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    Saturday - 09.25.1999
    Thief Gold Information at Gone Gold - 12:05am EST - Dan
Gone Gold has a heap of new info on Thief Gold, the most interesting of which is the descriptions of the major changes in the original missions:
All of the levels in the original game have had a beautification pass run through -- torches, textures, room brushes, better EAX support, fixes for mildly annoying problems etc.

In the original Thief spec, each talisman was supposed to be in its own mission. In Thief Gold, we have restored the two talisman missions that were cut from the original Thief game, and have given each talisman its own mission as originally intended (Mages' Tower & Song of the Caverns).

Also, we had intended to create some direct competition for the talisman for Garrett in the form of the Mages; there are 4 kinds of Mages, just as there are 4 types of talismans. The Mages only have the Earth Talisman now and so the air, water, and fire mages want to get their talisman back from where the keepers hid them. So they are also searching for them, in direct competition with Garrett. We have added mages to Lost City, who are searching for the Fire Talisman there.

Mission numbers refer to the original Thief numbers:

Mission 4 - Catacombs: Cavern system simplified, textures in the catacombs themselves given more variety, insertion of a new monster type. Player can now get more fire arrows if they run out before they discover that they are necessary to light all of the torches in a puzzle room.

Mission 6 - The Sword - new terrain added, modified objectives on expert difficulty level.

Mission 7 - The Ruined Cathedral: A new monster type inserted to prevent the player from ever running out of fire arrows; keeper map updated to reflect the new mission structure.

Mission 9 - Lost City: Any and all references to the Water Talisman removed (placed back in original spot in new mission that was cut from the original game). Added a tunnel to get back from the bridge for people who make the Crazed Jump. Redistribute loot, books, resources. Removed craymen and replaced with Mages. Many books changed to reflect the change.

Mission 10 - Undercover: Any and all references to Earth Talisman is removed (placed back in new mission that was cut from the original game).

All those changes sound very good! I have a little thing against games where you have to use four missions to collect four artifacts, but that's just me. EvilSpirit also made some arcane comment about to a change in the zombies, which he refused to elaborate on. Well lah-dee-da!





    Wednesday - 09.22.1999
    Temple - a Thief-Based Cinematic by Master Nightfall - 6:10pm EST - Dan
It's not often that I get to showcase my own work here, which makes this seem slightly out of place to me for some reason... :) As I taught myself Adobe Premier, I made a small little demo-movie for myself, which, when complete, seemed actually worthy to show off, so I did. I posted up a link in the TEG forum, and since feedback was very positive, I decided to post up a link here as well.

Temple.zip
This avi is 6 megs zipped, and features some architecture done by the coordinator of TEG's level review staff, CEC UA. I hope you all enjoy it... :)



    Special "Making of Thief 2" Video to be Included with Thief Gold - 5:40pm EST - Dan
Want another reason to buy Thief Gold? I just heard from a private contact that Thief Gold will feature a sneek peek & 'making of' documenatry on Thief 2: The Metal Age. This movie file will be ten minutes long, and not avaliable for download anywhere (legally).



    Lord Edmund Entertains! Raises the Bar! 4 Silver Hammers! - 5:30pm EST - Nightfall
Kung Fu Gecko could scarecly contain his excitement as he delivered his review of Lord Edmund Entertains! to me. Between pants, I managed to hear him utter "I hope I wasn't too excited when I wrote this!" Taking heed, I decided to let him think it over, and discuss with his fellow reviewes before making public his opinion. Well, he stands by it, and this is it:
Banshee has produced a winner. Lord Edmund Entertains is a very clean, well written, well designed level with an excellent story, excellent voice acting, fun puzzles, immersion, nice architecture, and ultimately great gameplay. Very highly recommended.
He awarded this mission four, yes Four silver hammers! This may be a little rash, but I can't seem to find any basis to disagree with him. The mission is indeed on-par with missions like Lord Bafford and Assassins - maybe not as big or elaborate, but definetly every bit as fun.





    Tuesday - 09.21.1999
    Lord Edmund Entertains! - Amazing New Mission From Banshee! - 1:10pm EST - Dan
Banshee is the first person to release a fan-made Thief mission to the public, and as such, is known mainly for releasing the worst mission you can download from TEG. It was, in fact, a sloppily thrown together group of rooms with a few AIs scattered about. Well, Banshee is back, and the it's time for the last to be first.

His new mission, Lord Edmund Entertains!, is possibly the best mission released yet. (not everyone agrees, but then again, do they ever?) Don't just take our word for it, download it! Here's the description:

"Dear Lady Bernhard.

The tenth annual meeting of our small society is at hand, and as usual, I will be acting as the host. I have fully stocked the pantry and prepared for your arrival to the best of my ability. I will be expecting you and Duke Creygan no later than noon on the tenth. We will celebrate with a feast and good wine before descending to my vault. Remember to keep your visit secret even from your closest friends. We do not want any uninvited guests. I remain faithfully yours,

Lord Edmund."

I honestly delayed releasing this mission for so long since I was having too much fun playing it. Warning: playing this mission may result in severally raised standards.... :)



    Prisoner's Revenge - New Fan Mission from Jan "Vitus" Vitek - 12:55pm EST - Dan
Jan "Vitus" Vitek, author of "The Assassination," has announced his (her?) second mission, called Prisoner's Revenge. Here's the info:
You`ve been caught by city guards and placed into the city prison. But Keepers are still taking care of you and the will not let you down.
As usual, this mission is available in TEG.



    Oblivion, by Wrichards, has been released: Free Beta - 12:50pm EST - Dan
We waited to see if Wrichards would slap a 1.0 on his mission before releasing it, but he suggested that it won't happen any time soon, and to go ahead and release version 0.9. Here's the description of the mission:
While looting the lost temple of Seth, you came across an ancient text describing a holy sword of the undead burried within a sacred tomb. The tomb was magicaly sealed with a sceptor the Hammerites consider holy. The text says Oblivion is where the sceptor is kept. Having survived the Tower of Illusion and made it through the gateway, you now find yourself at the heart of the Hammerite Order.

Find your way in. Learn the secrets of Oblivion. If it exists, gather loot and the Sceptor then escape back through the gateway...

As a beta, we are warned that there are some bugs in this mission - bugs Wrichards could not get rid of. It should be fun, in spire of that. Enjoy!



    Update of The Tricker's Return - Fan-Mission by Sneaky Shadow - 12:30pm EST - Dan
The fan-mission The Tricker's Return has been updated to version 1.2. Here's what he had to report about the changes:
Hope it's better then the original.
I know that's not very descriptive, but hey, that's all I was told! :)





    Monday - 09.20.1999
    Orpheus - Custom Thief Skin Collection - 11:50am EST - Nightfall
We have gained a new connection in the Thief editing depertment. A site has opened, which contains a few custom Thief skins, free for download and use. A link to this site has been added to the TEG Media page.



    Review of The Living City - Written by GreyHawk - 11:40am EST - Nightfall
We now have a brief review of the mission "The Living City," by Ivar Holand. Greyhawk managed to play through most of this .5 bronze hammer mission, and had this to report:
Basically, this level would have made a better demo for the power station than it does as a level. If you do decide to download this level after all this, I can only offer one piece of advice - Beware the hunchbacked mice...
The full review is available here. I think that many of you should take heed - if your first mission is not very good, rather then release it, it may be a good idea to just use it as a learning experience, share it with your more advanced peers to gain advice, and move onto your next mission - or even rip out the parts you do like and submit them as a demo mission.





    Sunday - 09.19.1999
    Review of Garrett's Revenge - Written by CEC UA - 2:20am EST - Nightfall
UA has finally finished his review of Garrett's Revenge. It seems the thing is a mixed bag, take a look:
Garrets revenge is a perfect chance to see how changing objectives work and a good story. It tends to get frazzling though as most of the time you are searching for this and that. If you are already on your last nerve, please, skip this one... else your mouse may indeed become a bat as you throw it through the nearest window.
In all, we gave the mission five bronze, which is no dishoner at all. The full review can be read here, and the mission can be downloaded here.