Robbing the Cradle - TTLG Forums

GRRRR on 3/6/2004 at 16:08

Finally played it too :D

Was spooky, didnt manage to scare the living psycho crap outta me like the silent hill games, but sure was a thight moody experience. The patients were a freaky sight (although imho they could have used a wee bit more head-twitching...like those guys in "Jakobs Ladder" :ebil: ). Actually i felt more uncomfortable at the start of the mission, when there was just the empty asylum - coz i didnt know what to expect after reading all the posts regarding the cradle ;) . Mostly crouched through the level and gave every patient my special "eat 2 flashbombs after each backstab" recipe. I was a tiny-weenie itsy-bitsy weee dissapointed by the "Past" of the asylum. Expected a whole different ambiente - like new tapestry, cozy lights, lots of people - ya know..."nice past - evil present".

Well done guys! :thumb: :thumb:

Wynne on 3/6/2004 at 16:55

Quote Posted by Brem_X_Jones

Ditto, except I was even stupider and did it deliberately. Randy had idly mentioned a Haunted House level in an e-mail to me a while back, with reference to some chat about fear. Since I knew it was going to be good, I stopped playing mid-afternoon and waited until nightfall to properly approach the Cradle.

And played it on a wall projector.

Haha, man, that's awesome! :cheeky: Yeah, when I heard the history of the place, and remembered the comments here, I knew I had to play it in the dark. If only for the fun of being nervous enough to have to turn a light on. But a wall projector... and geez, I don't know how you kept silent this long! It must've been driving you crazy to have played it and not been able to talk about all the emotions it stirred up.

Quote Posted by null

I could have gone on and on and on, with unlimited time and resources. ;)

*eyes bug out* Okay, that does it, Jordy. (Apologies in advance for the nickname.) We're holding a fundraiser for you! :thumb:

And thank you for the elaboration on the fire... I thought since readables still remained downstairs that the fire must have been mainly in the staff tower. It seemed to make more sense, too... I didn't think the inmates would necessarily want to kill themselves, but the staff who tortured them? Hell yeah. Classic.

Make sure you come here and tell us each time you do a level someplace, okay? I think I speak for everyone when I say we will scramble to play it!

fett on 3/6/2004 at 18:57

Yeah - scariest thing I've every experienced on a PC (except maybe that time I found a Christina Agulara song in my 'recommened' Kazaa folder...).

Hats off to Jordan! Excellent job - as much as I enjoyed it, I've never wanted to finish a mission and get out so badly.

Michael Psellus on 3/6/2004 at 19:26

Wow. Great mission null.

Where the gems on the eyes a referance to Red Dragon?

I just scremed for the first time in my gaming carrer.

Gabriel on 3/6/2004 at 19:37

Null,

I just emerged from a mission that I believe achieves the daunting task of out-Cathedralling Randy's original Thief masterpiece -- long considered by many of us to be the best overall mission of the first two games. Thanks for the great experience. This mission alone justified my purchase of Thief 3. You gave me something not just moody but new. I greatly appreciate that.

One other thing:

Quote Posted by null

I had a great deal of creative control, but there were significant contributions made by the following people:

Randy Smith - Godfather of Fear in Thief. He collaborated with me on the mission's entire foundation.

Tim Perry - Worked very late on the twitch-effect I requested.

I've been dying to know since I first saw the Puppets: Was the twitch effect of their movements inspired by the movie The Ring?

I can't remember whether it was the original (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178868/) Japanese version of the film, or the (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/) American remake, or both... but I'm positive that same effect was used delightfully well in one or both of them. I saw the two versions close together so I can't remember which had which effect(s).

Gwydeon on 3/6/2004 at 20:37

I have seen that twitch effect in a few moive. Gota love the lights reacting to a nearby active puppet. Saved me from one who was playing possom ;)

[SPOILER]Anyhow.. that... bloody... door. Null, you are a great game designer, but your soooo getting my psycologist bills! :sweat:

Hackles went up when the girl spoke the first time...

I realy didn't want to put that fuze in...

The puppet in Cell. 7 got me. I knocked him out knowing he was going to be a problem and stepped into the room... then just as I get close enough to grab the item on the table (still have no idea what it was) and the SOB jumps up in my face. I don't even remeber what I hit him with, sorta paniced and was happy he went down again :eek:

I have to say this mission is VERY cool and took me back to the creepy Theif1/2 games when if a room mate opend my door they had to duck. This is what its supposed to be about.

The only problem I had is after the first time I had to kill a puppet the suspence was lost on me :( I then knew I could kill them and they went from creepy nerve wracking to ... zombie-guard.

At which point I blasted the lot to save my self time. Not to say I didn't still run into moments of creepyness from then on (like the viktrola) but this always happens.:[/SPOILER]

Anyone play Fatal Frame? Great game for night one and the first half or so of night two. From that point on the ghosts got too agresive so we stoped playing. Does it get creepy again? Meh.

Anyhow I loved this level and its begining had me right back in that theif mood, like none of the other levels had. I tip my hat Null ;)

The Rogue Wolf on 3/6/2004 at 22:21

Quote Posted by null

[SPOILER]The burnt material in her cell was just the beginning. She went on to set fire to the Staff tower (urged by the charismatic maniac King No-One -- No.1 -- get it?), and sat down to watch. Hence the chair, and the reason why there's nothing left of the Staff to animate except memories. The entire Cradle didn't burn down. Just the authority, and the nursery tower. Anything elevated (and thus made of lighter material) was doomed.[/SPOILER]

...that's just twisted. :weird: I like it! It also explains
[spoiler]the greenish smoke and the sound of flames at the base of the Staff Tower... the Cradle probably remembers the fear and death very vividly there.[/spoiler]
That leaves just one loose thread....
[spoiler]What happened to the inmates after the fire? Were they killed by smoke inhalation or the like... or worse, were they sealed in by the City authorities? The doors are all barricaded from the INSIDE, except for the basement hatch.
Ugh, there's the most disturbing thought of all... the still-living patients wandering the halls pathetically, succumbing to starvation... then brought back to 'life' by the Cradle itself. Deliciously sick. :cheeky: [/spoiler]
Thanks for the response, Null. The Cradle will live on in the backs of our minds for a long, long time. Whether we want it to or not. :sweat:

Buho on 3/6/2004 at 22:33

Why in the world are you people who haven't even gotten to this level reading this far? And those who haven't finished the level, shame on you for reading more than the first page! There are way too many spoilers in this thread not blue'd out. A lot of what makes this level scarry is the unknown. Knowing the exact patrol routes, as someone asked, will just kill the mood.

Quote Posted by Nupraptor

Has anyone tried ghosting (no pun intended) the Cradle on Expert? I've run into a snag: I need to get [spoiler]the golden teeth from the Morgue. But I can't because, as soon as I sneak in, the puppet on the floor stands up and sees me. I can't think of a way to sneak past it without killing it.[/spoiler]Does anyone know if Holy Water kills count as kills at the end of a mission, or if they count as damage you've done?

Yes. I didn't ghost it conciously, though. I ghosted it (attempted ghost, I got caught plenty times but ran instead of fought) because I was so freaking scared of those things. Especially of the dark things. I thought if they even LOOKED at me, I'd be kicked into the present. I was so freaked out, I couldn't even experiment on them, to see what weapons would work on them.

It's possible to ghost it. The puppet on the floor... there are two ways into the morgue, and I think if you take the elevator route, it's far enough away it doesn't wake. At least, for me, it never woke.

MachDelta on 3/6/2004 at 23:04

Yeah, nailing that puppet on the floor counts as a kill. I tried to sneak past him, but after the 6th time he jumped up and bit me, I just said "F*ck you, jerk" and hurled some holy water at him. Got a stealth kill for that one :)

null on 3/6/2004 at 23:15

Quote:

I've been dying to know since I first saw the Puppets: Was the twitch effect of their movements inspired by the movie The Ring?

As with the creators of the Silent Hill series, one of the films that has proven the most influential over my career is Jacob's Ladder. It remains one of the smartest horror films of all time, and is among my favorites. That was the inspiration for the twitch / flicker effect.

The final result has a slightly less cinema-based look, but still served to make the patients appear unearthly, out-of-sync, which was the idea. However, Ringu and its American counterpart are also among my favorites. Very slick, clever use of sound and the incomprehensible.