The Black Arrow

I didn't say this is something nobody wants, I said that this is something nobody cares about because they got used to it, meaning adding it really shouldn't be a problem. Also your second sentence confirms my point. And no, this IS broken, because like I said, if you press a button you want it to have no delay and be responsive, in TDM it is not so. It doesn't matter if it's a "toggle" that you must unpress, it just has no logical sense at all to do so, are we back to the very old arcades where the controls were horrid? Just because people think it's not broken doesn't mean it isn't broken. And since you put me in it, how is this a big of a deal? Use stagilov's solution.

Please Mugi don't let your energy be dampened, I think you did a great job, hell actually, an amazing one because your fix opened up to another bug, which is good because it's been there for a time (at least from what I read, it's the conclusion I get), now that can be fixed too. I don't think the issue with the ladder should be part of your patch or you yourself, it's just an issue that appeared, it's now for the TDM devs to fix it. From what I can see, they do like this "fix", I mean, it would be illogical not to might I argue, because...Who wants to press a key just to unpress it to make sure it works? That's notable delay and unresponsiveness, it's objectively a flaw. People got used to it though, so I dare predict that if a "community poll" is made, most will vote "Don't care". Anyway, just relax and be proud that you fixed it up, it's now "dev shenanigans" time!

I'm curious, what happens if I didn't tell you more hints about Eric? How would you interpret the guy, perhaps back to being a "blank state" type of youngster? One of the reasons I keep characters mostly unknown is because I like to see how the authors would turn him out to be, it's part of that "artistic freedom" that I absolutely adore. Although, yeah, it's actually easy to make a blank state character and have anybody else write about it, but then it doesn't envision mine or let alone anybody else's...Well, hopefully the next level stories will give you better hints, I intend to make Derelict be a 6 missions campaign. Also thanks for your comment, heh, funnily enough you sound like a "positive nihilist", but I'm sure I'm wrong about that I always say that Time is the Grim Reaper himself, it's something we take for granted and always say we don't have much, well guess what? Grim Reaper isn't some skeleton with a big black cloak and a scythe, it's literally just "Time" itself and it always gets its ultimate goal. Anyway, on topic, I have changed Derelict to add Mission 3.

Boy, I remember living in Britain back in the 2000s, am I glad I left it out.

Hey, thanks for your feedback, in regards to giving you better detail about this "Eric", it's actually very simple: He is based on a real life friend of mine, who has a similar but sadly much more boring story, he was a farm boy that hated his farm boy life, he decided to go to the city and he realized he hated it, but strangely he enjoyed the "decadence" around it, more so than whatever the farm could offer, so he was into stuff like, good ol' Punk Music, Urban Decay, graffiti and so on, so on. He was also into rebellious things, almost tried drugs, the only "heavy" drug he ever tried is LSD, never ever tried cocaine or heroin. He was one of those you'd call "Good Boys" despite being a lazy rebellious edgy bum or so, I think he was simply smart despite being internally angry, either leftovers of his farmboy life or I dunno, just wanting to be more than that and he knows he can't be. So, the idea in essence is to make a "bored youngster" with a tendency to be quite the rebel. Yes, he is naive, very much so, at least everything about it says so, but there is one thing you should know; in our youth, we're all thought to be incredibly stupid and naive, but I'd love to dare to defy that. And, in real life, I do think my friend did that so, it's one of the reasons he's my best friend. By the way, ironically, right now he's basically his own boss in his own farm, heh! For now, I don't want to talk much about Eric, and I think that "foreshadowing" him will actually give you (specifically, the mappers, not just you) ideas which, right now, I don't want you to. (Although honestly I already gave quite a huge hint now) By the way, another huge hint is that, despite being a farm boy, he can apparently write and read and VERY coherently too. And yet another hint, if you ever heard of the trope "Cowardly Lion", that is one of the personalities I want to give him. Right now, he needs to be the most predictable type of young man you'll ever know, you are NOT supposed to care about Eric, let alone understand him, at least not yet. As for this, I have already taken 2 for granted. ("prepare to be ignored") I've actually wanted to make this YEARS ago, but I had low confidence. Besides, my first days in the TDM forums weren't too pleasant to be honest, but whatever, past is past. I've made a "status" asking people if they'd be okay with ideas, those who answered said it was fine, including Airship Ballet, one of my top favourite FM Makers. ...But, even then, I'm quite a disgusting cynic still and I just have to say that, even I don't trust any of their words. So, it could be more likely than not that this "Library" of mine is my own waste of time, but maybe there will be a future where I turn 80, die of a heart attack and suddenly someone finally decides to make a fan mission in honour of me or whatever. Either way, I find it meaningless (remember I'm quite a cynic) and I also love to take risks, gambling is one of my hobbies, or vices if you are part of that moral compass. If anyone can make a mission based on my ideas, even if it's only 25% of the ideas, I'd be honored. After all, a good mission is a good mission, I have little care in being credited about it, I don't even care if the taffer gets donations and moneys for it, it's just a way of getting extra cash, some will say it's "scummy", I say...As long as you make a very good mission, that's all I care about.

Derelict - A Thief's Origin. A 5-6 part mission series. BACKSTORY _________ Derelict is a story about Eric, some simple boy turned into a Thief, except this time not to survive but for fun. Eric was born a farmer, all his life a farmer, until at age 16 he escaped to The City, but returned at 17...Because the guards got him. At age 19, he's back out, but still acting like any other young adventerous 15 year old, so he is in no way a master thief. His first thievery was close to his 17th birthday, this is also the reason the guards got him. He simply was trying to steal from a market stand and didn't get away with it, but luckily his family was able to save him by paying the fine. Now, at age 19, he's out again, acting like he's the Master Thief. Let's see where he can get to. DETAILS ________ The actual idea of "Derelict" is, as the name should suggest, Eric is not exactly a thief, nor a master thief, but he wants to be and he is very enthusiastic about it. To add some sort of irony, and a direct reference to "Thief: The Dark Project" itself, Derelict will be all about exploring abandoned buildings, ruins and, of course, derelicts. Also, heavily influenced by...Condemned: Criminal Origins. The name itself should be a hint, and the missions too. FIRST MISSION _____________ "Condemned" The first mission will be called Condemned. It takes place in a large abandoned building, it can be a bank, police department, library...Maybe even a combination of all, since it's in ruins and surely some parts got open, allowing you to travel there. The mission MUST be as pretty as possible, so it's not recommended for people with low-end PCs, sorry. How pretty? It must look as ruined as possible, so if you can add "extra" garbage, that'd be great. Basically, you have to make it look like Condemned, specifically the first mission where the police enter a long-abandoned disgusting place. Now, you start in the middle of the building, easily being able to reach the rooftops through the stairs. The stairs have doors, but you cannot get inside them, you can use these as shortcuts or just leave them there to give players a nifty false sense of possible progress. The idea is for Eric to get down, way down, so he may reach what might have been a long abandoned underground tomb, but that is not the case. The area itself should be something else, now how you want to make it, well I do have my own ideas, but I also don't want to spoiler it to you. On this one, I give you "Artistic Freedom". But to give you a hint, let's just say that, there could have been an "old city", but not as old as you think, and for sure the place has to be a hospital, or maybe even just a huge basement. Oh also, it should have some basic undead, the good ol' zombies. In terms of enemies, there need to be thugs. Said thugs are "Bandits", they could be organized or individual. One idea I'd like to see, is...A group of 3 weak thugs, visibly so even, just give them that "beggar" model and it will look fine. These are the organized bandits. But on the other end, there is a Thug, big fat guy with a mean club. He is just strolling about finding stuff to scavenge. The weak thugs will have a conversation about how they should kill him, or leave him alone, or how they want to kill him but the other calms them down and so on, this should give the player an idea that he can send the Thug after these 3 and it is recommended because...The fat thug is very though, you have no blackjack and you don't really want to be spotted by him. In terms of difficulty, Eric is an amateur. He has no blackjack, at least not here, he doesn't even have a sword but he may acquire one. If so, make that sword a secret. On the hardest difficulty, add "Ghosting" BUT make sure it's optional. Also, add more "random" weak bandits and a big fat Thug or two. MISSION 1: BRIEFING _________ Dear diary, the only reason I write this is because I'm bored. I'm just, as everybody tells me, "young fool" and I suppose I am, but I am sick of it. Everytime, I need to pretend I'm like any other "young fool" who takes any insult for granted. Well enough of that. Pa and ma, if I die and you ever get this stupid diary...I miss you, even if I hate how pa gets all sad about my..."Upbringing", it's not your fault, old man! But you always make yourself look guilty! I want to do something other than plowing all day long, even sometimes at night! And for that, I will. My first Conquest shall not be, for once, a lady or even two, but this place I've heard that is haunted, some kind of derelict place. I heard many rumours; it's a bank, it's a police department, a library...Could be all at once, even, who knows! But what I know for sure, is that, there has to be a grave down there full of wonderful richies, just another rich dead idiot begging to be robbed...Although you can't be robbed when dead, so you know... Well, let's get to it... SECOND MISSION _____________ "A City of Beggears" In the second mission, Eric visits the same place where that "Abandoned Building" was at, but this time to visit The Hammerite Church of the Beggars. This one will be "special" since, we go from a short-medium sized mission to a large one, that can be fast or slow. Acting as a "Hub", the church itself will be Eric's place, it also has many neutral beggars. Two will be patrolling outside with basic clubs, three are inside, a "Heretical Priest" will be there as well and one "Former Guard" with rusty armour. There may or may not be interactivity, up to the mapper on that. Also, the church itself is the third biggest building, it has part of the roof broken so you can see the sky, but you can't see the outside or hear what's out there. If you want direct reference, in Condemned, this is the School and the City Streets after the Mall, in Thief, it's the good ol' Quarantined City. The idea is, you start on this Church, that has quite the visual appeal due to the "Urban Decay" effect that it has. You will then go outside and visit various little places, such as... * A small manor that used to belong to some high-class, said to be haunted. * Stores, at least 3, up to 6 or even 9. Most are small, one or two are "medium-sized". A store hides a terrible secret regarding it's meat, you can easily guess how that goes! * A bath house, this one had the roof completely destroyed but one part of the house seems to be intact. (Since this one is "open", you can avoid adding too much "garbage for appeal" inside) * A warehouse of produces, specifically meat, the mystery here is that the freezer works despite the rest of this abandoned quarter not having much electricity going on. * Finally, the second huge place, it is either a School or a University. The "Former Guard" told you a story about a misfortune that happened here and your curiosity just begs for it. You will find incriminating evidence that will make you a bit wary, keep your paranoia in check. In terms of enemies, I'd say...The classic bugs will always go well, but don't make it boring and abundant, some little bit of hostile organized bandits and lonesome thugs here and there would be fun too. Undead is okay, just make it shabby. The main objective here is for Eric to get more cash after his "success" in the first one, so he just has to explore this long-abandoned place until others do. MISSION 2: BRIEFING _________ Dear diary, I have found what I wanted and I am getting the hang of writing on you. That was some real fun! I mean, I had some issues and the smell is horrid, but I'm fine with that, I've smelled worse, honest. Now, there is one problem; it wasn't much, I am also somewhat liking the place, I got a feeling this will be a problem. I found me a nice Church here, it even had people, this time not taffy like those taffin' taffers, goddamn! One of them is a priest, I thought "former" but he talks about how he's a "Bad man with Good ambitions", whatever that means. We're all the same in the eyes of The Builder, says I. And then there's this guard, he says he used to be a captain, of this quarter even. He stayed, people thought he died, he tells me the story of how a great thing called "Magic Bane" happened, which caused something he likes to call "The Mage Wars". Heh! Cool story, gramps, good luck making anyone believe it, I know I don't. But anyway, I have nowhere to go but my old home, I don't want to, so I will stay here for a bit. I am thinking of taking a night stroll, if you know what I mean, my dear diary. Well, let's get to it... THIRD MISSION _____________ "Apples & Scroundrels" Eric goes farming! Although not exactly like in his old days, this time he farms for loot, in a recently (and yet looks like it's been long ago) abandoned manor-sized farmhouse. The story continues from Mission 2, where Eric finally has enough cash to, well, retire. Instead of having using it all for himself, he decides to be nice and help out his family, so he goes back to his home. However, more than two months have passed and his home was on the brink of collapse, so he returns to a place that has been hastily abandoned. Due to the humidity, and something...Strange going on, every house feels and looks incredibly old and derelict now. Eric decides to take shelter in his old house, still having his room intact, but he feels something strange. Either way, he is convinced to explore one place of interest; The Jameson's Farmhouse, which is pretty much a manor-sized farmhouse of a well-off family, well-off compared to the rest, so the neighbourhood had some hidden jealousy about it. However, things don't go as planned because, after Eric explores the basement or the attic and finds out a secret, that the Jameson's were Pagans and of the more dangerous type, the house gets invaded by thugs and bandits, some might fight eachother but all of them are on high-alert, this means that it's impossible to blackjack any of them, so Jack has to do Ghosting which by itself it will be very hard or fight his way back. (A "third option" is to figure out who is who and see who will fight who, this should reduce the number of thugs & bandits, hence making Ghosting or finishing them off easier) The many ways to get out, though, will be barricaded with wooden planks by the thugs, meanwhile the doors are locked, so Eric has to either find a crowbar, which means going back to the Basement, or the key to the doors, which is in the Attic. Going back to those places, both areas change to an even more eerie Pagan-type of, but if one goes to the other, the other is optional. The idea here is somewhat simple; heavily influenced by Condemned's "Apple Orchard" farm level, the whole place is virtually a hidden claustrophobic trap, since Eric is inside a very old, decrepit manor-sized farm, with the interior being very tightened especially thanks to all the new garbage litter and the like. By the way, important info, the level should take place during the day, or at least "dawn". The farm itself is not too much, just decrepit, but the basement and especially the attic are very eerie and somewhat creepy, mostly because this is where the light doesn't go through much. MISSION 3: STORY _________ Dear diary, I return home to find myself much richer than before and yet I am empty. My home is gone! My family has left, the farms are all abandoned and decrepit, what's weird is that I'm very sure it's only been some months and yet everything looks older than before? I got back to my own home, my room is still there, but it feels like nothing has changed, I even expected a note from my parents but there is nothing. I don't know what happened, but I miss my parents...But I don't think doing that is gonna bring them back. I'll try to find them out, I just don't know the lead, so I will go and try The Jameson's house. The Jameson's were a bunch of rich snobs, the residents here respect them but I think it was all false emotions, everyone is just jealous. Can't blame them, the Jameson's always had the best fruits and vegetables, even during Winter! So no doubt they have something worth to sell, which knowing even they are out, I bet they don't mind if I "borrow" some. I dunno why but my hungry gut is telling me that I shouldn't go there while also that I should go there, the whereabouts of my family is in that house... They say curiosity killed the cat, but then they always forget to mention that, satisfaction brought it back! I am sure that's what will happen, so...Let's get to it!

Good day, I am the kind of guy who will say that he is incredibly busy and the like, but my actual excuse is that I don't have much motivation to learn how to make maps. However, I still have so many ideas that I think they might be good for "The Dark Mod", I'm sure some of you mappers might have the motivation to make maps, but no idea as to what to make or how, well this topic, hopefully, will help you greatly in making an amazing fan mission where we all have the fun we ALL deserve. I would like to organize this by one thread, many posts, because I think it would be best to have all my ideas in one thread instead of various, else people might get sick and tired of it, part of human nature to dislike the same ol' however good or bad it may be. So you may see some little bit of "disorganization", but rest assured I put keywords to easily find stuff. Also, there's probably gonna be "double post"...So I hope I'm exempt, at least in this here thread. You may ask whatever you want; suggestions, questions, a revision of my own idea, how should this be done...Etc etc, right in here, no problem. By the way, I have a feeling some of you may ask regarding trademark, ownership or credits, well... I do not care about them at all, as long as you don't do any commercial thing about it. If you get paid for making the mission, that's okay, you are the one making it, my idea is just an idea. For credits, I don't mind them, if you want to credit me you may go ahead, "Idea by The Black Arrow". If not, I am fine with that as well. I only care that you make a very good mission, I'm rather strict with that myself. PLEASE NOTE: This should be for mission-makers only, as there are a lot of spoilers

Nice, I can spend 4 hours of break any day for that, I'll do so for sure.

Sweet Mother of Mercy... You know, I was just browsing The Dark Mod FMs two months ago, I played one that was in a soon-to-be-haunted church, I know you made more than just that one, they were all great missions. Sadly I didn't replay all because it was getting hot in my place, I like to play TDM when it's cold, you know? I was wondering as to what happened to you, you make some great missions, I was actually hoping you'd come back. My wishes came true! And it is also almost my birthday! I am so happy to see you return and ready to continue making a mission! As much as I would like to try the beta, well, can I try? I am very busy these days and with low motivation, but I don't wanna pass a great fan mission either.

Nice! Thanks a lot for making it, I do hope it can be added into the next TDM update. As for this... I think this is, for one, to give credit to the author (and I know it's kind of ironic, "self-credit") and for two, to know who made it so he or she can be contacted again if possible. Or at least I think so, not a TDM developer, just have experience with other development teams.

Okay so, just as a wonder for now, will there be any plans to, well, improve this or make it an option?

Hey there, this is an amazing mission and a good start to your series, I hope the next missions are as high quality as, if not more than, the first. Right now though, I have to tell you that I have a little problem: I don't want that "little problem" to ruin my, or even your experience though, if I had the ability to vote, I'd give it a 10/10, I enjoyed it very much, I loved all the secrets and easter eggs.