Cardia on 9/7/2009 at 11:40

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This was a nice mission, beautifull mansion you´ve built here...anyway if you need new textures and ambient sounds i can provide you, just let me know.


looking foward for more:thumb:

PotatoGuy on 11/7/2009 at 13:38

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Two questions I've been thinking about some time now:

1. Who invented the 'Tricky Nick' character? I remember seeing him in one of eepcat's missions. (where he also dies! :p) But who was the first that used him?

2. I already asked this once, but I ask it again. I can't get enough of the intro, and especially the music choice. It sounds familiar but I can't place it. What's the name of this music piece?

And I can't say it enough times: this is one of the best FMs I ever played!

Florian on 13/7/2009 at 11:39

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Great mission - some perfect gimmicks, and also perfect for many replays! Thank you kfort for this masterpiece!!!

Being a completionist (;)), I must however ask you if the goals.str file contain some objectives that were never implemented like those with the other secret weapons, meaning of life etc. or if I missed those in the game? Also I couldn´t get this goal12 ("Steal the Ruby Scepter ... if you dare!") to work. Never had this line on the objectives screen. Besides I also checked the objects-File and also couldn´t find some of those like f.e. the "Sword of Truth" - is it actually in your FM? )

kfort on 13/7/2009 at 17:08

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1. That's an interesting question and I'm not sure if I know the whole answer. Four or five years ago during the early days of Wicked Relics' long production arch, I decided to place an unnamed dead gambler in the den while decorating. At that point, the plot of Wicked Relics focused entirely on Lord Bradley's collection and Tricky Nick wasn't in the picture. As I added back-story to the unfortunate corpse, he gained a name and a larger role in the mission, eventually becoming Garrett's misfortune-prone compatriot and acquiring his own series of side-goals. However, the release of Wicked Relics stalled and it was years before I came back to dromeding to finish off the mission. In the mean time, I released a few other missions, one of which includes a brief reference to Tricky Nick, but doesn't go into much detail.

As for eepcat's mission, I haven't played it myself but one of my testers mentioned it to me a little while back. Although eepcat might know better than me, my best guess is that Tricky Nick's appearance (and death) is just a random coincidence.

Either that or Tricky Nick is one unlucky bastard!


2. According to Sharthrace Sebaerie, the talented creator of the WR briefing movie: "If anyone is curious, the music is called Wayward Soldier and it's by Bear McCreary. I got it from the Season 3 Battlestar Galactica soundtrack."




For every clever idea or amusing gimmick that made it into Wicked Relics, there were at least two or three others that never made it past the "Wouldn't it be cool if ..." stage. Sometimes I'd even get as far as naming an item or writing an objective or two before scrapping an idea as unworkable or poorly-conceived. All the items you mentioned above failed to make the cut for the final version, but if you are interested in finding out what *could* have been, read on ...

Originally the ShadowJack was a powerful sword named the Sword of Truth. However, I felt that a sword (no matter how powerful) was a poor reward for a thief who does not kill, so I considered other options. For a while, I was going to provide a selection of three artifacts (Deathblade, Shadowjack, and Polymorph Arrows) and let the player decide which one they wanted. After playing with the ShadowJack for a few glee-filled hours, I determined that an invisible-making blackjack was all I would ever need for happiness ... so I didn't bother to implement the other two ultimate weapons.

The Meaning of Life secret objective was a joke objective I added in at one point for no practical purpose. Never really had a good reason for it, other than confusing people who looked at the objective list. ;)

The Steal the Ruby Scepter if You Dare! objective was never implemented. I was thinking of making the Steal the Scepter objective optional to allow ghosters or players who really hate undead the alternative to skip the post-scepter stealing events and head straight for the door without the main loot. I planned on having the If You Dare! objective replace the Steal the Scepter objective after reading the librarian's journal in which he describes the cursed scepter's powers. However, I ran into technical issues and ended up scraping the idea because it would have involved way too much effort to get it working the way I wanted for a relatively small reward. Also, stealing the scepter really is the point of the mission. It felt kind of cheap and anti-climactic to just head for the door without even trying to take it, curse or no curse.

As for unused object names, the first dozen or so entries in the Wicked Relics list are actually from my earlier mission, Bloodmist Tower. This is a carry-over from Wicked Relics' origins as a prequel to Bloodmist Tower, before it developed into a mission of its own. Originally, I was going to release Wicked Relics and Bloodmist Tower as a two-mission pack, with WR replacing the short mansion area at the beginning of Bloodmist Tower. In the end, I decided to release Bloodmist Tower on its own, because the two missions grew apart during development, with Wicked Relics acquiring a more classic Thief feel and somber tone, compared to Bloodmist's more whimsical and bizarre storyline. Also, Bloodmist Tower was ready, while Wicked Relics still required additional work to fulfill its potential as a really great mansion mission. The two missions still have some obvious similarities in the initial plot (rich nobles with expensive collections of cursed artifacts and identical housekeepers) but they end up in very different places.

Chances are pretty good there are a few more random bits and pieces scattered around the mansion from unfinished projects, but I can't think of any others at the moment.

In hindsight, I suppose I could have deleted all these unused entries before releasing the mission, but then you wouldn't have had anything interesting to find when you opened up the .str files! :cheeky:

PotatoGuy on 13/7/2009 at 20:32

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Thanks for the info :) Just whine enough until people give you the answer because you're too annoying. :laff: It'll be my credo. :p