Original Thief mission recreations/updates?

[CatchThatCrazyTaffer]

Has anybody done this?

 

I really want to translate the old Thief games to a FM recreation and was hoping I wasn't the first with this idea.

 

If the answer is yes, where can I find them?

If no, is anybody willing to help, and is this actually legal and/or doable? Especially the videos, which I remember being some ridiculous and outdated format most modern computers can't use.

[ERH+]

Question is: do You want to make it look like T1, cubical and ugly, or You want to make it on level adequate to TDM engine, so it will barely reminds original mission. Maybe it would be funny if "under" original design You will add additional rooms, streets, storyline, extend it in any way. There was some T2 contest about remaking OM, and it is much more creative way to make tribute to Thief.

[CatchThatCrazyTaffer]

I want to take the maps layouts and upgrade them with the new graphics engine, with essentially the same storyline, without all of the design flaws (cubical/ugly) the older systems had.

[Melan]

It would not be legal to recreate any of the original missions in TDM, and even if you succeeded in doing it, this site would be unable to host them for those legal reasons. It would not be easy or practical either, since the two engines work with different principles. The OMs are also huge and complex, which may be a lot more work than originally anticipated. Fan missions may be possible - as long as the original authors grant their permission.

 

And we have already played those Thief missions several times. I believe it is more productive to make something in their spirit but all-new.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Melan

[Sotha]

I think this has been discussed before. AFAIK there are no TDM missions recreating original thief missions. If you would go ahead with such a mission I would advise you not to use original Thief characters or other IP.

 

In the end: if someone was to see all the trouble creating a mission, why on earth would they do something that has already been done: people would know the location, the plot, everything! Why not make a completely new mission instead?

 

And of course, nothing prevents you from taking inspiration from existing works or original missions and building a new mission around that idea but make it better, more fun, more challenging and more interesting!

 

 

[Baddcog]

I think it might be fun to redo a screenshot. Take a cool screenshot from T1 and give it the deluxe treatment. 'How T1 would have looked today' type of thing.

 

But I'd rather build/play new and different stuff.

[demagogue]

Send a PM to Komag. He recreated some of the old OMs architecture as a test for things like movement and uploaded videos and maybe he still has the map files around. I don't know if they're well designed for visportalling though, so they might not be very good for actual missions.

 

As for legality, obviously the Darkmod team doesn't want anything to do with it and won't host it, so it'd just be your own responsibility. As for "properness", a rough guide to how most people feel (aside from the legality) is: when somebody converted T1 directly to T2 FMs, most sites wouldn't host the T2 versions because it was too blatantly just ripping the T1 missions. But other people created entirely new missions using the old architecture as a base but building it in new directions or making allusions to old missions with a familiar scene from an OM, and people are usually willing to give that more of a pass... if that helps. You're much better off making an FM "inspired by" or an homage to an OM or even rebuilding it from scratch the way a TDM mission should be built, than straight-up ripping it directly into the new engine. But that's better anyway, again, because the architecture is optimized differently in the D3 engine and T2 architecture wouldn't be a very good fit. You should build your mission optimized to how the D3 engine works.

[CatchThatCrazyTaffer]

Gotcha. Thanks guys.

[BrokenArts]

I think it might be fun to redo a screenshot. Take a cool screenshot from T1 and give it the deluxe treatment. 'How T1 would have looked today' type of thing.

 

But I'd rather build/play new and different stuff.

 

Don't ask me how I remember this but, Lady Rowena did just that. Take a look at this thread over at TTLG. http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132299

 

Its worth the looks, they are fabulous.

[ECHELON]

I think that even if it could, you would put something like 6-7 years minimum.

[OrbWeaver]

Yes it's been asked numerous times before, and the reaction has generally been the same as what people have said above: it would be time-consuming, legally dubious and a poor return on investment compared with building new content. Not only would you have to recreate all of the architecture and layout, but you would also need to model and animate a large number of characters (such TDM does not contain Hammerites or Apebeasts), as well as producing sounds and other critical assets.

 

In short, if you want to play the original games, just play the original games.