Some developers spend their careers inching towards their dream job, leapfrogging between roles in a grand strategy game of their own making. Others, like Randy Smith, simply show up on their first day and find they’re exactly where they’re meant to be.
“The approach that Looking Glass had to creating games was pretty unique,” he says now. “Even to this day, there are few studios who have that same ideology and mindfulness in how videogames are made.”
Thief: The Dark Project had a great director, in the form of Greg LoPiccolo, who later became a pioneer in the world of music games with Guitar Hero and Rock Band. And before him, Ken Levine had laid down the cobbles of Thief’s setting, defining its noir-ish tone before heading off to work on System Shock 2. Yet Looking Glass games weren’t driven by a singular 90s auteur. In fact, the very absence of ego in the studio’s culture meant its many “bright stars” were happy to adhere to a shared vision.
]]>Ages ago I learned how to lockpick in real life, and ever since I've been so impressed at how video games emulate the feeling of managing to crack a lock open. I think maybe it's the noise, that signature *clunk* that makes it so satisfying. It's a staple of RPGs like Skyrim, where lockpicking is literally a skill you can level up. But loads of games have introduced their own unique minigames to let you unlock things, and now you can see most of them in one place thanks to the museum of lockpicking mechanics.
]]>I was a little afraid of returning to this one. Not because I knew it'd mean returning to The Cradle, even though I was very intrigued to see if it would still work. But because I once scored it 90% in a magazine, and I really didn't want to be wrong. What if I'd been caught up in the hype of reviewing a massive title from one of the best ever developers? Then I'd feel silly.
]]>It's the weekend, or at least after work-hours for most on a Friday, so might as well pick up something to demolish your free time. Square Enix are running a rather nice sale on Steam for the weekend, cutting 50% off the price on most of their bigger games, and slapping deeper discounts on a lot of more obscure stuff, including their old Eidos catalogue. Check out the sale page here, and peruse below for a couple oddball recommendations (and some boringly normal stuff) from me.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.
I always feel a bit sad when I think about Deadly Shadows. Ion Storm Austin's spin on Looking Glass' landmark stealth series is an embodiment of frustrated ambitions. The developers had basically planned for Deadly Shadows to be an open-world stealth game, a sort of medieval Grand Theft Carriage. But the prioritising of the original Xbox combined with lofty technological ambitions meant that, like a man trying to fit an elephant into a fridge, Ion Storm had to mercilessly cut down the scope of its project. Even then, they could only include the important bits, like the trunk and a couple of the feet.
]]>I’ve playing MGSV obsessively at the moment. You might have noticed. This is a statement which would make 2005 me punch 2015 me in the nose. A decade ago I was so much more forceful and intolerant in my opinions about videogames, and one of the recipients of that unyielding ire was Metal Gear Solid. I played some of 2, felt as though it was simply wasting my time, and that was it, the entire series was irredeemable. Everything I read now suggests I’d still feel that way about MGS2 particularly, but in the wake of Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, I do realise that in decrying the entire series, I did myself out of some particularly excellent stealth gaming, and a playful streak a mile wide. Which leaves me thinking – what else did I dismiss - or praise - out of hand and now regret?
]]>Every Sunday, we reach deep into Rock, Paper, Shotgun's 141-year history to pull out one of the best moments from the archive. This week, Adam's 2012 article singing the praises of videogame cities which are more than mere reconstruction, but are built from the bricks and mortar of ideas.
I've been visiting various cities recently, which always fill me with confusion and wonder, then Dishonored made me think about how much I miss Looking Glass. Put the two together and this happens. Join me in a meandering word-search for cohesion and theme in the use of the city across Thief, and the selected works of Rockstar and Charles Dickens. Be warned, there are spoilers for all three Thief games.
]]>A mod removing the mid-level loading from Thief: Deadly Shadows is a good thing. We cooed a bit at the Thief 3 Gold mod before in May when the first beta version arrived--coo!--so now that Version 1.0 is here we're duty-bound to coo longer, more intensely. CoooOOo! Along with smooshing mission segments into single load-free levels, Gold makes a few other tweaks, including adjusting wonky guard paths and positions.
]]>With Square's Thief causing a great many of the Looking Glass/Ion Storm faithful to adopt a bulldog chewing a wasp facial expression for the best part of a month (I'm kidding of course - they'll retain that expression for at least twenty years), interest in Garret's earlier tealeaf adventures has heightened. Even the series' former red-headed stepchild, Deadly Shadows, has itself a new moment in the sun. Assorted fixes have long been available, but a newish and very appealing one is the removal of all loading screens from the game's notoriously chopped-up missions.
]]>We tried to play Thief: The Dark Project and chat about it. Honest! But Twitch, the purple scab of a service, wouldn't cooperate with one of the most storied series starters in gaming history. It's almost like I shouldn't have expected a 15-year-old game to be compatible with a crazy space-age cyberfuture streaming platform, but no, that's just ridiculous. At any rate, today - for real this time - I will be joined by former Thief: The Dark Project director Greg LoPiccolo and longtime Thief series designer/Thief: Deadly Shadows director Randy Smith. Expect stories from the dank depths of the first three Thieves’ development chambers, inside info on what could’ve been, and opinions from series vets on Eidos Montreal’s reinvention of their storied stealther.
This will be a pretty special episode, so make sure to tune in. We're kicking off at 2 PM PT/10 PM GMT. A little late, I know, but come on: only amateur thieves skulk around during the (UK) day.
Update: We're done! It went quite well, all things considered. Watch the full thing below.
]]>There's been a lot of interest in the new Thief game - due out in February - but also an equally large measure of scepticism. That makes it interesting to see Eidos Montreal presenting their game at EGX this weekend, with lots of game footage, and an in-depth explanation of some of the decisions they made for their latest iteration of the great sneaking series.
Take a look, below.
]]>With Thief 4 bearing down on us like a robber with a toothy smile, we thought it might be interesting to go back to where stealth began: the creation of Thief. Joe Martin stole away with this report.
There's a line I had wanted start this article with. It is a line from the ironic finale of The Neverending Story and it would have been an obscure reference to the fact that before it was The Dark Project, Thief was originally called Dark Camelot. It was: "Beginnings are always dark".
I can't use that line, however, because if you go far back enough you eventually uncover Thief's beginning wasn't dark at all. It was red.
]]>He might not have quite the profile of a Levine or Smith, but as a lead designer on Thief 3, particularly of The Cradle level, not to mention the similarly nerve-torturing Fort Frolic map in BioShock, Jordan Thomas is a name just as worth knowing. While being granted more overreaching control of a project resulted in 2K Marin's smart, improved but too safe sequel BioShock 2, followed by a disappearance into the black hole which eventually morphed into The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, Thomas also took on some creative duties late in BioShock Infinite's development. Now he's moving away from franchises into creator-controlled, independent territory, and I am not-entirely-quietly confident that this will mean great things.
]]>As yesterday's trailer revealed, there'll be no more Stephen Russell in Thief: and there was much anti-rejoicing. While the Thief/Looking Glass community is predictably and somewhat understandably up in arms about Garrett's larynx replacement operation (the inevitable petition is here, if you want to fruitlessly sign it), I imagine the game's sailed too far across the development ocean for Eidos Montreal to want to turn their ship around at this point. They have at least attempted to justify their ditching of the guy who's stoutly been with us for three Thief games previously, arguing that it's because they wanted to mo-cap and voice record one actor simultaneously.
]]>We live in a world where a new Thief game is definitely happening, and any human being with an internet connection is free to look at screenshots of it. Imagine that. Sadly, in direct contravention of the 48th amendment and the Brazilian internet democracy act of 1873, Game Informer is currently keeping the lion's share of info on Eidos Montreal's reboot of the classic Looking Glass sneak 'em up to themselves. It's there you'll need to go to see videos of new screenshots, particularly of Thief star Garrett's new look. He's been watching The Crow, I think. Goth! Goth! Goth! Goth! Amusingly though, there's been a brief fan kerfuffle based on a worry that our beloved tea-leaf isn't gothy enough.
]]>Sound the news-horn! Sound it from the highest mountains! Ready your loins! Thief is back.
Unconfirmed leak, yada yada, you know the drill. But, yes, this very much appears to be screenshots of Square-Enix's rebooted Thief series and OHMIGOD THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING.
Update: now confirmed as real, called 'Thief', out on PC and next-gen consoleboxes in 2014.
]]>With Dishonored reactivating long-dormant stealth glands the world over, now seems a fine time to revisit perhaps its primary ancestor, the Thief games. Doom 3 total conversion The Dark Mod is a mightily ambitious attempt to recreate Thief - its mechanics if not its actual missions - in a more modern, and very much darkness-orientated, engine. It's just had a major update and a promising new mission added too.
I'm going to insert a 'Read the rest of this entry' link now, if that's okay.
]]>It's been eight years since Thief: Deadly Shadows was released. And if that doesn't make you want to start slaughtering the young and drinking their blood in a desperate attempt to find some sort of means to stop the passing of time and your constant, constant ageing, then you must already have discovered the secrets of immortality. EIGHT YEARS. Eight years since Kieron and I were let into a nightclub for free because we'd both given the game scores over 90% (Kieron in Gamer, me in PC Format) and the doorman was a big fan. Eight years since I sat in PC Format's weirdly anonymous office space, trying to do something to the screenshots so they weren't just big black squares all over the magazine. Eight years since I task-switched out of The Cradle to calm the hell down, while Kieron mocked me via IM. And now you can play it all over again for ten bucks, via the regurgitating pipe of GOG.com.
]]>I've been visiting various cities recently, which always fill me with confusion and wonder, then Dishonored made me think about how much I miss Looking Glass. Put the two together and this happens. Join me in a meandering word-search for cohesion and theme in the use of the city across Thief, and the selected works of Rockstar and Charles Dickens. Be warned, there are spoilers for all three Thief games.
]]>Right, Deus Ex is back on its feet and looking hale and hearty, whether it asked for this or not. What vintage PC game shall the electro-paddles be applied to next? Why, it's Thief IV, a game about which we currently know all but nothing other than that Eidos Montreal are pulling the strings again and, I am 99.99% sure, it'll have some sort of funny subitle rather than a number in the name. Well, anything's better than 'Thi4f', right?
An industrious fellow on Neogaf has done a spot of digging around the quiet info-goldmine that is LinkedIn, and turned up a couple of starting, tantalising facts. Let's have a look, and then hear what assorted Thief fans want to see from the new game.
]]>[This was originally printed in a slightly different form at the Escapist in 2007. Post-Bioshock 1 and 2, it struck me as a good time to return to what was on Jordan Thomas' mind back then - especially the sections which foreshadow Fort Frolic. And with the darkness obsessed Amnesia due within a week, turning our mind on what lurks in the gaming's dark also struck me as worthwhile]
Light is, as far as fundamental issues in game design goes, an opaque topic for most gamers. In modern 3D engines, it's something you simply can't have a level without – or, at least, one which doesn't involve a lot of bumping into walls. It's something that effects mood and functionality, so acting as a supporting pillar for both the artistic and mechanistic elements of game design. But when implementing it, what is a designer really thinking about? To shed a little light on the matter, I talked to Jordan Thomas, best known as co-designer of the Cradle in Thief: Deadly Shadows and has been recently been working on a little game called Bioshock.
]]>The Steam summer sale thingamy is continuing to offer some ludicrously good prices, as it happens. I've just spotted some for which there's only six hours left, which should fill in some vital gaps on your virtual shelf. There's Thief: Deadly Shadows for £2.09, BioShock for £3.49, and Titan Quest Gold for £2.49. There's also Dragon Age, about 80 hours of game, for £11.99.
I can't get over Thief 3 for barely more than £2. This is one of those games that come 2014 we'll be writing ten year retrospectives about. If you never did, you absolutely must right now. Just for the heck of it, I've pasted my review of the game from 2004 for PC Format.
]]>In the summer of 2004 PC Gamer UK underwent a radical redesign. Out went the 5-point Baskerville, the lithographs, and the scores in Roman numerals, in came Extra Life, giant screenshots, and colour photos of the reviewers. It was a scary time. I dealt with my anxiety by picking on Thief: Deadly Shadows.
]]>[This time we turn our attention to the development of the third Thief game. It's worth noting this is the first making of where the person I interviewed wasn't the effective Project Lead. This leads to a very different interview. I'm speaking to Jordan Thomas, who's got a way with a quote. I've interviewed Jordan a few times before: here's him on the Cradle and here's him on lighting in Bioshock. EDIT: When I was putting the article online, I somehow snipped a whole paragraph and a half when formatting it. It was the bit after the word "Academic", and actually one of the key sections of the whole interview. Excuse? Er... I was deeply hungover. Will that do?]
When Looking Glass shattered, your correspondent, along with the vast majority of Thief’s sizable, fanatic fanbase, got more than a little despondent. Was there any hope for a continuation of the greatest stealth game the world had ever seen? Well, yes, there was, as otherwise we wouldn’t be doing a post-mortem of Thief III and instead continuing to weep hot tears into our foaming mead. The game arrived in the hands of Ion Storm Austin, fresh from their success in making the original Deus Ex. With a new team, mixing veterans of Looking Glass and new staff, they faced the challenge of matching their forefathers.
]]>
