All Spotlights

Real name: Jari Mäkinen
Forum Identity: Dark Arrow
Location: Finland

I first saw a review of Thief 1 in a gaming magazine when it came out. I read the review and watched those pretty screenshots of the game and I loved the medieval setting, but I was unable to play it due to my old computer. When I bought my second computer I got Thief 2 for free with it. I think that was in June 2000.

I started designing missions around the time when I registered to the forums (December 2000), which was the main reason I registered.

The first fm (C4:Thievery?) was to show that the Thief AI can do everything the player can and it is not limited to just walking around in circles. The Thief AI is very smart and anybody saying otherwise hasn't seen the potential it has. In the mission you take part of a three man thief team in an attempt to steal a golden skull from a nearby noble's house. The fm was good in the technical side, but it was below average in every other aspect

The second fm (C5: A Guard called Benny) showed the players that being a guard isn't the easiest job in the world, especially when thieves are running around in the house. In this mission you are Benny and your job is to save the lord of the house and make sure the golden skull doesn't get stolen from the exhibition area. I wanted to create something different from the regular thief style gameplay and I think I succeeded fairly well with this mission. The thing that I'm very proud in this mission is the carry-body-ability the thieves have. I'm not sure whether anyone noticed it, but if a thief successfully knocks out someone he will carry the body to a nearby shadow.
The most important thing in fms is the story (although it doesn't show up in my own fan mission). The level must look like there are actual people in there and I don't mean adding some guards and servants. I mean giving these people you add names, personalities and history. That way the level feels as if it were an actual place and not just some mission somebody created in the weekend.

I wouldn't rebuild any of the original missions. They are fine and perfect the way they are.

My favourite fms are:
Embracing the Enemy - The first fm I really liked. It was very close to being as good as the original missions.
Inverted Manse - The first good undead level in Thief 2. This was definitely at the same level as the OMs.
Seventh Crystal - Definitely at the same level as the OMs.

My first fm try was Visiting Durant's mansion. With no planning, bad gridsnapping and no actual story the level never saw the light of day. And that is only a good thing. It did have some good points in it and I have it uploaded in my site if anyone wants to take a look. Currently I have all my projects on hold until I get to play Thief 3. After I get to play it through a couple of times, I'll return and continue working on my Ghost House project, unless they release the editor for Thief 3 (in which case I will redo the project in there).

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