Coop?

[Irenices]

Do you guys have any plan to include any sort of multiplayer support to the dark mod? I'm sorry if you have said anything about this before but iv always dreamed of a game like thief, though i know this mod is COMPLETELY different, but with coop so i could take on the missions with a friend.

[Dram]

Sorry to say that atm it was decided that there would be no multiplayer support upon release, but the mod will be open source, which means anyone could add it in.

[DopeFishhh]

Do you mean no multiplayer in the missions you will be releasing or no multiplayer supported by the base mod, like for the lightgem or something

[oDDity]

No multiplayer, period. It's not bing taken into consideration at all. We already have more than enough on our plate.

[bardic]

Well, the player won't actually have a body, so in a multiplayer mode you wouldn't be able to see each other.

 

So the base mod won't have any, but anyone who feels the need to mod the mod could do it themselves and release a multiplayer version of the Dark Mod. At least Doom has multiplayer support, no one has ever been able to make a multiplayer mod for the previous Thief games because those engines didn't support it at all.

 

Once the Dark Mod is finished these guys can have a much deserved break, and we can start making missions. I don't think it will be too long after that when someone decides they want to tackle multiplayer.

 

At least, that is what I've picked up from other threads. I'm just excited by the progress, and that it will probably take long enough for them to finish for me to learn the base mapping better.

[Ishtvan]

Well, the player won't actually have a body, so in a multiplayer mode you wouldn't be able to see each other.

 

I wouldn't say that's the reason. The player has a body (otherwise what would you see in mirrors?) and that part actually works online. The problem is that it would take much more time to code everything with network in mind and make sure everything is synced properly with the server and all the clients, like the lightgem values for example. Since we're a free project with limited programming resources, we chose to focus on the single player experience in the first release, rather than slowing down development on everything by making sure it works in multiplayer.

 

As people have already pointed out, others are welcome to go through and make everything work with multiplayer once we release the source.

[New Horizon]

Also, there is already Thievery for coop play. Nightblade is also in the works and while not as closely related to Thief as Thievery was, it's still very steampunkish looking.

 

Coop play in a Thief inspired game just wouldn't feel very Thiefy anymore. Dark Mod is Thief inspired and therefore focusses on the single player experience.

[Dram]

Nightblade isn't out yet tim

[New Horizon]

Nightblade isn't out yet tim

 

Notice I said..."in the works".

[Dram]

ohlol, i thought you said "it works" misread a bit..

[Ombrenuit]

And has someone also mentioned the enormity such a an undertaking would entail? It would be an IMMENSE feat to accomplish, a lot of manpower, and many resources. Then again, I'd like to mention that co-opping a mission would only work on a mission designed specifically for two players to interact, and because the Dark Mod is single player focused, would it really be anymore fun to play a mission designed for one person with two people? Oh you could take out twice as many guards--oh wait, how much fun would that be .

[Dram]

or you could make missions which are suited for coop

[Domarius]

Also, there is already Thievery for coop play.

It's very good, but the missions aren't nearly as cinematic. There are pretty much no scripted events. The overall objectives are very similar between each mission.

 

Coop play in a Thief inspired game just wouldn't feel very Thiefy anymore.

HAH! Keep your opinions on the matter to yourself The reason for no MP is purely a workload one. The rest is personal opinion.

[Dram]

Dom: Just did a few mp tests today with the ghoster mod for thievery, just need to change a few things which managed to crash the game . I also changed asylum to be "progressive" ala thief. I think you'll enjoy it, though it might not be great TvG if you don't play with the right people. But i understand you get along with your brothers. Anyways, will be up soon.

[Domarius]

Thanks for the news. Maybe you should start your own thread about this mod of yours. They asked me to let them know as soon as its ready, but I gave you one of their email addresses already.

 

But no hurry - its a 2gig download, better wait and make sure its absolutely ready enough to send that you wont want to make anymore changes in a while.

[Dram]

Thanks for the news. Maybe you should start your own thread about this mod of yours. They asked me to let them know as soon as its ready, but I gave you one of their email addresses already.

 

But no hurry - its a 2gig download, better wait and make sure its absolutely ready enough to send that you wont want to make anymore changes in a while.

 

ehehe, yeah sorry for taking this thread over guys hehe..

 

But yeah, i will fix those problems tomorrow afternoon or evening and then so a few more mp tests to make sure it works perfect and all. Anyways, i should have it good to go tomorrow

 

Now you can have your thread back guys..

[AtariThief]

MMOFirstPersonSneaker comin right up..... (SARCASIM)

[Ombrenuit]

Dram I agree to an extent. Cooperation over the internet could be fun, granted, but I think only if you were playing with one other person. This would be stealing in a linear, cinematic environment against the enemy AI that would make it interesting. Each player could begin at two separate entrance points to break into the castle, to cooperate among several puzzles to get the gold, such as mechanisms that can be used at one player's end to give the other player access to an off-limits area. Guards could be more densely populated so that players would have to work together to get passed them. As one player distracts, the other leaps in to grab the gold, and then watches as the attracted guards run into a trap the two thieves created together.

 

I can already think of an interesting puzzle, a room that is a labyrinth in pitch darkness, yet the room above it is an observation deck. One player in the observation deck can see where the walls are because at their tops they have diamonds that glint that the player on the ground floor cannot see. The player in the observation deck must guide the player blindly through the labyrinth past the few guards (they could be revenants, it could be a set of catacombs) so that he can reach the end of the room to see the only torch lit behind one wall and a ladder. Climbing up that ladder and following the lines of diamonds across the tops of the wall could finish off the puzzle.

 

Players might in this instance start with only a sword and a few broad heads, and may acquire various equipment throughout their sections of the castle (their meeting being about halfway through the mission) and being able to send each other that equipment to get past goals via chutes. This way the player in the lower halls of the castle might be able to acquire moss arrows to shoot a "bridge" across the ballroom floor and reach a door that can only be opened with a key sent down from the master bedroom to the ballroom below, all this without a dense population of patrolling guards around the ballroom area forcing the players to use their wits, not their brawn, to get them through the obstacles. A two player mission could be very interesting Dram, and if someone decides to make a cooperative mode for two players, I think it could be a lot of fun. This all assumes as well that the players can communicate with one another via text or mics.

[bardic]

Or a standard follow mission, but the 2 thieves have to switch off at certain checkpoints where the guards get to be too thick, when your buddy takes over following, you have to figure out a way to get around and ahead quickly and wait for the mark to pass you so you can take over again.

[Irenices]

Ombrenuit, thats EXACTLY what im talking about, i just cant word it worth crap!

[Maximius]

I wrote about an idea for multi-Mod play a while back that used two teams of thieves, I think D3 will support two teams of four each, working against each other and a castle full of AIs. e.g. A big bank job, the crown jewels are in the vault for one night only and every crook in towns after the action, kinda like the "Italian Job" but with better actors and no idiotic product placement car chases.

 

So the idea is two teams of thieves have to go after the jewels, they are in competition with one another and with the AIs on patrol. This could give rise to a number of strategies: Wipe out the opposing team then play against the AI, teams work in coop againts AI then turn on one another at some point, one team allows another to do the heavy work then strikes at the last second to claim the prize, team waits for other team to get involved in something then lures AI to the spot, you name it. But there are drawbacks and advantages to each style, alerting the AI to one team puts the guards on high alert, making your work harder. Openly attacking your opponents brings big trouble.

 

Its been discussed elsewhere that the AIs would not stand a chance against a good team, for one the AIs may have to be beefed up for multi-player and for two the opposing team would help to balance the equation.

[Domarius]

Heh, I was always thinking along the lines of what Ombrenuit described, but Maximus's idea sounds like a good way of involiving a large number of people.

[Maximius]

Thanks for your comments, Dom. I should add I like Ombrenuits idea as well, having two thieves working a map against the AIs would be damned fun. Reminds me of playing Doom2 with my 486 networked to my roomates.

Edited November 9, 2005 by Maximius