[MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Talk about creating Grimrock 1 levels and mods here. Warning: forum contains spoilers!
User avatar
Zo Kath Ra
Posts: 931
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:57 am
Location: Germany

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by Zo Kath Ra »

maneus wrote: Fri Aug 31, 2018 4:35 pm Tried your mod and found the coins but no clue how to evade the hidden teleporter at the corridor.
I thought there will be a destructible wall, but nothing.

So I can understand Pompidom´s reaction.
LoL
I didn't even find any coins.
Where are they?
User avatar
maneus
Posts: 246
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:42 pm
Location: Switzerland

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by maneus »

Use the map and you will see a hidden room north at the 2nd room before the teleporter behind a wall illusion.
User avatar
HypnoToad
Posts: 73
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2016 1:19 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by HypnoToad »

maneus wrote: Fri Aug 31, 2018 4:35 pm Tried your mod and found the coins but no clue how to evade the hidden teleporter at the corridor.
I thought there will be a destructible wall, but nothing.

So I can understand Pompidom´s reaction.
You never played the original dungeon master games? I have put a wall sign at the start of the corridor now: "Getting nowhere fast? Need a push." And one near the wooden door after that: "Have a break, then continue."
SpoilerShow
Half way down the corridor there is a button on the wall that turns it off. It's actually the step before the teleporter.
This is why I didn't want to put it on Nexus first, I wanted some feedback, I appreciate any suggestions as what's obvious to me is not to others as I know how it works, first time you know.
Return of the Dark Lord - V3.5 Download:
https://www.nexusmods.com/grimrock/mods ... escription
User avatar
maneus
Posts: 246
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:42 pm
Location: Switzerland

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by maneus »

Okay, thank you. Didn´t noticed the little button at the wall. :lol:

I think you have placed the first wooden door the wrong way (facing should be "1" I think).
That's why you can't stand right in front of the door. There is a invisible blockage.

Next thing, often the party hits the herder group at the beginning, the herders are ported a square back of the party.
Looks odd for me.
User avatar
HypnoToad
Posts: 73
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2016 1:19 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by HypnoToad »

maneus wrote: Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:12 am
I think you have placed the first wooden door the wrong way (facing should be "1" I think).
That's why you can't stand right in front of the door. There is a invisible blockage.

Next thing, often the party hits the herder group at the beginning, the herders are ported a square back of the party.
Looks odd for me.
The breakable wooden doors go in the middle of the square for some reason, the other doors can go to the front or back.

Looked at the herders too and they are facing the right way, you have a good eye though, never noticed that.
Return of the Dark Lord - V3.5 Download:
https://www.nexusmods.com/grimrock/mods ... escription
Pompidom
Posts: 497
Joined: Sun May 06, 2018 9:42 pm

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by Pompidom »

HypnoToad wrote: Fri Aug 31, 2018 11:46 pm You never played the original dungeon master games? I have put a wall sign at the start of the corridor now: "Getting nowhere fast? Need a push." And one near the wooden door after that: "Have a break, then continue."
SpoilerShow
Half way down the corridor there is a button on the wall that turns it off. It's actually the step before the teleporter.
This is why I didn't want to put it on Nexus first, I wanted some feedback, I appreciate any suggestions as what's obvious to me is not to others as I know how it works, first time you know.
As for constructive feedback:

Actually I did find the illusionary wall and coins instantly and I did find the secret button. I found the button easily because I'm using the DM asset pack myself, so I knew what to look for and what to expect. I made it till the breakable door and then simply deleted your mod after killing the beholder's eye when I saw the herders shuffling towards me.

- Basically the mod is just rows upon rows of empty identical walls with some random monsters tossed in them. It has 0 atmosphere. And it's like you've simply drawn some floor lines in the editor and then added some random monsters.
- You give the player 2 swords as only weapons that require sword skills leveled up substantially against medium-heavy monster. What if I don't want to use swords? You're instantly forcing everyone into a frontrow of sword users.
- Illusionary walls right from the start that makes no sense, an invisible teleporter that keeps teleporting you back with no way out.
- Mandatory wall shuffling looking for some pixels that look different than the rest.
- a coin slot that gives you magically stuff at random in a corridor.

Basically you took all the bad/poor/annoying gameplay mechanics from an "oldskool" dos rpg and managed to cram it into this mod right from the very start.

When I play a custom legend of Grimrock mod I expect it to be a step up from the default campaign both in graphics/artstyle/atmosphere as gameplay/balance. In every single aspect it has to offer a better/improved experience than the default campaign. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be enjoyable enough. Not a step back to 1990 DOS games era with crappy EGA/VGA graphics with crappy gameplay mechanics and some pacman level design.

I understand that your inspiration comes from such games, but at least try to make things look exotic. Sometimes it's all about the details. You start in a dead end corridor. How did you even end up there in the first place? At least try to impress the players with a creepy looking starter zone. A rumbling cave-in or a door sealed shut behind you. And not 100 squares of the same wall over and over again.
I shuffled about 100 squares back and forth through exactly the same identical looking wall/corridor in your mod before I deleted it.
User avatar
Isaac
Posts: 3172
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:02 pm

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by Isaac »

Pompidom wrote: Sat Sep 01, 2018 1:29 pm When I play a custom legend of Grimrock mod I expect it to be a step up from the default campaign both in graphics/artstyle/atmosphere as gameplay/balance. In every single aspect it has to offer a better/improved experience than the default campaign. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be enjoyable enough. Not a step back to 1990 DOS games era with crappy EGA/VGA graphics with crappy gameplay mechanics and some pacman level design.
I haven't even played the mod, and I disagree with every point here.

The default campaign took them a year; I have worked on two mods that took over a year, but I never expect of a user mod that it surpass the original game; though I can be pleasantly surprised if it does.

EGA [in this case the appearance] is an art all its own. On a different forum I visit, there are modders making EGA (styled) adventures, and designing sixteen color graphical assets.

I disagree with the notion of 90's era gameplay and graphics as bad, or poor quality. There were bad games produced back then, but there are still bad games being produced today; the development era has little to do with it—other than it arguably took more skill back then.
User avatar
Zo Kath Ra
Posts: 931
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:57 am
Location: Germany

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by Zo Kath Ra »

Isaac wrote: Sat Sep 01, 2018 4:07 pm EGA [in this case the appearance] is an art all its own. On a different forum I visit, there are modders making EGA (styled) adventures, and designing sixteen color graphical assets.
Link please :)
Pompidom
Posts: 497
Joined: Sun May 06, 2018 9:42 pm

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by Pompidom »

Just play the mod for 5 minutes :)

You will see what I mean :)
User avatar
maneus
Posts: 246
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:42 pm
Location: Switzerland

Re: [MOD] The Return of the Dark Lord

Post by maneus »

Tried it again. After killing the Beholder and loosing 3 "heroes" I had to kill the group of herbes alone with my female character.
The fight lasted about 8-10 minutes and then finally I killed one of four. :D
Problem was, I was going out of food. So I did very little damage. Then after a moment of carelessness, one hit of the herbes and my female character was dead. :lol: Game Over!
Post Reply