Thief devs 'discussed' possible changes after Dishonored's release

Although it was announced well before Arkane's game, many couldn't help but notice the similarities Thief shared with Dishonored. In a new retrospective, senior producer Stéphane Roy admits that the studio had considered making changes to their game afterwards, but decided on sticking to their guns.

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Although it was announced well before Arkane's game, many couldn't help but notice the similarities Thief shared with Dishonored. In a new retrospective, senior producer Stéphane Roy admits that the studio had considered making changes to their game afterwards, but decided on sticking to their guns.

"When Dishonored came out and we played it, a lot of the people on the team were worried about these similarities--some were even paranoid that we had a mole on our team," Roy explained. "We had quite a few discussions internally about this, but in the end we decided to stay true to what we wanted our Thief to be so we kept everything as-is."

Of course, that isn't entirely true. In the last months of development, Thief dropped QTEs and XP system after negative fan feedback.

Thief's development was quite tumultuous, with the studio even losing its founder during the process. However, Roy says that the long-delayed game hasn't been more challenged than most. "Did the game's development seem all that different from most games? From my personal experience, honestly no," Roy told Game Informer. "Let's be honest, it's a challenge just to make sure all these people push in the same direction with the same goals. Am I surprised if sometimes there are diverging opinions? Absolutely not."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 7, 2014 2:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Thief devs 'discussed' possible changes after Dishonored's release.

    Although it was announced well before Arkane's game, many couldn't help but notice the similarities Thief shared with Dishonored. In a new retrospective, senior producer Stéphane Roy admits that the studio had considered making changes to their game afterwards, but decided on sticking to their guns.

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      April 7, 2014 2:08 PM

      They really dropped the ball on this one. Didn't feel like Thief or play like an interesting stealth game. It's like they made it in 18 months.

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      April 7, 2014 2:26 PM

      i wish more companies would drop QTEs. they are universally not fun

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        April 7, 2014 2:51 PM

        i love QTEs. As long as the UI is well made, I'm down.

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        April 7, 2014 6:42 PM

        Pretty much

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        April 7, 2014 6:56 PM

        [deleted]

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          April 7, 2014 8:19 PM

          How are they in any way fun? They don't really involve any skill and typically pull you away from the action to play a Simon type game and if you press the wrong button you die, it pulls you out of the game and ruins the immersion and experience.

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        April 7, 2014 6:59 PM

        Amen.

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        April 7, 2014 7:18 PM

        I also wish they would go away. I find them as crappy and overdone as shaky cam.

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        April 7, 2014 7:37 PM

        When used in moderation they're fun. But when used exclusively, I'm looking at you Tomb Raider, they're very annoying.

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          April 7, 2014 8:24 PM

          Can you name an example when it was used well in moderation? I can't think of a single one and I'm pretty sure there isn't one.

          Even in batman when you have to ram the x button over and over to open a grate.... Like why? What is the point?

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            April 7, 2014 8:27 PM

            [deleted]

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            April 7, 2014 8:35 PM

            The way Bioware used 'em in Mass Effect was cool: Capt Saveahoe or obnixous asshole. :D

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              April 8, 2014 4:59 AM

              Eh they were OK and often ended with good results. I still wish they would have found a better way. It was too easy to miss them during a cutscene. I found myself staring at the bottom of the screen waiting for them to pop up than paying attention to the cutscene which is really unfortunate.

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            April 8, 2014 6:38 AM

            Shenmue!

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          April 7, 2014 8:26 PM

          Also what is fun about them? OMG the screen said to press x then y and I then I pressed x then y, yay I win!

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            April 8, 2014 6:23 AM

            Exactly, it add nothing to the game. It's not even gameplay

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              April 8, 2014 6:48 AM

              Mash x to wear out your controller faster!

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          April 7, 2014 9:39 PM

          I don't remember Tomb Raider having that many. More at the beginning when she was whiny Lara but then it got better.

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        April 7, 2014 7:54 PM

        Almost dropped Tomb Raider early on due to the painful QTEs. Mostly glad I didn't

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        April 7, 2014 8:15 PM

        [deleted]

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          April 7, 2014 9:51 PM

          MSG is a legitimate seasoning for many applications though :( ketchup is only good on burgers, with fries, and thats it.

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        April 7, 2014 8:48 PM

        Yep.

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        April 7, 2014 9:50 PM

        I really enjoyed them in Tomb Raider.

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          April 8, 2014 4:57 AM

          Tombraider's are among the worst offenders of recent games I've played anyway. Perfect example of how to sour an otherwise great game.

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          April 8, 2014 5:01 AM

          This is all the go to criticism it seems when people have something bad to say about the game. Oh just stick through the terrible qtes at the beginning of the game, it gets better!

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        April 8, 2014 5:19 AM

        DmC handled this the best way i've seen. instead of a big dumb button-prompt, they would do things like position the camera to point out something dangerous headed your way. Then you could dodge/attack or whatever using the normal in-game controls. It was completely seemless and actually added something to the gameplay.

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          April 8, 2014 5:29 AM

          Sounds like it didn't take you out of the game's action.

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      April 7, 2014 2:34 PM

      If only they had copied Dishonored. I'm a huge fan of Thief and Dishonored, but this was a really poor game.

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      April 7, 2014 4:08 PM

      This reminds me of Raven talking about how they were working on Singularity when Bioshock came out in summer 2007, and they noticed a lot of similarities, like health kits, audio tape recorders, off-hand magical powers, etc.

      But at least Singularity had its unique setting to stand on. I remember numerous reviews panning Thief 4 with "I'd rather be playing Dishonored".

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      April 7, 2014 6:41 PM

      "what we wanted our Thief to be.."

      Dishonored is more true to Thief than this thing has bears the name.

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        April 7, 2014 6:42 PM

        *that

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        April 7, 2014 8:16 PM

        Pretty much, Dishonored really nailed the Thief atmosphere, and it wasn't even a Thief game.

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        April 7, 2014 9:10 PM

        I've only just started Dishonored and I absolutely love it. It definitely reminds me of earlier Thief games, but it is clearly its own experience.

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      April 7, 2014 9:26 PM

      Said it before, but Thief on custom master difficulty without focus enabled made it a lot more like the original games. Did anyone try this besides me?

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        April 8, 2014 5:33 AM

        i did the first mission and then got distracted by titanfall and now diablo 3. I'll get back to it eventually.

      • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
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        April 8, 2014 8:33 AM

        No, just master, with most of the ui turned off, but not focus. I enjoyed the thieving in Thief immensely. The story is the weak point, and I rather wish they'd just made it as 'a day in the life of garrett' than the overly self-important tone it took on.

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