The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.4c

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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Jabie
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Joined: December 2nd, 2010, 12:50 pm

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by Jabie »

I'm playing on EASY. I'm more interested in the story than anything else.

Scenario 1: I avoided combat and snuck up the West, sacrificing goons on the way. Seemed to work.

Scenario 2: On Easy the bar fight was too damned hard! I finally managed to prevail but it took a dozen tries! I strongly recommend making the sides even on easy difficulty (i.e he has two goons and so do I) I'd also lower the turn limit but then give bonus turns after you pass the bar brawl. On one occasion I managed to win the brawl by poisoning everyone (I was heavily outnumbered and figured that was how I was meant to pass the fight), just to discover that I had no turns to explore the inn.

Bug: Door 1 didn't open straightaway. I opened door 2, then 3, then 4 and then got the hint and wondered why I couldn't open any of the doors.

Scenario 3: I'm on this to one at present. Change the scenario objective text from "Move a unit to Dunduggwyn's house" to "Move a unit to Dunduggwyn's house (the green cloister on the East bank of the river)" I missed this the first time and had no idea where I was going.

I also reiterate the calls to change the half-hex fortress to a different hex type. It's confusing at present and aesthetics should learn to gameplay confusion.
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lipk
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Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by lipk »

On Easy the bar fight was too damned hard! I finally managed to prevail but it took a dozen tries!
That fight has some toughness because there're very few units involved, so luck plays a big role. But remember: you have to take down Bruggwy only. Don't bother with killing single enemy.
Bug: Door 1 didn't open straightaway. I opened door 2, then 3, then 4 and then got the hint and wondered why I couldn't open any of the doors.
Could you send a replay, please?
Change the scenario objective text from "Move a unit to Dunduggwyn's house" to "Move a unit to Dunduggwyn's house (the green cloister on the East bank of the river)"
No. If you missed both the dialog (where Basyl clearly explains the location of the house) and the blinking icon, that's pretty much your fault. If I made the objectives over fool proof, people'd think that I consider them being fools.
I also reiterate the calls to change the half-hex fortress to a different hex type. It's confusing at present and aesthetics should learn to gameplay confusion.
Sure*. But I fail to see how does that create any (remarkable) confusion.

*no, in fact, not really
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perseo
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Joined: January 8th, 2011, 4:09 am

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by perseo »

I'm playing it on the third difficult, it's not being astonishing difficult but I'm not a bad player after all :) . I'm on third scenario and I only have two things to say:
- The story is pretty good. A very nice work you have done there!
- Maybe you should consider asking for an actualization of the UMC music package instead of putting the music into the campaign, it makes it somehow heavy XD.
- On the third scenario you can consider to destroy the bridges after the flood. And it makes more sense for me to say "I won't pay" rather than "I don't pay" I dunno, maybe i'm wrong if you're a native english speaker I guess that I should shut up.
¡Salud!
As the cretin I am, I can't count up to two, there are three things....
Reading the previous posts, I've just remembered that the first door have two adjacent tiles and only one of them opens the door. Just in case.
"I was pulling a barrow, when I saw a stalking horse
what a beautiful day!- he said- for visiting a red herring
and getting hoarse."
Working on this campaign: The septentrional tower
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lipk
Posts: 637
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 1:42 pm

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by lipk »

- Maybe you should consider asking for an actualization of the UMC music package instead of putting the music into the campaign, it makes it somehow heavy XD.
TDF includes tracks from the UMC Music Pack and West's Chronicles I-II. The problem is that the latter two consists of about 10 songs each, and I can't think of a good reason why should be some of them included in the former while others not. Dumping all of them into the UMC pack isn't an option, that'd make the add-on almost 100MB in size.
if you're a native english speaker I guess that I should shut up.
I'm not a native speaker so you don't have to shut up :)
Reading the previous posts, I've just remembered that the first door have two adjacent tiles and only one of them opens the door. Just in case.
Yep, that might be a problem.

Oh, and I forgot the usual "thank you both for playing the campaign and giving feedback!"
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perseo
Posts: 324
Joined: January 8th, 2011, 4:09 am

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by perseo »

Well I've just finished it. I only have one question: In some part you said something about that being the secret agent alive could be a problem or something similar Why? I got lost on this part... I was expecting him to reappear and do something strange... Otherwise What a nice campaign you've done! It's great and I loved the special WML. Maybe you can polish some dialogues, but anyway! I have had a jolly good time playing it.
¡Salud! and Good luck you the musician mate!
"I was pulling a barrow, when I saw a stalking horse
what a beautiful day!- he said- for visiting a red herring
and getting hoarse."
Working on this campaign: The septentrional tower
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lipk
Posts: 637
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 1:42 pm

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by lipk »

I'm happy you liked it, fellow musician :)
Well I've just finished it. I only have one question: In some part you said something about that being the secret agent alive could be a problem or something similar Why? I got lost on this part... I was expecting him to reappear and do something strange...
He managed identify Creona as the murderer of Dunduggwyn and maybe you can remember that in scenario 8 they couldn't enter Larfoc because they would have had their identities checked. Now that would have been fatal, since the authorities were looking exactly for them. There's a major text and minor plot revision pending though, and I agree that Jack could stand having a bigger role.
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perseo
Posts: 324
Joined: January 8th, 2011, 4:09 am

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by perseo »

Well so I have to recognize that since you explained it to me it makes sense but it's difficult to realize while you're playing...
¡Salud!
"I was pulling a barrow, when I saw a stalking horse
what a beautiful day!- he said- for visiting a red herring
and getting hoarse."
Working on this campaign: The septentrional tower
Ceres
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Posts: 620
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Location: Germany

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by Ceres »

You might want to put an victory_when_enemies_defeated=no in scenario 3.
The enemy units mostly focused on killing off each other. I snuck in, backstabbed the only remaining enemy leader and won, although I didn't even step into the archmage's house. That made the following scenario kinda weird :P
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lipk
Posts: 637
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Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by lipk »

Therefore I swear that I will never, NEVER design three-corner scenarios again :doh: Scenario 3 is the only one which I spend remarkable time balancing with during the development, and it still seems to be the less balanced :(
Adding a victory_when_enemies_defeated=false is indeed a logical step, although the loy leader will be technically invincible in the next release and although the story is messed anyways if you kill everyone :)
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lipk
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Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.3

Post by lipk »

0.1.4 is up!
Why not 0.2.0, as promised, you may ask. Well, the time spent with developing this campaign has drastically fallen during the last month, and the end is getting further and further away. I don't want to hold back already implemented improvements. Scenarios 1 to 6 are considered balanced, for the others... I don't know. Maybe some time in the future. Please see this.

Keep on playing, have fun!

Full changelog:

Code: Select all

* version 0.1.4
	* Internal
		* renamed utils to macros
		* added macros/scenarios/scenariosXX.cfg files for macros specific to certain scenarios
		* moved misc.cfg, heros.cfg, galactic-utils.cfg and danse-macabre-utils.cfg from macros to macros/utilities
	* Bugfixes & other
		* in scenario 1 side 2 properly recruits for the final dialog of none's alive; bats can't talk
		* loyalist leader shouldn't be able to die anymore in scenario 3
		* the merman is not hidden in scenario 2
		* starting gold set to 0 in scenario 2
		* fixed last breath events and added die event for Basyl in scenario 3
		* no recruit for side 1 in scenario 5
	* Balancing
		* scenario 1 should be balanced now
		* different puzzles added for different difficulties in scenario 2, whole scenario should be balanced
		* scenario 3 balanced; various changes
		* scenario 5 balanced; various minor changes
		* scenario 6 (hopefully) balanced; various minor changes
	* Artwork
		* replaced bomb projectiles and rogue scientist sprites
		* added updated maps of scenario 2 and 3 for BfW 1.11 and later (rainforest replaced with palm trees)
	* Credits
		* added artisticdude to art section
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Telchin
Posts: 356
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.4

Post by Telchin »

I've played this campaign recently and I find it sad that it's (semi-)abandoned (No, I don't have time or skills to help you). However, I think that posting here won't hurt. I played on the easiest difficulty and (despite your advice) without sound, yet I still found it really good. I like humorous campaigns (I even made one) because I think mainline camapigns are often too serious for their own good.
I've noticed strange thing about Merlyn - he is meant to be male, but the unit's .cfg file has gender=female. I aslo noticed that some villages in some scenarios don't seem to give money, but I suppose it's a feature not a bug. Also, I thought that giving some advancements to Basyl and merlyn might be a good idea, but I suppose it's unlikely given your current situation. Individual scenarios:
  • The Appointment - I found this suprisingly hard due to the level 2 undead and the skeletons in general. Of the units you can recruit, only thugs do reasonable damage to skeletons and even they do less damage to a Revenant than it does to them. Poachers felt really useless both there and in most of the campaign.
  • Anyguest's Inn - I didn't understand how does the riddle work. I just randomly attacked the necromancer and got lucky.
  • Chaos in Cyty - I tried to get to the house through the bridge on the north, only to be surprised by events. I expected the flood, but I didn't expect the nagas to move there. I restarted and went through the city and it wase easier. By easier I mean that I didn't fight the Archmage at all, because of the victory_when_enemies_defeated=yes loophole mentioned earlier in this thread. Also, this was the first scenario where I found Poachers useful as they are good against Cavalrymen.
  • Agent Jack - nothing wrong her, but just like perseo I expected the agent to show up later for revenge.
  • Zombies in the Stable - great idea with zombie sokoban! I kept the spearman and bowman from the village alive, because I thought I will keep them, but they disappeared after the scenerio.
  • Merlyn - this time I understood the riddle! The city guard getting money for his units killed wasn't much issue, as I just filled his castle with my units, denying him place for recruits :twisted:
  • Prelude of the Finale - rather generic scenario compared to the greatness of the rest, but I liked the "over my dead body" line.
  • Danse Macabre - Great idea with the flipping islands. I had to restart once as I originally left Creona alone on the first rune, so when she was supposed to move to the next rune, she didn't have army to fight the guards. Also i encoutered a bug when stepping on the big circle - when it flipped, some units were left/moved in the void and thus unable to meve ever after. The other platforms always kept the units on them. I reloaded to move units in manner so that none of them get pushed into the abyss.
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perseo
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Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.4

Post by perseo »

Telchin wrote:Anyguest's Inn - I didn't understand how does the riddle work. I just randomly attacked the necromancer and got lucky.
It's a intelligence problem, here in Spain it's well known with other characters and situation. I'll put the solution in a spoiler:
Spoiler:
I don't remember it well, but I think that this was the solution.
See ya!
"I was pulling a barrow, when I saw a stalking horse
what a beautiful day!- he said- for visiting a red herring
and getting hoarse."
Working on this campaign: The septentrional tower
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lipk
Posts: 637
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 1:42 pm

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.4

Post by lipk »

@perseo: that's indeed the solution... for the normal and hard level puzzles :P Easy and nightmare has its own riddles (a simpler and a more difficult one, respectively) and Telchin seems to be playing on easy.

@Telchin:
Thanks you for playing, etc.
I've noticed strange thing about Merlyn - he is meant to be male, but the unit's .cfg file has gender=female.
Thanks, fixed.
I aslo noticed that some villages in some scenarios don't seem to give money,
See the previous discussion here with rmj.
Also, I thought that giving some advancements to Basyl and merlyn might be a good idea, but I suppose it's unlikely given your current situation.
I couldn't word it better myself :)
The Appointment - I found this suprisingly hard due to the level 2 undead and the skeletons in general. Of the units you can recruit, only thugs do reasonable damage to skeletons and even they do less damage to a Revenant than it does to them. Poachers felt really useless both there and in most of the campaign.
Footpads might be usable as well. They're hard to hit on the foresty terrain and they have a ranged impact attack which skeles and revenants can't counter.
Anyguest's Inn - I didn't understand how does the riddle work. I just randomly attacked the necromancer and got lucky.
Well, the solution for this one goes like:
Spoiler:
By easier I mean that I didn't fight the Archmage at all, because of the victory_when_enemies_defeated=yes loophole mentioned earlier in this thread
You mean you're playing with the newest version, and Walter died? That's supposed to be impossible. Replay, please!
Also i encoutered a bug when stepping on the big circle - when it flipped, some units were left/moved in the void and thus unable to meve ever after.
In the past, there was a bug in the rotating code which prevented it from working well with big crowds (moving units in a manner that a unit arrives to a hex which was previously occupied by another one), but I thought I've had already fixed that. I might take a look.
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Telchin
Posts: 356
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.4

Post by Telchin »

You mean you're playing with the newest version, and Walter died? That's supposed to be impossible. Replay, please!
Version 0.1.4
Footpads might be usable as well. They're hard to hit on the foresty terrain and they have a ranged impact attack which skeles and revenants can't counter.
Sure, they work against Skeletons, but they do low damage and if they get hit they take more damage.
In the past, there was a bug in the rotating code which prevented it from working well with big crowds (moving units in a manner that a unit arrives to a hex which was previously occupied by another one), but I thought I've had already fixed that. I might take a look.
Yes, it happened only if the last island was full of units.
EDIT: Added screenshot:
Attachments
Screenshot of outlaws in space!
Screenshot of outlaws in space!
TDF-Chaos_in_Cyty_záznam.gz
Replay of Chaos in Cyty without meeting the Archmage
(44.06 KiB) Downloaded 210 times
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lipk
Posts: 637
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 1:42 pm

Re: The Devil's Flute - version 0.1.4

Post by lipk »

Sure, they work against Skeletons, but they do low damage and if they get hit they take more damage.
One replay says more than a hundred words.
TDF-The_Appointment_visszajátszás.gz
two thugs, two footpads on nightmare
(18.84 KiB) Downloaded 212 times
Regarding your replay, the problem is very obvious: you're too good for easy. There's a 10% chance to hit Walter, which is supposed to be enough against nagas, but I never dreamed that anybody would assault the loyalists face-to-face. Anyways, I reduced the hit chance to 1% and disabled victory on defeating enemies to make such abuses impossible :wink:

I'm yet to set up a test scenario for the rotating issue, I'll release the new version as soon as that one's fixed as well.
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