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It's coming along. Still got some issues here and there, and I haven't found all the textures I want to include in the next pack yet, but it's getting there. This is a shot from the map I'm working on, figured I've gotten it to the point where I have something interesting to show off. Imagine it with little colored jars and various other knick-knacks sitting on those shelves, electric lights hanging from the ceiling, wispy cobwebs draped from the ceiling to the walls, and...uh...a floor, and you'll see where I wanna go with it. But without further ado...The Basement

Well, I finally got my scanner to work so I thought I'd upload some concept artwork I've been working on the past week or so! Woot! Mainly just rough sketches, but hopefully helpful...? PS: Any feedback on the above is appreciated. Also, there's going to be a lot more time spent in creating lamps, lights, candles, candleholders, chairs, tables, wall patterns, stained glass windows, etc., then what was barely touched on here. Just didn't want anybody worrying. Side Note: I look at 'concept artwork' as general guidelines to help create the game. The museum sculpture stand image above, for instance, has a big magnet over it (to slowly lift the glass box when activated). This may or may not be something we want to include in the game -- it was just an idea. For example, our thief could have a goal that says "Figure out how to steal the Bafford Scultpure" or something, and our thief would then have to find a secret switch that lifts the glass enclosure up, revealing the sculpture. We may or may not want to do something like this. As well, in the concept artwork, the magnet looks like hell. I envision more care and detail going into the actual magnet if it were implemented, perhaps even hiding the fact that it's a magnet by making it look like a beautiful, ornate hood above the sculpture that provides light to the sculpture or something. So, you see, please just take my concept artwork as brainstorming sessions and possible ideas rather than an edict saying "We need to do it THIS way" or "I feel this way is the best." So, as more and more drawings come, take what you will from them for use in DarkMod. I just want them to be helpful! Cool?? Cool. PPS: The 'miscellaneous room' one was done with colored pencils. I know it's not the best clarity. Just wanted to do a rough room. I need to get myself a "digital pen" for my PC! Drawing with a mouse is kind've challenging, otherwise I'd do stuff more often on the PC.

That's what I'm gonna do next, BT. Finger: Considering that my props are quite a bit simpler than a full blown character model, a good meshsmooth should be all I need to do to get a well rounded normalmap. Just keep in mind that this isn't my area of expertise, so beyond a few lights here and there, most of it will be small objects that are best used as throwaway details.

City Objects - lampposts, streetlights, cornices, bins, crud (I'd like our City to be somewhat dirtier than Thiefs), window objects, signs, trees. Light Objects - lamps, streetlights, bulbs, lightshades, chandeliers, candles, torches, spotlights, wall lights, uplighters, downlighters...all with a vaguely art-deco/neo-classical style to them. Furniture Objects - tables (many varieties, rough, cheap, expensive, basic, huge, small, circular, hexagonal), desks (writing, dressingtables, chests of drawers), sideboards, mantlepieces, chairs (again, many types), sofas, chaise-longues, armchairs, stools, footrests, surfaces, ovens (range-type), stoves. Beds. Loot Objects - coins, rings, diamonds, plates, paintings, bowls, cups, wine bottles, purses, necklace. Detail Objects - books, candlesticks, mirrors, hairbrushes, plantpots, food, plates, bowls, cups, logs, utensils, statues. Useable objects - lockers, storage boxes, crates, safes, levers, switches potions, flashbombs, mines. Character Objects - basic cityfolk - men and women (fat & thin). Peasantry/servants. Nobles/richfolk. Pagans. Hammer-equivalents. Keeper-equivalents. Craymenalikes. Robots. Tricksie Manfools.... Thieves of course. Standard guards. City watch, Burricks, Spiders, Zombies, Craymen Weapons - short sword, longsword, war hammer, ornamental hammer, bow, crossbow, various arrows, wands, blackjack, axe, mace, club

City Textures - very similar to the Thief 3/2/1 City. Slightly Tudor/medieval, with elements of neo-Classicism and gothic. Also steampunk - ie. pipes, chimneys. Vaguely Victorian. Basically it's melting pot of styles - a bit like London, a bit like Prague, Paris and Vienna in my mind. Mansion textures - similar to the T2 style/Moira's manse from T3. Wood panneling, rich wallpaper, carpets, shiny wood flooring, elaborate doors, grand staircases, large windows and roof lights. A bit of art-deco influence ala T2 would be nice. Church Textures - should be Alexius' speciality . High Gothic, St Vitus, Notre Dame, large stain glass windows, many vaults, columns, transcepts...you get the picture. Stone mainly. Some 'Hammer-equivalent' logos would be nice. Catacomb/sewer Textures - just some boney, wet, damp rock & brick. Quite a small section. Core Textures - very crucial. All the standard bricks, wood, flooring, tiles, edging, grass, that would go well in pretty much any situation. Water Textures - new shaders should be made. This should probably involve new fragment programs, which means someone should have a bash at learning the fragment language (check D3W for scant details). Glass Textures - people have windows, ya know. All styles. Door Textures - some pretty general wood & metal doors. Metallic Textures - all the shininess: pipes, grates, fans, valves, infernal machines. Go crazy & nuts with this one, I want to see all sorts of Edward Scissorhands craziness.

Wow, a man of many talents. Coming up with concepts for furniture by doing some research into the relevent time periods is something that needs to be done. I like the museum stand for that reason. The concept art for T3 involved a lot of dynamic sceans and good use of colour, that gave designers a lot to work from. In comparison, that shot of the room with the light on the wall is really bland, in terms of colours, archetecture, and overall feel. When the concept art was drawn with the camera at a really dramatic angle, you might think "well, the camera angle itself isnt' saying much - your viewpoint moves around all the time in the game", but what you really should be getting out of the image, is looking at it at a whole, and it gives you a feeling, and then you say "well, how can I somehow translate that feeling into the game, and give the player that feeling when they play the game?" I think that is the true power of concept art. We need something that says something new. Well not real new - we know what the Thief world is like - dark and moody, with brooding shadows and atmospheric lights, and ominous sillhouettes. But see how the concept art took that "theme" and gave it its own character? It's not easy but that's what I think we should aim for. A unique style of our own. I can see these sketches are just drafts, but they're a good start.

K, that's easily done..just gotta add bubbles. Hey Finger...speaking of textures on lights....have you been reading up on that? I haven't even tried looking for any tutorials since I mentioned it awhile back, have you found anything? I wanna start getting into them here soon.

The glare effect bleeds out a bit, but for the most part the lights that make up the windows only work on the windows themselves. I wanted it that way so they'd stand out and I could check and see how they looked. Once I tone it down it'll be a good moonlight effect. Similar to the shafts of light in Thief 3, but more vague and hazy.

I've already got some sketches in the works for guard and builders...what we could really use are things like furniture, lights, mechanical sketches, architecture, etc.

One good thing about the whole resizing issue... Lights are now far easier to control

I think it's important that the texture artists try to work with a certain colour palette - it seems they already have the warm fire feel for the indoors lit with torches. Now out doors should be decided on soon, like strong blues and purples or greens maybe (and yellows, for the lights), or something, like the Thief 3 concept artwork. All good artists know that less is more. By that I mean, if the scene is filled with all sorts of colours, it loses its identity, but if there is a specific theme going on, it shows and it really has its own character. People were saying "This is what Thief 3 SHOULD have looked like!" about Renzatic's screen shots, and I beleive the colour palette is why. We (well, the artists) should strive for a unique, and unified feel for this Thief world. You can see good examples of this in a lot of 2D games. I think 3D games are only just catching up there, as the tools let artists express themselves more easily - a lot of older 3D game all sort of look alike, but now, with some of the nicer looking games, you can take a screen shot of it, and it is so easy to tell straight away that it is from that game, and not another game of that type. I think a good example is Need For Speed Underground. All the neon colours glowing in the dark, and the motion blurring. It's not the most realistic racing game out there (check out some of those new rally games), but it is certainly one of the prettiest, and best looking racing games out there. (If I have people disagree with me about NFSU, then maybe I chose a bad example, but I hope my point gets across all the same)

Wow...we really need to start digging up info on light materials. I just got through playing around with a few of them and, except for the frequency, I've caused it to put on an excellent lightning display. You could do so much with it and use only a minimal amount of resources. Want a shadowy silhouette of some trees swaying slowly in a breeze displayed on your windows ? Use a light material. The same could go for casting the same shadow on a wall opposite of a window during a lightning storm...have a tree cast a shadow when a bolt of lightning lights up the sky. You could even have clouds rolling slowly across your floors. There's so much potential here for awesomeness it's not even funny.