Petike the Taffer

Obviously, the main way to contribute to TDM is to contribute work and expertise. FMs, tech improvements, every little helps... I've been thinking about whether, besides general TDM trailers, previews, FM briefings, wallpapers, promo images, and so on and so forth, we could drum up a little amount of extra publicity for TDM via more physically tangible, but financially permissible promotional materials. As I note in the title of this thread, how about using a few select paper models, each with a The Dark Mod theme (and the associated stylistics), as something of a fan keepsake new or old fans of our freeware game could build and keep ? I'm under no illussions it would be amazing or anything. However, as a bit of a feelie, done in free time as simple promotion by some members of what is essentially a hobbyist freeware dev team, I think it would be an aptly humble, but still original bit of extra promotion. Everyone expects wallpapers, screenshots, promo videos, and so on, but some papercraft promo could help add a little bit of different flair to that more conventional promotion we already have covered. You might think "Okay, a few people will build those paper models, but how effective could this promo be, anyway ?". Well, as much as I don't have any illussions... Imagine if someone puts a building from Bridgeport paper model on their desk, next to their computer, at their own apartment/house or at their dorm room, and someone eventually asks: "Nice ! Is that a real building ? What's that from ?". The owner, who also plays TDM in their free time and is already a fan, can say: "Well, it's from this and that stealth game with this and that style setting. Want to see it ?" Then he can show the curious guy or gal this site, a trailer or two, start up the game and show some gameplay from a mission or two, the training mission... Who knows, maybe he'll get that other person interested, maybe even hooked. And it all starts with a simple paper model of some building from the TDM world. Now, playing the game in front of them could achieve a similar result. Having a TDM wallpaper as the background on the screen, or being caught watching a trailer video or Let's Play video of TDM could achieve similar results too. In the end, though, those things are wholly digital. They're not as immediate and tangible in the same manner as a paper model can be. Yes, at the end of the day, it's just card paper with textured surfaces printed on one side, skillfully cut out, assembled and glued together. But it's still a physical object, giving you more of a 3D feel than just a 2D screen (and not necessitating any VR equipment for greater immersion, beyond the limitations of that on-screen imagery). Now, concerning what the paper models would encompass, how they'd be constructed and look, I think we have to be realistic about it: Most people can bother with a paper model of a simple enough building or object, but they won't be assembling detailed paper models of, e.g. a City Watch guard. Ergo, the TDM promotional paper models we could have should focus on two areas: 1.) architecture from the setting, primarily that of The City and other urban environments (clocktower, medieval townhouses, some castle or manor house, etc., you name it); 2.) gadgets and items carried by the player character thieves in the game (a paper model of a mine or even a flashbomb, a paper model of a potion bottle or of the small hooded lantern, etc.). The surface and details should be based on textures we assign to their models directly in the game. This is obvious in the case of the gadgets and items. In the case of buildings, they could either recreate an iconic building from some FM's scenery, or they could just as easily depict a generic building, but with the same combination of building textures as you see on buildings in TDM missions. The same stone textures on the outer walls, the typical late-medieval/early modern style windows, with their metal grills and glass panes, etc. Having the paper models designed and textured in such a way that they'd reflect TDM's predominantly night time setting (including dimly lit windows on buildings) would be a pretty cool move, IMHO. It would also be accurate to the atmosphere of the game. Distribution method... Could be available for download among the promo materials section on the site, either in .pdf format or some image format (.jpg or .png). Should I take a stab at designing some basic model concepts in my free time, if I'm ever bored ? Just as a test whether we could create TDM paper models in the first place. I think there is some merit to using paper models as an inexpensive and entirely ancilliary, but still useful promotional item. Especially for a freeware labour of love like this one, tirelessly being worked on for over 16 years. Sixteen years of this much patient fan devotion is nothing to sneeze at.

Also try thalers and florins, they're appropriate currency names for a medieval or early modern setting.

The views from the rooftops in Thomas Porter: The Phrase Book were also pretty stunning.

Indeed. I personally want to expand some stuff for the setting in the missions I'm slowly working on, while referencing existing things.

You could always come up with a great Builder saint or several saints who were women, in the more ancient or more recent history of the church. Maybe the Builder faith has some great female "Mothers of the Church", though lesser in numbers than the "Fathers of the Church". Despite the setting obviously being quite sexist and women not being all that emancipated in any part of society, maybe there were some more educated female representatives of the church, like abesses or nuns or devout noblewomen or peasant women who devoted their lives to religious philosophy, or science (naturalists, herbalists, women researching humanities), teaching (churchly schools), and various charity work and social activism (hospitals, tending to the poor and sickly and homeless, helping during epidemics, etc., etc.). I'm thinking of educated women like Hildegarde von Bingen, or queens declared saints (e.g. Elisabeth of Hungary, Hedwig of Poland, etc.). Maybe you also had great female saints who helped coordinate missionary efforts in the early centuries of the church, or were martyred for their devotion to the faith and spreading its ideals/teachings when it was looked down upon. Loads of possibilities. You don't necessarily need a Virgin Mary analogue, as the Builder faith apparently lacks a Christ-like figure anyway, so you can do a lot with more mundane female saints. Fun fact: In the real world, Saint Clare is, among other things, the patron saint of television, telecommunications and the Internet. Sounds like it could gel quite well with a techno-religion like the Builder Church, doesn't it ? Just go through a list of various Roman Catholic or non-Catholic female saints and church personalities and read up on their lives and accomplishments. You're bound to find some inspiration sooner or later. Here's some stuff that might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Late_Ancient_Christian_female_saints https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Christian_female_saints_of_the_Middle_Ages https://www.catholic.org/saints/female.php

Please bear in mind, it was discussed in the past, and for archival purposes, I have mentioned it there. We never got too far with the Strigis concept, it was all fairly nebulous. We don't even have concept art for that particular monster.

PC Gamer coverage for 2.08: https://www.pcgamer.com/free-thief-like-game-the-dark-mod-updates-with-graphical-revamps/

Yes, I think this makes a good deal of sense. Buying equipment in between missions isn't a must. Maybe a potential official campaign could use it a few times as a concept (some TDM mission series do it, if the package includes more than a single mission), but I don't think we should copy the Thief approach wholesale. Even Thief didn't have the shop menu before every single mission, if it made sense to omit it for the sake of the story. Never got to playing T2X, because every install .exe I've downloaded, ever, has never worked on my computer. Not on XP, not on 7, nothing. I never could get the install .exe itself to work, despite it being straight off the mod site. I still don't understand where people got T2X from. As for the total conversion itself, I liked what they did with it, it was a fine fanfic expansion to TMA. So much so that, if there were to be a Thief series or film, I'd have Zaya made a canon recurring character that shows up occassionally during the events of TMA. We might get some lady thief characters sooner or later, I'm part of a minor audio project to enable the creation of a potential female player character in TDM. Concerning the Keepers or the Hand Brotherhood, we already have the Mages and the Hermetic Order in Bridgeport, potentially other cities in the Empire and setting as well. The setting also has necromancers, but they're described as scattered, individual dabblers in arcane or forbidden magic, rather than some highly organized order of magic practitioners. To tell you the truth, I never fully got the appeal of "Ahhh, Thief needs to have loads of magic and mysticism...". They're good distractions, good extra material, but something seen as key to the setting ? Not so much, at least to me. And I say that as someone who regards the Keeper faction as his absolute favourite from the trilogy, so it's not me being a Negative Nelly about the Keepers. I just think that, like the Mechanists, the Keepers don't need a direct analogue in TDM. We're a Thief homage, not a wholesale plagiarising of Thief. LGS did the hard work over twenty years ago, we're doing our own thing and showing appreciation, but we shouldn't retread their ground. Certainly not in too similar a way, and not just for copyright reasons, but also creative reasons.

I've always found it amusing that a de facto interactive movie game, where the bad guys are either literal mushroom-zombies or your standard issue "tough post-apocalyptic survivors who 'did what it took to survive, rawr' and are now engaged in typical heartless post-apoc tough-guy buffoonery" villain types, is having any sort of pretentions to artistic and social profundity. Sure, games are art and all that, but a zombie game wouldn't be my first choice of game to search for this sort of profundity. Also, if someone is desperate enough to market their game by intentionally provoking potential controversies well in advance (poking the predictably behaving usual suspects, who go berserk at certain topics), then I'm afraid it might not be much of a game to begin with. TLoU no. 2 exists for a simple reason: The first game was quite popular, made a good deal of money, so they made another one. If you ask me, they didn't have that many places to go, considering the story of the first game (what I know of it), but they did it anyway, because it pays the bills and publishers care about banknotes first, good reviews second, and artistic integrity... maybe somewhere at place 412th. Kojima's Death Stranding, as silly and pretentious and goofily creative as it was, felt to me a bit closer to actually examining the negative and positive impulses that tend to guide human beings, for better or worse, than the Last of Us' n-millionth examination of the "Hey, zombies appeared, the world has gone to crap, and aren't humans now uniformly horrible and selfish, even if it's illogical ?" idea. Death Stranding felt like it has something more to say about humans and their complexities than the rote old messages paying lipservice to Thomas Hobbes. Ironically, DS has the far darker, far more insane setting, and it still felt like it's telling a more interesting story about loss, suffering, the lies we potentially tell ourselves, and the divisions and misunderstandings we create, or how we become prisoners to our own egos (if we're not careful). Creepy setting with some off-beat, rather silly worldbuilding, but I felt the game's narrative had its heart in the right place in a lot of both serious and amusing ways. I can respect that, even without thinking the game's some masterpiece. In contrast, zombies and post-apocalyptic assholery has been done to death, especially in the last decade alone. That alone makes this IMHO forced sequel to an okay but not really exceptional game feel already... well, dated. At least Death Stranding, somewhat like Thief, encourages you to avoid violence and killing if you can, rather than reward it. If all TLoU does to examine human frailty, physical, emotional and mental, in a world riven by catastrophe, is to have players smashing heads in, "making tough decisions who to kill or not kill" and then contemplating its navel about human nature, it doesn't really bring much new to the table. Every single zombie-themed game or work has done that, a million times over. It's almost as clichéd in games and other works as "you're a muscle-bound, grizzled space marine, so tough you shave yourself with a blowtorch, go kick alien/demon/evil corporation ass" being the basis for the whole premise and plot. It just... isn't novel. Not even in a reinvented way. If TLoU didn't have mushroom-zombies as its one claim to originality, then it would be basically like any other zombie work where the undead have collapsed the entirety of society and now everyone's an asshole to each other, because God forbid humans would actually think and cooperate, rather than try to murder each other for silly and petty reasons 100 % of the time. The whole "crazy nihilist warlords who stifle any attempt at rebuilding civilization and bringing human decency" plotting is as clichéd an idea as zombies, space marines, "tough moral choices" (that aren't, or are only false dichotomies), and I could go on. Yeah, there's nothing new under the sun, even Thief pilfered from film noir, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, The Name of the Rose, Thieves' World, and who knows what else, but there's more to making an original game or other artistic work, than just changing a few details, adding pointless trends ("press this to crack open a defenceless person's skull while doing overblown moves; press this to have characters lecture you with wannabe edgy profundity for over fifteen minutes straight, in a blandly staged cutscene") and throwing huge production values at everything. Inevitably, many of these will feel dated sooner or later. Any well-written game will leave you with something interesting to think about not because it told you "Here comes the profound bit, pay attention !", but because it executed its storytelling both verbally and non-verbally (visually, through audio, written content, etc.) in such a manner that it left you with stuff to ponder. Even if it didn't give you all the answers, but it also didn't chicken out by not giving you any either. We want a good game script/story to stimulate us in ways that might be uncomfortable and unusual, but not necessarily cynical and trite, and that have some added value, including in things like humour and levity. I think a lot of the most artistically accomplished games actually don't shy away from humour. Smart, maybe even cute humour, rather than the "I'm an edgy cynic who uses edgy ironic statements" school of thought. I could write hours upon hours on these topics, but I'll cut it short here. You know, with all this silliness around TLoU 2 and other zombie games and post-apocalyptic games, I'm tempted to write a script for a little indie adventure game with a more introspective story. The world is back to normal, but there was some standard issue zombie catastrophe a few years back. In it, your main character (either a guy or a lady, depends on the player's choice) was forced to fight and then kill a friend they really liked, because whatever caused things to go bananas and turn people into ISO standard zombies also affected their friend. They grappled with trying to just defend themselves, tried to capture their friend, then get help and find ways on how to save him or her. They didn't want to kill a good friend, as any decent human wouldn't want to, even if they had the impression their friend might be beyond help at that point. Unfortunately, something happened, the friend got lose, the protagonist was forced to kill them. The friend was killed, but rather than go "Yeah ! Got another one !", the protagonist understandably mourned that they've lost a good friend to such horrible circumstances. The vast majority of the game is set in the present, there's no zombie-killing, scavenging for resources, nothing. The world has gone back to normal, society's generally like before the mysterious catastrophe (you could reveal at the very end that it was some alien goo from a meteor or something similarly silly), but people are still emotionally and mentally scarred from the experience. Our protagonist is trying to cope with the fact they didn't kill some mindless monster, but their unlucky friend. They're trying to find a way forward, within themselves, also via counselling, and they might be thinking about finding a therapy group or similar group of equally affected people. Just to share their story, to cope with others, maybe even find new friends and bond over that awful experience they're trying to overcome. There's your profound, more psychological zombie game. Not the n-millionth "who do we kill or be killed" and "survival of the fittest" nonsense that the prepper-crowd jerks off to. Also, why set it in the US, always the US ? Because markets ? Maybe our story happened in France. Or Kenya. Or Chile. Or South Korea. Or Estonia. You can be plenty more creative than making slightly different variations on "Gun-toting Prepper Simulator 2020: When the Zombies Come, They Ain't Gonna Git Me !", LOL. P.S. If the first game was about the last of them, then who the hell is still running around in the sequel ? I hope this doesn't become some endless series like Assassin's Creed or Final Fantasy, otherwise the TLoU series' title will become increasingly inaccurate, just like the title of the Final Fantasy series. I am actually kind of disappointed TLoU is a series now, to begin with. One game, leave it at that. It ain't no sin, developers and publishers...

You have plenty of missions that weave together a continuing or otherwise interconnected story: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Fan_Mission_Series I think the lack of a campaign is, strangely, a bit of a benefit. Yes, we could make a whole official campaign or keep extending the existing one with Corbin (he's the closest we have to a Garrett figure), but I actually prefer the more "shared universe", anthology approach of mission authors. Mission series have been a thing since the earliest days of this project and have only been getting more common, not less common, precisely because mission authors see the benefit of a continuing storyline with some main and recurring characters. Also, people crying that "lacking a campaign means TDM is not a real game" is really getting on my nerves at this point. This game is in development and available online for free. We don't, can't and wouldn't want to make any money off of it. Financial donations are also pointless. Talent donations, tangible contributions, is how this game can keep on moving forward. Speaking entirely for myself, and anyone can disagree with my opinion, extending the campaign we already have - the mission at the inn, then at St. Lucia's church, then some further missions after that - would be the best way to create an official campaign for TDM. I think that past efforts, with the idea that we need to have this stupendously impressive campaign, where every single mission is going to be a blow-your-socks-off affair, is part of why we haven't created such a campaign until now. The man hours needed and the sheer ambition are just overblown. The perfect is the enemy of the good. I feel that, contrary to what some Thief veterans might think, having a game that has an official campaign welcoming to both complete newbies and old pros is a far better route than a monumentally ambitious and impressive campaign that satisfies only a few die-hards, and frustrates others due to its length, scope, and sheer over-indulgence. If we strive for overly lofty heights, we'll end up with a game equivalent of Cimino's Heaven's Gate. Bloated, self-indulgent, potentially incomprehensible and irritating. I'm a "less is more" kind of guy. No hand-holding beyond the training mission, but start the players off easily enough, with the inn mission we have, then it gets a little harder at St. Lucia's, then we create a similarly small-in-scope and once again slightly more difficult, but entertaining and pretty-looking mission. And then another, and another. Gradually expand the campaign to some 10 or 12 missions, and you have an official campaign that'll entertain newcomers and veterans alike. And then they can play all the other mission series or one-off episodic mission, whatever they like. By that, I don't mean finishing the official campaign would be compulsory. No. It's just that it will serve as a natural introductory point for most new players of The Dark Mod. The more incentive we give players to have fun and finish the official campaign, the better. Make the missions bite-sized, not technically overdone, and make them fun, and we might have a real Keeper (Thief pun intended). I think it's telling that, over the years, far more people new to TDM have asked "What missions would be good for a newbie ? Which do you recommend ?", rather than "Where's the big blockbuster official campaign that will bring me into pure gaming ecstasy ?". Tellingly, already a while back, I compiled a whole wiki article just about these recommendations, because people were asking them so frequently: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Mission_recommendation_discussions Including a recommended list of simple enough, shorter missions, to start them off with something smaller, simple, but entertaining. The fans, especially new ones, want more accessible things before they can move on to the more demanding missions. More accessible isn't about dumbing down, it's about respecting the natural need for a learning curve.

Hello, all. This thread is meant as a follow-up companion piece to my previous thread listing royalty-free music by Kevin MacLeod that could be usable for new missions for The Dark Mod. In this thread, I take a slightly different approach. Instead of focusing on one author and his royalty-free music, I'll be writing an ever-expanding list of songs, compositions tracks and ambients by various musical artists that could come in useful for mission makers working on FMs for TDM. Aside from ambient music for background atmosphere, I'll also be listing some historical music and compositions from the real world's ca 14th-17th century that are in the public domain and could be used as background music in your missions, provided that someone does a royalty-free recording of them (i.e. not released on some payed-for album, but at most a royalty-free album or online collection/archive). Please note that, though I will try to provide you with links to royalty-free versions of historical compositions in particular, I sometimes might not be sure of the status of some of these recreations/recordings and you'll have to snoop around for their royalty-free status on your own. However, if you do confirm that, e.g. some freelance artist recorded a well-known 16th century piece of music, and is giving it away royalty-free, possibly with the only necessity being attribution, then please let me know and I'll include any download links and the details concerning necessary attribution. Thank you ! And now, it's time to begin... ---- Royalty-free ambients As in "free to distribute and use (though possibly with attribution)", not necessarily "free of the TDM universe royalty". Free Music Archive (FMA) From his particular website, I'll only be including tracks that have broad Creative Commons licenses or free licenses, and tracks that are suited to both Non-commercial and Commercial use. In other words, largelly CC BY 4.0 and CC BY 4.0 Deed. It's better to search for ambients and tracks that are more lenient with their licenses. Lee Rosevere - All the Answers - Awkward Silences (B) - Baldachin - Betrayal - Compassion (keys version) - Delayed Reaction - Edge of the Woods (kind of too modern sounding in parts, but maybe you could find a use for it á la some of the old grungy-sounding ambient tunes in Thief) - Expectations - Everywhere (sounds like a calm but moody mansion ambient to me) - Gone - Her Unheard Story - It's A Mystery - Not Alone - Old Regrets - Reflections - Slow Lights - Snakes - Something To Fill The Space - Thoughtful (especially the first half to first two thirds, before the more electronic beat kicks in) - The Long Journey - The Nightmare - The Past - Time to Think - Under Suspicion (maybe the bit between 2:26 and 2:48 would be the best for a tension sting, the rest sounds a bit too modern spy-fi for the TDM setting) - What's in the Barrel ? - You're Enough (A) - Maarten Schellekens - A Bit of Discomfort - Daydream - Deliverance - Free Classical Theme (arguably more like for an SF film with classical music portrayed electronically, but not bad) Salakapakka Sound System - Aiti, joku tuijottaa meita metsasta - Holle - Kadonnut jalkia jattamatta - Privatomrode i Vasteros - Syttymissyy tuntematon 1 - Syttymissyy tuntematon 2 Sawako albums - 098 (ambient for background humming and buzzing, perhaps machinery, electricity, industrial ambience, etc.) - Billy Gomberg Remix - If You're Ther (odd city ambience, between moody music and city background ambience, mild background thumping) - Lisbon ambience (maybe usable as background ambience in some mission set at a more Mediterranean city) - Mizuame (Sawako Sun) (could work as ambience for a larger baths or spa hall, with the sound of water, and human voices occassionally heard in the background) - November 25, 2007 - Snowfall - Spring Thaw - Tim Prebble Remix - UNIVERSFIELD - A Beatiful Sky (this track would actually be good for a church or cathedral interior) - A Calm Soulful Atmosphere For A Documentary Film (calm but somewhat mysterious ambient, reminds me of some of the Dishonored ambients) - A Grim Horror Atmosphere - A Music Box With A Tense Atmosphere - Atmosphere for Documentaries (rather suspensful ambient with an undertone of woodwind instruments) - Background Horror Tension - Beautiful Relaxing Ambient (a calmer ambient that's good for a location with some degree of grandeur or one that provides relief to the player) - Blood-chillingly Creepy Atmospheres - Bloody - Cloaked in Mystery - Corpse Rot - Crime City - Dark Background - Deep Space Exploration (has a nice atmosphere of mystery and exploration) - Drifting in Harmony (calm but suspensful ambient) - Embrace of the Mist - Exoplanet (mysterious ambient, could work for various environments) - Exploring the Cursed Cemetery (short, fifteen second tension sting with piano) - Evening Meditation In The Open Air (could work for a number environments during evening hours) - Fading Memories - Gloomy Atmosphere for Documentaries - Gloomy Reverie - Grim Atmosphere - Horror Atmosphere (Version 2) - Horror Background Atmosphere 6 - Horror Background Atmosphere for Horror and Mystical - Horror Background Atmosphere for Scary Scenes - Horror Background Atmosphere for Suspensful Moments (1) - Horror Background Atmosphere for Suspensful Moments (2) - Horror Dark Atmosphere (Version 1) - Horror Music Box - Intergalactic Ambience (good calm theme of mystery and wonder) - In the Embrace of Darkness - Mars (suspensful ambient for a suspensful location, with a metallic undertone in its melody) - Meditation in Nature (aside from outdoor environments, could work in a number of other environments as well) - Melodies of Fear - Midnight Secrets - Mild Heaven (a calm ambient, maybe could work for night time city streets and city rooftops) - Moment of a Dream (suspensful theme, hopefully not too electronic in undertone) - Mysterious Passerby - Mystery Atmosphere - Mystery Horror - Mystery House - Mystical Dark Atmosphere - Nebula Soundscape (sounds like a good ambient for outdoor or cave environments or maybe even churches and city rooftops) - Ominous Criminal Atmosphere - Sad Emotional Piano for Documentary Films - Scary Dark Cinematic For Suspensful Moments - Scary Horror Atmosphere - Sinister Mystery - Sinister Piano Melodies (short, fifteen second tension sting with piano) - Siren's Call (I feel this one has more limited uses, though maybe it could work for suspense in an industrial environment) - Soothing Serenade (calm, soothing ambient, with a slight hint of mystery, could work for several types of environments) - Soothing Soundscapes (calm, soothing ambient, with a slight hint of mystery, could work for several types of environments) - Spooky Hallway - Suspense Atmosphere Background - Tense Dark Background - Tense Horror Atmosphere - Tense Horror Background Atmosphere - The Box of Nightmares - This Sunset (good for an evening or night time ambient, even includes subtle cricket chirping sounds) - Tropical Escapes (good for an outdoor environment with a waterfall, flowing stream or falling rain) Many of these tracks by UNIVERSFIELD are quite short, about a minute or slightly under a minute, but good as tension-building themes or as suspensful ambients. ---- Historical background music - lute and similar string instruments La Rossignol ("The Nightingale"} - a Renaissance era piece, anonymous composer. This one was written as an instrumental duet for two musicians. So, if you'd use this for a scene of AI characters playing their instruments, you should use two such characters for added believability. Here's what the composition sounds like when played as a duet on: - lute (obviously the most medieval/Renaissance instrumentation) - acoustic guitar (example 1) and acoustic guitar (example 2) - 11-string guitar what it sounds when played as a duet on an 11-string guitar - licensed album version (presumably lute) If you find any royalty-free version in good quality, let me know. Lachrimae ("Tears", sometimes known as "Seven Teares") by John Dowland - another Elizabethan era piece, by a 16th-17th century composer. Various reconstructions: - on lute (example solo performance at the Metropolitan Museum) - on lute, with vocal accompaniment (lutist and female soprano) - on lute, violas, and other (six musician ensemble performance) - on viola da gamba (five musician ensemble performance) Lachrimae Pavan ("Teary Pavane / Pavane of the Tears") by John Dowland - a variation on the previous composition, for the Renaissance pavane style dance. Various reconstructions: - on lute - on acoustic guitar (example 1), (example 2), (example 3) Again, I'd like to find a royalty-free version of these two compositions. Frog Galliard - one more by Dowland, for now. Another composition for a Renaissance dance style, the galliard. Reconstructions: - on lute (solo performance) - on lute, deeper sound (solo performance) - on acoustic guitar (example 1), (example 2), (example 3) Royalty-free version would be appreciated. Greensleeves - by an anonymous 16th century author, quite possibly a folk song of the era. Trust me, you know this one, even if you don't know the name. It's one of the most well-known bits of Renaissance secular and courtly music in the popular imagination. (Trust me, it's been referenced in everything. Even the first Stronghold game from the early 2000s had an in-game character sing a made-up ditty to the tune/melody of this song.) Reconstructions: - on lute (solo performance) - classical guitar (solo performance) - acoustic guitar (solo performance) I bet there's a royalty-free version of this one somewhere. I'll snoop around, and if you find one before I do, let me know. In taberna quando sumus ("When we are at the tavern") - anonymous period song from the 14th century, of Goliard origin. Written and sung entirely in Latin (so if you can explain Latin within the TDM setting or use only an instrumental version, go for it). An unabashed drinking song, you could use this for more rascally Builder priests/monks or for various commoners and lower-ranking noblemen while they're having a good time at the inn. A pretty well-known song even nowadays (though the most famous melody for it might be the more recent arrangement). Reconstructions: - example performance 1 - example performance 2 Again, an entirely royalty-free version of this one could come in handy. Historical background music - by Jon Sayles Jon Sayles is a musician who runs the Free Early and Renaissance Music website. His recordings are in .mp3 format (so you will need a conversion to .ogg) and Sayles has made them all freely available. The instrument he used for his musical reconstructions is the classical guitar. Some examples of Sayles' reconstructions of period music by anonymous or known authors: Saltarello, based on the late-medieval and Renaissance dance tune from Italy Madrigal by Anthony Holborne Al fonsina by Johannes Ghiselin Ich weiss nit by Ludwig Senfl So ys emprentid by John Bedyngham, mid-1400s Riu, riu, chiu, famous 15th century Spanish Christmas carol Fantasia, by Orlando Gibbons, late 16th and early 17th century Die Katzenpfote, German-speaking lands, anonymous author, 15th century A gre d'amors, 14th century, anonymous French author Nightengale (unrelated to La Rossignol), by Thomas Weelkes El Grillo, 15th to early 16th century composition by Josquin des Prez The Witches' Dance, by anonymous, Renaissance English composition Ma fin est mon comencement, by 14th century composer Guillame de Machaut In Nomine, late 15th and early 16th century composition by John Taverner Ricercare ("ricker-caré", nothing to do with rice or care), by Adrian Willaert Fantasia by Thomas Lupo, 16th-17th century English composer The Nite Watch, composed by Anthony Holborne - appropriate for TDM Plenty more where these came from... Historical background music - from the A-M Classical website This website offers plenty of freely available, royalty-free .mp3s of early and classical musical compositions and instrumental songs. The only thing you need to do is provide attribution, as everything on the site is via a Creative Commons license (this is noted on every page). Counting Christmas songs from the Middle Ages and Renaissance alone, I was able to download loads of them already years and years ago. Though they're far from epic recordings, if you're just looking for a competently done free version of these compositions, this is an excellent site. A few examples of medieval music from the A-M Classical site: Angelus ad Virginem (played quietly on organ), Diex soit en cheste maison by Adam de la Halle (organ and other instruments), Greensleeves (this is for a carol version of the lyrics, but the melody is the same as standard Greensleeves) Historical background music - by Vox Vulgaris The Swedish band/ensemble Vox Vulgaris aren't very active nowadays, but they did plenty of early music recording in the early-to-mid 2000s. From what I've read about their song releases, they're okay with others using the songs from their 2003 album and other material they've done. I don't know if their website is still around (there's an archived version) and whether you can still contact the band members, but if you'd like to be extra sure and ask, go ahead. I don't think they've changed their copyleft stance to their own works, but it pays off to be sure. So, here are some of VV's own takes on period music: Cantiga 166 - based on the eponymous song (full title "Cantiga 166 - Como póden per sas culpas (os homés seer contreitos)"), by Spanish composer Alphonso X from the 13th century (yes, king Alphonso X ! They didn't call him Alphonso the Learned for nothing). To provide you with a point of comparison, here, here and here are versions by other artists. (If I remember correctly, this particular VV song was also used by moonbo in his Requiem FM, as part of an inn's muffled background music. I did a real double-take when I played the mission for the first time and recognised it.) Cantiga 213 - based on the eponymous song (full title "Cantiga 213 - Quen sérve Santa María, a Sennor mui verdadeira"), again by Spanish composer, king Alphonso X from the 13th century. To provide you with a point of comparison, here and here are versions by other artists. Saltarello - based on the well-known melody for the Italian late-medieval Renaissance dance, the saltarello (also the saltarello trotto specifically in this case). To provide you a point of comparison, here and here are versions by other artists. La Suite Meurtrière - I can't quite source this one, it might be their own original composition, though "in the style of" some particular period music. Rókatánc (Fox Dance) - this is a really wild bit of period dance and festive music, possibly Hungarian-inspired, given the name. I think this would fit both a tavern environment or some public event for the nobility and patricians, including an armed sparring tournament or similar. Final note from me New suggestions are always welcome as I expand this thread. For any suggestions concerning Kevin MacLeod's royalty-free music, please use the other thread I've already made, purely for listing MacLeod's stuff.

Just send me a short script and I'll look into it.

Hello, all. I've decided to post some lists of royalty-free music from Kevin MacLeod's well-known site Incompetech.com, lists that include tracks and themes chosen as potentially useful for The Dark Mod mission creators. Mr. MacLeod's made plenty of really good royalty-free music over the years, including various ambient themes and other music that could work pretty well in The Dark Mod. From what I know and remember, there's already been a fair few released FMs that used a few tracks from MacLeod's archive, so he is not unknown to the TDM community. The older (and fully usable) version of MacLeod's site is here and another archive of his royalty-free music can be found here (on Wikimedia Commons). I've added the links as well. As of April 2024, I have also added links to the official YouTube uploads of the individual tracks, all part of MacLeod's official YouTube channel. For the sake of easier reading and finding a song in the lists below, I've arranged them all in alphabetical order. Religious / churchly ambients Types of settings: Builder churches, chapels, cathedrals, monasteries, abbeys, etc. Various solemn and calm religious ambients. - Agnus Dei X (YT link. Somber but livelier in places, male and female choir vocals in muffled Latin.) - Bathed in Light (YT link. A rather soothing ambient, I suppose it could work inside a pleasant-seeming Builder church, including as a place of relief in a scary mission.) - Gregorian Chant (YT link) - Lasting Hope (YT link) - Midnight Meeting (YT link) - Organic Meditations 1 (YT link) and Organic Meditations 2 (YT link) - Rites (YT link) - Private reflection (YT link) - Supernatural (YT link. Good for an abandoned church, spooky candle-lit catacombs, etc.) - Virtutes Vocis (YT link) Potentially: - Tiny Fugue (YT link) - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (YT link. Famous organ composition by Bach, IMHO might sound too Barocque for a late-medieval style setting, but good for a hint of eerieness.) Spooky / horror / ominous ambients Types of settings: Crypts, catacombs, haunted caves, eerie ruins, lairs and places where undead and other monsters roam, etc. Some of the more industrial-sounding ones could also be useful for missions set at factories or warehouses occupied by criminal gangs, and so on (i.e. also for non-supernatural threats and non-supernatural creepiness). - Aftermath (YT link), WiCo link) - Ancient Rite (YT link, WiCo link) - Anxiety (YT link, WiCo link) - Apprehension (YT link, WiCo link) - Blue Sizzle (YT link, WiCo link) - Bump in the Night (YT link, WiCo link) - Chase Pulse (YT link, WiCo link) and Chase Pulse Faster (YT link, WiCo link. Both could work in some ghost-haunted location, with ghosts pursuing the player.) - Classic Horror 3 (YT link, WiCo link. Good for a haunted house, manor house or other private household interior.) - Crypto (YT link) - Dark Pad (YT link) - Dark Standoff (YT link) - Darkness Speaks (YT link. Shorter sting, good for a scripted creepy event.) - Decay (YT link, WiCo link) - Deep Noise (YT link, WiCo link) - Digital Bark (YT link, WiCo link) - Distant Tension (YT link, WiCo link) - Dopplerette (YT link, WiCo link) - Echoes of Time 1 (YT link, WiCo link) - Echoes of Time 2 (YT link, WiCo link) - Fire Prelude (YT link) - Gathering Darkness (YT link, WiCo link) - Ghostpocalypse 1 - The Departure (YT link) - Ghost Processional (YT link) - Ghost Story (YT link, WiCo link) - Grave Matters (YT link) - Heart of the Beast (YT link, WiCo link) - Himalayan Atmosphere (YT link. Eerie theme, could work in some ancient ruins.) - Ice Demon (YT link, WiCo link) - Irregular (YT link) - Land of Phantoms (YT link) - Lithium (YT link) - Long Note 1, Long Note 2 and Long Note 3 - Medusa (YT link) - Mind Scrape (YT link) - Mirage (YT link) - Nervous (YT link, WiCo link) - Night Break (YT link, WiCo link) - Ominous (YT link. Shorter ambient, but pretty spooky.) - One of Them (YT link, WiCo link) - Ossuary 1 (YT link) - Ossuary 5 (YT link) - Ossuary 6 (YT link) - Penumbra (YT link, WiCo link) - Political Action Ad (YT link. Yes, a song for this concept has such an ominous atmosphere. ) - Redletter (YT link, WiCo link) - Right Behind You (YT link, WiCo link) - Satiate - strings version (YT link) - Spacial Harvest (YT link) - Spacial Winds (YT link, WiCo link. Might be good for Middle Eastern themed scares.) - Spider Eyes (YT link. This could work well inside a household, or inside some public building.) - Supernatural (YT link. Calmer melody, good for a haunted religious buldings and its grounds.) - Sunset at Glengorm (YT link and YT remastered link) - Steel and Seething (YT link) - Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Mermaid (YT link. Sounds serene, but is rather creepy and tense, maybe underground/underwater ruins.) - The Dread (YT link, WiCo link) - The Hive (YT link, WiCo link) - The Voices (YT link, WiCo link 1, WiCo link 2. Very otherworldly, good for some haunted area or other dimension.) - Unnatural Situation (YT link) - Unease (YT link, WiCo link. Would sound best in a manor house, museum, or other fancy interiors.) - Unseen Horrors (YT link, WiCo link) - Very Low Note (YT link, WiCo link) Tension-building / mysterious / general ambients Type of setting/situation: General ambients, especially in parts of FMs where the plot thickens and some coded development is triggered that makes for a new "act" in the overall story of the mission. (Imagine the likes of moonbo's missions and how they're structured and you get a bit of an idea.) - Air Prelude (YT link) - Awkward Meeting (YT link, WiCo link. Our thief hero or heroine meets an ally or informant for a bit of chit-chat.) - Blue Sizzle (YT link, WiCo link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Calmant (YT link. A calm, quiet piano theme, but it has an air of mystery and isolation. An emotionally neutral, uncertain theme.) - Crypto (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Dama-May (YT link. A bit of a peculiar tense theme, but some might find some uses for it.) - Dark Times (YT link) - Disappointment (YT link) - Disconcerned (YT link) - Dopplerette (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Dragon and Toast (YT link) - Enter the Maze (YT link) - Fantastic Dim Bar (YT link) - Fire Prelude (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Frozen Star (YT link. Exploring some long-lost ruins, mysterious compound or complex, it's soothing but creepy.) - Ghost Processional (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Gloom Horizon (YT link) - Grave Matters (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Greta Sting (YT link. A short sting, under twenty seconds, useful for revelatory scripted scenes and building suspense.) - Grim League (YT link) - Heavy Heart (YT link) - Industrial Music Box (YT link. Somber and personal, reminds me of the music box theme we already have in the game.) - Interloper (YT link) - Invariance (YT link) - Irregular (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness/mysteriousness.) - Isolated (YT link. A calm, somber ambient, for thoughtful situations. A bit more modern and guitarry-sounding, but could work in TDM.) - It Is Lost (YT link, WiCo link. Maybe a theme for exploring some mysterious underground ruins ?) - Lamentation (YT link. Maybe a castle or manor house household where bad events transpired.) - Lasting Hope (YT link) - Lithium (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Long Note 1, Long Note 2 and Long Note 3 (YT link 1, YT link 2, YT link 3. These are IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Lord of the Land (YT link. Maybe usable as a quiet background theme while sneaking through a busier castle or manor house.) - Lost Frontier (YT link. Exploring some city or castle ruins in The Empire that seem majestic at first glance but could hide a darker secret.) - Mourning Song (YT link) - New Direction (YT link. Very interesting ambient, could work well for a slow-burning urban noir atmosphere and doesn't sound modern.) - Night of Chaos (YT link) - Night on the Docks - piano version (YT link. Part of a trio of slow noir themes, the others use a sax and trumpet. This is the only one of the three that sounds pre-1900 compatible.) - On The Passing of Time (YT link, WiCo link) - Oppressive Gloom (YT link) - Overheat (YT link) - Quiet Panic (YT link. Short and quiet, good for tension-building, including for scripted events.) - Relent (YT link. The clarinet in this one might be slightly anachronistic, but it's an interesting contemplative melody.) - Road to Hell (YT link) - Satiate - strings version (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild horror.) - Satiate - percussion version (YT link. This one's IMHO better purely as a tension-building theme.) - Scissors (YT link. This would be an excellent theme for a mission set at a factory, inventor's workshop or a warehouse.) - Shores of Avalon (YT link. Quieter tension-builder.) - Simplex (YT link. A pretty good one, though some of the quieter beats are a bit more electronic.) - Spacial Harvest (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild horror.) - Spring Thaw (YT link) - Stay the Course (YT link) - Sunset at Glengorm (YT link and YT remastered link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Temple of the Manes (YT link. I'd imagine this could work in an atmospheric mission set inside a castle or fortified manor house.) - Tempting Secrets (YT link) - Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Intermission (YT link. Tense but melodic theme, with some heavy background percussions.) - The North (YT link) - Thunder Dreams (YT link) - Tranquility (YT link. A longer and very calm ambient theme, but has an air of mystery and strangeness.) - Unanswered Questions (YT link) - Unnatural Situation (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Unpromised (YT link. Can work both in an urban and a rural/wilderness environment.) - Very Low Note (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness, would be ideal for a cave or basement.) - Winter Reflections (YT link. Good for a mission set during a snowed-in winter night.) Period instrument background music (stylistically European) Types of settings: Taverns, village scenes, town life, feasts, scenes among commoners or nobles. Mostly stuff with a calm and cosy atmosphere. - Achaidh Cheide (YT link) - Angevin B (YT link. This one sounds a bit more aristocratic or courtly, good for a feast or public event.) - Danse Macabre - harp version - Errigal (YT link. This one sounds a bit more aristocratic or courtly, but it's a good secular piece of music.) - Evening Fall - harp (YT link) - Folk Round (YT link) - Heavy Interlude (YT link. Short but really cool, IMHO could also work for a background scene of two AI characters sparring for fun.) - Master of the Feast (YT link. Good for a scene with at least two or three musicians and multiple noble/patrician characters attending a feast.) - Minstrel Guild (YT link) - Midnight Tale (YT link) - Old Road (YT link) - Pale Rider (YT link) - Pippin the Hunchback (YT link) - Suonatore di Liuto (YT link) - Teller of the Tales (YT link) North African, Middle Eastern and other "exotic" background music Types of settings: The TDM universe's analogues of the Mediterranean, North African, Middle Eastern regions, and other "exotic" locations. - Asian Drums (YT link. Could work for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, good slow, tension-building ambient theme.) - Cambodian Odyssey (YT link. This is better suited to a south Asian or southeast Asian setting, but could work in a Middle Eastern locale as well. Tense theme, quiet percussions.) - Desert City (YT link. Could work for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, good all-around urban ambient theme.) - Drums of the Deep (YT link (shorter) and YT link (longer). Could work for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, good tension-building ambient theme.) - East of Tunesia (YT link. Could work in a mission with either a Mediterranean or North African style environment, e.g. a port city.) - Ibn Al-Noor (YT link. Good for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, especially for a palace or public event environment.) - Lotus (YT link. Good as a general ambient theme for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, or some other exotic locale.) - Mystery Bazaar (YT link. Another good one for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, ideally some marketplace or square.) - Perigrine Grandeur (YT link. Middle Eastern style percussions interspersed with a grunge-like tune reminescent of those from Thief.) - Tabuk (YT link. Slow, but slightly more dramatic theme for a Middle Eastern or North African style environment.) - Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Snake Lady (YT link. Has a Middle Eastern feel to it, very good for building suspense and tension.) Wilderness / nature ambients Types of settings: Outdoor areas with groves, forests, rivers, small lakes, mountain valleys, caves. Potentially also some Pagan villages and camps. - Black Bird (YT link. Tribal type stuff.) - Dewdrop Fantasy (YT link and YT link) - Kalimba Relaxation Music (YT link. Maybe could work in a cave or similar environment ?) - Evening Fall - harp (YT link) - Firesong (YT link. Tribal type stuff.) - Intuit (YT link. Tribal type stuff.) - Healing (YT link. I think this one could also work in an urban environment.) - Heavy Heart (YT link. Also works as a general ambient theme.) - Magic Forest (YT link) - River Flute (YT link) - Moorland (YT link. Could work for an isolated Pagan tribe village.) - Shamanistic (YT link) - Spirit of the Girl (YT link) - Thunderbird (YT link) - The North (YT link. A very short but looping theme, IMHO also works as a general ambient theme.) - The Pyre (YT link) - The Sky of Our Ancestors (YT link) - Unpromised (YT link) - Very Low Note (YT link. IMHO very good for a cave or cave system.) - Virtutes Instrumenti (YT link) - Willow and the Light (YT link) - Winter Reflections (YT link. Good for a mission set in winter or in some cavern strewn with magic crystals.) Non-serious bonus suggestion - Crunk Knight (YT link. When the Bridgeport City Watch throw an annual office party :-))) ) Giving MacLeod proper attribution if you chose to use this music in your mission Each song comes with an attribution quote that you need to include if you're going to use any of this music in your fan mission. If there is a final credits sequence in your mission, or you can include this quote at least as part of the mission's release notes, please do so. Though you can buy a license from Kevin and don't need to use attribution, all of this music is for free, as long as you give him credit. The credit-giving (attribution) is as follows: Name of Song Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Replace "Name of Song" with the actual name of the song, keep the rest of the quote in this format and include it in your "free music used" credits for your mission, and you're golden. Final note from me If you've found some other good tracks in Kevin's musical archives that could fit the tone of The Dark Mod and its setting and would like to include them in this list, please let me know and I'll update this post. Don't send me a personal message, just post your suggestion in this thread. Thank you ! I sincerely hope these lists will be of at least some use to mission builders. Good luck ! If you want to seek out non-MacLeod royalty-free music and public domain music, I've started a thread for that as well. Not too many download links yet, but it's meant to give you inspiration what sort of ambients or period music you could search for.

Ah, I was just going to write down a list of recommended music from Kevin for potential background music in FMs. I felt this would be ideal tavern or household minstrel BGM. Nice to see some have used it already.

Well, if you might need some minor background character, I'd be up for it. I'll be doing some voice work for ERH+, so I could try it for your new FMs as well.

Hello. Please accept my apology that I've been so quiet since winter. Lots of work... I'd be delighted if we could continue the recordings, if you're still up for it. The gents over here will no doubt have plenty of feedback on the audio quality if they discover something less obvious in the background. Many of the recordings you've already sent are good, and now that you know of the sound source issue, I think things will be easier. With the recent release of 2.08, I might have to ask whether there are a few extra interacting grunts added. Most of the new 2.08 player sounds are not vocal, from what I understand, but a few might be.

Wonderful work and congratulations ! Seems I'll have to update the wiki.

I'll be looking at your and my own notes, guys, and I'll try to work on this in the foreseeable months, when I'll have time. June and July is still busy for me in terms of my professional work, but after mid-July, I think I'll have more free time. Wish me luck.

Okay, now I've noticed which files you mean. As soon as I'm in contact with ShadowCreepr again and she'll have enough free time to do more recordings, I'll ask her to try and make a new version of these. I'd really like to thank you for your help and advice so far. I really appreciate it. If everything goes well, maybe this project can get finished this spring, or at the latest, summer. I've been busy lately, but I'll try to pick up the pace.

I am in a lowland region where milder winters often mean less or no snow. Nevertheless, even in this year's milder than usual winter, my location had a few snowy days and weeks. Last time this Tuesday. I might share a few photos later.

As the holiday season is concluding, I will be getting back in the saddle with regards to this project. I'd like to thank Dragofer and all the others for their suggestions so far. Keep at it ! We still need to trim them down eventually, so that we have plenty of varied lines, but not too much, and then I'll move on to try some recording. On a sidenote, I am already starting work on another vocal set, this time for a merchant type character. Wanted to already back in December, but I was just too busy with life and other stuff.

Happy new year to all ! All the best, and let's make it a good and fruitful year ! To kick off, I've decided to start a discussion based on the question in the title. Aside from the Thief trilogy (and TDM as its spiritual freeware cousin), what are some steampunk or steampunk-esque games that caught your interest ? Both in the past and more recently. Some that I've personally played and/or been impressed by over the years: Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - this is a real classic for a number of reasons. If you can get over the somewhat lackluster combat, it has excellent, memorable writing and an oddly great sense of exploration. Of the games from the isometric, mouse-click control era of CRPGs, this is my favourite. I was fascinated by it already back when I saw the earliest reviews almost two decades ago, and after owning it for years and slowly playing through it, I still keep finding interesting things. The isometric era Fallout games were fine, but if I'm to choose whether they or this cousin of their's grabbed my heart more, the vote definitely goes to Arcanum. Even though it's an old game at this point, much of the voice acting, the atmospheric soundtrack, and the interesting quests (I even helped with resolving a feud between old friends, without fighting or bribes !) still bring my heart joy whenever I play it. Iron Grip series - a surprising favourite of mine. Unfortunately, by yet another already disbanded dev team. Though I think said devs tried doing too many things at once in their later years, including in the third game of this series, the first two games were ace. I also loved the setting they created for the series, one of its strongest suits, besides the gameplay ideas in the first two games. (Technically, the first is a total conversion rather than standalone, but it has the feel of an autonomous game.) The series' lore is still leaving a lasting impression on me, even many years since the original releases and the series going dormant. I don't think I've ever come across another game, before or since, that tried to focus on early 20th century war drama themes (in a context akin to the world wars, Russian civil war, warlord era China, etc.), while also being set in an entirely fictional world, rather than a thinly-veiled or alternate version of real history. There's also a strange whiff of Thief in two aspects of these games: They had a very timeless approach to cultural esthetics, and they had the definite backdrop of an epic, but weren't trying to tell an epic (focusing instead on very ordinary "heroes"). For some reason, that's the sort of approach I like seeing in fantasy steampunk media. (On a final sidenote, I had the pleasure to hear a live orchestral version of Christian Pacaud's mostly electronic OST for the first game. Even saved the video of the performance. As much as I liked the music in the two games, I was stumped at how an orchestral rendition improved things. Pity the devs never used that. It sounded amazing. Have a listen. That's the sort of slightly operatic bombast I expect from a serious war-themed steampunk/dieselpunk game.) Air Power: Battle in the Skies - Dynamix's Red Baron meets FASA's Crimson Skies, but somewhere literally midway between the creation of those two games. Created in the mid-1990s by Rowan Software, who previously worked on several historical flight sims, this was clearly a little passion project of their's and also a rather cheeky departure into a fictional industrial era world, though much like IG, a grounded and non-magical one. The plot is clearly inspired by early WWI dynastic shenanigans, but the airship and aircraft technology is far more 1920s and early-to-mid 1930s, to the devs' creative credit. While AP:BitS is a fairly charming game on the outside in terms of presentation and esthetic approach, and the flight sim gameplay wasn't bad, I feel it was a little too before its time. The tech available then just didn't do it justice, and British developers of the era being far smaller and not having much of a budget, it's no surprise this never really took off (pun intended). Still, along with the really cool PC adaptation of Crimson Skies, some five years later, this was one of those works that cemented my childhood love for the idea of being a sky pirate. Dishonored series - not that surprising, given how its DNA is also tied to Thief for inspiration, even though it's a lot more actiony in terms of gameplay. Though they went for a fairly obvious 18th/19th century aesthetic for this one (and in the first game, Corvo is basically a steampunk Edmond Dantes), I still liked most of their spins on the technology, culture and society in the installments. The whale-oil as a power source idea (even for guns !) might seem a bit silly at face value, but based on their inspiration in whale oil light sources of real history, it at least has some real tech grounding. I can appreciate that in any fantasy setting, even one as weird as this one. (I think the familiar-but-weird tone is what it shares with Thief very well).

@chakkman @Dragofer Guys, please leave me some time to breathe. I want to enjoy my holidays, and I unfortunately still have a lot of stuff to deal with until the 24th. I even wanted to work on another experimental vocal script and get it posted here in another thread, but it's been delayed. Now, as for the Pagans, while I'm open to other voice actors, I volunteered to do the male AIs myself. I don't have to fake a foreign English accent. I don't have a very thick accent, but it is clearly a non-native speaker accent. This would be particularly ideal for the tribesman subset of the vocal script. If I manage to do these recordings, it will be really weird hearing my own voice in TDM, but c'est la vie.

Guys, guys, I am sorely disappointed by the lack of "we's, be's, we's, woodsie's" style speech for the TDM pagans ! For shame ! More seriously, I'll read your posts later this evening. My feedback is coming.