Jashin on 3/6/2008 at 03:56
Quote Posted by poroshin
I actually have Death to Spies but haven't installed it yet.
Man, what I wouldn't give for a new pure-stealth game... :(
Install the thing and go for 100% stealth. The game rates your stealth level after each level. You've got nothing to lose except finding something new that is available.
I can count the number of pure stealth games on one hand. It's tough to make games like that and they don't sell in the million(s), which is getting close to the break even point now.
Neb on 3/6/2008 at 17:11
Quote Posted by Jashin
I can count the number of pure stealth games on one hand. It's tough to make games like that and they don't sell in the million(s), which is getting close to the break even point now.
I can't even list all of the free games/graphics-rendering engines that I know of on both hands. Maybe the TTLG community could dabble with an original idea?
demagogue on 3/6/2008 at 20:30
That was the thinking of a Darkmod conversion we were talking about above.
There's no need in reinventing the wheel ... a huge workload would be the AI and visability mechanic. So since that will already be in place, you can coattail on that. From the beginning that's what I was thinking could be really great about TDM ... because we'll (eventually) get sourcecode access, it really allows us to break the core stealth gameplay out into new vistas ... stealth cyberpunk, ninja, spies, 1930s gangsters, scifi ... any setting you want to spend the time creating and tacking on the custom toys for. The core mechanic will already be there.
Neb on 4/6/2008 at 06:58
Quote Posted by demagogue
That was the thinking of a Darkmod conversion we were talking about above.
Fantastic! I need to read into The Dark Mod a bit more, but as far as I remember it's going to be at least December before it gets released. It will probably make me go out and buy Doom 3, a game which I hated.
Quote Posted by demagogue
There's no need in reinventing the wheel ... a huge workload would be the AI and visability mechanic. So since that will already be in place, you can coattail on that.
:D
Quote Posted by demagogue
From the beginning that's what I was thinking could be really great about TDM ... because we'll (eventually) get sourcecode access,
I never knew about the source-code release (just Googled it). It probably won't be for a while, considering id Tech 4 costs a quarter million right now, but that's not really a problem I guess. When I learned that TDM was to be a mod for Doom 3 I cringed a little, not just because I hated the game, but also because I felt that a stealthy SDK should be independently accessible. I'm guessing that the release of the source means that not only TDM, but creations made with it can be 'packaged' separately from Doom 3 for whoever wants them?
Either way, bring on The Dark Mod.
Quote Posted by demagogue
it really allows us to break the core stealth gameplay out into new vistas ... stealth cyberpunk, ninja, spies, 1930s gangsters, scifi ... any setting you want to spend the time creating and tacking on the custom toys for. The core mechanic will already be there.
I know it sounds a lot like a crossover between System Shock 2 and Thief, but I quite liked the idea of being some kind of space pirate/hacker with a tiny (and very stolen) stealth ship which discreetly limpets onto other vessels so you can board them. Each level being a different ship which you could tackle in an open ended way, hacking electronic systems not only to access areas and materials, but to cause distractions for specific crew members to clear up crowded areas by faking things like automated damage reports from far away sections, etc. Also silly stuff, like meticulously evil players should be able to finish a level by stealing codes and setting off a self-destruct sequence. I quite like the idea of exploring dynamic puzzle/strategy elements along with stealth too.
I'm just spewing out ideas, excuse me. :)
How about a game where the player character is an alien who has just arrived on present-day Earth? It is physically weak but very much wants to avoid the movie cliché of having to face the military, so hides in the shadows and carries out its motives using a swarm of loyal nanobots. There have got to be many fun things which you can implement with an invisible army of tiny robots doing your bidding.
In hindsight I must have ripped this idea from Dark City, but: A game where you're an expert in advanced psycho-pharmacology and obviously in some kind of messed up situation. To solve puzzles and advance you have to sneak up to characters and extract elements of their personalities somehow, building up a catalogue of chemical character types which then can be stealthily administered to others in order to change their behaviours and thus their environments.
Okay, I'll leave it at that. I don't mind if much of that isn't possible with The Dark Mod. I just wanted to vent it.
june gloom on 4/6/2008 at 07:29
I've wanted for the last couple years a cyberpunk Thief-like game ever since ZylonBane suggested it. Right down to the horror elements- I've wanted some kind of sewer horror level (think the Cistern FM, only in a more modern/futuristic setting. As if sewers could be futuristic, but you get the idea.)
demagogue on 4/6/2008 at 23:19
Yeah, just yesterday I was watching the new Ghost in the Shell movie again, and the stealth-game potential struck me ... The protagonists are like police infiltrating the bad guys in their huge gov't/military skyscraper complex, sneaking level by level. Not too different from Deus Ex, but stealth would give it more of an edge.
And then there's the whole cyber angle where you knock someone out, or sneak up to them, and hack into their cyber-implants, as well as into the main grid. And you could also have cyberstealth in a virtual world.
Anyway, yeah, I share the interest...
Jashin on 5/6/2008 at 05:20
In that case you should watch Ghost in the Shell's PPV series, Stand Alone Complex 1st Gig and 2nd Gig. There's way more thermo-optics and cyberspace in those. Gotta love the mature stuff.
Anyway, (
http://www.funonthenet.in/content/view/199/31/) Japanese Sewer System
june gloom on 5/6/2008 at 06:20
That sewer system is awesome. And it'd fit my idea perfectly.
Neb on 5/6/2008 at 09:08
Dethtoll, I can't quite see why you'd like a sewer setting in a cyber-punk game, but perhaps that's why it'd work. Any specific reason, or do you just like going there in games?
For a stealth horror level I'd love to see if something in complete daylight could be pulled off. It doesn't sound intuitive at first, but in the Thief games our instinctive receptivity to light is switched around anyway as the dark feels like a safe place to hide, whereas well lit areas are highly dangerous. Give it a Shalebridge Cradle buildup, set it outside in the sunshine with the birds singing calmly and watch as the player desperately tries to use all the shade they can.
One example of a creepy scene from a film, shot in complete daylight was that restaurant from Mulholland Drive. Instead of using darkness to hammer home the mood, Lynch used our understanding of what dreams are like to build the suspense with one of the characters telling how he could see the figure through the walls. I love that kind of thing. :)
