Paramount Park Concept

The new mission for Remote Shepherd takes place in a large park in the center of the downtown borough of River Ridge. The design of the park is heavily influenced by both Central Park in NYC and Middle Park in GTA IV. For our level the Central Park was too large for us to recreate with our time limit and the layout of Middle Park did not match well with what we needed out of the space for our game.

Mole Hunt - Mission Briefing

We (Remote Shepherd vigilante group) have been working to remove the hold organized crime has on River Ridge City for the better part of two years. We have managed to remove most of the low level gangs, but this has led to the remaining organizations working together to take us out, operating under the moniker "Wilcox-Arlington Management Group." (WAMG) One of the member crime families, we don't know which, has managed to gain one, if not more, informants inside of the RRPD. These informants are both giving police information to the crime families and manipulating the actions of the police department.

I (Delta) have been able to obtain information that a transfer between one of the informants and an intelligence officer for WAMG is going down in Paramount Park today. I was unable to obtain any information on the informant, but was able get the files on the intelligence officer. You will have to use the intelligence officer in order to uncover the informant. The intelligence officer will be attempting to maintain a low profile but he will be accompanied by his personal bodyguard.

Once you’ve located the intelligence officer, do not lose him. He will surely be cautious and aware that we are hunting him. You’ll also have to pay close attention to anyone near the intelligence officer as I am sure he and the informant will attempt to disguise their meeting as something else. I cannot stress enough that the goal of this mission is to stop the flow of information and the manipulation of the police department. I don’t care how you achieve this goal; just make sure you don’t screw this up.

Mission 1 - Where's My Money?

The first mission of Remote Shepherd is set in the Market described in an earlier post. The player’s mission is weakening the gang by stopping their incoming cash flow. This mission is primarily designed to teach the player the basic controls of the game and teach them that there is no set solution to any mission.

The mission is broken into two parts the first being introduce the controls and examining the crowd for a target. The player will move to each of the three snipers and be explained how to mark people in the crowd as no threat, possible threat or threat. We will also explain how based on each person’s behaviors this conclusion can be made.

The second part is teaching them all the things the player will need in order to complete any mission the way they want to. Just like in the previous part each sniper will tell the player how something in the environment will react to a bullet. This includes shooting out windows, starting a panic and shooting out a light. With this knowledge the player will be able to make an educated guess how everything else in the world will react to their actions.

Alley Concept

The non-lethal version of mission 3 takes begins in a small parking lot next to a local church. The organization of middle class citizens trying to clean up the city are getting ready for one of their charity events the following day at the church. Without warning, a group of gang members surrounds the parking lot and begin firing at the citizens. The citizens try and run away to the police station just a few blocks away. In order to get to the police station the citizens run through a series of alleyways all the while dodging bullets from the gang members.

Harbor Concept

If the outcome for the second mission was in the lethal category then the third mission will be set in an industrial harbor helping the police take down the gang’s leader at their base of operations. The harbor is set in the industrial borough bordering the River Cove borough with the large river separating it from the downtown borough. The harbor was one of several large dockyards for shipping supplies in and out of River Ridge. However like the rest of the areas around River Ridge it is now partly rundown and only has a fraction of the shipping traffic it once had.

The gang’s base is situated on an outlet of land adjacent to the main shipping dock with several industrial buildings and docks for mid-size cargo ships. The gang uses an abandoned cargo ship to hide its drug operation as it provides a hidden location compared to the industrial buildings with large glass windows. As for the industrial buildings, the gang uses them as a supply front to hold storage crates full of drugs and guns. The outlet has several abandoned silos and shipping crates from when this dock was used for shipping supplies. Access to these locations is by ship or an industrial road that runs through the harbor which provides the gang with a clear view of anyone coming near.

Where is the Agency

A common critique of Remote Shepherd is “Where’s the agency?” Our initial answer to this question was that the NPCs would react to shots fired at or near them. However this did not stop the question, so we had to sit down and think how the player’s actions would affect the game. Our current answer is that what the player does will lead to a certain outcome for a mission. Each outcome for a mission fits into one of three categories; lethal, non-lethal or arrest.

Lethal outcomes involve the death of an NPC where as non-lethal requires that no one has been killed. The next mission will depend on which of these two categories the outcome of the previous mission fit into. The arrest outcome happens when, through their actions, the police are able to locate each of the three snipers, ending the game. When the player is arrested they view a cutscene showing a conclusion to anything that has happened in the game.

We decided to place a heavy cost to all of the player’s actions, influenced by Heavy Rain. Everything the player does has some type of effect on how the game’s story unfolds. If a player just starts shooting randomly into the crowd they will be arrested quicker, leading to the end of the game. The player’s choice to use lethal or non-lethal action will also shape how the story unfolds by changing the missions.

Apartment Mission Concept

Mission 2 takes place in an apartment complex built for the upper class families that wanted the niceties of life in the suburbs but could not afford it. To meet these needs the complex is built on the outskirts of Royal Cove next to the river, dividing it from downtown River Ridge. There is also a network of walkways running through the open areas of the complex and along the short cliff edge overlooking the river. Residents also have access to a Metro station and a small restaurant with patios overlooking the river just across the street. These apartments would have been the best place available to live near downtown River Ridge but the complex was completed shortly before the middle class left Royal Cove. When the gang moved into Royal Cove most of the high ranking members and their families moved into this complex as it was the best in the borough.

New York City

New York City

New York City

Market Mission Concept

The first mission in Remote Shepherd takes place around a small park at the heart of Royal Cove. On this day the park is being used for the weekly flea market where the locals can sell and buy goods. This is also the time when the local gang sends its debt collector around the local businesses to collect any outstanding debts the shop keeps might have. The mission for the player is to stop the gang from being able to collect this debt in an attempt to weaken the gang’s grip on the locals and to lighten the gang’s wallet. The player will first have to locate the gang’s debt collector based on his actions towards others as well as the behaviors of the locals towards him.

New York City

The concept for the market is based on the picture above of a section of Broadway in New York City. I came across this area while exploring New York City using Google maps street view for open markets. I had found a few places where there were open markets but they were all covered areas so that did not work for our game. I then changed gears and looked for a park that could be used to hold a flea market. This led me to this place which is too narrow for our game, so I simply made it into a full city block. With this we can have open areas giving the player a clear view of the NPCs so they can find the debt collector. It also allowed me to design an area in which some parts would be occluded from certain vantage points. Blocking the view from certain vantage points is important because we want to force the player to use all the vantage points.

Flea market vendor

Surrounding city blocks