Left for Dead released :)

[Schwaa2]

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<a href="http://schwaa.0catch.com/Relic/L4DBriefLowRes.zip">Download the Low-Res briefing 4.5 MB</a>
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<a href="http://schwaa.0catch.com/Relic/L4DIntro.wmv">View the briefing, streaming vid for 56 k - 900 k</a>
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<a href="http://thief.math.uh.edu/missions/Left4Dead.zip">Download from Cheap Missions</a> <b>Thanks Jason :)</b>
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<b>Mission Description:</b>
<li>You awake from a shallow grave, you have foggy memories at best but it seems as though somebody has
tried to do you in but failed. You're in a strange swamp with no idea of how you got here or where
"here" is. Just the vague memories that came rushing back before you awoke.
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First things first, find out where you are and who did this to you, then take your revenge.
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<li>The mission is non-linear with many paths to choose from. More objectives become visible as you play.
Wandering through a swamp, forest, caves and Keeper compound you will have many opportunities for finding stashes of loot.
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<b>Credits:</b><br>
<li>Mission designed and built by Schwaa<br> (that's me)
<li>Objects by Schwaa and Targa
<li>Textures by unDuLe
<li>Ambient Music by Rich Bond
<li>Intro Movie by Schwaa

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Voice Acting:</b><br>
<li>Garrett : SlyFoxx
<li>Keeper Thomas : theBlackman
<li>Keeperette: Caradavin
<li>Elizabeth: Caradavin
<li>Hermit: HitDeity
<li>Thieves: YcatX
<li>Pagan Girl: Shadowcreepr
<li>PaganGhost: Schwaa


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[Gumdrop]

Downloading now. I've been looking foreward to your latest, Schwaa, and it couldn't have come up at a better time. I didn't feel like going to bed tonight anyhow! :D

Hey...I see some of the "Burrick" crew have stepped up to the mic. :)

[Schwaa2]

Yeah, most of the voice actor hang over here more than TTLG, its all family to me :)

[Nightwalker]

You're going to love it, Gumdrop! It's a fantastic mission. :)

[Peter Smith]

Along with Nightwalker, I was privileged to be one of the mission's testers from the beginning. This began with the first alpha version, I guess a year ago, and continued until yesterday. It is a great mission. Very nice graphics, and lots of cool stuff in there. It's probably the most interesting exploration I have seen in a long while. One thing about the mission is that you can do a little or a lot, depending on how much effort you are willing to put into it. You could finish it in two hours or eight. It will be a serious challenge to find all the loot. There are lots of little secret and semi-secret areas, some of which have optional objectives, which add to the fun. Enjoy. :)

[Gumdrop]

Finished up this morning after about 4 hours, and I have to say this is right up there in my favorites list. Excellent. :)

I was getting a little worried by the amount of vine arrows I was finding early on, but I ended up not using most. The dragon flies are fantastic, and I love the skeleton keys. Hehe...I even started the mission by doing a spot of ghosting, but was glad I reverted to blackjack mode or I would never have seen my new arm! Spooky!!! :eek: :D

The extra objectives buried in the readables was a great idea, and I have the mission unticked in Darkloader as I plan to go back and delve further in the future.

Thanks for a great FM. The atmosphere was as good as expected. :)

[Danventry]

WOW! I like the new Scouting Orb and lock picks ;) . This game is so new and creative. It's too bad I have no luck with Pagan Creatures (Treebeasts, spiders, etc) and absolutely no luck with directional thinking. I'm going to get SOOOOOOOO lost! Ah well, that gives me more time to develop how to ghost it later!

[Schwaa2]

Thanks guys :)

Dav, have you been checking your map? its not really specific but it gets you in the general area.

[Peter Smith]

Last night I gave it a run through in the final version, just to see if it is possible to ghost it completely. It is. Very nice game play in ghost mode. I won't claim it in the Ghost Reports, however, because I've had too much inside information. Go for it, Danventry. :)

Well done, Schwaa! No issues except that one pesky dragon fly. I've started to think that dragon fly is actually fun.;)

[Danventry]

Yeah, I've check my maps, but since my directional skills are about zilch, I need a very specific map. But I ran in circles a few times and I think I know where everything in the swamp is now. Stopped by the Pagan's place (didn't find anything in the back yard, but I found the scroll). I've gotten a few questions though...


There's a tiny, square hole in the "wall" of the forest by the Ape Beast and Trickster. What's up with it?
I'm assuming the Sprial SFX in the tree there is an elevator of some sort? How's it work?
The first Trickster you see (by the stairs from the swamp to the forest) disappeared. Where'd he go? I didn't alert him or anything...

[Schwaa2]

great Peter, my last run thru went fine also so i'm glad nothing serious cropped up.

Did you get all the loot this time tru?

Did you find the easter egg? last thing i added, none of you new about it :)

[Peter Smith]

I got all the loot and all the objectives in ghost mode except one in-game triggered objective, which I explained in a recent e-mail. I simply could not find its trigger. I did not find the other thing you mentioned. :)

[Peter Smith]

Danventry,

The trickster disappears, and he only does that when he sees or hears you. You did alert him. He is very goosey. You may find out why he disappears if you search well enough. I won't give it away. It's one of the little fun things.

I don't know about the other things you mentioned. I am not aware of any elevators.

[Schwaa2]

Danventry,

I'm not sure what you meant be tiny square hole in forest wall.
I looked around and didn't find anything unusual but might be looking in the wrong spot. Is it big enough for a player to get thru?

If it's up high in the leaves by a platform you can crawl thru, if its below platforms in a tree, same thing.

If its not big enough for a player it is probably a mistake, could you send me a screenshot?

[Danventry]

Yeah, I'll get a screen shot for you. I don't think it's a mistake. It's too small for the player to get through by a long shot. I'll have to alert this second Trickster and see what he does (I may have alerted the first one and never known it because I was running the opposite way). Still, what about the spiral SFX in the tree with the moss under it?

[SlyFoxx]

The spiral thing you mentioned has to do with quick transport But you need specific items to make the whole thing work.

[Danventry]

They wouldn't shiny and valuable looking in the colors of Red Blue and Green
Now woul they? :p I need to stop reading so many posts before playing. But I'll betcha I won't find 'em.

[Deadfall]

A very good epic mission. Although a bit choppy, there are so many areas to explore, and I keep getting this notion that there are loose coins in little nooks, or puddles in the swamp. This mission is going to take me some time to ghost. And I will be looking for all of the loot as well which will be fun. I was lucky to have the instinct to jump on one of the fallen trees and find a small dagger worth 100 at the top. Finding all of the loot will be tough, I just have to make sure I don't ignore second alerts or ghost busts if I don't know that they are happening. And this is my ghosting question. I'm trying to ghost the swamp/tree village area, but I have a concern about some of the AI.

The Trickster/Satyr looking AI don't seem to have sounds; no humming/chanting/first, second, third alerts or anything at all. Sometimes it looks like they are running away from me, even if I'm in complete shadow. I've observed this a few times and at first I thought it was just an animated movement that was part of their patrol. But I can't be too sure. Are they designed to look like they are fleeing or searching at certain times?

Another concern is the treebeasts in the swamp below. Sometimes I hear growling and some of them walking around. I haven't explored enough to know if there are patrolling treebeasts, but the only ones I have seen are the idle unalert ones. Can anyone clarify?

[Huntress]

LOL, after downloading your mission today (2hrs + ;) ) I came back here and just now read Deadfall's post and see where there are treebeasts, etc. inlcuded in the game! Funny because of my post in Burrick's Inn about "Your Opinion" thread and saying one of the things I didn't care for much in FM's, were treebeasts :D Gads Schwaa...I sure hope I either have enough fire arrows, or have a good means of escape and as mentioned by Deadfall, sure hope I'll be able to hear them in time to do whichever!!!!

Sounds like this is going to be one scarry mission???? But thanks for finishing it and offering to us Taffers to play :) Ta and Good Hunting!

[Danventry]

At first, I thought that deep water (AKA where the player can't use his arms) is where AI couldn't go. But then I saw a Pagan walk down into the swamp waters and then walk back again. Spooked me. I was very careful to never get near another treebeast again.

[Schwaa2]

Thanks Deadfall,

I didn't do the evil tiny little scattered coins everywhere trick. There are a few coins but they are pretty obvious. Most of the loot is stuff like nuggets of gold and silver (50- 100) so loot accumulates prtty fast. There are some hard peices to find if you want to get them all :) But I tried not to make it an impossible scoure every inch of the ground to find it.

The trickster does go on alert when you get within a radius, he can smell you or something, it doesn't neccessarily mean a busted ghost, but someone has told me they got past and ghosted the mission.

Don't worry about the Treebeasts too much Huntress :) They are mean but there really aren't too many. More on higher levels. A couple of them do patrol, but they stop and freeze once and awhile, so just because they move doesn't mean they are alerted, you will know if they are.
The biggest thing is to go slow and stay out of light. Sploshing around in water will deffinately alert them.

[Huntress]

Thanks for the warning Schwaa :D I'll try to stay out of water for sure then and creep very very slowwwly! LOL Ta and Good Hunting!

[Peter Smith]

Deadfall,

I am the one who mentioned ghosting the mission. As a matter of fact, I perfected it in the end. It is really hard to find all the loot the first time around in ghost mode. I worked for hours on the loot and got lots of spoilers from others. I did not enter my results into the ghost thread because, as a beta tester, I felt I had an unfair advantage.

The trickster(s) can be ghosted if you keep your distance. I'd say 10 ft. off the top of my head. He(they) are very sensitive so they spook very easily. There is no need to get really close to one.

Some of the treebeasts are static creatures that make noise but can't be alerted. Others are not so static. Some really mean ones are on patrol. I try to keep away from all of them. After a while, you may realize you are ghosting a statue. :)

[Old Man]

I've been working away at this mission for quite a while now. Over a week, anyway. Great stuff, Schwaa2. Thanks.

So, a couple of questions in my mind.

The eye-plants in the "Maw" area seem to behave more or less like watchers. In one regard anyway. If they spot Garrett they turn to face him. If the time Garrett is in their sight is short enough they return to their pivoting. If not they freeze on him. First alert? Problem is when a watcher turns to face Garrett it's considered a second alert as compared to the watcher's audio first alert with no movement change. Anyhow, entering the "Maw" from the rear, from the mission start area, it is possible to work your way over to BadCogg's goodies almost entirely in pitch blackness. There's just a small distance, say five feet, that is required to get around the "splash" spot that spooks the spiders. This can be done quickly enough that the eye-plants resume their pivoting. Or are the eye-plants not considered in Ghosting like rats?

Turns out you can nudge the darkskinned pagan into the nearby grave and accomplish the objective without blackjacking, gasing, or killing him. The objective does not explicitly say how to get him into the grave. Did we ever decide on this Ghost Mode aspect?

[Peter Smith]

In my opinion, eye plants are not AI. Their motion is not an alert. There is no alarm or hunting mode or negative actions on their part. This has never been discussed. Nobody has been bothered by them before, e.g, in Trail of Blood. In contrast, a watcher is obviously an alarm system and almost always initiates firing or alarm noise, which is disallowed.

I think the objective is clear that you need to kill the dark skinned pagan, regardless of the actual wording of the objective. "Put him in a grave" is a figure of speech. It is clear from other notes, if not that wording, that Garrett is to kill him. I say, kill him and have no remorse. It never occurred to me that that would bust a ghost.

I think that the ghosting fundamentalists have pretty much disappeared from the forum. Too bad.

[Old Man]

The problem I'm having with killing the darkskinned pagan is that his death changes Innocents Killed from None to Some and the No-Undeserved-Kill Objective fails. So, I tried to find another way.

Yes, I suspected the Eye-Plant status. I recall spending a couple of days figuring out how to Ghost the rats in the First City Bank basement too. It's fun anyway.

Thanks for the Loot List, Peter. Never would have found that last bit.

[Sneak]

Whatza Gostingfunduhhmentalist? ;) :rolleyes: :p

[Peter Smith]

Someone who takes literally every aspect of the written rules and does not accept a liberal interpretation, even one supported by common sense. Often such a person thinks he has has a higher vision and makes up his own rules to support that vision. Statements like "killing is not ghostly" come to mind. You know the type.... ;):)