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Game Design Level Design Narrative Design Personal Favorites

The Dawn of The Metal Age: Part 4

Karras knows it was Garrett who stopped the Trickster. As we learn later Karras was a Hammer and the one who made Garrett’s mechanical replacement eye – Karras probably also helped make the fake copy of The Eye. During their meeting Viktoria says of the Mechanists: “It’s no secret that they wish to destroy you […]

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Game Design Level Design Narrative Design Personal Favorites

The Dawn of The Metal Age: Part 3

The Dawn of The Metal Age: Part 2 Garrett has the recording of Truart’s meeting with Karras. Now he just has to break into the good Sheriff’s home and blackmail him with it. Really living up to that anti-hero label, is our Garrett. From here I don’t know the levels as well (excluding “Life of […]

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Game Design Level Design Narrative Design Personal Favorites

The Dawn of The Metal Age: Part 2

The Dawn of The Metal Age: Part 1 So Garrett has just broken into the City Watch headquarters and framed Sheriff Truart’s second-in-command, I’m sure nothing bad will come of this for anybody involved.   “Ambush!”: The lack of a loot objective in “Framed” makes sense given how “Ambush!” starts. Even using New Dark the […]

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Game Design Level Design Narrative Design Personal Favorites

The Dawn of The Metal Age: Part 1

So, I guess we’re doing this. Join me as I continue where we left off and play through Thief II: The Metal Age. It’s my favourite of the series, but I’m sure I’ll find something to complain about. The first shot of the intro isn’t quite a match for the last shot of The Dark […]

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Game Design Level Design Narrative Design Personal Favorites

Journey through the Dark Project: Part 4

[]   Journey through The Dark Project: Part 3 “Return to the Cathedral”: “Return to the Haunted Cathedral” is up next, I’m deep into the levels I’ve never played before. All I know about this one is: “Fuck. Fuck! Argh…” Objectives for “Return to the Cathedral” (I keep inserting the word Haunted) seem pretty straightforward… […]

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Game Design Level Design Narrative Design Personal Favorites

Journey through The Dark Project: Part 1

So, it’s about time I finally did it. Join me as I play Thief: The Dark Project; I’ve never got further than The Sword before. Thanks to the No Spiders mod from Andy Durdin I hope to actually finish it this time. I’ll be playing Thief Gold, I have multiple copies of The Dark Project […]

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Groping The Map Level Design

Groping The Map: Life Of The Party, Part 9.

 “Greetings, Garrett! Thou art expected, though not precisely… welcome.” Conclusion: Coming two thirds of the way through The Metal Age the infiltration of Angelwatch in Life Of The Party would make a fitting location for the finale. Unlike the actual final level the Mechanist tower of Angelwatch was foreshadowed as far back as the second level, […]

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Game Design Level Design Narrative Design

Boundary Conditions.

In any simulated system there are boundaries, points at which the model being used breaks down, where player behaviour is no longer accounted for. The most obvious of these are the physical boundaries of the game space, the chasm too wide to cross or the wall too high to climb. To a large extent the methods for […]

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Groping The Map Level Design

Groping The Map: Life Of The Party, Part 7.

“To serve the nobility is the highest privilege in life of course but slavery is just so… distasteful.” Annotated Walkthrough, 6: Without the option to read the books sitting upon the shelves there is little to determine if the library of Angelwatch was created to serve a functional purpose or whether it exists merely as […]

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Groping The Map Level Design

Groping The Map: Life Of The Party, Part 6.

“Take some time to appreciate our gallery…” Annotated Walkthrough, 5: Mounting the stairs of Angelwatch is an ascent into light. Climbing out of the basement like claustrophobia of the second floor the gas lamps are replaced with electric lights, the bare brickwork hidden behind paint and paper while small balconies, extending into the incongruously well […]