Thats what NPCs did in THIEF Deadly Shadows. Or even a little bit of noise, like knocking over a candel. You could shoot a Noise Maker arrow which would make a hell of a racket and anyone near by would rush over to it to investigate, and then would start looking around where the arrow might have come from. It was a hard game. But you coulld use that as an advantage to lure guards out of rooms or look the other way which you sneak right behind them. It was a realy wel done game.

"I didnt open this door, I thinks some one bees around here opening doorsies"

"Ahh, Me thinks its bees rats again."

"Hey someone takens stuff off the tables. HEY GUAR..."

*WHACK*

What made that game especially challanging was there was no quick save feature. When you did a level / area, you had to do it perfectly.

It was a great game. Though I never finished it.

Extinguishing light sources adds a great deal to the atmosphere of stealth in games although I'm with Dylan JMG in that some lights should not be able to be affected. It might be interesting if AI rogues could use lights to their advantage agains the player too.

I like the idea of a npc assassin following a non stealth oriented player around a dungeon, putting out lights avoiding your torch light and shooting arrows and trying to back stab. But that would beg the question, would such ai rogues be able to perform the stealth finishing moves? If so then being tailed by an enemy like that would add a real scary and intense atmosphere to dungeons, unlikely though, but it still sounds pretty cool.
And I was thinking only a few light sources could be put out too. Things like candles, torches, campfires, lanterns, and such. Things like glowing crystals, big bonfires, etc. you wouldn't be able to put out.

That sounds like the start of a pretty cool quest line.

No. And I thought I heard there might be some troubles with it maybe delaying it.

I didn't hear that, but you might be right

Given the changes to the in tech from Oblivion -> Skyrim, I'd say this is a strong possibility. It would really add another layer to stealth characters, though I hope if it is in, enemy AI reacts accordingly to lights going out.

Maybe there could be a wind spell that turns off all light sources in the area?

I can just imagine using this spell in a guard post and while everyone is in disarray i would drink a nighteye potion then go on a massacre

If we extinguish lights, how are they re-lit?

Fire spell perhaps? Or something more civil?

I want to be able to turn the lights on and off in my house. And I want the light from the window to be real. In my Anvil house in oblivion, it would be midnight, and yet light would be flooding in from the windows like it was noon. :blush:

If it's a fire effect, give it an activator and on/off states. Cast an air or water spell to douse the flames, and "Fire" to relight it. Should be very easy, it's just an object with a fire emanation that is turned either on or off, with an accompanying animation.

Well it certainly looks like the witcher 2 is doing this well, however I think I would prefer a castable field of darkness in Skyrim

To some extent this has already been confirmed for Skyrim, at least with respect to oil lamps:



Source: http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/preview/skyrim-preview-abandon-all-hope-ye-who-expect-to-have-a-life-once-this-dragon-born-epic-arrives/a-20110417182154399032/g-20100727104613977084/p-3

This is essential. Not only was this in Thief 3 (never played the earlier ones), but shooting out light sources (bulbs usually) and stuff has also been in many even older stealth games like Metal Gear and even Splinter Cell.

It's become kind of a necessity for stealth games, and since I think being a stealth character in Skyrim should be more like a stealth game, this is a necessity for Skyrim too IMO.

My question is, how easy will it be to turn off a torch. Telekinesis, frost, and probably a bunch of other spells could put out a torch, but would simple wooden arrows (if they were being realistic)? Would my non-magic thief be able to do it? Water Arrows worked in Thief, but I'm not so sure the same kind of thing would work in Skyrim

As someone said earlier, NPCs should be able to relight candles/torches that go out. Also, YOU should be able to light unlit candles or torches, just because why not? I've been lighting torches since the original Legend of Zelda.



kinda off-topic, but dynamically melting candle-wax would be awesome.