Brodo Swaggins on 15/1/2025 at 17:26
Hi all - now that it's been 6+ months since print publication, I wanted to share this feature I wrote for Retro Gamer Magazine last summer. It's a big retrospective on the Thief series, Looking Glass, and immersive sims overall. I got to interview a bunch of the original devs, including:
- Terri & Eric Brosius (writing, level design, sound design, voice of Viktoria)
- Stephen Russell (Garrett himself)
- Randy Smith (project director for TDS)
- Dan Thron (art & cutscene direction, writing, voiced many characters)
- Emil Pagliarulo (level design for T2, now design lead at Bethesda)
- Jonas Eneroth (executive producer of both Thief and Hitman)
And several fans-turned-pro designers carrying the LGS torch, including:
- Dana Nightingale (campaign lead at Arkane, aka Digital Nightfall on TTLG, founding member of ttlg community & Thief-thecircle.com)
- Romain Barrilliot (level design at Arkane, aka skacky on TTLG)
- Dillon Rogers (project lead on Gloomwood)
Thief has meant the world to me over the years - it opened my eyes to the power of interactive storytelling & game design at a young age. (I've been lurking on TTLG since...2001 probably?). Was thrilled to write this piece and talk with these amazing designers. And while I'm not a super active member here, I'm very glad to be connected to you all, and grateful to everyone making incredible FMs ongoing - and hope you enjoy reading this piece.
(https://bit.ly/thieflegacy) RETRO GAMER FEATURE: THIEF'S ENDURING LEGACYdemagogue on 16/1/2025 at 04:37
This is great! Thanks for sharing.
Dr.Sahnebacke on 16/1/2025 at 06:05
Great. I must translate it and read it the next days.
Gesendet von meinem moto g84 5G mit Tapatalk
Renault on 16/1/2025 at 17:01
Great article, very well done. I would have liked to see Feuillade and/or skacky get credit for TBP in the sidebar story though.
Also, hadn't heard anything about the Randy Smith/Daniel Thron stealth game in the works, anything more you can share on that?
Brodo Swaggins on 17/1/2025 at 14:23
Quote Posted by Renault
Great article, very well done. I would have liked to see Feuillade and/or skacky get credit for TBP in the sidebar story though.
Also, hadn't heard anything about the Randy Smith/Daniel Thron stealth game in the works, anything more you can share on that?
Glad you liked it! And yes, I had a deeper dive for the TBP sidebar in my initial draft - I assume my editor cut it down for word count, alas. However, I also wrote (
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-black-parade-is-a-thief-mod-from-a-team-including-a-dev-at-arkane-and-an-original-thief-designer)
this feature for RockPaperShotgun which is ALL about the Black Parade and features skacky (and several author FM authors) talking about the work.
As for Randy and Thron's new game, they couldn't tell me much on the record. But if you check out Randy's profile on bluesky, he's got a pinned post there that sheds a bit more light. He calls it a " stealth tactics game that's also a roguelike deckbuilder" and posted a piece of Thief-y concept art.
<Username> on 18/1/2025 at 16:14
I will share this article when the next acquaintance of mine asks me why I still play this 25-year old game. :D
CradleCity on 19/1/2025 at 15:34
These are solid articles, Brodo, congratulations, and it's great that you had a good time interviewing all the people you named! Saved for posterity
