''The Dark Mod'' is a

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

first-person

stealth video game A stealth game is a type of video game in which the player primarily uses ''stealth'' to avoid or overcome opponents. Games in the video game genre, genre typically allow the player to remain undetected by hiding, sneaking, or using disguises. S ...

, inspired by the ''Thief'' series by

Looking Glass Studios Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Produ ...

. The game provides the basic framework and tools (engine, assets, models, and editor) for more than 170

fan-made Fan labor, also called fan works, are the creative activities engaged in by fans, primarily those of various media properties or musical groups. These activities can include creation of written works (fiction, fan fiction and review literature) ...

missions, including several multi-mission campaigns. ''The Dark Mod'' was founded by David Massey and first released in 2009 as a

total conversion Video game modding (short for "modifying") is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general ''modding''. A set of modifications, commonly c ...

mod for ''

Doom 3 ''Doom 3'' is a 2004 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by Activision. ''Doom 3'' was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004, adapted for Linux later that year, and Vide ...

''. Version 2.0 was released in October 2013 as a standalone game using the

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

id Tech 4 id Tech 4, popularly known as the ''Doom 3'' engine, is a game engine developed by id Software and first used in the video game ''Doom 3''. The engine was designed by John D. Carmack, John Carmack, who also created previous game engines, such a ...

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

Gameplay

''The Dark Mod'' takes place in a classic gothic

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...

world. This includes a crossover of elements of

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

, the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

and the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

. Although set in a very similar world to that of the original ''Thief'' series, the mod does not use any of the original ''Thief''

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

. The player is an agile thief in a hostile world. He has to use his equipment and the environment to avoid guards, traps, creatures or other threats. His equipment includes a

blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...

, water arrows, holy water, flashbombs, mines, and more. Since the player has only a limited fighting capability, he is supposed to sneak and hide in dark, mostly avoiding combat. The plot and mission goals are set by the author of the fan mission or campaign.

Development

''The Dark Mod'' was originally released as a total conversion modification for ''

'', but with the release of version 2.0 it became completely standalone on the

game engine. The mod was originally developed as a toolkit. It includes models, sounds, , art, tools, and a specialised editor for users to create custom missions. The development of the mod started in 2004, and the first Beta was released in 2008, along with its first mission. In October 2009, v 1.0 was released. In October 2013 version 2.0 was released as a standalone game that included two missions created by the development team. The Dark Mod 2.06 includes code from the dhewm3

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to h ...

of the id Tech 4 game engine that was

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

to 64-bit, etc.

Licenses

The game's

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

is licensed under both the GNU General Public License 3 and the revised BSD license. Additional software libraries are released under various licenses. The missions are property of the respective authors. Many non-software components are released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

Reception

''The Dark Mod'' has been featured and reviewed by a number of major game magazines, websites and blogs. Examples include the Dutch magazine ''PC Game Play'', the blog ''

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

'', the British magazine ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...

'', the German magazines ''

PC Games ''PC Games'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine published by the Computec Media GmbH in Germany. History ''PC Games'' was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the ...

'' and

GameStar ''GameStar'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine in Germany. It is the best-selling German-language magazine focused on PC gaming and it also hosts the largest video gaming-related portal in the German-speaking internet. ''GameStar.de'' i ...

, as well as the British gaming website ''

Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' ...

''. After going

standalone Standalone or Stand-alone may refer to: *Stand-alone DSL, a digital subscriber line without analog telephone service; also known as ''naked DSL'' *Stand-alone expansion pack, an expansion pack which does not require the original game in order to us ...

the project received additional substantial coverage from ''

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. Histor ...

'' and ''

Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog which was part of the Weblogs, Inc. family later owned by AOL. It was active from 2004 to 2015, acting as the primary video game blog for the group, and operating alongside ''Engadget'' and sister blogs such ...

''. ''The Dark Mod'' won ''PC Gamer'' UK's Game of the Year award (mod category) for 2013, and has been distributed on several magazine cover DVDs. In 2014 ''The Dark Mod'' was named by '' PCGamer'' among the "Ten top fan remade classics you can play for free right now". In 2016, ''The Dark Mod'' was ranked as #2 in "The 50 best free PC games" list by ''

''.Tom Sykes.
The 50 best free PC games
(archived), ''

'', 27 May 2016.

References

External links