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Steampunk


Midnight

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The BBC has an article about steampunk at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8376028.stm (see the pictures link for some examples).

 

I'd love to see this kind of aesthetic added to TDM (especially once the Inventors Guild is released). The original LGS games were a bit tame when it came to steampunk, but I think it would really suit TDM especially, within reason of course (we wouldn't want to see steam powered automobiles etc).

 

What do you think?

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Personally, I can't stand what's now referred to as steampunk. The way in which the Looking Glass games came across to me - instead of tame - was very original and aesthetically anachronistic more than anything.

 

I've never read The Difference Engine, or any other fiction that's considered to be steampunk, so I guess I'm not one to judge the genre, but what I see most of linked to the word is just fashion with no substance.

 

Really negative opinion there. I don't mean to mess your thread up, and I won't bite anyone's head off for liking something that I don't.  :)

 

 

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Personally, I can't stand what's now referred to as steampunk... but what I see most of linked to the word is just fashion with no substance.

 

I totally agree that most steampunk is over the top, and I've not read any specific literature on the subject either so my own opinion is based purely on the 'fashion' aspect of the word as you put it.

 

Having said that, I can't see how you equate steampunk with style not substance. There appears (from my uneducated perspective on the topic) to be quite a bit of depth to steampunk. If you ignore the modern attempts at steampunk (such as laptops or digital devices made to look Victorian), the idea behind a lot of steampunk (I'm getting really sick of this word now) seems to be a sort of natural or intuitive progression of Victorian technology, which fits in with the world that LGS was creating (more in TMA than TDP).

 

I guess the test will be what FM creators prefer. I don't have any plans for this kind of design in any FM I'm currently working on, but I thought I'd throw this idea out there to see what other people think. Aside from anything else, expanding on this genre would add a whole heap of largely unexplored possibilities to the official Thief universe, and could set TDM aside from the originals in a creative sense.

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Well, I've done a little bit of steampunk stuff and plan(ned) on doing more. T2 nailed some stuff I think pretty well, the mechanist helpers with their brass helmets fit well, and the steambots were pretty well done. But I'm also trying to make the stuff NOT T2 at all.

 

Basically using more copper and brass than LGS used. My lantern bot is an example of the more 'classical steampunk' looks I am trying for. There is also a wall lockbox in the similar vain. I also have been trying to get some gears and machinery going. But I guess I just have a hard time designing machines and don't have any concept art to work with at all. Most of it I've gleamed from sites like Brass Goggles.

 

 

If anyone had specific drawings are better ideas I could probably get more done faster. I tend to open 3d, 'sketch' some stuff out. Not end up happy with it and start working on something else instead.

 

To me steampunk takes alot of brass and copper. Some fancy trim work. Lots of gears and mechanical stuff, but it needs to look more hodge podge/hacked together than well designed and efficient.

Dark is the sway that mows like a harvest

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  • 3 months later...

Personally I didn't like the aesthetics of the 'steampunk' elements in T2. The servant 'bots looked like retarded metal infants with their ungainly walk and the repetitive mantras uttered in that silly, munchkin-like Karras voice made me want to charge at them and beat them into scrap with my blackjack.

 

The T1 steampunk elements were just right, IMO, a good marriage of traditional medieval fantasy and early industrial age-inspired machinery. What I really miss though, as far as artificial constructs go, are the animated statues of T3. Those things scared the poo out of me! Scary voices, imposing presence and a generally cool theme made them my faves.

 

Speaking of which, are there any plans to include automaton AIs into the core mod? Furthermore, do you guys intend to add other humanoids that have appeared over the years, such as crabmen, lizardmen, ratmen, etc? Let's say I wanted to make such contributions to the community, what programs would I need to learn to create such models?

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Speaking of which, are there any plans to include automaton AIs into the core mod?

 

There is one that just needs a little fixing up to be added:

 

lanternbot.jpeg

 

Let's say I wanted to make such contributions to the community, what programs would I need to learn to create such models?

 

You'd need to learn to use a modeling program, as well as being able to create weightmaps and possibly animations. It's one of the hardest things to contribute.

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The T1 steampunk elements were just right, IMO, a good marriage of traditional medieval fantasy and early industrial age-inspired machinery.

I guess the Thief series and TDM should be seen rather in the "steam fantasy" genre. It differs in the timeline, which is more like the medieval Gothic era (12th - 16th century) than the Victorian age (18th century), which is the classic steampunk era. That´s the reason why the items of the linked movie don´t really fit into Thief or TDM.

In T2 the mechanists also introduced some aspects of Art Deco, which was popular in the 1920ies - and I think that fits really great!

 

Speaking of which, are there any plans to include automaton AIs into the core mod?

That is one of the main aspects, I didn´t like in T2. Steambeasts ... It´s okay to me, having a steam engine that forges something or produces electricity.. But something that acts like a robot needs advanced electronics! Even nowadays, we don´t have such robots. To me, that was like a "no go" in the series. Sure, one can always argue that magic is involved, or souls or something like that. But I won´t buy it. It is somehow wrong in the scenario, in my opinion.

Edited by kaldor
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In T2 the mechanists also introduced some aspects of Art Deco, which was popular in the 1920ies - and I think that fits really great!

 

Sarcasm, I hope? :P

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I find a lot of what is considered steampunk in popular culture to be completely over the top. The approach LGS took kept steampunk rather firmly grounded in the real world. Steampunk, as it is often portrayed, makes me think of Anime and other overly stylistic forms of art. It goes too far to pull you out of the real world. TDM leans far more toward a dark, gritty, real world experience so I don't see how the type of steampunk envisioned in that article would fit.

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Not at all! You don´t like it? I think those pretentious buildings reflected very well the megalomania of these mechanists..

 

I don't like anything from the 1920s in a setting that is supposed to be, as you put it, "medieval Gothic era (12th - 16th century)". :P

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I find a lot of what is considered steampunk in popular culture to be completely over the top. The approach LGS took kept steampunk rather firmly grounded in the real world. Steampunk, as it is often portrayed, makes me think of Anime and other overly stylistic forms of art. It goes too far to pull you out of the real world. TDM leans far more toward a dark, gritty, real world experience so I don't see how the type of steampunk envisioned in that article would fit.

 

 

Yeah I liked the humming dynamos, hydraulic machines, electric steet lights and so on, but I kinda agree that T2's vision of steampunk turned it into 'Steamboy'.

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Touche. :)

 

But it looks far more victorian-mad-scientist (1800s) than anything from 1920 (and I never said I liked them, either).

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Touche. :)

 

But it looks far more victorian-mad-scientist (1800s) than anything from 1920 (and I never said I liked them, either).

;)

 

Maybe such steampunk designs will appear very extravagant in TDM. Like something only rich people can afford - and the rather poor "medieval" people stare at it in astonishment and envy.

 

 

BTW: Somehow it came into my mind, that in T1 was a very important person, called Victoria. A coincidence? ;)

Edited by kaldor
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Yeah, designing the bots was basically impossible. One person likes it, another doesn't (although I thought everyone was OK with the Lantern bot), and nobody could offer any ideas other than NO, Not like that, too complicated, not complicated enough...

 

Either way, Thief itself wasn't set so much in the 1600's as it was just general ideas incorporated from medieval times, victorian times, plus fantasy things such as magic and steampunk mixed in and Art Deco styling.

I liked the art deco for the mechanists, I thought it fit their sect very well and it never bothered me that a decor style from the 1920's was used. After all, when I play the game I'm not thinking 'I'm in England in the 1600's', I just enjoy it for what it is. I actually prefer the art deco stuff to the victorian stuff.

 

Springheel and alot of the team have always had a much stronger desire to have a 1600's feel (which is deffinately more T1 than T2).

Dark is the sway that mows like a harvest

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Baddcog, I hope what you've said can be reflected on.

 

It reminds me of the discussion on creating a "backstory" for TDM. There is a thread somewhere here about this idea. I said there that it wasn't a bad idea as far as it goes, but that it wasn't something I figured anyone should expect to be considered the laying of a foundation (or to use the currently trendy phrase "canon building")...

 

TDM, from what the creators themselves have stated, and from what I happily hope and perceive it to be, is a platform for creation. A platform for the creation and realization of, praise be the builders, many ideas.

 

The lantern bots above look great to me and I would feel it a shame to not have them developed because there is some ultimately futile politicking or applied orthodoxyficationismisticalness going on somewhere.

 

 

Bring me them bots!

"A Rhapsody Of Feigned And Ill-Invented Nonsense" - Thomas Aikenhead, On Theology, ca. 1696

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Baddcog, I hope what you've said can be reflected on.

 

It reminds me of the discussion on creating a "backstory" for TDM. There is a thread somewhere here about this idea. I said there that it wasn't a bad idea as far as it goes, but that it wasn't something I figured anyone should expect to be considered the laying of a foundation (or to use the currently trendy phrase "canon building")...

 

http://modetwo.net/d...?title=Universe it exists!!!

No worries i'm completely ignoring (well, politely disregarding) this and creating my own background story for my missions.

 

applied orthodoxyficationismisticalness

 

yeah, that was my minor in college

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The lantern bots above look great to me and I would feel it a shame to not have them developed because there is some ultimately futile politicking or applied orthodoxyficationismisticalness going on somewhere.

 

Whoever said they weren't being developed? I wouldn't have posted them if they weren't going to be included.

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Whoever said they weren't being developed?

 

I'm sorry I thought this indicated some sort of something to that effect:

 

Yeah, designing the bots was basically impossible. One person likes it, another do...

 

They do look excellent. Really excellent. And I am very glad that they are up coming! ::The Ums Ups, Miley::

 

...

 

PS (actually: 'pssst') Are there perhaps any proto-shots of scanning-monitor-cam type things as well?

Edited by aidakeeley

"A Rhapsody Of Feigned And Ill-Invented Nonsense" - Thomas Aikenhead, On Theology, ca. 1696

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I think most people want more "steam" and less "punk." The descriptions in the Dark Wiki are really clear on how steam/industry should be presented, and it sounds great. I also think the blend of steam mixed with a dose of clockwork is a great way to go in lieu of the Inventors' Guild.

 

As for the T2 'bots, yeah, they were pretty extreme for being mere clockworks, but we can also assume that, perhaps, there was a touch of magic being used? Even the guardian heads that sent up an alarm when they saw you (but seemed to ignore servants, guards, passers by) would require magic if not a CPU. In the intro movie to T2, we see some kind of fluid bubbling inside the eye... clockwork and alchemy?

 

For TDM I would love to see what folks come up with with a new view of tech, mixing 50% industry, 49% tinkering, and 1% magic.

207115_1788633687853_1599901965_31729336_1424191_n.jpg
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because there is some ultimately futile politicking or ...

If I have learned one thing about this mod community, then that the "freedom of mappers" has a very high value. So, if you like bots, put them in your map. If you don´t, well then don´t.

 

Although I dislike these bots, I will play maps with them. Maybe with less joy, but that´s my personal problem then ;)

 

Bring me them bots!

You can have my ration, too. Just keep them :P

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