Shinrazero on 29/4/2013 at 04:40
Squeenix has already stated that sales of Tomb Raider and Sleeping Dogs "under performed" despite selling millions of copies. This mindset spells very bad things for Thief. They are going to try and put in as many gimmicks and industry standard gameplay mechanics to make the game fully accessable to all demographics.
thiefessa on 29/4/2013 at 07:13
Quote Posted by jtr7
Attempts to get a response have been ignored or deflected, with even an Eidos forum mod getting in between the fans and the community manager Kyle for some bizarre reason.
Woah, more nonsense.
Attempts to get a response has not been ignored or deflected at all - answers have been given both via PM and on the forum.
Who on earth is this Eidos forum mod getting in between the fans and CM? :eek:
Please name some names so we can get to the bottom of this! :thumb:
Renault on 29/4/2013 at 07:42
Quote Posted by thiefessa
Attempts to get a response has not been ignored or deflected at all - answers have been given both via PM and on the forum.
OK, so what exactly is the official "response" then? In reference to the source code being released, that is.
thiefessa on 29/4/2013 at 08:00
This is the latest response from B1skit on the public forum, posted just before Christmas:
Quote:
Hey! Absolutely - I've been chatting with some very helpful folks from the community about the source code. Officially, the source was lost to Eidos back when LGS was closed. A kind member has forwarded me a recovered version of the code a couple of weeks ago and I'm working to see if we can legally find a way to release the code with official approval. Unfortunately, this will be a LONG process with a lot of moving parts - but you have my word as a huge fan of the modding scene that I'm working on it. Unfortunately, the source code that was received has been tainted with some 3rd party unlicenced code from other games using the same engine, so it will be a process and a half to get this cleaned up, repaired, approved by our legal department (which will by far be the biggest hurdle) and released. As I've been telling the guys I've been talking with: No promises, but I'll do everything I possibly can to help.
heywood on 29/4/2013 at 10:41
Quote Posted by Infinitron
Famous last words of many a genre.
The mass market is the death of the niche. When they make a game for everybody, they're not making it for
you.
I don't want them to make a game for me. I want them to make a game for the Thief fanbase. The
whole fanbase, not just the little community we have here. And I really believe it's still possible for a game to appeal to us (at least most of us) and also sell in large numbers. DX:HR and Dishonored are two recent examples to show that can work.
I'm tired of people calling Thief a niche title. It was not. The game was mass marketed and popular. And by the time LGS folded, it had sold ~0.5 million copies, making it LGS's biggest ever title and one of the biggest selling PC games of the late 90s. The sales put it in the same league as some of the big FPS games of the day such as Quake 2 and SiN. It spawned two successful sequels. And it is considered by the mainstream gaming press to be a "hall of fame" title. How is that niche?
Quote Posted by Starker
I'd rather have a 3M title like T1-2 with passable graphics, unique visual style, great audio design, crappy combat, great stealth mechanics, and minimalistic cutscenes than a 60M flashy action packed title. In the end, the more you spend on visuals, the less game you get and there's no particular need to crank the visuals up to eleven for a Thief title.
If only.
I agree. Unfortunately, as long as the Thief franchise is owned by Eidos/Square Enix it will never happen. I believe they would consider it a waste to make a medium-cost/medium-sales (and thus medium profit) title from one of their "prestige" IPs.
MoroseTroll on 29/4/2013 at 12:13
thiefessa: After the Christmas, Adam has received a much more clean version of the source, without any trace of something else but Thief 1&2. But still, Eidos legal department takes its time. I decided to don't bother Adam (I know, he's very busy), but how long should we wait? What's so difficult to release the source of the game EM has received at February, 2010 (i.e. more than three years ago)? Eidos is a big enough corporation, so if some of your programmers are too busy to clean and certify the source, then let someone else perform this work (for example, an intern). What's taking so long?
Quote Posted by heywood
I'm tired of people calling Thief a niche title. It was not.
I disagree - it always was and always be. Just look at the count of the signed for any petition about Thief, and you'll count just a few thousand. Now, look at the count of the signed for PC versions of, for example, Alan Wake or Dark Souls, and you'll count much more - many tens of thousand, even a hundred of thousand (in case of Dark Souls). So, do you still think that Thief is a game for masses?
Vivian on 29/4/2013 at 13:49
It's had multiple front covers, is a regular topic of retrospectives and celebrations, is mentioned whenever stealth gameplay and PC games are mentioned, and it was a pretty big financial success back in the day. Compared to something like CoD (which has a waaaaaaay bigger audience than ANYTHING from the time of the original two games), it's not that well known, no. But for it's time, it is a well-known and popular game. Shit like Pathologic or Amnesia is niche. (NB language confusion potential, neither Pathologic or Amnesia are actually shit. THE shit, maybe). Also, you are comparing petitions to get a game that already exists ported to the PC against petitions to change the voice actor on a game. If Thief had already been finished and there was a petition to get a PC version released, you bet your left arse there would be way, way more signatures on that.
thiefessa on 29/4/2013 at 15:09
Quote Posted by MoroseTroll
thiefessa: After the Christmas, Adam has received a much more clean version of the source, without any trace of something else but Thief 1&2. But still, Eidos legal department takes its time. I decided to don't bother Adam (I know, he's very busy), but how long should we wait? What's so difficult to release the source of the game EM has received at February, 2010 (i.e. more than three years ago)? Eidos is a big enough corporation, so if some of your programmers are too busy to clean and certify the source, then let someone else perform this work (for example, an intern). What's taking so long?
Not my corporation so I can't I comment on the programmers and neither do I have any idea how long you must wait. If you require an update my advice would be to contact B1skit directly.
I suspect the process is still on-going as it was hinted it would be a lengthy affair but, yeah, you could ask him if there is any news and maybe suggest if someone else can perform the work. If the latter isn't possible for legal reasons, I'm sure he would explain the reasons why. :thumb:
MoroseTroll on 29/4/2013 at 15:11
Quote Posted by Vivian
It's had multiple front covers, is a regular topic of retrospectives and celebrations, is mentioned whenever stealth gameplay and PC games are mentioned, and it was a pretty big financial success back in the day.
That's right, those
were times. Nowadays, the situation is much worse for a game like Thief.
Quote Posted by Vivian
Also, you are comparing petitions to get a game that already exists ported to the PC against petitions to change the voice actor on a game.
No, I am comparing with
any petition about Thief. BTW, the last one (about SR) is a largest one in terms of signs, AFAIK. All the previous petitions have a half of the signs or even less.
Quote Posted by Vivian
If Thief had already been finished and there was a petition to get a PC version released, you bet your left arse there would be way, way more signatures on that.
We don't know this.
jay pettitt on 29/4/2013 at 15:21
How many signatures did the petition to get the Dark Souls engine source code released attract? Or the petition to change the Dark Souls voice actor?
