Thief 3 update

Eidos has sent out a Thief 3 development update from project director Randy Smith that was also posted on the Through the Looking Glass forums. Since the last update, several new members have been added to the Thief 3 development team, and progress has been made on the game's general interface, player movement, and AI. "That's right, Thief 3 already features guards who patrol, see and hear, search for you when they detect you, and say 'must have been rats' afterwards," Smith wrote. "Furthermore, you can be Garrett in the game already, and you can sneak him around, hide in shadows, and even shoot arrows." Smith adds that three of the missions are already close to an early stage of completion and that they all retain the classic Thief feel but are, obviously, much better looking thanks to the Unreal engine--though Smith admits that the team had to make some adjustments to the engine to fit its needs. Once work is completed on the first three missions, the team will go to work on the next four. As far as the story goes, nothing has been revealed yet, but Smith said that the development team has a story and a set of missions. Parts of the story will be revealed as the entire project nears completion.

The new images included with the update show some of the early areas that have been constructed using the Unreal engine. One shows a bedroom, while another shows an outdoor area that was adapted from a piece of concept art. The shot of the cathedral is actually just a test ground to showcase some special effects, but Smith said that they expect the environments in Thief 3 to look just as good. The rest of the images are all pieces of concept art used to set the mood and feel for the game. An official release date for Thief 3 has not been announced.

For more on previous games in the Thief series, take a look at our previous coverage of Thief: The Dark Project , andThief 2: The Metal Age .