The Watcher on 16/11/2008 at 13:35
From (
http://ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1789789#post1789789) this post in the (
http://ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123977) Deceptive Perception 2 thread:
Quote Posted by Sliptip
. . .why is it we do we do this thing? (dromed)
This got me wondering, why
do you wrangle the awkward and often frustrating beast that is Dromed? What motivates you, why do you use Dromed, and what keeps you using it after all these years? What drives you to weather the idiosyncrasies of such a cantankerous engine to produce missions?
I know there are obvious answers to this, but I wonder if there are more subtle, unusual, or deeper reasons people may have...
Digital Nightfall on 16/11/2008 at 14:46
... because I must.
R Soul on 16/11/2008 at 15:10
It might be due to respect for the game and that it's fairly easy to make things that look good. Not being able to put too much detail into a scene, object or texture means that we don't necessarily get overwhelmed by expectations. I imagine making custom objects/textures for newer games is considerably harder since they need lots of detail merely to look acceptable.
Secondly, Thief's focus on story/plot and freedom of movement encourages a similar strategy from Dromeders, and because we don't have to worry about high-resolution textures and objects with thousands of polys, it's easier to realise our ideas.
Ricebug on 16/11/2008 at 15:42
I've edited DooM, Quake I, II, & III, DooM III, and Boulderdash! Thief is the only game I find satisfying enough to work out whatever creative desire lying around at the time.
Thief has attitude. It's gritty. It requires thinking, not just a steady crosshair and lotsa ammo. It doesn't make my subwoofer roar all night long as do other games.
LarryG on 16/11/2008 at 17:25
Two thoughts:
1) The limits of the tool bring out creative energies to overcome them.
2) The very lack of perfect realism allows the players to enter a true alternative universe where the rules are sufficiently different from our own universe to make it interesting and sufficiently familiar to allow suspension of disbelief.
3) In a lot of regards T2 and DromEd2 are perfectly flawed.
Zontik on 17/11/2008 at 06:39
Because I love to fool people. To give them puzzles. To make them solve that puzzles. To give them clues and to look how they're going the wrong way. To give them another clues and to look how their brains boil. It's too problematic in real life. DromEd gives me the opportunity.
And the other reason: DromEd is hardly limited, true, but it gives me freedom to create. Definitely, that's it: FREEDOM (limited edition).
Melan on 17/11/2008 at 08:38
Quote Posted by Digital Nightfall
... because I
must.
Not a bad point. I got back to playing Thief FMs early 2007 after a few years of absence, and while on a study tour to Katowice, I was suddenly struck by the irresistible urge to make a FM of my own. I was daydreaming in my apartment, and doodling a map about how I'd build a Thief level if I was dromeding, and one thing lead to another.
Dromed is also a pretty good "crafts" type creative hobby; building architecture in 3d with music on the headphones and a cup of tea is a very relaxing way to pass a quiet saturday afternoon. And it coincides with my love for architecture and city planning, the chaotic growth of naturally developed cities (like in the Mediterranean, but also the Saxon towns of Transylvania). Thief goes very well with Christopher Alexander's
Pattern Language, whose philosophy I am mostly subscribing to (a very inspiring read for dromeders, I can definitely recommend it).
Finally, "perfectly flawed" is a good point - LarryG hit on an interesting point. Dromed has strong limits you must accept or work around; but maybe these constraints and quirks add to the magic of a generally pretty friendly editing interface. I certainly like it.
ghost_in_the_shell on 17/11/2008 at 11:04
1) Because it's such a chellange - to create a mission with that editor.
2) Because I'm not experienced editor nor 3D model designer, and I feel comfortable in the Thief's 10-years old graphics quality I think...
3) ...and my old PC can't handle much more anyway :p
4) Because Thief1 and Thief2 are on my short list of best games ever.
finally...
5) Because resistance is futile :joke:
Sliptip on 17/11/2008 at 13:57
I think for me it's that even after 10 years I'm blown away by what you can still manage to do with it.
It seems every week (thanks to the more seasoned Dromeders). I find new things to make (got my first double-axeled model working last week!).
Personally I think this engine still has some life left it!