Judith on 8/8/2014 at 12:28

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Thx guys. Still, it has its share of problems, mostly the nervous pacing and too many screenshots. Anyway, that was just an exercise.

When it comes to workflow, I tried to focus just on a few things. The most important one was the rhythm and pacing of SR's speech. The way it sounds, where the pauses are, whether it's possible to have room for bigger or smaller pauses etc. The narrative was secondary thing at the time. I cut up the mission briefing VO into parts to have more control over it and put them on the audio track, trying to see what works best. The ideas for the imagery came up somewhere in the process. I chose the line from Quotes.sch for the level, T3's "swell" music for the quote part and two tracks for the narrative. The rest was tweaking, adjusting and trying to make the whole thing as convincing as possible.

I'm not sure all of this will work here though. Eg. the quote part was going two steps back to T1 tradition. You can easily see the progress there, in T1 we had the gradient wall, in T2 it's animated or slightly panned 2D background, so in T3 it should be...? 3D quotes filmed somewhere in the level, or in a separate scene in (any) game editor? Surely I'm overthinking this, but hey ;)

I'm also voting for the self-imposed restrictions, at least to some extent. Original T3 music and sounds - sure, there's plenty to choose from. Ingame objects and level screenshots? With John P's or other HD texture packs - I guess. Not so sure about the objects and characters, they still look pretty ugly. It would be best to have a 2D artist like Dominus or Redface to have a nice concept artworks for key items and characters instead. That would mean plenty of work for them though. I'd also say no to obvious free stock photos and such, resources from previous Thief instalments, and obviously stuff from paid commercial texture, sound or music packages "found" on torrents.

Muzman on 8/8/2014 at 20:16

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Yes, I like it generally. It's elegant. Doesn't try to do too much.
For that briefing I've always though an intro of Heartless Perry wouldn't hurt either. Or the post mission/hub bit.
Most of the main characters in TDP are shown in briefings as they are mentioned.

But I think any and all variety wouldn't hurt in general, like the using of the Witcher single image idea; reminders of previous events when they come up perhaps (I was looking at how the briefing for The Bank shows part of the scene that Garrett was Eavesdropping on in the previous mission, even though he never saw it. That kind of thing)
Anything to add "colour" and break up too many (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Privy_Seal_%28term%29#.22Lord_Privy_Seal.22) Lord Privy Seals ;)

And yes, drawing over screenshots is a good way to make a given 'shot' as "like the game but better" without being as hard as drawing from scratch.

Judith on 10/8/2014 at 12:10

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At first I thought actual 3D text in the level would be nice, but it turned out it's more trouble than it's worth. Using transparent planes was much easier and it looks better IMO. T3 Scene Manager is crude as always, but I tried my best ;)

(http://youtu.be/frI2WdyWB5c)

Judith on 10/8/2014 at 22:17

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It might save us some time but I'm not sure we'll find something versatile enough for all the quotes. I'd use mission files for those, just remembering no to spoil anything. Btw. I wasted most of my yesterday trying to find the way for the quotes to appear from "invisible" state. The only thing I found working was the bOutofWorld parameter which is binary (true / false). There is a Transparency parameter (0-1 range) in the Render properties, but it doesn't seem to work. Any ideas? I managed to make those captions movable (basically they'll act as elevators), but can't make them appear and disappear in a smooth manner.


As for the quote list, here it is. It's not really representative in all cases, some missions only use Pagan or Hammer quotes. Unfortunately, some of those are poorly written. Anyway, I tried to mark my favourites:

T_innLoadingQuote0
"On the Last Day, there will be no words...and we will know the face of our betrayer... - Excerpt from the Keeper Book of Days"

T_innLoadingQuote1
"There is nothing as promising as the opening of a book. There is nothing as final as its shutting. - Keeper Scribe Lessons, Part 4"

T_innLoadingQuote2
"Imagine the City as a youth precariously balanced on the precipice of a deep ravine. We are the Keepers of that balance. - from The Eight Principles" *J



T_castleLoadingQuote0
"Choose your immortality wisely, whether it be the treasure you amass, or the family who succeed you. - Advice to a Patriarch, Baron Bresling" *J

T_castleLoadingQuote1
"Even to the casual observer, the seven great families have become neither great, nor, by most standards...family. - from Historical Bloodlines"

T_castleLoadingQuote2
"Only the virtuous can withstand The Builder’s Trial by Fire...the sinful are consumed. - from a Hammerite Sermon"

T_castleLoadingQuote3
"Saids drinks of me, you wills not thirsts, Dids honeys sweet froms out Him burst. - Pagan Drinking song, origin unknown"

T_castleLoadingQuote4
"From each of us, the Glyphs will desire a different aspect. This is the balance we have struck. - Excerpt from The Interpreter’s Codex, Vol 8"



T_hammerintroLoadingQuote0
"A rod of iron, in the flame, is transfigured and is no more. Thou canst never return unchanged from the forge. -Rite of ordination to MasterForger" *J

T_hammerintroLoadingQuote1
"If thou hast eyes to see the glory of the Builder, but do not, then pluck them out. -Opening prayer, Ironwright Temple"

T_hammerintroLoadingQuote2
"Be ever diligent, For thine enemies are a multitude, And sin never sleeps... - Excerpt from a Hammerite Hymn"

T_hammerintroLoadingQuote3
"The Hammer is the most blessed of all the Builder’s works: ‘Tis both a tool for building, and a weapon against thy foes. - The Hammer Book of Lessons"

T_hammerintroLoadingQuote4
"You shalt know thy enemies well, for they wield not the hammer, and forest dwellers be they. - From The Book of the Master Builder"



T_paganintroLoadingQuote0
"Manfools fleshes breaks and bleeds, And them Leafy Lord risers again... - unattributable, etching in tree bark"

T_paganintroLoadingQuote1
Bes him many-named, Him that’s called the Woodsie One...The Leafy Lord...the Harvester... - fragmentary text on parchment"

T_paganintroLoadingQuote2
"We bes eatsy of the goodfruit, Bes we drinker of the bloodroot, Bes we singer at them moons. - Overheard ritual chanting"

T_paganintroLoadingQuote3
"To us Him bes the Trickster, sometimes the gillsweet, sometimes the bear, but to them that carries a hammer He bes them worming death... - unknown"

T_paganintroLoadingQuote4
"Drinks them meads and bes merried, Before them Harvester comers for you. - Pagan song, author unknown" *J



T_seasidemansionLoadingQuote0
"The struggles of the city mirror the ebb and flow of the great waters. No tide must ever be allowed to advance unchecked... - from The Eight Principles"

T_seasidemansionLoadingQuote1
"Beware, for even the simple act of desiring to become...can corrupt that which will be. - Excerpt from The Interpreter’s Codex, Vol 8"

T_seasidemansionLoadingQuote2
"To act out of anger risks needless destruction, but to act out of affection risks needless charity. - Guide of Balance" *J

T_seasidemansionLoadingQuote3
"History is written by the observer. Propaganda is written by the victor. - Keeper Book of Truths"

T_seasidemansionLoadingQuote4
"Sing a song of daffodils, Gray Lady choose the one to kill, And you are out! - Children’s game, origin unknown"



T_dungeonLoadingQuote0
"Him reachers downing to them abysses and pulls Him out them worming ones. - Origin unknown"

T_dungeonLoadingQuote1
"In summer times do Beesie flew, maple pines and grackles coo, The grassies sweet with nectars dew, til Harvest time when Him eat you. - Pagan chant"

T_dungeonLoadingQuote2
"I bes them honeysweet, I bes them breadmeat, Feeders you of me, til them times that I feeders of you. - Cave etching" *J

T_dungeonLoadingQuote3
"Two clicks for the Fall of the Kurshok, banished to abyss. No more favored by the Trickster Lord. No more see the sun or sky. - Kurshok Text"

T_dungeonLoadingQuote4
"One click for the brainsick ones...thinking the aboveworld is real place. - Kurshok Text"



T_clocktowerLoadingQuote0
"All of the days in the full span of thy life, are but an hour of the Builder’s time. - Collected Sermons of MasterForger Keystone"

T_clocktowerLoadingQuote1
"Make thou a fortress of thy heart, for thy most valuable treasures art those words given to thee by the Builder. - Words of the Sixth Forger" *J

T_clocktowerLoadingQuote2
"Once sin hath entered thy heart, thy life’s work is at an end. - Precepts of the Smith-in-Exile"

T_clocktowerLoadingQuote3
"Each moment of thy life hath a choice - accept the trial the Builder hath set for thee, or lay down thy burden and die. - Words of the Sixth Forger"



T_keepercompoundLoadingQuote0
"There are glyphs that can cause suffering and those that can end it...and precious few who know the difference. - Excerpt from the Forbidden Transcripts"

T_keepercompoundLoadingQuote1
"Ambition will usurp balance...The treacheries of the ignorant...The follies of the blind... - from Caduca’s notes on the Prophecies"

T_keepercompoundLoadingQuote2
"Fellow Keepers, we undo ourselves, our very fabric unravels - and as we fare, so fares the City... - Note left for the Keeper Council, author unknown"

T_keepercompoundLoadingQuote3
"Fed too much, the flame of knowledge will spread unchecked, to consume and destroy. - Fourth Warning of the Scribarium" *J

T_keepercompoundLoadingQuote4
"We are none of us immune to the temptations of the Glyphs. To think so would be the worst of follies. - From the Forbidden Transcripts"



T_hauntedhouseLoadingQuote0
"Then let this be our warning...that any man can be made monster...that any woman can become loathsome... - From the resignation speech of Keeper Sondheim (Historical Archives)"

T_hauntedhouseLoadingQuote1
"Beware the Trickster’s Flame or the Fairy Spark; for they are ill wrought. Only the Builder’s Fire burns with righteousness. - The Book of Lessons"

T_hauntedhouseLoadingQuote2
"If it is to close your eyes that you seek, to become deaf to the truth, to dismiss the obvious - then you have succeeded most thoroughly. -unknown" *J

T_hauntedhouseLoadingQuote3
"Who are we? Who have we become? I no longer have the courage to answer. - Entry from the journal of Keeper Elan, two days before his disappearance."



T_museumLoadingQuote0
"When the End of Words arrives, the fire will be driven from our hearts, and the efforts of the ages will be laid waste by the Betrayer. - surviving text fragment, Keeper Archives"

T_museumLoadingQuote1
"The earliest writings on the glyphs are indeed cautionary...yet remarkably, regrettably inadequate... - Final Journal Entry, Keeper Thackery"

T_museumLoadingQuote2
"What damage has been done, and worse, what more is to come? - Session of the Keeper Council"

T_museumLoadingQuote3
"Holding a key, you may infer the existence of a lock. But do not make the mistake of assuming that yours is the only key. - Handbook for Scribes" *J

Beleg Cúthalion on 13/8/2014 at 11:07

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I wouldn't make videos for the de-briefings at all, that'd be too much. About the workload, that's why I opted for only four different scenes (Keeper, Pagan, Hammerite and City). With respect to the existing three intro movies for Keepers (Rutherford Castle), Hammerites (St. Edgar's Day) and Pagans (Pagan Tunnels), one could wonder if we shouldn't select a Keeper quote for Rutherford Castle since it has the Keeper intro movie before it. On the other hand, the Keeper quote for the mission is a meh one and putting a City scene for the City quote afterwards shouldn't feel abrupt.

We'll have to include subtitle schema files for the new briefing videos, it isn't really urgent, but the localization demands it I guess.