Jump to content
The Dark Mod Forums

Dark Mod is PC Gamer's Mod of the Year

Mr. Tibbs

By Mr. Tibbs
in The Dark Mod

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Popular Post
Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted (edited)

Congrats guys!

 

Thief's spiritual successor is now its own modding platform.

 

Chris: The first version might have come out in 2009, but this year saw the release of the Dark Mod as a complete, standalone package. It's a tremendous achievement - a detailed tribute to the Thief series that adds advanced object manipulation to the already broad range of tools at the player's disposal.

 

When I first played Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I wanted a Thief game made with its sense of physicality. The Dark Mod is pretty much that: the way you can reach out and grab objects in the world is a fantastic augmentation of the fantasy of being a thief in a murky, dangerous candle-lit world.

 

I love the way the team encourage players to download, share, and build their own missions. That sense of creativity and community is a great match for the enthusiastic stealth game fanbase, and it's something that we'd never see from a major publisher. The future of Thief might look uncertain at the moment, but the series' spirit has a very good home here.

 

Phil: Agreed; the community is the heart of the Dark Mod. What I love about it is that, as a Thief-inspired project originally created as a Doom 3 mod, it's as different enough from the Looking Glass-era Thief games to give that community a sense of ownership. The lore, setting and systems ahve been tweaked just enough to provide a framework for its creators' imaginations.

 

As a standalone download, The Dark Mod is just a stealth tutorial and a a single mission, so imagination is the key to its success. Its download page contains over 70 alternative missions, each of which respects, and in some cases add to, an expanding crowdsourced universe full of rich detail, richer treasures, and cunning taffers who want to enjoy and steal both.

 

Unlike other tributes to older games, the mod's makers who weren't precious about reinventing Thief's systems to make them better. Every developer with an interest in creating professional pilferers should look to The Dark Mod's lockpicking system and, well, steal it. It's not tied to a minigame, but it's also not a canned animation you have yo endure. instead, you wait while your master Thief does the job, and use sound clues indentify and mark the end of the sequence. The result makes you feel like part of the process, but also keeps you detached enough to listen out for approaching guards. It's a perfect balance of interaction and situational awareness, creating tension and rewarding advanced planning.

 

The result is an improved and constantly expanding version of a game that's still notable for how enjoyable its stealth is. I don't often agree with the idea that the old ways were better, but the series remains uniquely unmatched in its free-form, open ended thievery. More of that is a fine thing.

 

Chris: It makes for an interesting case study of the point where triple-A, indie and modding converge. I like the idea that fan-generated games can act as a kind of practical criticism, a way of broadcasting the desires of 'hardcore' fans to publishers. I've heard a lot of major game developers claim that they covet the attention of those core audiences, but it;s a stance that warrants scepticism. Projects like the Dark Mod are a way for those fans to say "if you won't make it, we wiil" - to deftly lift what was good and meaningful about the games that inspired us years ago and run away with it.
Edited by Mr. Tibbs
  • Like 15
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs

Posted
  • Author
Posted

very cool.

 

@ Mr Tibbs you might want to ad a link to the original article for extra coolness :-)

 

It's in the latest issue of PC Gamer UK. They haven't published it online yet. I'm sure it'll be posted before too long.

 

Seriously well deserved! Without hyperbole what you guys created is amazing. I'm so happy the team and community is getting recognized for their efforts.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
demagogue

demagogue

Posted
Posted

This news makes me really happy. It's nice to get this kind of recognition, and now I have a new feather in our cap to convince my friends why it's worth playing.

  • Like 2

What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Popular Post
Melan

Melan

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted

Refreshing to see an article written from the POV of playing, understanding, then thinking about the mod. These people are journalists.

  • Like 5

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Springheel

Springheel

Posted
Posted

I'd love to see a scan of the article...I can't get the UK PC Gamer here.

TDM Missions:   A Score to Settle  *  A Reputation to Uphold  *  A New Job  *  A Matter of Hours

Video Series:   Springheel's Modules  *  Speedbuild Challenge  *  New Mappers Workshop  *  Building Traps

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AluminumHaste

AluminumHaste

Posted
Posted

I'd love to see a scan of the article...I can't get the UK PC Gamer here.

 

There's nothing stopping you from doing what I did, and get an online subscription. Quality is only okay though as you can see, it's no MaximumPC online quality but it's decent enough.

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jon Irenicus

Jon Irenicus

Posted
Posted (edited)

Man, this is most excellent news, I'm so glad that this wonderful mod is getting the deserved recognition!

Congratulations to the creators of the mod, and all the involved in making the mod what it is today!

The game truly is something very special.

And I sure will use this scanned image to convince my friends to play this game!

Edited by Jon Irenicus
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bikerdude

Bikerdude

Posted
Posted
Return to the City v2. I took that screenshot

And from memory, it took me about 8hrs to build that room you see(the massive fireplace was a few hours by itself) and another 30hrs or so to build the kitchen, basement, cellar. The bedroom was originally built by Melan, I just did a detail pass and the and adjoining rooms in the cellar were all Melan's work. I hope one day Melan and I will get around to doing a sequel to that mission

 

Truly a beauty.
One of my favourite screenshots of TDM, actually.

Thanks guys, I love seeing something I have created being appreciated out there in the wild! Even more so when that something is used to demonstrate just how good the mod is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recent Status Updates

    • nbohr1more

      nbohr1more

      Was checking out old translation packs and decided to fire up TDM 1.07. Rightful Property with sub-20 FPS areas yay! ( same areas run at 180FPS with cranked eye candy on 2.12 )
      · 0 replies
    • taffernicus

      taffernicus

      i am so euphoric to see new FMs keep coming out and I am keen to try it out in my leisure time, then suddenly my PC is spouting a couple of S.M.A.R.T errors...
      tbf i cannot afford myself to miss my network emulator image file&progress, important ebooks, hyper-v checkpoint & hyper-v export and the precious thief & TDM gamesaves. Don't fall yourself into & lay your hands on crappy SSD
       
      · 3 replies
    • OrbWeaver

      OrbWeaver

      Does anyone actually use the Normalise button in the Surface inspector? Even after looking at the code I'm not quite sure what it's for.
      · 7 replies
    • Ansome

      Ansome

      Turns out my 15th anniversary mission idea has already been done once or twice before! I've been beaten to the punch once again, but I suppose that's to be expected when there's over 170 FMs out there, eh? I'm not complaining though, I love learning new tricks and taking inspiration from past FMs. Best of luck on your own fan missions!
      · 4 replies
    • The Black Arrow

      The Black Arrow

      I wanna play Doom 3, but fhDoom has much better features than dhewm3, yet fhDoom is old, outdated and probably not supported. Damn!
      Makes me think that TDM engine for Doom 3 itself would actually be perfect.
      · 6 replies
×
×
  • Create New...