Keeper Diana on 1/4/2014 at 21:59
There may have already been a thread on this, but I was curious. (Surprising. . .) So, I just finished watching The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1998) and the lore of it is immensely inspiring! The characters, the setting, the plot, the chaos of it and I felt myself look at the characters and - without really thinking - I compared them to the base roles in Thief.
This made me wonder, was Karras inspired by the character Frollo?
Now, aside form the obvious lack of earthly desires - that I've rarely seen Karras exhibit - he DOES obsess and to an extreme extend as well. He loves the church and disagrees with the Archdeacon (I wonder if he served that church at one point) and now has a powerful influence over the city he resides in.
I could be over-extrapolating but that's what I see. xD
However, more to the point of the title of this thread, I'm curious as to what other inspirations might have be used to create Thief. Did the designers go to London to learn about the structures - I believe they did, in 'The Making of Thief 2' and it wouldn't surprise me if they learned about other characters in London's lore that might have brought out the meat in the game.
Come, share your thoughts! =D
Renault on 1/4/2014 at 22:24
There are many fans out there with more information than myself, but I've always heard that The Name Of The Rose was a major inspiration. That mostly refers to the book, but probably the movie as well.
Also, just found this article, worth a read:
(
http://www.salon.com/2000/06/20/dark_glass/) (3rd paragraph down)
sjb5001 on 2/4/2014 at 00:54
Wow, what an article.
I remember when Looking Glass closed it's doors, but I never got that many details about it. Good find!
Keeper Diana on 2/4/2014 at 01:03
Indeed, thank you so much! =O
ClashWho on 2/4/2014 at 04:51
Dungeons & Dragons was another large wellspring of inspiration for Thief.
Melan on 2/4/2014 at 07:19
The
Third Man (1949) contributed a lot to the look and feel of Thief. It is a very labyrinthine movie full of dark streets and sewer corridors photographed at odd angles, one of the bad guys has an uncanny similarity to Constantine, and you've even got the line
"Come out, come out, whoever you are!" spoken by the main character. It is also great on its own merits.
Inline Image:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v198/Melan/cinemosaic_third_man_zpsfe204e8b.pngskacky on 2/4/2014 at 21:01
The Third Man also has a huge contrast between light and darkness and it's pretty easy to see how TDP followed that.
Captain Spandex on 3/4/2014 at 13:28
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_Lost_Children)
The City of Lost Children (1995) was another big influence, I remember. At least according to various interviews with the team. It seems to have been a particularly potent influence on Thief II. Even the main antagonist - Professor Krank - seems similar to Father Karras, both visually and in terms of motivation. Both mad steampunk inventors devoid of a soul, bent on punishing humanity for their own singular obsession.
The film even features a bizarre technological cult, as well. Though they take it a step further than even the Mechanists, by requiring a funky ocular implant to attain membership... like a steampunk version of The Borg or something.
For certain, it was a major influence when they were designing the look of The City, as you can see even in the short trailer below.
[video=youtube;CNYG9cXTSds]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNYG9cXTSds[/video]
Renault on 3/4/2014 at 13:44
Found an old post of jtr's that includes some of the inspirations listed above plus some additional ones:
Quote:
As has been mentioned before, and as many know, but not all, here are the shared influences:
For TDP, the cover image of Caleb Carr's The Alienist--leading to the juxtaposition of a Dickensian poverty and Baroque ostentatiousness--Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, as well as Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser adventures, and the movie Blade Runner were heavy influences.
Thief Gold derived much from The Phantom of the Opera, and slips in a variation of the name The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.
For TMA, Fritz Lang's M and Metropolis, Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities, the works of Lewis Carroll, The Third Man, the works of Jules Verne, level design in the original Rainbow Six, the original black & white Beauty and the Beast, The City of Lost Children, and Time Bandits is an unofficial influence, or just Terry Gilliam's work in general (Monty Python, too). --[The fans have noted a lot of similarity between Karras and Hitler and the Mechanists and Nazis, and there's a Viktrola in Wieldstrom that sounds very much like Karras and throng of shouting followers.]
TDS was influenced by The City of Lost Children. The Cradle influences include Randy Smith's horror Thief levels, Eric Brosius's soundwork, the Silent Hill series, the System Shock series, the movie Jacob's Ladder and also Ringu, The Changeling, and other influences pending.
Keeper Diana on 3/4/2014 at 19:45
Very nice, thanks! And grrr, the viktrola. . . . I've searched for that viktrola I dunno how many times and it's always eluded me.. .
