Publicity

[Nyarlathotep]

Because lockpicking minigames are so last year.

 

Since your cock doubles as a lockpick, the masturbation minigame is going to replace it. I think it'll add some much-needed life into what has become a tired gameplay mechanic. The TDM guys have some really great ideas.

[Maximius]

Since your cock doubles as a lockpick, the masturbation minigame is going to replace it. I think it'll add some much-needed life into what has become a tired gameplay mechanic. The TDM guys have some really great ideas.

 

Are you guys planning on including a battering ram to replace mine? I don't want to be left out, ya know!

[Ombrenuit]

You also have to take into account the audience of the Mod, primarily existing Thief fans, which are already congregating at TTLG. I doubt that we could net very many new Thief fans with this, but I'm sure it would be nice.

[Chi Haotian]

If we never recruited new members, the project would have been dead within months. ...

Aside from that, it doesn't take a Thief fan to make appropriate looking textures, it doesn't take a Thief fan to model a wooden chair....nor does it take a Thief fan to write the code for menus and much more. What it takes, is someone who is interested and dedicated enough to learn about the Thief series, and then put the time and effort into making these assets work within our design.

 

I think you're correct about this.

 

It was certainly not a similar thing that ruined Deadly Shadows. Being made by a different company, making the game cross platform, poor management, that is what cursed TDS.

 

Still, I think it's safe to assume that hiring new people to make up most of their team played a major role. It's hard to believe that the same people who introduced Keepers in the story of the first game would have brought us Keeper Enforcers in the third.

 

Anyway, I was just concerned that a promising project does not end up disliked as TDS game is, by trying to cater to varying audiences.

[New Horizon]

Anyway, I was just concerned that a promising project does not end up disliked as TDS game is, by trying to cater to varying audiences.

 

Whether new members come in or not is irrelevant. People don't just come in and do whatever in the hell they want, they're interviewed and evaluated to see if their styles fit. We also have team leaders to oversee the different departments. We work together and solve problems together...we're very clear on what we want to achieve. TDS is as much more a product of poor leadership than it is a product of fresh blood. Under the right leadership, it could have turned out just as good...if not better than the originals. The designers were simply doing their job and following the design decisions laid out by the department heads. Their aim from the beginning was to make TDS a different game...more action oriented. Our goal is to take the T1 and 2 elements, bring them into a modern engine, and hopefully improve upon them.

[Ishtvan]

Anyway, I was just concerned that a promising project does not end up disliked as TDS game is, by trying to cater to varying audiences.

I've never seen any posts here that indicate catering to a certain audience, other than the very general Thief-fan audience. The only audience we ever cater to is ourselves (the mod team), and we make up a pretty good cross section of Thief fans. Our objective is not to sell to the widest audience to maximize sales numbers; we have none. Not to say that we won't consider interesting ideas that are put forward by non-team members, but we have no marketing lead yelling at us to add more boobies for the 14 year old male demographic, for example. That's a major difference from industry.

[sophisticatedZombie]

As a group, we all tend to have a sense of style that allows us to enhance the stealth gameplay experience without losing the spirit of the originals. Here are some examples:

 

When discussing combat, we all quickly agreed on the idea to include swordplay finishing moves. By having 6 different finishing moves, each with its own glow feedback produce by swirling spheres of particle effects, we have upped the ante on other stealth games by filling the player with a sense of power.

 

Similarly, when we were considering whether or not loot should blink or glow, we decided that it would be best to eliminate frustration by putting a radar that shows the location of all the loot and guards as dots in a mini-map in the upper left corner of the screen. The lack of such a radar made the previous games tedious, as you didn't know where all the guards were and could sometimes make incorrect decisions.

 

If we weren't so concentrated on improving the game concept, rather than catering to the mass market, we never would have decided to not include readables in the game. By instead having all stories related by lip-synched heads voice acted by fashion models, we have quickened the pace of the game considerably, removing the story tedium that bogs down other stealth games.

 

Plus, our map design concepts, which move the player from "shooting hallway" to "arena" back and forth provide a balance of movement and pacing without letting the player get lost. A good level design should be like a ride at the amusement park, guiding the player through a series of experiences. If there is enough visual detail in the high poly count models, the player will want to experience it again and again.

 

Ofcourse, the tense atmosphere of the night plays a big role in a gothic steam-punk thief game, so we decided to include billboard ads only for products that met our strict criteria of moodiness.

 

Given just that list of decisions alone, its clear that we know what we are doing and have an innate sense of what made the Thief series so immersive.

 

Note: Just in caseyou didn't pick up on the fact that NONE of the above decisions were real, please stop shouting at your monitor. Thank you.

[ascottk]

Note: Just in caseyou didn't pick up on the fact that NONE of the above decisions were real, please stop shouting at your monitor. Thank you.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

Don't forget about the rape simulator and the 'spontaneous' ejaculation feature...by pressing CTRL-J, the player will have a spontaneous orgasm to relieve stress.

This is very good, very good.

Not just for stress relief, that's our replacement for both the water arrow and the oil flask.

Good, that's why since 2001 I've been collecting digitized nude paintings to include in the mission along with designing my mission on paper.

marketing lead yelling at us to add more boobies for the 14 year old male demographic, .

No boobies in my FM, complete Sodomy! and lots of Gin.

[Ishtvan]

Set to inspiring banjo tunes, I would hope!

[Nyarlathotep]

I was hoping for Yakety Sax (the Benny Hill theme), but banjos would be just as good.

[Vadrosaul]

You guys should check out Great Games Experiment. It could help you promote your Mod, and maybe get some help in key areas your shortstaffed on.

 

BluesNewsGGE is a referral code I know

[Crispy]

Interesting. Sounds like something I should be in on anyway (besides TDM). I'll check it out, thanks for the pointer.

[sophisticatedZombie]

How is a mini-masturbation game going to add anything? The whole point is to simulate things you don't do on an hourly basis already? But seriously, we need to think about these features before "hand".