Phocas Island 2 Released

Post by **Nash** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:57 pm

Spoiler:
I am not precisely sure what triggers it, but eventually, you will see a portal appear in the middle of four monster statues at Beached. Korax awaits you beyond that portal.

Skunk · Post by **Skunk** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 11:36 pm

Oh! That wasn't in the pre-public beta. At least I don't remember it.

Scuba Steve · Post by **Scuba Steve** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 1:35 am

Sorry, I must interject. Phocas Island 2 is one of the single greatest doom experiences of my life. Everything in this map makes me jealous that I can't make anything this amazing.

Osiris Kalev · Post by **Osiris Kalev** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:35 am

Far out, this really rocked. I had to say, it was fun and challenging. I chose the hardest skill with monster respawning, and that was fun. It took me 3 hours and 21 minutes to finish it. There was only one particular part that took me a long time to figure out, but the rest of it was challenging but not at an impossible level.

Spoiler:
Actually, the part I got stuck on for a while was figuring out how to cross that damn lake of blood. I finally gave in to looking at the walkthorugh quickly and finding out I had missed the stone and the pickaxe.

Also, in a way I felt as though I was playing Metroid, as when you killed each boss they appeared in that area on the beach, much like in metroid with that room just before the final boss. After I had finished this, I looked all through the walkthrough to see what I had missed, and realised I had taken the hard path without even knowing it.

Post by **Nash** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:40 am

Some of the puzzle solutions are very hidden and easy to miss, despite passing the area many, many times...

Osiris Kalev · Post by **Osiris Kalev** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:46 am

Heh, you're right about that. I don't know how many times I did that, too many I think.

Skunk · Post by **Skunk** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:06 am

I liken it to an interactive 3D version of the old school text adventures, honestly. The ones which gave few hints and wanted you to try more exploration and experimentation. But without the walkthrough I was completely lost. I hope the hints I gave Chop have fixed all that.

chopkinsca · Post by **chopkinsca** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:28 am

Nash wrote:Some of the puzzle solutions are very hidden and easy to miss, despite passing the area many, many times...

If there any in particular that you felt are hidden too well, let me know. Of course I want the player to find things on their own, but have clues to some extent. I tried to design it so you wouldn't figure out everything on the first run.

Edit: I changed the colour of one of the rock textures, and it made quite a difference in the caves. No idea if it fixes the contrast issue, but not having two textures almost the same looks better.

If there aren't any more problems, I'll upload it to the idgames archive.

Post by **Nash** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 1:00 pm

chopkinsca, if you're going to upload the walkthrough with the WAD, I'd recommend against providing a direct walkthrough... but rather a sort of hint book. Like questions and answers. Let the player think for themselves...

chopkinsca · Post by **chopkinsca** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:15 pm

I'll see what I can do. When you say hints, I think of the old Infocom text games hint system. I'm not sure how to deal with having multiple paths though. I'm afraid that my hints will not be subtle enough from lack of cleverness and wit.

Skunk · Post by **Skunk** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:40 pm

I could do it!

chopkinsca · Post by **chopkinsca** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:21 pm

Skunk wrote:I could do it!

If you want to, that'd be great!

Post by **Nash** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:37 pm

An example hint in your text file would look something like this:

Spoiler:
Help! I can't seem to jump over the firey pit!

Hint 1: I see dead people.

Hint 2: Just because they are dead, doesn't mean they're useless.

Or something like that, heh.

Skunk · Post by **Skunk** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:09 am

Oh yeah. I was going to do that. But I couldn't come up with more than two or three hints for a few things. Here is an example of what I did. What do you think?

Spoiler:
Q: What do I do in the cave beneath the small island to the north?
A: You will need a weapon to progress.

Q: Where do I find a weapon?
A: Someone has been cutting down trees to make firewood.

Q: I still can't find an axe.
A: It's to the left of your starting position. Follow the tree stumps to find it.

Q: How do I defeat the fire dropping demon? It says I can't even scratch it!
A: You'll have to find another way. Those pillars seem weak...

Q: The roof caved in!
A: Go back the way you came when you hit the final pillar.

Q: The exit is blocked. How do I get out?
A: You'll have to find another path. Look for a new opening.

Q: I'm still stuck in here!
A: The exit is to your west, below the first pillar you hit.

chopkinsca · Post by **chopkinsca** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:02 am

Skunk wrote:Oh yeah. I was going to do that. But I couldn't come up with more than two or three hints for a few things. Here is an example of what I did. What do you think?
Spoiler:
Q: What do I do in the cave beneath the small island to the north?
A: You will need a weapon to progress.

Q: Where do I find a weapon?
A: Someone has been cutting down trees to make firewood.

Q: I still can't find an axe.
A: It's to the left of your starting position. Follow the tree stumps to find it.

Q: How do I defeat the fire dropping demon? It says I can't even scratch it!
A: You'll have to find another way. Those pillars seem weak...

Q: The roof caved in!
A: Go back the way you came when you hit the final pillar.

Q: The exit is blocked. How do I get out?
A: You'll have to find another path. Look for a new opening.

Q: I'm still stuck in here!
A: The exit is to your west, below the first pillar you hit.

Those ones are good. That is the style I was thinking of doing them in.