[Lazarus]

Turn That Frown Upside-down is the first scenario by Duck in a Top Hat.

Download it for Mac or for PC.

[Samson]

So I haven't played it since beta, and if Duck thinks I'm being too harsh, or if he's changed a lot of things in the meantime, I'll happily redo this. Anyway, onwards.

The overall premise is... basic. There are two nations/factions at war with one another. One is good, the other bad. We aren't told why the villains are bad, or why the two are at war, or, well, ANYTHING really. You, for some reason, end up kidnapped by the evil guys, and then wind up being "rescued" by the good guys. I say "rescued" because it turns out that the good guys just force you to do their bidding for them. At least the other dudes just kept you locked up...

Anyway. Town design is functional, and in later beta versions much improved. It's not particularly pleasing to the eye, but it's at least logical. That said, there isn't anything to really do in town. I counted three NPCs to talk to (three more than in my scenario, admittedly), two of which didn't actually have any reason to be there.

There's hints of competence with scripting. Dialogue works well, cutscenes are being used (although they could use some work to get the timings right), and there's a pushing-block puzzle. For a first-time designer, this is all good stuff.

The ending, though, lets down the rest of the scenario.

Spoiler

After performing a task, you get shown a cutscene which, despite my best efforts, I still don't get, and then get dumped into a pit of random monsters. After fighting through that (and escaping down a secret passage), you take out the king of the bad guys. And that's pretty much it.

So, improvements I'd suggest (and did suggest at various points in the testing period)?

1) Don't make your next scenario in 24 hours. Whilst you did it, and that's awesome, you should try and spend some time fleshing out the story and characters next time.

2) Look at other scenarios, and the way towns/outdoors are drawn. In particular TM, Ephesos and Jeff Vogel (hey, he actually doesn't suck at dungeon-drawing) all create things that are pleasing on the eye. Take notes. See what works well, and take it back to your next scenario.

3) Try and place yourself in the shoes of a player. We won't all understand that you have to do one thing before doing another, or how your puzzles work, or even that there is a puzzle to be solved. More information is always better than none.

Now, as to a score. I'm going to say a round 5. Bonus points for a completely new creature/graphic, and for releasing a 24 hour scenario on your first attempt. I'll reserve the 8s and 9s for your next scenario, but for now you should be proud that you've released something playable, finishable, and enjoyable.

[tridash]

It improved hugely through the betas, although the secret passageway ended up being a little hard to see in release/later versions. I liked the gift-pushing bit and the smiley graphics (as well as the duck in the pond...), but you don't actually have to do anything in the ending fight - your allies can just win it for you, which slightly takes away from the achievement of completing the scenario. There was another bit where your fairly powerful allies are taken prisoner by a single weak enemy, so it seems you weren't really needed by the smileys at all.

I'm probably definitely over analysing those bits, it being a silly scenario, and I enjoyed playing it, so it gets a 5.7, and I look forward to a more developed second scenario from Duck.

[Enraged Slith]

It feels like a practice scenario, as if you made it simply for the experience of stringing a series of events together and finishing a product. I made something like this, but I didn't release it (though it was tested). There are different parts that could have been better. The terrain design left a lot to be desired, there wasn't much to make the player care about what he was doing, and the combat was easily won by letting your allies do the work. Good news is it works and is playable, which is something to be proud of. The beta of your newest scenario is vastly better than this, so you're already improving.

4.0

[N-methyl D-aspartic acid]

It didn't work for me. The final cutscene stopped when the frownie king asked "What is this?" or something similar.

Sorry--I'd inevitably score the scenario at least a little higher if I could finish it... (probably not as high as a 5.0...) but since I can't, I have to give it a 1.0. I'll revise this score if the scenario becomes finishable to me.

[Dikiyoba]

Rating: 4.5

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For the player:
The scenario is based on a ridiculous premise: smiling faces fighting against frowning faces. It's playable, and I didn't run across any bugs, but it's not very good.

TTFUD is very short and basic. Your party won't advance; there are no levels to gain or loot to pick up, although you can buy a few spells. Combat is very, very easy and several of the battles can be won just by your allies, so you can definitely enter it at a lower-than-recommended level. Mainly owing to a single messy cutscene, the plot is very confusing. Just don't think too hard about where the faces came from and why they are fighting each other.

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For the designer:
The design could use work. Why does the Smiley Keep have a room full of chests filled with paper? The Concealed Tunnel had several floor tiles you could look at for no reason. The outdoors was too big and plain, plus you could still see the water at the edges. It also didn't have any paths out of the area. How did my party manage to arrive in their lands?

I got confused by the cutscene that happens right after I deliver the peace offering. The scene jumped around a bit too much. Plus, how the heck did my party manage to get back to the Smiley Keep?

Dikiyoba.

[Smoo]

Huh. This scenario certainly was short. It was made in twenty-four hours, though, so that might explain it. It actually explains all of the flaws in the scenario.

Turn That Frown Upside Down is a silly, silly scenario. In fact, it is so silly that it is bordering on just being plain stupid. How so? Allow this intro screen from the scenario speak for itself. Gaze at the face of the enemy!

Spoiler

Yeah, that is what you fight. Your allies are the polar opposites of the enemy and they really have no motive for killing each other and I did not know why I should have cared. But then again, TTFUD should definitely not be analyzed too deeply because, again, it is just plain silly.

The twenty-four hour limit shows in the quality of town design. To put it bluntly, it is quite sloppy. There is a room, for example, with about a dozen empty chests. The outdoors are not an improvement and the player should not bother exploring. Everything is so very empty.

The fights are all very easy, mainly because your allies are incredibly over-powered. The boss fight tries to make up for this by having the player fight something with ten times more hit points than what you've seen before. In the end, the fighting is pretty much the entire point of the scenario and I do not think that is enough. Still, the goofy premise itself was enough to make me finish the scenario. Some might frown upon the silliness, but it did make me smile.

5.2