Proto:Thief II: The Metal Age

This page details one or more prototype versions of Thief II: The Metal Age.

To do: *Everything. Screenshots, unused text, comparisons. Also need to dig through what is present for notes and audio.

A prototype of the game released as part of Project Eclipse. Internally dated November 4th, 1999, it predates the final release by four and a half months and contains a variety of unfinished content.

General Differences

• The majority of movies are placeholders.
• Multiple levels are prealpha placeholders, with some heavily prone to crashing without modification.
• The intro is rather unfinished, with many differences in the text and render quality.
• The title screen is almost identical to Thief 1's, aside from a different (earlier) title card for Thief 2.
• System Shock 2 robots are used as placeholders for the Karras bots, and have completely unique animations and A.I. compared to their final counterparts. Cameras from System Shock 2 are also used as placeholders for Karras's cameras.
• The majority of assets are still from Thief 1, including character models and voiced lines.

Mission Differences

To do: *There's way more.

1. Running Interference

To do: upload in-game maps

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Labeled simply 'Interference' in the briefing text.
• While the map is able to be completed, textures are noticeably simpler and many rooms are rather empty.
• Every difficulty requires scoring 8 knockouts, which was limited to only Expert in final.
• The bird flute to call Basso remotely is not yet present. Instead the objective is cleared by pulling a floating switch next to him.
• The map is present, although auto-mapping is not functional and there's many aesthetic differences.
• The exterior gate, wall, and hedges are missing, alongside the room Basso hides in.
• 925 gold is present on the map in all difficulties, compared to the variable amounts of 1029 - 1265 in final.

Central Courtyard

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

The first area visible has quite a few changes. The guard who normally spawns partway through the level the patrol around the central lamp posts is present from the beginning, and is carrying 50 gold rather than a key. The tray containing cheese along with a gold goblet and plate are also missing from near the central lamppost, and the front doors to the manor are absent.

Butler's Quarters

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

Looking via the intended pathway, the entrance to the butler's quarter's received aesthetic revisions, adding in a guard railing and changing the direction of the stairs. It's also clear that the doors in this location reuse Hammerite doors from the first game.

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

Entering the quarters presents a few interesting changes. There's a door leading directly to the butler's sleeping quarters that was removed, and there is no spare key present. Said sleeping quarters do not contain cheese or the chest with 5 gold in the prototype, along with any furniture.

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

Peering into the adjourning room, the furniture and lootable candelabras are missing, although the second key is present floating next to the left door, which final would adjust to be resting on a railing instead. Oddly, using keys consumes them in the prototype, requiring multiple copies to unlock every door. Whether intentional or a bug, this was changed in final to work as normal.

East Wing 1F

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

The majority of rooms are completely empty and lacking detail, such as the transparent glass for the guards near the torch tutorial along with most doors being missing. The armory already contains its secret alcove accessible via the switch underneath the shelf, only lacking the bag of gold that final would add.

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

The kitchen structurally is the same, but only has the wine rack for loot. The secret bottle in the lower rung is a health potion in the prototype, which was changed to a speed potion by the final. The dumbwaiter is a full elevator at this point, and the servant who patrols the kitchen is present on all difficulties as opposed to being missing on Normal.

West Wing 1F

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

The other wings of this floor are mostly similar to final beyond the lack of doors and other objects. The chests in the servant's quarters don't contain any loot yet, and the note mentioning Truart's laws is missing. Along with the rooms leading to the second floor lacking loot or objects, the secret Mechanist shrine is completely missing and has slight structural differences in its rooms. While more than likely being planned by this point, hence the allocated space, the difference in design indicates there was still revisions happening before it was implemented.

Second Floor

The second floor is structurally mostly similar, and there's a few things to loot along with guards being accounted for, although most rooms lack anything of interest. The bonus objective for the two wedding rings is already implemented despite this, however.

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

One of the more interesting differences is the existence of a piano with placeholder textures in the music room, which was replaced with a harp and flute in the final release.

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

The only noticeable structural difference can be observed in the room leading to the east wing of the third floor. In the prototype this room is fairly simple and directly leads into the two rooms, while in final ornate arches were created and the rooms were moved backwards to form a small hallway in the space.

Third Floor

The third floor is mostly devoid of objects as well, although the spare key in the west wing is present, guards are implemented, and there's a single cup in the east wing to collect. The layout is the same as final.

2. Shipping... and Receiving

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Labeled 'Shipping and Receiving' in the briefing text.
• As the mission text notes, this level is a prealpha, with no objectives and very few objects present, along with many map layout differences, such as the existence of a third building and missing catwalks. Pulling the lever at the docs completes the mission.
• A map is present, but is clearly more a design doc than anything.
• Garrett starts without his Blackjack or Compass.

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

Presumably due to the map needing heavy development, Garrett's start location is roughly in the center of the map. This would be moved to the northwest corner behind some boxes in final.

Building A

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

Building A's design is mostly complete, but beyond the missing catwalks (which have some doorways carved out for their implementation) a notable feature missing is the roof entrance into the office and the doorway leading to it nearby, along with the two doorways via the catwalks not being implemented yet. This provides only two entrances into the office, which considering the otherwise nonlinear nature of the level was deemed too restrictive, especially due to the office's importance in unlocking various buildings.

Building B

Like Building A, Building B's design is mostly complete and is only lacking objects, with no notable omissions beyond some unimplemented doorways to the catwalk, although there is space allocated for them.

Third Building

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Labeled 'Building B' on the in-game map (with Building B being 'C'), this is perhaps the most interesting feature of this prototype map, as this location was completely cut from final. Even more curious, this is the only part of the map with functioning NPCs, having torches and security cameras, which borrow graphics from System Shock 2 as the assets for final weren't created yet.

The building is the smallest of the three, containing a few staircases to a second floor and various rooms, along with space allocated for a large elevator. The location's ultimate purpose is unknown, but it was presumably cut for being a bit superfluous to the overall design of the map, and the camera element was instead added to the second floor of Building B in final.

Ship

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

The last feature of the map is the ship, which is in a bit of a sorry state, only having a basic structure with no interiors designed. The aforementioned switch is present here, but beyond that not much of interest.

3. Framed

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Shoalsgate Station is named 'Shoalsgate Keep' in the briefing text.
• Many texture and layout differences, although the core layout is mostly intact for the first three floors.
• The town surrounding Shoalsgate is not yet present, and there is no entrance via the well as a result.
• Beyond the central area of the well accessible via the ladder, the entire basement area is completely different, being very maze-like and containing spiders. This along with many other elements were massively simplified by final.

4. Ambush!

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Layout is similar to final, although lacking greatly in graphical detail.
• The mission ends as soon as you reach Garrett's home, not requiring getting a key for Shalebridge.
• Lord Bafford's sceptre is present in Garrett's stash.

5. Eavesdropping

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• This mission is in an extremely early state, lacking most objects and only having a few buildings. There's also no basement present.
• No map is present.

6. First City Bank and Trust

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Mostly functional, although textures are rough and there's minor layout changes.
• The map is a humorous image.
• The rooftop entrance is an unlockable window rather than two doors.

7. Blackmail

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• This mission is eighth in the prototype, and seventh in the final version.
• Mostly functional, but there's many layout differences and placeholders.
• Maps are present, but appear corrupted when displayed.
• Large hedge mazes surround the manor rather than the gates and high walls.
• The key to the manor is in the place of where the first gear is found in the well, and only opens the doorway to the kitchen. Strangely, it appears the key itself is intended to be the gear, as it disappears from the inventory when used.
• The exit at the back of the Hammerite temple is not present, and the tapestry concealing the secret entrance to the resident sleeping in a room is not present, with the chest in the corner instead linking to another room.
• Many hallways are strangely tilted, which was straightened out by the final.

8. Trace the Courier

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• This mission is seventh in the prototype, and eighth in the final version.
• Map screen simply has a window for notes.
• The courier is not present.

9. Trail of Blood

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Labeled 'Trace the Courier'. Has no defined objectives or map.
• This mission is in an extremely early state. Most areas are missing, and there's very few objects present. The most notable omission is the entire intro section from final, which implies you were meant to go directly to the Maw section at the start of the map. While the remaining sections mostly maintain the same structure as final, it's clear this map was undergoing heavy work and hadn't committed to any solid ideas in terms of story or gameplay.

10. Life of the Party

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Labeled 'The Unwelcome Guest' in the briefing.
• By far the most complete of the levels, hence its presence on a demo disc made a few weeks after this build, albeit with some modifications to Angelwatch to remove access to the lower levels.
• Housebreakers use alternate dialog.
• One of the arguing guards has a different voice.
• Drunk guard before Angelwatch has a buddy near the roof's edge, who has fallen in the full game.
• There's a lot of changes to events and level design, including the ability to reach Angelwatch's rooftop, along with multiple entrances into the tower itself from the city roofs.
• Excluding the route to the roof, floors 8 through 5 of Angelwatch are accessible (the equivalent to 6 through 3 in the final game), with only a small facade of floor 4/2 being designed.
• Karras's recorders are completely missing. Presumably they were added to final in order to justify exploring more of Angelwatch.

11. Precious Cargo

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• No map is present.
• This mission is thirteenth in the prototype, and eleventh in the final version.
• The layout is extremely basic, only containing a small area with one guard.

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

Examining the small part of the level that exists reveals a multitude of interesting differences. The wall separating the house's porch and main area is missing, there's no second guard or Combat Bot, and the first entrance to the lighthouse is facing west rather than south. The guard post to the west is also missing although there's basic geometry present, and the well and its associated areas that serve as the entrance to this section of the map is missing.

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Examining the interior of the house and lighthouse reveals they're mostly nonfunctional, lacking any sort of room connections or staircases, although the elevator that would lead down to the last part of the level is blocked out by this point.

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Some interesting details that were removed is odd holes in the cliffside leading to the sea, along with circular lighting placed to illuminate sections of the cliff. Whether this was some holdover from another asset or not, the final removed both the holes and lights.

12. Kidnap

Thief: The Dark Project	Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Has no name in the briefing screen, instead containing placeholder text from the Thieves' Guild mission from Thief Gold.
• This mission is fourteenth in the prototype, and twelfth in the final version.
• Layout is partially converted from its Thief: The Dark Project counterpart, primarily awaiting expansion and more objects/textures.
• Map displays a random map from the Thieves' Guild mission from Thief Gold.

13. Casing the Joint

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Labeled 'Case the Joint' in the briefing.
• This mission is eleventh in the prototype, and thirteenth in the final version.
• The layout is a placeholder, and the map screen only displays a notes page.
• Contains a complex, odd placeholder for the library.

14. Masks

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Labeled 'Steal the Masks' in the briefing.
• This mission is twelfth in the prototype, and fourteenth in the final version.
• The layout is a placeholder, and the map screen is empty.
• Contains a complex, odd placeholder for the library.

15. Sabotage at Soulforge

Nov 4 Prototype	Final

• Has no name in the briefing screen.
• Only contains the exterior of the Soulforge. Considering the extreme amount of complexity present in the final map, that amount being implemented in only the span of 4 months is nothing short of shocking.