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    Saturday - 07.31.1999
    The Odium New fan mission by Chibboleth - 11:55pm EST - Jyre
Master Nightfall has just asked me if I could run this odd little box down here and put it on display so all you taffers can enjoy it. I have to confess I was a little naughty and kind of opened the box whilst making my way from his tower to The Circle. (You won't tell him will you?) I was a little confused at first, then I realised that the box actually contained a map! I was trying to figure out what exactly the map was of, when I noticed it was all bumpy. It wasn't a map after all, it was a model. I was just about to take the model out when I noticed a little note shoved into one corner. Ever curious, I gave it a read:

To my knowledge, this is the first user-made mission with undeads. You must infiltrate the mountain stronghold of an evil cult, the Inverted Hammer. Hopefully this will be the first in a series.

The mention of undead brought back rather unwelcome memories (you read them in COT, didn't you?) And I hurriedly replaced everything just as I had found it and ran all the way to The Circle without giving the box another look. The contents of this box is now on display here



    The Fanworks Art Gallery Has Opened! - 11:25pm EST - Nightfall
At long last, The Fanworks Art Gallery has grained enough submittions to open! We currenly have three pieces of art, and I do hope that the number will increase now that there is publicity for such projects.

The image that launched the gallery is something called 'Gazpub'. It wasn't given a name, but that's what the file was called, so I just decided to call it that. It was made by Muzman.



    Silence Be Whole, A New Thief Fansite, and Home to a Fanwork - 9:25pm EST - Nightfall
The mysterious writer and sometimes Thief Tra'Hari Vandaette, Rider of the Unseen Storm, contacted me recently with news that the first chapter of his Thief tale, s h i f t i n g d o u b l e. This tale shall be updated regularly with new chapters, just as COT & Keepers Tale has been.

I also took the time to re-do the once quite ugly now pretty cool looking Fanworks page. I owe Ken George (Shades) for that spiffy Thief in the title image!



    Yet Another Thief 2 Interview at Next Generation Online - 8:40pm EST - Nightfall
Though they would most likely prefer it to be called a kidnapping and interrogation, it was most likely a simple interview. I am of course referring to the discussion that occurred between the Next-Gen rep and Steve Persall of Thief 2 fame. Steve has a habit of telling everyone the same thing, (no doubt a result of years of intense training with the Keepers) and this occurence is no exception. If you have not yet read any of the interviews with the Thief 2 producer, check this one out. If you have read them all, then you should know it by heard by now.





    Wednesday - 07.28.1999
   Interview with Emil Pagliarulo on Adrenaline Vault - 10:40pm EST - Dan
James already covered this, but I feel that it's important enough to touch on again. I'd like to draw attention to and comment on a few of Emil's statements that really deserve interest.
A good part of that is listening to player feedback and finding out just what people want. So, for example, Thief 2 will have far fewer "monster" encounters, and most of the time, the player will have to outwit human opponents. Missions like "Assassins" and "Lord Bafford's Manor" have proven to be the most popular, so they're great models for us to follow. We'd also like to de-emphasize the combat even more than the original game. You should conceivably be able to complete Thief 2 without having to kill a single enemy, if you so choose.
Be careful what you wish for, you may get it. Nuff said.
Actually, let me go out on a limb a little bit and say Thief 2 will be one of the most character-driven games you've ever played, with one of the most complex, intriguing storylines ever created for a computer game. I know everyone says that, but you'll see what I mean.
They did it once in Thief, I'm sure they can do it again! Everyone's favorite character, Garrett, will of course be back.... lets keep our fingers crossed that the second most favorite, Viktoria, will make a cameo.... :)
Suffice it to say the factions introduced in the first game, like the Hammerites and Keepers, will be further developed, and that Garrett will remain the consummate cynic, never sure who to trust.
Good!
Act II will have Garrett as the private investigator, living in the field, uncovering clues as he goes; and Act III will have Garrett as the James Bond-type agent, working from a "base" and setting out to accomplish specific missions.
This sounds extremely interesting, to me, anyway. I do hope that they keep the wraps on the story down tight. I know that the plot to Thief 1 was totally given away by some previews and reviews. The way this one sound, though, telling about the plot would basically kill it. TTLG & Co will be very reluctant to draw attention to any plot related info regarding Thief 2.
We're also looking at some Art Deco architecture, so that parts of the game will have sort of a "Batman" feel.
If they mean Batman 1 & 2, then praise the builders name! That's perfect!
How does the player travel from rooftop to rooftop to get to a certain destination? How does the player break into a bank? How does the player frame someone for a crime?
If these are actual situations from missions.... then WOW!!!
In Thief 2, we're trying to design each mission so that regardless of the difficulty level chosen, the player will still have to accomplish every task, though, obviously, someone playing at the "Expert" difficulty level will have the most challenging experience.
This sets off warning lights for me.... I'm sure they know what their doing... but as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it...
Most of your opponents will be human, and they'll have the same weapons and tactics as the enemies in the first game, meaning they'll shoot arrows, lob spells and run up and hack you with their swords. Of course, the robots are an entirely different story.
Robots? Oh my....

That's quite a bit of new insight. I'm sure that T2 will be nothing short of fabulous. Now lets see if I can dig up any other info from my pals at LGS....



   Interview with Emil Pagliarulo on Adrenaline Vault - 05:00pm EST - James
Emil Pagliarulo used to be a reviewer for Adrenaline Vault. Now he's working for Looking Glass, helping develop Thief 2, and his old pals seem to have caught up with him for a "friendly" chat. He sings well under pressure, and his confessions are revealed at Emerging From the Shadows: Thief 2 Developer Interview. Much of the content may be familiar to our loyal taffers, but if you pay close attention, it's interesting to see various things that were once forum topics appearing as design guidelines.



    Correspondence of Thieves, Chapter 18 is Here - 11:50am EST - Nightfall
The plot thickens in Correspondence of Thieves, as we finally meet the mysterious spy James face-to-face. He has some shocking revelations to tell about the nature of The Lodge and it's dark mistress, The Lady. COT Chapter 18 is now online!

Correspondence of Thieves is a Thief Novel in Development, written by and starring some of the Thief Online Community's most famous taffers, Master Nightfall, Lytha, Jyre, Ghost, and James. It has received high praise from both Thief fans, and non-fans alike! If you haven't read it yet, don't let yourself miss out!



    New Dromed Guide: Giving Custom Artwork the Right Pallet - 11:20am EST - Nightfall
TH€_THI€F, a shady character from downtown, passed on a small booklet containing some valuable information related to Dromed. It seems that he has mastered the key to getting custom artwork to look right, rather then have what is known as a "trashed pallet", and decided to share his wisdom with his fellow taffers. This booklet is readily available in the Guides section of The Editor's Guild.



    A Pair of New Thief Fansites - 11:10am EST - Nightfall
I am pleased to announce the discovery of two new Thief outposts in The City. The owners of these outposts came to me and requested that I make them known to the general community so here I am doing so.

The first, a place you can call Sarah's Thief Site, is a small site that hosts a few item lists, enemy descriptions, a plot summary, and so on.

The second, hidden away inside a condominium, is The School Of Thievery , another small but growing site, that at the moment plans to hold hints & tips, as well as fanworks.

Naturally, links to these places have been given permanent residence in The Circle's Links Page.



    "The Library" - New Thief Mission From Kfgecko Gets 1.5 Silver Hammers! - 1:15am EST - Nightfall
The word on the streets is that the independent fence known as Kung Fu Gecko has released one hell of a mission to the Thief community, called "The Library". Due to a situation quite beyond my control, (this is basically not a good time for me... eirk...) The Circle has been slow to make its move to support this mission. However better late then never, here is UA, the TEG mission analysis specialist, with the info on this gem of a mission:
Kung Fu Gecko brings us this gem of a level, shattering many preconceived notions about the quality of user made levels. Running at a near par with many actual thief missions, The Library has something for almost everyone. Grab your little tCoSaS library card and check this level out, and we promise no fines for late returns...in fact, keep it.

- Full Review

Thanks, UA, and lets have a round of applauds for Kung Fu Gecko! Truly a Dromed Master!





    Friday - 07.23.1999
    TEG Supports "Coming of the Trickster" - Fan-made Thief Campaign - 4:50am EST - Nightfall
The makers of the Thief campaign http://thief.questgate.net"Coming of the Trickster" were good enough to support TEG's 'projects' section, so now TEG can official support them! Here's a report on what's up with the team working on it:
'Coming of the Trickster' is a fan-made campaign set in the Thief Universe. With a totally new story set a year before the main game, and featuring Garrett as the main character, you have to sneak your way through 6 taxing missions. The campaign will include full mission briefings, and a conclusion cutscene, new music and sounds, and new textures.

This campaign is being constructed by the following members of the TEG forum: ZeR0 (Story + Missions), §hadow (Missions), Muzman (Music and Sound), Junk (Art) and Trimfect (Movies), plus a top secret team member (our secret weapon!), We still have some positions available, waiting to be filled. Help us make this campaign be as big and as high quality as possible!

There is also a public forum on The Maw of Chaos (http://thief.questgate.net) for you to contribute to the project.

If you feel you can contribute to the team, contact me. We require one more mission designer (please send a SMALL example to me) and extra help with the other things.

Tane "ZeR0" Piper
The Maw of Chaos - http://thief.questgate.net
ICQ: 25958771

A permanent "advertisement" for this campaign has been placed on the TEG projects page. This "ad" shall be updated every so often to reflect their progress. If you want the latest up-to-date info on them, however, you should visit their site!





    Wednesday - 07.21.1999
    Lost in the Shuffle? - 5:11pm EST - Nightfall
Greetings, guests. It seems that I had much less with which to update The Circle than I had thought. However it is all too possible that, in the shuffle, I may have missed something. I did, after all, have over 200 letters in my inbox! So if you emailed me concerning something, and have not heard back, let me know. Thanks!



    "The Docks," or "All Aboard!" - The New Silver Hammer Mission by Gonchong! - 5:11pm EST - Nightfall
Thieves interested in something new will be happy to check out the latest offering from the taffer Gonchong. He has a new mission to offer, his first, and according tCoSaS agent CEC UA, it's a very good one! The mission is called "The Docks," or "All Aboard!", and deals with plot to re-steal an amulet. Here is UA with the synopsis:
All Aboard! is a truly unique Thief experience, With well done design, great use of sound. A definitely enjoyable trip to a seaside dock, and a great excuse to waste some bandwidth downloading it.
UA proceeded to give this mission one silver hammer! A valuable prize indeed! You can read his full report here. If you are interested, the mission details can be picked up in the missions bulletin board in the Thief Editors Guild.



    Thief 2 Interview with Steve Pearsall, Project Director, at GA Source - 3:50pm EST - Nightfall
Either the date of publication is wrong, or we were terribly late in reporting this! The journalism guild known as GA-Source has done an interview with Steve Pearsall regarding Thief 2. Although we gain little new knowledge of Thief 2 from this, it is a very good summary of what we do already know. There is also a very nice before & after screenshot here, displaying an area of the Lost City in Thief 1, and the same place using the enchanted Thief 2 engine. Looks good! I urge you all to go read it.



    "Paitnings, Keys, & Statues", a Demo Mission by Wrichards - 3:50pm EST - Nightfall
The notorious fence Wrichards (author of "ESCAPE: The Bear Pits" and "Tower of Illusion") has offered an invitation for any and all thieves, builders, and fences to come and visit his gallery of Paintings, Keys, and Statues. This collection of halls displays a reproduction of each known paintings, key type, and a small selection of statues, along with the respective number of each.



    Spiral Staircase Multibrush by MacBeth - 3:30pm EST - Nightfall
Sitting on top of the massive stack of packages that had accumulated in my absence, was a medium sized and very heavy package from one 'Macbeth'. Upon opening the package, a spiral staircase immediately unfolded! I managed to get the staircase back into the package and placed it in the tools area of the Editors Guild for all to take and use.



    Reports Concerning my Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated - 3:20pm EST - Nightfall
I'm sure there were many rumors floating about the streets of The City regarding Master Nightfall's strange disappearance. I'll venture as far as to say that all of these rumors are false. I simply went on an unexpected and involuntary vacation out of town. I am however, back and totally recovered, maybe even a little better! I now have a great deal of work to catch up on, so I shall bit you all good day.



    The next chapter of COT is here - 2:00pm EST - Jyre
Master Nightfall, having finally reached the lodge, decides to elude the Hammerites and investigate the decrepit structure for himself.

Meanwhile Lytha is recovering from her ordeal in Cragscleft.

Find it all in Chapter 17 of COT