Mythical creatures

[MirceaKitsune]

One of the many things I love about TDM is that its mechanics are realistic and historically accurate, but not necessarily its missions and assets. There are glowing mushrooms, giant spiders, not to mention the many variations of undead... used inside stories about spells and magic. I'm really curious whether this department could hold even more plans for the future... especially in the era of NPC's. Any chance of seeing more mythical creatures, either added to TDM or distributed as mods?

 

The first that comes to mind are dragons. Especially because TDM looks so much like Skyrim from a graphical perspective, and this would be a neat extra resemblance. But I assume they're out of the question at this stage. Since I doubt there is an AI for flying yet (not even birds exist), and large creatures might not have a purpose in the Thief gameplay TDM goes for. Despite being potentially useful to make outdoor areas unsafe, and encouraging the player to stay in the dark outside. I guess they're still a thought however, given how popular they are in nearly every medieval fantasy story, which could now be "written" inside TDM as well.

 

At a smaller scale, there are a few more creatures I wanted to speak my mind about. Trolls are one thing TDM could probably use... in regard to assets of course, not players Goblins come close, like the "my precious" guy in Lord of the Rings There could also be tree people (walking trees) as depicted by some fantasy films, not to mention stone golems. Lastly, witches and faeries and mermaids (in their case for decorative purposes since they couldn't walk) might be another idea, as well as easy to do since they could be based on the existing character models.

 

Are any of these ideas viable at all, or perhaps more could be added if I missed any? I think TDM's existing gameplay and art could do for some lovely fantasy missions, as maps using the undead NPC's have probably proven already.

[grayman]

New NPCs are limited by the availability of volunteers to create the models, animations, sounds, and supporting script and code work.

 

None of that is trivial.

[Springheel]

The TDM setting is not high fantasy. Magic is rare and tends to be closer to real life than high fantasy settings. Giant versions of existing animals fit such settings, but dragons do not.

[MirceaKitsune]

New NPCs are limited by the availability of volunteers to create the models, animations, sounds, and supporting script and code work.

 

None of that is trivial.

 

I'm thinking of making (rather adapting) some TDM player models myself. Was eventually going to ask if there's a tutorial on how to do that with Blender, using the existing armature and animations. Till then, I'm hoping there are other artists who might inclined toward this idea. If not I understand, modeling / texturing is never an easy work or something to expect magically.

Edited December 28, 2014 by MirceaKitsune

[nbohr1more]

Well, it's not specific but we do have an Animation section in the Wiki:

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Animation

 

I think we still have code support for the Werebeast that was removed from TDM because it was using some Doom 3 model assets.

so there's one AI type for beasts around.

[SeriousToni]

I would love to see a map like the lost city in Thief with some mythical / scary creatures in it!

[Springheel]

We actually did have working fire elementals at one point, and since then Angua actually got flying code working, but I don't think anyone has been back to look at them since. And of course there is the werebeast that needs someone to fully rig and animate it.

[SeriousToni]

Well I guess there's no chance Angua and Diego go back to work on them again..?

[MirceaKitsune]

I would love to see a map like the lost city in Thief with some mythical / scary creatures in it!

 

What I'd love doing (when I get DarkRadiant running and learn TDM mapping) would be at least one mission similar to Lord of the Rings, Skyrim, and other immersive fantasy stories. Campaigns would be better for this than single missions, although I haven't seen any examples yet and am trying to learn how they work. I understand if TDM isn't focused on such themes expressively... but since it can do them really well when given the proper assets, I hope they are still considerable.

[Springheel]

but since it can do them really well when given the proper assets

 

As Obs said, mappers can make whatever missions they want. I think it would be fun to see a WW2-themed mission, or a high-fantasy mission where you have to sneak through the goblin tunnels to steal a jewel from a dragon. But mappers wanting to do that are probably going to have to find their own assets. We don't even have enough people to produce all the TDM assets we want (the werebeast has been sitting unfinished since 2.0, as an example).

[jaxa]

We have some really big spiders, zombies, skeletons, haunts, and those tinkerbell things from Dram/Alberic's Curse. Fire elementals possibly. Burricks/belchers never got completed.

 

Did Dram ever make any tree beasts?

[Springheel]

If it's just going to be in a window, it wouldn't even have to be a model. It could just be an animated texture or short video that plays on the window texture itself.

[SteveL]

If it's just going to be in a window, it wouldn't even have to be a model. It could just be an animated texture or short video that plays on the window texture itself.

Wrong thread

 

From the cats and dogs thread:

The cat can also be a static object, for example on a window, in the light of the moon. Not reacting to the player.

 

I remember there was also a cat in Thief 3 in the Overlook Mansion. But in comparisson to that (the cat was running frantically from the player), I think it's better to have it, if have it at all as simply a non-movable object. If you're keen on having one in the map in general.

[VanishedOne]

I think the ghoul from T2G is the closest I've seen to a goblin in a Thiefy setting.

[Springheel]

Wrong thread

 

Oops.