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Greetings Everyone! I wanted to start this thread on behalf of the DarkMod team to help keep our guests informed on our progress; to let them know there's DarkMod life in the project even when it may seem there is none -- and to keep them updated as such. There won't be a set schedule as to when this thread will be updated, but maybe check back from time to time. Anyone can post here and I'm sure you'll hear from other team members here in the future. Although many visitors might already have http://www.mindplaces.com/darkmod/index.htm bookmarked to see updates on screenshots and concept artwork, etc., some don't have it bookmarked and may not know about it. Other forums actually point to our site here and I figured there might be some benefit to providing occasional updates here via this forum, too. As an update for our guests out there, I can say that I've seen a LOT of activity from our team members behind-the-scenes on this DarkMod project. There are many discussions going on and a lot of concepts being worked on. As a team member with a primary focus on artwork, I've personally created a few concept drawings and have seen fellow artists showcase some very nice concepts. Our programmers, 3-D modellers, audio experts, etc. are also very active in these early stages of the project. I want to assure our guests that there's a lot of DarkMod life behind-the-scenes that you might not otherwise see from the outside. We have a long road ahead of us, but we have an enthusiastic group working on this and I'm confident you'll be happy with our DarkMod work once complete. Stay tuned, as I'm sure there will be many more updates in the future! Until then, may shadows continue to guide your journeys. Darkness_Falls

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http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showtopic=159 The second post in this thread is the important one. The aim of this thread is to collect all information about what we want to do on a more detailed level but not TO detailed. So discussion about conecpt art should be here, but the information that this beast should be done shouild be posted there as well. You should also look through the document and add items in the lists, if you think that they should be included and I forgot them. For example: I listed a number texture themes and what each theme must provide for. If you notice that a theme, or a texture for a theme is missing, the list it, there so we can keep track of it. You don't need to be specific, but specific enough that we know what you are talking about. Of course even if you are an artist, that doesn't mean that you may not look through the other sections to check if we forgot something. If you decide here that you want to do a belcher but the coders don't know about this, you can not animate your model afterwards.

They're meant to inspire us, not make us copy them. As artists, we draw from many different resources for inspirations -- and nothing, truly, should be off-limits. We're not going to "use" that concept artwork in any way other than to inspire us to create our own. Heck, maybe some things will only get slightly tweaked by us to put our own 'stamp of DarkMod approval' on it. But probably not. If you can't tune the original concept artwork out when you're making your own stuff, then don't look at it... is the only advice I can give. To me, it's helpful to view these things and thought I was doing a favor by sharing what I found with others. If I'm going to be working on Kurshok- or Craymen-like creatures... or blackjacks or bows... I think it's best that I know a little bit of what the original ones look like and even see some concepts. From the DarkMod website, it states: Resembling Thief games would not be a bad thing, since I think that's why most of us were drawn to begin working on DarkMod in the first place. If Disney was going to make a new Transformers-like movie but didn't hold the rights to Transformers, are they not going to watch past Transformers episodes just because they're making their own spin on it? Heck no, they'd totally study past Transformers episodes and movies, and anything else they could get their hands on. Nothing would be off limits for their artists. It's all about studying what you're working on. If I'm working on tables, it's best to look at pictures of tables for reference. If I'm working on pillars, it's best to look at existing pillars for reference. Etc.

If you agree or decide something like that, then you should post it in my project definition thread, so we can include/remove it there. Not everybody is following all the threads, but we should all know about these things. That's why I started this thread. http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showtopic=159 Usually I don't look much into the Art threads, because I'm not an artist and can not contribute much there. So most of the time, when I look at these threads, I just look at the pictures and hope that the first mod is appearing fast because of the great graphics. But I don't read all the postings here. I guess there are others as well and we shouldn't rely on this when deciding what we want and what not. Especially since a thread has only a limited time and after that only few remeber it and what has been decided. Don't forget. If you decide something here, then the coders will also have to know about it, to give it life.

Brr...you must run these things by me first, and instead of an open free-for-all thread, you must assign individual tasks by PM using the format detailed on the sticky thread link, after people have volunteered. Since you are concept art, each task reference should have the following prefix: ACn followed by a four digit number, for instance: ACn0001 might be the main menu concept, etc. etc. And then you have to PM ME with the tasks so that I can keep track of who's doing what. Don't fall out of line, please. It's so difficult to keep things organised.

Mechanics of lockpicking is discussed here http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showforum=14 and here http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showtopic=170. This thread is actualy only about the position of the locks. Or did you mean that? Not sure about this.

I'll work on these. PS: I just posted a sample environmental scene in the Art section: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showt...findpost&p=1795

Here are some pics from my reference library that might be useful: Medieval books

LOL, ummmmmmm.......someone has my login I think -- or the forum's trippin'. I didn't write this. Considering this other thread that's going on (http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showt...st=0entry1247), I'd say something's amiss with the forum.. or someone's playin' gamez.

Gonna play the big downer for a sec here...but might that fall under copywrited material? A moss arrow by itself is vague enough to avoid infringements, but if we were to copy both the style and function of the arrows it might be skirting a bit too close to areas we want to avoid.

My apologies for not posting sooner, the multimedia company I work for is getting shut down (the owner spent all are money on his drug problem… ) so I had to work 3, 12 hour photo shots last week to try and wrap up are projects, so we could get are last paychecks and leave this sinking ship with what we are owed. But now that that’s almost all over I will have more free time to work on art for your project and to fill out my portfolio! So in all I am happy! After closer review of what is posted on this mod's site: I would like to come up with a unifying theme for the environments. You know how the hammers had control over most of the cities and there influence was seen in the design and architecture of the first and second Thief games. If we are going to try and have some originality and not make reference to any intellectual property of Eidos as part of the Thief Franchise. We will have to come up with some original ideas even though we are going to mimic Thief stile of game play. We should have a story line with different characters (no hammers, no druids, ext), different environments that help drive your plot? And even a different mane character that is more then just a vial over his face away from the design of the Thief in the game we are takeing inspiration from. I think this is a grate idea for a mod but I think we need to decide on whether or not you are Photocopying Thief or Inspired by Thief? If what you want is to copy thief (for the irony of stealing thief) I don’t think you need artists like me, because Eidos has already dun all the creative work for you. However if you want to create something new and original I will gladly help beaus I love the Thief stile of FPS games and would like to work on an original mod of that nature. I am not trying to upset any one with this post I just don’t want to be part of copying another artist ideas and claming them as mine. It looks bad in a portfolio and I am planning on going in to the game industry with my portfolio as a compelling demonstration of my creative ability’s. So you see, I just can't redraw the past Thief games and call them my work... I want to work with this team but if we are not going to do any thing original my time is probably better spent working on a different mod.

We've had this discussion already. Check out: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showt...%20dagger&st=50

This question was asked in the Ion Storm forums a while back. I thought it might help us to conjure up more resources and spur more creativity... Source: http://forums.ionstorm.com/index.php?showt...ndpost&p=290033 The City is an amalgamation of times and places, both actual and fictional. Medieval & Victorian London and France, modern-day Prague, and even parts of Boston (home of the ghosts of Looking Glass) have been mentioned as real places that influenced the look & feel of the City. Some oft-cited art references are The City of Lost Children, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Name of the Rose. The works of Mike Mignola (Fafhrd / Mouser stuff), Tim Burton (Mr. Wrought Iron Himself), Jules Verne, Charles D-i-c-k-e-n-s, and Alan Moore / Eddie Campbell have also been mentioned a fair few times as influences. That's just a sampling, there are dozens of others .

Whoa, can we shrink that image down a bit? Images should be kept at a reasonable size on the forums...if they absolutely need to be bigger than 800x600, then we should use a link. The cathedral doesn't look bad, but that tower really looks familiar. Is it based on something? I originally thought of Orthanc, but I know it isn't the movie version.

i remember the making of blade 2, where the custumes designer spoke about clothing and the problem of dark clothing the clue is, that you have to do very much with different materials. the breaking of light, the "smoothness", how contrasts you recognize, reflections, colorchanges (violet to black and the other way round) in the case of the hood you should try this, maybe different colors for inside / outside, a material wich allows to see structure, maybe a artifical bright up in the face as it has been made in thief deadly shadows

hey guys. just checking back at the forum to let you guys know that i'm still here and awaiting directions. i've only started looking around the dark mod forums, but havent yet seen everything, ill continue on to see what resources / info is available. well, fingernail or whoever's in charge , when you have some work for me, just email. thanks . btwy, forums is an ok way to get informed, but what we really need is an irc channel.

Look, you taffer: You need to make one that's about 500 polys, but you also need to make a heavily detailed one that's at least 10,000 polys for normalmap reference. And you need both. IRC

I think the hood should poke out over his face a bit more, to allow a shadow to more easily cast over his forehead/face. Part of the plan was to make him mysterious by always casting some shadow over his face, in conjunction with the cloth scarf thing over his nose/mouth. Garrett lacked a lot of mystique in TDS because they kept showing his whole face in the light in cutscenes, etc. By having a hood that pokes out more, this would help create more dramatic shadow effects over his face. There might be some cloak-wearing StarWars Jedi or Sith we could look at for reference. This is the only example I have to somewhat show what I'm talking about, though I don't think this fully captures the ideal. I think it should jut out a bit more and fall vertically lower than what is shown here:

Don't forget to look at the links, not just the pretty pictures (there is a limit on IMG tags in a post). Anyway, onwards: Weapon Models Bow Arrow (just broadhead for now) - figure 146, not 147. Short Sword Blackjack - you know what this looks like. I'd prefer less of a T3 club to more of a T2 style hard material thing. More coming....

This might be true, but what is their function now? They guard the churches and the property owned by the church. I don't know how you know this, but I'm going by the art that is actually in (or used by) the game. The T1/2 armour is late-medieval. The T3 armour is lighter and less modern. None of them look arcane to me. Says who? None of the hammerite pictures I have ever seen have had them with cloaks. The T3 hammers did not have shoulder plates, and I'm not sure the T1/2 did either. If you have access to some Thief reference pictures that I don't, please share them.

If you want to stay free, use Blender (someone wrote an exporter for D3).... You could learn Lightwave and I'm sure it's great, but I think there has been an exporter written for 3DSMax also. Not sure though...check the D3W forums.

Good job on the builder concept, Springheel -- and thanks for posting the historic reference material, Alexius. Hey Springheel - I added a new folder to the DarkMod FTP area called "Art-ConceptDrawings," and within that folder added a "Springheel" folder and a "Darkness_Falls" folder. This gives us our own separate playgrounds to keep track of stuff in without getting confused. Alexius, if you'll be doing concept drawings and need webspace, feel free to add a folder there. We could add other folders, too, if other artists come on board. I wanted to keep only drawings in there, but realistically we may want to re-title the folder and morph into more of a Art-ConceptArtwork area. You guys may already have webspace and don't care, but I needed the webspace.

Right on, yeah I agree with all that was said. I'll try to get them to be smaller images later tonight or tomorrow, and have the images show up in the post instead of as links. Good idea! Not a problem. [uPDATE: Done.] I agree that the room is bland and I actually, honestly, kind've hate it. It looks better in-person, when standing way far away (LOL) -- actually kind've looks real. BUT (and this is a big BUT) it does lack A LOT of the dynamicism and moodiness we all know and love about Thief. Fortunately, I already realized this and won't be doing another room like that I think I did that room as almost a "study," if you will. I was using Thief 2 as a reference and was seeing how they did the panels on the wall, etc., though I know I erred on a couple things. When i look at that room though, I'm like 'borrrrring' I have a feeling the drawings will get better over time. I'm actually working on a different room scene right now that I think you might appreciate more when I'm done. There's more life and moodiness, in general, to it -- and it feels more Thief to me. I'm using PhotoShop and the coloring will be much better. Once I get a digital pen, I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot more cooler things, too. Thanks for the feedback guys. Let's rock this thing!

I like what I see so far If you artist guys are using lots of reference material from the appropriate time periods, and making design desicions based on the Thief world that we want, I'm happy. Just as a suggestion - have you thought about adding bolts or screws to the logo, if you're having trouble putting a hammer with one other thing, some little things like bolts could give you more options to arrange things to look nice. After we come up with a design, we should read some "meaning" into it, eg, the cog surrounds the base of the hammer, to represent its power that spreads over everything... etc. so the Builders have more things to write about.