The absence of light

eskarine

Update 14/05/2014: The quest is now featured! Thanks so much to anyone who helped make that happen!

Finally, after roughly three months of building, the first quest of the two-part campaign is ready.

"The eye of the Beholder"
Q1: The absence of light
(Now daily eligible!)

Current version: 5.0
Current playtime: 60-70 minutes (overworld map included if you need a break)

The quest is designed as a tribute to 'Myst' series, along with many other games/books/fandoms that will be mentioned in some way, be that either as a direct reference or an easter egg.

In this story, you can travel between worlds enclosed in magical books. Your mission is to save four separate worlds before you can go to the world of the mysterious 'Guardian', who is tasked with keeping the balance between light and darkness. But there are some who do not wish you to succeed...

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Quest start:

You receive a letter from Samuel, one of Lord Neverember’s guards.

The elderly woman, known to all by a fond name ‘Granny’, has been taking care of his son while he’s on duty. He asks you to check up on her, as she has not been feeling well lately.

It’s just a quick run to check up on old woman. What can go wrong?

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Quest tags and specifics:

#STORY, #CUSTOM LORE, #PUZZLES, #EXPLORATION, #VERY LIGHT COMBAT, #DIALOGUE HEAVY

- All maps have only hand-placed details, no auto-populate was used
- Pages and pages of dialogue
- All-custom NPC and monster costumes
- Puzzles
- No invisible walls to protect you from falling from great heights - if you fall, you get hurt
- Little to no waypoints to lead you by the hand
- Not really for people who just want to fullfill daily

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Some concept art sketches:

eskarine

Promotional video



(Recommended size is 720p or higher)

eskarine

Gallery 1

eskarine

Gallery 2

winterswitch

Whoa, this looks stunning, Esk. Will absolutely check this out.

mrthebozer

Wow - it looks like I picked the perfect day to take off work. This is on my queue for tomorrow.

eskarine

Whoa, this looks stunning, Esk. Will absolutely check this out.

Wow - it looks like I picked the perfect day to take off work. This is on my queue for tomorrow.

Thank you guys
mrthebozer, this is the quest I was talking about when I told you I am stealing your thermostat idea Worked out a bit differently then I wanted, but still.

Can't believe this took me so long. I *did* work on two campaign parts at once, though.

mrthebozer

I figured it was. And yep, that'll slow down progress for sure!

winterswitch

Brilliant! Had a big dumb smile on my face the entire time. Too many great moments to list here. To'Hama is an amazing achievement--it really was just like Myst--I wish I had your eye for world-building.

Here are the minor issues I saw, roughly in the order I found them. Please note these did not detract from my enjoyment of this quest AT ALL.

--Daycare book: "...probably not a kid-friendly material..." Remove the "a".
--Granny: "...monsters made you loose your marbles..." Change to "lose".
--Creator: heading says "Eye od the Beholder"
--Bookkeeper: "...those commonly know as Wordsmiths..." Change to "known".
--Bookkeeper: "...serves it's purpose..." Remove the apostrophe.
--Mushroom Cave: I fell and died; respawned halfway inside the rock wall, had to do a /killme.
--Rhis's linking book: It's very close to Rhis himself/herself--when trying to interact with the book, I ended up speaking to Rhis instead. Took several tries to access the book. Maybe move the book a few feet away?
--To'Hama: "...funral pyre..." Change to "funeral."
--The exit book from To'Hama: Semi-bugged, gave two options. One was to interact (iirc) and the other was to leave (I think).
--Exit door after reward chest: I was unable to reach it, kept getting the "out of line of sight" message. Not a huge deal, since I could leave by the instance exit icon on the minimap.

Everything else worked beautifully. All the puzzle interactables, all of the NPC patrols, the scripted funeral sequence, etc. Loved the little touches, too! Like meeting the bear and the maiden after seeing the book earlier.

I'd appreciate your feedback on "Hive Mind", Eskarine. It's a lot less ambitious than your quest, but I hope you like it. You'll find the thread for it sitting down on page 4 or so.

eskarine

winterswitch wrote: »

Brilliant! Had a big dumb smile on my face the entire time. Too many great moments to list here. To'Hama is an amazing achievement--it really was just like Myst--I wish I had your eye for world-building.

Here are the minor issues I saw, roughly in the order I found them. Please note these did not detract from my enjoyment of this quest AT ALL.

--Daycare book: "...probably not a kid-friendly material..." Remove the "a".
--Granny: "...monsters made you loose your marbles..." Change to "lose".
--Creator: heading says "Eye od the Beholder"
--Bookkeeper: "...those commonly know as Wordsmiths..." Change to "known".
--Bookkeeper: "...serves it's purpose..." Remove the apostrophe.
--Mushroom Cave: I fell and died; respawned halfway inside the rock wall, had to do a /killme.
--Rhis's linking book: It's very close to Rhis himself/herself--when trying to interact with the book, I ended up speaking to Rhis instead. Took several tries to access the book. Maybe move the book a few feet away?
--To'Hama: "...funral pyre..." Change to "funeral."
--The exit book from To'Hama: Semi-bugged, gave two options. One was to interact (iirc) and the other was to leave (I think).
--Exit door after reward chest: I was unable to reach it, kept getting the "out of line of sight" message. Not a huge deal, since I could leave by the instance exit icon on the minimap.

Everything else worked beautifully. All the puzzle interactables, all of the NPC patrols, the scripted funeral sequence, etc. Loved the little touches, too! Like meeting the bear and the maiden after seeing the book earlier.

I'd appreciate your feedback on "Hive Mind", Eskarine. It's a lot less ambitious than your quest, but I hope you like it. You'll find the thread for it sitting down on page 4 or so.

Thank you so mush for such great review I agree, the review box at the end of the quest is not enough.

I fixed the typos you found, moved the linking book a bit away from Rhis.

The final door that makes you leave the library seems stuck, no matter what I do, but that's not really that much of an issue, since you can leave through the minimap icon.

I didn't move the spawn point in cave because I couldn't find a way to NOT make it look out of place there. Which is one of the reasons why I said it can get tough when you die

The To'hama linking book is not bugged, it has double interaction once you reach the end of that map.


I will review your quest tommorow, since it's 4am now

Also, 49 minutes, sheesh! I am kinda glad I split the quest in two parts now.

lumicakery

Hello, I went ahead and played your quest. I really like how detailed the areas were. There were even books on the beam of that granny's house! Also, I thought the lore was interesting as well . However, it seems I've stretched the average duration quite a bit
It's at 55 minutes now (think I took about an hour xD).

Here are some notes I took down :
1) The bear was named 'A Maiden Fair'.

2) I actually faced that whole mushroom cave problem as well (fell down the hole) and got stuck as well. I noticed you placed the 'respawn point' somewhere behind the rocks. I think it's actually possible to not put a 'respawn point' at all. If players die they will simply respawn at the 'spawn point', the place where players start out when entering the caves. Alternatively, you could place invisible walls in front of the holes.

3) I feel like the worlds could use some sort of ambient music/sounds. Maybe a foresty ambience like birds chirping, etc. (I think there are a few in the foundry if I'm not mistaken) for the Forest world (I forgot the name ). And for the other one, maybe... the sound of wind?

4) The conversation for the dragonling where he says you have to save the world before lending his book should have disappeared after you know, saving the world.

5) I felt it was a bit weird for Arus not to say anything after doing the stuff for his world.

6) Had the problem with the exit door as well. I think there's some sort of invisible wall or something that's making the door 'out of line of sight'. Or maybe create a different exit door? A book or something? Might confuse and stress other players, not being able to exit properly.


When you get the time, try out my quest (in the sig). It's not very puzzley or explorey, but I think it has an interesting story as well as a suitable difficulty for story driven players. Thanks in advance .

saerrael

I've been greatly looking forward to this, and you did not disappoint in the slightest.
There are a few tiny things that could be improved, from my point of view, but I didn't wish to nitpick *smiles*

Also, I think your exit door is suffering from Crypt Walls problems. You could drag it from the wall a few inches, that should work to make it interactable again.

Sorry for upping your avg time, I was looking around like a tourist ^^

eskarine

I will fix the issues in the evening (I think making one of the books into final exit is a good idea) and then I will play them quests.

Sorry for upping your avg time, I was looking around like a tourist ^^

And that is kinda like it's meant to be played

Also, the long game time does not bother me at all - I pretty much expected at least 60 minutes average. In my original plan, the four worlds would be in one huge quest, but foundry limitations made it impossible

msrebel1972

Hi Esk, I love your screen shots. I'm putting this on my list to play it looks like it will be great fun. I can't wait!

eskarine

Played through both "Hive mind" and "Joachim the coward".

eskarine

Ok, so the ver. 2.0 is publishing right now.

Changed stuff:
- The final exit is now a bench, where you go to sleep
- The respawn point in mushroom cave has been removed
- The conversation with Rhis disappears after curing the forest

mrthebozer

Played this extensive thesis on epicness today. You already got my enthusiastic ramblings in-game - what notes I did take, I'll PM you now - but it looks like you already fixed the biggest issues I could find. I'll be playing this one a few more times.

kithlis

eskarine wrote: »

Ok, so the ver. 2.0 is publishing right now.

Changed stuff:
- The final exit is now a bench, where you go to sleep
- The respawn point in mushroom cave has been removed
- The conversation with Rhis disappears after curing the forest

Yay Mrthebozer recommended this one to me, so I hadn't noticed all the notes in this thread - looks like lumicakery found most of my PM notes before I got them to you

This was too fun. Beautiful scenery, and some nice puzzles that make you think (instead of just following a dusty sparkle-trail). If that wasn't enough, it's all wrapped up in a lovely story. Can't wait for part 2!

eskarine

Version 3.0 is publishing right now.

Changes:
- Library is now an overworld map point, if you want to take a break in the middle of the quest.
- Removed the double interaction from To'hama -> Library linking book
- Changed some typos
- Adjusted some of the invisible walls and details
- Adjusted some of the interaction points for the vertically challenged
- Antidote bottle disappears when taken

reiwulf

Oh, a tribute to the myst series? I'll definitely give it a try.
I'l edit my post when I'm finished with it.
EDIT: I'm trapped in the mushroom cave, can't find anything to do, besides the dangerous mushrooms I'm adviced to get away from.
edit 2 nevermind found it XD

eskarine

Like in the true Myst game - explore and try pay attention to details

reiwulf

Yeah, I'm just finishing the second world, I'm not too good at puzzles XD

reiwulf

Okay, I thought I had to save the 4 worlds in a single quest, I'm glad I was wgonr because I would have taken like 3hours XD
I loved it, even though I'm not good at puzzles, It was very fun to do. The setting was amazing.
I do think I cheated in the first world though, I had no idea what to do after finding the first symbol. so I just entered random answers into the pillar till it was all lit.
The second world was build beautifully and I managed to finish it with no cheating XD.
There's a big feeling of accomplishment when solving a puzzle with little to no help. I loved the whole thing.
Congratulations!

eskarine

reiwulf wrote: »

Okay, I thought I had to save the 4 worlds in a single quest, I'm glad I was wgonr because I would have taken like 3hours XD
I loved it, even though I'm not good at puzzles, It was very fun to do. The setting was amazing.
I do think I cheated in the first world though, I had no idea what to do after finding the first symbol. so I just entered random answers into the pillar till it was all lit.
The second world was build beautifully and I managed to finish it with no cheating XD.
There's a big feeling of accomplishment when solving a puzzle with little to no help. I loved the whole thing.
Congratulations!

Thanks, glad that you liked it!

Well... in theory that's not cheating. I could have made it so that you couldn't interact with the pillars until you found the symbols, but that was not the point. In Myst games, you can sometimes wing it and solve puzzles just by the famous "click until something happens" method. So you can go around and look for the rest of the symbols, or you can plow through the puzzle and fight the mobs that spawn on wrong anwser - it's your choice xD

Including all four books would be too long, not to mention stretching the limit of maps, so splitting it into two parts was the best solution. The sequel will be a tad bit longer, since you also will have to go into Guardian's realm, apart from the remaining two books.

runebane

eskarine wrote: »

Finally, after roughly three months of building, the first quest of the two-part campaign is ready.
I am looking for plays - and of course, I am willing to trade reviews.

Played through this twice today (forgot to leave a written review the first time, lol). Pretty amazing work you've done with the scenery and such. And the story is pretty great. Puzzle quests aren't really my thing... but imo if you like them, then this would certainly be the perfect quest.

Couple possible typos: Yeena at the shrine, said built when it looked like it should be build. After returning to the Book Keeper he says "they younger generation" looks like it should be the.

Again, it was a great quest. Didn't even mind running it twice.


Would greatly appreciate a trade review of one of my quests. Right now I am really looking for reviews for Sins of the Past - NW-DHBGJEOMB and for A Diversion Below - NW-DIH2R2JJA. Either would be super. A word of warning though, my quests are combat focused. They are soloable though.

rumrunner711

Hey Eskarine,
This is an excellent quest, very unique and much fun!
I really enjoyed the story, it's well fleshed out and I like your custom lore.
Good dialog and nice personalities to your NPCs.

Played with a 48.DC (not that it matters since it's combat light )

Here's some notes:
Library
Didn't notice any problems.

1st world
Didn't notice any problems.

2nd world
Some how I got outside of the invisible wall (on the island looking towards the linking book, right side corner of the path bridge) and was able to run around the water. The invisible walls all around the island were a bit frustrating, it took me a while to find a way back in - found some I could jump on top of (from the path bridge, looking to the left of the island shore). Might want to change the walls to a taller version.

Arus (convo after Ishnok's death)
- change "loosing" to "losing"

Person in the shrine (after activating 4 pipes)
- change "begginning" to "beginning"
- change "built" to "build"

Excellent work!
Please give my quest (A Merchant's Woes) a play and review when you have time, thanks!

I really want my own Guide Piggy.

eskarine

Thank you guys for plays and reviews and I reviewed back

"Absence of light" just became a daily today

Version 4.0 (hopefully the last one) is currently publishing.

Changes:
- Fixed the typos mentioned in this thread, PMs and Scribe's Enclave (Yeena, Arus, Book Keeper, Granny)
- Moved the tree in To'hama floating islands so it doesn't obscure jumping platform any more
- Added ice in the Library room that disappeared after Feywild update
- Added a clue in Arus' conversation about asking villagers for help if you're stuck
- Moved reward chest slightly up so it's light effects don't flicker anymore
- Adjusted interaction point on Arus' journal so it fits over the item better
- Moved some of the invisible walls in To'hama so you can't jump over them anymore

bazgc

Sorry I haven't reviewed this yet. I owed 2 reviews and managed the first one yesterday. Today hasn't been a good day for me but I will get to your quest! I just need the time and energy to play Neverwinter - two things which haven't really linked together very well the past few days.

phoenicianson

Congrats Esk!

This sucks that the **** server went down for maintenance... what, they cannot wake up to do it at 5am PDT like they normally do?

Anyways, I am working on my New Grumura from your inspirational teachings! Congrats on Absence!

runebane

phoenicianson wrote: »

Congrats Esk!

This sucks that the **** server went down for maintenance... what, they cannot wake up to do it at 5am PDT like they normally do?

Anyways, I am working on my New Grumura from your inspirational teachings! Congrats on Absence!

Its a special maintenance. Merging the shards. If I had to guess they may be thinking it will take all night to do, or special people to work on it. Who knows.

And yes, Congrats Eskarine!

phoenicianson

runebane wrote: »

Its a special maintenance. Merging the shards. If I had to guess they may be thinking it will take all night to do, or special people to work on it. Who knows.

And yes, Congrats Eskarine!

Yeah, I know, but they are in PDT, and they still took it down at 8pm? Kind of an early night... I am just pissed because I was working on a completely new map for Grumura, and I had to scratch the first edit, too small, for a second one on the remake, and I was just getting into it. Then of course, boom, kicked off... at least I was able to save it.

I know they are merging the shards, but with the exception of the benefits to commerce, it will not really do much more as far as direct interaction with more players since they will be pumping up the instances to handle the load.