Ciphers again, please show some creativity, like observation challenges, i don't know. Yet it is well written, good job.
Spoiler: On ciphers The ciphers are, more often than not, only the format used to communicate - like a language is normally considered the format for communication - than they're the answers themselves. The key words are/were very much observational challenges, I feel. In a round-about way, one could also argue that ciphers are "The language of The Black Watchmen", as it's a way of communicating that, if not unique, is typical of our organisation, regardless of what verbal language we speak individually. By no means am I arguing that a mission absolutely has to contain a cipher, but I must admit that I do not agree that the use of ciphers are in any way not creative, primarily because, as mentioned above, I consider it our "language", more than I consider them "puzzles".
I mostly used ciphers because I wrote this thing before I had access to the CMS and I was not sure about the limitations. I agree that they are not that fun or intuitive. Thanks.
Spoiler Whooo ! Welcome to The Black Cipher ! Go bang your hand against thousands of codes and crypted messages ! No seriously if that's what this game is about, ciao. I'm sure you can make amazing puzzles without codebreaking to do.
These four missions have all been written by community members and not the A&S team. We have a good amount of experience with TBW puzzles, but our work is by no means a reflection of the entire game. I'm going to go ahead and put my response in a spoiler tag, since I will discuss a bit of this mission. Spoiler In addition, this mission in particular only uses two types of ciphers, one of which is universally recognizable, and the second is quite easy to recognize and decipher with the internet's help once you've done it a few times. The text in part 1 of mission 20 is not a cipher. Missions in the released game will have a grouping feature, so you won't need to decipher everything on your own. I don't know what role the classes will play, but if older information is any indication, you will be presented with some codebreaking with every class, but you may choose an option that will involve less. I've made another mission for a future date that is purely research, maybe that will strike your fancy?
Hey Zekh! If you did enjoy Gate 33 or End of days, you can expect the same type of experience with TBW. Don't forget that the purpose of this was to test out the CMS and make it fun at the same time.
Right now i'm frustrated because of my lack of recognition skill towards codes but i expect that teamwork on missions will fix that quickly, we're an agency after all. I'm confident but as a tester i had to open it up because mathematically i can't be the only one annoyed by ciphers.
I am useless at Ciphers myself. But, I am learning a little bit more every time I come across one and one of our experts (all of whom are more than willing) helps me work out what I am doing with it. I am expecting to have to do a lot more collaboration once things are live
I suck at the computery stuff, but I still found this fun. I also liked the story it had, when you read between the lines. I feel like all of these missions contribute to the overall flavor and universe of TBW. Some puzzles won't be for everyone: but I think that's why we have a community. My understanding is that we aren't supposed to be solving these in isolation anyway. I think we will see all kinds of stories and puzzles in the days to come. I personally am hoping that Carsosa and the King In Yellow and Dante stuff that popped up with Barbizon makes a comeback. Mostly because I did a stupid amount of research of Carcosa. And Dante. And the Inferno. I'm dying to use it, and to be able to go: "ah ha! I know the answer, you little buggers!" And then I can look all smart and stuff. But the ciphers don't bother me at all: we are an organization of the secret and occult. It seems to me that ciphers come with the territory.
I didn't think my mission (The super easy location one) didn't use heavy ciphers, or is that meant to be exempt from this statement?