Mechstra on 30/6/2004 at 17:28
I seem to have provoked something with my very British use of 'dodgy'. :laff:
And Shalebridge wouldn't be the only thing keeping the residents awake at night - all those thieves running along their rooves rattling the tiles.
herechickychick on 30/6/2004 at 18:35
Yeah and Garrett breaking into people's houses while they are inside. If I were home alone in real life and some guy broke in I would be just as scared as I was at the Cradle!
Inline Image:
http://forum.rscnet.org/images/smilies/faint2.gifBrimstone on 30/6/2004 at 20:40
What is it about that apple? I think I've developed a phobia about rolling fruit ever since that apple started moving around.
I think my most pant moistening moment was when I was watching wax face scrabbling at the floor and not noticing another zombie creeping up behind me, and then having him go crazy with me turning around to run, and only flying headfirst into wax face as he goes mad too. A double whammy of fear, an event that certainly irrigated my trousers fully. Aside from the Haunted Cathedral, The Cradle is certainly my scariest level I have ever played. Imagine if TDS level tools were available, and all the new cradles that would be spawned- the City would end up like Silent Hill or something...did Ion Storm do us a favour? Could the world deal with that amount of fear?
herechickychick on 1/7/2004 at 06:30
It would be Cradle over kill. :tsktsk:
Sky on 3/7/2004 at 00:41
Hi all,
I just read this topic, and I can`t wait to buy tomorrow Thief 3 :cheeky: .
Read all so the spoilers, and don`t have a clue what you all talking about. But seems a lot of people get scared by that lvl :ebil: .
By only reading all those post gives me a creepy feeling. Im all so a horror fan, and have played Aliens versus Predator 2, and Undying.
That are 2 awesome games. Even Undying gives me a creepy feeling when I walk alone in that big mansion.
And AvsP2 all so. The first part when you are walking there and no Aliens see, and just are waiting when they shows up.
Would be awesome to have a sequal on Aliens vs Predator, Undying with the new grahpics engine. And Thief off course :cheeky:
Think that it take a while before I`m by The Cradle but I post then my common. :cheeky:
242 on 4/7/2004 at 14:36
Just have finished it. Great work indeed, the Cradle absolutely stands out of the rest TDS missions for me.
However it has the same main problem of the other TDS missions -- it just feels too small for me. I'd love to be able to wander through 3-4 floors of the building with like 30-40 various rooms. Silent Hill series clearly influenced this mission, didn't it, Null? The Brookhaven Hospital from there very reminds me the Cradle, only Brookhaven feels (and I believe actually is) 2-4 times larger and even more detailed, though heavily scripted.
As for creepyness, for me, I even believe it's quite objectively, Silent Hill series is without doubt much more creepy. For those who don't know, SH is NOT another Resident Evil at all with tons of zombies. It's truly king of psychological horror games. Like some David Lynch films, when even after you watch/finish them you ask yourself what the heck was *THAT*. Also what I like about SH is that it's indeed very emotional, philosophical and also has excellent sound/music.
Anyways, Thief isn't a survival horror game, therefore it doesn't need those extremities SH has, but it still is scary game in a game, great fun. As someone mentioned already, I think of it as Silent Hill for Thief.
null on 21/7/2004 at 18:21
Quote Posted by borzwazie
by the way, Null - you NEED to be involved in any System Shock 3 project :)
I'd love that opportunity.
null on 21/7/2004 at 18:37
Quote Posted by 242
Just have finished it. Great work indeed, the Cradle absolutely stands out of the rest TDS missions for me.
Silent Hill series clearly influenced this mission, didn't it, Null? The Brookhaven Hospital from there very reminds me the Cradle, only Brookhaven feels (and I believe actually is) 2-4 times larger and even more detailed, though heavily scripted.
Sure did. Silent Hill remains, thematically, one of my all-time favorite horror franchises in any medium.
Mechanically, they're ... sub-par. They need to get over the interface choices made in Resident Evil. Many of their scripted horror events, though, are unforgettable.
I eagerly await each one, because on Easy, you can sort of play it like a nightmarish Sierra adventure game from the late 80's / early 90's.
In RtC, I tried to overlap all sorts of broadly-applicable scripting layers in order to generate
unscripted (or "emergent") moments of dread or panic. That's sort of what these games are are all about. I welcome the day when those goals become game-wide rather than mission specific.
The Cradle's like one of those telescoping snakes-in-a-can compared to what could be done with the resources of an entire team.
If I ever accept the tricorn hat of Project Director anywhere, it will be on a game where we target cinema-quality moments of terror using pure systems interaction.
Blackjack on 21/7/2004 at 19:24
Null, I'm glad you turned up here 'cause you owe me for a serious dry cleaning bill, and I'm not talking about Monica Lewinsky's dress. Generally speaking I hate fantasy woo, but never have I crapped myself over a game before. As soon as I heard that rattling door upstairs I turned around and headed into the basement. No way was I going up there! To be honest I rushed the Cradle, such was my desire to leave that place. It's been a couple of weeks since I played it and I'm just about ready to replay it in detail ... just about.
Some questions:
It was an inspired decision to leave the first half-mission completely free of AI, ramping the tension up and up. The unfetterred imagination, given a few hints (and yours were more influential than most), is so powerful. Alien is far scarier than Aliens for exactly that reason. You've said that leaving areas free of AI is unusual, so was it very controversial at ISA / Eidos, or did Randy's close involvement make that less of an issue?
You modelled pretty much the entire outside of the cradle, yet Garrett can't interact with it, not even with his gloves. Was that your plan all along, as though to emphasise the isolation of the inside, or did you originally plan to allow Garrett to climb up to that intriguingly arched verandah?
jake the Taffer on 21/7/2004 at 23:20
(ive only read the first two pages of this, bear that in mind)
I wonder if it was an accident that they didn't release any screenies of the Cradle...ta for that null, most excellent...
(p.s. null: can you be my man inside?, I'll be trying to get into the industry in about 4/6 years, so maybe you can say you know me, then I'll get in...yeeesss)
