The Dark Mod - TTLG Forums

242 on 13/10/2009 at 23:20

Quote Posted by Outlooker

Just a little thing that just sprang to my mind when I looked at the new wonderful screenshots :

In my opinion it all looks at little too clean, polished if you will, sterile maybe.
Are there easy to implement possibilities to make things a little more gritty, used, worn - if you know what I mean.

I noticed the excess cleanness and regularity of some textures too, they definitely make the whole picture less natural than it could be. The screenshot of Arcturus' mission looks good but too sterile, some textures lack irregularity and it seems there isn't such things like dirt, leaves, etc. at all.

Quote:

Coincidentally, I thought (and still think) the textures in Thief 2 were too clean and too bright compared to the ones in Thief 1, and this was pretty much remedied by Calendra's Legacy (which is how T2 should have looked in the first place).

Yep, CL had perfect textures, I remember I was admiring them, much, much better than T2 textures, they made the mission look almost photo-realistic.

Springheel on 13/10/2009 at 23:33

Quote:

it seems there isn't such things like dirt, leaves, etc. at all.

It's a WIP shot (maybe I should have posted that in bigger letters?). It's the architecture that's the focus of the shot (and is damn impressive), not the ground. The kind of details you're talking about are usually the last things a mission maker would add.

@jtr7: I can't wait to see the textures that impress you, then. They'll be kick-ass.

demagogue on 13/10/2009 at 23:53

Texture-making gets harder as you increase the resolution and add normal-maps and specular-maps. It's not as easy as just taking some digital photos and tiling them. So it will be good news for the community to get involved in contributing assets and taking on some of that workload. I do think the Dark Mod textures and art-direction is better than TDS, though. The FMs now look very good IMO. I know that over time maps are only going to look even better.

I once thought of the idea that there really should be a designated repository of community contributions -- textures, sounds, models, animations, even scripts and tweaks -- so it's all collected in one place (I always thought they should do this for Dromed, too). It's quasi-official maybe, just to the extent it's a supported place, but not 'really' official just because it should be like a clearinghouse; stuff not really to be officially integrated in the Mod itself (unless there's a decision to). But just a holding place. People can contribute anything and take anything they like; let mappers pick for themselves. I think that would be a friendly way to encourage community contribution. Well, that's just an idea I had before, anyway.

One thing everyone should realize about The Dark Mod ... once you get a feel that basically every aspect of the game is community-made from scratch, and you can see exactly how very transparently ... This is, in a very special way, really our game. If a fan wants to add neat things to the game, whether assets or gameplay-variations, the game will let them. It's easy even to just embed changes in an FM-package, so the base-package is always there, and has the basic gameplay honed over years of development and only improving, but there's still a lot of room for creativity and experimentation through FMs ... much much more latitude and room for creativity than with Thief FMs. That's in addition to the out-of-the-box gameplay which honors the classic gameplay but has some of its own flavor, too.

SubJeff on 14/10/2009 at 00:08

Meh, screw all this. I've just been playing the Beta Test with Bloom and AA on and it looks frikking gorgeous.

Those aren't shadows jtr is referring to either - they are part of the stone texture and they look great.

Am I a sell-out for having Bloom on? It makes the torches look so lush.

MDesino on 14/10/2009 at 00:42

I'm simultaneously thankful and very disappointed that all this community can do is nitpick and make make vague generalizations about the pictures Springheel releases. How is seeing a photo of the Sistine Chapel different than visiting the Sistine Chapel? How is seeing a screenie of a mission different than playing a mission?

As soon as TDM releases to the community, I'll have to set up a seismometer to record the simultaneous jaw-dropping around the world.

Oh yeah: as a mapper, I'd much rather work with clean textures and dirty them myself rather than use pre-dirtied textures that tile so damn obviously that my product ends up looking ugly.

mazzortock on 14/10/2009 at 00:57

Quote Posted by jtr7

Bump-mapping's too intense, the contrast is too high. The pillar's look odd with that diagonal shadow pattern across them. The lighting and coloring are too TDS and mono for my taste.

I disagree: I like it A LOT.

It's some magic in it, and the light (i presume dynamic) it's simply fantastic.

Thanks a lot for these screens Springheel, they are awesome!:thumb:

Quote Posted by demagogue

I once thought of the idea that there really should be a designated repository of community contributions -- textures, sounds, models, animations, even scripts and tweaks -- so it's all collected in one place (I always thought they should do this for Dromed, too). It's quasi-official maybe, just to the extent it's a supported place, but not 'really' official just because it should be like a clearinghouse; stuff not really to be officially integrated in the Mod itself (unless there's a decision to). But just a holding place. People can contribute anything and take anything they like; let mappers pick for themselves. I think that would be a friendly way to encourage community contribution. Well, that's just an idea I had before, anyway.

I think it's great idea!
A public TDM repository where anyone can upload will be cool, also to declare the licensing of the work shared by the community (i hope GPL-like or Commons-like), and not limited only to textures of course, but also to other media (brushes, model, musics, various graphics, etc. etc.).

Quote:

One thing everyone should realize about The Dark Mod ... once you get a feel that basically every aspect of the game is community-made from scratch, and you can see exactly how very transparently ... This is, in a very special way, really our game. If a fan wants to add neat things to the game, whether assets or gameplay-variations, the game will let them. It's easy even to just embed changes in an FM-package, so the base-package is always there, and has the basic gameplay honed over years of development and only improving, but there's still a lot of room for creativity and experimentation through FMs ... much much more latitude and room for creativity than with Thief FMs. That's in addition to the out-of-the-box gameplay which honors the classic gameplay but has some of its own flavor, too.

Totally agree.
It's a great community driven game toolset, one of the best ever created, IMHO, and, the plus, it's crossplatform, this is really a revolution, IMHO.

Goldmoon Dawn on 14/10/2009 at 01:04

A screenshot isnt always an accurate conveyor of overall atmosphere. As far as screenshots go, this one allows me to continue the drooling process. So stripped down and clean. I think that it is important to remember that a great deal of the original titles magic was in fact the lack of detail. Witnessing the team achieving that same feel with advanced graphics is refreshing for an "old timer" like me. Well done. This project is almost the "Thief that us 1999 gamers always wished we could see realised". Lets see what the good folks of TTLG can do with this beast as the years roll on. :ebil:

New Horizon on 14/10/2009 at 01:08

Quote Posted by MDesino

Oh yeah: as a mapper, I'd much rather work with clean textures and dirty them myself rather than use pre-dirtied textures that tile so damn obviously that my product ends up looking ugly.

That's exactly the point that doesn't seem to be getting realized. The textures are a base, and you can dirty them as you like with grime and dirt decals. The grime and dirt decals can be placed in various ways, giving the same textures a different appearance from FM to FM. It's a good thing, really.

mazzortock on 14/10/2009 at 01:41

Quote Posted by New Horizon

Like in this way?

(is an example from the editor of the next game of FrictionalGames, the guys of Penumbra series)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZKMjbqgMI0) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZKMjbqgMI0

Bloody decals :p

New Horizon on 14/10/2009 at 01:46

Quote Posted by mazzortock

Perhaps not quite as advanced as that, but yes...pretty much the same thing. Once the D3 engine is open sourced, more advanced editing abilities could be added in the future. The community isn't 'doomed' to only use what we give them now, the Mod and editor will be enhanced as time goes on.