Alright guys, time for another update
Had a good bit of time this week so far to get a bunch of stuff done,
here's a brief changelist:
- Added story element (note) in Hall of Mages (empty room in Abandoned Town)
- Added small puzzle under Hall of Mages (Sewers/Underground)
- Removed rooms 23 & 25 (Forgotten Bog) *(Need to remember to remove their Bog Underground components during cleanup)
- Added diggable treasure (Forgotten Bog)
- Removed room 6 (Town East)
- Added small puzzle/story element (Town East)
- Blocked mine entrance (Town East) *(The unused entrance - does not affect Dhomochevsky's or Skuggasveinn's rooms)
- Added NPC interaction (Twisted Forest)
- Added diggable treasure (Asylum Grounds)
- Completed room 16, Master's Throne (Dark Tower) *(Relatively small)
- Completed room 17, The Arena (Dark Tower) *(Similar to ORRR2 Arena; could use some touching up and spawn/loot tables need filling, but is otherwise complete)
- Bugfixed room 19, The Lost Archives (Dark Tower) *(My room)
Schedule update:
Room 5.
THOM, Date TBD - Catacombs (9x9x3) - All Underground.
Room 9.
aaneton, 6/6 - Asylum Dungeon (Labs) (9x9x3) - All underground.
Room 11.
John Wordsworth (?)- Asylum Dungeon (9x9x3) - All underground.
Room 18.
AndakRainor, Date TBD - Dark Tower (9x9x3) - All Inside.
Room 20.
minmay, 5/30 - Dark Tower (9x9x3) - All Inside.
Room 22.
Isaac, Date TBD - Forbidden Bog (12x12x2) - Top Overground.
If you're on this schedule and don't have a date by your name, feel free to post here and update me
Diarmuid - If you could check with John at some point and see if he's still interested in doing his own room within the next month or so, that'd be awesome (if you're able to get a hold of him).
minmay - After you get the file and finish implementing your room, post an update but go ahead and forward the project to aaneton. I'll be out of town a bit around the time you're finishing up and there's no reason to hold up the file while I'm away (so aaneton can go ahead and get started whenever he's ready).
ORRR3 Level Progression
I want everyone's opinion on how exactly we want to do level progression, since it's not necessarily as cut and dry as ORRR2.
IIRC, ORRR2 had a series of "seals", in which a set of rooms of similar difficulty would have to be completed to a certain degree before the player could enter the next.
With ORRR3 being partially outside, it's slightly different. All of the areas are significantly different, and each can have its own progression element.
John's original plan (see p. 3) is somewhat vague, but revolves around a similar mechanic of collecting a certain amount of materials from each area before progressing, with the main goals being to smith a weapon to take on the Twisted Forest, and then basic "complete room->collect->turn in->progress".
My question is, how would you guys like to see this handled? The original concept of smithing a weapon can work, with a few caveats:
1. The ore item still needs texturing (not a skill I possess). Could be handled by just using the rock model/tex.
2. Need a blacksmith NPC (more work, but can be done).
3. There's no easy way to require this weapon to enter the level. Can't have specific enemies that need the weapon because they can easily be bypassed, so would rather be more like a "key". Could bribe a guard to let you in the woods by way of a weapon he wants smithed/a shrine in the entrance of the woods?
This originally entailed the first areas essentially being one and the same for progression (rooms in graveyard, catacombs, asylum, town east all offer ore, you need a certain amount of ore). Is something like this preferable, or would it be better to limit areas more extensively like ORRR2 (i.e. 3/4 progression items/rooms completed rather than say 9/12? Numbers are arbitrary for example) Requires same amount of completion, but more freedom in what the player omits (before reaching the woods and tower). Good or bad?
My thoughts for the Twisted Forest and Dark Tower is to have 3 rooms each, requiring either 2 or all 3 of each completed (opinions on 2 vs. 3?) This is because the Forest has only 3 rooms, and while the Dark Tower has 5, one is the Arena (minigame, not required whatsoever), and another is my second room (Master's Throne; only one floor used. Middle-difficulty puzzle that's fairly simple), neither of which will likely offer progression items (Arena definitely not; Throne optionally could, but I don't really think it should). Not as much flexibility here, but suggestions are always good.
I also feel like the mod doesn't feel quite as cohesive/large as ORRR2, even though it realistically is (I think because we have outside rooms it feels much more open). Any opinions on things to add or thoughts on this are good.
ORRR3 Final Boss
I have implemented a couple story elements to suggest following the plotline I previously outlined, which suggests Bardwell will be the final boss in some capacity. This can easily be changed, but unless there are major objections, I think it works pretty well.
Having the secretive sage as the final encounter leaves a lot of room as to just what it actually is (he could very easily do the good ol' "fight my monster instead of me" depending on what we want to do with it). Any thoughts on how you'd like this fight to go? I'd be glad to let someone else design and implement this entirely if anyone's interested; I feel like I wouldn't be the best person to create it, but I will if no one else wants to.
Massive post again; I hope I didn't forget anything, but that's enough to keep you reading for quite a while
