Roadmap for TDM in 2020

[mcmike1489]

What plans are in store for TDM next year in 2020 such as new features or anything in between? I do know new fan missions are always releasing periodically. Just want to know what new things we can expect for the future of TDM going into the new year.

[freyk]

i dont know where you get a global view of the coming changes, but to get a little view of this, take a look at:

https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/roadmap_page.php

and older changes to the game:

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Category:What's_New

Edited November 21, 2019 by freyk

[mcmike1489]

Oh ok, thanks for the info. This will do for now. Despite not being a big game like other PC games you would buy from Steam or Origin. This game is pretty much will and always remain the same in terms of features and gameplay, nothing much will change that I know about at this point.

[zergrush]

Can I ask, did anything out of the ordinary happen given the 5 month delay for the release of 2.08 and the fact the issue fixing seems to have slowed down? Is the team going through any problems that we might assist with?

[mcmike1489]

Good question, I don't know when TDM version 2.08 will be released. You may want to ask the developer about that.

[Springheel]

There is currently no release date for 2.08.

[mcmike1489]

Oh ok, so it's pending right now what the future updates for TDM is going to come into the new year, got it. Thanks for the heads up.

[OrbWeaver]

On 11/21/2019 at 1:58 PM, zergrush said:

 Is the team going through any problems that we might assist with?

If people want to assist by donating programming time and skills, I'm sure the team will always welcome that.

[freyk]

And read topic how i can help for more info about this, zergrush.

Edited November 23, 2019 by freyk

[mcmike1489]

It would be interesting to see a sequel one day. The Dark Mod 2 using Unreal Engine 4 if no more updates are planning to come out for the original game.

Edited November 23, 2019 by mcmike1489

[freyk]

or another opensource fps engine. 

[mcmike1489]

At least the updates will be getting for TDM still is for any bug fixes and improvements that may be present in the game at this point, so at least we don't have to worry about updates not coming anymore that relate just for fixing the game.

[demagogue]

It'd be easier to add the Unreal Engine 4 features you want to the Darkmod engine than to do a full port. The main improvement in graphics would be asset upgrades anyway. There's only so much render engine improvements can even offer for a game largely happening in dark confined spaces. 

[mcmike1489]

You're right, it would be much easier to put the Unreal Engine 4 features into the Darkmod engine, but someone has to have the time to do it to make it happen, I wonder who could do it and make it into a success? Only time will tell. The Dark Mod 2 would be a great sequel in the making to continue the legacy of the Thief franchise for those taffers that love this game so much as much as I do, let's just be hopeful and see what happens for the future of The Dark Mod for many years to come.

[peter_spy]

1 hour ago, mcmike1489 said:

I wonder who could do it and make it into a success?

There isn't sufficient number of competent enough modelers who could make TDM benefit from the bells and whistles of engine like Unreal 4 right now. Besides, higher fidelity requires tons of time, knowledge, and tools for making assets.

Personally, I'd be making stuff for TDM, even if development had stopped at 2.05. Having a locked tech isn't a bad thing per se; it's up to you and your skills to use it to your advantage.

[OrbWeaver]

4 hours ago, mcmike1489 said:

You're right, it would be much easier to put the Unreal Engine 4 features into the Darkmod engine, but someone has to have the time to do it to make it happen, I wonder who could do it and make it into a success? Only time will tell. The Dark Mod 2 would be a great sequel in the making

If there aren't enough programmers to put the Unreal Engine 4 features into the Dark Mod engine, why would there suddenly be enough programmers to make a completely new Dark Mod 2 from scratch (which is considerably more work)?

Suggesting a sequel as the solution to a lack of updates in the current version is like suggesting building a new city because you don't have enough resources to build a house.

[Jedi_Wannabe]

Do we even need a sequel? Not saying it’s a bad idea, just the time. IF 2.07 ( which just came out this year right) was the LAST version, would we all suddenly stop playing and creating for it? I’d still use it for years to come, so why abandon more than a decade’s worth of collaborative hard work? The code isn’t perfect, but hot damn for a spiritual successor to Thief, it’s pretty taffin’ perfect. Why don’t we just ride this wave til it crashes to shore?

[wesp5]

45 minutes ago, Jedi_Wannabe said:

Do we even need a sequel?

I would say no. TDM is great as it is and from the Unreal 4 games that I have seen, I doubt active shadows and lights would be much better anyway! Also as has been said, who should do the work building something from scratch, when even the planned TDM campaign hasn't been finished for years? Or the city hub that many players dream about...

Edited November 24, 2019 by wesp5

[mcmike1489]

I'm glad I'm sharing this with you guys, we don't know what the future holds for TDM, but hopefully we get something good sometime in 2020. And yes, maybe we're not ready for sequel just yet, but this game still has a lot to offer.  I'm no game designer nor programmer, just a gamer myself. And it would be great to get a city hub in TDM just like in Thief Deadly Shadows. The game engine for TDM is good for right now, not too bad.

[kano]

An open source project never dies, so long as some human somewhere feels like grabbing some pizza and starting to code on it (maybe you!) That's one of the things that makes open source so great, also, being free from the money and politics of proprietary projects.

 

But yeah, open source projects never die, they just go into hibernation for a wile.

[mcmike1489]

Well I have not gone to school to work on computer programming so I wouldn't know how to make this game even better.

[demagogue]

You have that backwards though. You first think of something that might make this game even better, and then do what most of us did (that didn't take any classes in coding) and grab a tutorial or surf a forum like StackOverflow and follow instructions to do the one thing you want to do, and now you know that one little thing. Rinse and repeat.

You start with just changing up your own local build and no expectations that it will go in the main mod, so it's just you playing and experimenting completely freely and wildly. Mistakes and accidents are expected and sometimes fun puzzles to crack. Just start with changing random code, recompiling and see what happens! We actually encourage that kind of irreverent experimentation. That's how a lot of us learned. 

[mcmike1489]

Thanks for the advice, maybe one day when I have the time.

[kano]

On 11/27/2019 at 7:07 PM, mcmike1489 said:

Well I have not gone to school to work on computer programming so I wouldn't know how to make this game even better.

As far as I know, neither did John Carmack! He's the self-taught brilliant guy who gave us the game engine that this game uses (and many more).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack

EDIT: Daaaamn!

   "

As reported in David Kushner's Masters of Doom, when Carmack was 14, he broke into a school to help a group of children steal Apple II computers. To gain entry to the building, Carmack concocted a sticky substance of thermite mixed with Vaseline that melted through the windows. However, an overweight accomplice struggled to get through the hole, and opened the window, setting off a silent alarm and alerting police. Carmack was arrested, and sent for psychiatric evaluation (the report mentions "no empathy for other human beings" and describes Carmack as "a brain on legs"). Carmack was then sentenced to a year in a juvenile home.[6][7]

He attended the University of Missouri–Kansas City for two semesters before withdrawing to work as a freelance programmer.[8]"

 

Seems he did go to a bit of school. Still, this guy is probably the best thing that ever happened to PC games.

Edited November 29, 2019 by kano

[mcmike1489]

Interesting John Carmack is the creator of TDM, I didn't know that.