How many variant developers/maintainers have beaten their own variant?

[Delver]

If I should ever develop my own variant, I first want to know how useful being able to win my own variant would be...

[Nick]

Me! Me! - although I don't think that was important.

In my case the most important thing was having an idea of what I wanted the variant to be, which made it easy for me to see what direction to take, and also easy for potential players to have an idea of what they would be getting.

[andrewdoull]

How many variant developers/maintainers have played their own variant?

Hi,

Slight correction to title.

And the answer - not really.

Regards,

Andrew

[Bandobras]

That's what players are for.

[konijn_]

If I should ever develop my own variant, I first want to know how useful being able to win my own variant would be...

Hellband has 2 stages

* Beat Satan
* Beat Lucifer

I have beaten Satan with every class once and every race once. And I beat it with a Druidic Leprechaun just to see if what I think is the most challenging class can beat Satan, it took only 30+ tries and a big dose of luck ;]

I havent beaten Lucifer without cheating just yet.

T.

[Delver]

I'm starting to wonder if I should have made this thread a poll.

[Pete Mack]

I think the occasional serious attempt at your own variant should be part of development. You can have a very clear vision of whatthe game should be, but without personal experience, the chance of imbalance or just plain lousy gameplay increases enormously. Fixed quests are particularly susceptible to this. If a quest is too hard, it becomes a serious barrier to fun. You are forced to a major campaign just to accumulate sufficient junk to beat an intermediate boss. IMO unangband suffers this problem since the weathertop ringwraith was protected against daylight. It may still be possible to lure her out just prior to dawn, but this would require
excessive and boring bookkeeping.

[andrewdoull]

I think the occasional serious attempt at your own variant should be part of development. You can have a very clear vision of whatthe game should be, but without personal experience, the chance of imbalance or just plain lousy gameplay increases enormously. Fixed quests are particularly susceptible to this. If a quest is too hard, it becomes a serious barrier to fun. You are forced to a major campaign just to accumulate sufficient junk to beat an intermediate boss. IMO unangband suffers this problem since the weathertop ringwraith was protected against daylight. It may still be possible to lure her out just prior to dawn, but this would require
excessive and boring bookkeeping.

I appreciate that, which is why Bandobras, who has played more than me has made the Weathertop wraith optional for some time now.

In fact, the intention was the Weathertop ring wraith (in fact any guardian on the LotR 'starting branch' of the maps) should have always been completely optional.

Andrew

[Pete Mack]

Maybe it's time to try unangband again. I used to really enjoy it when I could get to the heart if the game without slogging through the lonely mountain. Killing Adunaphel before cl25 was possible only by exploiting her vulnerability to sunlight. It was still risky-I list about 1/3 of my characters to her or the rider at the ford. Now I just die whenever I face her, unless I'm willing to take a long grind getting string enough.

[Nick]

Killing Adunaphel before cl25 was possible only by exploiting her vulnerability to sunlight. It was still risky-I list about 1/3 of my characters to her or the rider at the ford. Now I just die whenever I face her, unless I'm willing to take a long grind getting string enough.

Then what - you tie her up and wait for the sun to fry her?

[Bandobras]

(in fact any guardian on the LotR 'starting branch' of the maps) should have always been completely optional.

Agreed. That was inspired by your "more breathing space" request and I think it works OK. You can get almost anywhere on the charted portion of the map for free (for food, actually), though the cheapest routes have some (not immediately) dangerous consequences.

[Pete Mack]

That's exactly right! The spelling correction on the iPod touch sometimes does very stringy things to approximate typing.

[andrewdoull]

Maybe it's time to try unangband again. I used to really enjoy it when I could get to the heart if the game without slogging through the lonely mountain. Killing Adunaphel before cl25 was possible only by exploiting her vulnerability to sunlight. It was still risky-I list about 1/3 of my characters to her or the rider at the ford. Now I just die whenever I face her, unless I'm willing to take a long grind getting string enough.

I'd have to check the maps, but I believe the Lonely Mountain can be bypassed several ways. The revisions to monster ecologies also ensure that even in the Lonely Mountain, there'll be much less of an issue with a limited set of monster types on every level.

I'm hoping the final 0.6.3 release will be good enough for me to confidently invite former players back into the fold.

Andrew