06-17-2007, 07:29 AM
To find my MM-skills back, yesterday I started to play the very first (serious) custom mansion ever.
I know that this mansion was built as a kind of tribute to an other game that has to do with a certain Montezuma. As a MM-mansion it was however a little bit disappointing. The repetitive character of the rooms, which at first was fun, became at last dreading. Especially since too many rooms were almost empty, so with not much to do. There are a nice number of forks in Monty's Mansion, but missing the right order involves a lot of backtracking. Or a pretty long walk through dark rooms, before being able to go completely back to find the 3rd yellow key, needed to catch the lantern. Speaking for myself, I was far too early at the exit, which forced me to do a large detour before returning to that same exitdoor.
Besides that general feeling, twice I needed to restart because of Jack-stucks.
1° Right after the beginning of the game, I succeeded to go down alive in room 16300. With no way back. But I suppose that squirreljumps were not common in those building days.
2° In room 17103 there is a cave that can be reached by jumping up to the right. And Jack can't get out of it any more.
Special remark about room 17499. That is the one with the 2 x 3 yellow doors. Well, while it is VERY obvious how to use the 3 yellow keys (either left OR right), it is a technical fact that the wrong use of keys may lead to the largest JS-area ever seen in MM-history.
I also believe that a BBB-message is not the right way to prevent Jack-stucks. In room 16499 there is the clear advice to open the left door first. But suppose:
- a player doesn't read the BBBs;
- a player doesn't understand English;
- a player forgot what was on the BBB (because someone called him away for dinner);
- a player believes that the message is there to wrongfoot him;
and he/she opens the right door first ...
Because the difficultydegree was, in my opinion, normal, I succeeded in finishing with all secrets and exactly $ 10.000.
I know that this mansion was built as a kind of tribute to an other game that has to do with a certain Montezuma. As a MM-mansion it was however a little bit disappointing. The repetitive character of the rooms, which at first was fun, became at last dreading. Especially since too many rooms were almost empty, so with not much to do. There are a nice number of forks in Monty's Mansion, but missing the right order involves a lot of backtracking. Or a pretty long walk through dark rooms, before being able to go completely back to find the 3rd yellow key, needed to catch the lantern. Speaking for myself, I was far too early at the exit, which forced me to do a large detour before returning to that same exitdoor.
Besides that general feeling, twice I needed to restart because of Jack-stucks.
1° Right after the beginning of the game, I succeeded to go down alive in room 16300. With no way back. But I suppose that squirreljumps were not common in those building days.
2° In room 17103 there is a cave that can be reached by jumping up to the right. And Jack can't get out of it any more.
Special remark about room 17499. That is the one with the 2 x 3 yellow doors. Well, while it is VERY obvious how to use the 3 yellow keys (either left OR right), it is a technical fact that the wrong use of keys may lead to the largest JS-area ever seen in MM-history.
I also believe that a BBB-message is not the right way to prevent Jack-stucks. In room 16499 there is the clear advice to open the left door first. But suppose:
- a player doesn't read the BBBs;
- a player doesn't understand English;
- a player forgot what was on the BBB (because someone called him away for dinner);
- a player believes that the message is there to wrongfoot him;
and he/she opens the right door first ...
Because the difficultydegree was, in my opinion, normal, I succeeded in finishing with all secrets and exactly $ 10.000.
I guess I'll just put a delay on the skeletons when they rise up... 
You see, if you walk through the skeletons they rise up and unless you escape and re-enter the room, you're doomed. You have to jump over them to not activate them, you see. Hmmmm.... But other then that, the other BBBs are just telling you where you're going...