Lost Places Contest: Bertrand's Forgotten Tomb (September 15, 2017) - by trefoilknot
jiansonz on 7/10/2017 at 19:22
Nice design, and quite fun puzzles. Would have preferred a bit more thief work to get the hints, rather than suffer pain, though. :)
Familiarizing myself with the final (digital) puzzle now, but first I have to comment a bit on the 3rd gate puzzle:
I think I figured out which pillars correspond to Strength and Wisdom, but the solution that actually worked (I found it by chance flipping through levers, noticed some opening/closing movement on the gate) is nowhere near what I thought would be logical. To me, Wisdom is the 3rd from left in the upper row, while Strength is the 2nd from left, lower row. So it seemed to me that those two levers should be one way and the other five the other way. But the combo that worked has three levers one way and four the other way.
???
EDIT: the final puzzle was a lot more logical to me - didn't take too long.
trefoilknot on 7/10/2017 at 22:32
Thanks for your comments!
RE: The 3rd gate, One of the scrolls in the room with the cracked floor provides the link between pillars and virtues/vices.
The three pillars you need are: Mortar/Brick (strength); iron (wisdom), and stone (wisdom).
Stone is the pillar on the bottom left; Mortar/Brick is the one next to that (still in the bottom row); and Iron is the 3rd from the left in the top row.
So the final solution should be:
Down Down Up Down
Up Up Down
P.S. Regarding the assistance room, I decided to go with pain rather than extra 'thief work' (which I had considered) for a couple reasons:
(1) We're all here because we love 'thief work.' If I made it fun to get the extra hints, it would discourage people from actually trying to solve the puzzles, in earnest. People who solved the puzzles without needing assistance would, in essence, have been cheated out of some thiefy fun, which didn't seem fair.
(2) I wanted to make it clear that the hints are not required. If it had just been extra thief-y tasks, it would open the door to confusion. Players would likely think they needed to do those extra things to get the information they needed. When in reality, the extra assistance is entirely optional.
and (3) if I'm being honest... it was also a heckuvalot easier to implement that way!
jiansonz on 8/10/2017 at 08:33
Quote Posted by trefoilknot
RE: The 3rd gate,
One of the scrolls in the room with the cracked floor provides the link between pillars and virtues/vices.
The three pillars you need are: Mortar/Brick (strength); iron (wisdom), and stone (wisdom).
Stone is the pillar on the bottom left; Mortar/Brick is the one next to that (still in the bottom row); and Iron is the 3rd from the left in the top row.
So the final solution should be:
Down Down Up Down
Up Up Down
Ah, OK. I thought it was
only two pillars, because I saw it as the one with iron also had stone in it (they all do, in the brick part). This explains why I could only tie six of the pillars to a particular virtue/vice.
I see your points about the hints.
MrMunkeepants on 15/10/2017 at 20:53
I completed it! though I'm still not entirely sure about that last puzzle.
Aside from that, the hardest part was not speeding off the spiral staircases :O
trefoilknot on 15/10/2017 at 21:14
Haha! Yes, the staircase is definitely my least favorite aspect of my mission. I'm working on another project, atm, but at some point, I want to release an updated version to deal with that. I also want to change the schemas a bit, and create two versions: one for people who already have HDMOD (as intended) and another that includes all the textures for folks who don't use HDMOD. That way, it looks the same (as I designed it) for everyone.
Shoot me a PM if you want additional explanation on that last puzzle. Seems it was a sticking point for a lot of folks.
PinkDot on 16/10/2017 at 00:14
I really enjoyed this mission. Writing and the puzzles are standing out. The trick in projection room is a genius. Being a fan of IFS fractals I liked the self-reference of the floor tiles - if you went a step further you'd end up with Cantor dust or Cantor gasket etc...
I only found out now, that the mission was meant to be played with the HDMOD, which I don't have installed. Generally the visual aspect could be improved more - with more variety in loot placement, added props here and there for atmosphere (cobwebs, debris etc..)
But overall, this mission being a puzzle mainly was really enjoyable! Thanks for making it and best luck with your next one!
trefoilknot on 16/10/2017 at 00:24
Thanks PinkDot!
Funny you mention Cantor... I've got DromEd fired up right now and am working on my next project: "Hilbert's Grand Hotel," and a certain Georg Cantor may or may not play one of the primary antagonists... :angel:
DarkMax on 16/10/2017 at 01:40
Just replayed it a while ago. This is how a puzzle mission is made. Good job!
trefoilknot on 18/10/2017 at 02:40
High praise; thank you, DarkMax!
Dead Rat on 24/10/2017 at 10:16
An enjoyable little mission trefoilknot, well done.