Mandragora on 18/5/2022 at 19:52
Hello!
Long story short, i play Thief since 1998. but i never played (except T2X, it is awesome!) Fan Missions until now. I guess i am Vanilla kind of person.
Once i realized what people are doing with editor, and that somebody upgraded Dark Engine and somebody worked on TFix so we can enjoy the game easily, i decided to say 'Thank you very much, dear people!' and i decided to offer my skills to anyone who needs Mission Briefing videos.
Campaign would be ideal, since assets can be reused and production can be planned a little bit more, because 'real life and other issues'.
Main problem is, of course, artwork.
If there is no art or artist/illustrator (i am illustrator, but mostly working with different style - note to slef - maybe i should try and paint test art in Thief style?), i was thinking of some sort of system where i can create chess pieces in 3d, and use them as 'actors' in videos. Or Thief glyphs, falling as a pieces of prophecy. Maybe tarot cards as abstract images of events narrated?
This is a theme which can be discussed for a very long time, but that is all for now, since there is also a real life to take in consideration.
If nobody is interested, i think i will start self project to remake existing intros (with chess pieces and tarot imagery, perhaps), but that will be pure practice since OG videos are masterful.
I did a quick little sample with some text i made up and with random movie trailers footage from YT, just to have some visuals.
Behold the partial Bafford sample, feel free to comment! :))
(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RztgN62OZfY)
SlyFoxx on 18/5/2022 at 20:16
That's nice work.
<Username> on 18/5/2022 at 20:37
I wasn't sure what to expect before I clicked the link, but that video is good! More fan missions with at least a short intro video would be great.
Mandragora on 18/5/2022 at 21:01
Well, i can set up the system with few types/themes of backgrounds (hammers, keepers, pagans, mechanists, thieves, mystical, undead..) and then just change the text.
That is not a big undertaking, and it can add flavor to mission. Potential problem is that it can get boring if few missions have the same type of background, but something is better than nothing, i guess? And backgrounds could have small variations within its theme, so it is not excatlly the same background for each mission.
Narrated voice over is much more work since you need visuals to illustrate the narration, but it can also be done by magic of good will and improvisation.
Komag on 18/5/2022 at 21:08
I think it's quite impressive! (Maybe too much dust motes though)
Mandragora on 18/5/2022 at 21:16
Quote Posted by Komag
I think it's quite impressive! (Maybe too much dust motes though)
Thanks!
Yeah, i just left the particle clip play over whole video; on some frames it looks good and dusty, but on some it looks bad and like it's snowing :)
It was a quick test just for fun and to see what vibe will come out of it, definitely needs fine tuning.
Stingm on 19/5/2022 at 02:53
That was really good!
Snake on 19/5/2022 at 12:19
That style works much better than I expected, fits the Thief world well.
Mandragora on 21/5/2022 at 07:44
Hey buncha taffers,
i had some time, so i created this.
(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv_IaSEhJIY)
Backgrounds are taken from Pixabay, so they are free to use. Flip side is that choices are limited, so some visuals doesn't exactly fit lore wise as one would want, but hey, it is free and in the end it works. Better to produce something, than nothing, i guess.
Well, it is not exactly classic Thief look with still imagery, but we can afford a little bit of freedom of expression, hopefully.
So, what can be done?
I came up with a plan! :))
Since there is New Dark 10 Year Anniversary Contest, i had this idea to offer creation of briefing video to anyone who will submit mission to contest and who wants a briefing in the style presented on link above.
Authors can provide 'prophecy' text and general flavor (more undeadish, more paganish, so on..) and i will create briefing video.
If narrated voice over is in briefing, then things get complicated and we can discuss case by case scenario to see what and if anything can be done.
Feel free to comment and discuss!
BR4ZIL on 25/5/2022 at 09:07
These are really nice! May i suggest you add some direct way to contact you (either to your forum profile or here in the thread)? While i personally am not involved with any FM making, i think people in the future may want to contact you! It might be a week, a month or a year from now!
