The Odyssey: Part 1 - The Sacking of Troy

[Duffluc]

The Odyssey: Part 1 - The Sacking of Troy by Duffluc
The Trojan War has begun! It is your job to infiltrate the city of Troy and cripple its defenses, leaving it open for attack. Honor and glory await, so what are you waiting for? Get to it!

Part 1 of (probably 3?) of my series, The Odyssey. This level has you frantically struggling your way through a war that you are about to lose... until a certain wooden horse and a twist in fate intervene. Here are a couple of pic's to get you started!

Some of you may remember the prologue I published to this level a while back. You can find that thread here. Although I warn you, this level is much better than the first! So much better that I'm thinking of going and redoing the prologue, so it's more up to snuff.

I would love to hear your feedback on this level, especially on the boss (is he too hard? Easy? Boring? Fun?) and I will do as many f4f's as I receive. The stat's page is showing me that not many people are playing this level to completion. Any tips on how to improve this would be awesome! I'll be tweaking and updating this level over the next couple of days, trying to polish it up with any feedback I receive.

Have fun, I hope you enjoy your stay! Part 2 planned release date: May 17th!

Edit: Here's a video of both the prologue and part 1. Thanks to Sebbast for the awesome vid!

[austimerr]

I actually just found this. It was awesome. Loved the beginning. You made good use of the layer glitch. I got stuck at the last picture you have up. I guess you had to use the arrows to blow up the columns but i could only get half of 2 of the columns blown up. You might want to fix that guy. But overall this level was awesome with great characters, even greater scenery, and awesome game play. Great job!

[Duffluc]

Thanks austimerr! The column's take three shots each, you sure you hit them three times? There's a sound every time you score a direct hit. I'll take a look though and see if I can't nudge the player into action. thanks again

[austimerr]

Well the far left column never even got hit. It seemed as though the boss couldn't reach it. And no, I didn't hit each column each. I could only manage one hit.

[mistervista]

Everything there looks great. I'll play this asap and report back.

[ferrrch]

wooooow this was awesome is your best level so far along with the aqueduct but i loved the visuals and the very original game-play

[Duffluc]

I made the bomb detection zone on the column's a tad larger, hopefully that helps anyone struggling with him.

[julesyjules]

I played it through twice, the first time i killed big boss man and then couldn't go anywhere, however no such problems second time though, but maybe double check the logic just in case. The visuals are spot-on, the battering ram was a fun touch, the Trojan horse was nicely made and the enemies look cool too. Great use of the layer glitch as well. The silencing of the two guys in their sleep made me laugh too.

I'd bung in a visual clue about where to head once the boss is defeated, and maybe slow down the arrows a touch if possible, when i was trying to destroy the middle two pillars, i never seemed to have enough time to get out the way. That might be me just not doing it right though, if you can do it in testing then just ignore me! I didn't think he was boring or too easy, it was a good original boss fight i thought.

Hope that helps....!

[Oddmania]

Another great level, a bit short, but I can understand why, there are many (3D) details so that's not a problem.

I liked the part in the wooden tower with the battering ram, pretty clever ! ^^ The boss battle at the end was really smart too. The archer is amazing, even though his arm gets way off when one goes on the left or on the right

At first, I had not managed to figure out how to kill him, then I saw the columns destroyed and I got it

So, great level, I'm looking forward to playing the next part ^^

[Powershifter]

I played it through twice, the first time i killed big boss man and then couldn't go anywhere, however no such problems second time though, but maybe double check the logic just in case.

Same thing happened to me.

Also, this might just be me being picky, but the short cut scene where the king sees the horse and thinks it's a gift... the camera angle is such that you can see dark matter holding up another part of your level in the upper left corner of the screen. You could either fix it by covering it up (maybe with a cloud?) or by using the global lighting tool to make the screen go dark for a second. I thought the level played well, and the design was great! Nicely done - I'll give it another go once you check out the ending of the level.

[Duffluc]

hmm i checked out section a couple more times but I can't get it to break.

Theres actually an invisible DM barrier blocking the player from jumping to the right or jumping down off the stairs on the right hand side of the level. This was so that the player couldn't try to cheat the tracker by simply staying in a different area. The only way to exit the level after killing the boss is the run right in the front most layer along the ground... I'm guessing that the dark matter is what's causing the problems, I'll have to go and figure out how to demit it after the boss dies.

[Powershifter]

hmm i checked out section a couple more times but I can't get it to break.

Theres actually an invisible DM barrier blocking the player from jumping to the right or jumping down off the stairs on the right hand side of the level. This was so that the player couldn't try to cheat the tracker by simply staying in a different area. The only way to exit the level after killing the boss is the run right in the front most layer along the ground... I'm guessing that the dark matter is what's causing the problems, I'll have to go and figure out how to demit it after the boss dies.

I think you're right. There was invisible dark matter to the left (all three layers) and to the right (all three layers) and directly in the middle (horizontal - I could stand on it). I figured I was supposed to exit via the front thick layer, but simply couldn't.

EDIT - instead of demitting the invisible dark matter in the front (right) layer so the player can exit, you could use invisible rubber with an invisible piston.... just a suggestion.

[Kipmonlin]

Awesome level. I loved every part of it and was left wanting more at the end. The boss fight was short and easy but amazing while it lasted. Nice work. Looking forward to part 2.

[mistervista]

Feedback as promised:

+ Great level and character design
+ Very good wooden horse and battering ram
+ Great enemy and boss mechanics and animation

- Sometimes a little confusing where to go or what to do. When you get inside for instance and climb over the sleeping soldiers I didn't see what I was supposed to do. I kept jumping around and the way eventually opened but I don't know why. Was it something I did or was it just on a timer ?
- I had the same trouble with the boss as jj. Although I knew exactly what to do I found it impossible to move in time and avoid death so I just ended up accepting it and standing right beside the pillars and letting him kill me as it was the only way to make sure the pillar was hit too which kind of ruined the idea of that boss. Also the debris that fell from the destroyed pillars got in the way and hindered you anyway which made it even harder to avoid. It's a pity because it was a great idea and looked very good.
- Spelling. I noticed somewhere ( can't remember where exactly ) it said tonite. I don't know if that was intentional but if so it just seems a bit too modern for that era.

Overall though a very good level and mostly fun to play. Well done.

If you'd like to do F4F on my 2 player level that would be great but if you'd prefer a 1 player level then Sheriff Sack 2 would be my choice. Thanks either way.

[Duffluc]

Alright I've updated the boss, and I don't think people should get stuck after he dies any more. I used PowerShifter's rubber idea (thanks!). So much simpler, don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Thanks for the feedback mistervista I'll get your f4f back asap. I'll try to give a better clue as to what to do in the sleeping soldiers room. All you have to do to open the door is kill them by grabbing their heads, because you were tasked with clearing the tower of guards. I'll also go and find that typo. Wasn't intentional, I just had a brain fart

As for the speed of the boss ' arrows, it's tricky finding a speed which suits all players. I've had beta testers tell me to make him harder (even add enemy spawns between each pillar) and others tell me that he's impossible to do without dying a thousand times, so I'm not sure which direction to go. Ill play around with it later and see if i can't strike a better balance.

EDIT: when i made the update above, I stupidly (VERY stupidly) tested the boss in create mode, said "Great it works!", forgot to undo, and published the level with the boss already dead and the level unable to be completed. sorry to anyone who played the level during this time, the error's fixed now