Need descriptions for the portal vaults.


If you are interested in helping with tiles, vaults, patches or documentation, this is the place for that.

Dungeon Master

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Post Saturday, 28th April 2012, 03:33

Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

https://crawl.develz.org/mantis/view.php?id=5605

Crawl could use description text for portal vaults. I'll paste the content of the implementable here:
With the portal_branches merge, the ?/B help now supports all places, not just branches. However, that means that they need descriptions to show up when that branch is selected. There are already descriptions for the entry portals, but not for the places on the other side. Sometimes those existing descriptions would be appropriate descriptions for the level, but other times they are about the passage itself. When it does make sense to use the existing description, it would be good to provide a new description for the feature.

Places that need descriptions: Pandemonium, Ziggurat, Labyrinth, Bazaar, Trove, Sewer, Ossuary, Bailey, Ice Cave, Volcano, and Wizlab. Yes, all the Wizlabs share a single entry.

See dat/descript/features.txt for the portal entry feature descriptions, and dat/descript/branches.txt for the branch descriptions:
* https://gitorious.org/crawl/crawl/blobs ... atures.txt
* https://gitorious.org/crawl/crawl/blobs ... anches.txt


This is only a request for text: no need to make a patch or anything like that.

Tartarus Sorceror

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Post Saturday, 28th April 2012, 06:23

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

Sign me up!

Edit: That branches.txt file already has an entry for Pan, does it need a new one?

Have a wizlab, on the house:
  Code:
Wizlab

In ages past, the most powerful mages -- many of whom you may have heard of -- would frequently find or construct small realms sealed off from the rest of the world, where they could isolate themselves in the pursuit of ever-greater magical knowledge and power. The mages are long gone, but many of their arcane laboratories still exist, filled with the results of their experiments. Those willing to explore these laboratories may find powerful magical treasure, but be warned: the wizards who these labs belonged to deserved their reputations.


Should I include a paragraph talking about the illustrious mages who once used these labs, or just leave that as an exercise for the reader?

Edit: More.

Bazaar branch description (just the gateway description)

  Code:
Aside from the vendors who've set up their stores at various places in the dungeon, there are others trying to make a living by traveling from place to place. Bazaars feature a number of different shops and often have better stock than the sedentary ones, sometimes even at a bargain. Once you hear the clinking of coins, be sure to hurry up and find the impromptu marketplace before the caravan moves on!

Also be warned that their nomadic lifestyle has taught these sellers to appropriate any items an adventurer might leave behind, and then leave quickly, probably to sell them elsewhere.


Bazaar gate

  Code:
A flickering gateway to a bazaar.

Through the gateway, you can hear the sounds of a travelling bazaar: money changing hands, sellers advertising their wares, and customers haggling in vain. If you're interested in sampling the goods here, you should know that these deals won't last long: you can also hear announcements that the bazaar will soon be closing up and moving on.


Labyrinth branch description

  Code:
The Labyrinth is a vast and complex maze designed by subtle and malicious minds for reasons long lost to history. Old stories say that the labyrinth was constructed as a prison for a fearsome monster. More recent stories say this beast dwells there still, guarding the labyrinth's sole exit - as well as a hoard of treasure taken from the bodies of the foolish adventurers who got lost inside and starved to death. Take care inside the shifting, twisting passages of this labyrinth, or your own possessions may end up in the beast's treasure pile.


Labyrinth gate

  Code:
A gateway carved from rock, with intricate convoluted patterns sculpted along its edges. Through the gateway, you can see a few branching hallways of a dark maze. The exquisite carvings of the gateway are broken up by a message, indelicately hacked into the rock, which suggests bringing food. A lot of food.

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Post Sunday, 29th April 2012, 00:50

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

Edits in red:

nicolae wrote:Wizlab

In ages past, the most powerful mages -- many of whom you may have heard of -- would frequently find or construct small realms sealed off from the rest of the world, where they could isolate themselves in the pursuit of ever-greater magical knowledge and power. The mages are long gone, but many of their arcane laboratories still exist, filled with the results of their experiments. Those willing to explore these laboratories may find powerful magical treasure, but be warned: the wizards to whom these labs belonged to deserved their reputations.

Should I include a paragraph talking about the illustrious mages who once used these labs, or just leave that as an exercise for the reader?

Edit: More.

Bazaar branch description (just the gateway description)

While some merchants set up shop in the dungeon, others travel in caravans from place to place. The bazaars of these intinerant traders feature a number of different shops and often have better stock than the sedentary ones, sometimes even at a bargain. Once you hear the clinking of coins, hurry up and find the impromptu marketplace before the caravan moves on!

Also be warned that their nomadic lifestyle has taught these sellers to appropriate any items an adventurer might leave behind, and then leave quickly, probably to sell them elsewhere.

Do Bazaars really have better stock? I've never noticed that.

Bazaar gate

A flickering gateway to a bazaar.

Through the gateway, you can hear the sounds of a travelling bazaar: money changing hands, merchants hawking their wares, and customers haggling in vain. The deals offered here won't last long: you can hear criers announcing that the bazaar will soon be closing up and moving on.

Labyrinth branch description

A gateway carved from rock, with intricate patterns sculpted along its edges. Through the gateway, you can see a few branching hallways of a dark maze. The exquisite carvings of the gateway are broken up by a message, indelicately hacked into the rock, which suggests bringing food. A lot of food.

Tartarus Sorceror

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Post Sunday, 29th April 2012, 01:30

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

Grimm wrote:Do Bazaars really have better stock? I've never noticed that.


Dunno, that's just what the bazaar portal description says.
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Dungeon Master

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Post Sunday, 29th April 2012, 12:03

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

Can someone submit those descriptions to transifex? Thanks!
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Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 06:38

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

All are finally in transifex, with modifications. I also went through and fixed a lot of non-native grammar in other vault descriptions, and expanded many.
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Pandemonium Purger

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 07:33

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

I still write like I'm in school (= excessive verbosity and large words), so hopefully these are okay:

Ziggurat

  Code:
Ziggurats are claimed to be the final challenge by those who brave and survive them. The reason for the admission fee is simple - to keep those unready out! Each floor of the pyramid shaped building, starting at the top and ending at the base, gets larger and larger - as you make your way down, you will encounter more and more monsters at the other end of each floor, and more and more loot, including many kinds of resources the dungeon itself is poor in - and when you feel it is getting too dangerous, you can exit the Ziggurat instead of going down the stairs - assuming, of course, you don't realize one floor too late! If you wish to clear all 27 floors of a Ziggurat, be prepared to kill scores of monsters at once - some of them the most dangerous around - with little cover and almost no means of escape.


Trove

  Code:
Some adventurer, noble, wizard or perhaps even an extraplanar Lord has made a stash of their prized possessions behind this locked entrance. In their hubris, the warding spell that guards this trove checks your possessions, not your identity - something the owner assumed only it could get its hands upon - and so if you bring it what it asks, it will treat you to the spoils. What it desires may be a great quantity of a useful item, an enchanted item (in which case any item as good as that or better will suffice), an artifact found somewhere in the dungeon or even a Rune of Zot or the Horn of Geryon itself. Unless the item is required to progress in the dungeon it will be consumed and you will be permitted entrance but once.


Sewer

  Code:
How do you think the dungeon is kept so clean and free of filth? Gaming abstractions, yes - but also a sewer system! While disgusting to tread into, there are no diseases to contract - instead, Sewers are full of shallow water which will hamper the combat abilities of creatures and species who are not at home in water or large enough to stand on top of it. Teeming with vermin life that reproduces happily in these waters, you'll also be able to find stocks of potions.


Ossuary

  Code:
The ancient dead rest in this burial ground - and they won't take well to nosy adventuring types like you disturbing them! Luckily, these undead creatures possess little of the skill of their living counterparts - while they still hit as hard, they move slower and have little on their minds but shambling toward you. Beware those preserved through mummification, however - a curse will be placed upon whoever slays one! By the way, I would be wary of drinking a potion you find here... It probably hasn't aged gracefully.


Bailey

  Code:
The various humanoids of the Dungeon - goblins, kobolds, gnolls and orcs - have set up a small fort nearby! While the packs of orcs you've found around the dungeon are as surprised to meet you as you are them, these ones have organized a defense behind walls of stone and moats, and tend to have better weapons or simply overwhelming numbers. If you can defeat or slip past the guards, there is copious loot waiting for you in the storehouses deeper inside - as well as the opportunity to acquire a bigger weapon by prying it from its deceased owners' hands!


Ice Cave

  Code:
A place of intense cold, Ice Caves are invariably home to freezing clouds that will shatter potions you dare take through them. While most contain thick furred animals seeking shelter from the harsh winter, you may enter the domain of a necromancer dabbling in ice magic through sculpting ice statues that guard their domain with freezing blasts, creating ice-based simulacra that deal extra freezing damage on every attack or even summoning icy demons from Cocytus itself. Even more dangerously, it may be the home to a frost giant or Ice Fiend - powerful monsters that will gladly end your life!


Volcano

  Code:
Volcanoes are situated where two continental plates converge or diverge, and the resultant rift allows magma to well up from thousands of miles below your feet. The volcanoes you enter will not typically be active - however, if you notice sulphur and rumbling you know what you're in for! A volcano seems an unusual place to have any sort of building constructed, yet fiery demons from Gehenna and certain kinds of undead and lava-dwelling creatures populate these for the heat and the atmosphere. If you need clothing with fire resistance, a Volcano is sure to provide something - if you don't burn to a crisp first!

Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 07:54

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

Those are pretty good, nice and detailed, but not entirely accurate. For example, there is no reason to avoid drinking potions in Ossuaries, and some Baileys have crap loot. Also, descriptions have already gone in for all of these. We could mix in some of your material though.
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Pandemonium Purger

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 08:10

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

Grimm wrote:Those are pretty good, nice and detailed, but not entirely accurate. For example, there is no reason to avoid drinking potions in Ossuaries, and some Baileys have crap loot. Also, descriptions have already gone in for all of these. We could mix in some of your material though.

The reference to potions in Ossuaries is how they are one of the few sources of potions in the decay in the game (although it could possibly be worded better, since they won't all be bad. just some of them)

Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 08:22

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

Are you sure? I've never heard of potions decaying in Ossuary.
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Dungeon Master

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 08:29

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

Grimm wrote:Are you sure? I've never heard of potions decaying in Ossuary.

There isn't any. I guess this misinformation is inherited from the time mummy curses could degrade carried potions into decay.
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Blades Runner

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 09:32

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

i think both patashu and the original poster were just referring to the relative abundance of bad pots (degen, decay and others) among the loot. the description was probably giving it a bit of flavour by suggesting the potions "decay" long before you enter the portal.
it shouldn't be in the description, because it's unimportant and (obviously) given to midunderstandings.
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Dungeon Master

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 12:28

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

absolutego wrote:i think both patashu and the original poster were just referring to the relative abundance of bad pots (degen, decay and others) among the loot.

But this isn't true. Look at ossuary.des. There's one ossuary (ossuary_crypta) that have 3 sets of items, one of which is exclusively bad items. All the others have normal loot.
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Blades Runner

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Post Wednesday, 6th June 2012, 12:38

Re: Need descriptions for the portal vaults.

i guess you're right. i also had the impression that they're somewhat more common than on D, though. maybe it's because of that one ossuary.
it's hard to tell, since ossuaries come so early you usually don't have many pots identified.
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