I had a ton of fun playing this map and can't really find any flaws with it. The loot was always useful in some way , the intersections were easy to find for me, it never felt like I didn't have access to enough gear to progress and all the areas looked fantastic.
If I had to nitpick, I would say the red wool was too easy for being the second last wool, although the full set of enchanted gear I got from the graves was nice!
Most of my deaths were in the flaming necropolis, once from being blown up by the super nova, 2 more trying to get my stuff back and I was also shot off the platform where the wool was
The intersections where hard to find because of the way they were hidden. After a while you start to understand to look everywhere but for some people they don't find that an option and don't check every little area
It actually may depend on the playstyle. People like me may have less of a problem because I tend to be pretty observant, while others that rush in and out probably won't notice anything unusual.
But yes, there should be more obvious cues. Not really obvious ones like proximity traps or scripted events, but maybe lights?
Hmm, there isn't really a back story, but there is a thing that got me the idea for the title (it's origin, if you want). Without going too in-depth, it was the theory of real world and all us being a simulation on an extremely powerful computer. I remember it catching my mind for some time, and the minecraft is kind of a "simulated" world, so that's how the title was created. I might link it with some aspects of my maps in the future, we'll see how it goes.
you mean the matrix? it's a really old idea that alot of people have pondered
Simulation Protocol is the matrix? OMG!!!!!!!!!!! =D
Now that I think of it, the matrix (film) is a perfect example of that theory, but I wasn't thinking about it at the time. So, "Simulation Protocol" is only a title, without a lot of deep thoughts behind it.
It actually may depend on the playstyle. People like me may have less of a problem because I tend to be pretty observant, while others that rush in and out probably won't notice anything unusual.
But yes, there should be more obvious cues. Not really obvious ones like proximity traps or scripted events, but maybe lights?
I'm gonna try to make the intersections a bit more obvious in the second map, we'll see how that goes.
A day later than usual again. Whoops. This week was pretty productive in terms of building. The main thing I focused on was Purple area, which is now finished. I had a small creative block while building it, but it's finally gone and I feel inspired to continue the work on the map, (I already started working on Green area).
I also managed to connect the fourth intersection to the rest of the map. And that, in fact, was the only thing for me to do before finishing the teleportation system. After some additions to the redstone, those little buggers are now fully functional and, in my opinion, are quite a lot more convenient than your regular button teleporters, (If someone doesn't know, I'm talking about these teleporters). Properly placing Int4 also gave me the ability to finish the Altars, (things of the monument that give you "until-death" potion effects for a high cost).
Plans are still pretty straight-forward: finish Green area, then start either Blue or Red one and see how that goes. I don't remember if I said this already, but as I'm getting closer and closer to finishing the map, I can more or less predict the release date. Let's go with the start of May, shall we? That sounds fairly reasonable for me, (including alpha and beta testing before release). And also, just as a little announcement (for the lack of a better word), I'm going to reveal the name of SP02 once I'm left with Black area only.
And with that being said, let's cap it off with a traditional screenshot:
A day later than usual again. Whoops. This week was pretty productive in terms of building. The main thing I focused on was Purple area, which is now finished. I had a small creative block while building it, but it's finally gone and I feel inspired to continue the work on the map, (I already started working on Green area).
I also managed to connect the fourth intersection to the rest of the map. And that, in fact, was the only thing for me to do before finishing the teleportation system. After some additions to the redstone, those little buggers are now fully functional and, in my opinion, are quite a lot more convenient than your regular button teleporters, (If someone doesn't know, I'm talking about these teleporters). Properly placing Int4 also gave me the ability to finish the Altars, (things of the monument that give you "until-death" potion effects for a high cost).
Plans are still pretty straight-forward: finish Green area, then start either Blue or Red one and see how that goes. I don't remember if I said this already, but as I'm getting closer and closer to finishing the map, I can more or less predict the release date. Let's go with the start of May, shall we? That sounds fairly reasonable for me, (including alpha and beta testing before release). And also, just as a little announcement (for the lack of a better word), I'm going to reveal the name of SP02 once I'm left with Black area only.
And with that being said, let's cap it off with a traditional screenshot:
I still don't understand the idea of "altars" what are they and what will they do, and how do they work?
I still don't understand the idea of "altars" what are they and what will they do, and how do they work?
Altars are small structures located in the monument area. After pushing the button ("praying") on them, player will obtain a lifetime (until death) potion effect of one type: either Haste, Speed, or Strength.
That's the basic concept, but it has some limitations to it:
- Firstly, you cannot have more than one lifetime effect on you (getting new lifetime effect will overwrite the last one).
- Secondly, you can use only one altar once you locate the monument (the Haste one). New altars will be unlocked when you locate new intersections (finding Int3 will unlock Speed altar, finding Int4 - Strength altar). You will visually see if the altar is unlocked (see how one altar on the screenshot is lit, and the other ones aren't?).
- Lastly, to "pray" on the altar, you have to buy a special item from the merchant (don't worry, he is already in the same room as the altars, you don't have to search for him). After "praying" that item will be cleared from your inventory, so to get another effect you have to buy a new one. You also can find them in the wool areas, but only 1 or 2 for the entire map.
Altars are small structures located in the monument area. Once pushing the button ("praying") on them, player will obtain a lifetime (until death) potion effect of one type: either Haste, Speed, or Strength.
That's the basic concept, but it has some limitations to it:
- Firstly, you cannot have more than one lifetime effect on you (getting new lifetime effect will overwrite the last one).
- Secondly, you can use only one altar once you locate the monument (the Haste one). New altars will be unlocked when you locate new intersections (finding Int3 will unlock Speed altar, finding Int4 - Strength altar). You will visually see if the altar is unlocked (see how one altar on the screenshot is lit, and the other ones aren't?).
- Lastly, to "pray" on the altar, you have to buy a special item from the merchant (don't worry, he is already in the same room as the altars, you don't have to search for him). After "praying" that item will be cleared from your inventory, so to get another effect you have to buy a new one. You also can find them in the wool areas, but only 1 or 2 for the entire map.
That sounds really exciting (mainly the speed for me).
Well, all i can say is well done Tikaro. I had plenty of fun playing this map and it certainly filled up all the free time that i had. I can't wait for the second map in your series. I have a few thoughts though to share with you:
1. The Emerald block. People are saying that the intersections were hard to find, in my opinion they weren't hard at all. The emerald block though is what i think could have done a little better; i would of not had found it if i weren't watching Team Canada's LP at the same time. The part where you're supposed to go the other way to get the emeralds, i just ran left. I felt that since the emerald block is at the end of the metal blocks, it should be the last one you find. So: that was basically the only thing i cheated on during the entire playthrough of this map. You could have scattered the emeralds around the area up in the sky at where the black wool was, that would have been cool.
2. The difficulty. Honestly, this map was fairly easy except for two areas: the white and lime wool. I died at the white wool area 4 times and at the lime wool area 2 times, and only had two more deaths in the entire map. I seriously can't believe that for me, the toughest area in the map was the white wool. By the way, that supernova thing at the flaming necropolis: you definetly should do more of that in the future; it definetly scared me and made me take my time by checking each chest from the outside carefully. After the flaming necropolis though, the map wasn't really hard. Probably because i spent most of my time digging through the walls instead of doing the actual map, like at the black and green wools. I'm sorry for that. Another thing: the second map in your series should be about at a difficulty 8/10. Not like SUPER TOUGH, but just tough.
3. Some other things. I still can't figure out what you mean by the sign at the green wool that says something like "guess why i put this here?". I hope it wasn't a troll, because i have been trying to figure it out hard. You should put more mysteries/puzzles in the other maps that you will make, i think people will have plenty of fun figuring them out . However, what you definetly nailed is the scenery; i'll give that a 10/10. Every area looked either beautiful or frightening as it should. The names of the areas are also genius; i especially like the names for the red and black wools. Also, as a little quest for myself i collected every single Golden Apple found in the chests of the map; i didn't consume any of them and in total i managed to get exactly a stack and a half of golden apples.
Thank you for this map, Tikaro. If there's anyone who would like to say anything about the thoughts I shared with you right now, please reply
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the map, it will help me while developing the second map. (sounds kinda cliche, but oh well).
About the difficulty: yeah, Animosity is definitely on the easy side. Now, when I have some experience, SP02 is going to be harder. Also, there will be more traps (I'm not sure, but there might be already more).
And yeah, that sign in the Green area is not just to troll players, there is a real thing behind it. And the solution is pretty simple.
I had a ton of fun playing this map and can't really find any flaws with it. The loot was always useful in some way , the intersections were easy to find for me, it never felt like I didn't have access to enough gear to progress and all the areas looked fantastic.
If I had to nitpick, I would say the red wool was too easy for being the second last wool, although the full set of enchanted gear I got from the graves was nice!
Most of my deaths were in the flaming necropolis, once from being blown up by the super nova, 2 more trying to get my stuff back and I was also shot off the platform where the wool was
Off topic, but can you tell me what texture pack you are using? xD
So it's taken me a while, but I've finally got a bit further in the map. Here are my thoughts on the areas leading up to Intersection 03.
I really liked the progression of Short Circuit, how you went from above-ground in this big gravel basin to below in the research facility. Always nice to see different types of environments in the same area like that. I kinda rushed through the above-ground portion, not really sure what to do in the middle other than avoid the creepers and stuff. The facility was exceptionally well-made, and it really reminded me of what I tried to do with TrollTech in DsI, but you pulled it off better. The charged creepers by the iron ore actually killed me twice, when I came back later after getting to I03. Kinda frustrating, but I still got my stuff back on the third try.
Hellfire Citadel was kinda a mixed area for me. It was the first area that I really didn't care for the visuals; the monochrome look of the netherbrick didn't do it for me. The staircases were annoying but excusable. The gameplay was pretty good, about what I expected of a fire-themed fortress. The last room was quite nice, and I liked that you scattered loot around to keep the player in there for as long as possible. Burn and Crawl was very nice though, and I liked the feeling it gave of being absolutely massive, when it reality it could be completely explored in about an hour. The loot was nice, though I think you went a bit overboard with the spawners near the wool box. Nothing impossible to deal with, but still kinda crazy.
I don't have much to say about Rushing Water, other than that it lived up to it's name. I got through that area in ten minutes tops, just started running as soon as I saw the cave spiders. It did look pretty nice though. Nostalgic Cavern was also quite nice, and I like the teleportation system you included. I actually added something slightly similar to my base area in DsD right before starting to play this map.
Dev. Update № 24 (these brackets are getting more and more pointless)
Once again I'm here with more progress on SP02 (actual progress). The big one for this week was Green area. It took surprisingly small amount of time to get it to a playable point, although that is because of it being a natural valley-cave type area, rather than a tremendous castle of death and destruction. The last two areas that I worked on were of that structure-heavy type, which kind of exhausted me, so it is quite a pleasant change of paste. I still have some small details to work out, but nothing too major, so I think one more day spent on Green will be enough.
Other than that, I made some finishing touches to the Purple area. I also created four endgame items that I will put in the map: a pick, a sword, a bow, and a potion. At the moment I'm considering adding a piece of armor to that list. I want a player to have a powerful tool (if he can find it, of course), but still be vulnerable to all the danger I will throw at him.
Now, for the screenshot part, how about something new?
So it's taken me a while, but I've finally got a bit further in the map. Here are my thoughts on the areas leading up to Intersection 03.
I really liked the progression of Short Circuit, how you went from above-ground in this big gravel basin to below in the research facility. Always nice to see different types of environments in the same area like that. I kinda rushed through the above-ground portion, not really sure what to do in the middle other than avoid the creepers and stuff. The facility was exceptionally well-made, and it really reminded me of what I tried to do with TrollTech in DsI, but you pulled it off better. The charged creepers by the iron ore actually killed me twice, when I came back later after getting to I03. Kinda frustrating, but I still got my stuff back on the third try.
Hellfire Citadel was kinda a mixed area for me. It was the first area that I really didn't care for the visuals; the monochrome look of the netherbrick didn't do it for me. The staircases were annoying but excusable. The gameplay was pretty good, about what I expected of a fire-themed fortress. The last room was quite nice, and I liked that you scattered loot around to keep the player in there for as long as possible. Burn and Crawl was very nice though, and I liked the feeling it gave of being absolutely massive, when it reality it could be completely explored in about an hour. The loot was nice, though I think you went a bit overboard with the spawners near the wool box. Nothing impossible to deal with, but still kinda crazy.
I don't have much to say about Rushing Water, other than that it lived up to it's name. I got through that area in ten minutes tops, just started running as soon as I saw the cave spiders. It did look pretty nice though. Nostalgic Cavern was also quite nice, and I like the teleportation system you included. I actually added something slightly similar to my base area in DsD right before starting to play this map.
Onwards!
Nice to see that you are enjoying the map, hope it will stay like that 'till the end.
So I've been experiencing a problem while running this on a server with my friend. The command blocks aren't working, and yes I've set Enable Command Blocks to True, and set OP Permission Level to 2. We're also both mods, but none of the command blocks work, not even the Death Counter one. I've tried some things to fix them, but I've had no success, does anyone know any way to fix this?
Just to let you all know, the Dev. Update will be up either tomorrow or Monday. I'm participating in the Strawberry Jam, so I want to get it done before summing up this week's progress.
If I had to nitpick, I would say the red wool was too easy for being the second last wool, although the full set of enchanted gear I got from the graves was nice!
Most of my deaths were in the flaming necropolis, once from being blown up by the super nova, 2 more trying to get my stuff back and I was also shot off the platform where the wool was
Thanks!
It actually may depend on the playstyle. People like me may have less of a problem because I tend to be pretty observant, while others that rush in and out probably won't notice anything unusual.
But yes, there should be more obvious cues. Not really obvious ones like proximity traps or scripted events, but maybe lights?
you mean the matrix? it's a really old idea that alot of people have pondered
Simulation Protocol is the matrix? OMG!!!!!!!!!!! =D
Now that I think of it, the matrix (film) is a perfect example of that theory, but I wasn't thinking about it at the time. So, "Simulation Protocol" is only a title, without a lot of deep thoughts behind it.
I'm gonna try to make the intersections a bit more obvious in the second map, we'll see how that goes.
That's just LotR reference, it has no real use whatsoever.
It's 1/81 of that gold block you'll need.
A day later than usual again. Whoops.This week was pretty productive in terms of building. The main thing I focused on was Purple area, which is now finished. I had a small creative block while building it, but it's finally gone and I feel inspired to continue the work on the map, (I already started working on Green area).I also managed to connect the fourth intersection to the rest of the map. And that, in fact, was the only thing for me to do before finishing the teleportation system. After some additions to the redstone, those little buggers are now fully functional and, in my opinion, are quite a lot more convenient than your regular button teleporters, (If someone doesn't know, I'm talking about these teleporters). Properly placing Int4 also gave me the ability to finish the Altars, (things of the monument that give you "until-death" potion effects for a high cost).
Plans are still pretty straight-forward: finish Green area, then start either Blue or Red one and see how that goes. I don't remember if I said this already, but as I'm getting closer and closer to finishing the map, I can more or less predict the release date. Let's go with the start of May, shall we? That sounds fairly reasonable for me, (including alpha and beta testing before release). And also, just as a little announcement (for the lack of a better word), I'm going to reveal the name of SP02 once I'm left with Black area only.
And with that being said, let's cap it off with a traditional screenshot:
I still don't understand the idea of "altars" what are they and what will they do, and how do they work?
Altars are small structures located in the monument area. After pushing the button ("praying") on them, player will obtain a lifetime (until death) potion effect of one type: either Haste, Speed, or Strength.
That's the basic concept, but it has some limitations to it:
- Firstly, you cannot have more than one lifetime effect on you (getting new lifetime effect will overwrite the last one).
- Secondly, you can use only one altar once you locate the monument (the Haste one). New altars will be unlocked when you locate new intersections (finding Int3 will unlock Speed altar, finding Int4 - Strength altar). You will visually see if the altar is unlocked (see how one altar on the screenshot is lit, and the other ones aren't?).
- Lastly, to "pray" on the altar, you have to buy a special item from the merchant (don't worry, he is already in the same room as the altars, you don't have to search for him). After "praying" that item will be cleared from your inventory, so to get another effect you have to buy a new one. You also can find them in the wool areas, but only 1 or 2 for the entire map.
That sounds really exciting (mainly the speed for me).
I made the gold block with the gold ingots located around the map, and killing the zombie pigman, long before locating this item.
Point being, did you know there's a huge stockpile of gold somewhere in I4? (I can't remember which dungeon it was in, I believe it was the graveyard)
It was the graveyard, but I used that for the God Apples
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the map, it will help me while developing the second map. (sounds kinda cliche, but oh well).
About the difficulty: yeah, Animosity is definitely on the easy side. Now, when I have some experience, SP02 is going to be harder. Also, there will be more traps (I'm not sure, but there might be already more).
And yeah, that sign in the Green area is not just to troll players, there is a real thing behind it. And the solution is pretty simple.
I really liked the progression of Short Circuit, how you went from above-ground in this big gravel basin to below in the research facility. Always nice to see different types of environments in the same area like that. I kinda rushed through the above-ground portion, not really sure what to do in the middle other than avoid the creepers and stuff. The facility was exceptionally well-made, and it really reminded me of what I tried to do with TrollTech in DsI, but you pulled it off better. The charged creepers by the iron ore actually killed me twice, when I came back later after getting to I03. Kinda frustrating, but I still got my stuff back on the third try.
Hellfire Citadel was kinda a mixed area for me. It was the first area that I really didn't care for the visuals; the monochrome look of the netherbrick didn't do it for me. The staircases were annoying but excusable. The gameplay was pretty good, about what I expected of a fire-themed fortress. The last room was quite nice, and I liked that you scattered loot around to keep the player in there for as long as possible. Burn and Crawl was very nice though, and I liked the feeling it gave of being absolutely massive, when it reality it could be completely explored in about an hour. The loot was nice, though I think you went a bit overboard with the spawners near the wool box. Nothing impossible to deal with, but still kinda crazy.
I don't have much to say about Rushing Water, other than that it lived up to it's name. I got through that area in ten minutes tops, just started running as soon as I saw the cave spiders. It did look pretty nice though. Nostalgic Cavern was also quite nice, and I like the teleportation system you included. I actually added something slightly similar to my base area in DsD right before starting to play this map.
Onwards!
Once again I'm here with more progress on SP02 (actual progress). The big one for this week was Green area. It took surprisingly small amount of time to get it to a playable point, although that is because of it being a natural valley-cave type area, rather than a tremendous castle of death and destruction. The last two areas that I worked on were of that structure-heavy type, which kind of exhausted me, so it is quite a pleasant change of paste. I still have some small details to work out, but nothing too major, so I think one more day spent on Green will be enough.
Other than that, I made some finishing touches to the Purple area. I also created four endgame items that I will put in the map: a pick, a sword, a bow, and a potion. At the moment I'm considering adding a piece of armor to that list. I want a player to have a powerful tool (if he can find it, of course), but still be vulnerable to all the danger I will throw at him.
Now, for the screenshot part, how about something new?
***
Nice to see that you are enjoying the map, hope it will stay like that 'till the end.