T w e n t y S i d e d

Note: This is a Shamus-scheduled article that is being published post-mortem.

Back at the white house, Troy meets with Alex face-to-face. This next part is like your visits to Seraph Industries in Deus Ex Human Revolution. The player isn’t allowed to pull out their weaponsOr the game will let them, but discharging a weapon is an instant game over. or do any other shenanigans that would break the story. I know these games pride themselves on player agency and freedom, but I think most players are okay with not being allowed to pointlessly fire their weapons or toss inventory items around for no reason while visiting the White House.

Mission 3: Morpheus Protocol

Alex sums up the plot so far: Life is back to normal for the president. His poll numbers are up even more since the attempt on his life. We ID’d the people that attacked the White HouseLet’s just carefully avoid saying if they’re alive or dead, since the player could have spared or killed any number of them. and they’re a jumbled assortment of misfits and cranks. It isn’t rare that a few loonies would want to try something like this. There are always a few threats, regardless of who’s in office. What is rare is that the group would have the budget, training, and knowledge to get so close. These people were obviously helped by someone a lot richer, smarter, and better-connected. This fits with what Troy learned in Switzerland.

Troy asks how the arrests are going with the State Department. Alex says she hasn’t heard anything yet. The two wonder what “Project Morpheus” might be about. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Deus Ex Pitch Part 4: Morpheus Protocol”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Note: This is a Shamus-scheduled article that is being published post-mortem.

The helidrone drops off Troy Denton on the Miami coast. We’re at a hotel, looking for the would-be assassin Leo Gold. It’s sundown.

It’s finally time to play a proper Deus Ex level, with an open design, multiple routes, and affordances for combat, stealth, hacking, and social interactions.

Actually, let me back up and take care of something from the previous entry.

Okay, NOW let’s play our first real Deus Ex level…

Mission 1: Housekeeping

To the east is a marina. To the west is the hotel. In between these two are various recreational facilities. There’s a pool, equipment rental, a tennis court, and an open-air tiki bar. It’s mostly deserted. A few people are milling around, but they’re bored, restless, and not using the facilities. The bar is actually closed.

The heli just dropped us off in the middle of a parking lot where several large law enforcement vehicles have been hastily parked. These vehicles look like your typical SWAT vans, but they don’t have any sort of agency markings.

Agent Sam Carter explains on the radio: Some SWAT guys have locked down the hotel. We don’t know what they’re doing or why they’ve taken control of the place. We can’t figure out what department these guys work for. CIA? FBI? Homeland Security? Local police? We don’t know. They’re giving us the runaround.

We obviously don’t want some messy inter-department misunderstanding leading to more bloodshed. At the same time… We really need you to find Leo Gold. Look, I’m not saying to shoot these guys, I’m just saying use your head, okay?

The SWAT guys are ignoring the recreational stuff and the marina. They’re just focused on the hotel. They look like normal SWAT, except on the back they have a pair of wings logo where you would normally expect to see “POLICE”. Maybe the logo has the Eye of Providence between the wings? Is that too much? It is? Great! That’s what I was going for.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Deus Ex Pitch Part 3: Housekeeping”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Before we get started, there’s one last detail I need to cover. I’m going to be re-using names from the previous games. I’m only doing this for the ease of reading. I’m not actually suggesting that every single character in my story would be a repurposed character from the earlier games.

The problem we have is that this series is fairly light on details. We don’t have faces, voices, costumes, musical cues, and character designs to make all of these people memorable. I’m going to be dumping a lot of names on you, and it’s going to be easy to get confused.

I’m hoping that by borrowing existing names, you’ll be able to attach these new characters to equivalents in other games. When I mention a guy named Sam Carter in my story, I’m hoping you’ll remember the retired military hardass with a heart of gold that mentors JC Denton in the original game.

If we were actually going to make this into a game, then we would need to give everyone unique names.Maybe we could keep a couple of recurring names, like how the name “Cid” always shows up in Final Fantasy.

Anyway, let’s hit New Game and play…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Deus Ex Pitch Part 2: New Game”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.