Updaam is one of the four maps of Deathloop. Each of them being split into 4 periods of the day: Morning, noon, Afternoon and Evening. Updaam afternoon is not hosting a Target to eliminate, thus, it is meant to provide a lot of side content. I recommend you to take a look at the Noon Portfolio page first to better understand some of the map’s specificities.
- Global Layout iterations (All periods’ geometry).
- Local Layout iterations (Specific period’s geometry).
- Setup of NPC placement and patrols.
- Setup of NPC narrative sequences and interactions.
- Scripting of Events and Outcomes (Cinematics, one liners, gameplay branching)
- Audio propagation setup (volume based)
Consequences and how details matter
Although everyday starts the same in Deathloop, it’s very unlikely that it would end that way too. Choices have to be EVERYWHERE, at EVERY CORNER, whether they bare long time consequences or not, it’s a carefully crafted love letter to player’s initiative. Aside from choices, a lot has been done to make sure replaying the same map several times won’t get too tiresome. Thus, having problem solving situations involving Powers or things Player won’t master at first is a great opportunity for us to unfold content little by little.
The Concert
A concert always happens in the Afternoon. Always?.. Actually, if you blew up Fristad Rock (another map) earlier in the day, there won’t be any concert. Instead, a speech from an Harriet’s zealot will take place.
But what if Harriet has been killed earlier? Well, the speech will differ.
The Musicians killing (a myriad of approaches to ruin a show)
Concert’s Musicians are what we called “High Value Targets” carrying a lot of quality content. But they are protected by hermetic shielded glass and metal Bubbles.
The dumb fun approach
Attempting to storm the concert is a guarantee to have a difficult time. But it’s gonna be epic, Musicians will rally the whole streets and play LOUDER! Killing dozens and dozens of Eternalists will eventually open the pod doors.
Colt, an intellectual
The smart way to get the Musicians loot is to suffocate them in the bubbles, thus no reinforcements at all! To do this, player will need a crank wheel to cut off the air. They either need to order one at Gideon Fry’s shop or retrieve one in Noon Updaam and plug it to have it usable in the Afternoon.
The Smart/Dumb way
Another way to deal with the situation with panache is to hack all the turrets around the show before storming in. It would prevent the reinforcements to come in effectively and will reduce the fight’s difficulty.
The Cannonman
A group of stupid individuals are shooting someone (holding a very valuable trinket) with a Cannon. Letting it happen will catapult the guy in the Sea. Intervening can instead result in:
- Shooting the guy below the map to retrieve his Trinket in Karl’s Bay (another map), in the evening.
- Letting the guy stuck inside. He will vociferate up until the evening (you can come back there to hear him)
The Moxie (and how to ruin it, too)
The Moxie is another game designed by Charlie Montague. The rules are very simple, complete a series of agility trials as fast as you can.
At first, Moxie’s room where more leaning towards puzzle, but I thought these would be problematic for replay value, so I turned the challenges into agility trials.
Charlie thought about everything…
To fit with Charlie’s smartass character, I wanted to surprise the player who would try to cheat the game in some ways. Charlie reacts accordingly to the cheating attempts. Whether they concern mobility or level systems such as (shootable) buttons.
Or did he?
Charlie didn’t think about Powers as Eternalists don’t have any…
2-Bit is here too!
Once completed, you’ll discover that 2-Bit also lightly monitors that game. Given what you did to its precious Master Charlie in the previously loops, 2-Bit may cheer at your sight, but if you killed Charlie once or several times, it won’t be as nice and a surprise will await the Player at the exit!
Exploration rewarded
Ultimately, player could also discover an adjacent room serving as technical center for the game. Player can hear some Eternalists struggling to complete the Ground Floor. Hacking the system makes the game more easy to complete in the afternoon, but the participants present in the game would complete the first floor and get its reward.
Many more things are to be found in that Map but I think those main items are giving a proper vision of the care I’ve put into each of these pieces of content. There’s always something new to do depending on the circumstances that led the Player here. This rewards player’s agency and their ability to create emergent situations.
Map contributors
Here’s the list of other great human beings who made the shipping of that map possible.
- Level Designer: (on Updaam Morning and Evening) Dana Nightingale, Romain Gallego. / (Multiplayer setup and balancing) Sylvain Menguy / (Extra Content) Meghan Hannier, Julian Tellieux.
- Lead Level Designer: Yoann Saquet, Joackim Daviaud.
- Level Artist: David Di Giaccomo, Grégoire Neyrand.
- Lead Level Artist: Damien Laurent, Geoffroy Espinasse.
- Lighting Artist: Victor Frechard.
- Narrative Designer: Sandra “Sachka” Duval, Sophie Mallinson, Bennett Smith, Alex Scokel, Rosa Dachtler.
- Game Designer: Alexandre Leboucher, Jonathan Foudral, Jerome Braune, Gauthier Roussel, David Mc Clure.
- Animator: Alain Huynh, Thibault Morel, Damien Pougeon, Rudy Pierrat.
- Sound Designer: Fabien Goury, Thomas Mitton, Benjamin Darmon, Michel Tremouiller.
- VFX Artists: Thibault Guichard, Pierre Brouchet, Victor Anus.
- Creative Directors: Dinga Bakaba, Sebastien Mitton.
- Campaign Director: Dana Nightingale.