Audio in 'Thief'

            The designers of Thief had as one of their initial motivations to create a game where audio, rather than graphics, was emphasized (as relayed on pages 175-176 of ‘Post Mortems from Game Developer’). As I’ve noted several times throughout this project, they succeeded, as the audio sounds, either the character and object noises or the background ambiance, is excellent, and very well establishes mood.

            The audio in Thief has a ‘brooding’ quality to it. Sometimes I’ve wanted to have some of the games’ ambient noises as the ambiance to my house. It works so well in a game where being quiet, sneaking, and waiting are all big parts of the gameplay.

            Below, I’ve put together a montage of Thief 1 noises. There is a logical order to it—it’s supposed to suggest an adventure.