 During the first months of development , the team regularly gathered to watch films pertinent to Garrett 's character and to the game 's visual design , such as The Third Man , The Castle of Cagliostro , M and Metropolis . Pearsall said that the latter two films were Thief II 's " biggest aesthetic influences " , while the main inspiration for its plot was Umberto Eco 's novel The Name of the Rose . The team also drew influence from Fritz Leiber 's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser . The game 's story was written in the three @-@ act structure : Garrett was intended to transition from his " cynical self " in the first act to a private investigator in the second , and to a character similar to James Bond in the third . The City 's technology and architecture were influenced by the appearance of Victorian London , and certain areas were given an Art Deco theme to provide " sort of a ' Batman ' feel " , in reference to the 1989 film . Lead artist Mark Lizotte captured over two @-@ thousand photographs during his vacation in Europe , and these were the basis for many of the game 's textures . 
