MOTW #223

[TMX92]

 

MOTW #223

For rules and guidelines, click here.

 

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

Posting reviews/feedback before the participation deadline is strictly NOT allowed. You may post reviews/feedback once voting starts.

 

Theme:

HEIST

 

Description of the theme

Main objective of the mission should be involving big-time team robberies of any type.

You can choose how you want the heist to turn out as well as which type of heist it could be. Let creativity run wild. 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Blatant troll behavior will NOT be tolerated.

 

Entries

 

Stardust101

Divestment Banking

 

BobBobowski

Taming The Dragon in Italian

 

Mr.M

Stealth, Strength, Survive

 

DucKingheights

Trail of Bodies

 

RedBaron

The Energy Of Zeus Heist

 

Deadlines

Participation: 10th June 2023 - 18:00 PM (GMT Timezone)

Voting: 12th June 2023 - 18:00 PM (GMT Timezone)

 

 

Credits

AnDReJ98 - Founder & Co-Leader

RithRake24 - Co-Leader (2019-present)

Target13 - Co-Leader (2014, 2018-2019)

Chips237 - Co-Leader (2013)

The Odyssey - Founder of the first MOTW Discussion Thread

@TMX92 - Winner of MOTW #222 and host

Edited June 10 by TMX92

[BobBobowski]

ok

[Stardust101]

Hey everyone. Here's my entry: Divestment Banking

[TMX92]

Good mission. Sorry for editing so late had technical difficulties.

[BobBobowski]

okay here it is
https://dyom.gtagames.nl/show/74211

[RedBaronFromTheUG]

I'll probably participate but i'll only go full gear after my retake exams are finished which is on Wednesday.

[TMX92]

On 6/4/2023 at 7:22 AM, BobBobowski said:

okay here it is
https://dyom.gtagames.nl/show/74211

You should see your mission in

[MassM]

https://dyom.gtagames.nl/show/74280
Here's my mission

thumbnail later
good luck fellas 

[RedBaronFromTheUG]

Ayo, had to rush it but here: https://dyom.gtagames.nl/show/74295

P.S: If you play the mission and get to the ending, leave the armored car and enter the checkpoint on-foot if you used the car, because it despawns after the third epilogue cutscene and if you're in the car, you automatically despawn too and die.

Also, here's a walkthrough in case anyone is stuck somewhere in the mission: 

 

 

Edited June 11 by RedBaronFromTheUG

[DuckingHeights]

Late but here's my entry, Trail of Bodies: https://dyom.gtagames.nl/show/74289

[DuckingHeights]

============================
MOTW 223 reviews:
============================
PS, a quick tip, use ctrl + f (cmd + F on mac) to look up a specific author's mission if you're interested in only a specific author's or authors mission that I've reviewed, or to simply skip past this review.


====================================================================================================================

• Divestment Banking (Stardust101):
==========================================
The pros:
• Neat detail with the planning board being updated btw, appreciate it.

• Good work around with using masked NPCs, that being using the SWAT members as a way to have the crew all masked up.

• Nice detail of your money count going up after getting the money.

The nitpicks:
• Humour is subjective of course but, the CBT and use of the slurs didn’t get a laugh out of me to be honest. But, I respect your commitment to the humour nonetheless.

• I respect that you wanted the money pickups to be different, but it just looks like you’re picking up like $5000 or $50,000 instead of a million dollars. I like that you tried innovate but, I feel like the money bag pickup would of been better because, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

The cons:
• The enemies are so easy in fact that you take very minimal damage when getting to the vault, to me they are just there if you want to kill time.

Observations:
• Did the purple shirt dude make a pimp purge reference?
 

Overall:

6.5. It’s a mission that exists.

====================================================================================================================


===========================================

• Stealth, Strength, Survive (Mr.M):
===========================================
The pros:
• Decent dialogue, with there being a bit of passive conflict between the characters with one being unsure what the plan is, then being explained the plan. One line is a bit cheesy but it works plus it is a bit badass e.g the line at objective 19, 2 lines before Adin hangs up.

• Well executed way of revealing the base, the way you excellently hyped up the reveal of the base by having Barack be worried about this job and having the characters questioning him, up till the reveal of the base where Adin is shocked at the scale of the base.

• Nicely done stealth sequence, with a good usage of the container objects as a way to create a custom designed stealth section.

• Brilliant object placement, and I commend you for the effort more considering from the looks of it, you most likely didn’t even use DYOM# either. I’ll let my critique of you most likely not using DYOM# slide since, it’s up to you whether or not you want to use it or not.

• I like the humour in it, very subtle, and the banter feels very natural.

• Varied enemy behaviour, ones that swarm you others that stay in position.

• The need to create your own strategy immediately, especially when the enemies inside swarm you.

• Varied gameplay, theres a stealth section, shooting galleries in different interiors, the next part and yeah, good stuff all around.

The nitpicks:
• Long phone call. I understand it’s to make it so the protagonist is calling his associates, but, the issue is that when replaying it, you’ll have to 51 seconds for the call to end perhaps even more if you count loading the objective text and if your PC lags enough to create slowdown.

• Either 2 or all of the spas 12 dudes during the stealth section fail the mission if you kill them. I put this as a nitpick due to it being unexplained as to why they fail the mission as oppose to the dudes with the AKs as well, could of been explained why they fail the mission but ah well, it is what it is I suppose.

• Too much ammo for the silenced pistol to consider using the knife, as the enemies are headshotable and aside for using the knife for, style and maybe immersion reasons, theres no much reason to use the knife.

• If you don’t kill the enemies with the AKs during the stealth section, and you get up to the part where you have to kill all the enemies while Cyano is downloading the files from the PC, you’ll end up getting soft locked because you didn’t kill the AK dudes at the start.

• No usage of SD. It’s a nitpick simply because you may not know of any fitting music for the mission nor perhaps, any decent sources of where to get possible sound effects from.

The cons:

(None that I saw from my experience personally):

Observations:
• - I noticed you seemed to use the same guard model a lot. Fair enough if you couldn’t find another model to use in order to represent the enemies but, it is to repetitive in my opinion.

Overall:
8.2. It has variety, well written dialogue, awesome object placement and varying situations you can be in with the enemies. What’s stopping the rating from being higher for me personally is that, simply it lacks SD. Other than that, decent mission, keep it up Mr M. To sum it up in one sentence, ambitious and varied with consistent polish.



====================================================================================================================

===========================================

• Taming The Dragon in Italian (BobBobowski):
===========================================
The pros:
• Unique idea of making the Italian characters speak, actual Italian and complimenting it, with decent TTS.

• Funny deadpan title name, ‘Taming the dragon in Italian’, I like and appreciate the humour in it it’s very charming.

• I like the banter between the boss’s associates, and the general way they plan out things. Gives the mission even more charm.

• That is impressive on how not only you created 2 separate markers, but how you added 2 objectives in one, one being going to the casino the other finding the weapons on the map with using the markers as reference before the markers become less accurate.

• Intense shootout with the triads in the casino, as theres a lot of them that can swarm you.

• Decent amount of variety with the enemies, and I appreciate how the player can easily know what kind of enemy will wield which weapon depending on their skin e.g waitress with a micro SMG and a 9mm, and with the triads wielding either an SMG or AK47.

• Destroyable cover, I like it I respect it a lot makes the shootout up in the rooftop more dynamic.

• Your ally is pretty useful during the rooftop shootout.

The nitpicks:
• Oversight with despawning the actors too early at the bus station.
• Like Redbaron said, the Italian robbers said outside that they aren’t gonna speak Italian inside yet they do anyways.

The cons:
(None that I found in my experience)

Observations: 
• - It seems you haven’t published your mission. Fair enough, I mean, since it’s not published but rather editable, it’s open source and we can what you’ve done with your mission which is neat. But, people may first perceive your mission as not being professional which, in my opinion, is a valid criticism.
• - No soundtrack. While I would put this as a nitpick, the Italian TTS do make up for this and in a way, it does give the mission a unique mood without the soundtrack, in my personal opinion that is.
• - Bit of grammatical errors, but I’ll let it slide since english isn’t your native language like I’ve said previously.

Overall:
8.75. The problems I have with this entry are very minimal, and this entry brings a lot of unique sh*t to the table. Dynamic environment, intense shootouts, 2 types of markers with one objectives, etc. Plus it has charming dialogue and charming production value especially the Italian TTS. Excellent mission all around. One word I would give this mission would be that, it’s unique.

====================================================================================================================


 

===========================================

• The Energy of Zeus Heist (Redbaron):
==========================================
The pros:
• Very well designed exterior and interior of alcatraz. Love the detail you put into the interior and the soundtrack that plays during it really fits because it encapsulates that mood of being amazed yet unsettled when in a unknown area especially a prison.

• Creative kill opportunities in the land area.

• Exploration elements, always appreciated.

• Creative stunt sequence with trying to jump onto the ship. Pretty hard though but satisfying to complete.

• Decent gameplay variety.

The nitpicks:
• Weird location and premise for a mission as a heist theme. Unless it was a comedy mission it would work but, the writing isn’t really comedic so yeah.

• Dialogue is weird. I appreciate the effort of like attempting to create charming yet cheeky lines of dialogue, but it comes off as out of place in the sense that it makes the character think younger than he is. e.g fistful of broomstick.

• Some of the soundtrack fits, some don’t. The track that plays when you first enter the cell area fits very well, the tracks that play when you infiltrate going inside alcatraz and the RC land area, don’t in my opinion.

• Trivial tank fight sequence and too cheesy of a line after the fight. I appreciate the homage and all but, this is more copying than making a homage. A good homage in my opinion is when you try something different, add a twist to it, this isn’t really a good homage simply because it’s not that original.

• The way the ramp is positioned at the start of the countdown sequence is a bit inconvenient for trying to get onto the ship, as when you try to get on, your bike will most likely be on the side of the ship not on the runway instead.

Bordering on as a con but is a nitpick:
• Very large SD file. I’ll forgive you for that for the reason of, perhaps the fact you may not know how to cut and loop songs properly in something like audacity, but this may be an issue for others with poor internet trying to download your mission and mod files.
• - A critique of this is that, it’s just poor size management.

The cons:
• Some of the interiors feel out of place in my opinion.
• The dialogue is too cheesy in my opinion.
• If you don’t use limit adjuster (or maybe because I’m emulating GTA SA through wineskin and this critique may not count), when attempting to get into the room

Disclaimer: How I’m critiquing the mission past the 2nd keycard is because I played it on my main PC, then played it again on my MacBook for review.

Overall:
7.25. I found the experience to be, mixed. On the one hand, brilliant object placement and great ambition, but on the other, the writing and some gameplay sequences just let the experience down for me personally. A small sentence to describe this entry would be, ambitious but misguided.

===========================================

====================================================================================================================

And those are the reviews for all the missions submitted for this contest. Hope you all have a wonderful and for the designers, keep on designing whilst enjoying making your missions. Have a good one folks.

[RedBaronFromTheUG]

My turn, @DuckingHeights

MOTW #223 - Reviews:
 

DIVESTMENT BANKING by Stardust101:

The Good
- Good presentation
- Good Starting Car, have a soft spot for a Red RX-7 (ZR-350)
- Nice planning board and heist crew members police SWAT unit "clothing"
- I liked the ending screen showing how much you robbed
- Nice camera shots.
- Nice little nod to Pimp Purge's Barry Winslow, being this random dude's
new boss, and being a new helper to his lifelong Pimp feud.

The Nitpicking
- They could have just hit the alarm from a distance, pretended someone was actually
stealing the place (or make one of them dress as a masked robber) and then barge 
dressed as SWAT men (and take the "robber" into custody), grab the money and leave.
But considering their plan was extremely simple, it was very prone to mistakes.
- No complemented Police SWAT truck to accompany their uniforms
- Very few police units outside the bank. (you can use CTRL+P to clone enemies)
- Mission was too easy.
- No SD.

The Bad
- No headshotting on enemies that should've been easily headshottable, taking into
account, the barely sufficient protection on their heads.
- You could have added a Wanted level and made the player collect scattered bribes
across the city in a thrilling action after getting into the getaway vehicle, 
considering the cops in the entrance of the bank.

Notes
It was a very fun mission regardless, even if it was a breeze, and had some flaws.
 

8.5/10
 

TAMING THE DRAGON IN ITALIAN by BobBobowski:
 

The Good
- Good Presentation
- Excelent TTS Italian VAs
- Headshottable Enemies
- Nice rooftop setpiece with all the objects
- Good Difficulty, you have to keep on the move!
- The characters are very entertaining with that distinct bobby flavor.
- Nice Camera Work.

The Nitpicking
- You forgot to publish the mission
- The bug you mentioned in the texts was weird but ok, i think some of them sank onto the floor
or something.
- Don't speak in italian inside casino *proceeds to speak italian inside casino*
- Dude started speaking before the phone even flipped, which can be avoided by placing a 2-second
phone objective titled (Picks Phone) and making the audio play after the phone talk objective with 
the other phone talk objectives you've placed earlier.
- No SD.

The Bad
- Too many attack direct enemies on Rooftop, i've died an embarassing amount of times on that part.
- You could have put a few more health packs on the roof after each wave of enemies.

Notes
Good mission, it had consistent difficulty (normal-hard) from beginning to end.

7.25/10

STEALTH, STRENGTH, SURVIVE by Mr. M:

The Good
- Remarkable characters.
- Amazing scenario with objects for the revamped abandoned airport.
- Good incentive to think outside the box when looking for the silent entrance.
- Good stealth section.
- Good pickup placement.

The Nitpicking
- No SD.
- I don't understand what's that wooden plank shot at the ending.
- Blind alley shotgunners feel a little redundant and feel like they're forcing you to follow a linear path,
adding pickups instead of enemies could've helped with exploration.

The Bad
- Non headshottable enemies given they have no head protection whatsoever.
(Sniper section doesn't have this problem, thankfully)

Notes
Pretty fun mission, the transmitter dialogue reminded me of MGS, especially with the
protagonist carrying something prohibited with them without any authorization (ie. cigar
or the desert eagle in this case).

8.5/10

TRAIL OF BODIES by DuckingHeights:

The Good
- Stellar camera work
- Banger soundtrack
- Cinematic cutscenes
- Great skinwork
- Exploration aspects, non-linearty, multiple choice options.
- Amazing new interior.

The Nitpicking
- Your friends needed a bit more HP because of the shotgun dudes who take down your health
dramatically.
- You forgot to pack in your voice acting and TTS on the SD.

The Bad
- The escort section is a pain in the ass and i've died countless times on it until i finally got it
right.
- Some enemies have inconsistent no headshot attributes, the only ones which i respect having
this attribute are the helmeted SWAT dudes as they have head gear protection on them

Notes
Good mission overall, i liked it a lot.

P.S: 3 contenders used same skin ids as DuckingHeights, funny little coincidence.

9/10
 

My vote goes to DuckingHeights. Regardless, Thank you all for the wonderful missions.

Now onto my mission's DNA...

THE ENERGY OF ZEUS HEIST by RedBaron

DNA: 
 

- MGS Soundtrack, 3 new interiors, 1 new exterior, 1 revamped interior and 1 unaltered interior.
- Utah Saints soundtrack on final stretch of the mission.
- Branching paths, amazing shootouts, optional shootouts
- Exploration rewards (Gun Pickups, Health Pickups).
- 10 million worth object.
- Improvised Heist.
- Terry is a one-man army, with barely any fear, don't f*ck with that guy, lol.
- Epic boat jump escape inspired by Driver 2's Havana mission: "Boat Jump". 
- Heated 6-Star wanted level chase (you can use armored vehicle to avoid death, just watch
out with the crazy army dudes and the roadblocks).
- Increasing difficulty by each part of the mission, ie. Fluid difficulty.
- 3 Jesus Collectibles scattered across the City and Island (reference to Grove Street Alive MP).

Overall, my mission was pretty good to design, hope whomever plays it, likes them, and don't let personal bias of other reviewers affect your votes, it's best if you play them for yourselves, you feel me? Good, have a nice day.

Edited June 12 by RedBaronFromTheUG

[RithRake24]

Congratulations @DuckingHeights for winning MOTW #223! Your winning mission will be pinned for a week on the DYOM site.

 

You have 2 days to come up with the theme for the next MOTW

[DuckingHeights]

Alright so, this week of MOTW has been fantastic. Many of us have really put in a ton of effort with the missions, especially with mine, @MassM's S,S,S entry, and @BobBobowski's Taming the Dragon in Italian entry, and @RedBaronFromTheUG with the Zeus heist entry. Like, all of us have really dedicated ourselves to the object placement, with creating unique setpieces in some way, with @BobBobowski's roof setpiece and the destroyable envrionment, Redbaron with the impressive in scale alcatraz interior and exterior, mine with bank interior, and Mr.M's with the precisely yet excellently placed usage of containers, as well the way he tied all these interiors together and made them feel connected.

Despite the flaws, it shows that the entries this time around have been really ambitious, just as much as MOTW 221 maybe even more. We all really tried to deliver unique gameplay experiences and you know what, we really did and I'm proud of that. I hope to see this level of ambition continue in future MOTWs and for that, continue the happy designing of more missions designers.