Thief 4 - Gampley Ideas

andycain on 21/11/2009 at 16:30

Hi guys.

I'm a big thief fan and here's a few ideas that I've had about the upcoming thief game. Be interested to know your thoughts...

1) A game set in modern times but with a similar gamplay style. (Prehaps Garrett's descendent)

2) Ability to pick a 'side' at the begining of the game. Prehaps a faction driven storyline that you get to see one side of depending on the faction you choose at the begining. You have to play the game twice as each faction to fully understand the story. Lots of gameplay time. This could work by allowing players to progress through missions even if they fail objectives which influence the storyline.

3) Character can wear disguises to fool guards.

Thoughts and opinions?

New Horizon on 21/11/2009 at 19:13

Go play Hitman? :p

:D

I don't think any of those ideas should go anywhere near a Thief game. Keep it simple. I certainly hope the devs of T4 don't make the same mistakes as Ion Storm and start heaping a bunch of baggage onto the gameplay of Thief.

Namdrol on 21/11/2009 at 23:30

Quote Posted by andycain

1) A game set in modern times but with a similar gamplay style. (Prehaps Garrett's descendent)

Quote:

2) Ability to pick a 'side' at the begining of the game. Prehaps a faction driven storyline that you get to see one side of depending on the faction you choose at the begining. You have to play the game twice as each faction to fully understand the story. Lots of gameplay time. This could work by allowing players to progress through missions even if they fail objectives which influence the storyline.

Quote:

3) Character can wear disguises to fool guards.

Quote:

Thoughts and opinions?

You really don't want to hear them.

T-Smith on 22/11/2009 at 00:28

I can honestly envision a Thief set in the future. But not our modern day or even our future - a different kind where things developed differently (just as how Thief's world isn't quite like our own in many ways). Still with heavy steampunk overtones, still very dark, grimey and dirty. I think it could be done.

And Ion Storm was planning on their Thief 4 to be in modern times too. Although the single piece of concept art I saw of the new Garrett (hoodie, duffle pack, pistol) left a fairly sour taste.

That said, I'd still prefer the classic Thief setting. Factions were poorly implemented in Deadly Shadows and I wouldn't relish their return - Garrett serves himself above all else. He took a journey through the three games that made him realize his part and everything and that he had a higher purpose than just being a Thief. But I can't see him deciding to go join the Hammers or Pagans or whatever.

The other problem with that is that Thief is very story driven. Dividing the story isn't always for the better and more than likely it would end with forced "moral choices" like so many developers have been added in.

As for disguises, that just completely removes the point of Thief's gameplay. Additions and changes to the formula are welcome. But something like that is better left for other games like MGS or Splinter Cell.

Of course these are just my opinions.

Bakerman on 22/11/2009 at 02:08

Quote Posted by T-Smith

Factions were poorly implemented in Deadly Shadows and I wouldn't relish their return - Garrett serves himself above all else. He took a journey through the three games that made him realize his part and everything and that he had a higher purpose than just being a Thief. But I can't see him deciding to go join the Hammers or Pagans or whatever.

What about if they were decently done? I could imagine Thief absorbing a 'faction' system completely different to those of other games. It wouldn't be about doing jobs for the faction because for some reason you want to be accepted by them and have a bunch of new pals - Garrett would want to find out just how he could exploit a faction's interest in him (I think that would be the key point - the factions would have to be actively interested in Garrett, because otherwise he'd just be a happy thief and ignore the lot of them), and play separate factions off against each other.

The Shroud on 22/11/2009 at 03:23

Eh, I think Garrett should stay away from factions and keep independent. That's been the main theme all along, and is probably the reason he's the 'One True Keeper', so to speak - because unlike even the Keepers themselves (at least at the time of TDS), he truly does not "embrace a cause".

T-Smith on 22/11/2009 at 05:28

Quote Posted by The Shroud

His character arc is interesting because it's so subtle. But by the end of Thief 2 and through 3 it's clear he's taken a much more personal interest in the affairs of The Keepers and the future of The City than he did before (I.E he only wanted money and maybe it was never about the money - but the thrill of obtaining it). In The Dark Project his aim was clear - revenge. By the end of Thief 2 and the death of Viktoria though, things had changed.

That said, I still don't support a faction idea. Partially because I don't really support an "open world" system. I'd rather have a set list of missions than having to go trudge about some hub world like in Thief 3.

Eigenface on 22/11/2009 at 06:22

Frivolous, UI idea:

The visibility gem and life bar are combined into a single display in the form a slitted human eye. Larger (green?) iris = smaller pupil = more light on you, smaller iris = larger pupil = less light on you. When the white part the eye (sclera) is completely white, you have full life, and as you take damage, the sclera gets gradually redder with more bloodshot veins.

Eigenface on 22/11/2009 at 06:49

Substantive gameplay idea:

One stealth gadget I like and don't see very often is the enemy tag, a device you can shoot onto an enemy which then allows you to track their location. This is useful for dangerous enemies you can't take out easily (or at all.) The last time I saw this was in No One Lives Forever 2, but I haven't kept my stealth game knowledge up to date. In NOLF2, once you tag an enemy with a tracking dart, you can see them on a little HUD radar. However, I don't see Thief as a HUD radar kind of game - Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, and who knows how many others have already done that to death, and in my mind Thief is supposed to be a more organic, less "gadgety" experience. So in Thief 4, the enemy tag will allow you track the enemy's location in a different way. More on this in a moment.

Another ability I like is seeing enemies through walls, whether they call it X-ray vision, thermal, sonics (like Deus Ex), or whatever. This can be very useful in stealth games, but it has the potential to break the gameplay.

One thing I haven't seen in any game is the enemy tag combined with seeing enemies through walls. Garrett would have a device that emits radiation at a frequency only his mechanical eye can see. Once he surreptitiously tagged an enemy, he could see the tag shining like a beacon through the walls, and track the enemy no matter where they went - no HUD radar required.

T-Smith on 22/11/2009 at 06:58

OK, I can sort of see that working. Let's say... a dart gart gun that shoots a chemical into enemies that allows Garrett to keep track of them somehow via magic. However, as for seeing enemies behind walls - it would have to be at very close range due to the size of typical Thief levels. Also, the ability would have to be very limited.