What's Included?

[Guest Vadrosaul]

Hi, great to see a Thief mod using an advanced engine with great lighting.

 

My questions are along the lines of what will be included that was not in Thief Deadly Shadows, meaning will the Dark Mod have:

• Rope Arrows
  
• Sword for Garrett
  
• Speed Potions
  
• Gas Mines
  

Also, how will lockpicking be done? Personally I liked TDS's way but without the visual tumbler help.

 

How will item selection work? Will it be like in TDS with the gears, or more traditional?

[New Horizon]

Hi, great to see a Thief mod using an advanced engine with great lighting.

 

Hi, I remember you from the Ion Storm boards. Welcome.

 

My questions are along the lines of what will be included that was not in Thief Deadly Shadows, meaning will the Dark Mod have:

 

• Rope Arrows - yes
   
  
• Sword for Garrett - yes, a short sword
   
  
• Speed Potions - not likely.
   
  
• Gas Mines - Most likely.
  

 

Also, how will lockpicking be done? Personally I liked TDS's way but without the visual tumbler help.

 

- I won't get into any details on Lockpicking yet. It will provide challenge however.

 

How will item selection work?

 

- More traditional. As little use of the playing screen as possible.

[Vadrosaul]

Thx for the replies NH. I remember you too from the IS boards. You and John P. provided the best mods for TDS IMO

 

I'm wondering if I can ask many questions without it looking bothersome

 

Well anyways:

 

- Is wall flattening included?

- How big will the mod game be?

- Will you have a central hub for missions, like the city in TDS?

- Are there more movement speeds beyond Run, Walk, Creep?

- Is there a 3rd person view?

- What equipment from TDS will be included/not included?

 

Thx for any replies, most appreciated

 

PS sorry for this being in the wrong board

Edited December 23, 2004 by Vadrosaul

[sparhawk]

PS sorry for this being in the wrong board

No problem. That can be helped.

[New Horizon]

Thx for the replies NH. I remember you too from the IS boards. You and John P. provided the best mods for TDS IMO wink.gif

 

I'm wondering if I can ask many questions without it looking bothersome unsure.gif

 

Thanks, I'm picking away at the final version as we speak. Once I get that off my plate I'll be able to put my full energy behind the Dark Mod. I hate leaving things unfinished.

 

As for your questions. I'll answer what I can without crossing any lines. Here we go....

 

- Is wall flattening included? Not as of this writing.

 

- Is there a 3rd person view? Third person is not supported.

 

- How big will the mod game be? The mod is not going to be like a traditional Mod. We are releasing an Editing Toolset to the Fan Community first. This will allow them to begin producing Thief Style missions with plenty variety and style to choose from. Essentially, you get to make a Thief game In Thine Own Image! We will include a few example missions in this release to help explain the documentation. At a later date you should see either a campaign or series of stand alone missions from us.

 

- Will you have a central hub for missions, like the city in TDS? Since we will be releasing a toolset initially this will likely not be the case.

 

- Are there more movement speeds beyond Run, Walk, Creep? Too early to say yet really. We do want to explore other options as we're not bound by Thief rules, but at the same time we want to retain a certain familiarity.

 

- What equipment from TDS will be included/not included? You will see the basic toolset or variations of it...plus a few surprises.

[Hylix Ulyx]

I'll probably get laughed at and flamed for this question, but I just can't help myself.

 

I see that the team is honoring the Thief legacy by trying to adhere to the farmiliar (something TDS did only marginally), but are willing to branch out into new territory; my question then pertains to the new territory, specifically movement:

 

Will there be implementation of, either by design or by the option to include it in our own mods, the ability to go prone.

 

Something that always bothered me about System Shock 2* was the loss of the ability to go prone al la System Shock 1. Yes, Yes, I know. Our Dark Mod protagonist is a thief, not a Special Forces Operative. But, besides the fact that I just love options, I don't see it being to much of break in the immersion to have our little cat burgler hit the deck, and shimmey politely beneath a nearby table or anything crawl-underable.

 

Of course, my little monologue is meaningless (on so many levels) if it's not even possible.

 

Either way, much respect to the DM crew for current and future work well done.

 

*(Being that SS2 was built using the same engine our beloved Thief was created, I felt the reference somewhat relevant)

 

HU

[Fingernail]

It would be more than possible to implement; the only problem being it would be hard to judge how far his legs stick out etc. and therefore whether you are actually hiding under a table or just partly under it.

 

When crouching, the player assumes roughly the shape of a cube - it's easy to know when you are entirely under something.

 

But we may consider it and test it.

[oDDity]

Yes, going prone isn't much use indoors in almost all situations, apart from hiding under a bed maybe

[sparhawk]

When crouching, the player assumes roughly the shape of a cube - it's easy to know when you are entirely under something.

It's not only that, but also the AI. the AI already has enough disadvantages and it would disrupt gamplay if we add yet another one.

[Hylix Ulyx]

Good points, all. May be the very reason LGS opted not to include it in Garret's arsenal of movement. I mean, if you think about it, if they included the seemingly mundane option of leaning forward (something that until that time {with the exception of SS1}, and, even presently, game developers don't think to include) then it serves to reason that they considered implementing going prone, if at no other time than in the early stages of System Shock 2.

 

Still, even if it's not included, I'm still looking foward to the Mod.

 

I will say that I wasn't just thinking in terms of hiding under tables and such, (though I realise that was my initial example) but my thinking also reflected the need to get into crawl spaces and "vents", for lack of a better term. Apart from that, however, I can see how in a gameplay sense prone would just be extra work for little pay off.

 

I suppose if I could become completely invisible just by standing still between lights in but a sliver of shadow, the last thing I would need, or even consider, is laying down.