Attention Officers,
Thank you for joining us for the 63rd edition of our biweekly development briefing, November 3rd, 2023!
Today, we want to go in-depth on what you can expect from the game's campaign mode and narrative. The main focal point of these changes is what's known as "Commander Mode," the name of our new campaign mode that brings with it countless new immersive features. In Los Sueños, how you enter the ‘fatal funnel’ of each door will seal your fate and that of those around you.
Some of the elements from Commander Mode that we will cover are the progressive mission unlocks, permadeath, roster system, behavioral traits, officer therapy, and HQ expansion/functionality.
In the second section of this briefing, we will also detail progress on our narrative techniques such as briefing messages, 'on-call' officers, interactive audio device storytelling, novel tools for storytelling such as modular vehicle license plates, and the accompaniment of auxiliary in-game organizations.
Throughout this briefing you will see media that portrays the various topics we discuss!
Please keep in mind that the development content depicted in this briefing is a work in progress and may be subject to change in the game’s final state.
Vol.63 Development Briefing summary points:
(not a changelog)
- Missions for Single Player unlock one after another in order of completion
- Single Player playthroughs will have permadeath for each of your officers
- In Ironman mode, your save will be deleted if you die
- There will be a large amount of unique behavioral traits for the officers in your long potential roster which will each impact the gameplay style of your team
- Mission conduct outcome will affect the mental health of your officers, unbearable levels of stress causing them to quit or worse
- Over 5 new areas in the station with revamped existing areas such as the firing range and shoot house
- At least one unique briefing per mission that can take various formats, along with the extensive role that your tactical tablet plays for most mission information
- 30-40 new interactable audio narrative devices added to the game.
- Modular license plates on vehicles that allow us to easily customize all aspects of them during development to fit the sort of characters in each mission
- A description of some of the federal law enforcement organizations present in the narrative, including DETE (Drug Enforcement Tactical Element), FISA (Federal Investigation and Security Agency), the Marshals, and the Park Service.
- Teaser conclusion
Take Command
In the boots of David “Judge” Beaumont you are the Commander of the LSPD's SWAT Team. This is by no means a figurehead role in-game for Commander Mode. It is up to you to compose your team from a long dynamic roster, pick your plans, give orders, keep your teammates (as well as yourself) alive and healthy in mind and body, and conduct your missions with integrity.
All three of major systems detailed in sections below: permadeath, officer traits, and mental health interplay to provide an additional layer of tension to your team’s success and conduct in a mission.
In Commander Mode your mission score is meaningful, and the specific conduct used to achieve the score will lead to a subsequent long-term impact on your team, positive or negative. If you arrest all suspects but kill a civilian, expect detrimental repercussions on your team’s stress levels.
High Stakes Progress
The extreme state of systematic disrepair in Los Sueños has left everyone at risk. The dangerous nature of your encounters will spiral the further you go. Lives taken is further violence, and it's your duty to uphold what dignity you can for future prosperity by defusing hostile situations that are too far out of hand.
Unnecessarily escalating these missions makes them more unpredictable and turbulent for all involved. This escalation will often provoke suspects and civilians to resort to more drastic measures in missions.
Each successful completion of a given mission will unlock the next one in succession for Single Player. The story of Los Sueños and the trials that you will face unveil themselves to you in each mission as you come across them.
Officer permadeath for all single player playthroughs means your team members won't get a second chance. Our new SWAT AI has an exceptional increase in their survivability and tactical effectiveness, but it's up to you to make sure the specific tactics you order are sound in each unique decision in-game. If a SWAT Officer dies there will also be a negative impact on your team’s mental health.
“Ironman mode” even makes your own survival imperative or you risk the deletion of your save when you, as the commander, die.
(Image below: A save slot for Commander Mode with the Iron Man option shown)
Squad Composition
Your roster will consist of a pool of unique SWAT Officers with varying behavioral traits, specialties, and backgrounds from across the city of Los Sueños and its surrounding counties— topped off with a broad selection of high quality studio voice acting.
The composition of behavioral traits the officers in your roster have an effect your team’s operational effectiveness for different command styles. Some work in progress types of behavior traits are explained below.
Players who orient their gameplay around more aggressive tactics may choose officers that have a higher resilience to stress, meaning the traumatic situations they encounter might not seem to affect them as much.
Alternatively, players may prioritize having a team with a high level of situational awareness, with the Veteran trait allowing them to detect traps without having to check first. The Moral Officer trait will contribute to a team’s higher level of emotional relief resulting from taking suspects alive.
Furthermore, for multiplayer COOP PvE, “[you] will be able to choose character voice lines and heads in cooperative, of which there are 13 unique voice acted characters, and a total of 18,445 lines of dialogue in different situations (quiet and loud contexts). There are also 26 unique officer head models across four general ethnic backgrounds.”
— Gruntr, Director
Value of Conscience
How your team conducts itself in a mission and the scenarios they encounter can lead to a psychological effect on your officers that is critical to address to ensure proper effectiveness in the field. Your officers will receive check-ins with a Mental Health Unit attached to your team who relays the outcomes in their respective files.
If an officer’s mental status becomes unbearable it may even lead them to quit, or worse.
“We aim for stress to be a meta-game loop that reinforces good decision making and respect for the encounters against threats and non-threats. While you may succeed by killing every suspect in a level [to keep] your officers safe, you will not be able to do so with impunity. The toll it takes on your team to witness such brutal and aggressive tactical decision making will have run-on effects that will cripple your team composition.”
– Gruntr
(Image below: Different mental health review screens in-game following the completion of various missions, showing differing physical and mental statuses across the team along with advice from the mental health unit)
Your Home Base
The station is more than just a place you wait before each mission, it is the central heart of your operations and the entire police department. With an overhaul of the existing station rooms, an already shown new building, and over 5 entirely new areas within the building, there’s plenty of room in your home throughout the course of the story.
(Image below: A semi-obscured blueprint of the new Station, we’ll leave most of the newer areas for you to explore, for now)
The shoot house within the station now contains a new layout and timer to count your completion time. Put your skills to the test to compete for skill and glory.
An improved shooting range with targets that have a higher level of interactivity is also included. Targets on rails are able to move forward and backwards for easy analysis of your shot grouping. Reflex training targets are also now available, with targets that fall and stand back up between shots as well as a muscle memory training target that alternates back and forth with each successive impact.
Between each of your missions head to the evidence locker to examine sorted mission-specific pieces of intricately detailed 3D-modeled evidence, accompanied with a detailed description that relates to the deeper lore of each mission you complete.
Although you may not be a detective, utilize this opportunity to get additional insights into the world of Los Sueños and to recap your team’s accomplishments.
The evidence you find here will sometimes also shine a light on the experiences of survivors, victims, and otherwise innocent people caught up in each mission’s story.
(Image below: A heart wrenching piece of evidence from Gas implores you to reflect on the experiences around you)
Narrative Techniques
Your environment is even fuller in storytelling than ever before. With fleshed out narratives for each mission that are accompanied by countless narrative devices, you will be fully immersed in the world of Los Sueños. However, the ‘dreams’ the name of the city alludes to are occluded by the nightmares manifesting all around it. Tread carefully as you scour these depths.
Briefing messages, 'on-call' officers, interactive audio device storytelling, modular vehicle license plates, and auxiliary in-game organizations are all elaborated upon in this section.
Your Briefing
Each mission will have a unique briefing setup that can take various formats with at least one briefing media per mission. Excerpts from these briefings will be visible on your tactical tablet to review during the mission for any operationally relevant information.
(Image below: a placeholder example of one of these briefing excerpts, where the audio can be replayed from.)
Most of your team’s operations can be monitored and controlled within your tactical tablet as an immersive interactable menu, allowing extensive information to be available at a glance without breaking your immersion.
On Call
We've shown off a glimpse at some of our Rapid Response outfits in the past, but there's a further narrative purpose to being able to customize your SWAT outfit for non-uniform wear. During Commander Mode your fellow officers in missions may at times be unexpectedly needed for a mission while 'on-call,' meaning otherwise going about their normal personal life.
This results in them wearing more casual wear to the scene itself, with an extremely wide potential of possible clothing combinations between our new different gloves, vests, helmets, boots, eyewear, shirts, pants, and more.
(Image below: An example of yet another combination of clothing possible for a Rapid Response outfit in the customization screen, though your officer will probably have a helmet)
It's a good thing your officer was able to make it to the call, but now maybe you should pay a little extra attention identifying friend or foe when you encounter them during the mission.
Ear to the Ground
The calls you’ve already been hearing in the station phoneline were just scratching the surface.
Aside from the briefings there will be between 30-40 new interactable audio narrative devices added to the game.
These new interactable audio narrative devices will be scattered around various missions, including the station.
Character Specific Licenses
Perhaps one of our most novel narrative features, this one is parked outside of every mission you visit, framing not only the location and context but the sorts of individuals that are present in the mission before you even make entry.
An intuitive, fully customizable modular license plate system allows us to choose between occupations and organizations to suit different characters in the game when first developing a map, enhancing environmental storytelling further. Note that by "modular" these plates do not necessarily change each time you load a mission, this is more of a development workflow technique. This feature is the perfect complement to our large array of new vehicles shown off in the Vol.61 Dev Briefing.
(GIF below: a showcase of a wide variety of options in our fully customizable modular license plate system)
These plates even have have alternative styles for each variation, and the plate numbers are easilly customized as well as randomized with a click of a button to ensure every vehicle you encounter is properly unique.
For example, outside the Hospital you will see a swath of hospital staff affiliated license plates.
Auxiliary Organizations
Your team may be elite, forged from a tough beat that is Los Sueños, but you’re not the only law enforcement group in the narrative and you’re not alone in your struggle. Federal law enforcement agencies play a large role in the narrative as well— helping to set up operations for your unit, follow leads, and separately conducting operations away from your team.
Among just a few of the law enforcement organizations operating in Los Sueños that you will encounter throughout the narrative are:
DETE (Drug Enforcement Tactical Element) who are “a specialized unit working with Los Sueños Police Department's Narcotics Division. They collaborate closely with CBP tactical teams at the border and focus on combating drug trafficking.”
FISA (Federal Investigation and Security Agency), who “acts as an investigative authority for the United States Government. It is responsible for maintaining national security, investigating federal crimes, and protecting the United States and its citizens from various threats.”
The Marshals, who are “an elite tactical unit responsible for executing high-risk warrant operations typically involving federal crimes in lower-income areas of Los Sueños, including North Hills, San Uriel, Makade, and Muerto Mesa. Trained for precision and equipped for danger, they confront adversity head-on, upholding justice.”
Last but not least in this limited list, we have the Park Service, who “is a highly trained law enforcement unit assigned to protect the National Parks in the Los Sueños area, including the Sierra Del Sueños. Tasked with combating drug traffickers, manufacturers, and other criminal enterprises that exploit these parks, the US Park Police operates with specialized tactics and equipment to ensure public safety and preserve natural resources.”
Conclusion:
It will soon be time for you to truly take command of your team and the impact your missions have as you move through our immersive game world. There's even more parts to many of these systems that you will uncover as you progress through your playthrough.
Before we sign off...
It’s been cooking, marinating, and well-worth the wait, so here’s a quick look at just a few capabilities of our highly anticipated overhauled SWAT AI:
(GIFs below: A sneak peek at what's right outside the door for SWAT AI, courtesy of Ali)
This concludes our 63rd development briefing. Be sure to tune in next time for more development news!
Thank you to Sam for tinkering with some of his Commander Mode playthroughs to get us those diverse mental health impact screenshots at the end of missions.
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