Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Eidos Announces Thief 4

Posted by Soulskill on from the coming-out-of-stealth dept.

An anonymous reader tips news that Eidos Montreal has confirmed recent speculation by announcing the development of a new Thief game. They've set up a website, but the project is still in its early stages, and details are scarce. In an interview with IncGamers, Eidos' Stéphane D'Astous said, "We're keeping our ear very close to the ground. As you may have noticed, we now have a forum up and running for Thief 4, and I said to my guys 'I really want to have a forum at the very early stages,' because I want people to have a medium with which they can express their wishes, their expectations, and what they would like and not like to happen with the next Thief. Obviously we've started work, but it's always very important for the developers to be close to the community. We're listening to these people because they are very hardcore fans, and we want to bring the Thief 4 franchise to a new level, so the challenges are huge!"

3 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. If they want inspiration by RsG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Look to Thief 2. 3 was something of a letdown; 1 was still a new idea (and therefor somewhat unrefined). 2 was easily the zenith of the series to date.

    What was missing from 3? Large open levels, multiple solutions to each problem, and the varied mission objectives. Thief 3 at least got the sneak, stab and sap aspect of the game right, to its credit, and they included the requisite gadgets and arrows. As long as these things remain for 4, the game will be, at a minimum, adequate; done right it can be something more.

    One of the things all three games got right was story. Atmosphere, character, plot and background are the series strong points, so they need a decent writer on staff (one familiar with the previous games). For the best of the series atmosphere, look to the Shaleridge Cradle section in Thief 3.

    Final detail. Garret, whatever else he is, is one of the game's selling points. There is something to be said for a cynical misanthropic kleptomaniac with a bludgeoning tool and bills to pay. Keep those aspects of his character, and you'll go far; the last thing anyone wants to see is the writers trying to turn him into anything "better" than he is.

    --
    Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
    1. Re:If they want inspiration by Yuioup · · Score: 5, Informative

      The reason why Thief 3 didn't have large open levels had to do with the memory limitation of the original xbox. It couldn't handle large levels in de Unreal Engine, so the devs had to compromise and make the levels small.

      AFAIK the xbox 360/PS3 (or whatever new machine the new thief is going to run on) can handle large levels so ...

      Y

  2. New petition for T1&2 source release,please mo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Thief fan community has been trying to get the source to Thief 1 & 2 released for several years but with little success - as a consequence of the bankruptcy of the original developer, it has been hard to even find out who might have it let alone be in a position to release it. However, recently there has been a glimmer of hope since one developer seems to have information about it but permission is still needed, which is why a new petition has been started. We want to improve the engine and enable it to run on modern systems so please slashdot the release petition:

    http://www.petitiononline.com/ThiefSrc/

    Note: This is not the same petition as before but a new one. So even if you have signed the old one, please sign this too.