I'm soo close to getting qualified for the daily. I just need 4 brave people to tackle my foundry. Its called Riddle Masters and it has a large jumping puzzle in it along with the riddles which is why I need brave people
The code is NW-DLA4ZT606 It takes about 18 min. and is meant to be run solo. So far I have 8 reviews (7 -5 stars and 1- 4 star) so people are liking it - I just wonder if the jumping puzzle is an issue for some. So if you are brave enough to beat my jumping challenge - could you tell me if its too hard and if I should maybe add in an alternate route that is all fighting for those who can't or don't want to do jumping puzzles? Thank you and take care!
Comments
Care to trade reviews? Mine is about 16 min long too. It's my very first quest and I would REALLY like some feedback from someone on what to change/improve.
Surviving the Survey
NW-DP7QLV4YN
I'll check yours out tonight when I get home.
Just finished up your quest. Good stuff. Dialogue is good, the story flows nicely. Combat difficulty is a little light IMO.
Some things you might consider changing/fixing.
1. The first contact, his opening text is in yellow but the rest of the dialogue throughout the whole quest is white.
2. After talking to Elisabeth the first time your quest says goto next map, that takes you out of the quest immersion IMO. (also the exit point is a big rock? Maybe change to the cart or a path? Just a suggestion.)
4. When placing the survey equipment it says press F to interact. Maybe change to Use survey equipment?
5. Near the end, the quest step says to defeat the orc ambush. I'm not sure it qualifies as an ambush if I know its there. Perhaps change the name to return to Elisabeth for your hugs and kisses? :* Or cookies.
What follows is purely suggestions. Once I zoned into the beach. It made sense to clear the area of critters, totally. But they were just standing there not pathing or anything (Hope they put on their SPF 50 ) Maybe try to give them a reason to be there? The beach map also felt very empty scenery wise. There is a big ole wreaked ship but no debris? Maybe thats why the Werewolves would be on the beach? searching the debris for people to eat. One last thing, keep up the good work and don't take any of my suggestions too harshly I had a very enjoyable time in the Surveyor Corps.
Campaign: Night of Embers - NWS-DQX5GVNKO
1: A Flame In The Darkness - NW-DE47BTDI9
irtoof75...those are some great suggestions! You weren't too harsh at all. I appreciate any feedback that will result in a better product. You highlighted several things I was already thinking about and some that didn't even cross my mind. I'll clean up the text and transition stuff to give a more consistent and immersive experience. I never even thought about making the cart the exit point. I spent forever trying to figure out a doorway that would tie in to the weird angles on the premade map edges. The cart would be way better and make more sense. Good idea on the "ambush" too. I'll adjust it so it's actually a surprise.
I was already trying to work on some ways to make the beach encounter more interesting. Pathing the critters and adding some more "shipwreck" themed scenery is smart. I was thinking of replacing the werewolves on the beach with undead pirates but it might be cooler to have them scrounging for food in debris instead. Two questions....1) I intended for the fights to be relatively easy, but I don't want it to be boring. Should I increase the difficulty of just a few fights or should I just ramp up the overall difficulty some? 2) Would it benefit me to add the werewolves a little more to the story line? When I was writing the story they were just supposed to be wolves that just happened to be in the area. But then I found out that all of the wolves are tied to the werewolf group, so I modified my story a little bit. But they do seem kind of "tacked on" at the moment. I could add a little line or two of dialogue and a little sub-quest about the wolves eating all the dead bodies and needing to kill their leader or something. What do you think?
I REALLY appreciate both of you playing through my quest and letting me know what you thought. I'm thrilled that my first attempt at writing anything like this wasn't awful. I'm really enjoying the Foundry!
GWF Lvl 60
Dragon Shard
Try my newest Foundry MissionChallenge Invitational: Gauntlet NW-DHCDKY8UCCatapults and Zeppelins!
Try my Foundry Mission Challenge Invitational: Maze, NW-DMXDXKQGD
18-30 min.
Solo
Fighting, riddles, maze and dancing ogre's
Nice quest, I gave it a review I like the parcour, the last one really wants you not to fail :P
I gave the maps a good look at, I do have a couple of suggestions if you want them:
I does need some detail/decor, some of the areas come across as a little barren. The populate button on caves is a little unpredicatable mind you, hehe.
I think your answers in all phases need a 'correct' or 'im sorry but...' apart from the 3rd phase . The rest is only cosmetic really but..
Theres a bit of a chain hanging out of the floor below a brazier on your first level.
For the doors on this level, you can place a detail on the map which is the same skin as a door,
move that so it directly cover's a door that looks exactly the same one for each closed door, not in the same place, a couple of pixels in.
Set the real door to appear when objective complete; objective = part of the quest that unlocks that door. Disappear never.
Set the fake door to appear immediately and dissappear when objective complete, same as the other doors objective.
You end up with the same function but the inactive doors wont have the sparkly around them until theyre active as it will be the fake door thats there until they reach that stage.
The same sort of thing applies to the mushrooms, have them dissappear once 'component' is complete and select the specific mushroom, then have a normal detail mushroom appear in its place at the same 'component' complete time. I think that will make it so mushrooms youve picked dont sparkle anymore. They could maybe do with a mushroom as a dropped item too, for effect. Just make an icon for them in the item tab.
On the second map, I found you could jump straight onto the 5th mushroom fairly easily, you may not need the first 4, you can also jump from the brazier then dodge onto the first purple mushroom, dont know if thats intended, its reasonbly difficult to time so it doesn't change much . You could vary the large purple and green mushrooms order and vary their height, so you have to do things like jump down onto to a small one, nice way to tweak the map if that ones too easy. At the top it needs a use the door text or go through to your next challenge sort of thing text imo.
The riddle itself 'A Merchant can...' if you highlight just that text and select 'out of character' it will put a nice highlight around those words, maybe look better.
The 3rd level is my favourite I think. The baby dragon you can set to wander, non combat ignore all(new function from the patch) that would look nicer than a static one I think, the speech is visible from quite a distance and they don't wander too far.
I think your yellow marker light is actually an orange :P
You don't die if you fall on the puzzle, not sure if that's intended, if it is then theres still a few feet lower before your health gives you a fright from the drop. I like the surprise outside the flowers
You can get out of the river past the wooden bridge on the left side, which may allow you to skip that puzzle though, maybe lower the water level few feet if you can, may solve both.
P.s. A nice effect suggestion to toy with for the riddle; Have the conversation end with your answer, then have a floating crystal ball appear or something with the answer, a different one for each dialogue reached(answers).
For the web room try toying with some invisible walls under some webs and rotate them to match and put some jumping spider up there to see if they jump down, just make sure you can walk under them though.
Have a try with lava plane on your cave maps and lava lighting, looks quite good in the cave settings.
Nice map for your first attempt, probably better than mine will be :P Good luck with your next.
I used a lvl 30 Control Wizard for this quest. I've played quite a few foundries with this toon and died maybe two or three times so my statement about difficulty could be a a bit off. Most of the mobs never made it to me throughout the whole quest. I'm not sure what lvl you set your mobs to but perhaps move up a lvl for a couple of the groups.
As to adding the werewolves to the storyline? I don't think I would. Leave it as a surprise for the players. Your story line is great IMO. If....anything maybe add a werewolf NPC that talks to you about being in their territory or something along those lines, maybe its breeding season and your putting a hamper on their love lives. Its your quest friend let your imagination loose so the rest of us can marvel at your awesomeness
Thanks
Campaign: Night of Embers - NWS-DQX5GVNKO
1: A Flame In The Darkness - NW-DE47BTDI9
Positive feedback
-You clearly have a knack for ambience. I loved the lighting with the little balls of multi colored lights and the spider webs were really well done.
-I decided to fight the spider guards but I really liked that you provided a no-combat option.
-I got the riddle right on level 3 but screwed up when I jotted the jump order down. So I ended up falling 3 times on the various paths before I caught my mistake. The punishment was annoying but seemed fair since I had failed. I REALLY liked that you had the platforms I jumped through disappear afterwards.
-The last jumping stage was frustrating as all get out. I must suck at platform jumping or something as I kept missing the mark, especially on the small crystal type platforms. But it was a good kind of frustrated, the kind you get when challenged to do better "next time". I actually laughed when I made it to the end of that I was so happy I had beaten it.
-I don't think I've ever gotten vertigo from platform jumping in any game. This was great. I was actually mildly afraid to look down! Great job!
Constructive criticism
-Who are these "Riddlemasters"? Why did they set this up? Is this some sort of cult or test for greater things? I would have liked a little bit more info on why I was doing what I was doing. Maybe a line or two from the guard about his "mysterious" employers and the level 1 master telling you who they are?
-One of the floating lights on Level 2 (by the spider names Bobo I think) has a length of chain that swings back and forth from the floor. Looks weird.
-Maybe spice up the mushroom dialog a little bit? Instead of just having an option saying "continue" maybe some flavor dialogue like "This glowing blue mushroom vaguely smells like a blueberry tart" and then an option to pick it up?
All in all a great job, the best puzzle/jumping foundry quest I have done so far. :-)
I was looking for stuff to critique and help you improve it like you did for me and didn't find much beyond a few typos. "Collapsed" is misspelled when entering the sewers and "campsite" is misspelled in the forgotten glade. It's a little long...didn't help that my girl kept interrupting me but definitely worth the time investment. I'm subscribed to your stuff now and looking forward to the next installment.
Nice job!
I loved the idea behind your quest, but I failed miserably. I don't know if I'm just the worst jumper in the world or if my keyboard being a tad sticky is to blame, but I couldn't complete the quest. I spent an hour and ten minutes on it (and made it to the final jumping portion that climbs to the chest) but just couldn't do it. I finally left the quest with a heavy heart and a tear in my eye.
I wasn't using the quest to complete a daily and I didn't have anything else pressing to do - so I don't mind too much that I spent so much time without being able to finish, but I can see how that could be a bit of an aggravation for others who, for whatever reason, run into similar problems. As long as you are perfectly clear in your description of the quest (which I think you were) that there are some rather long jumping puzzles required to complete the quest, I doubt too many people will try it that shouldn't. If you wanted to provide an alternate route for people like myself, maybe solving additional riddles would be an acceptable substitute for jumping to the final chest? I dunno. It's probably just fine the way it is. It's functioning as intended. : D
Thanks for a refreshing break from your standard crypt crawl.
Campaign: Night of Embers - NWS-DQX5GVNKO
1: A Flame In The Darkness - NW-DE47BTDI9
Heckle7 - Honestly I am terrible at storytelling. I had thought of the puzzles 1st and then tried to think of a reason for there to be puzzles at all. I agree that the story is very lacking. I think its a great idea for me to put more effort into that aspect of it. I keep wanting to take that chain out too - I just keep forgetting. I'll write a note and hopefully I'll remember - lol. The mushroom ideas are great!
Thebetafishy - honestly I do think that some people have too much lag for that last jumping quest. Even at home when I was building it, if the kids got on the internet - I was in trouble. You did bring up something I have seriously considered and that is an alternate route for people who for whatever reason can't finish that last puzzle. I was thinking of a walkway of mobs that you would have to fight up to the top. This way its still not easy but if you beat all the mobs - then at least you could complete it. I'm sorry you didn't get to finish it though but thank you soooo very much for your attempt.
Irtoof75 - I'm planning on running your foundry really soon. It sounds amazing.
Going by the other comments on ratings, it doesn't seem like everyone thinks like that. I think I would have given a 4 if I thought the same. Very nice job.
As a compromise for some people having trouble with the jump...
It sounds complicated but since you have large rooms it is doable.
About every 3rd of the way up make a fairly large platform,
Put a teleporter from the floorlevel to that platform.
Spread the teleporters out and build a room/chamber around each one with a door. You can use random rocks and all sorts of effects to build a room and block access to the teleporters, a beam of light or fire etc with an invisible wall. Have the invisible wall dissappear on objective complete etc along with the effect.
Put an interactive item on each platform.(not tied into the storyline, just set the detail to interactive, it will just sparkle with no objective).
Make the door/effect+ invisible wall for each teleport room on the floor level dissapear when component complete(interactive object).
That way when they reach the large platform they can click the object which opens a door/turns off an effect and allows access to the teleporter which brings them right back to that platform. The hardcore ones can go without using them.
When they eventually add incentive rewards for completing bonus obectives, then you can add an extra reward at the top that dissappears when any of the door/effect components is complete. That way they only get the bonus if they don't use a door.
As a precaution, maybe put a marker inside each teleporter room, that only works inside the room
and set each door/effect to disappear when either the button on the platform is clicked or the marker component is reached. That way if some uses the teleport on the platform without clicking the button they won't end up trapped.
Ofc it would be alot easier if they let us dictate when teleporters appeared and disappeard. Then you could just set them to only appear when you reach a certain point.