04/04/2004 @20:43:05 ^21:37:37
"at least you're less likely to be raped"
my response to Sparkette who was complaining that she looks like a man
two long weekends in a row
The population of Senate House (and others) are moving to the old National Grid building over the next fortnight or so. The Academic Office where I work is one of the first to move. The upshot is my boss told me not to come in the first two days of next week because they'll all be packing and gods know what and there won't be anything I can do, apparently. Then of course next weekend is Easter.
I have no idea where I'll be sitting in this new building and I have a nasty feeling it won't be at all near anyone I know. Furthermore I don't have a card to get into the building. It's going to be really embarrassing hanging around until someone lets me in or I catch the attention of the porters. They say they'll be there to let me in in the mornings, but I can see this going humourously wrong.
It's strange really, every time I get granted one sort of access I seem to lose another. I can't get into the building but I do now have my own login code for the student records system, after I got in trouble when they found out I knew certain other people's passwords the other week...
Hell Covered Up Again
I finished my rerun of Hell Revealed. It was definitely easier than the first time around. I believe these are essences of Hell Revealed maps (at least the ones for which people remember it)
- very large area
- grandiose but sparsely detailed architecture, primarily textured in stone or that green marble stuff. I really like this style of architecture and the sense of space you get from it. High ceilings and enormous lines of sight are to be encouraged.
- only a few "points of significance" (keys, important switches that open whole new areas, etc.) scattered around almost at random. Thus backtracking is required but there are sufficiently few that you don't get annoyed.
- And of course, the famously high monster density. As I've said before there are many more maps nowadays that rival Hell Revealed's monstercounts. But I know from my own personal experience that having played Hell Revealed you go back to normal maps and you find yourself thinking "where the hell are all the monsters? This place is empty!"
- One thing I did notice in particular about the monster placement is that you tend to get large groups of the same type of monster. For example, 20 revenants instead of 5 revenants, 5 hellknights, a couple of barons and some chaingunners, in the same area.
