43 the BLACK PARADE f. FIREMAGE & SKACKY

[@PurposelessRabbitholes]

Black Parade was my intro to Thief. Saw articles about TBP late last year, and bought Gold just to try it. Since then, I’ve played Gold, Metal Age, T2X, and 20+ fan missions. 150 hours, at least. Thanks to everyone who contributed to Black Parade, you’ve created one of the best stealth games of all time, and in the process you’ve introduced me to one of my new favorite franchises!

[@supermassive6263]

Nice channel mate. Great concept 😊

[@muzboz]

I loved "The Black Parade" so much. A true gift, thank you so much guys. :D As a Thief fan from way back, and as a game dev who has always wanted to make a Thief-like game, it was soooo nice to return to the world of Thief, but with all new levels, and a new adventure. Much respect and admiration! :)

[@pupunas]

I think mission 10 being basically a race to the top of the tower, instead of looking for loot or other items, conveys the urgency of the plot really well. I remember getting a chaotic felling of "it's all or nothing now" and the tower getting more and more surreal and the monsters more and more bizarre. The part near the end where everything turns to flesh and the walls have blinking eyes is such a great culmination to an already visually striking mission!

[@shevek161]

I don't know if anyone reads these but The Black Parade was legitimately not only the best game I played in what was already an outstanding year for the medium, but one of the best games I've played in my life. I spent so many hours just standing in awe of the atmosphere and each level's environments, and scouring every single nook and cranny only for the game to reward my curiosity at each turn. It did everything that I wanted to see in a new Thief game while at the same time iterating on the original's core gameplay and level design principles with so much of what we've learned in the 20+ years since the original came out. The art, writing, sound, gameplay, each level and its design, and even the ending - it all felt fine-tuned to perfection. I will sing this game's praises in every conversation about the best of the stealth and ImSim genres because it deserves it. A genuine, bonafide masterpiece that far exceeds the already high bar set by the originals. ***SPOILERS*** Special shoutout to everyone involved in the "Jaws of Darkness" level in particular. I've likened the structure of that level and the journey it takes you on as the game-equivalent of the song "Sphere of No-form" by the artist Biosphere. A dark descent into the unknown, with the familiar gradually fading away as you make your way deeper and increasingly more lost into a place that was never intended for any mortal, only for you to emerge at the end of your nightmare into the secure and assuring serenity of dawn sunlight. A trippy and frightening experience that I won't forget.

[@muzboz]

Agreed. :D

[@prolitcom]

I came into playing Thief after I saw a Black Parade review.

[@Tarhiel]

Thank you for this wonderful interview, it was pleasure to listen to all the devs, from how they used spiders to do horses and the unexpected winning on Moddb award - well deserved, if you asked me. One thing to note - I think you guys are selling yourself short, saying that the story is serviceable. I have yet to see and experience a game where a fanmade expansion pack is so tightly connected with the main game story, and so well-knitted at that. I do, however, hope, you will find time and while working on that Gold patch for BP you will rework the mission 10 - my only real gripe with this mod. PS: That Caesar help with arrow and ettin lockup endings are brilliant - I had no idea and I was laughing my ass off while listening to that :D

[@TaffersInn]

Really good stuff. I enjoyed The Black Parade immensely

[@Atrahasis7]

A true masterpiece, unbelievable work. Honestly after all these months I am still bit flabbergasted by it and other Fan made missions. I wonder if LGS even ever wondered it would stay in players hearts to this magnitude.

[@muzboz]

I feel as though Thief 1 and 2 came at the end of an era. It came out right before a pretty big shift to an emphasis of the entire industry on Xbox and PS2. The industry got a lot larger, and the trend of what should be made (with higher budgets) shifted towards cross-platform on PC and Consoles (which was a punch in the guts for games like Thief - gamepads and limited memory were not good for immersive sims). And also, of course Looking Glass closed down (an even bigger punch in the guts for Thief). Of course we had Thief 3, which was an example of a game that spanned console and PC, and they actually did a pretty darn good job with it. But ultimately, the trajectory of Looking Glass, PC games, and Immersive Sims kinda hit a road block around 1998 for the above reasons. And a game like Black Parade is a return to that timeline, and a massive relief and joy to be back there, with an improved Thief engine as a bonus to that. Dishonored of course is also a delightful masterwork, but we had to wait 20 years for someone to give us something spiritually and mechanically worthy of the Thief timeline. But not a whole lot anywhere in the middle there, that sits in this rich immersive wonderful world. That is my personal perspective and take "what happened and why", and also why something like Black Parade would be so welcomed by a hungry player base out there. :)

[@humanharddrive1]

I didn't even know this episode was out, just stumbled upon it accidentally

[@thiefpodcast]

you maybe should activate the bell so you wil get a notification in the future :)

[@MattDistraction]

Great interview, really love to hear about the inspiration and processes behind the campaigns creation. Especially Firemage describing the arcane ways one can transfigure spiders into all sorts of critters. A lot has certainly happened since I first did voice work for TBP in 2016! I might be most proud of my Statuette, but my Benny impression was what got me in and still what I like doing best. Fun fact, I actually got to do the post-processing reverb on Daniel Thron's Keeper lines. Great to hear that he's such a nice guy personally as well. Still such an incredible honor to be a part of something so special. I'm sure you know the feeling. Some say our thugs are still fighting in that pub to this day... Gimme yer bag!

[@thiefpodcast]

haha! thank you taffer - I'm sure they are. It cringes me comparing your great work comparing to mine but as you described - it is an honor to be part of this incredible project and histrocial milestone in the thief universe.

[@jawbrekaa]

Thanks for taking my question. It will be great if they share the google paperwork. I am writing a thief fan mission, and it will be great to see how to formate the mission.