks for the feedback copperman, the armoury key thing should be fixed.

Enjoy.

Des · Post by **Des** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 12:24 am

Having not played any DM for a while (shame! shame!) I decided to give this one a blast. Seems I may be missing something as I'm stuck right at the start. Any chance of a hint?