Winter Harvest
One our friends from the Russian "Thief fan mega-site" Darkfate.ru has entered The Dark Mod community's "Seasons Contest" with his first ever mission "Winter Harvest".
Of particular note is:
* The use of moody Thief style colors
* A large forest using the new SEED procedural content system
* Friendly NPC conversations
* Rustic peasant cabins
* Psychedelic and supernatural themes
It was quite daring for ShadowHide to create a mission that is so different and plays with player expectations as both a first mission and contest entry. It is also quite unique to be greeted with dialog from an NPC who's role is normally to bludgeon you to death. While this is far from a typical Dark Mod mission we hope that you will give this a try as it's a rare and unique experience from a mission author with a distinct new perspective.
The latest bugfix release of this mission still has not addressed a couple of issues. The mission can be played to completion but could be frustrating depending on what order or actions are attempted. Another release is pending shortly.
Please stop over at the Forum Thread to discuss the mission (and place your votes).
DOWNLOAD
UPDATE:
Bikerdude has worked with ShadowHide to improve this visuals for this mission and ShadowHide has improved some of the scripting. Since this release is after the contest deadline, it is not eligible for votes within the contest. Also, while improved, this is still an unusual Dark Mod mission as the AI at the start are friendly which defies the normal player expectations.
The download can be found at the Addons area here:
Also of particular note is that this mission has a couple of serious bugs that haven't been squashed.
Some of the initial bugs were addressed but, yes, there are still some issues. As a new mapper, ShadowHide isn't doing too badly here though... Many have played and enjoyed this one (even the initial release).
It's not just that there are "some issues".
The game-stopping bugs have not been addressed.
And Shadowhide is playing "Oh, I suck. I shall never try again." Or somesuch nonsense.
Of course Shadowhide isn't doing too badly as far as the mission goes; it would be a good mission, it just has these major bugs.
But his handling of the situation is where he _is_ "doing too badly".
This mission in it's current state is not good. And people should be made aware of that unless and until it is fixed.
Fair enough.
As this is part of a contest, it should be self-evident that not all entrants will be of equal caliber.
Part of the fun is the gambling aspect of "what will this one be like" and getting to act as a mission critic. There is a link to the forum thread so folks can study others' opinions if they want to reduce the risk. And my article pretty clearly indicates that this is from a "new mapper" and is not a typical TDM experience.
All I know is that this is a very strange mission and that I think there are at least a few folk like me who enjoy weird experiences from time to time.
If it were bug free, it would still be controversial as a representative of a TDM missions... But I think it's crime that folks would skip it entirely. You should always broaden your horizons and try to appreciate things from other perspectives.