Discendo Vox on 1/9/2024 at 07:41

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Buncha questions here, ofc only answer the ones you wish.

Design questions:
1. Are there particular fixes or changed elements implemented in Black Parade that you would like to see folded into the general FM toolkit or design framework going forward? I'm thinking of things like the chain step sound, bump detection, new guard weapon behaviors, or the various new items. Other than the horse, ofc.
2. What mission or element required the most revision to reach the desired endstate? Were there particular locations, loot, etc that required especially heavy adjustment to hit the desired difficulty? Any hackery fix stories you'd care to share?
3. Are there any planned updates/fixes for BP?
4. BP has gotten a lot of great coverage and feedback; among all the plaudits, what parts of the game do you believe have been overlooked?

Annoying fan plot questions:
1. What is the status of the statue entity at the end of the game? I don't believe we see it in the final moments of mission 10. Is it destroyed, vanished, or is its status completely indeterminate? As a corollary, how much of the events of the black parade were truly according to its designs?
2. Mission 10 and some earlier readables build out a weirdly complex and specific alchemical system, and the tower in mission 10 includes a set of elementally themed altars arranged throughout the tower. Were there originally additional actions involving these locations in the map?
3. What are the red silhouette figures that appear at the start of mission 10?
4. In mission 5, is there any plot significance or explanation to either the cursed book (alluded to in readables) or the strange floating face enemy found beneath the waterways in the sewers?
5. In mission 8, Am I correct in piecing together that there were a set of four archmages corresponding to the elements, and that three (other than Teidir, a water mage) placed themselves in the area surrounding Teidir's tomb as guardians, with matching amulets? And that there are a corresponding set of four mages (with scepters) who built the "above" tomb?
6. Is either the statue, or the strange Nuragic civilization found deepest below mission 8, identifiable in the plot of any other FMs? I can see that they were somehow using the tablets to open a tear in space into the library- though it's unclear how that happened (or, well, much else going on there).
7. Also in mission 8, what's happening with the exploded floating figure that you encounter after getting the tablets? It seems to be related to the wind element, but I'm not sure how it's tied to everything else.
8. Is there an element of the plot of BP that you feel the userbase has frequently or completely overlooked?

Snake on 1/9/2024 at 17:05

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A lot of questions below so I understand if all of these can't be addressed in the podcast:

1. As the project lead, what were the factors that Skacky considered when inviting other authors to join the team and how did he go about asking them?

2. How much did the scope and project brief change over time, if at all? For example, did mission ideas get scrapped, plot points change, etc.

3. The briefing videos and cutscenes and overall art design of the project are of a very high standard. Could the team talk a bit about how this process was achieved e.g. what programmes were used to make the cutscenes.

4. Will the TBP team continue to make missions for Thief, either as solo authors or as a collaboration?

5. As TBP was in development for many years, were there ever times when any of the team wanted to work on solo missions or had ideas for missions which they couldn't work on as the theme or setting may have been too similar to the missions being developed for TBP? I am thinking in particular of Lost Among the Forsaken which has many similarities to The Brand.

6. I think one of the aspects I'd find most difficult about working on a large campaign like TBP is having great missions sitting there in development for many years and not being able to share them with the community until everything is finished. Did the team ever struggle with this or what other types of frustrations did they experience while working on such a large project over many years?

7. Dan Thron contributed some VA work (I understand with thanks to Alex!) - was it ever proposed to have Dan contribute more than this to the project e.g. artwork, or was it too late when he joined?

8. One lore question as I understand the team may prefer to leave some things unexplained but could they delve into theories around Halleford? I've seen some commentary that he is Constantine and others that he is a different pagan entity.

9. Finally, what are the team most proud of from TBP and what would they change or do differently if they had the opportunity?

Thanks!

wycha on 8/9/2024 at 19:32

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Would suck If I arrived too late. Nonetheless...

For Skacky,
-It is not a mystery there are hints of TBP characters and events in older fanmissions to the point there is even whole the tbp lore "playlist". It makes me wonder about the process of keeping track of information around characters actions, who and when mentions it, etc. Do you keep track of it in a meticulous manner, or do go with it loosely, and so far it just works?
-If its not too intimate, how old the idea of TBP plot or characters are as idea that was brewing to even become an attempt of campaign?

For Firemage,
-The horse is amazing achievement, but there are more critters than it, especially in M8. What was the thought process of their looks and behavior?
-Also the human animations are great, like in M3 there is blacksmith smashing the hammer NOT ON THE HUMAN FLESH(!), or crossbow guy. But all of the animations were over the top. Did you use for reference fiction (like actors), or you went through looking at people doing 'the act' for job?
-The black shaped animation in the cutscenes were fully 2D animated, or its a mix of real life footage and animation? If there was actors included, I hope they had fun during the process.

downwinder on 8/9/2024 at 22:23

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for firemage, is it true inside the stone mage in tower, dewdrop is the mastermind controlling everything :P

Supremcee on 13/9/2024 at 21:32

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Last Chance for your questions until sunday!