I've basically been working on this project a ton for like three or four months, and now I'm DONE! So I need a handful of Grimrock fans to test the living daylights out of the dungeon.
I've playtested it myself many times, clocking around 16 hours per run-through, and that's knowing exactly what I'm doing, so I would expect it to take longer for anyone new to it. I'm hoping to finish beta-testing in just one week, but if not enough people can, I'll just have to extend it a bit, we'll see.
A major feature of Master Quest is scalability. If you import a party, the dungeon will scale up in difficulty (and reward) to match, allowing you to earn enough XP to gain many more levels.
I've tested this by playing through with my original Grimrock party from last year, starting at level 14 and going up to level 24 by the end. I did it again by importing that same party for another run-through, starting at level 24 and going up to level 36 by the end (I've since scaled down the ultra-high level xp, so that might have "only" been around level 34 now). It's a pretty wild ride to be earning millions of XP left and right!
I'm asking for at least one of each of the following 5 beta-testers:
1 - someone to play with a new party, either default party or with created characters, starting at level 1, no import
2 - someone to play with an imported party of medium level, starting at level 5-10 or so 3 - someone to play with an imported party that finished the original game, starting at level 12-15 or so
4 - someone to play with an imported party that is much stronger (level 18-25)(this beta-tester may be harder to find)
5 - someone to play with a new party, created characters, enter "Toorum" to test Toorum mode, starting at level 1So I want to test the scalability. And of course I want to test all the usual stuff, graphics bugs, puzzle difficulty, whether the clues are good enough, is anything missing or broken, etc. Keep in mind that it is meant to be more challenging than the original game, hence "Master Quest", but I still want to avoid too much frustration or imbalance. And it would be good for one or two beta-testers to play on "easy" difficulty (so monster reaction times and aggressiveness are lowered) to see how that affects the mix.
If you think you're up for it, comment below or drop me a PM, and I'll PM you a link to the download.
I'd like to do all the beta-testing and fix any issues that come up within 10 days or so, then hopefully release the final public version in less than two weeks.
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Here is the current text of the description you see from the Custom Dungeon menu: (tag to shrink post, not actual spoilers)
SpoilerShow
Legend of Grimrock - Master Quest is a complete re-working of the entire original game with tons of new puzzles, dungeon designs, story elements, and more. It has been referred to as "Grimrock on Steroids".
- The overarching dungeon layout is similar, but there are lots of local changes to specific rooms, and some completely new areas have been added as well.
- For the most part original assets were used with a few notable exceptions such as some of Daniv's excellent wall set variations.
- Major item locations have all been changed.
- Puzzles have been generally "upgraded".
- The base difficulty level is increased:
* stronger monsters
* more monsters
* trickier puzzles (some with added clues)
- The difficulty (and XP awarded) scales up dramatically according to the average level of the champions at the start, so you can import your original Grimrock dungeon party and continue your adventure and advancement.
- There is increased replayability as high-level imported parties can expect to gain approximately 9 to 10 additional levels, and a variety of new skill tomes also add to the progression.
- The dungeon scaling is designed to work well for parties starting out from levels 1 to 25 or so, with the high end earning their way up to around level 35 by the end. This provides a unique chance to max-out multiple skills which really changes the strategy and approach to playing Grimrock.
- Spell scrolls now grant a small skill or stat bonus, so they are not totally worthless.
- An entirely new side storyline has been added (Lord Perel's failed expedition), and other lengthy writings have been expanded upon or added containing new lore and background fiction.
- A new hidden boss fight awaits discovery!
- The original 71 secrets have been greatly expanded to 115.
- There is an extended end-game denouement that takes place after the events of the original last battle, ultimately leading to a final frenetic escape from Mount Grimrock.
- Many other small changes, additions, improvements, etc, have been made to the original labyrinth.
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This project began as a precise re-creation of the original Legend of Grimrock dungeon with all its puzzles and scripting, largely as an exercise in mastering the editor. As I neared completion of that monumental task, I asked myself "Self, aren't people bored of the original game by now?". So I figured, why not pull a "Zelda" and create a changed-up re-imagined harder version and call it the Master Quest?
There are some known issues (mostly do with how dreams work and how the final boss interaction and battle works), but for the most part things will feel very familiar to the original game while offering a ton of fresh changes and cool extras to give you a revitalized Legend of Grimrock experience!
Feel free to contact me (official Grimrock forums) with any comments or bugs/problems you find, how you liked or didn't like the puzzles, clues, fights, story, etc, or anything else.
Enjoy!
Komag
- Beta-Test deadline is Weds, March 13.
- Right now (Weds March 6) I still could make good use of a couple more testers:
* Another import party which finished the original game (lv 12-15 or so)
* Someone who would be willing to try playing as Toorum starting fresh or as a high-level import (imported Toorums retain "Thunderstruck" fast weapon cooldown but not fast movement speed)
