Your thoughts on true day/night cycle?

[TRoosevelt_26]

This would be interesting. If "daily schedules" for the AIs were introduced like were used in Gothic and Gothic II, that would put a whole new twist into Thief. For instance, things like The Great Sleep would be impossible or at least more varied, and when people waited eight hours for the timed lock to go off in First City Bank and Trust, people might be starting to show up.

Garrett would also have to get his missions done before morning came on, yet start them late enough for the city to have calmed down a bit.

Interesting things to conjecture upon. Until someone (as they invariably will) points out flaws in this that I haven't seen yet, I will be asking for this for Christmas in my Thief III: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of Thief: The Dark Project box.

Thoughts, people?

[Pipa2]

Well, I do not think that would be fit for Thief. By the way, I never played a mission for more than 3 hours (actually the longest that took me was Return to the Cathedral in Normal mode, I did not know the mission and I lost a lot of time searching and trying to understand what Murus said (I am not that good at listening in english), and it was like 3 hours and a little more.) So, if we think Garrett gets to the streets past midnight, he would have like five hours before dawn, and I don´t think it would be worth for the programmers to program the day/night cycle if it won´t be even used.

Maybe in a couple of missions that would be useful, to make some mission with a time limit. Just one or two missions where Garrett gets to the streets a little late, because he must do so, and he has, for example, one hour before it is the morning. That would be good, to be pressed by time at least once.

[TRoosevelt_26]

I am thinking specifically above of ghosting/shadowing missions, which can take hours to do correctly. For some of us hardcore Thief players, it would be a nice addition, and it wouldn't take too much coding unless it came out of the AI routines, which I hope they're implementing anyway.

[Caradavin1]

I think it sounds challenging and awesome! Maybe it isn't exactly Thief, but it sounds cool. I don't know about 8 hours....

[Deadfall]

The first time I tried ghosting T2's "First City Bank and Trust" it took me about 4 hours. I tried ghosting Calendra's Legacy "Midnight in Murkbell" and I think that one took me 6-7 hours to complete due to not knowing where anything was, and the fact that I was looking for all of the loot. As far as ghosting, I would definitely be willing to challenge myself and sneak through a city during the day. I also believe a day/night cycle could really enhance the flavor of Thief. I recall a few FM's where different skies made the game more immersive. "The Art of Thievery" for example, had a great looking dawn. "Sammy Pays His Dues" had a beautiful looking dusk.

But I just don't know if a decent and well-balanced day/night cycle could exist in Thief 3. It would have to be realistic, but being so would ensure that most players never see daylight in the game unless they play a mission for over 4-7 hours. So how can this be balanced? I don't want to see a day/night cycle with a short duration. Some games have day/night cycles that only last 30 minutes to an hour. And for Thief, a night that lasts an hour would give me the feeling that Garrett choses to steal at 4 AM, not midnight.

[TRoosevelt_26]

Were they to run with such a plan, I'd prefer a true 24-hour cycle, just for realism's sake. Make it a little harder on the people who truly want to ghost that really important mission that they have to do, daylight or not...'course, those are the people who wouldn't mind it.

[Whatz His Name]

I have some weird questions about this.

If you have stopped mid-mission and don't get back to the game for several days or weeks, with the clock ticking away in the game world, what happens when you start playing again?

Example: I get off work and do the whole home and family thing until 9:00 PM. I start playing a mission at that time and stop at 10:30 PM. The next day, I do the same routine. Will Garrett be always thieving during the same time of night?

[TRoosevelt_26]

No, no...

Basically if you save and quit at 11:00 PM, then when you load you will jump back into 11:00 PM and continue.

[Whatz His Name]

Sounds good to me.