"The castle gates", part 1 of my first campaign

reiwulf

I've finally released part 1 of my first campaign. "The castle gates" short code NW-DPI2AKV7O
"The quiet town of Duskshore is under attack by some mysterious forces, many people are disappearing at night and people are becoming desperate.
You must travel to Duskshore first and find out who's behind the attacks."

reiwulf

Here are some screenshots of the quest:







I'd love to have some C&C and trade reviews with other fellow authors, if you want your quest reviewed, post the code in here and I'll play yours too.

melinden

I played with my level 60 DC. You have beautiful mapwork throughout this quest. I thought the story was excellent and I’m looking forward to the next chapter.
I glitched out at the end and could not leave a tip or review so I ran it a second time so you should have your review.

Duskshore:

-one of the lampposts near the wagon by town gate is floating
-in Gili’s dialoge “advice” should be “advise”
-You may want to move him a little since the brazier detail clips into the close up dialogue view
-the exterior/interior work on the buildings is excellent, especially in the church
-the little girl of obscured by her mother in the dialogue close up
-the statues are floating in the church
-the painting in Illiana’s house is floating from the wall
-Gilles de Rais, I can see this is going to end well….
-in the second dialogue box with the vampire “eachother” should be two words

Kryptgarden:

-in the book about places in the Kryptgarden the section on the castle graveyard “tobe” should be “to be”
-it would be nice if there was a return option to read more sections without having to interact with the book again each time
-in Guard Lockheart’s dialogue “If you’re decided” is a little awkward. “If you’ve decided” sounds a little better.
-since the rain effect goes through the roof in t’/he house just inside the castle gate maybe switch out one of the roof details to the ruined roof?
-I’m guessing that was the author of the diary in the tree behind the house? A nice touch
-one of the exterior windows of that house is floating from the wall
-in the description section for Egollos’s dialogue it says “he hes constantly looking around”, I imagine you wanted “is” instead of “hes”
-some of the archers next to the wooden bridge are spawning inside the cliff
-I got lost once I opened the inner gate. The quest trail sent me back across the wooden bridge. So maybe add a Reach Point to get players going the right direction
-“Windmills” in “Whispering windmills” should be capitalized
-I wish you had an exit other than Press F to go to Next map at the end. Maybe a small gate to the side?


Since my most recent quest is in the docks contest instead of just playing mine I would urge you to play all of them and vote for the ones you like!

reiwulf

Thanks so much for your input!
I'm glad you liked the mapwork, I put a ton of effort into it, and it's really what I enjoy the most too!
Story really isn't my strong point so I'm glad you enjoyed it. BTW Did you manage to save the npc at the ending?
also thank you for taking the time to post all the small mistakes, it's much easier for me to fix them that way.
about the dock contest, I thought it had ended already, I have played a few, but I'll make sure to play the rest of them now.
again, thanks a lot!

melinden

Oh my goodness, voting on the dock contest goes until March 3rd! You have plenty of time. Also I have to try and ignore all the mistakes I found until then (grumble).

I did save the NPC on the first run and not in the second, since I wanted to see the different dialogue.

reiwulf

Ah, good to know you found the cure then, did you also found the giant spiders in the Whispering windmills and the tomb of the glorious explorer?
About the contest, I'll be sure to play and vote then!

melinden

I found everything in the book by Guard Lockheart. I don't recall the windmills being in the book but I did find them. I usually search maps thoroughly to make sure there aren't areas were players can get stuck or to find any details that may need fixed.

reiwulf

Ah, I see, I love exploring maps myself, specially when I know the author made some rewards for explorers
I fixed everything you pointed out, plus a few other things other pointed too.
V1.1 is out
Like I said I'd happily trade reviews with others, just tell me your quest name/short code and we can trade reviews.
The quest is officially out of the "for review" tab now, it's on the "new" tab. Thanks to everyone who playtested it!

wininoid

Nicely done! Here are some notes I took during the playthrough. I look forward to the next part.

-On the 2nd map, the horse is named "Horse 1".
-Especially liked the off-the-golden-trail details you included for explorers.
-Had a classic D&D module feel.
-The sister is pretty unhappy with you in the village. I think she would have some harsh words for you there at the end.
-Consider toning down the difficulty level of the wolves. Most of the fights were vs. high HP foes, which made for long fights that caused the quest to drag somewhat. Also it made the fights against the main villains less impressive. Sprinkle some more easy/standard difficulty encounters in there with the hards for key moments that you want to be more memorable.

reiwulf

Thanks for the input wininoid (also congratulations, didn't you win a prize in yesterday's livestream?)
I'll fix the horse, and maybe a not so nice message for the sister in case you couldn't save her brother, and in case you saved him something like "I was wrong about you" I forgot I made her so pissy in the first map XD
About the battles, I usually have the problem that I make battles too easy so that's why I did it that way, but I see your point, I'll try to save Solo encounters only for bosses.

wininoid

Thanks, yes I did win! I never win!

You can have some solo encounters, I just find that mixing all the difficulty levels makes the run more interesting. Someone explained to me early on that the easy encounters are there to help you fuel your Daily power so it is ready for the big fights.

Oh, also, I talked to the alchemist, but missed that there was a bottle to pick up. Maybe make it a dialog thing instead of an interact to get the potion?

melinden

Reiwulf gives you the option NOT to take the potion so it can't be given by the NPC since that is an ON/OFF checkbox at the beginning of the dialogue.

A reminder to pick it up in the "Yes, I would like a potion!" dialogue tree might be good.

reiwulf

Thanks for the advice guys, I now put a small mesage in the dialogue at the end reminding you that there's a potion on the shelf and you can take it if you want to test it on a werewolf. Let's hope tht will help people to notice it and take it if they want.
I'm also making some enemies a bit easier before updating the quest.
Thanks so much for playing it, guys! It means a lot.
Also, did you found out the haunted house in Duskshore? and the hidden cave?

reiwulf

New update, I added a new place in the woods (Chapel of silence) and a new character, so it feels a bit less plain, it's a small variation in the quest, but adds a lot to break the monotony of walking through the dark forest.
1.3 is the new version, if anyone could try it and give me some C&C I'd be happy to trade reviews.