Keen Thief fans will no doubt be aware that the 1st Cosas mission was released recently to great excitement. To make people aware that, once Cosas is released and played, we still have not one major fan campaign (Thief2x) but two (The Hammerite Imperium) to look forward to, I am just writing to inform the community that the latter is still looking out for major level designing talent and concept artists who have a good knowledge of the possibilities that Dromed is capable of and a desire to push them still further with ground-breaking new ideas.
As the Hammerite Imperium will be one of the most ambitious projects yet, we are particularly on the lookout for technical innovators who can push those boundaries and make even our more outlandish ideas manifested in the game. This is why the exceptional quality of such activities as Komag’s fan mission contests has duly attracted our attention. We want to see what you can do to take Thief on to better and better standards. Our aim is nothing less than to attract the attention of Ion Storm for an officially recognised prequel.
Besides recent progress made on the plot and mission-by-mission structure, the campaign already boasts a full new range of models from the Hammer, Precursor and Metal Orders to name but a few, a storyline drawing from not only a creation myth but thousands of years of Hammerite history, new sounds and creatures (including birds and fish) and much much more besides the impressive website produced by our leader, Alexius – www.hammerempire.cjb.net
It also deals with the origins of such characters as Constantine and Victoria, staying true to the spirit of the original Thief game and taking the whole Thief universe into a new dimension. The theme of Imperium is clearly more focused on the Hammerite religion and chronicles its downfall. The scope is therefore very wide and brings in a more expansive sort of ‘Lord of the Rings’ setting with a nod towards the Arthurian inspiration of the original game. Its hero travels through major points in a disastrous period of history for the empire before the birth of Garrett. This project is presently written for up to a total of 10 missions with all central concepts being worked through for the main story arc, and looks set to cleverly assimilate much of Hammerite lore in a seamless fashion, whilst expanding greatly on the existing ideas. This is not to say, however, that your individual contribution will not be welcomed as we need very talented craftsmen to work within some guidelines on the mission design. These missions do permit a certain amount of individual flair mainly due to the densely populated world that is being created.
We are hoping to make the gameplay of the Hammerite Imperium a little different as well, allowing the player to make choices and permit a bit more interactivity. This may make the player to do a bit more thinking than usual instead of simple exploration. Ideally, then, we are looking for a team of people to work on single fan missions with people specialising in architecture, special effects and the general look and feel of the mission. This is because the main character will be moving around a lot in the Thief world and each location will be quite different than the next. So come on, Thief community, let’s show Ion Storm what we’re made of!
Above all, this is a project made by fans for fans and one of the most valuable qualities you can have is a passion for Thief. All those interested in the challenge should contact either Alexius at doctor_vit@hotmail.com or myself, Ibsen’s Ghost (aka the voice of Skarz in Cosas), at Ibsen3@msn.com .
High hopes indeed. Good luck, guys! I know from experience that you'll need it. :)
