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OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 13:10
by Superspurs
Seasons 4 to 7 saw larges parts of the dungeon take palce in an outside enviroment.
Whilst admittedly this did detract from the fundamental aspect of having a dark, eerie, indoors enviroment for the dungeon i did approve of it. It gave the dungeon more depth and made it seem more grand.
The villages, forests and the castle ruins i approved of.
However the best thing about the outdoors thing is that it allowed for the smirkenorff rides which i loved. However i do think that the fact that some times level 3 had an outside enviroment was WRONG. Level 3 should been an exclusively Murky, dark indoors enviroment.

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 13:36
by Fidjit
I think so, Series 4 was the best because they used forest environments a lot where as the rest didn't show a lot on all levels. And the boatmans ride was another great example...

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 13:41
by TheBrollachan
Here's my suggestion...

- Level 1: in the forest & outside enviornment & castle enviornment.
- Transportation: Well in forest, dragon possibly, or flight of stairs
- Level 2: the upper dungeons
- Transportation: Decender, trap-door
- Level 3: the lower dungeons

In series 4 it wasn't too bad having outside environments as the forest paths linked rooms via elf portals. In series 6 & 7 it seemed out of place as the dungeoneer travelled through dwarf tunnels.

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 13:50
by izunagi
I liked the forest and castle enviroments what with the wolves howling and the assassins,it still had atmosphere and to me became a major part of knightmare. :o

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 14:18
by Superspurs
yes brollachan that sounds like a great idea

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 14:20
by Fidjit
Very... :)

Maybe he doesn't need so much knowledge after all

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 14:24
by HStorm
Yes, that sounds like a good compromise.

Personally I always much preferred the indoors-only arrangement, as the outdoor locations lacked the feeling of claustrophobia. Also the photographic backgrounds seemed a little inflexible as they never seemed to be able to add many puzzles to them, whereas the hand-painted backgrounds from early on and the CGI from s8 were drawn entirely from imagination, and that allowed them to include more puzzles in the different locations.

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 14:31
by TheBrollachan
How about following the series 8 format and have a short level 1, and medium length level 2, and a longer level 3.

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 14:34
by HStorm
That tended to happen anyway. Mark's team in S2, for instance, only had about five or six rooms in level 1, eight in level 2 and I think ten in level 3.

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 14:39
by Superspurs
I think you should have an average level 1 and 2 (about 9/10 rooms each) and always have a long L3 like in S8 (maybe about 12-14 rooms).
Is that going a bit over the top?

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 14:50
by Raven
The sky was always PINK

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 15:19
by Fidjit
Yes that was a bit perculiar... ::)

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 19:09
by HarveyTowers
You need a mix of inside and out- I didn't like the game play being too room-to-room but I didn't like the long eye shield sequences.
Series 7 had good mix, shorter eyeshield sequences.
In series 8, they were in the dungeon for the first 2 levels but in level 3 they tried to cover to much ground outwith the dungeon.

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 20:33
by WillsOfDoom
At the time series four first aired, I found it incredibly exciting that the dungeoneer would leave the confines of the dungeon for the first time, but the novelty soon wore off. By the time series five brought back (and even concentrated on) the outside environment I began to yearn for a classic dungeon again.
Now I view the outside environment more objectively - although I agree with HStorm's point on lost claustrophobia, I also think that outside scenes brought a new dimension to the game that was badly needed. Perhaps KM wouldn't have survived as long if it never made the inside/outside leap.

Does anyone think that the coloured outside scenes added or took away from the overall effect? For example, series 4 is very purple. It was atmospheric, but could also be tiresome after a while.

Re:OUTside enviroment

Posted: 18 Jun 2004, 22:57
by Raven
The magenta skies gave it that extra-dimensional, almost unreal effect, however I do feel it could have looked better normal.