Hammerite/builders' Models

[Chi Haotian]

Hammerite (and Mechanist) guards were distinguished by their intimidating body-size in T1 (and T2), which helped create the feeling of strength that is accorded to their order. What felt wrong in T3 was that Hammerite guards were identical to regular guard models, distinguished only by voice, armor and weapon.

 

TDM seems to model the Builders' faction on Hammerites. I think Builders' models should follow the way of T1.

[New Horizon]

TDM seems to model the Builders' faction on Hammerites. I think Builders' models should follow the way of T1.

 

They pretty much do. They are heavily inspired by the look of the T1 hammers, but of course have their own style and flavor. They're pretty imposing ingame and our characters have minor variances in height. You have to limit how large is too large...otherwise you're going to have characters that won't be able to navigate through some maps.

[Chi Haotian]

It is good to hear that TDM characters will have varying height, and that these particular Builders characters will carry legacy from the original game. T3 idea of standardizing the models and simply making them skinnable was a poor one.

 

Greater variety of well-made models is very effective in creating good gameplay.

[Crispy]

T3 idea of standardizing the models and simply making them skinnable was a poor one.

Saved them a lot of work though. I can definitely see the attraction of doing it that way, from the developer perspective.

 

But yeah, what NH said.

[bob_arctor]

Should peasants be smaller due to poorer nutrition and stuff?

 

Were they in TI/TII?

[demagogue]

Pagans were in T2. They were distinguished basically by appearing to be covered in animal skins, and a gruffer look (dark stubble for men; muffed hair for women). There's really only so much you can do with those blocky models. I don't recall anything specially distinguishing about the pagan models themselves.

[Capela]

Has must as i would like to se TDM as Thief 4, it isnt, and people are allways compare TDM to the thief series but they forgotten about copyrights, is that im just a little confused about it thats all, how much can i get from the thief series with compromise the mod freedom.

[Chi Haotian]

I always wondered about this -- do copy rights remain after the developer company has gone out of business (Looking Glass, then Ion Storm)? And even if they do, do they extend to particular details of the game like plot, faction names, etc? And finally, does it really matter for a mod that will be released, pretty much like any FM, for non-commercial, free of charge, open-source use?

[New Horizon]

I always wondered about this -- do copy rights remain after the developer company has gone out of business (Looking Glass, then Ion Storm)? And even if they do, do they extend to particular details of the game like plot, faction names, etc? And finally, does it really matter for a mod that will be released, pretty much like any FM, for non-commercial, free of charge, open-source use?

 

Looking glass and Ion are out of business, but they don't own the Thief franchise, Eidos does. Eidos is alive and well.

 

There is a lot of gray areas where copyright is concerned. We do our best to stay clear of it at all. Our models are inspired by Thief, so of course we want them to at least resemble them in some aspect...but they are also inspired by styles from our own past. As for plot, we don't really have to worry about that since we're making a toolset and not a campaign. We've given our factions names and loose details about who they are..but for the most part, it's up to the FM designers imagination.

 

It would be especially bad for a free mod to copy a game and then give it away...as you would essentially be giving away their ideas without consent.

[sparhawk]

Usually copyright goes into public domain either when the timer expired, which will probably never happen anymore, because companies are bullying to make it longer and longer, or when owner of the copyright is dead and no inheritance is available. In such cases as games and similar, usually companies are sold and along with it the copyrights, so this would be more a rare case for companies.