Mystrock, Artisans Path (Complete Ver 1.5)

[Azel]

Wonderful responses and analysis! Some feedback below...

The Story

I completely agree about the story. In the original Myst the Library contained several books that the player could spend a great deal of time reading. They described the Ages and set the tone for the entire game. For my beta/demo I basically got a bit lazy, as I am still trying to figure out the best way to implement this (without dropping 100 Notes/Scrolls that the player has to pick up and read). Also, I can see that one of the mistakes I made is assuming everyone has played Myst! hah

I am currently working on a final beta update to further address the story, the ages, and the purpose of the instruments, and the path Atrus has chosen. I also just completed an update (not yet published) so that players can return to Myst before fighting the Usurper, and before engaging the Cult. So in all 4 situations, the 4 figurines can be placed on an altar early on to allow travel back to Myst.

Although, should a player travel to these locations without the figurines, then yes they would be trapped there "until" they defeat the boss for that area. I should probably add a hint in the game about this.

Puzzles

Thank you for the compliment on the puzzles! It was definitely challenging to translate them from Myst to Grimrock while maintaining their charm and sense of accomplishment. And yes, there will be plenty more, as I plan to incorporate each and every puzzle in Myst.

Combat/Balance

I agree completely about Clan Beach. I have received a few suggestions on how to improve the experience. The frame rate issue has been addressed and I am currently re-working the use of bosses and stationary creatures. The Frogs in the Cult map were incredibly fun to use in this way, but the Ratling Bosses are a bit overkill.

I know what you mean about the arrows... I just really love Archery and didn't think it proper to give an infinite arrow Bow! hah

Food

Thanks for the feedback on the food system. You are the first to mention this and I was very curious as to how players perceived it in this Mod. When I first created the Mod I wanted Food to be a non-issue since the goal was primarily puzzle solving. However, I ended up placing a bunch of food in the game (and the fish in Myst Island will always replenish) so the Neck Chains are definitely clunky. I should be able to adjust this very easily. Thanks for the feedback!

Custom Assets

I do hope that more custom assets become available to the public. As I really would like to make the additional Ages as unique as possible. On my own, my skills as a graphics designer are quite terrible lol so I will not attempt to create custom assets alone.

With all the valuable feedback I received, I am very much looking forward to finishing the Mod. Including its multiple endings and secret "bonus Age." I feel much more confident doing so now that I have learned so much during this beta release. Thank you very much for taking the time to play and critique the good, bad, and ugly.

I plan to credit everyone who is responsible for the much needed improvements. Cheers!

[Azel]

I just published this final version of the Beta/Demo. The biggest part of this update involves Clan Beach, which makes the map much more rewarding and enjoyable. Assuming no further bugs nor balance issues, my next step will be to complete this in its entirety. Thanks all!

[Eburt]

One more thing that I forgot to mention in my review, but is rapidly becoming a pet-peeve of mine in most custom dungeons:

The automap. I understand that there are situations where it is basically impossible to make a sensible automap. But there are several instances where your automap just shows a bunch of pillars because the assets you used didn't have icons defined. The tower at the start where you gain access to the Mechanical age comes to mind. It's really not hard to modify the assets, or make dummy ones that show walls/rocks/whatever on the automap. I personally feel this makes it look much more professional.

[Azel]

I've noticed that on other Mod's as well. Lots of assets that do not show up on the Auto Map. There's no real rhyme or reason to the decision making from what I can tell. For example, on my "The Void" map the Castle Tile shows up on the auto map but the Castle Pillar Light does not. Yet on the Clash of Clans map, all the Dungeon Pillars show up while the Dungeon Floor tiles do not.

I'm sure it wouldn't be very difficult to simply clone or copy objects as needed and then give them a proper icon. It's less a matter of complexity and more a matter of time; it would be a task on a list of 1,000 other tasks lol

Definitely something to look in to after I tackles some of these others items:

1) Incorporate custom assets for human dwellings (tables, chairs, houses, etc)
2) Custom "Books" so that not every book is the same color
3) A custom GUI to allow for lengthy story reading
4) The multi-level Elevator
5) Additional custom sounds

[Azel]

Quick update,

I am completing the Stoneship Age this week, which leaves 4 more Ages: Channelwood, Mechanical, Selenitic, and Rime. The average time for me to complete these is about 1 week per Age, so I am 4 weeks away from the final release. Give or a take a few days for the extra add-in's and proper gameplay testing.

I am happy to see that people enjoyed the Demo; as of now there are over 160 downloads on Steam and over 70 downloads on Nexus Mods. Extra special thanks to everyone who provided feedback, both publicly and privately. I look forward to completing this over the next 4 weeks. Cheers!

[EnochDagor]

Hey Azel. Hate to do this because I want to try and figure it out. In the original Myst it kicked my butt too so it is salt in the wound. You mentioned a walkthrough somewhere but I cannot find it.

Anyway, I cannot figure out the 'ship' puzzle with the 8 switches and monsters in force fields on the main island. I call it the ship puzzle because in the original Myst you it was what brought the boat out of the water. Can you give me a very slight nudge in the right direction?

Only a few issues I've seen so far:

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* When I first encountered Demonus Warus - I had NO idea I could break a wall. It wasn't until I beat the gobhobblers before I knew. Then when I went back to warus, it did not occur to me at first. Take it for what it is worth.
* In the gobhobbler map (Clash Beach?), you can get stuck if you take the portal to the 'Barracks' before deactivating the portal if you have not already pulled the lever to open the area. It requires a lever pull to the open the walls. Also, I wish I had marked it down but one of the portals actually put me in the wall with the fire torc.
* If you put in the same code twice for the 'imager' you crash. Should put a nil check in (if vault_scroll ~= nil then) - I'm assuming it would happen with the other items too
* Defeated gobhobbler, demonus warus and usurper so far. Gobhobbler was toughest for me. Spent a lot of resources and time before I realized what the deal was. In the end, I took out all of the rat bosses to soak up the exp.

[Azel]

Hiya!

Here is a bit of a nudge for accessing Stoneship:

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1) Since you have gained access to the other areas you are already aware that using the Figurine on the Library Altar will reveal the access key. In this case, it is the skeleton figurine and the key is a combination of North, South, East, West directions. Do you remember where you found the Compass?

2) In the original Myst, this was probably the most difficult island puzzle. In order to solve it, you had to know which direction to turn the telescope in order to see a Constellation. There were many Constellations, but only specific ones will unlock the Stoneship Age.

3) Each creature that is trapped on the Island can also be found (and fought) underneath.

And thanks for the feedback, especially in finding the bugs. Responses:

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1) I agree that it is crucial to introduce breakable walls early on since I do incorporate them in several locations. Great tip!

2) Found and fixed these (not yet published). Very good catch, and this was the result of a version update where I added complexity to the structure. I forgot to re-check those 2 teleporters. QA Testing fail. Thanks for finding this.

3) I thought I fixed this already. Checking for Null is important, oops.

4) I may consider adding dialogue (champions talking to each other) to help guide players in the right direction more quickly.

[Azel]

Steam and Nexus are updated with Version 2.9.0; which addresses the vault scroll bug and teleportation issues with the barracks on Clan Beach.

Also, the full Walkthrough is available via the NexusMods file:
http://www.nexusmods.com/legendofgrimrock2/mods/31/?

Thanks for the feedback

[EnochDagor]

Thanks Azel, I'll try again on stoneship.

I wanted to respond to number 4: I don't think any action is really needed yet. I included that detail just to give you some feedback to my experiences. The thing is, I did consume plenty of resources and such but in the end, I felt it was ok enough that I did not reload and retry knowing the strat. And I'm semi-perfectionist when it comes to that kind of stuff. If someone cares enough, they would reload and do it again knowing the strat.

Just some thoughts.

-E

[Azel]

Time for an update.

There has been some great useable content released to the Grimrock Community, and I want to be able to incorporate aspects of it in to this Mod to help create an even better player experience. In the meantime I do enjoy taking screenshots of completed sections. Here is a screenshot of Stoneship Island:

http://mystrock.com/images/stoneship/stoneship_01.jpg

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