Christmas of Persia

[teljesnegyzet]

Mr.Crossbreed was able to walk through my closed gates in both Level 1 and Level 2. Is it an already known bug/trick? Can I prevent it?
Walkthrough videos

[Norbert]

Mr.Crossbreed was able to walk through my closed gates in both Level 1 and Level 2. Is it an already known bug/trick?

Yeah, it's #68. I wouldn't worry about it though, as everyone understands there's also a 'legitimate' way to finish the levels, which will challenge the player as you intended.

Related, from 2015:

I think we should try to move away from the idea that mods should be re-edited forever until nobody can find any kind of shortcuts. It doesn't matter if there are shortcuts, some players will use them and some players won't. Nothing and nobody is perfect, and they don't have to be either. Don't be afraid to say 'this mod is truly finished' and then just let it go. Your mods are like your children, and what's happening is that every time you think they are ready to walk the world on their own you see their imperfection and you tell them to return to you for further molding.

On the day that I released Prince of Wateria, programmer found a shortcut for level 4. I didn't care and still don't. If anything, it's interesting to see what shortcuts players can find. If there are shortcuts it doesn't mean I need to re-edit my mods. There are various shortcuts in the original PoP1, but doesn't that only add to its charm. That you can get to know it like that, including its quirks.

[David]

while the guards are pretty tough, they'll eventually advance even if I'm attacking, so just smashing the Shift button and waiting for them to blunder into the sword always works. The guards in level 1 of the original game behave like this as well.

Here is why guards with skill 0 advance even when it's dangerous:
https://github.com/NagyD/SDLPoP/blob/ma ... 002.c#L860

Code: Select all

void guard_advance() {
	if (guard_skill == 0 || kid_sword_strike == 0) {
		if (custom->advprob[guard_skill] > prandom(255)) {
			move_1_forward();
		}
	}
}

[Amethyst]

while the guards are pretty tough, they'll eventually advance even if I'm attacking, so just smashing the Shift button and waiting for them to blunder into the sword always works. The guards in level 1 of the original game behave like this as well.

Here is why guards with skill 0 advance even when it's dangerous:
[...]

Thanks for the explanation. Does that also imply they'll walk into a chomper, for instance?

[David]

Thanks for the explanation. Does that also imply they'll walk into a chomper, for instance?

No, they only ignore whether the prince is slashing at them. (kid_sword_strike in the code)

Try putting a chomper in front of the first guard on the original level 1 for example.
He will see the prince (be active), but will not advance.

[yourantumayel69]

My playthrough here

[VelCheran]

I played this mod during one hour and a half and didn't even pass level 2
But I'll have my revenge

[VelCheran]

So, a few impressions about this mod:

• There's not enough time to beat it. I played it through DOSBox, so without quicksaves/quickloads as you didn't include SDLPoP in it, and spending 1h30 to not even beat level 2 is way too much. I think you should at least increase the time limit to 180 minutes, as it was done for Repetition of Time for example.
• Traps are very hard to spot: deactivated spikes are not easily discernible on your tiles, so we can easily die on them, and open chompers are invisible, thus making it harder to pass them. If that's your intention, then it's fine, but bear in mind that it increase the difficulty of the mod and thus the time needed to complete it.
• There's a problem in the design of your level 2. Basically, the way to open the final gate to the exit door is so well hidden I couldn't find it without digging into the mod's files using Apoplexy - and I'm not the only one, because I did so during uvq3tsa's stream, who went through the whole level 3 or 4 times without spotting it. I did the same design mistake on the first version of my own mod and corrected it when I realized it was uselessly punitive.
• On the good side, graphics and sounds are great, it must have taken you a huge amount of time to create them so congrats!