Petike the Taffer

I've added new royalty-free music to my main post.

I wrote earlier that I owe this masterpiece a review, so... Here is my detailed review of this groundbreaking and seminal Mission Fan. SPOILERS ABOUND ! TDM PLAYER BEWARE, YOU'RE IN FOR SPOILERS AND MAYBE EVEN A SCARE ! This mission... subverted my expectations. Starting with the briefing video. Not since the days of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns have I seen such daring subversion right at the start. You're expecting one thing... then, bam ! I tried everything to infiltrate the mansion from the outside ! No luck ! Well and truly, expectations subverted ! NPC dialogue heard from the inside... stellar ! Brought a tear to my eye. Or was it just one of the raindrops that fell on my head ? What else brought a tear to my eye ? The senselessly slaughtered guard at the courtyard ! Clearly, a cautionary story that he who grabs a sword... and yet, forgets to dim his lantern, the fool... shall die by someone's sword or arrow. Figures ! That you hid the masterful sidequest of collecting the pennies-for-a-thought from the rather racy fountain, in order to later thoughtfully redistribute them to the poor and hungry street urchins of Bridgeport, is nothing short of design brilliance worthy of at least a two hours long, detailed GDC lecture. I'd watch such a lecture on a loop, 24 hours a day, twelve times a day. Brilliant stuff ! Ah, the side-yard, with steps and a basement entrance that looked and felt straight out of Thief II's opening mission, Running Interference... Could the cunning TDM homages to the classics get any better ?! Could they ? Well, soon enough, I discovered that, yes, they could get even better ! There was an even more amazing homage that I didn't expect ! Read on to find out what... The chefpick was... indescribably cool. I now yearn for it to be included in every single FM. The classic lockpicks feel completely passé. I knocked out both NPCs and... what is this unexpected social commentary ?! The knocked-out have names ?! I applaud your deeply incisive observation, worthy of a skilled chef with a kitchen knife, that the NPCs in games are not mere fictional constructs, but fictional beings with names, hearts and souls ! I confess, upon this moving revelation, I started shedding tears so uncontrollably, I nearly had to quit playing the mission. Yet, I pressed on, heartened and refreshed by such displays of humanity in a work of stealthy interactive fiction ! The commentary was no less subtle and stealthy, I tell you ! As subtle as the protagonist's gritty, grounded accent ! Two different entrances into the local vent system... I... I can't even... So many possible routes of entry. Truly, in the grand tradition of the TDM immersive sim design philosophy ! The choice of giving the intrepid protagonist a temporary rat companion, bribable by cheese, who fetches priceless hidden loot, was equal parts innovative and a hard-hitting social commentary on the abuse of animals for theft and burglary, and people "ratting out" their fellow tenants by revealing the hiding places of their priceless belongings ! I was deeply impressed ! I was thoroughly amazed ! You even had my 'stalgia sense tingling ! Why ? That minor element of your FM even reminded me of the old but gold Thief II FM campaign The Flying Age: The Abominable Flying Machines of Dr. Zeppelinger, where you escape a prison cell by giving a mouse a bit of cheese you've managed to find, and the mouse then provides you with a means of escape. I have scarcely ever seen such a wonderful duo of homages to other past LGS missions and fan missions ! Of course, the shocking revelation with the undead in the freezer was an even more biting commentary on the undead precariat of today, and their ruthless and dehumanizing exploitation by The Man, maaan, the snobby culinary establishment. Undeadkind merely want to roam their abandoned tombs and catacombs in peace (pieces ?) and get a bite or two out of a stray vagrant or drunk guard every now and then, no big deal. Society needs to be more charitable to undeadkind ! And you've even included a gas arrow up in the rafters ! You well and truly know your audience, as I'm an old, die-hard gas arrow collecting enthusiast. I am a sophisticated, yet simple man: I see a gas arrow in Thief or The Dark Mod, I immediately grab it, owing to its rarity. Thank you for such generous mission design. To cut a long story short, I have had a thorough, engrossing and moving cultural experience with this short-but-dazzling mission ! In the shadowed alleys of TDM fan mission sites, I have crossed paths with missions that were ruthlessly difficult and confounding, yet rewarding, but never have I played a mission this... authentic... avantgarde... thought-provoking... It even made me feel hungry ! Riveting, simply riveting. Like working on the skeleton of a 1930s Art Deco skyscraper. Ultimate verdict: 22 frommages out of 20, with a happy cheese-filled rat as the cherry on the top. (But what kind of frommage ? Cheddar ? Swiss cheese ? Gouda ?! I dunno. Don't have a cheesemaking degree.) In other words, I cannot rate this mission other than with the Chef Excellence Award for... Excellence ! *chef's kiss* Le Mission Légendaire Magnifique ! Roll over, Requiem ! Roll over, Crucible of Omens ! Roll over, Iris ! This, this... is the pinnacle TDM fan mission of all time.

Argh, sacrebleu ! Mon ami, I owe it to myself to try zis mazterpiece, hon, hon. Very... avantgarde ! Will provide feedback later.

I've also added new links to royalty-free music in my other external music database thread. I've covered the historical music fairly in-depth, but the royalty-free tracks were lacking in numbers, so I searched around for some interesting ones. There's more to come in that other thread in particular.

I've seen fun workarounds like that in other game modding as well. Years ago, maybe even a decade, some fella who was making a mod for Mount & Blade over at the Taleworlds forums revealed that he put invisible human NPCs on the backs of regular horse NPCs, then put the horse NPCs inside a horse corral he built for one of his mod's locations/scenes and then did some minor scripting, so the horses with invisible riders would wander around the corral. The end result was that it looked they're doing this of their own will, rather than an NPC rider being scripted to ride around the corral slowly. Necessity is the mother of invention. I don't know about the newest Mount & Blade game, but the first generation ones (2008-2022) apparently had some sort of hardcoded issue back in the earlier years, where if you left a horse NPC without a rider in its saddle, the horses would just stand around and wait and you couldn't get them to move around. Placing an invisible rider in their saddles suddenly made it viable again, at least for background scenes, of riderless horses wandering around, for added atmosphere. First generation M&B presumed you'd mostly be seeing horses in movement with riders, and the only horses-wandering-loosely animations and scripting were done for situations when the rider was knocked off their horse or dismounted in the middle of a battle. Hence the really odd workarounds. So, an invisible NPC trick might not be out of the question in TDM, even though you could probably still bump into it, despite its invisibility.

That's the exact one I meant. I've tried it in my FM (a wait node converted into a follow node), but it doesn't seem to work once the character reaches the spot where it's supposed to trigger. The character just stands and waits in place, as usual or as with the wait node. Well, I don't really need a follow node in the FM I'm currently making, so I'll still have plenty of time to wait until a fully functional follow node becomes available. (There's also some potential path node workarounds if it doesn't get resolved, anyway.) Thanks, Amadeus. Interesting. The FM I might make in the future that might need the follow type node is still really far away, so it's unimportant now.

I plan to gradually try out all or most of the different path node types and adjust them depending on the interaction. Though I don't plan to use it in this particular mission, I have a keen interest in the follow type, as I'll want an NPC to follow the player character in another, future FM I'd like to create. Never too soon to try out various functions while I'm already learning new FM-building skins after a long hiatus. Thank you for the suggestion. I completely forgot about the location system ambients as an option ! A few years back, when I was testing various stuff in DR, I did actually use that approach instead, once or twice. I haven't used DR much in recent years, so I eventually forgot about setting it up that way. Acknowledged, and I'll look into it. It'll save a lot of time concerning the audio side of the mission. My first few missions won't have much a natural environment, they'll largelly be small and focused on buildings or urban spaces, so I won't need to bother with detailed audio for rivers yet. I have an outdoor FM planned for later (it's in the pre-production phase), and I'll have a good reason to study it in greater detail. It's actually okay, I don't reallt need rectangular speakers. Given that I've been reminded I can set a main ambience for each room - something I did know before, but forgot, after not working properly with DR these past few years - I'll do just that, and use the speakers for more secondary ambience concerns. Handy indeed. A rectangular shape would be easier to remember. I'll just use the filters in the editor to put away the speakers if I ever the get the impression they're blocking my view. Also, I don't actually mind the shape all that much. As you and the others say, the size/radius of the speaker is the actual key aspect. I'm a bit disappointed it's seemingly not possible to resize speakers the same way you can resize brushes or certain models, though you can still tweak the radius numerically, manually. As long as I can work with that, the actual shape of a speaker isn't really important. My main concern is expanding the minimum and maximum radius areas to an extent where they'll be audible for most for all of the respective areas the player will visit, rather than fading away quickly once the player leaves the hub of the speaker behind. As was already said above, I'll use the different utility to set the main ambient for the individual rooms, rather than a manually placed speaker, and I'll reserve the speakers for additional sound effects or more local ambience. I've already added some extra parameters to the speakers I'm testing out in my FM, so I'll take a look at those soon, though I'll deal with the main room ambience settings first. I'd like to thank everyone for their replies. While I'm not surprised by the answers, I'm now more confident in working with the path node and speaker entities. On an unrelated sidenote to all of this, the same in-development FM where I'm testing the speaker placement and range was tested yesterday for whether an NPC AI can walk from the ground floor all the way to the topmost floor, without issues. Thankfully, there have been no issues at all, and the test subject - a female mage, whom I won't use in the completed FM, sadly - did a successful first ascent of the tower-like building that'll serve as the main setting. (That's all your getting from me for now, concerning the FM contents.)

I'm updating the external links in my main post. I've added YT links, and I'll also update the website links to the individual tracks.

I wonder whether you can resize and reshape a speaker from a spherical shape into a rectangular shape that could fit in a room. I couldn't find a clear tutorial on resizing the speaker and altering its shape from the default sphere/orb shape. Odd. Maybe it's just a dumb pipe dream by me, but I'd find a rectangular sort of configuration for a speaker much better to work with.

Call me foolish, but how exactly do I connect a path_corner, path_wait and other AI path nodes to a particular AI ? I can't seem to figure out how to assign a particular path node to a particular AI. For example, I have a commoner, want him to walk a few steps to the nearest "wait" node, then do his waiting there for a few seconds, then move onto another path_corner, etc. I understand you can likely use a particular path node for several characters with a similar or identical route, but I just want to be sure the AI character actually reacts to a path node. Is the Ctrl + K method sufficient ?

*TDM or Thief guard grumpy voice* I knew someone was taffin' around with me the moment I read "he ran away to the woods of northern California".

As the author of this older thread, is it all right if I revive it ? I myself have a few questions about narrative structure while making an FM, and I don't want to make a completely new thread. Especially when this thread is still rather short. We don't need ten different threads with the exact same topic.

I usually share other people's photos of historical and industrial architecture in this thread, but I've decided to finally share some of my own photos that I've accumulated over the years. Over the years, especially the last twenty or so years, I've wandered many of the old town quarters in cities and towns all around my country, taking snapshots. Wereas many of the main streets and major landmarks have long since had nice and beautiful restoration work done, many of the more obscure side streets, back alleys and occassional overlooked corners had interesting sights to behold. I've particularly been fond of old townhouses that show elements from different eras of history, as well as all the wear accumulated over the years and decades. As much as I like that many of these eventually also receive decent restoration work and look nice again, the sight of a well-worn, dilapidated or even ruined house or ocassional public building can prove really stimulating for the imagination. They've got a lot of proverbial "texture" (not just in the surface sense) and "character" that can hike one's imagination, especially with regards to lived-in environments with long histories.

Okay, you fellow taffers. I'm not promising anything amazing, but I'll give it a try. I'd prefer to leave the Corbin-focused missions to Springheel and the rest of the main Corbin FM authors. I'll use the contest as an excuse to work on that FM I was preparing for my Partners in Crime series.

Aberconwy House, one of the best-preserved medieval houses in Wales, originating in the 14th century. Includes a house museum. If you happen to visit Wales, you can find it on 2 Castle Street in the town of Conwy. National Trust website for Aberconwy House Visit Wales website for Aberconwy House Geograph.co.uk entries for Aberconwy House Wikimedia Commons entries for Aberconwy House Conwy has several other preserved historical houses and buildings from earlier centuries. These include the later Tudor era Plas Mawr, which also has a house museum (and which I've already featured in this thread years earlier), and there's also the famous 'Smallest House in Great Britain' and plenty of preserved fortification monuments. Speaking of... The 'Smallest House in Great Britain', in Conwy, a tourist attraction that's more on the cheesy side due to its notoriety/record, but is still a nice example of a period house centuries old, that was built in the spirit of "How can our ingenuity provide us with a small house and lodgings even in a narrow, cramped part of the street ?" vernacular ingenuity. Official website for the Smallest House Visit Conwy website for the Smallest House Geograph.co.uk entries for the Smallest House Wikimedia Commons entries for the Smallest House Various narrow houses from around the world English Heritage website for the Medieval Merchant's House in Southampton Geograph.co.uk entries for the Medieval Merchant's House in Southampton Wikimedia Commons entries for the Medieval Merchant's House in Southampton Combine these photos with the medieval early modern housing and market hall photos from my previous post, and you'll have plenty of inspiration on how to furnish rural houses and townhouses in TDM's setting.

I've decided to make a list of my posts in this thread thus far. Only the posts where I shared images of real world locations for inspiration (mostly reference images of various historical architecture). 19th century octagon houses as inspiration for more fancy houses of industralists (12 May 2015) Old electric powerplant building in Poprad, Slovakia - red brick Gothic Revival stylistics (17 July 2015) - needs image fixin' Plas Mawr in Conwy, Wales - well-preserved medieval and early modern Welsh townhouse, with interior museum (29 July 2015) Castell Coch in Wales - reconstructed medieval castle, with minor 19th century industrial details (13 August 2015) + addendum Illustrations and concept art for Bree from various game projects (3 September 2015) Run-down Neo-classical manor house in a rural area (15 December 2015) - dated image links, I need to fix 'em Smaller but interesting manor houses and fortified manor houses in Slovakia (30 August 2016) Manor houses and fortified manor houses in Slovakia (13 March 2017) Environmental storytelling inspired by "reading" real world ruins (3 May 2021) Stokesay Castle rural fortified manor house, one of the few of its kind in England (26 March 2024) Houses, inns and market halls of medieval and early modern England (26 March 2024) Aberconwy House in Conwy, Wales - well-preserved 14th century Welsh medieval merchant townhouse (27 March 2024)

Ah, pity I wasn't reading the forums back in February. I'm fond of that game, along with Bugbear's other early title, Rally Trophy. I was never too good at FlatOut, but it was always a hoot to play.

Salter's Hall, Sudbury, Suffolk, England - 15th century The George Inn, near Norton St Philip, Somerset, England - 14th-15th century, upper storeys repaired in 16th century after fire The George and Dragon public house (now a former inn), Codicote, Hertfordshire, England - dates back to the 14th and 15th century, not used as a pub anymore since the late 2000s, but has a restaurant instead The Salisbury Arms Hotel, Hertford, Hertfordshire - the oldest parts date back to the 15th century, the inn was called The Bell until 1800, there had been some minor additions in the 17th, 19th and 20th century The Bell / Ye Olde Bell and Steelyard inn, New Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England - an inn constructed during the second half of the 16th century, its street then known as New Street. The latter of the two names is the contemporary name, the former name the original one. Disregard the Volkswagen Polo, please, LOL. Woodbridge has several old rural inns dating back to the early modern era, e.g. The Angel, also from the second half of the 16th century. The Stag Inn, Rockeford, Devon, England - the oldest parts are apparently 12th/13th century, the overall look solidified in the 17th century Ellesmere House, Whitchurch, Shropshire, England - early 18th century house, showing the transition from traditional vernacular timber-based construction to brick-based construction (I feel this could be used as inspiration for depicting townhouses reflecting TDM's socio-cultural tradition from a more medieval era to a tentative early industrial era) St Mary's Cottage, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England - I just found this a cute timber-framed house, so feel free to use it as inspiration for smaller TDM townhouses or taller rural houses in a market town, village, or something or other "Bayleaf House", an early 16th century farmhouse, originally from Chiddingstone, Kent, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex, south England 3D tour of the "Bayleaf House" at this open-air museum Farmhouse built in 1609, originally in Midhurst, Sussex, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex, south England 3D tour of the 1609 farmhouse at this open-air museum Poplar Cottage, originally from Washington, Sussex, England, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex, south England 3D tour of the Poplar Cottage at this open-air museum A small house, originally from Boarhunt, Hampshire, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex, south England Medieval stone cottage with thatched roof, originally from Hangleton, Sussex, England, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex, south England A medieval house, originally from Sole Street (Cobham), Kent, England, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex, south England A medieval house, originally from North Cray, Kent, England, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex, south England Rural market hall, originally from Titchfield, Hampshire, England, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex, south England You can read more about the individual buildings at said open-air museum here. The Old Market Hall, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England - additional photos here and here

Stokesay Castle, one of the best-preserved fortified manor houses in England and the British Isles in general. Rather than remain an original castle or castle ruin, or completely converted into a mansion, manor house, chateau, or romantic folly, this older rural castle was converted into a traditional fortified manor house in the early modern era and hadn't really changed its nature throughout the centuries. I feel this is a very good inspiration for TDM, given the style of architecture in TDM's fictional universe. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Stokesay_Castle https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Stokesay_Castle_(interior) https://www.geograph.org.uk/snippet/6359 https://www.geograph.org.uk/snippet/4859 Loads and loads of great photos behind these links, so don't think these are the only interesting ones I could share. There's a huge amount of interesting details in this fortified manor house.

A pretty deadly toy if you "catch" one of its bolts in the face or gut.

How Delightfyl ! Keep up the good work, Fili.