Petike the Taffer

This guy's YouTube channel about period archery is awesome. I'd especially recommend watching the two-part tutorial video on making an arrow bag. It even goes to the length to explain how to build a spacer for the top of the quiver. There's even a note on the spacer's design that makes you think a bit about broadheads and how you'd store them comfortably to avoid damaging the fletching !

Glad to hear you've liked that suggestion, guys. I wasn't expecting this big of a response.

One style of mid 19th century housing that is mostly forgotten: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octagon_houseWhile the concept was a North American fad of the period, I suppose someone could use a variation on the octagon floor plan idea while designing some unusual housing for an FM. Probably with some of the more "Victorian" styling of TDM in mind.

Though I'm a bit late to the party, I just want to say that I'm glad they reconsidered this move and cancelled the current effort after public pressure. I'm not sure what the future will bring on this front, but I'm relieved that Steam saw reason and understood that it would be running into enterprenurial and legal issues if it kept this idea in place for weeks and months to come. Looking at it this way, you're right. Sorry I spoke too soon.

Not an outright "inspiration" thing, but I've thought this could be a useful little resource for those who are building FMs with various fortified architecture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Fortifications I think it's handy to have a mini-dictionary of sorts on the various common typologies of castles, forts and other fortifications. If nothing else, you can at least do some fact-checking about whether a certain type of fortified structure would seem realistic enough from a real world perspective.

Awesome. Keep up the good work.

I'm only worried about us not being credited, that's all. Well, and I obviously want TDM to stay a freeware project and not get abused by anyone who would want to con money off of more gullible players.

I swear, if someone steals TDM, puts it on Steam and Steam will then pretend we have no right to compain, I'll go ballistic. The Greenlight scandals were awful enough. Steam just seems to be taking the piss by this point. I hope this whole mod monetisation scheme fails, crashes, burns and explodes. It's an outrageous spit in the face of all hobbyists who have been tirelessly working for years to create cool independent gaming projects and share their talent with other people worldwide.

I've run into this on another forum I frequent and it's really terrible news. While we're okay, I too am really worried how this is going to affect the modding scene at large. I could imagine that communities like ModDB are up in arms about this.

I've been thinking about triggered voice overs a bit too, as I'd like to incorporate some into my own FM. The story won't work without the two main characters exchanging some banter, so I'll need to figure it out.

Oh, this looks really good ! Thank you.

Ah, that explains it ! I'll be trying to port my translation this evening from the original file to the updated one. I just hope not much has changed about the structure of the scripting in that file. (Probably not.)

If I am not too late, I propose naming the fellow represented by the bust as "Imperator Athanasius II. (741-792), great reformer of The Empire". Alternatively, some shorter version, like Athanasus.

OK, tested the gameplay again (though in a different mission) and now it seems to be working. I think it might be just a file mismatch thing. I was trying to port a language file with the translation I made in the previous version, but it's probably better to port the translation directly into the 2.03 version of that language file instead of using the older one. No biggie, I'll try it. Hopefully it'll work just as well as previously. Which reminds me: It's high time I checked that translation one last time and sent it to the devs for final approval. P. S. I'll admit, I was surprised to see my previous save games weren't deleted automatically from the game after the update. I was expecting that to happen. Oh well, live and learn...

Well, I've updated my game, but it's already running into a multitude of bugs as I play: - the lantern light appears to be sort of greenish - once I pull out the sword, it stays forever and I cannot swing it or choose another bit of equipment - the spyglass is broken, with the zoom working like a toggle and the spyglass texture completely gone What's going on ?

Exactly, that too is why I find it implausible for them to be in an orphanage while over the age of 10. Speaking of which, the male character and his brother do get a job after they survive the plague that killed off their parents and other siblings. Their dad was a farrier, so they try to get work in that particular trade. Unfortunately, the brother dies two or three years later, and the male character is forced to fend for himself. Worse still, the local smithing guilds have an old bone to pick with the boys' families and the two boys themselves, so they make sure they can't get a job in Newport while the current leaders of the guilds are in charge. Eventually, the sole survivor of the family gets into dire straits and turns to odd jobs and small-scale thieving to feed himself, only to be introduced by some fence he met to the world of professional burglary. He gradually starts focusing on thieving for a living (by night, of course), as his earnings at that time played against him just settling down with a normal occupation. I plan to have the character take up a normal trade (probably as a cobbler) once he moves out of his old hometown to Bridgeport, but he won't exactly be willing to let go of burglary even after that, using his day job as a front for what he's up to at night...

The latter might make some sense, but the former less so, as they were already over ten years old when they were orphaned. Most orphanages would probably take in only younger children, even though I'm not entirely dismissing the idea of them taking in someone in their very early teens. Still, it does seem a bit late to me. Most children of that age, with such a fate, would probably just be left to their own devices on the streets. The female character, though without parents, has some surviving relatives (a grandfather and an aunt), while the male character is pretty much all that's left of his family (his brother being the last member other than him to die, though that occured more than a decade before the story starts).

That's true. However, I want to avoid making another "I was abused, pity me" backstory and instead go for something subtler, as the former can feel somewhat gratuitous. While abuse in families, etc., was less detested in earlier periods, it would have still been met with opposition from some people who would learn about it. Also, I find bad family relations that gradually spiraled out of control more compelling for a backstory, rather than just throwing in random domestic violence as the explanation for everything. Nevertheless, the backstory of both characters will be gradually revealed, even if I lay out the basics of it in the first FM.

Question: Do you think it make sense for two different crucial characters to be both orphaned ? Is it improbable or not ? In one case, by an epidemic that hit the town years ago and killed off a lot of locals (leaving only the character's older brother, who nevertheless still died a bit later). In the second case, by an accident (either at work or due to weather/travelling) for the first parent and for the second parent, due to a different premature death. While I'm not one to think that life in a pre-modern society was "nasty, brutal and short" (as it's often sensationalitically described), it's nevertheless a fact that life expectancies were a lot lower than today, medicine for more serious ailments was not as reliable, serious injuries or illnesses were often a death sentence, and hygiene could have been sometimes poorer and inadvertently spread diseases. So, personally, I don't find the idea of both characters being orphans and only having distant surviving relatives to be that far-fetched in a society based on this period. But... Just in case, I'd like to hear your opinion on this as well. I dislike the cheesy "you, our hero, are conveniently an orphan !" scenarios and tropes that so often occur in stories in general.

Yay, nice find ! The blog of Frictional Games might be of interest to those who ponder about narrative elements in gaming. Particularly horror gaming, but not just that. Here's a chronological list of some of their interesting articles on narrative design: A History of Violence (Part 1) A History of Violence (Part 2) A History of Violence (Part 3) What will save you ? Nothing will save you ! The Problem with Obstacles (Part 1) The Problem with Obstacles (Part 2) Puzzles in horror games (Part 1) Puzzles in horror games (Part 2) Puzzles in horror games (Part 3) Puzzles in horror games (Part 4) Puzzles in horror games (Part 5) Puzzles in horror games (Part 6) Puzzles in horror games (Part 7) The struggle between Light and Dark Why Horror Games Suck ! Future of video game interaction When focusing on fun fails How gameplay and narrative kill meaning in "games" Exploring deeper meaning in games Storytelling through fragments and situations The judgement predicament of audio and graphics Why trial and error will doom games Experience and live - not compete and beat Why I hate "Cinematic" Where is your self in a game ? On game lenghth What video games lack: Deeper intent Story: What is it really about ? How the player becomes the protagonist Player-avatar symbiosis The Player - the artist ? Is the player an artist ? - Redux The Problem of Repetition Narrative not a game mechanic ? Unconventional Design Tips 10 ways to evolve horror games The Self, Presence and Storytelling High-level Storytelling Design Goals and Storytelling Puzzles, what are they good for ? Puzzles and Causal Histories Nailing down terminology 5 Core Elements of Interactive Storytelling Useful Tips for Horror Game Designers 4-Layers, a narrative design approach Alien: Isolation and the two hardest problems in horror Thoughts on Alien: Isolation and horror simulation Thoughts on Until Dawn and Interactive Movies GDC 2016 Lecture Resources Thoughts on Inside and playable stories Traversal and the Problem With Walking Simulators Videogames - too much fun for their own good? Resident Evil and the power of narrative context Navigating the Space of Game Design Evoking Presence Mental Models Story - What is it good for? 6 Reasons For Having a Defenseless Protagonist The SSM Framework of Game Design Planning - The Core Reason Why Gameplay Feels Good Choices, Consequences and the Ability to Plan Gaps of the Imagination The Complexity Fallacy The Illusion of an Analog World Obviously, not all of these are 100 % relevant to TDM's style of gameplay, but they can still provide some food for thought. Also, possible tips for FM makers: On versioning (or how the simplest thing can save you from the hardest pain) What could possibly go wrong ? (Updated to November 2018 standards.)

AFAIK, all base music for TDM is custom, so there should be no copyright claims. Adding copyrighted music to a video about TDM might be problematic, but other than that...

Quite inventive. I especially like those doors. :-)

Very interesting sailing ship, keep it up. BTW, does anyone know whether we have a good-looking cog ship model somewhere in the assets ?

Uh, yeah, I almost forgot about Bridgeport still being in The Empire ! However, you've just given me a good idea on how to modify the backstory of Newport in a way that doesn't conflict with Bridgeport's history and what we know about The Empire.

Other: I like both option 1 and option 3, though for the sake of TDM's successful future, I'd prefer an emphasis on option 1. If I get good at FM making and release at least two or three FMs in the coming years, I might try my hand at option 3 by making an FM set outside the standard TDM setting. And I'd have somewhere to place an FM like that: For about a year now, I've been developing my own fantasy setting and an RPG set in it (the game itself is the main reason I started developing the setting, though I made some early notes on it already years ago). The RPG is unusual, since I've centered it all around being a professional thief or a member of a thieves' guild. Naturally, there is some inspiration from Thief in it, though not excessive. I've also taken inspiration from other classic games like Arcanum, and a ton of various fiction and non-fiction, usually historical. The setting itself is a bit Discworld-ian in tone (an equal blend of humour and seriousness) and though it is European-inspired, I've gone for something of a "weird Europe" approach. While the inspirations are still firmly rooted in European history, I've reworked the "western" nations in such a way that they differ a lot from the standard fantasy tropes associated with them in most works. The rest of the continent has a sort of "more eastern" flavour and generally uses sources of inspiration that I think a vast majority of fantasy fans rarely exploit and tend to overlook. Guess that leaves more for me, heh ! Part of the reason why I'd prefer to contribute to TDM's own universe in at least my first few missions is exactly this reason. It's stil in flux, and even after tens of FMs, we're still only establishing some of its specifics (what might or might not become "canon", if you will). I like the simple beauty of this approach: The setting grows organically from our own works over time (and them occassionally cross-referencing each other), with a few basic rules for this universe being the overall glue that holds it together.