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    Tuesday - 09.14.1999
    Hurricane Floyd - Master Nightfall, Signing Off. - 5:35pm EST - Dan
At about 6:00pm EST, Hurricane Floyd, the largest hurricane since the 1900s, will make landfall on the central Florida area, which is just where I happen to live, about 20 miles from the coast of Cape Canaveral.

Since all hell will be basically breaking loose while the storm is raging, I expect the power and phones to be very much dead, and may not be back up for some time after that. Worse case scenario, I may be gone for up to a week, and the best case scenario is that I won't be gone at all. At any rate, wish me luck, and I'll see you after the storm... :)



    Thief Gold Official Press Release - 5:25pm EST - Dan
We've gotten our hands on the Official Thief Gold Press Release, released yesterday, via Blues News. So much for the surprise, it gives away the nature of all three of the new missions:
Eidos Interactive and Looking Glass Studios today announced details about Thief Gold, which is slated for release next month. The Gold version of last year's critically acclaimed first person "stealth" action/adventure game features three all new missions in addition to updated versions of the twelve previous missions, which have undergone additional tuning and playbalancing. The new levels continue the story of Garrett, a cynical, world-weary master thief in an ancient city. The three new levels include:

Thieves Guild
In this level, Garrett has heard that the Downwind thieves guild has pulled off a daring heist, stealing Lord Randall's Sapphire Vase However, they are now squabbling among themselves about how to share the loot. Garrett decides to go in and steal it himself: because of their internal arguments, they won't blame him. He intends to break in through a gambling den they operate, the Overlord's Fancy.

Mage's Guild
In the ruined city of Thief: The Dark Project, the Keeper Chapel revealed that the Mage's Tower was the hiding place for the Talisman of Air. Garrett breaks into the Mages' Tower to steal the Air Talisman. The Talisman is being held in the central Tower of the Mages' Towers, secured by spells. To free the Talisman, one master mage from each of the towers has to stand on a particular pedestal and touch his ring to a symbol. Garrett must find his way to the Central Library, unlock its doors with items found in the Towers, then unlock the door to the Talisman Room to get the Talisman.

Songs of the Caverns
This level chronicles Garrett's search for the Talisman of Water, which has been hidden in an underground cavern deep below the city. However he soon learns that someone else has already stolen the Talisman and his only clues as to who has beaten him to it are the ravings of a lunatic hermit.

Although 'Songs of the Caverns' may sound like another 'monster mission,' we've been told that all three of the new missions will indeed be 'human missions'.

Eidos seems to have a Thief Gold website up, but it doesn't seem to work too well....



    The Alarus Extention - A New "Joke" Mission by Gonchong - 4:40pm EST - Nightfall
"Rumours have abounded for years about the Alarus Extension in the Bonehoard. No one could find a way in... until now." Those are the words that send you off on an adventure into the unknown. Well, sorta. I happened to find this little gag quite amusing, and hope you will too... :)



    Reflections Updated - Demo Mission by Tels - 4:40pm EST - Nightfall
An updated version of Reflections, a demo mission by Tels, has been uploaded. Reflections demonstrates how to simulate a mirror in your Thief missions.



    Review of The Rose of Bantry - Written by KFGecko - 4:20pm EST - Nightfall
The final member of the TEG review staff has finished his assignment: KFGecko has reviewed The Rose of Bantry. You should know the drill by now:
Two words: sadistically difficult. A new fence, Blutch, has brought to the table The Rose of Bantry, a job (mission) that will most likely prove too difficult to enjoy for all but the most skilled of thieves. To enjoy this mission, the thief will have to tell him or herself, "don't do it for the money, do it for the challenge," as I found myself midway through the Rose wondering if Garrett should ever have accepted this contract. This can be a good thing for thief who's played all missions, on all difficulties, on all playing styles, looking for an X-treme challenge; as the Rose caters to this niche group of thieves. What makes it so difficult? The priests and novices can not be blackjacked or gassed, the guards have greater strength, tile floor is everywhere, shadow is sparse, and there are several ambushes for the player to trip off by simply opening an unlocked door. Difficulty aside, The Rose of Bantry is a good mission weighed down by a handful of problems.
Bantry was given 1 silver hammer in the end. Good job, Blutch! The full review can be seen here.



    Review of Sword of Drakul - Written by CEC UA - 2:30pm EST - Nightfall
The reports continue with CEC UA's review of Sword of Drakul. UA had the following thing to say:
Sword of Drakul, a good first attempt into the land of fan missions, seems to be held down by object and loot placement, lighting, or lack thereof, and general mediocrity throughout. A good Story raises this slightly above average, and the thrill of outrunning a zombie still remains as an olympic sport.
This mission received the same score as DarkWalker - four Bronze. The full review can be seen here.



    Review of DarkWalker - Written by GreyHawk - 12:30pm EST - Nightfall
GreyHawk has also reported in with his appraisal of the mission DarkWalker, by Jeremy Justus. An except is as follows:
I think that overall, this level is a good effort by the author and was enjoyable to play. If the mansion wasn't so extremely dark and had a decent story to work from, it would have been a lot more fun and would have been a greater challenge for any thief. I would recommend it for download to anyone looking for a nice, quick robbery, but you should bring your own flashlight!
In conclusion, the mission was given four bronze hammers. As a side note, I'd like to say that I found the architecture and atmosphere of this mission to be quite well done, and can recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good portrayal of a medieval castle.



    Review of The Shadow of Lord Rothchest - Written by Goit - 12:00pm EST - Nightfall
One of our key agents, Goit, has finally finished his report on the mission offered by Anthony Huso: The Shadow of Lord Rothchest Here is a sample of what he had to say about it:
The mansion which forms your environs is intricately constructed with many features such as spiral staircases, multiple entrances/exits and secret passageways that demonstrate level design confidence and make for an enjoyable romp. Unfortunately the design is let down by naive choices of textures. Sometimes these are poorly aligned but more often they are simply inappropriate. Flowerbed textures being used as carpet is a prime example. Whilst one can suspend one's disbelief and still enjoy this mission, the atmosphere is permanently destroyed.
In the end, Goit gave the mission one silver hammer. Congratulations go to Anthony for bringing us an enjoyable mission!





    Sunday - 09.12.1999
    Information - Goit's 2.5 Silver Hammer Mission Gets an Update - 4:50pm EST - Nightfall
We end our day of massive mission releases with an update of Information, Goit's 2.5 Silver Hammer Mission. Goit has fixed a few bugs, large and small, and it should now work properly, no matter what order you do things in.

Today has been quite a day for new mission - three new ones, two updates, and four demos. Yikes!



    The Tels Collection: Three New Demo Missions - 4:50pm EST - Dan
Tels has released four new demo missions, three of which demonstrate some advanced architecture. The Descriptions are as follows:
By Tels:

Default: A small sample default map. You can use this as a base to build other levels. ThiefLoader compatible, Has already a patrol route, a StartinPoint, some light effects (watch the Guard with that Lantern ;) and two objectives as well as a sample map page. "load convict" already used. convict.osm is included so that people without DromEd can play your missions.

Circles: A small sample map showing some things you can do with circles. In the first room it show how you can use multple circles to overcome the limit of 11 sides in one circle. Then there is a room with a "bend" all and finally to circles inside each other, casting interesting shadows.

Bend Around Hell: I always wondered if it would not be possible to create "bend" walls, by using something other then these horrible 10-sides circles. This is just to show you that there is more to DromEd than straight walls and boring right corners. I hope that I can soon generate that stuff with a script, but for now I just copy&pasted that level together from the first wedges. Hope you get some new ideas. Some stuff looks very interestingly like Quake... :)

Reflections: Someone asked about mirrors. Although I could get it completely to work, see for yourself!

Even the best mission developer our there could stand to learn something from these demo mission - that is, unless you thought of this stuff before he did, and are keeping it secret, eh Toni? You can grab the entire package here, or download an individtaul demo in on the Demos and Fun Stuff page.



    Shunned Has Been Released! - A New Mission from Gonchong - 4:10pm EST - Nightfall
Gonchong, the fence who brought us The Docks (or "All Aboard!"), is back, and he has another mission for us to sink out taffer hands into. Yes, Shunned, a mission that has been rather anticipated, has been released. Here's the readme briefing:
I was contacted by a wizened, grey haired gent who asked me to procure a book for him. Not just any book, he said, but a powerful occult tome called the Necronomicon, by one Abdul Alhazred. He says copies are very rare, particulary as the Hammerites reguard it as blasphemous. Rumours are they have a copy in their stronghold of knowledge, Beggingham Keep, and are bent on destroying all others.

Which brings us to an eccentric scholar called Fistral. He reputedly obtained a copy for a high price from a far country, for use in secret experiments. He died along with his wife a while back. No one knows how and locals won't even go near his old place. Recently a party of Hammerities set out to see if they could obtain and destroy the book and raze the house to the ground. They were not heard of again.

Which is where I come in. I just need to go in, get the Book, and come out again. I hope it's that simple...

This mission is truly chaotic, I can tell you that much. The specifics and starting gear for this mission, which Gonchoing calls Shunned, are all prepped and ready for anyone to pick up.



    Saving Private Rye Anne - New Mission from Nirvana Thief - 2:10pm EST - Nightfall
The crafty taffer Adrian May, a.k.a. Nirvana_Thief, has a mission for anyone who deems themselves up to a challenge. Here's the goods:
A local rich man, Bruno, has kidnapped one of the areas X Military heros who recently upset him. He has a history of 'inviting' those who have annoyed him to stay, and you have been contacted to get him out.This is my first try at making a Thief mission. After many problems and infuriating mistakes, its finally ready. It's probably imperfect in many places, but hey, I think its a good first go. If you're bored, you might as well try it.I apologise for the awful name, I hate trying to think things like that up :)
The mission details and starting gear for Saving Private Rye Anne are all ready to be picked up in TEG.



    Garrett's Revenge Has Been Updated to Version 1.1 - 1:00pm EST - Nightfall
Steven Hindley has released an update on his mission, Garrett's Revenge. This is a task which calls you to go to a part of the city that is under strict curfew, to rob several establishments.

The review of Garrett's Revenge is still being written.



    Presenting The Living City - New Mission by Ivar Holand - 11:30am EST - Nightfall
Not much is known about the fence Ivar Holand, nor is much known about his mission, The Living City. What we do know is that he's offering it to anyone who wises to try it, and the specifics can be found right here, at The Circle.



    Presenting Wrichards Realm - Showcasing the Missions of Wrichards. - 11:30am EST - Nightfall
Many of you are familiar with the fence who goes by the name Wrichards. He has had a small establishment open for the past few weeks, and has recently asked for me to spotlight it. It goes by the name Wrichards Realm, and is used to showcase his current and previous missions, such as "Escape from the Bear Pits" and "Oblivion".





    Friday - 09.10.1999
    Thief Gold Demo Has Been Released! Go Get it at GameCenter! - 10:50pm EST - Dan
You read the headline - the Thief Gold Demo is here! It's a portion of one of the first new missions, "Thieves Guild," and come in two sizes, without briefing (big), and with briefing (huge). Go grab it ASAP!



    Poll at Gamespot - Vote for Thief 2! - 10:50pm EST - Dan
Gamespot is doing a poll to see which game showcased at ECTS is getting the most gamers excited. Right now Thief 2 is tired with Black and White (an impressive game as well), and needs to be higher! Go vote!



    Garrett Makes the Top Ten Heros List! - 10:50pm EST - Dan
SHODAN won a place in Gamespot's top ten villains list, and now LGS is honored once again with the inclusion of Garrett in their Top Ten Heros list. Here's a snip:
You wouldn't expect a lot of class from the central figure of a game called Thief. Looking Glass Studios' 3D action game lets you take up the thief's tools of the trade, including a blackjack for knocking your foes unconscious, a bow for knocking them dead if you must, and lockpicks for getting into places you're not meant to be.
The description of Garrett contains many incorrect facts and spoilers, but is nonetheless praise. Thanks for letting us know, Thief_ZeR0!





    Wednesday - 09.08.1999
    Review of The Trickster's Return, Written by Goit - 1:50pm EST - Nightfall
One of our new mission reviewers, Goit, has submitted his appraisal of the mission The Trickster's Return, offered by Sneaky Shadow. Here is a clip from Goit's review:
This is a mission that grasps defeat from the jaws of level design victory. There's loads of great stuff in here: good basic architecture, innovative traps and puzzles, excellent judgment of difficulty - this is a mission that always feels challenging but never so hard as to be pointless.

Yet all this is ruined by some major bugs and some design flaws. If you play this level, you'll find yourself sometimes having to judge whether going to certain places is going to raise the polygon count so high as to crash the game.

In the end, Goit gave the mission 1 silver hammer, in spite of the fact that there are complications that prevent completion of the mission! I suppose the good must have been impressive enough to outweigh the bad. The full review can be read here.



    Review of Information, Written by Kung Fu Gecko - 1:50pm EST - Nightfall
Kung Fu Gecko, one of our new reviewers and well known fence, has submitted his review of the mission Information, which had been offered to us by Goit. Here is a clip from KFGecko's review:
His mission "Information" builds a human/Hammer occupied town where Garrett must steal the very valuable Evening Stone. This Bafford's/Assassins style mission brings a wonderful city architecture, thiefy challenges, an evolving storyline, and a nice surprise. Once in mission, the storyline is clear although the readme prologue clearly suffered from neglect. Very impressive is the architecture of the city itself. Goit has created a living (but mostly sleeping) city of twisting streets, uneven roads, diverse buildings; and even goes so far as providing a clear reason why Garrett can't freely walk the streets.
In conclusion, KFGecko awarded the mission 2.5 silver hammer, placing it as one of the highest missions released thus far. I actually found the time to complete the mission myself, and agree with his evaluation wholeheartedly. Information should be on the top of your must-have list. The full review can be read here.





    Tuesday - 09.07.1999
    Screenshots of Oblivion, The Upcoming Mission From Wrichards - 01:10pm EST - Dan
Wrichards sent out some screenshots of his newest mission, Oblivion, which should be coming out any time now. I was so impressed with what I saw that I decided to show them off to everyone. So here they are:

Oblivion 1 / Oblivion 2 / Oblivion 3

If someone else wants me to advertise pro-mo screens of your mission, just send them over! (please keep it around three or four screens)



    "The Keeper" - A New Fan Story From Keeper Mallinson - 12:10pm EST - Nightfall
Keeper Mallinson, which some of you may know from the forum, has released the first chapter of his Thief story in development. It is called "The Keeper" and tells the story of Garrett's childhood. The tale has been set up for permanent viewing in The Circle's Collection of Short Thief Tales.



    Four New Fan-Missions Have Arrived! - 12:10pm EST - Nightfall
Take heed, taffers, there is much to be done today. I have four new missions to announce, well worth your attention. I shall begin:
  • The Rose of Bantry - by Etienne Aubert (3.5 Meg)
    A rich merchant is currently in business with Hammerits.He owns an old rosary and is trying to get a good deal out of it. Tonight, the merchant will be sleeping at the Hammerit’s temple, leaving the rosary on board of his boat, « the Rose of Bantry ». It’s a good occasion for you, but remember that the merchant have probably left with the key of his quarters. Break into the temple, find the merchant, steal the key and return aboard the ship. The Problem : the guard of the main gate of the temple is locked from inside so find a solution to force him come outside,or find another way.

  • Darkwalker - by Jeremy Justus (825K)
    Small mansion to rob penniless. This mission is set between the Ramirez and Constantine scenes. Garrett has been hired to resteal the Horn of Quintus from a rich nobleman named Lord Mason. Garrett, of course, will be paid a pretty penny for the job. Enjoy!

  • The Sword of Drakul - by Michael Webb (1.1 Meg)
    Unbeknownst to the naive townspeople, the evil Count Vlad, using the ancient Sword of Drakul is slowly building his minion force. Kill Vlad and steal the Sword of Drakul for yourself. This is my first thief level. Full Text Briefing : Garrett, The life of my beloved wife Andrea was obscenely taken from her by this horrible skull faced creature named Vlad. The worst part, she is now the walking dead - an unholy zombie! (more)

  • The Shadow of Lord Rothchest - by Anthony Huso (2.5 Meg)
    It's been three weeks since you sold Constantine's Sword with the understanding that you could always steal it back. The idea was to pay off all your debts with the cash from the sale-which you've already accomplished. The pursuant intent, of course, was to get your weapon back plus interest from whoever was rich enough to buy it in the first place. That was then. (more)
  • Hopefully our review staff will get reviews of these up quickly.





        Monday - 09.06.1999
        Thief Fanfiction Library, a Fan-Site by Will Hindmarch, Has been Updated - 3:50pm EST - Nightfall
    Will Hindmarch has contacted me to inform me that a second book has been added to his small, but growing, Library. The new book is part two of the first book, both written by himself. It's a tale telling the story of Garrett set before the events of The Dark Project.





        Friday - 09.03.1999
        The Assassination, a fan-mission by Jan Vítek - Review! - 7:40pm EST - Dan
    The Assassination is a fan-mission by Jan Vítek, and has finally been reviewed. In this mission, your employer has asked you to assassinate a Hammerite Priest. Our new mission reviewer, GreyHawk, has the following to report on this mission:
    Pros: One nicely hidden door opener, good lighting generally,adequately decorated rooms, nice trees for the front yard. Cons: Lots of HOM and flickering of buildings in some areas, no sound for many doors,locks and even rooms, simplistic building design and layout and impossible to finish!!
    In the end, GreyHawk gave the mission four bronze hammers. The full review can be read here.



        Thief Win95/98 Startup/Shutdown Screen - by San Sanitch - 7:40pm EST - Dan
    Along with the mp3, San also sent in a Thief Win95/98 Startup/Shutdown Screen pack.

    This pack will display the Thief logo at bootup, Garrett's horrified face from the 2nd cutscene as your shut-down, and finally the death skull when your system can be turned off. Included is a readme with info on how to set it up. Thanks, San!



        A Fan-made Thief Mix! - A Thief's Path Mp3 - 7:30pm EST - Dan
    Inspired by my composition, Sneaksie Thief, San Sanitch has created his (her?) own Thief musical mix. Entitled A Thief's Path, this composition is a mix of the intro & several cut-scene scores. I've listened to it a few times, and it works well! Thanks, San!

    This mp3 has been archived at the TTLG Jukebox.



        A Thief Comparison to Other 3D Games - 7:20pm EST - Dan
    A person known as Eep˛ has put up a website which compares the features of several popular 3D games. The main reason I am posting a note about this here, is so that some of you can look over the info he has on Thief, and email his corrections.



        Spotlight on PlanetThief - 7:10pm EST - Nightfall
    I have been asked to relay information to the community regarding one of my fellow Thief outposts. This request is best conveyed in the words of the man who conveyed them:
    Hello, i just wanted to tell you that PlanetThief has gone to the late beta stages and now can handle some imput. So i put it up with all the links that navigate around the site stripped off so people can view the design and offer input without spoiling all the site has to offer. But could you post something up on t-dp.com telling people to check it out and offer some input? Thanks a lot.

    ~Krypton

    So as he requests, please visit his site, and offer input (constructive input).



        What? A Thief 2 Update?! - 6:50pm EST - Nightfall
    At long last my outpost, The Thief 2 Spy Post, has provided us with results.

    It has a document in its archives with information and images concerning The Metal Age. I urge all of you to investigate this first hand!



        TEG Mission Reviewers Selected - Your Peers - 6:40pm EST - Nightfall
    Who better to judge your work then your peer? I'd like to thank everyone who sent in applications to be mission reviewers, and in the end, the three taffers we chose are the ones who had been fences themselves in the past, and still are. The worst judge of someone's efforts is someone who has never put forth a simila effort, so naturally the best judge is someone who understands it well.

    If you're a reviewer, you know who you are, and you've already been given a mission to review. CEC (that stands for Chief Executive Chef, FYI) UA has been named team leader of the review staff, which simply means that he's in charge of making sure each mission gets reviewed, and all four of them aren't reviewing the same mission! Congrats, UA (yes, he's working on a very large and very elaborate mission at the moment), and welcome aboard, team.... :)

    We are currently awaiting reviews of the following missions:

  • Garrett's Revenge - by Steven Hindley
  • The Docks, v1.5 (Major Update) - by Gonchong
  • The Trickster Returns - by Sneaky Shadow
  • Information - by Duval

    Okay, reviewers, lets not keep these people waiting.... :)