The Keep of Metal and Gold: Complete Thief Fan Mission Archive

Water Contest!

What Contest? - The Water Contest was for Thief 2 FMs, made using Dromed. The build time was from June 9, 2006 through September 15, 2006. The most important thing about this contest was WATER! Contest entries had to have a lot of it! That's it, just lots of water.

There were 7 missions entered and the rules restricted the building area to 512,000 cubic Dromed units contained in a variety of layout possibilities. Authors had about three months to build their missions.

Voting was finished October 22, 2006.

Prizes - An up-to-date full complete set of Komag DVDs goes out to Yandros for "What Lies Below"! Also, a Komag DVD of choice goes out to Nameless Voice for "The Temple of the Tides" and The Pixie for "In These Enlightened Times"! The rest of you get the intrinsic reward of that warm fuzzy feeling of releasing an FM :-)

Keep in mind that ALL these missions were enjoyable and good creations. Congratulations to ALL the authors! Every mission here was fun to play and worth having, even "Sneaking through Venice" was loved by many! No one should feel bad at all, because anyone who's released a mission has accomplished something tremendous that only few can boast of!

The Contest Results Tables

The table column headers are as follows:

Space - How well the limited space is used (mission seems larger than it is, not overly cramped, not wasted)

Tech - Visuals (effects), conversations, spells, tricks, animations, interactions, complex systems

Desn - Architecture, textures, landscaping, decorating, realism, visuals, lighting/shadows, coloring, models

Atms - Creepy, spooky, tense, exciting, thrilling, reminiscent, provoking, shocking, nail-biting, light-hearted/gay

Sound - Eerie, creepy, emotional, funny, musical, fitting/appropriate, unique, voice acting, tense

Uniq - Unusual, far out, wacky, would-never-think-of-that, new, use of Unreal engine, different

Humr - Funny, hilarious, writings, voice acting, gameplay, taunts, looks funny, tongue-in-cheek, dry, LOL factor

Story - Moving, deep, well written, voice acting, immersive, pacing, draws-you-in, thought-provoking, twists, shocking

Puzl - Challenging, traps, clues, sequences, ingenious, mechanical, detective, keyhunt, button hunt

Play - Overall fun level, replayability, varied gameplay with difficulty levels, ghosting/sneaking, forced actions

Other - Your choice of another voting category which you feel is important to rate all the missions by

Raw - The final total of all the voting and rating all put together, but not yet adjusted for category importance

Final - The final weighted total of all the voting, adjusted for category importance!

M - The final weighted total by males

F - The final weighted total by females

Authr - The final weighted total by FM authors

NotA - The final weighted total by non FM authors

Kid - The final weighted total by young people, ages 1-19

Adult - The final weighted total by adults, ages 20-35

Older - The final weighted total by older adults, ages 36-99

Click on a header to sort Ascending, click again to sort Descending

Mission	Space	Tech	Desn	Atms	Sound	Uniq	Humr	Story	Puzl	Play	Other	Raw	Final	M	F	Authr	NotA	Kid	Adult	Older
A.K.A. Noah	6.6	6.5	7.2	7.3	6.3	6.4	4.3	7.1	5.7	6.3	6.7	6.4	6.5	6.6	6.4	6.3	6.6	6.4	6.8	6.3
Dangerous Conditions	5.5	6.6	6.6	6.3	5.6	6.2	4.4	5.5	4.8	6.1	5.7	5.8	5.8	5.9	5.6	5.7	5.9	5.9	6.0	5.6
In These Enlght Times	7.2	7.1	7.5	7.9	6.7	6.8	5.9	6.8	6.8	7.1	7.6	7.0	7.1	7.1	6.8	6.7	7.2	7.0	7.2	7.0
Lost Souls	6.1	5.8	6.5	6.5	5.8	5.4	4.8	6.6	5.0	6.4	6.1	5.9	6.0	6.0	6.1	5.9	6.0	6.1	6.1	5.8
Sneaking thru Venice	6.0	5.1	6.0	6.2	5.9	6.3	4.5	5.2	4.6	5.2	5.4	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.9	5.0	5.7	5.4	5.5	5.6
Temple of the Tides	8.8	9.5	8.7	8.2	7.4	8.8	4.2	6.1	9.3	7.5	7.0	7.8	7.9	7.8	8.3	7.9	7.9	7.4	8.1	7.9
What Lies Below	9.1	9.0	8.8	9.3	8.5	8.2	4.2	8.1	7.7	8.6	8.4	8.2	8.3	8.3	8.6	7.9	8.5	8.4	8.3	8.5

EXAMPLE: Click on "Humr" and notice that "Temple of the Tides" and "What Lies Below" tied for last place in that category, but then click "Final" and notice that they finished at the top overall ("Humr" was rated the least important category by the voters). In the demographic finals to the right, the only difference was that Females like "Sneaking through Venice" more than Males, and Males liked "Dangerous Conditions" more than females. Perhaps the pretty view versus blowing stuff up made the difference there!

RAW vs FINAL: You all rated the categories as well as the missions, on a 0-10 scale. For each of you, I first averaged your category ratings, then I compared each category rating to the average to get the final multiplier. Let's say your average category rating was 6.6, but your rating for "Story" was 9, then the multiplier for that category was 1.4 (9 is roughly 1.4 X 6.6). What that means is that in your mission ratings, you felt your ratings for the "Story" category were about 1.4 times as important as average (remember, it's YOUR average).

Therefore, I multiplied each and every score by the proper multiplier, and then averaged all the results for each mission to get your overall mission scores. The same procedure was followed for the overall results, first averaging the overall category ratings of everyone, then calculating the category multipliers, and adjusting all the average scores for each mission in each category. Those were then averaged for the final scores. I think it's the fairest possibly way to tally the votes, even though it's a bit complex.

Category Importance, by Demographic

Demographic	Space	Tech	Desn	Atms	Sound	Uniq	Humr	Story	Puzl	Play	Other	Average
1. Male	6.3	6.2	8.1	8.1	6.4	6.2	3.9	7.3	6.1	8.4	6.9	6.7
2. Female	6.8	6.9	8.3	8.9	6.2	7.4	4.7	8.2	6.8	9.6	7.8	7.4
3. Auth Y	6.3	6.4	8.9	8.5	6.2	6.3	3.1	7.6	5.7	9.3	8.3	7.0
4. Auth N	6.4	6.3	7.8	8.2	6.4	6.4	4.3	7.4	6.3	8.4	6.8	6.8
5. Kid	6.7	5.9	8.3	8.7	6.0	6.6	3.3	7.7	5.9	8.8	6.3	6.7
6. Adult	6.5	6.7	8.3	8.6	6.5	6.4	4.0	7.8	6.2	8.9	7.0	7.0
7. Older	6.1	6.1	7.8	7.8	6.4	6.3	4.3	7.1	6.3	8.3	7.6	6.7

EXAMPLE: Click on "Space" and notice that Older players didn't think it mattered much, whereas Kids felt it was very important.

EXAMPLE 2: Click on "Play" to see that Females gave this the highest rating on the board! Girls just innately know that it's all about the gameplay, yeah baby!

EXAMPLE 3: Click on "Other" and notice that Authors felt strongly about this category. Perhaps Authors hold a more complex view of everything that goes into a mission that just doesn't easily fit into the narrowly defined voting categories, so having an "Other" category means a lot.

Actual Category Average Ratings, by Demographic

Demographic	Space	Tech	Desn	Atms	Sound	Uniq	Humr	Story	Puzl	Play	Other	Final
1. Male	7.0	7.1	7.3	7.4	6.6	6.9	4.6	6.4	6.2	6.7	6.5	6.6
2. Female	7.0	7.1	7.5	7.4	6.3	7.0	4.6	6.4	6.3	7.0	7.0	6.7
3. Auth Y	6.9	7.0	7.1	7.0	6.4	6.4	4.3	6.0	5.9	6.7	6.1	6.3
4. Auth N	7.0	7.0	7.4	7.4	6.6	7.0	4.7	6.6	6.3	6.7	6.7	6.7
5. Kid	6.7	6.8	7.2	7.2	6.3	6.9	4.3	6.1	6.4	6.7	6.6	6.5
6. Adult	7.2	7.2	7.6	7.4	6.8	7.0	4.7	6.4	6.0	6.8	6.7	6.7
7. Older	6.9	6.8	7.0	7.3	6.4	6.7	4.6	6.5	6.3	6.6	6.4	6.5

EXAMPLE: Click on almost any category and notice that Authors rated the missions quite low. Perhaps they felt that these contest missions just didn't measure up! The overall contest average rating was a 6.7, but authors' average was just 6.3.

EXAMPLE 2: Click on "Story" to see that Kids felt the storylines weren't that great for this contest, whereas Adults and Older players felt the stories were pretty good.

EXAMPLE 3: Click on "Puzl" and notice that Kids felt the puzzles were great, whereas Adults and Older players didn't like the puzzles. Maybe we lose patience with that stuff as we get older!

Remember, these numbers are the average of the actual ratings given to the missions, as opposed to how important the categories are which is shown in the table above this one. When comparing the two tables, some interesting results show up.

EXAMPLE 4: In both tables click "Desn". Notice that Authors cared quite a lot about "Desn" by a large margin compared to non Authors. When they actually rated the missions, non Authors gave quite a bit higher ratings than Authors. It would follow that if a category matters more to you, then you will be more strict with your ratings in that category!

Interestingly, Females voted highest for category importance, but they also tied for the highest actual ratings. Maybe they're naturally nicer and care about the missions, and are also more considerate of the feelings of the mission authors when voting!

Overall Demographic Category Importance Ratings

Category	Male	Female	Auth Y	Auth N	Kid	Adult	Older	Final
Space	6.3	6.8	6.3	6.4	6.7	6.5	6.1	6.4
Tech	6.2	6.9	6.4	6.3	5.9	6.7	6.1	6.4
Desn	8.1	8.3	8.9	7.8	8.3	8.3	7.8	8.1
Atms	8.1	8.9	8.5	8.2	8.7	8.6	7.8	8.3
Sound	6.4	6.2	6.2	6.4	6.0	6.5	6.4	6.3
Uniq	6.2	7.4	6.3	6.4	6.6	6.4	6.3	6.4
Humr	3.9	4.7	3.1	4.3	3.3	4.0	4.3	4.0
Story	7.3	8.2	7.6	7.4	7.7	7.8	7.1	7.5
Puzl	6.1	6.8	5.7	6.3	5.9	6.2	6.3	6.2
Play	8.4	9.6	9.3	8.4	8.8	8.9	8.3	8.6
Other	6.9	7.8	8.3	6.8	6.3	7.0	7.6	7.1

EXAMPLE: Most of the demographics generally agree with the rankings of the categories, although Authors notably placed "Desn" in second place with a large lead over "Atms", whereas everyone else had "Atms" ahead of or tied with "Desn".

EXAMPLE 2: Just like in past contests, it is clear that the more specific or narrow categories (Humr, Uniq, Puzl, Sound) rank low for all groups, while the broadest categories (Play, Other) rank high for all groups. This makes sense, since the idea of "Gameplay and overall fun level" is certainly more important than whether certain aspects of the mission were particularly unique. It also reinforces the need to weigh the categories so that the final mission ratings are as fair as possible, so that missions whose ratings are heavier in the more important categories will have that reflected in their final scores.

Other Information
There were 72 votes sent in, which was the best Komag Contest election turnout of all time! Most voters provided good demographic information, and here is the breakdown:

Males - 57
Females - 12
Authors - 18
Non-Authors - 47
Kids - 10
Adults - 29
Older - 27

The demographic pool was better for this contest, so the results should be a bit more statistically accurate, but they're still probably quite unscientific at best, or disastrously misleading at worst!

Some stats:
Average Mission Rating - 6.7 (significanly higher than in Contests 5 and 6)
Average Category Importance - 6.8 (Same as in Contest 6, much higher than Contest 5)
Largest deviation from Raw to Final total - 0.1
38 of the 72 voters utilized the "Other" category.
"Other" categories included: Adherance to Water Theme or Use of Water (this was a common "Other"), Empathetic Response, Stability, Ending, Immersiveness, Thiefyness, and Overall Impression.

Quotes
- Here are some quotes or brief reviews of each of the missions, submitted by the voters.
- I have tried to filter out any spoilers, but some minor ones might still be in there.
- Also, I tried to mostly just include the positive comments, although some contructive criticisms seemed appropriate to leave in at times.

Mission	Quotes/Reviews
A.K.A. Noah	I really enjoyed the story in this mission. I liked the connection with thief gold, the raining flooded atmospere. Nice story. I like how it was separated into "chapters", good for a small contest mission. Cool items like Bucket of Water; too much reading; unique layout/atmo; non-original story; game froze 3 times Really great FM. Cool story that ties nicely into the "Mage Towers" level of TDP. A bit too heavy on the reading for such a small FM, but the story is interesting enough for it to be forgivable. Great looking with a very nicely done rainy atmosphere. The ending kind of felt like it was missing something....is there a hidden objective or something? The water buckets you could empty by throwing were awesome. Other tech effects mostly just involved the believable looking storm outside (complete with lightning), which was cool if not mind blowing. The water theme was really used well, without being overused to the point of being annoying. Despite its flaws - it was an enjoyable mission and it looked good. The glimpses of knocked-over furniture outside added greatly to the feeling of an intense storm. If only the fish stayed in their tank, this mission would've had a higher atmosphere. Still, water contributed alot to the feel, although the swimming part seemed a little obligatory. The second part was not as good as the beginning too. The dome at the beginning was pretty, and the rain made the mission feel very wet. Not really a challenge, even if you do ghost. Would have like this one to be larger, have more steps to get through before reaching the end. very beautiful house and lawn, but lost details further on. Very, very nice visuals, good sound, technically very good. Interesting, well written story. Too much was optional, it is basically possible to just get to the end of the level without doing too much else. The see through lanterns were classy, very intriguing backstory, this is one mission I wanted to get expanded to find out more. Felt a bit incomplete - how did the rain get stopped for instance? Like it was the first mission of a multimission set. (but then it might be) The mission felt a bit unpopulated though. Very immersive fm, lots of very good details and lighting effects. Dunno why but it reminded me a little "Calendra's legacy-like" design. The end is kinda disappointing, but it has the best story background of the contest! This one was quite fun, in most respects. Though I found the entrance to the house a little odd (thats one massive puddle in your front yard, mister! lol), the house itself was interestingly built and even better decorated. I loved the fishes on the floor. Though I realize they were supposed to be in the water, they were funnier on the floor. I found my way through with a little help from the forums. The Hand Brotherhood really ought to rein in its former members better. Nice atmosphere, wet, and some nice tech effects as well. Possibly a bit heavy on the readables, but the story was great. It's also the first time I've seen water stay in a bucket placed on its side :-) Loved the lightning. Excellent story line
Dangerous Conditions	Nice mission. It was a little bit too easy to mix the powders, but the explosion was fantastic! The atmosphere at the cave/waterfall area has hit the peak of realism. As far as I could tell, I was at that waterfall. Absolutely awesome looking mission! Probably the best cave system I've ever seen in the dark engine! Too bad the game play was all about ducking around the same two guards and moving when the one deviously placed noble was looking the other way. Pretty challenging to ghost, but ghosting the only way your going to get any actual "game play" out of this one. The one puzzle was also way too easy to figure out, though it was still really well done. The explosion was a really killer technical effect, especially all the smoke that comes pouring out of the cave afterwards. The waterfall jump was also a great ending- still, the whole water aspect seemed tacked on I thought this mission had the best story. Cave was a little barren but a nice change of scenery. Presented a somewhat new sloshing-type sneaking. Could've been harder. Also, not a very garretlike premise. Waterfall was a nice touch. Pretty textures, very short, simple and clean mission, though almost too short to get into 'mental role'. The chemical mixing machine and explosive was clever, filling me with anxiety as it fizzled away and scared the hell out of me with the sudden explosion. Love the special effect... storyline well written.... but for a WC there should have been lots more water (deep puddles/dripping etc) too hard to complete the one objective of not letting anyone see or hear you. Didn't feel it was nearly as large as the other entrees. Good start for a bigger mission. Too short !!! A superb and complex cave design and atmosphere, nice details, very well done explosion sequence. But why so short ??? It could have been at least twice bigger ! Pourable jugs and frobbable lanterns were cool. Nice outdoor atmosphere. Schwaa-esque. Good, solid, realistic story on this one. Excellent use of atmosphere and, most importantly, water - I think I've got a cold coming on from the damp!
In These Enlightened Times	Very unique and moody, an incredibly good story and atmosphere! It's lovely to see so many plants overgrow an ancient temple with much water beneath it. Also, the ambinents were awesome. Veeery good FM, while playing it i've got some deja vu moments due to TDS. Great Sound (i love TDS ambient) , monsters was a little bit frustrating (especialy that blowing up guy) It was nice having a temple hidden in the great swampy atmosphere. Man, that first conversation was hilarious! "Pants" Nothing makes me enjoy playing an FM more than when it goes to lengths to make me like it. Loved the alphabet puzzle, the ankhs, and the general "there, but not too hard" puzzles, the secrets, and the hidden objectives. Really nice mission! A very well done swamp-type mission. Couldn't picture it without water, which is perfect for this contest. Tech effects were pretty cool, with disappearing ghosts and swords and what-have-you. Forcefield at the end was pretty neat also...but forcefields are just always cool. Neat idea with killing the bad guys at the end by pick pocketing them...one of a couple puzzles that genuinely had me stumped. Funny conversation near the beginning! Swamp very well done, with background noises and green feeling. Good stupid guards - a smirk came across my face when they read the shopping list. Very wet and damp, and good use of water and infinite water arrows. New creatures and new way of defeating them - a true thief's way. Not too sure about the portal place though, or the fact the objectives only appeared once ticked off. Good puzzle and exploration area, possibly a bit under / overcrowded in places. Frustrating to gain progress at points, but did find some secrets - very well hidden. Great atmosphere, a truly thief-like way to kill the enemy and a great use of limited space. Really creepy. The atmosphere was perfect. This mission had the best swimming portions. Fun, challenging mission. Swamp was a nice change of scenery and had good use of water. EXCELLENT storyline... beautiful mission... lots of eye candy special effects a 10... used water to the fullest... hidden elements add to game play but didn't ruin completion if you couldn't complete. Never did find whatever you could use to help see underwater. Wouls love to see more of this... finished up too quickly. Fun Indiana Jones type of hunt through a flooded ruin. Very nice underwater scenes and swimming challenge. Atmosphere and textures are very good. Spiders are scary. Writing is entertaining. Swords turning to puffs of smoke. Good haunts. Great atmosphere and swampy sounds, creaking boards. Excellent architecture. But making it to the ultimate goal was impossible -- I couldn't find that last potion, and couldn't hold my breath long enough. I like a game with alternate ways to reach goals so that missing one thing or being unable to do one thing doesn't have to be a killer for the mission. Very atmospherical but also very funny. And the best sound setting of the contest, very "swampy" sound. Clearing the sight was an astonishing and satisfying effect Overall, this game reminded me of why I liked Thief but I found some of the puzzles very elusive. Overall very swampy. The sounds started to annoy me after some time (frogs!) and the tree-textures around look as stupid as they always did but the rotten and mouldy temple-textures made up for this. I liked the swampy atmosphere and it was pretty well executed.
Lost Souls	It was very very sad ... the mission had a good atmosphere. Another flood mission. At first, I wasn't impressed with the simple cube shape of the mission. But the inside of the mansion releaved me and the story was interesting as well. I liked the lantern too. Very nice little mission. A touching story. I actually substituted the "humor" category for "pathos" to make sure this feature got into my score. It was also, to its credit, the best mission for classic thief gameplay in this set. Extremely good looking mansion mission (though not quite as much so as A.K.A. Noah) with a very well-done "washed out" atmosphere to it. Just like in "A.K.A. Noah", the lightning was very cool on the technical effect front. Having the basement flooded was a good way to make it fit in with the water contest idea, and the furniture floating in the basement was a neat effect. The rest of it was a pretty standard though good looking mansion mission, with a pretty decent storyline. Tricky guard patrols and locations made it difficult to ghost, but most of these missions have been very easy so it was kind of a nice change of pace to actually have a challenge. Sad :( but great secret in the living room, of all places! Very well written, emotive story, you really feel for the characters. Interesting and fairly complex objectives, but the setting is a bit samey. Thunder and lightning FX were very nice. Cool rescue mission. A nicely designed little mansion, and a good little story. And it was quite a challenge to knock out the guards and keep them alive with all the water, not bad This one had to have been written by a woman, men don't think the way the scrolls were written. The flooded basement was terrific and the scene in the pantry was a tear jerker. It had a nicely developed storyline as well. A solid little mission with a rainy atmosphere and well-hidden secrets. This mission was actually quite enjoyable. While not hugely 'unique', in many ways, I enjoyed going back to a 'normal' atmosphere. ... The story was strong, leaving you wanting to hear a bit more about the intrigue that is clearly going on. The introduction of the 'wake up gas' was also quite interesting. This is certainly one of the wettest missions in the contest - it's nice to have some really heavy rain for a change. The freak storm could also be explained by the events in 'A.K.A. Noah' if the authors felt so inclined :-) Nice little manor. Storyline rather off-character (but well, saving an innocent kid from prostitution feels always right, so I won't complain). The house looks nice from the outside and most of the inside, too. The sidequest with Mosley's relative (and her being Sheriff and all) felt pretty good.
Sneaking through Venice	I had high expectations for this one. It was still enjoyable to play but I could tell it was someone's first attempt. A good one at that Haha, beautiful! This really made a nice impression. Plenty of z-axis gameplay, a great badguy, and everybody loves Venice! Neat idea (Venice, gondolas), neat treasure trap, The opening shot in and of itself makes this mission worth playing. Really incredible first view of the mission, and the servant riding the boat was hilarious! Unfortunately I get the feeling 90% of the effort the author put into the mission was focused on that first view. The rest is kinda so-so. It never really looks bad, just kind of rushed and not entirely convincing. The author did good with incorporating a lot of swimming, but too much swimming can be a bad thing Looked great, although there was some annoyances with AI placement. Lighting was a bit poor in some places. Casino + thieves idea is trite. However, the ending was exciting. Loved the ambiance when the FM started... would liked to have heard the music throughout the waterways.. storyline good... good use of water since it was a WC. Loot was hard to find.. Didn't feel as big as some of the others entrees.... but an excellent start for a much larger FM.... let's open that underwater gate and keep taffin. The opening scene was outstanding with the canals, the gondolas and the beautiful light. The gameplay was lacking, though. A remake of this with more time and space to continue the theme from the beginning would be wonderful! I would have like the area to be longer for the game to last longer truthfully. It was an interesting concept! This one was fun for something different. The atmosphere was unique and it was fun being able to swim around without threat of drowning and enter houses from underneath, or the side. Nice setting for a mission, with good layout and an interesting story to go with it. The very opening of the mission is one of the best in the contest, setting the scene perfectly.
Temple of the Tides, The	Awesome mission! I never saw something like that before! Rising water while you are swimming in it, cracking walls, reflecting lights... I think this mission has begun a new DromEd era! Wow. This mission completely took my breath away. Very nice seemless teleporting effects and the overall mission as a whole was just too impresive. It wins for me, hands down. I kept getting the earge to crack my bull whip. ;) This looked professional. So many elements of this FM were so groundbreaking that it's hard to know where to begin complementing--the sunbeams, the rising water, the puzzles, the out-standing use of textures, architecture and sounds. It's a real masterpiece. The whole package was phenomenal. WOW!!! Incredible puzzles - drag an object, tile puzzles, pointing the light beam, swimming sequence, new enemies and awesome new Mayan architecture! I'm really impressed with this one! A tour de force of technical innovation, but I didn't enjoy it. Too hard, insufficient clues, illogical. Fantastic tech and puzzles, fun gameplay, great ending, weak story. Wow...just...dear God this mission was cool as hell! The level design was brilliant, 100% believable ancient temple setting that looks like it was ripped from an Indiana Jones movie. Tech effects were great, from collapsing ceilings to a torch you can light with a fire elemental to a flood complete with rising water you can swim around in. Puzzles were so completely ingenious I felt like I had to go back and lower the rating for all the other missions in the puzzle category in comparison (I didn't). Some annoyances keep it from being perfect Puzzles were good but they were not "Myst-like." Once passed the silly blad thing I enjoyed it. The ending was unexpected and amazing. One of the best endings ever in a Thief mission. Initial thought - not very watery, but by the end was very impressed. Possibly could have gone into the "Tomb Raider"competition category instead. Very simple, yet effective puzzles, and searching for the suns was hard work, but thoroughly worth it. Unique, fun, challenging and even a little confusing. The use of space was impressive - it felt so much bigger than it was. Amazing technical effects and perfect texturing. Very technologically impressive, also a nice change in terms of gameplay. Not very thieflike, but thats forgiveagle considering the sheer awesomeness of rising water. More of a technological showcase then an actual mission. I did not know that Garrett's last name was Jones... or is it Croft? great job! Technically astounding, some beautiful effects and fantastic new puzzles. Gameplay was fun - challenging but not too challenging, and the end with the rising water was very cool. However, there was barely any storyline and it felt a little clean, manufactured and a bit "soulless". Also, apart from the end, it wasn't very watery. Let there be light! A marvel of tech to be sure. Loved the lack of AI save the new fire elementals...glad the author let me concentrate on solving the puzzle and basking in the lonleyness of it all. The jumping puzzle was a bugger though. Thief meets Prince of Persia meets Soul Reaver--this author must be my soulmate, because they know all my favourite games and rolled them into one! Felt many many times larger than allowed size ... even though the flooding temple blew my mind and was exciting I think other entries full filled the WC theme better Great puzzles, very original. Love the use of the ol' turn around trick to make better use of the space. Challenging at times but good because of that. Wonderful interior design with cleverly thought out puzzles. It lost points because of technical problems as well as a shortage of clues to help the player solve the puzzles. I have to say I absolutely loved this one. It was unique, and while not overly 'thiefy', it was an awesome level to play. Atmospheric background sound was well chosen, and playing in a sunny, bright atmosphere was a nice change from the usual darkness. Even a thief could use some sunlight, after all! :) The puzzles were not too hard, and the lack of enemies - replaced by traps was definitely refreshing - if a little unnerving. :) The respawning fire elemental was brilliant, and while it got a little annoying to have it keep returning, it kept the play tense throughout. (IE, no clearing the level to have the place to yourself)I would have liked to see more places where the translation came in, and the story could have used some work. While we knew why we were down there - and something about the temple, it was really not much story to it. Over all, I would love to see more of this temple, perhaps on a bigger scale, or in a small campaign? And more story! :) Excellent use of space - felt larger than it was... The atmosphere affected me more than I thought - found myself tense and panicky at the sound of the passing fire elemental, listening hard to discern it from other sounds of flames and such. Extremely unique - most unique thief mission i've seen since mindmaster. Puzzles were mindblowingly good - though a tad annoying at times. I cant imagine how much work must've went into this though, unless it started well before the water contest!
What Lies Below	My favourite mission from the Water Contest! There were rising water and many new effects too, this mission will also begin a new DromEd era! I most liked the fantastic atmosphere! Perfect sounds, horror scenes, the keeper glyphs (wow!), the unexpected story changing at the end... in my opinion this is the best mission which was ever built! Is this a T2 or T3 FM?! Well, I found the style very evocative. The FM also managed to stretch out a little space to go a very long way. But the real masterwork of this FM was the superb finale: very well scripted, great gameplay, and a dramatic bang-up ending to the story. Well done! Love the T3 atmo; couple scary moments that made me jump Nice "noir" atmosphere, not too difficult, liked the new grenades, keeper glyphs and "super-zombie" + horror aspects (there was some, but not too much). Also liked the new enemies (shadows) + plot twist at the end Awesome atmosphere, good story, nice tech, very polished in all areas, the best overall mission. Uh...this was a contest mission right? It took me around an hour and a half to beat (not counting reloads, just the official game timer), and it didn't feel compact or confined to a smaller space at all. Really fantastic mission, could be my favorite, though it's honestly hard to say. The noir look was a good choice, and the level design was impressive enough to stay really interesting and great looking even in black & white... Tech effects were impressive- I especially like the haunts that look like floating torsos that can walk on water and through walls! All the new creatures were very cool and scary. The atmosphere was definitely the high point of this level, excellent use of creepy music and sound effects...a couple of jump moments also (through a good establishment of tension and not through something unexpected jumping out at you while some high volume sound effect plays). Great story and the best game play of any mission in the contest, with a perfect mix of sneaking and puzzle solving... One more thing- I also love all the Thief 3 connections and the use of glyphs, a game play element that's actually used better here than it was in Deadly Shadows. One of the best FMs ever! It truly fits within the Thief world with its mixture of Thief I, II, and III in story, sound, and design. Definetly my favorite. Very spooky, excellent atmosphere. Again, nice tech effects. Good amount of challenge and good length. Custom objects interesting although not terribly useful. Custom enemies were good as they were both scary and intelligent. Good use of Thief 3 sounds, interesting atmosphere with the Sin City style black-and-white. However, the gameplay was samey, and relied too much on running around looking for the next switch. Interesting new AIs and weapons, but they didn't really contribute to the gameplay, just seemed added for coolness factor. Something creepy this way comes--and it's mostly invisible and doesn't have any legs! Those are some interesting Haunts...but what's left of poor Brother Reginald--mustard-yellow, twitchy, and wired with a bit too much underworld caffeine--is more disturbing still! Damnit, this one scared the hell out of me, flashbacks of Inverted Manse! The black and white with sparse splotches of color was classy as hell and really worked, despite the author saying it was only a cheap attempt. It probably wouldn't work on most missions, but it really did here. This is the only one I felt a strong desire to go back and play a second time, and the only other mission beside Noah I would love to see extended with the same style and flair. (though I would be somewhat intrigued at another chapter to Lost Souls too) Best use of water by a small margin in this mission I felt with the gates, one way drop, and water level change. Above average sound already, with more for the creepiness of hearing Hammerites killed behind walls, and with an extra point due to Slyfoxx's buttery smooth voice - he IS Garrett. The Thief 3 glyphs and interface style were a nice final touch, this was all done in two months?!? First class mission worth showing to anybody, just wish there was even more. A+++ loved the grayscale.... ALL the water... excellent use of space/theme... puzzles challenging, music/sound effects awesome, storyline very well done.... new weapons super sweet. I love undead missions so I have to say it is... Best overall WC mission.... met ALL the criteria. Fantastic fm ! Very clever and well done mix between a noir style and thief 3. Nice story, but here the story trully follows us as we can really feel the hammerites fighting above us as we continue. Great keepers-like secrets, incredibly well designed. Definately the best fm of this contest. Thief 4? What for, if someone builds fanmission like this one :-O Exellent design, awesome work!!! New creatures, nice use of glyphs. Too many hints in the form of Garrett mumbling to himself. This had great, creepy, damp atmostphere that fulfilled the contest theme to a "T". It looked and played like T3 SHOULD have. Great work and the overall winner, for me. Easily the best overall. While I agree with the author that the greyscale thing has been overdone, in this mission it works. The new creatures and weapons are interesting and effective, and the use of the allowed space is incredible. The game area seems much larger than it actually is. Despite its small size (or maybe because of it), this is one of the best FMs I've ever played. I have to wonder what the author could do with a mission as complex as Calendra's legacy. A dark beauty. Scary enough that I waited for my husband to be home before going back into it. Felt like I was coming up for air every time I pulled myself out of the game ... Cool Keeper glyphs, creepy enemies, good choice of music, well-written readables, chilling atmosphere - in a word, awesome. What else could you want? Another wowing mission. Excellent use of the space allotted. Strong story. Great atmosphere - to the point of nearly giving me a heart-attack in one spot and making me have to stop for a day or two. Very engrossing story picking up after TDS without intruding on personal 'feelings' on where things should go. The new intro screens were nicely done. The lack of color was slightly irritating, but not too much. Great story. Directions as to "where to go" were clear and accompanied by an easily understood map. The Hammerite key-giving sequence was fantastic! Glyph usage was unbelievably cool! Easily the BEST of the contest!