Hey all. Gonna start a stream at about 2:30pm EST- Oh crud, I forgot to put 1.8 Terra Restore on my Strawpoll....crud.
Well, you live and learn. Either way, I have a strawpoll to put down what people want to see me play-and I'll make my schedule based on that, all the current choices are there.
So....it seems that I've gotten two messages to play maps from Mixinu, and Extrimeman. I will be downloading them now, and then starting a stream after a quick message on Twitter. Thanks you two, and perhaps I'll see you there?
Oh, this is fun....So, here's what I'm thinking. I plan on doing more Jam Maps tomorrow-I just finished Ticking Chill. Send me a message on PM, and I will stream your map when I get everything set with Twitter and Twitch, how's that sound?
Anywho, Gonna start streaming again. I got an itch to paint something, mostly because of the poor struggles of some farmer who died. Poor ******* got in way over his head, but he opened the box for me, so I'm glad about that. Also gotta collect all my loot from the area.
I see everyone is just as hyped as I was over The Painter. Which is why I'm doing some streaming on it today, but not for as long. Hope to see you all there, if you're not engrossed in the map yourselves.
Hey there, Sketch. Just stopped by the usual Skype, and it was mentioned that the Beta was out. I'm more than a little interested in adding a new map, especially after I just finished Simulation Protocol 01: Animosity. Planning on a stream as well, so why don't we give it a go?
Hey all. Came to add another review to the docket after a successful victory.
Simulation Protocol #1: Animosity by TikaroHD(Version 1.7.4)
After having played Ragecraft and Forgotten Crevice before it, as well as a few others, I can say that I found myself interested with the Simulation Protocol series since so many had played it before me. So I loaded it up, and man are these areas expansive! I'm used to a good romp to explore, but there was so much area in every area, especially in the starting, first and last I1 areas. I was concerned how much one could fit into each areas-and my concerns were founded for the first map, there is a lot of open expanse-but that didn't bother me because on the larger scales, it did feel that epic.
Intersection 2 turned up the heat for me with Fast chargers and even more testy lava. I collected my goods, and lost my trader companion, but I made do at the monument. but what drew me here was the dungeon layout and the amount of secrets. All those who come to my streams know: I'm a methodical, exploring funpath kind of player, so I love it when my curiosity and interest is rewarded-and it doesn't always have to be good-easy to trap things that way, but it's just more fun. Interestingly enough, the custom mobs were so few and far between-Fast Chargers with weakened blast damage, Golden-armored thugs with fire swords, and iron-plated guardians-but the usual suspects made up for it. Though I will always have a soft spot for the Giant/Ghast Turret of I3.
Speaking of, I found the most trouble here of all places, excluding the transition area. I3 had mobs, underwater sections and void, but great rewards. One thing I noticed here, most of all, was the inclusion of vertical access and high-rising areas were just par for the course. It was by this point that I started carrying a water bucket everywhere, which made for a fantastic save in in I4. Most of my deaths-a disappointing seven to my stream- were from this area, and it came down to falling damage.
Now here it comes....I think the hardest area of I4 was Green Wool. There, I said it. For some reason, and it's of not fault of Tikaro's, but Red and Black felt strangely underwhelming. I died not at all in the first two areas, and died twice in Black, but by my own stubbornness, not of any fault on the map's design. (I really got some some use out of the Ultra Rare Sticks, btw.) I think it came down to my growing experiences as a CTM player, and I hope that my skill improves.
Again, not the biggest man on asthetics-and I am playing Overload-but I think block variation was an issue for some people, and I can see why. It nearly confused me in game play with an I2 area when I couldn't tell mossy cobble from Emerald. But that's something that has been clearly worked on.
Another thing that bugged me was the custom potions. Siren's Blood and the Pixie would sometimes work, or sometimes gimp my health, or gimp my hunger. I think the description of those items needed some work, and do need some work if they are used again. Thankfully, I got a lot of use out of the Concentrated Golden Apple Juice. Note to self: Shielded hearts are amazing against tougher mobs-especially blazes when you have no Fire Resist.
All in all, I found it a fun game, and a fun time with kinks that needed work. Now, to see if it all came together in Overload.
Difficulty: 6.5/10: (If the player is not experienced, it'll be tough, but there's a good amount of gear and resources with a reasonable learning curve. I will say that Magma Cubes at Black felt a bit silly.
Overall Enjoyment: 8/10 (Was great, played to my playstyle well, and gave me more than a few hours with stream.)
Score:
Aesthetics: 5/10: (Could see where people would dislike block variations and lack of detail, but Waterway was an exception-that was an amazing area, and I'm looking forward to seeing more in Overload.
Creativity: 7/10: (Custom mobs made rare for the natural threat? using maps as dungeon maps-wanna see that again-, and traps based on player freakout, as well as visual depth perception in Black Wool? I thought tthat was so cool.)
Gameplay: 9/10 (Exploring, fighting and looting all felt epic. Would play again-and I am!)
After a little bit of silliness and at least one Iron Golem made for assistance, Aurabolt has triumphed over this very fun, exploratory map known as Simulation Protocol #1: Animosity.
A review will be up shortly on the CTM Community Thread.
Hey all. In terms of the Custom Mob discussion, if they are planned well and offer consistent challenge and different thinking on the player to deal with them, I like them. Some are just insane for the area they are in, like Jumping Jack Charged Creepers in Dissolving Cavern or One-shot Pigmen in some harder maps, but I think they are more than usual.
Starting a stream, and I've been spicing things up with some starting Hearthstone to get myself in the mood to succeed-or fail, as the case may be-so please come along!
Do you play Hardcore MiniCTMs? If you do, can you review my map?
I tend not to because I don't want to go absolutely insane and need to put in the map over and over, sorry, but from what I've seen from the screenshots, it looks absolutely horrifying, congrats.
Hey there. I was linked to your map by my stream, who are all excellent people, and I will be taking a shot at your map. Looking forward to it, and if you're interested, I will be streaming it as well if you want to stop by. I tend to post on Twitter when I stream, and am starting the map pretty soon as I write this. Hope to see you sometime!
Hi there all. I'm gonna be streaming after I handle a bit of business.
I have been asked rather nicely to start doing text reviews of maps. I usually save any criticism that comes up from maps for my stream, but since I have a little experience of doing reviews, I figure that it would not go awry if I added my cap to these.
So from now on, when I complete a map, and post my victory, I'll review it. Why not?
Without further ado:
- Laingral (Version 1.8)
Difficulty: 6-10 Overall Enjoyment: 8-10 (These will tend to be high-I'm used to a slog by now.)
Comments: A romp through this scavenging and grindy CTM will remind you of the old days. You start with nothing, and in order to do it right, you're gonna need a lot. I would most express this with the area between I1 and I2-Seems simple enough with undamaging mobs and some lovely scenery to segue us into the pain...as long as you're paying attention before and after this area is through. As the signs will explain before you're probably blown to pieces "Let's get started with the real map now." I should have been expecting something-I1 was mostly collecting standard resources and setting up equipment drops and food-I was set for a long haul well before I was ready....and it was a good thing I was.
I2 is where things kick off in a big way-an upgrade to Legendary's "Pain Water", what I've heard refered to as "Lush Ruins 2.0.", and a castle...with more than enough spawners and interesting threats to build you up right. You heard me, Laingral is a grindy map. Your enemies, until you reach I3, are where much of your starting strength will come from, and during my early streams, I would spend up to two hours preparing for battle. I don't regret a bit of it, especially when you get to the Stairway. If by that point, you have some form of enchanted metal armor, you're good to go.
I3 takes off the kid gloves in a big way, and the three areas presented are challenging with that extra dash of mechanical madness you'd expect from a old-style CTM. If you're ready to punch a piece of TNT, you're in the right frame of mind. I'd also be willing to set up a base-you might be quick on the draw, but getting yourself established is paramount in all three intersections to stay relevantly-effective, and I'm not just saying that to prop up my own playstyle-I had to set up grinders. I don't tend to do that.
I'm not an aesthetics person, and I'll say that up front. Everything looks presentable and has a good theme of a natural dungeon within a mountain-there wasn't any lore to go with, nothing too extreme that made me think it wasn't presentable...I suggest, when we do this again, that you pay little attention to the visual interest of my review...but when something catches my eye, I'll bring it up. Death Valley looked and felt like how it should, and that made me smile.
But there were some elements that were overpowered against the player's favor.
Dissolving Cavern, most of all. I appreciate the way I entered the area-an excellent use of resource pack/command mechanics. However, there were a number of methods that did not function for me, due to the game's difficulty there specifically, and only a few changes were needed to make it work.
Could the creepers have simply been non-charged, with some spawn delay-you need not even decrease the amount of those explosive bastards. It probably didn't help that I could not hit them at times, either. Did every stone block need to be sliverfish? Could the ghasts have been the primary threat? I died the most in this area, and twice, I could not recover. Not to my own play, but to the effectiveness of the deterrence. In the end, I was highly considering long-scale bridging, just to save me the trouble, until Rubisk gave me a reprieve. I'm just throwing out ideas here, but let this take note: Dissolving Cavern is the kind of area that requires work..and we should all learn how to make the threat of apocalypse possible, but not stonewalling the player's forward progress with it.
Laingral is a fun map that makes you work for your victories. The thread post says "A nice, but difficult introduction to the CTM genre." and I agree with that assessment. You'll work for that victory..and personally, you shouldn't have to work so hard. But in the end, for a first CTM map, it gets the job done.
SCORE Aesthetics: 7-10 (Passable, and works for the theme. Not my strongest suit, but I feel that's fair.) Creativity:9-10 (Custom mobs are in the background, normal mobs big threats? Hard to find secrets and treasure leaning the player to work and craft themselves? Inventive Void-Based Gameplay? Interesting, and effective traps? Yeah, that's creative.) Gameplay: 7-10 (Not higher because of Dissolving Cavern. Other than that, good combat, fun enviromental threats, a real concern for resource control....I had to play differently, and that's a good gauge for gameplay in my book.)
TOTAL: 23-30
0
Well, you live and learn. Either way, I have a strawpoll to put down what people want to see me play-and I'll make my schedule based on that, all the current choices are there.
Hope to see a bunch, and thanks for voting!
http://strawpoll.me/3500771
0
Well, I'm gonna start with the maps I have. Streaming in a few minutes.
0
Also: Three_Two. Looks awesome...though there's been so much void lately. What is with the void?
1
1
0
Anywho, Gonna start streaming again. I got an itch to paint something, mostly because of the poor struggles of some farmer who died. Poor ******* got in way over his head, but he opened the box for me, so I'm glad about that. Also gotta collect all my loot from the area.
0
1
6
Simulation Protocol #1: Animosity by TikaroHD (Version 1.7.4)
After having played Ragecraft and Forgotten Crevice before it, as well as a few others, I can say that I found myself interested with the Simulation Protocol series since so many had played it before me. So I loaded it up, and man are these areas expansive! I'm used to a good romp to explore, but there was so much area in every area, especially in the starting, first and last I1 areas. I was concerned how much one could fit into each areas-and my concerns were founded for the first map, there is a lot of open expanse-but that didn't bother me because on the larger scales, it did feel that epic.
Intersection 2 turned up the heat for me with Fast chargers and even more testy lava. I collected my goods, and lost my trader companion, but I made do at the monument. but what drew me here was the dungeon layout and the amount of secrets. All those who come to my streams know: I'm a methodical, exploring funpath kind of player, so I love it when my curiosity and interest is rewarded-and it doesn't always have to be good-easy to trap things that way, but it's just more fun. Interestingly enough, the custom mobs were so few and far between-Fast Chargers with weakened blast damage, Golden-armored thugs with fire swords, and iron-plated guardians-but the usual suspects made up for it. Though I will always have a soft spot for the Giant/Ghast Turret of I3.
Speaking of, I found the most trouble here of all places, excluding the transition area. I3 had mobs, underwater sections and void, but great rewards. One thing I noticed here, most of all, was the inclusion of vertical access and high-rising areas were just par for the course. It was by this point that I started carrying a water bucket everywhere, which made for a fantastic save in in I4. Most of my deaths-a disappointing seven to my stream- were from this area, and it came down to falling damage.
Now here it comes....I think the hardest area of I4 was Green Wool. There, I said it. For some reason, and it's of not fault of Tikaro's, but Red and Black felt strangely underwhelming. I died not at all in the first two areas, and died twice in Black, but by my own stubbornness, not of any fault on the map's design. (I really got some some use out of the Ultra Rare Sticks, btw.) I think it came down to my growing experiences as a CTM player, and I hope that my skill improves.
Again, not the biggest man on asthetics-and I am playing Overload-but I think block variation was an issue for some people, and I can see why. It nearly confused me in game play with an I2 area when I couldn't tell mossy cobble from Emerald. But that's something that has been clearly worked on.
Another thing that bugged me was the custom potions. Siren's Blood and the Pixie would sometimes work, or sometimes gimp my health, or gimp my hunger. I think the description of those items needed some work, and do need some work if they are used again. Thankfully, I got a lot of use out of the Concentrated Golden Apple Juice. Note to self: Shielded hearts are amazing against tougher mobs-especially blazes when you have no Fire Resist.
All in all, I found it a fun game, and a fun time with kinks that needed work. Now, to see if it all came together in Overload.
Difficulty: 6.5/10: (If the player is not experienced, it'll be tough, but there's a good amount of gear and resources with a reasonable learning curve. I will say that Magma Cubes at Black felt a bit silly.
Overall Enjoyment: 8/10 (Was great, played to my playstyle well, and gave me more than a few hours with stream.)
Score:
Aesthetics: 5/10: (Could see where people would dislike block variations and lack of detail, but Waterway was an exception-that was an amazing area, and I'm looking forward to seeing more in Overload.
Creativity: 7/10: (Custom mobs made rare for the natural threat? using maps as dungeon maps-wanna see that again-, and traps based on player freakout, as well as visual depth perception in Black Wool? I thought tthat was so cool.)
Gameplay: 9/10 (Exploring, fighting and looting all felt epic. Would play again-and I am!)
Total:: 21/30
2
A review will be up shortly on the CTM Community Thread.
0
Starting a stream, and I've been spicing things up with some starting Hearthstone to get myself in the mood to succeed-or fail, as the case may be-so please come along!
0
I tend not to because I don't want to go absolutely insane and need to put in the map over and over, sorry, but from what I've seen from the screenshots, it looks absolutely horrifying, congrats.
0
5
I have been asked rather nicely to start doing text reviews of maps. I usually save any criticism that comes up from maps for my stream, but since I have a little experience of doing reviews, I figure that it would not go awry if I added my cap to these.
So from now on, when I complete a map, and post my victory, I'll review it. Why not?
Without further ado:
- Laingral (Version 1.8)
Difficulty: 6-10
Overall Enjoyment: 8-10 (These will tend to be high-I'm used to a slog by now.)
Comments: A romp through this scavenging and grindy CTM will remind you of the old days. You start with nothing, and in order to do it right, you're gonna need a lot. I would most express this with the area between I1 and I2-Seems simple enough with undamaging mobs and some lovely scenery to segue us into the pain...as long as you're paying attention before and after this area is through. As the signs will explain before you're probably blown to pieces "Let's get started with the real map now." I should have been expecting something-I1 was mostly collecting standard resources and setting up equipment drops and food-I was set for a long haul well before I was ready....and it was a good thing I was.
I2 is where things kick off in a big way-an upgrade to Legendary's "Pain Water", what I've heard refered to as "Lush Ruins 2.0.", and a castle...with more than enough spawners and interesting threats to build you up right. You heard me, Laingral is a grindy map. Your enemies, until you reach I3, are where much of your starting strength will come from, and during my early streams, I would spend up to two hours preparing for battle. I don't regret a bit of it, especially when you get to the Stairway. If by that point, you have some form of enchanted metal armor, you're good to go.
I3 takes off the kid gloves in a big way, and the three areas presented are challenging with that extra dash of mechanical madness you'd expect from a old-style CTM. If you're ready to punch a piece of TNT, you're in the right frame of mind. I'd also be willing to set up a base-you might be quick on the draw, but getting yourself established is paramount in all three intersections to stay relevantly-effective, and I'm not just saying that to prop up my own playstyle-I had to set up grinders. I don't tend to do that.
I'm not an aesthetics person, and I'll say that up front. Everything looks presentable and has a good theme of a natural dungeon within a mountain-there wasn't any lore to go with, nothing too extreme that made me think it wasn't presentable...I suggest, when we do this again, that you pay little attention to the visual interest of my review...but when something catches my eye, I'll bring it up. Death Valley looked and felt like how it should, and that made me smile.
But there were some elements that were overpowered against the player's favor.
Dissolving Cavern, most of all. I appreciate the way I entered the area-an excellent use of resource pack/command mechanics. However, there were a number of methods that did not function for me, due to the game's difficulty there specifically, and only a few changes were needed to make it work.
Could the creepers have simply been non-charged, with some spawn delay-you need not even decrease the amount of those explosive bastards. It probably didn't help that I could not hit them at times, either. Did every stone block need to be sliverfish? Could the ghasts have been the primary threat? I died the most in this area, and twice, I could not recover. Not to my own play, but to the effectiveness of the deterrence. In the end, I was highly considering long-scale bridging, just to save me the trouble, until Rubisk gave me a reprieve. I'm just throwing out ideas here, but let this take note: Dissolving Cavern is the kind of area that requires work..and we should all learn how to make the threat of apocalypse possible, but not stonewalling the player's forward progress with it.
Laingral is a fun map that makes you work for your victories. The thread post says "A nice, but difficult introduction to the CTM genre." and I agree with that assessment. You'll work for that victory..and personally, you shouldn't have to work so hard. But in the end, for a first CTM map, it gets the job done.
SCORE
Aesthetics: 7-10 (Passable, and works for the theme. Not my strongest suit, but I feel that's fair.)
Creativity:9-10 (Custom mobs are in the background, normal mobs big threats? Hard to find secrets and treasure leaning the player to work and craft themselves? Inventive Void-Based Gameplay? Interesting, and effective traps? Yeah, that's creative.)
Gameplay: 7-10 (Not higher because of Dissolving Cavern. Other than that, good combat, fun enviromental threats, a real concern for resource control....I had to play differently, and that's a good gauge for gameplay in my book.)
TOTAL: 23-30
Getting ready to stream after this goes up.
1
Thanks again, Rubisk, and for all those interested in more potential success and failure, I stream CTMs.
Link is down below, and I'm looking forward to more maps. Later!