No, that's not it, my apologies for not being clear enough. I meant the 'square' that you enter by walking south from City Hall, the one with all the balconies on the eastern wall. Above those balconies there's a rampart with a torch and at least two guards patrolling. In fact, in the area where you enter City Hall, there's a guard very high up who appears deaf and blind.Originally Posted by Marbrien
Thanks for the other info, that helped.
Possible glitch - there's a room with some lootable masks in it - is it intentional that all the masks face backwards?
@Unkillable Cat, all the gold/purple guards on the wall should be inaccessible. They are for narrative purposes only -- guards of the gold castle lord who refused to evacuate.
Also, the masks are intended to be backwards. I thought it was both more original, and more creepy -- they look like mummified baby faces or something to me!
Actually I did manage to get up there, using a frobbable barrel from one of the basements in the corner of the square where there are some steps up to a door. But it was clear I was not supposed to be there - no sound, and some walls were lighting up as frobbable - and apart from some arrows from an archer, there was nothing to get.
Last edited by Marbrien; 22nd Jul 2019 at 10:30.
That's interesting; I just checked, and none of the four archers have quiver arrows for me. They did during beta-testing, and I thought I removed them all.
Of course, the player isn't 'supposed' to get up there, but Mat99 did during testing and took some brilliant screenshots.
However, I wouldn't say there's nothing up there to get... but not the frobbable blocks, they're just decorative, and I missed making some of them FrobInert.
I just checked again, I found 4 archers up there, but none had arrows. But I can't find the other thing you hint at. Unless you mean the plaque talking about the jump, which I'd found already.
Last edited by Marbrien; 22nd Jul 2019 at 10:30.
I found the 'thing' as well, via a well-placed jump from a pointy rooftop.
This means I have 90% of the total loot, but no idea where to go look for the rest. The only place that remains a possibility is a door in the western section that only opens partially before being blocked, but I think that's a dead end.
With that said, this is an amazing FM, easily the top runner for Thief 1/2 FM of the year so far. There's just so many places to go and explore, and little stories to be told along the way.
I hope to see much more from you in the future.
Congrats on such a great debut mission! I really enjoyed this start to finish. There were so many interconnected paths and hidden exits to find, I never once got tired scurrying back and forth for loot. And of course, the shortcut that drops you right back in the starting area was greatly appreciated. I especially loved the premise and atmosphere. The disarray of the quickly abandoned homes and guards roaming the bleak streets makes an interesting midground between a standard city mission and a deserted ruin.
Congratulations on your release! Just finished the mission last night and wow what an incredibly experience!! Thank you!
It took me two and a half hours to finish and I loved every minute of it.
You are an incredibly talented mapper, I can’t wait to see what you put out next!
Hi, congrats to this nice mission, i loved it, there were so many places to discover, even hidden ones
I also could visit the top of the city, with those movable/frobbable walls and found that plaque high up near greengrocer's - a well-shot rope arrow, climbing the opened metal door nearby and a nice jumping were enough to reach it.
I don't remember now but somewhere there was a glass window, with a red hammer symbol behind it with blinking lights, is that place accessible?
And thanks for the hint to baker storage key, i missed that place.
Finished with 9420 loot
I have really enjoyed this mission, thank you! Great work!
Oh and after visiting the secret keeper compartment, coming back to generator room, the light went off and the creepy footstep sounds were gone. Why? And who was that?
@Unkillable Cat
For that door that opens partially: is it in the city hall? Have you visited the security room which is locked in from inside ?
Last edited by Cheela; 24th Jul 2019 at 17:49.
You can't get in there; it's only supposed to show that the power/industrial infrastructure is starting to collapse after two or so days without maintenance.
The entire 'Cyric-style' affordable housing area has a few interpretations, but I mostly imagined it as a front for the Keeper chapel in the area. All of the decay and creepy things in that building are like special effects, meant to dissuade people (like the gold+purple guard asleep on the sofa!) from investigating further and discovering the truth. As you get closer to the chapel, the creepier the lighting and sound become. Then, even if you find the chapel, the antechamber is supposedly 'abandoned' until you find the secret book button that opens the room with the medallion and scroll. Having discovered the truth behind that area, maybe the Keepers deactivated the illusions, or maybe Garrett can see through them now. Either way, he has seen behind the curtain. I assume these illusions come back once Garrett is gone.
Once again, a more general thank you to everyone for your kind words! It's impossible for an author to judge their own work, and I am painfully aware of numerous compromises, failures, and novice mistakes I made during development -- but perhaps this is just knowing how the sausage was made. Whatever you think of this mission, know that whatever I make next (if anything) will almost certainly be better, if only for lacking these faults.
Wow that's great!
This mission had a unique environmental feeling for me, a city that was taken over by military forces, eroded, abandoned places (without ghosts, hunts, and that debauched city hall that had seen better days...
Really amazing, even discovering hidden places, routes, corridors, through loos f.e.
Even it was fun reaching places that we don't supposed to reach but i feel a kind of excitement like when looking behind curtains in the theatre.
So, it was really a great work, and you said this was your first T2 release?! Amazing...
So, thanks again for your answers and for this mission as well!
Not the one you were quoting but the door that opens partially is in a small arera after you visited the safe in the city hall. You can access the area via a rope arrow and then there is this door behind some boxes. I think thats what he/she meant.
But the reason I am writing: how can I access the security room?
Last edited by Cotillion; 26th Jul 2019 at 09:06.
Funnily enough, you reach it a similar way to the semi-open door room: check out the bathroom adjacent to the Dining Hall
Got it. Thanks!
I think it is the same door, visited from 2 direction. That blocked door in the guards' bedroom is the same door at the loo you mentioned, with the burned logs and a letter
But then, he/she had visited it from both side and i was wrong sorry.
Last edited by Cheela; 26th Jul 2019 at 11:40.
It's not quite in city hall, it's in the section on the second floor where you can go west and find the kitchen and storage and sleeping quarters and such. It's the door on the left in the sleeping quarters. It only opens a fraction, but enough so that I can see crates behind it that prevent it from opening fully.
I think I know the room you are talking about. Check hole in the Vault. You have 2 passages there to rope up. One leads to thieves hideout and the other to the other side of blocked door you are asking about.
This was an absolute treat. It has none of the usual pitfalls of a debut mission; it's very well designed, particularly in terms of interconnectedness - the way it rewards, but rarely requires, backtracking. It's also wonderfully bizarre - 3D space is expertly utilised to make an Escherian fever dream of a cityscape that doesn't conform to logic, but always to gameplay. The storytelling is great - an enticing mystery that unfolds with excellent pacing, and a lot of good examples of environmental storytelling, leaving you with a clear sense of the drama that has taken place but without clunky exposition.
My only nitpicks are that some of the audio was really harsh and loud, even after I uncommented the ambient line in the settings file, and non-loot items acting as loot felt a bit cheap.
nicked mentioned non loot items,i was always curios about that,as some fan mission some items can be loot and some not loot,there should be something about loot that a player can tell from non loot like thief 3 did,but maybe a more subtle way???
would be cool to see a list of om loot and a list of non om loot that had been used as loot in a fan mission to see that list also,cheapest loot is the empty blue flower pot,i was like this is loot?then most players will say omg i did not frob a ton of stuff early in mission so they got to back track reloot area's then continue mission
maybe authors can have a list of lootable items list in fan mission folder showing what can be looted as loot,not counting gear items/special items for mission?
so my final view is 2 possible way to solve loot issues for players who might not frob that pile of junk as it was never loot in past missions
either something in game to make loot stand out or a list of all lootable items for missions/missions a pic list would be best showing what is lootable instead of names of items most may not know
Thanks for your comments, nicked! Your tutorial was essential to me becoming at all competent with DromEd; not to mention your more general influence with FMs like Behind Closed Doors: probably the longest FM I've ever played, and yet the objectives and layout ensured that I was never confused about progression or unsure what to do next.
Your audio 'nitpick' is absolutely correct, and sadly it used to be worse: Squadafroin in particular raised the issue of ambient volume during beta-testing. I spent a few days adjusting individual schema volumes and testing line-level output to try and get the ambient volume to a consistent level. I decided at the time that ambient_volume 1100 was the 'optimal' setting, avoiding any clipping (at least for all the ambients I tested!) without being too quiet relative to Garrett's footsteps and AI dialogue. However, I am also aware that I always use a low system volume, so at much higher volume these 'mixing' decisions don't apply as well. I also likely missed a bunch of ambients. It's probably best that players just set the ambient volume to their preferred level!
The 'non-standard' loot concern is an interesting one: Schlock mentioned it during beta-testing, I think more as a curiosity than a defect. I'm actually quite happy with it: some of them are 'unusual', but are loot by default in the stock gamesys (e.g. the collection plate in the home with the gold-brick wallpaper and candlestick thief. I really like the storytelling here -- if he was too dumb to find the lever that opened the wall safe, he was definitely too dumb to notice that the collection plate was valuable!). Others are consistent with or references to other FMs (I am certain other missions have used gold paper trays and small glasses as loot!). Most importantly, I didn't intend for any loot to be deceptive. All the non-standard loot looks like something that could be valuable -- there aren't any shovels or powderkegs that count as loot, for example. However, my understanding of what 'looks' potentially valuable is very subjective, so this is a totally legitimate criticism.
If anything, I'm honoured you had so few issues with it. Glad you enjoyed it!
wow what a great scenic in this down. but i have a great problem . i can't see any guards. or there are some bowmen. i can see the arrows but a i cannot see the man
You're right. I had written that off as not being a traversable path. No loot to be found there, but an enjoyable find nevertheless! Thanks for the help!
Angel Loader says its junk. Why?
I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean the file is broken, perhaps you can try a different download or extracting the files manually to a folder in your FMs directory. If you mean the quality of the FM, I'm in no position to judge!
Only got 6000 gold, but that was a fun mission! Good mix of T1/T2 textures, that brought a nice atmosphere. Not to mention you made maps! Always good to have.
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