This is one level out of three (main FHN office, hospital where there was a gang shooting, and the streets that connect the two) that I have developed so far.
(Tech specs at the end. read: stuff for really smart people.)
This project took about twelve hours from start to finish.
This is the FHN lobby. Normally there'd be a big FHN sign, but for some reason the Deus Ex engine hates me. Let's talk to the receptionist.
Conversation goes as follows:
JCDenton: Hi, I'm here to talk to Alex Jacobson.
Receptionist: Are you JC Denton?
JCDenton: Yes.
Receptionist: He's not available right now, but head on back to the second cubicle from the right. Someone's expecting you.
JCDenton: Who?
Receptionist: Just head on back, sir.
Yeah, OK, fine, we'll head back.
Oh, wait, hey, what's this? Is this the meeting Alex is in? I wonder if we should go in. (At this point the player can choose whether to interrupt the meeting or not. I decided to go in.)
I bumped into the guard. He doesn't like me. Oops.
Oh. Hi everyone!
Let's talk to Alex.
Conversation goes as follows:
Hi JC. We're in the middle of a meeting right now. In fact, I thought there was someone guarding the stairs.
(at this point the player can choose how they want to respond)
CHOICE #1 - There was. I walked past him.
CHOICE #2 - Oh, okay. I guess I'll just wait outside.
If you're nice, Alex asks you to wait outside politely. If you're blunt, you get told to wait outside bluntly. It also has consequences when you talk to Alex later to try and pitch him your story. Anyway, I'm not gonna wait. I'm just gonna head back to the second cubicle on the right like the secretary told me to.
There he is. (See the basketball on the desk? You CAN throw that around, and it does bounce.)
Conversation is censored because I'm not giving away plot details. Turns out we need to go talk to Alex.
Head back, oh, hey, meeting is still going on. Guess he won't mind if we interrupt AGAIN.
Talked to Alex. He got nervous and told me to go check my email or something. Prick. He gave me an office on the second floor. I GET AN OFFICE, NOT A CUBICLE!! NICE.
Walkin' over to the office. Oh, hey, who's that?
Wh... wait, is that Matt Damon? (If you don't get the joke watch this first and this (Yes, it's real.)
Myeah, anyway, up the stairs to my office.
Yes, I know, it's pretty spartan. Let's read the datacube.
YES! I get to talk to KIKI! (See, Vic? I told you I'd name something after you)
Time to check email. Here's what I got (screenshots unavailable because the engine hates me)
From: Alex
To: JC
Subject: SPIES!!
Body:
JC,
They're spying on us. Also, I had to call in Laura from Women for Gender Sensitivity. Again. Hope you don't mind.
- Alex
and another...
From: Mom
To: JC
Subject: Hi
Body:
Hi sweetie,
I hope you're having a good time in NYC. I'm sorry for your brother's behavior last time you visited. He REALLY does hate it when someone sits on 'his' side of the sofa. Anyway, things have calmed down substantially since then. I just managed to get the spaghetti off the ceiling lights. Hope you'll visit soon!
- Mom
We'll deal with Alex's thing later. Grab the key, get out the door. Time to find Vic's hideout.
Wh... oh hey, there's a plant blocking a really suspicious grate. Maybe we should go check it out.
My key opens it.
Crawling through...
Hi Vic! Gee, I wonder what's on the computer that she doesn't want us to find.
--------------------------
I'm debating with myself on what direction I want this to go in. I would really like to develop a series of mini-stories so that students can learn how to write press releases/blog entries about events/etc, but I also want it to be relatively entertaining.
Anyway, that's a wrap for me.
[End part for normal people]
[Begin part for really smart people]
As promised, here's some background on the technology I used:
Technically it's not a full game, it's a mod based on the Deus Ex engine, it will not run standalone. None of the textures are mine, and about half of the non-character models are mine. Level building and light design is all me, same with the dialogue and the script. I also made a bunch of custom classes and messed around with triggers a bit.
For those of you who aren't familliar the Deus Ex engine, it's based on an EXTREMELY modified version of the Unreal 2 engine, one of the greatest (and most flexible) engines around (and no, the Torque engine is not more flexible. In fact, the Torque engine has flexibility to be an MMO engine a la Serious Sam 2, and THAT'S IT. Torque can [this was copy/pasted from my Facebook note, so I'm gonna censor this part since teachers don't like sexual innuendoes. Let's just say that I use some bad language to describe the Torque engine]. It blows and I don't care what anyone thinks. Worst engine to develop ANYTHING in.)
