Labyrinth of Puzzles 2 v1.0

[Eat_Bacon_Daily]

Amazing work, I loved your first map and I think this one is even better! We spent over an hour in order to beat it.
The cinematic work was greatly improved and the puzzles were tons of fun!
I really like the loose narrative that kinda continues the story. I hope this isn't the end for Trickster Joe!
I think the chess puzzles were some of the most creative iv'e seen.
The boss battles were very exciting, especially the nature boss inside!

Here are some very minor issues I had with the game
-The way to beat the spider-arrow boss's first hitpoint was a little random.
-The zone with the arrow clock's floor is a little messy, not exactly clear where you can and can't walk.

Here are some questions I have:
-What is the point of staff of the bishop, we never ended up using it.
-Why was one of the huntress statues on red fire, while the others were blue, we didn't really do anything relating to that as far as I know.

Anyway, this map is really great! I would strongly recommend it!

 

[tychusfinley]

Arrow clock area

You can walk anywhere. Not sure what happened in your game but if someone uses the fire amulet while not on the correct root, it teleports everyone off the glass platform.

Boss First HP Logic

Up to that point when an obelisk is activated it shoots fire out of one rune. In the boss area the obelisk behind the wall fires out of 2 runes. Was hoping this indicates to players that obelisks can shoot out of multiple runes and so previous obelisks can be used. Since he is standing on an unactivated rune I expect players to find the obelisk that activates it. The shortcut from the respawn point has you fly over an obelisk everytime you die. This is what I was going for.

Staff and Huntress

Basically both are cut content. I had planned to have secrets, hidden rooms, actions that lead to different outcomes. This was a lot of work for a game thats not really meant to be played more than once. The yellow fire was going to indicate that you find that statues weapon and give it to the huntress/runner unit. The staff ability was meant to be used for some secret stuff. I left the staff ability to give people a little sfx reward for completing the chess puzzles and left the statues to add some ambiance/mystery. I did leave one diverging action in the game; if you run the phoenix over the 2 torches next to Lee, he absorbs the flames and get a "harnessed flame" item. If he has this item while being ambushed by the spiders at the well, he lives. If he doesn't have the item he dies. You can also kill him with the obelisks while he is running over the bridge.

Thanks, glad you liked it.

 

[deepstrasz]

In places like this, the camera should automatically go up so you can see and move properly.
Are you supposed to be able to pass around the yellow laser? I killed the spider afterwards with the Attack command and Lee moved by himself and reached the big iron gate where there were spiders behind it and the key disappeared and the door didn't get opened. So, I had to load a save where the key didn't disappear yet. Because I killed the spiders behind the gate while jumping after the key wasn't in the inventory anymore.

Would be easier to use the Blue Amulet as an ability than an item. It's annoying to keep the interact hotkey so far from the numpad keys.

A thing that would help is for the hints and NPC messages to remain in the log so you won't forget them.

I seem to be stuck here. None of the other two fences go down and I haven't found any other lever than those two to use. Tried some combinations between them but nothing; also placed the green orbs in their circles.

 

[tychusfinley]

Are you supposed to be able to pass around the yellow laser?

Nope, I had intended for people to kill the spider first, then move on to the clock area but forgot to block it off. You shouldn't be able to kill any spiders by auto attack at that point and you shouldn't be behind the laser with Lee. Just updated and blocked off the second area so all that stuff doesn't happen.

I like that the amulet doesn't cancel any orders and you can move seamlessly while using it (which is useful during some puzzles).

A thing that would help is for the hints and NPC messages to remain in the log so you won't forget them.

This is a good idea that I didn't think of. Going to add it in a future update.

I seem to be stuck here.

Looks like everything there is working. Here is a hint if you want.

Hint

Notice that the respawn point(skull) is past the fence that you need to cross.

 

[deepstrasz]

I like that the amulet doesn't cancel any orders and you can move seamlessly while using it (which is useful during some puzzles).

It can be done with the Berserk spell.

Looks like everything there is working. Here is a hint if you want.

OK, gonna try more first before looking at that. Thanks for the prompt response.

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EDIT:
Not sure what to do here. Tried every possible move, I think

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EDIT2:

You should add your name to the author box in the editor as now it's unknown.

What the map lacks is a story, a philosophy to go with the splendid gameplay.

Approved.

 

[tychusfinley]

Updated the map with your previous suggestions.

Chess puzzle

Hint

It helps to know what En passant is in chess and that black's last move was E7 pawn to E5.

Solution

Taking the E5 pawn with en passant will allow the bishop to hit the king.

 

[deepstrasz]

It helps to know

Had no idea peons could do that... I only know the basic/standard movements of the pieces.

 

[Frotty]

Looks promising, but needs some unstuck/reset feature. My hero got stuck when flying using the glyph:

 

[Frotty]

Okay finished now, took us less than 2 hours. I agree with @Eat_Bacon_Daily that this one seems even more polished than the first and we enjoyed it a lot.
A few gripes:

• I kinda like that it's "solo-coop", as in you can progress alone or search together, but it works better for some puzzles than others. For the chess puzzles at the end other players are just annoying because they might move the piece away. Same goes for hooking levers/orbs. Everything above 2 players just seems like madness. Even some bosses get harder because of the additional missiles from other players which kill you too.
• Collision on the fire crypt fiends seems too high. With multiplayer delay this section is very hard to time.
• While I like chess, the later puzzles felt a bit chess heavy
• Having to cast an item without good hotkey is annoying
• Last boss was a bit lacking compared to previous, not really a satisfying ending
• On lower end systems the glaive seems to be very laggy

Really makes me wanna make a puzzle map, but as you mentioned, having no replayability makes it a bit demotivating.

 

[Coldgamer]

My mate and I really enjoyed the game, took us nearly 3 hours to complete liked the fact, that we had zero bugs !

 

[deepstrasz]

Really makes me wanna make a puzzle map, but as you mentioned, having no replayability makes it a bit demotivating.

You can replay it 2-5 years later so you would forget some of it.

 

[3nemy_]

I really enjoyed this map, took me and friend around 3 hours as well.

Spoiler

We completed the optional chess levels but never found out what the bishop staff ability was for, so would you mind sharing it or giving some hint at least?

 

[tychusfinley]

I really enjoyed this map, took me and friend around 3 hours as well.

Spoiler

We completed the optional chess levels but never found out what the bishop staff ability was for, so would you mind sharing it or giving some hint at least?

Thanks.

Spoiler

It's cut content, I removed all secret stuff and left the staff ability as a little sfx reward for the chess puzzles. I elaborated a little more in the other spoilers in this thread.