Alpha Protocol: The Spy Who Stealthed Me
Friday, August 21, 2009
Ever since my first D&D character (an Elven thief, named Caterbury), I’ve had a lot of love for the rogue. Stealth is my game, and I was pretty excited to try it in Alpha Protocol once our AI got set up to handle it. It was rough going at first. Our early iterations of AI were a little too perceptive. Giving our AI realistic vision and decision-making proved rather punishing to game play. There’s a reason enemies in stealth games are near-sighted and sometimes inexplicably return to their patrols after 100 seconds of not finding the guy who shot them in the leg.
In AP, stealth is based primarily on AI perception. You want to stay out of an enemy’s vision cone and stay as quiet as possible to avoid detection. If Thorton is running around out in the open, enemies can see you and attack from a pretty long distance. If Thorton is in cover, or moving low to the ground, enemy stealth range is cut roughly in half. If an enemy looks your direction, there’s a good chance he’s going to see you. So keeping out of his vision cone and sneaking around him his generally a good way to go. Hearing also plays a large role. If you shoot a gun (without a silencer) or set off an explosion, enemies will become alert. If you make a little noise, they will become suspicious and investigate. You can use this to your benefit a number of different ways. You can use a Sound Generator gadget to place a sound on anything you can see and enemies will go check it out. It’s great for getting baddies to move out of the way so you can sneak past. You can also use a silenced pistol to shoot out destructible items like clay pots to much the same effect. Also it’s very important to have quiet armor, otherwise getting close enough to someone to slit his throat is a much riskier endeavor.
Thorton doesn’t need to waste his bullets on this poor schlub.
Our RPG system was designed to enhance the player’s ability to do everything from shooting to hacking, but I buy skill ranks to improve my stealth abilities. We wanted to make sure that each level gave you something special, that would make a discernable difference in gameplay. For instance, one of the functions of the Stealth skill is that it reduces enemy perception. Instead of reducing vision range by one or two percent at a time, at various points on the Stealth ladder, enemy perception drops by ten percent at a time. Let me tell you, that makes a big difference! We actually tried a more linear incremental system originally. We found, however, that the best way to feel like your character is actually getting better at each level, you have to change things pretty drastically. This is a direction that you can actually see Wizards of the Coast going in with Dungeons and Dragons; where characters are essentially getting a feat or feat equivalent at every experience level.
The Stealth skill ladder also provides a number of other goodies in addition to perception bonuses, though. Within the ladder, there’s an Awareness ability that lets you sense nearby enemies to better judge the quietest path through an enemy patrol. Additional skill ranks can make this ability last longer, or even last indefinitely. You can also get the reactive skill Evasion. This fires off when you are sneaking and an enemy would normally spot you. It gives you a few seconds to get out of the way and hide or (as I prefer to use it) take the opportunity to line up a shot and take him out before he knows what hit him. The Silent Running skill, which temporarily lets Mike sprint without making any noise, is essential for insuring a quick and effective stealth takedown. Sometimes you don’t have time to creep!
The crown jewel of the Stealth skill ladder, though, is the activated skill Shadow Operative. If you are out of sight of an enemy, you can activate it and move directly into the vision cone of any enemies without them seeing you. Thorton becomes virtually invisible for a short period of time (which becomes much longer in later levels). Once Shadow Operative is activated, there is a world of possibilities; that is until you shoot, run or do anything overly obvious. There are also a number of other skill ladders that help augment stealth gameplay significantly.
About to break up the party… or maybe I’ll keep surveying the area for just a little bit longer.
As we developed our missions, we kept stealth opportunities in mind. Our Lead Level Designer, Tyson Christensen, and our Systems Designer, Matt MacLean, put together criteria that our level designers had to follow to make sure that stealth gameplay was not just doable, but fun and challenging. As a result, you will see some missions that are made for the stealth player where he can get in and out without anyone being the wiser, and other missions that require Thorton to use his activated abilities to get through.
My approach to stealth gameplay in AP is the following:
Plan A.) Avoid as many enemies as possible.
Plan B.) Subdue enemies using a stealth takedown
Plan C.) Take aim and fire a silenced shot to the head.
Plan D.)In a firefight, I go to the assault rifle and snipe from a distance.
I look at each situation as a puzzle that can be solved with a little sneakiness. As I gain more experience and gain more (and better) abilities, my stealth strategies change quite a bit.
I’ve got no guns, gadgets or armor, but all I need is the element of surprise.
Here are some of my favorite stealth moments from my last playthrough of the game:
In Taipei, I managed to sneak my way into a hotel room of a corporate drone who happened to have some vital information. Unfortunately, he was still there talking on the phone in another room (where a valuable disk was located). Quickly I hacked a computer that was in the living room so I get even more info and maybe a little cash for myself on the side. I soon realized (with my active Awareness skill) that he was coming out of the bedroom. I quickly ducked behind the bar (yeah he was in a swanky room) and let him go past and out of the room. I ran into the bedroom right away and grabbed the disk and then a small safe caught my eye. Being a rogue at heart, I had to pick the lock. As I did so, I heard him coming back so I ducked into the shower and hoped he wasn’t interested in the bathroom. I spent some tense moments waiting in the shower until he finally decided to leave again at which point I made my exit.
Early in Rome, I was able to accomplish a few missions without laying a single finger on anybody. It’s all about avoidance. I eventually got in touch with guy running the show in Rome and had a conversation with him about what exactly is happening there. At one point, he basically tells me that ‘they didn’t even know I was in Rome.’ I got some positive reputation points with him and the unmistakable feeling of being badass.
Towards the end of the game, my skills are so full of awesome that I can actually start using stealth as highly effective weapon and not just a means to avoid combat. For example, I come upon a battle between a mercenary group called the VCI (Veteran Combat Initiative) and some lowly security guards. I want save as many security guards as I can so I throw on Shadow Operative and enter the large hall. At a high level, I can have this skill going for a long time so I’m able to do stealth takedowns on a couple of the VCI near me and get very close to the next few guys. As Shadow Operative ends, I activate Chain Shot (a skill that allows me to line up multiple shots in a kind of bullet time). I line up critical head shot to each enemy and let the bullets fly. Everyone near me drops. For the first time, I’m visible. There are still some enemies up a very large stairway. I activate Overclock Skill which allows me to expand the range and duration of any gadget. I toss a suped up Flashbang and stun the remaining enemies. I dash up the stairs and take them down instantly with well-placed punches to the throat. Now it’s just me and a couple of very fortunate security guards.
In Alpha Protocol, we account for many different styles of play. Some members of our team are all about guns and explosions when they play the game, while others love to play with the gadgets, setting traps and tricking the enemies. And there are definitely a few that like to solve problems with their bare-hands by maxing out their Martial Arts Skill. As for me, I always want to do Caterbury proud. With shrewd tactical planning, the right equipment and super-powered Stealth skills, Mike Thorton is more than equal to the task.
-Nathan Davis, Producer, Obsidian Entertainment
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