A master thief climbed the stones in a modern modern city, dividing the difference between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool. Lighted by Gaslamps cannot dispel industrial smoke, they overcome for a citizen – a rude, acknowledged, but not shady enough to cause itching in the sword of any guard.
Until, that’s, they went to Thief’s highway – according to the trajectory of their hooking on the roof, from which they could see the shape of the city and the moon on the other side. Here, it is a parallel world – the trees at the street level are answered by chimney stacks, and distant hills echoed by the rise and falling of the sloping gable. We are very proud of these roofs, Mr. Greg Lopiccolo said. This is a great landscape that we put a lot of thoughts and efforts, and it is interesting to pass.
Back in 1998, Lopiccolo was the game director who saw the thief: the dark project was completed. Today – After a gap of 18 years to Harmonix to lead projects like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, among other adventures – he is the Dassor As Thief game director. This is really an opportunity to do something unique and refreshing and new, on the shoulders of these things that are respectful, he said. The thief has some legs, right? People still talk about it to some extent.
Thick as thieves may not belong to the thief universe, but Ably evokes its name. Up on the rooftop, a light gemstone shows the level of coverage of our Thief Master. A low howling wind provides the buffer, like a cold chorus bassnote – the memories that evoke immediately of the dark project. And the thief also lives, in describing the mission, asking you to penetrate the library and steal a family secret book from a hidden room. It is a very enthusiastic honor in its peculiarity, and one thing easily shows the participation of glass developers.
But what’s unique as a thief? The answer is right in the title, which you will notice is plural. When our main character escaped from a mansion, disturbing the outside patrol guards, they found a movement between the black bricks of an adjacent roof. The smoke from the chimney, perhaps – until the darkness shot a dart in the direction of the thief. A warning from a player: this route is done, Bozo. Try the sewer, and stay away from me my way.
The idea of a thief many players has existed in the dark since the beginning of the millennium. In fact, in the last months before closing Glass, its developers worked to simulate the series as a cooperative experience. And when the other entertainment first began to form thick as the thieves, they thought in the same way.
We talked a lot about theft games with each player who has a unique role, Warren Spector said. “And Greg and David [McDonough, lead designer] Especially actually returned and said, ‘No, we can do PVP’. You type your hand and think, wow, that will really surprise people. It will be something completely unique. And this is I am stupid: I don’t know exactly how to do that, that’s why.
Ah, yes: Mr Spector. The world’s most famous supporter for the role -playing sim genre, and is the director of the RPS Core deus Ex. After closing the Point Studio Junction Epic Studio Point and a mantra in the Academy, Spector participated with others to lead the production of System System Shock 3. Now he is entering his fourth decade in developing the game.
It is very rare to talk directly to Spector, although it is too zoom-English as a literary man and often like to answer texts in writing. In his body, he has a folksy quality, and by getting his own recognition a bit more than he means. His first love – Dungeons & Dragons, which he plays a young man with pioneer Cyberpunk Bruce Sterling when his DM – often appears without reminding.
One of the outstanding features of the role -playing sim genre trying to recreate the feeling of playing dungeons & dragons, he said. Game and solo game is great, but telling stories with your friends is even better. So we want to see what will happen if a group of players meet and interact with a deep simulation world.
This is also the way Spector into the world of direct service. The role -playing games of Tabletop have a happening life. They not only end when you complete a task. And so we want to simulate that approach and create a game with a life that is taking place, he said. I played in a D&D campaign for 10 years. I want the player to feel like that about thick thieves.
You can also recognize the influence of the shooting game extracted in the thief’s DNA. Over the past half, games like Hunt: Showdown have popularized a form of intrusion based on the session, in which you get a packet and escape – with stress provided by other players who can give and awards from your ownership at any time.
Thick as the thief is structured in the same way. As an agent of the contest, you go out every night with the rare treasure lifting goal from the nose of the NPC guard, and pay attention to breaking or overthrowing other traps, locks and security measures in your way. Meanwhile, other players are trying to achieve the same thing.
Perhaps you will offer an ambush and knock down a cold player, stealing their belongings in this process; Perhaps you will avoid their notice and go to an exit without any confrontation. Ideally, you will go out with the goods that the guild has followed, or at least enough gold is not created to improve the value and net reputation of your character in Metagame. In the middle of the mission, each player will choose the tasks and follow the theme of a personal storyline.
We imagine a game where a player can kick the door, beat people, smash the display box, then jump out of the window, Mr. MCD McDonough said. Another player will hide in rafts like a ghost, and no one knows they are there. And those two playstyle are equally valuable, and will compete with each other.
This is not the first effort in a game of extract focusing on sneaky. Notably, Hood: Outlaws & Legends has transmitted Creed Assassin in the Sherwood forest, while the deceitful crew has put social stealth in hitman style into the equation. The case of other people stand out – for me, at least – is in its commitment to the classic role -playing sim design.
The guards, security, environmental rules, how the characters pass and the way their tools work – all have a system, which means that everything you do touches everything else and the world reacts with you in natural ways, according to MCD McDonough.
For each session, the position of the enemy, the camera and the locked door will change, along with the targets. The only way to ensure your survival is improvisation. We feel like this is our most powerful concept of our feelings when playing a classic thief, MCD McDonough said. I don’t know what the mission will go, but I know how my tools work and I know what to do with them, so I will find my own way through this.
In a way, it is strange that Sims role -playing does not hold many players sooner. If the category is built to transform each other in unwanted ways, the opponent player is a gift – the most Mercurial element that you can add to the mixture. One of the things that makes the thief active is the knife of the knife – I have been arrested, right? Spector said. The birth of other people makes it even more interesting.
The intention of another player is a mystery for you, Mr. Lo Lopcolo pointed out. This is not like the fortress, where you have a very simple agenda. In this case, your agenda is very complicated, they are very complicated and you cannot predict how they will answer. When we were talking, I imagined the use of thick thieves equivalent to an arrow of Noisemaker to send soldiers to guard in the direction of a human opponent, causing them to be tangled in a high -pressure stealth scenario. Spector applauded with Glee: This is completely convincing me that the game will be completely active.
There are reasons to be alert. The only release game of others so far, Underworld Ascendant, is another spiritual successor for a favorite role -playing sim – but ended in Buggy disaster, disappointing Kickstarter supporters. We have focused on building a damn studio, Spector admitted, and perhaps not paying enough attention. This time, others with the help of the Megabit publisher, who can undertake most business aspects while developers focus on making games.
“It was a completely different team [working on Thick as Thieves]Spector Spector said. A larger group capable of resolving the incredible challenges of creating role -playing sims. No one believes me until they work on these games – what we do here is harder than what most people do in developing the game. And we have talented people, and enough of them, to pull it out.
Spector has said that he is likely to be the oldest person who still participates in developing a positive game. This raises the question: With the inherent difficulty of creating role -playing sims, and after the pain of losing shock system 3, what makes him return to the trench?
I am also interested in making people like I am doing the game, he said. I may not say it loudly, but you go. I don’t have a filter. I am interested in overcoming the torch so that this type of game continues.
Seeing the increase of Arkane and the role -playing sim elements crept into Zelda and Baldur’s Gate 3 were satisfied by Spector. But he left the academy halfway for three years at Texas University because he felt still having to do. We are in this type of young art, and even after 40 or 50 years, anyone who thinks we have finished not paying attention, he said. The opportunity to create a new form of art or contribute to its growth appears once or twice a century. How do you not want to be part of that? I tried to surround myself with people who feel like that, who want to improve the state of art.
My personal mission is ‘Playstyle Matters’, he continues. And that is not just words. I will do that until people don’t allow me anymore. But when I said I would do that, I would find people who could do it better than me, and will continue it.
