Slingshot - any merit?

[Maethius]

I don't know why this just popped into my head; probably reading about the new AI and sound features. I was wondering if there would be any merit to a new inventory item; a slingshot.

 

Hear me out before using a gas arrow on me!

 

Basically this would be a small, lightweight tool for use in distraction. Now, yes, the player can have noisemaker arrows, but they are expensive and, let's face it, a guard is going to see the thing and be alerted right away. A slingshot, however, could allow the player to target a plate across the room, snipe a metal cup from a table, causing it to fall with a clink. It would allow for a different kind of distraction that left much less of a trace... a small pebble.

 

Just a thought.

 

On to reading more about the great improvements to TDM!

[Springheel]

I'd be far more in favour of something nuThief did, which is create an inventory slot for 'junk items' that can be thrown as a distraction. We actually had a similar idea in our design docs (restricted to small rocks rather than generic items) but never got around to implementing it.

[Anderson]

It might be ok, but at the moment I think there are things that need to be polished for the game in general. Things that are much, much important. The core features already in-game!

[Anderson]

In particular I believe some sounds in-game need revision. Not just adding reverb and such, but rather modifying and adding a little more power to them. Like the footsteps on tiles (especially tiles) and stone. Jumping on them, compare that to the sounds from Thief 1 and 2 and you'll know what I mean! Even Thief Deadly Shadows seems to have them somewhat better.

 

I guess it's an individual thing, but there definately is something about those sounds that just stands out.

[VanishedOne]

I've played the odd T1/T2 FM which featured plates as a stackable inventory item, presumably to be thrown as a distraction. Unless it was a glitch. (I was a bit surprised when they went into the inventory; I only picked one up to find out whether the mission author was using that plate model as loot or not.)

[Airship Ballet]

Jumping on them, compare that to the sounds from Thief 1 and 2 and you'll know what I mean! Even Thief Deadly Shadows seems to have them somewhat better.

Can't say I agree. The reasoning that it's not the same as T1, 2 or 3 doesn't really float, especially given Garrett's penchant for tap-dancing shoes. I'd argue the opposite: the Thief series is dumb for having a supposedly skilled thief clip-clopping his way around buildings at night.

[Lux]

I agree. Any thief worth his salt (which apparently isn't our protagonist) would be wearing oiled sole leather boots and wouldn't make much noise on any surface. The clip-clopping is a hold over from the Thief franchise and some fans of the series like it I guess. It would be really nice to have authentic footstep sounds on surfaces in quiet boots. Granted, they're still audible on various surfaces to keen guards, just not the coconut clip-clop from Monty Python.

[Airship Ballet]

the coconut clip-clop from Monty Python.

That mental image...

[kyyrma]

I agree. Any thief worth his salt (which apparently isn't our protagonist) would be wearing oiled sole leather boots and wouldn't make much noise on any surface. The clip-clopping is a hold over from the Thief franchise and some fans of the series like it I guess. It would be really nice to have authentic footstep sounds on surfaces in quiet boots. Granted, they're still audible on various surfaces to keen guards, just not the coconut clip-clop from Monty Python.

 

I think the clip-clopping is there to give the player a better aural image of how much sound he is producing. Sure it's not realistic, but it makes perfect gameplay sense. And really, the footstep sounds in TDM are already much more subtle than those in Thief/Deus Ex.

 

Edit: Regarding the topic - a slingshot seems unnecessary. We already have the bow, no need for a second projectile launcher. Also junk items can already be used as a distraction.

Edited October 28, 2014 by kyyrma

[grayman]

Wow, that didn't take long to fly away from the OP into the topic of footstep sound.

[buck28]

And now; about that slingshot??? LOL

[Tels]

Edit: Regarding the topic - a slingshot seems unnecessary. We already have the bow, no need for a second projectile launcher. Also junk items can already be used as a distraction.

 

I think the point the OP was trying to make is that there is a place for an "unlimited ammo for distraction purposes".

 

If the slingshot only worked with rocks you pick up, then you'd also need them somewhere lying around and the player to find and collect them. But then, he could just use a noise arrow or a broadhead or throw a pepple, they work all on the same "collect ammo and use it later" principle.

 

But a slingshot with an unlimited supply would bring something unique to the game. Wether it is something we want, is of course open to debate. I'm inclided to think it would make the game too easy.

[Anderson]

Can't say I agree. The reasoning that it's not the same as T1, 2 or 3 doesn't really float, especially given Garrett's penchant for tap-dancing shoes. I'd argue the opposite: the Thief series is dumb for having a supposedly skilled thief clip-clopping his way around buildings at night.

On Thief 1 and 2, yes I can agree. But Thief 3?

No, that game had very subtle sounds. A fast comparisson shows the obviousness of it. If Thief 1 and 2 had loud, obnoxious, clumsy sounds then Thief 3 is suprisingly, very, very silent, in particular when it comes to wooden and stone surfaces.

 

Most of the time I don't think it's easy to be silent when you've got a lot of gear on you, especially in Medieval Times - yeah you're a professional but we're living in a dark, gritty, gothic and unforgiving world aren't we? A place where the silent boots might be of flexible quality.

 

If anything, guards are the loudest component of the game:

Edited October 28, 2014 by Anderson

[Airship Ballet]

Most of the time I don't think it's easy to be silent when you've got a lot of gear on you, especially in Medieval Times.

The sounds in TDM are about as powerful as I'd expect them to be. Sprinting on wood is deafening with the volume up and falling onto grass or stone actually sounds like somebody sampled themselves falling out of a window for the game. Any louder and they'd be too much, any quieter would be more realistic but render it much harder to gauge how much noise you're making. Maybe your volume is low or something, I don't know.

 

The slingshot idea is neat but would make it far too easy to creep around. Guards are put on a particular patrol route for a reason known by the person who made the building, so if it's challenging it's intended to be that way. If you can start pulling away guards with infinite spitwads you'd be able to abuse it more than the junk, noisemakers and broadheads you already have. Like I said, it'd be neat to have but would make things far too easy unless it had the same alerting behavior as a noisemaker, which would balance it but render it redundant.

[grayman]

... falling onto grass or stone actually sounds like somebody sampled themselves falling out of a window ...

 

Dammit! That didn't sound right. I'll have to do it over again.

 

[Trudge up stairs]

 

[Check mic]

 

[Fall out of window]

 

[Check results]

 

Dammit!!

[Airship Ballet]

Next thing you know you've captured 100% authentic ambulance sirens for a side project.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Airship Ballet

[Anderson]

The sounds in TDM are about as powerful as I'd expect them to be. Sprinting on wood is deafening with the volume up and falling onto grass or stone actually sounds like somebody sampled themselves falling out of a window for the game. Any louder and they'd be too much, any quieter would be more realistic but render it much harder to gauge how much noise you're making. Maybe your volume is low or something, I don't know.

 

 

My volume is at the maximum.

Perhaps it's indeed a thing of personal preference. It's just that some sounds simply could have sounded more powerful. It's not even really about rough volume of the sound but just the impact of it, the coolness of it.

Maybe it's just a thing to get used to.

Let me rewrite what I think to be the most important: the sound of walking on stone and on tiles (most of them are probably ceramic). The wooden one is fine. But these two just kind of bothered me a little.

 

 

About the slingshot - even if it would be in-game, I would seldom use it. There's enough items that have the same functionality in the world, making a slingshot not only unprofessional but also obsolete. If I was a Thief, this wouldn't be a tool for work.