What Are You Planning For A First Tdm Fm?

[Maximius]

I thought it would be interesting to see what the rest of the community is thinking of working on when TDM is released. Im planning a simple house break-in FM first to learn the ropes. The first big project Im thinking of is probably a defiled cathedral or some such, but I'd like to get some suggestions for new settings for FMs.

 

I want to make this a really, really scary FM too. Im already thinking about music themes and AI placement for spookiness effect. Any suggestions from the veterans on the list?

[Cyberwolf]

Well I've actually been thinking of starting to storyboard something that I can't help but think would make an awesome game experience. I basically have no modding ability other than being able to use photoshop so really I'm thinking more along the lines of fleshing everything out in writing first.

 

I've been reading a lot of articles lately from different sources that cover nanotechnology, and the research that is going into place to create little machines that are able to build or destroy objects one atom at a time. The main idea is that anything can be constructed with enough nanite assemblers (who are fed raw material by nanite disassemblers).

 

A lot of papers seem to cover the possibilities that this introduces in the medical field. Tiny nanite machines that are able to tweak human DNA, enhance human eyesight, hearing, cure disease, all that good stuff. Of course this sounds like something straight out of Deus Ex (I guess I'm on sort of a DE kick lately? I dunno that game just never got out of my system). The crazy thing to me is that this is happening in real life. Predictions say that in 20-50 years this stuff will be mainstream. We'll have computers that are half digital and half organism, all kinds of insane stuff.

 

The setting of the mod is about 10 years into the future, the player i'm thinking will probably be some sort of test-pilot for a mega-corporation that invests heavily in bleeding edge tech. Training missions might first take you first through a few of the corp's "experimental" weapons, but the idea of the first mission is to test out the corp's new thermoptic camouflage, an entire suit constructed of millions of tiny camera nodes that are able to change color based on the surroundings.

 

The suit is not performance increasing or any nonsense other than providing visual camouflage. I don't even want it to work perfectly all the time. At a run or maybe even any sort of motion should produce the sort of fracture effect we saw in predator, because of the cameras having to readjust for their surroundings.

 

After testing the camo, the player is contacted by someone in the corp for a job opportunity. The premise follows afterward something like this:

 

A rival corporation is known to have been sinking a lot of money into nanotech research. Somehow, (information leak, informant who was later found dead, i dunno) word has leaked through that they are on the edge of something big. In basic form, you as the test pilot are to use the camouflage and some company supplied equipment/weapons to break into their facility and discover/steal/sabotage/etc, whatever possible to set them back and leak the research.

 

Obviously at first, levels might be somewhat simple. Human security guards, receptionists, businessmen, etc are the first obstacles. The initial break-in mission might even be in broad daylight just for fun. This will be nice for the player to get used to the limitations of the suit, and the amount of time before the suit shuts down to recharge, etc.

 

The player starts running into obviously more difficult opponents, scenery gets different, etc. Augmented guards, robots, security systems, etc etc etc.

 

The plot to unravel: Gah I've got such a perfect evil scheme but it seems a shame to unravel it all!!

 

The main idea at least is to have a sneaker based in present time but to provide that same sick, uncomfortable feeling you got with the world we live in, that you got after you watched the matrix...

Edited February 24, 2006 by Cyberwolf

[sparhawk]

This sounds more like a Sci-Fi setup to me. It would certainly be possible with the code we provide, but it would also mean that you would have to do your models, textures, sounds etc. on your own. Nevertheless it sounds intriguing.

[Cyberwolf]

yeah i figured as much. really there is no hope for me ever getting it done unless there is a team backing the project. I can't do much beyond stories and concept art. I've got enough of a concept floating around in my head that it would make a fairly complete novel just standing by itself, maybe i'll go that route

[Ishtvan]

Sounds interesting.

 

As for thermoptic camouflage - Bah! Don't use that term just because it was in GITS. The thermoptic effect is relatively slow and sensitive to environmental temperature, use electro-optic or acousto-optic instead, or just LCD pixel switching. Or, just call it active optical camouflage.

[OrbWeaver]

I want to make this a really, really scary FM too. Im already thinking about music themes and AI placement for spookiness effect. Any suggestions from the veterans on the list?

 

The Thief world is full of people who would like to make a really, really scary FM (myself included). Unfortunately I think it would exceedingly difficult to produce such a mission without resorting to cheap shocks and Doom 3-style scare tactics.

[Domarius]

I'm going to start my T2 FM all over again in TDM.

 

The thing is, T2 missions were huger than TDS missions, but they were quite empty in comparison - archetecture was fine, it was objects that were a problem. The object limit is quite low if you want to do a large mission that also has a mansion in it with all its own lights etc.

I almost ran out of objects just doing the first part of my mission and I don't want to have to split it up into several missions.

Although maybe if I decide to go retro I will, but that may only happen if I still want to aim at T2 level computers by the time I get around to doing it again, which probably wont' happen.

 

It's a mission based on Ultima 8. It's perfect. The medieval theme, the zombies and underground crypts, the dark and forboding Tenebre city, etc. I'm working around having to "climb the clouds" to get to Stratos by having it as a palace at the top of a high mountan that you have to work your way up.

[Maximius]

The Thief world is full of people who would like to make a really, really scary FM (myself included). Unfortunately I think it would exceedingly difficult to produce such a mission without resorting to cheap shocks and Doom 3-style scare tactics.

 

Ive been thinking along the same lines, its going to be tough to go beyond. I have some ideas though but I need to work them out a bit more.

[Gildoran]

One thing that bugged me about the Kurshok mission of TDS was that there wasn't really a feeling that you were deep under ground. At least with the Lost City or the Bonehoard, you had to go through some caves first. But the fact that the Kurshok city felt like it was right under the docks didn't give me the feel of exploring somewhere acient. I'd like to try to make a mission that winds its way deeper and deeper into the earth, where you feel like you're truly exploring unthinkable depths.

[Springheel]

That mission cracked me up. Here you had this race where people were supposedly mocked for believing in a world above their caves, yet they were only a few short steps below a bustling metropolis.

[Maximius]

I just got done reading a collection of Lovecrafts stories, he was always really good at two things in particular I think. One he made you feel it was something really alien you were reading about and two he made it feel very very ancient and isolated from the rest of the world. Id like to try and work some of his stuff into my FMs.

 

The Kurshok lair was stupid, it did nothing at all to make you feel like it was some lost world you were investigating. It never ceases to amaze me how T1/2 were so crude and simple yet managed to produce great gaming while TDS had a ton more bells and whistles but came off as amateurish, worse yet consolish. Not to start off a TDS bitch session again, but it makes me think there is hope for a really spooky FM. T1 and 2 had some moments of real scariness but the only thing TDS pulled off was the Orphanage and that lost its scare factor after one or two runs through it. I think they just had better atmosphere, everything came together smoother, presented a more cohesive illusion. With the Mods technical advancements plus some careful plot development.........

[SneaksieDave]

Indeed, T1&2 placed you in a world, a mysterious yet believable situation you found yourself trying to survive. I can't say how many times I was scared, shocked, amazed, entranced. Think of the first time you were lost, deep down in the Lost City (probably the part of T1 that blew my mind the most). Or when you stepped out the back door of the cathedral only to realize it's just begun. Or the creepy unpopulated corners of Constantine's place. (yeah, I definitely favor T1)

 

TDS, on the other hand, gave us some small (mostly) forgettable "game levels." Whoopee.

[Springheel]

the only thing TDS pulled off was the Orphanage and that lost its scare factor after one or two runs through it

 

To be fair, I think any 'spooky' mission is going to lose effectiveness after you've played through it a few times and know what to expect. I think the cradle ranks near the top of all Thief OMs in terms of effective design, and it's the only mission I've ever played that made me actually panic and reach for the escape button.

[Vadrosaul]

I just got done reading a collection of Lovecrafts stories, he was always really good at two things in particular I think. One he made you feel it was something really alien you were reading about and two he made it feel very very ancient and isolated from the rest of the world. Id like to try and work some of his stuff into my FMs.

That's what I was planning too. Rats in the Walls, Shadow out of Time, and At the Mountains of Madness are my initial planned FM's. Those stories tend towards dark caverns and alien underground labryinths.

 

The most difficulty will be in the modelling of Yithians and Polyps for the Shadow out of Time FM. How I'm going to get models geometrically shaped like them I haven't the faintest.

[drumple]

what im aiming for is a fm that starts you out over a wall in a graveyard, with the intention of completing the

mission by eventually getting into a small corner of the lost city. two ways to get there, one through a church

and the other though a passage in the graveyard, and it will go very deep underground. i started work on the

entrance to the lost city a few days ago... what artifact to retrieve im not to shure at the moment... just

working on setting the right visuals 1st.

[OrbWeaver]

The most difficulty will be in the modelling of Yithians and Polyps for the Shadow out of Time FM. How I'm going to get models geometrically shaped like them I haven't the faintest.

 

The shapes are perfectly doable, it is the textures that are important in those cases.

[Maximius]

That's what I was planning too. Rats in the Walls, Shadow out of Time, and At the Mountains of Madness are my initial planned FM's. Those stories tend towards dark caverns and alien underground labryinths.

 

The most difficulty will be in the modelling of Yithians and Polyps for the Shadow out of Time FM. How I'm going to get models geometrically shaped like them I haven't the faintest.

 

Im looking forward to those FMs vadrosaul. I found "Dagon and other macabre tales" at a bookstore, the book I mentioned. Its got the "Re-animator" story and one about a haunted bog that scared the crap out of me.

[Fidcal]

Some years ago I planned out an almost totally robot story line, led by humanoid bots, but shelved it as too ambitious for a first T2 mission. Kinda reversal of the T2 story with a few twists. Probably not original now but might look at that again when I see what bots are available in TDM.

 

Stories don't HAVE to be original to be worthwhile so I expect I'll first try a simple, short mansion heist first. Trouble is, as ideas flow it could develop into something more like my present project. Currently racing to finish a T2 3-mission campaign this year while also dabbling with the Doom editor to get the feel of it.

 

I hate empty rooms and corridors where nothing much happens except to pass through so I try to pack in lots of interest everywhere the player goes. I'm especially interested to see how much one can get in a scene in TDM without worrying about frame lag. A very small mission (terrain-wise) choked with stuff at every turn might be a target.

[Domarius]

That mission cracked me up. Here you had this race where people were supposedly mocked for believing in a world above their caves, yet they were only a few short steps below a bustling metropolis.

When I just recently "reminiced" about this level with my bro, I likened it to being like a "cubby house", in the way that its like when you used to go into a sewer entrance as a child and pretend it was deep down in the ninja turtles lair or something.

 

He agreed and said that actually made it kind of fun, then he labled the Kurshok mission "Fisher & Price: My First Ancient Cidatel", which I think is quite apt

[Cyberwolf]

Sounds interesting.

 

As for thermoptic camouflage - Bah! Don't use that term just because it was in GITS.

 

 

Meh, actually I stole the term from DE, it shows up a couple of times in the game, but the thing would make you invisible for about 10 seconds before running out of charge. I used it once in the vandenburg airbase to run like the wind past a heavily guarded door...got my heart pounding like crazy.

 

I've never seen Ghost in the Shell, didn't even know what you were referring to until i looked around on wikipedia...anyway I wasn't thinking along those lines for the camouflage...more like something that would provide some sort of interference or optical illusion to thermal devices.

 

Point well taken, though, maybe it would be too much to make that sort of thing believable.

[Macsen]

I'm planning to do a good T2 steampunk style mission set in a newspaper publishing house. In short, you will have to sneak up through the fully operational printing presses (churning out tomorrow's paper) and into the upper offices to unravel some mysteries - probably find out who a journalist has been using for the source of his stories, and so on. Since I work in that field and can explore the printing presses, and know some of the archaic terminology surrounding them ('printer's pie, spiked, off the stone, and so on'), I hope I can fill this mission with some nice detail and believability.

 

If this mission goes well I'll probably follow it with a similar T2 courthouse/police station mission.

[Ishtvan]

I've never seen Ghost in the Shell, didn't even know what you were referring to until i looked around on wikipedia...anyway I wasn't thinking along those lines for the camouflage...more like something that would provide some sort of interference or optical illusion to thermal devices.

 

Point well taken, though, maybe it would be too much to make that sort of thing believable.

 

It's not that you can't make it believable, but trying to explain it in any great detail often makes it less believable. Better to let people imagine how it work with their own knowledge of whatever emerging technology they think could power it.

[Maximius]

A few years ago I was watching one of those technology shows on the science channel about military hardware. They talked about a suit covered with fiber optic lenses. It would make the wearer "invisible" by taking in the image behind him or her then broadcasting it out of the front of the suit. I dont know if this actually exists or if it is still on the design board but in theory it seems workable.

[sparhawk]

How exactly would the suit know where 'behind' is supposed to be?

[Springheel]

I've seen it demonstrated. There are cameras on the back of the suit that project an image on the front, so you are essentially seeing what is behind the person. It isn't exactly predator-like invisibility, since the jacket has folds and ripples in it that distort things a bit, but it definitely makes the wearer harder to see. In low light I could see it creating near invisibility.

 

Although from what I've heard the technology is far more impressive when used on tanks or other fairly flat-sided objects.