All Spotlights

Real Name: Garett Choy
Forum Identity: kfgecko (Kung Fu Gecko)
Location: Northern California, USA

What first attracted you to Thief, and when was that?

I've always enjoyed more cerebral-action games and after reading several reviews on Thief, I was interested. Thief 1 had just come out and it was around Christmas time. My employer had given out a $100 gift certificate to Fry's Electronics as a Christmas gift to the employees and I promptly bought up as many things as I could with it. Interestingly, Thief almost didn't make the pile, as it pushed the grand total about $15 over my $100. It left the cart about two times, before I finally decided to keep it. I'm so glad I did.

I installed Thief soon after purchasing it just to see what it was like. The first mission, Bafford's, was fun and nerve wracking. I barely made it to the throne room on "Normal" and at the time couldn't imagine ever playing a harder difficulty that would make you *find your way back out after all that*. Hah. Then the next level, which included zombies, scared my pants off and I quit playing Thief and returned to finishing Half Life which I had previously started. About two months later, I was "free" again and decided to try Thief again. Then I was hooked...

Why did you start designing missions, and when was that? What inspiration outside of Thief 1/Gold, Thief 2, and Deadly Shadows influenced the content of your fan mission?

I must have played the Thief 1 original missions about a half a dozen times each (and Bafford's about 100 times) when I learned that the Dromed Mission Editor was coming out. By this time, I had found TTLG and was actively participating in the Thief forums, thoroughly enjoying both the game and the Thief community at TTLG. Having played Thief ad naseum, I was yearning for more missions. When Dromed was slated to be released, my mind began racing with all the ideas I would do. I started a thread at TTLG that authored mission stories, having just the intro briefing text, goals, and brief explanations of how the mission would play. When Dromed was finally released, along with Trimfect's "Gathering at the Bar", I was impressed with what a non-professional could do. It was clear that Dromed would be my destiny...

The Library

Bloodstone Prison

Embracing the Enemy

Warehouse 51
 Give us a brief summary of all your currently released missions. Tell us the idea behind them, what you are proud of, and what you regret about them.

The Library (T1) - My first released FM and real attempt at making a real mission. This mission put me on the radar and was well received. It still screamed "amateur mission design" but was done well enough that I was told by an employee at Looking Glass Studious (when it was still around) that they were playing my mission to "see how much gameplay could be found in a (relatively) small mission". With an architecture that was inspired by the movie The Name of the Rose, and a good amount of attention to the mission storyline, The Library was a proud achievement for me. It was also my first exposure to the incredibly time consuming process of level design. I also think The Library was one of the first FM's to use the now obvious technique of arched doorways. If the editor for Thief 3 is ever released, I'm hoping to make Return to the Library, a sequel.

Bloodstone Prison (T1) - This is my most famous mission and my proudest achievement in FM making. Gleaned from the original mission story thread I started before Dromed was even released, Bloodstone Prison was my attempt at making the undead "fun". As a result of this, there were few roaming zombies with mostly haunts; AI that could be backstabbed/KO'd. I focused even harder on story. Bloodstone easily went through a dozen story revisions. Integrating the story with gameplay elements that were inspired both by Thief and Half Life, I also added my first real Dromed technical tweaks. I'm very conservative about Dromed tweaks, choosing instead to let the Dromed pioneers of TTLG TEG pave the road. In the end, the mission was well received and even got a few spots in game magazines.

Embracing the Enemy (T2) - This was my tribute to Thief 2. Story story story was my mantra and I set out to create a "castle mission" that followed suit. A certain amount of linearity was necessary for this mission which resulted in some people loving the mission, and others hating it. By this time, I knew what Dromeding meant and was willing to try grander ideas. Unfortunately, real life got in the way and I ended up having to cut several elements out of the mission that I had originally planned. This mission still has my favorite story.

Creature Clash 1 (T1) & 2 (T2) - These were two very small missions to screw around with. They contained "cages" of various Thief AI that the player could release and watch them fight it out to the death in an arena. Amazing how fun it was to watch.

Warehouse 51 (T2) - My entry into the first small mission contest. It's a mini Kung Fu Gecko mission which has all my production values in a small package. It was also a tribute to one of my favorite TV shows at the time.


What do you feel is your strongest suit in mission design? Architecture? Story? Atmosphere? Scripting? Gameplay? Something else?
Hmm. not sure about this one. So many FM authors overshadow me in all the aspects, but I'm sort of a jack of multiple trades and an Ace of none. I try to be aware of the experience as a whole that the player will experience, and not so much on individual components like astounding architecture, jaw dropping scripting, poetic story, etc.

Have you ever worked with other people on an FM project? If so, who were they, and what did they do?
Nope. I was briefly on the COSAS team, but real life allotted me no time to contribute.

If you could rebuild any OM from Thief 1/Gold or 2 from scratch (as a T2 FM), which one would it be, and why?
None. I actually don't have any desire to redo any of the Thief OM's.

What's your favorite FM(s) from other authors?
Saturio Returns Home, 7th Crystal, Calendra's Legacy, and Lord Edmund Entertains. All had the full package: mission polish, excellent story (character development and pacing), great architecture (well, Edmund's doesn't count because it's so old), cool technical tweaks, and fun true-to-thief gameplay. I stopped playing FMs over a year ago so I think I've missed a bunch of great FMs since.

Tell us about that first mission you made in dromed, back when you were first learning the editor, which never saw the light of day.
A rickety predecessor to Creature Clash 1 with the same concept. Be glad I never released it to waste bandwidth and people's time. I also started a mission that had no vision, no story, and no title. It never got built past the first castle wall; a GOOD thing.

Have you ever done any mods for other games?
Freespace

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