Darkness_Falls

I'm also quite opposed to loot glint. If items are made easily recognizable as loot without going overboard, which T1/T2 pulled off well, then there shouldn't really be a need for loot glint like T3. By having loot glint, you never have those moments of discovery like in T2 where you thought you found all the loot in a room, only to revisit and see a little gold coin sitting off in a shadowy corner, or on the 1.5"-wide top edge of some wall paneling. Loot glint also takes away one of the uses our flares would provide. I love NH's attempt at showing a valuable item. That sort of coloring, also combined with having valuable objects be slightly more brilliant (bump shadowy) -- I don't know how to describe -- would be cool. You know how when you look at a brushed steel surface in a game and you move back and forth you can see how the light reacts to it within its surface? This is what I mean by more brilliant. Valuable objects would catch the surrounding light better and have a brighter brilliance to them than regular objects so they're more visible when you move around. Brilliance maybe isn't a good word to describe, but maybe you know what I mean? Basically, valuable objects would have a higher tendency to be caught by your eye as you walk around. In addition to this, maybe have it so if you walk by an item at just the right angle, it will reflect a single bright flash of light to your eye (unless there's no light source nearby whatsoever). Experiencing this light flash would be a somewhat rare occurrence (since how often would a glint of light hit your eye from loot in real life) and would NOT be a flashing beacon like in T3. This would make hunting for loot funner, imo. Loot glint coupled with loot percentages kind've killed the thieving experience in T3 for me. I disliked loot percentages. I much preferred T1/T2's accumulation of loot value. In T1/T2, you didn't know how much loot you had compared to the total available for the level. So, when you had amassed 1250 loot, you had no clue if there was only 150 loot left, or 2000 left. Part of the mystery of it all.

Okay, who has experience implementing sounds in games? I'd like to know how the sound files should be created/structured as far as the length of sound snippets go and how transitions are accomplished. I'm more referring to ambient sounds and music, than I am sound effects. Sound effects are pretty simple, I assume they just get triggered by the object that's supposed to make the noise But how do games go from one ambient track to another without there being a discernable clip in the audio? Well, I have played games where there's an obvious cut from one track to another... but we should try to avoid this as much as possible. I figure sound files get mapped into the map and as the player goes through the map the different ambiences occur. But what if you want a really creepy and melodic ambience in one area of the map and something more lighthearted in another section... but you want the transition between the two to be smooth? What do you do? Are separate transitionary (in-between) sound tracks created to accomplish this, or do most games just cut the track completely over to the new track without any care to how smooth the transition is? I'm just trying to better understand how sounds will be implemented to help me when I create sound files.

Yep, good idea. Some responses thrown into the mix could even be nothing spoken, just sighs or subtle acknowledgements... such as "Psshhhhhh...." or a short "Hmm...." or "Mmm-hmmm" or "yepp..."

We'd need a LochRenz Monster in that case. Hehe

I agree. oDDity's characters seem more real than T3's. Maybe it's the plasticized textures they used on the models in T3, though, no? Regardless, T1 and T2 guards seemed more real to me, too.

I like that it actually looks like a gem, with clarity to it. It looks like something that would realistically react to surrounding light to properly either brighten or darken depending on the amount of light around you.

Yeah, that looks really cool! Will be nice to see it in action.

True! Regardless, I've cleared the air there.

Coolio! Looks like we have a number of artistes working for DarkMod Good job, guys. Speaking of guys, aren't we an equal opportunity employer? Where are the ladies???? LOL PS, I just posted this on ISA's forum Just so you all know, I'm not really retarded or mentally challenged, I just want to see what he replies with He probably won't fall for it. I'll be truthful there later.

That's awesome!

Yeah, I'm not sure. Maybe see if the Help file says anything about Gamma adjustments, if you haven't already? C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Help. Does PS7 come with Adobe ImageReady? Maybe the gama settings are only in that portion of things. I remember that feature being in PS5, but I'm not seeing it in CS either.

oDDity - I took a look at your samples, and I have to say they're just not up to snuff. Please try some other modding team. HAHAHAHA, just kidding! Those look very nice! I especially like the Thief jumping over the wall

I dunno, something about the stained glass one reminds me of the T3 menu for some reason. Maybe its just the colors... but yet they're different. No clue. Regardless, it's obviously is beautiful, but it also reminds me of the Thief-TheCircle site. I'd still prefer the book style That menu might be good for the actual campaign we do, but I think the book style lends itself better to presenting an interface for people to choose the Fan Mission they want.

I can do whatever, as long as my software allows I wouldn't know which KHz settings, etc. to use for a game anyways, so I'll rely on your guys' expertise!

This last one is not really my fav. Too simple. I liked the T2 interface, but also feel the idea of a book with flickering candle and blowing out would be cool. I'm not really into the DeadEnds approach; it, too, seemed simple. Lacking life. (But I guess that's why they called it DeadEnds ) With animated page turns and flickering candle effects, it could be cool. But I'll always also like the steampunk style of T2.

Woot! Not a nay-sayer!! Down with the nay-sayers!!!! haha

Hmm, I felt the golems could've been much better. I didn't like them that much. They just seemed like guards with cement poured over them Not as big and intimidating as they could've/should've been for my tastes. They didn't really look like stone either.

Because I figured others had decided they wanted them and it was part of the project plan I like drawing creatures and critters.

As a concept artist, what's more critical for me than to create concept art? I can't yet model stuff in CGI because I don't have that experience. Spiders? you can't have spiders. You can't handle the spiders. HA, LOL, I bet there'll be spiders some day. I'm not an animator or programmer, but aren't there already a multitude of resources available to do this? Seems like the skeletal framework of many creatures probably already exists in the Doom 3 SDK if not on the web? 3-D Studio Max has skeletons for a few things already pre-loaded.

I'm with you. Let's not have creatures like this or any other insectoid/crustracean/lizardly variety. I also didn't find them very fun or entertaining in the games. I often see them as just guards with a different skin on them, unless their abilities or traits are very different. I mainly like the realistic thieiving experiences against guards more than anything else. The occasional pop-up ghost was very cool too, imo, and often scared the heck out of me... especially when I wasn't expecting it. Some 'woo' is okay, if done well... but I get zombied out after a while. Burricks are okay, and real animals like crows, bats, and bugs are okay... but not bi-pedal humanoid creatures. Seeing as how people don't want humanoid creatures, I'd rather focus my attention on something other than this. Can ACN1020 be deleted from the project plan?

With pincers, doesn't my creature have crustracean influence; and with buggy eyes, insectoid influence? I see real world anatomy all over this thing - legs, chest, head, arms, eyes, mouth, etc... thus, 'human'-oid, as requested. Oh well, I guess my downfall was looking at Thief I to try and figure out what a Crayman or Kurshok was. PS: Perhaps I should submit him to the Halo group to see if they want to use him in Halo 3

I see the points. I made him grayish brown cuz I didn't think something living in the ground would have much pigment in it skin. Have adjusted some colors: I'm also not a fan of 'woo,' but my assignment was to create a creature to give variety to FM builders. He's not based on a crab... just has pincers. He's based on the character roaming around in the caves of T1. PS - Please send me a picture of a Crayman. I guess I don't know what they look like.

Not sure if I know exactly what a Kurshok or Crayman looks like, but I recently played T1 a little and think I found one. This concept is loosely based on that guy I saw. Drawn completely from scratch without looking at anything, so I don't imagine there'd be any copyright issues unless I have a photographic memory and am an autistic savant in the closet I was thinking the little green belly thing could be a weak point for arrows or something... (ensuring a one-shot kill). I'm not sure if the concept captures it very well, but since the guy has crab-like pincers, I was thinking his chest, shoulders, pincers, parts of his exoskeleton body and legs could be made of a hard shell-like material. I envision fleshy (or not as hard parts) around his rib-cage, biceps, neck, and possibly parts of his legs and feet. Click here for larger version of same pic. Note: I didn't work on the legs or feet much, so they lack detail. I can work on them later, if needed. I figure I should at least create some feet. I envision him having a clicking sound of some sort, as his somewhat insect-like. I think this may be the sound the similar creatures in T1 had, but can't remember.

I'm not a modeller, but I would also like to bring females back. I'd also like different head shapes incorporated for characters.

I envision moss arrows being more of a darker 'grass' or 'olive' green (maybe a mixture of the two), whereas gas arrows would be a bit brighter... yes, with more yellowy tones but not so much that they turn yellow.