Trespasser Puzzle Theory

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Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by MinePass »

So we've all read the 1997 walkthrough, a gold mine of information but there are bits that are either missing or very vague. And there's even bits from the game that are completely absent in the document. Here we will be looking into these areas and try to piece together what the devs had intended.

Starting with the first Theory we venture to level 3, Plantation House. This one concern's several area of this level guide. First is at the construction site
However, there is something for the player to do here - an extremely long piece of plywood (part of a form) extends horizontally from the top of the last monorail support. In this case, the player can get at it by dragging crates from their nearby position to make a stack next to the portable toilet or construction office, climbing up on top of the trailer, and using something suitably long (like a piece of rebar with a stick clamped to the end by a dino trap, for instance) to knock the wood down.

*Mysterious walls
So as you can see the devs have you go through this effort to get a long piece of plywood but then nothing, we immediately go to the bit about the plantation fields. Next we jump to the shore
*To the shore

When the Albertosaur has left the area, Anne can feel free to explore around some more. A fairly obvious path leads further southwest, away from the house. Near the shore, it terminates at a 5m cliff, likely too tall to safely jump down, and anyway, the player would be stuck on the beach if she jumped down and survived.
so comparing this bit to what we see in game it's a curiosity since there is a section of path leading off and down a purposefully made path to the water. Why this is when the water is a revolving texture isn't know. Getting back to the main puzzle at hand we go to Cathy's beach.
Getting the hook

Once Anne makes it down to the beach, she will discover the remains of the wealthy family's picnic from the beginning of The Lost World. The tables, chairs, and other items have been strewn about by recent high winds, and some things have even become lodged in the surrounding trees, like a very long, sturdy-looking boathook. Anne must get this down by throwing stuff at it, or possibly gathering other debris around the beach like the picnic table and making a stack high enough to reach it, or at least reach it with a pole (somewhat like the construction area puzzle).

*Balancing beam
so here you can see we have another objective with an unknown reason. Even the ending of the level is non existent. We go to the last heading and right into IJ. So looking at the game itself there is a mysterious ravine where the IJ river would meat up with the main stream. So after speaking with Drac I originally thought you were meant to use the pole to bridge the gap and walk across it, but after further investigating we go back to the plywood plank, a long piece. Imagining this to be a rather thin board and going by the name we came up with the impression that you were meant to bridge the gap with the board and using the boat hook as a counter balance while walking across. Hence the title "Balancing beam".
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by Draconisaurus »

Oh man, I never thought about Anne using the boathook as a... uh balancing act thing. What are those called when a circus performer does it? Anyway that's some super-creative thinking, I'm impressed.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

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So our next theory isn't so much a puzzle but scripted event. we venture to the old coffee plantation, as we all know that there was supposed to be an Ablertosaurs attack. The walkthrough offers several ways the player can survive and even fight back during this attack but one thing that is only briefly suggested is to hide in a basement. only thing is that even in b55 there isn't a basement to hide in. However, through another chat with Drac on discord I believe I've found evidence that a basement was in fact planned, and not just scrapped like the school in the town.
base.png
base.png (1.92 MiB) Viewed 4651 times
Looking here we see two doors on either and this odd textured face on the back of the staircase, definitely doesn't match the other wall textures throughout the building. And why would there be two doors, creating this "room". So, theory is that the basement was in fact planned to be included and this oddly textured face is where it would have gone. the two doors would have been what separated the stair entrance from the rest of the house. And with the main house being the one with the breakable wall sections it wouldn't make sense for the basement to be in the outer sections as your meant to hide in there during the attack.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by Draconisaurus »

Quite like this theory. That texture analysis seems especially convincing.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

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Hello all, been a while but we're back with another theory and today we are in the Ingen town. Near the towns entrance we have a management bungalow with a telephone pole at an angle that the player can use to get to the roof. Odd thing since there's nothing up there and the wood fence around the front is pretty sufficient at keeping the nearby raptor back. So, what's going on here? Let's check our handy walkthrough document....and what's this?
Untitled.png
Untitled.png (1.34 MiB) Viewed 4365 times
Technician bungalows
Several technician bungalows, small two-room structures (kitchen/bedroom and separate bath), fill up space around the town.    Most are closed, some are open but mostly empty inside.    These will be non puzzle-critical structures in which the player may find useful tools and weapons or some props to flesh out the background.    One bungalow was Muldoon's, which looks the same as the others except for his name on a plaque on the door.
Bring barrels from gas station to make "staircase" to hole in roof of Muldoon's bungalow.    In Muldoon's bungalow find security computer passcode (also can be derived from inside security building?). 
Interesting, although we are a very long distance away from there. So, we know that there is a lot of cut content in this area, this leaves the question - did this concept ever make it into the game...and the answer is YES. Found in the MAX files is the very same plaque mentioned in the document.
SBungalowNameRM01t2.jpg
SBungalowNameRM01t2.jpg (4.29 KiB) Viewed 4365 times
So here we have a building with an odd puzzle set up, although a management house was used instead of the technician one, Roberts Plaque, and it's placed near Hammond and Wu's homes. The theory here is that with Robert's position in the film as head of security and the devs wanting to include him in the game they felt to upgrade his living accommodations either because of his status/importance or because they still wanted to do the roof puzzle but ran into issues with using the smaller bungalow. Or they wanted to have the extra space to hide puzzle hints or a weapon. Whatever the reason it does appear that something was going on here at some point. And while we don't have the building with the roof hole the fact that the plaque got made does say that unlike the school and other building details, this concept was being developed at some capacity.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by Hilwo »

Cool :) Been ages since I read that walkthrough, but I do remember seeing the Robert Muldoon sign among the many uncovered assets somewhere. As to why it was cut, the names Hammond, Wu and Muldoon are well-known to Jurassic fans. Maybe it was screaming too much where all the important objects would be? Especially since they'd all be clumped together.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by Draconisaurus »

I had forgotten about gas station barrels to get into his house. Was his house going to be closer to where the gas station is, or the gas station be somewhere else?...
The absense of a bungalow model with a hole in it. In reading dev creation guideline documents, my notion tells me that the model artist given Muldoon's Bungalow may have been told something along the lines of, "We'd still like to have his bungalow, but we're debating if a hole in the roof of a building is a good idea. So just make the plaque for now." "OK."
Maybe it was screaming too much where all the important objects would be? Especially since they'd all be clumped together.
Interesting idea. That's one from the big picture I didn't think about, and seems plausible.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

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Back tracking to IJ3 we have nothing, the walkthrough literally has nothing to say about this valley other than
(Various IJ valley puzzles)
Following the ridge climb segment.
So, for the most part we have to look to old game versions for an insight to what they had intended here. But even that is so useful, let me explain.
In another topic, Drac's Tres Re-Exploration talked about the area where in later versions of the level becomes home to the monolith.
There's less distraction from the streambed coming down from the mini-mountain, which still contains the helicopter crash music. Hmm... speaking of. That spot up where the Monolith goes. In this build it has 2 of those bluish-gray fallen logs, sideways to the stream, and then sticking up and to its side is another one of those small, liftable fallen palms that're used for puzzles. :| What could this have been for? Why would there be a puzzle up here? There's no indication of why. Since this is the first build with the helicopter, perhaps the helicopter was put here, along with this puzzle, and then moved to the swamp, while the puzzle remained.
Now the helicopters control stick is around this area but deep under the terrain and seemingly forgotten. Guess that padlock has a friend hahaha.
heli.png
heli.png (7.32 MiB) Viewed 3433 times
But by itself this is just a couple of curiosities, nothing more. Until you see Gamer's Republic 1998 issue. The pages are chalk full of, as of this date, missing concept art. And look who's here.... hanging in a tree. One other thing to note is that the drawing appears to depict the control stick still attached, so the idea that the piece broke off in the crash and got washed down the riverbank might not be the case, more likely due to its small size it was forgotten.
GamersRepublic_Aug1998_E3_Page2~2.png
GamersRepublic_Aug1998_E3_Page2~2.png (1.7 MiB) Viewed 3443 times

So, what's going on here? My guess is that you would find the helicopter crashed in the tree, just like the image, but the challenge becomes how to get up there. So using that palm you were to create a claimable ramp and your reward.... ugh.... a gun.... maybe a skull....

And another one down, can count getting this post done as my new year's resolution. :D
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by Draconisaurus »

Now the helicopters control stick is around this area but deep under the terrain and seemingly forgotten.
Seems modders aren't the only ones who do that.
My guess is that you would find the helicopter crashed in the tree, just like the image, but the challenge becomes how to get up there. So using that palm you were to create a claimable ramp and your reward.... ugh.... a gun.... maybe a skull....
The Tres Walkthrough has lots of these little "build a ramp" things seemingly. I had the impression they wanted this to be a really common recurring sort of puzzle. With those moveable fallen palms your guess seems pretty likely.

One question. Would the heli have been fixed in the tree, or moveable?
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by MinePass »

hm, that is a good question. Honestly could see either option being a possibility, although if it was movable then I would see it falling out of a tree being rather redundant to the necessity to complete the ramp. And although hard to tell in the drawing it looks like it's in there pretty good, so I'm going to say that its fixed.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by tatu »

Now the helicopters control stick is around this area but deep under the terrain and seemingly forgotten. Guess that padlock has a friend hahaha.
:| I have actually never noticed the stick there. I know about the music. The music there make so much more sense.
In build 32, the helicopter is found at the lake/swamp area. I guess in a future PH2IT version, I must make it crash into a tree in this area. It makes it more interesting that having it in IJ3 anyway.

I'd say the helicopter would be stuck in the tree as well. Otherwise it would've fallen after the crash probably!
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by Draconisaurus »

Stuck makes more sense.
Tatu wrote:In build 32, the helicopter is found at the lake/swamp area. I guess in a future PH2IT version, I must make it crash into a tree in this area. It makes it more interesting that having it in IJ3 anyway.
So my thinking is that this is like the Hunters Camp. The devs put it over in a spot that they knew the pre-release reviewers would find it and might have something to say about it. I still find it interesting when the builds contain modifications that were meant only for display and not final game position.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by MinePass »

Makes sense, the lake area was still in early dev and the bones and Dinos only serve to have something of interest and to show off.
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Re: Trespasser Puzzle Theory

Post by Draconisaurus »

Same with Dino placement I think.
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