00:08I'm Adam Badke, Community Manager here at Eidos Montreal.
00:11I'm here today with Mr. Stephen Gallagher, Narrative Director on Eidos Montreal's Thief.
00:15And we're going to take a little bit of a closer look at the story of the game.
00:20You may think you caught me, but think again.
00:25Because when I want something, I always get it.
00:30When you guys sat down to put pen to paper, what were your original inspirations?
00:34The biggest driving inspiration I feel was that when you have a character as complex as Garrett,
00:39finding a position to put him in and seeing how he can react to that was the biggest inspiration.
00:44So at the beginning of the project, I spent a lot of time involved with the animation side.
00:48So kind of thinking about how Garrett would perform, how he would act, how he would think.
00:53So the what would Garrett do mantra became really, really useful.
00:56If you think about Garrett, of who he is, he doesn't know where he came from exactly,
01:00who were his parents, he doesn't know.
01:02He grew up in an orphanage and very quickly he escaped that orphanage.
01:06Even then you could see this very strong desire to be free, to be independent.
01:10It's almost like he has to send a message to the world.
01:12It's like, I only need myself.
01:14Now as a child on the streets, of course, he would have had to have stolen just to survive.
01:19And this basically, I think, is where Garrett discovers this ability within himself,
01:25where he doesn't just steal.
01:26He's so much more than that.
01:28How many people are actually involved in creating a script?
01:30It's a pretty small team by any standards.
01:33There's like a 50-50 split with the guys that we've got.
01:36I've got a couple of designers who help to implement the actual content that's written on the floor,
01:41and like a small team of writers that actually help me to do the cinematics,
01:45the in-game dialogue, the material that you'll find in the game to read, the bugs, etc.
01:50Okay.
01:51I am Garrett.
01:53How would you describe the atmosphere of the city when Garrett returns?
01:57The atmosphere of the city is pretty depressive.
01:59It's not a happy place.
02:01A lot has gone wrong.
02:02I mean, the barons are pressing the people with the militia on the streets,
02:06the watch, the sickness in the air, the people are really struggling,
02:10there's a food shortage.
02:12It's a pretty emotionally raw experience for Garrett when he gets back.
02:17So can you tell us a little bit more about the baron?
02:19Like, who is he and why is he in control of the city?
02:23The baron is the latest in the line of the House Northcrest who have taken the chair.
02:27Baron Elias Northcrest, his father before him and his grandfather
02:30were very proactive on the industry and the technology.
02:34Baron Northcrest is really taking that a step further now.
02:38He's in a position whereby he's trying to get the city to take that big step forward
02:42where industry and technology is driving everything.
02:47Unfortunately, this is coming at the price of the people's happiness
02:49because as the city is starting to degenerate,
02:52things are getting out of control and everyone is pretty unhappy.
02:55What relation does narrative have to the game design
02:58and the actual implementation of the mechanics of the game?
03:00I'll give you an analogy that I used when we started.
03:04I see it as a bridge between the gameplay and the story itself.
03:08Because writing a good story doesn't mean that it's going to just be easy to tell it
03:11because it's in a game.
03:12There's a lot of gameplay that a gamer wants to experience without being distracted.
03:16Narrative is the bridge between that where we enable level design
03:19to implement the story without it being a distracting element to the player
03:23and you can still enjoy it to its full effect.
03:25So what are fans of the classic Thief games going to love about the story of Montreal's Thief?
03:30The same as everybody else.
03:32I mean, it's got a great story.
03:33You don't need to have played the old games to enjoy the new story of Thief.
03:37I'll repeat, as I've said in the past, they're separate stories.
03:41The main narrative arc is actually quite linear,
03:43but we do have an interesting scenario where the city itself evolves around that narrative arc
03:48so it gets you more immersed and more connected with the way you live.
03:52Having said that, there is side content.
03:53Of course, we want to give variety and extra content to players who want to explore.
03:57So all the way throughout the game, you have the ability to go off and find these optional contents.
04:03Having said that, if you do know the old Thief universe,
04:05then you can still explore our world and see if there's stuff in there
04:08that might get your interest up about some things,
04:11but you'll have to play the game and explore to find those things.
04:13Excellent.
04:14A lot of people are wondering if we're going to see any reference
04:16to the classic factions from the old Thief games.
04:19I will say, it's been mentioned before, we love the Thief universe.
04:26If you explore, maybe you'll find some things which,
04:29if you know what you're looking for, you'll be like,
04:32wait a minute, that's kind of interesting.
04:34That's all I'm going to say for now.
04:35I suggest, like I say, play the game, enjoy the story,
04:38you'll have all the answers you ever wanted.
04:39Very interesting.
04:41Well, thank you very much for joining us here today, Stephen.
04:42It's been a pleasure.
04:43I think that about wraps it up for everyone at home.
04:45Thank you very much for joining us.
04:46For more on Thief, join us at Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube,
04:50all of them slash Thief.
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