IndieInIndy on 20/2/2008 at 23:34
I'm trying to round up some links to any/all articles on the technical/development side of Thief -- what's actually inside the program. Perhaps there's already a list in open DarkEngine thread, though I haven't found it yet.
(
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19990709/thief_01.htm) Thief Post-Mortem
(
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991207/chey_01.htm) SS2 Post-Mortem, but it is DromEd
(
http://aigamedev.com/reviews/thief-ai) Sneaking Behind Thief's AI
(
http://www.gamasutra.com/gdc2003/features/20030307/leonard_01.htm) Tom Leonard, Building an AI Sensory System
(
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2888/building_an_ai_sensory_system_.php) Same article, different link
(
http://gamasutra.com/features/20060606/gamapodcast_01.shtml) Randy's Podcast
(
www.gamasutra.com/features/gdcarchive/2002/randy_smith.ppt) Randy's GDC powerpoints
(
www.gamasutra.com/features/gdcarchive/2002/harvey_smith.ppt) Randy's Evil Twin likes powerpoint too, with some references to T3
(
www.gamasutra.com/features/gdcarchive/2002/chris_carollo.ppt) Chris Carollo on sound propagation
There are also about 20 articles by Paul Tozour in the AI Game Programming Wisdom volumes 1 and 2 (but no articles in vol 3).
I've been digging through sites, mostly GameDev/Gamasutra, looking for articles I've seen before. If you know of any others, I'd appreciate a link. Especially the CSG engine, since I've yet to find any articles on how Dromed handled solid models -- which I find curious, since it shares similarities and terminology with other CSG engines (like UT) that appeared on the market about the same time.
jtr7 on 21/2/2008 at 00:04
Excellent! How did you know I was just looking for this stuff yesterday?:p
Go as far as you can with this, please. I thank you very very much.
-Jason
jtr7 on 21/2/2008 at 12:12
Here's a rough list of former LGS employees' TTLG nicks, with some Thief# chat, a smidge of Bethesda, and Ion Storm Austin included for TDS:
EvilSpirit = Tim Stellmach
boojum = Laura Baldwin
Randy = Randy Smith
KeeperGarrett = Rob Caminos
aardvark, gratisgamer, RC, zdim = Rich Carlson
sswift = Shawn Swift
Marshall, Harwin = Alex Duran
Katiemonster = Lulu LaMer
Terri, TDB = Terri Brosius
EJB = Eric Brosius
7002, MikeC = Mike Chrzanowski
TomL, Zarathustra = Tom Leonard
buzzard, nothings = Sean Barrett
MAHK = Marc LeBlanc
Fretnoize = David Bax
Thomas M. Blackheart = Thomas M. Blackheart
solus = Mike Ryan
Dan Schmidt = Dan Schmidt
TechMonkey = ? (Customer Support)
jducoeur = Mark "Justin" Waks
AlexxKay = Alexx Kay
Ken Levine, Irrationallevine = Ken Levine
Andrew 'remnant' Chambers = Andrew Chambers
Stork = Eddie Moore
jonchey, Jon C, Shodan's Little Helper = Jon Chey
Xemu, xemu22, DoktorX = Rob Fermier
Skarz = Scott Blinn
MSG, -MSG- = Michael Swiderek
toneboy = Matt Boynton
Ian Vogel = Ian Vogel
Whiskeybee, Holiday = Nate Wells
wspector = Warren Spector
Nick1, Lohan, Lohan2, Lohan-T3Team, EmilPags, Ion-Emil = Emil Pagliarulo
Ramon, BigMike = Mike Steinkrauss
Scott Martin = Scott Martin
witchboy = Harvey Smith
MIS Monkey = Chad Warren
Egg Boy = Paul Tozour
digital-leaf = Rafael "Leaf" Jabulani Brown
Raf = Raphael Colantonio
todd@bethesda = Todd Howard
Krypt = Brian Glines
MysteryDev
Endless Despair = Elan Ruskin
serg = Sergio Rosas
Faceless = Jeremy Graves
IndieInIndy on 21/2/2008 at 21:00
Quote Posted by jtr7
todd@bethesda = Todd Howard
Oooh... I really hope you get some hate mail over that one.
Anyhoo, here's a few more links, though not all of them are really about Thief... SS and UU are close enough. Looks like I've run down most of the easy to find links. Time to start googling dev names on TTLG.
Doug Church, Object Systems, (
http://chrishecker.com/images/6/6f/ObjSys.ppt) http://chrishecker.com/images/6/6f/ObjSys.ppt
Doug Church, Formal Abstract Design Tools, (
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3357/formal_abstract_design_tools.php) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3357/formal_abstract_design_tools.php
Doug Church interview, State of Church, (
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2168/the_state_of_church_doug_church_.php) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2168/the_state_of_church_doug_church_.php
Warren Spector, Remodeling RPGs for a New Millennium, (
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/game_design/19990115/remodeling_01.htm)
Randy Smith, Playing Catch-Up, (
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7565) http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7565
Harvey Smith, Orthogonal Unit Differentiation, (
www.gamasutra.com/features/gdcarchive/2003/Smith_Harvey.ppt) www.gamasutra.com/features/gdcarchive/2003/Smith_Harvey.ppt
jtr7 on 21/2/2008 at 21:38
Quote Posted by IndieInIndy
Oooh... I really hope you get some hate mail over that one.
So, what are you saying?:sly:
Melan on 21/2/2008 at 22:54
I wonder what these people are thinking of TTLG now, almost a decade after Thief. Maybe we look like a community of obsessives... :erm:
jtr7 on 21/2/2008 at 23:12
Well, they assured us they were fans themselves, and not just in words. And they do sneak in (pun intended) tributes to the games in their new ones.:erg:
They are also burdened by the knowledge that they made something very special.
Springheel on 24/2/2008 at 03:15
Quote:
Cone number 5 in the diagram above is a good example of leveraging the low-level to express a high level concept. This "false vision" cone is configured to look backwards and configured to be sensitive to motion, giving the AI a "spidey-sense" of being followed too closely even if the player is silent.
I found this interesting, as I never had the sense that AI in Thief had a 'sixth sense' in this way. Anyone have any anecdotal evidence that such a thing was actually implemented?
Beleg Cúthalion on 24/2/2008 at 16:19
There was a rat beast just at the beginning of Escape! which I was not able to blackjack for over thirty times. I was hidden in the shadows, the grass was even coverd with moss patches, but it always turned around and attacked me just before I could hit it.
