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Markus Koskivirta March 16, 2010 16:00 3 Thumb-ups
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Crew Quarters map

Allright, I had a sort-of an epiphany one day about a whole concept for a level and had pretty big plans on scripting it etc., but unfortunately I didn't put it all down that instant and most of it is now gone. However, I'm gonna post what I still remember and hope that'll at least give a little inspiration.

The following takes place in the crew quarters level of the game (or something similar):
The concept of the level could be split like this:
Action Dude - During the night - Kill/detain/avoid all the nazis on the level and procure keys(or whatever) to move on through the security door blocking your way.
Stealther - During the night - Introduce a nerve gas/toxin to the ventilation system to clear out the area of hostiles (or possibly just a part of the base)
Spy - During the day - Procure a way to pass through the security door, whatever means necessary and find out where (Information X) is stored

The whole playing area is a sort of a wing of the whole base at least in my mind. The map has 5 key "rooms" or areas to search through and several connecting sections between them, making for a fairly free-to-roam area with minimal wasted space, due to the nazis being very efficient that way.
The entrance to the area is equipped with a security checkpoint for the bigger weaponry of the men (so they don't start fighting in the dormitories and there is no chance of some idealist starting an uprising or whatever). However they are allowed personal knives, and basically any weaponry that isn't a projectile weapon. This first area also houses the entrance to the crew quarters (which can be manned and defended) and a storage for goods that are being transported around the base.
Next come the sleeping quarters, very basic military style bunks and cabinets for you personal belongings. Very tightly set so as to have space for enough men.
The sleeping quarters are combined with a square corridor, in the middle of which is the showering room. The showering room has 2 entrances and is otherwise an Auschwitz-style shower, with ceramic tiles and a line of showers for mass use.
Through the corridor you can also get to the lavatory (a bit too big in the map maybe), which is basically just a big waste-disposal unit.
Then on the last corner of the corridor you have your rec room with a few punching bags and maybe a single weight-lifting rack. This same room is also used for maintenance of your gear and possible group exercises etc.
Through the maintenance room you get to the boiler-room with ventilation controls and access. (Also a bit too big in the map perhaps)

The storyline for action dude is fairly straightforward. The guards are aware that he shouldn't be there. The weapons are behind lockdown at the security checkpoint if an alert hasn't been called, otherwise the weapons are being unloaded to the troops and if the player comes too close to the door which is providing the soldiers with the weapons, a scripted event will cause the armory officer to secure the door shut tight, so the PC cannot enter further into the base. Regardless of the alarm the security officer will have shut down the door for the night, only the amount of armed enemies is a variable here. The player then has to clear out the areas looking for the key or passcard to get along with the mission, with all the other doors openable except the door to the maintenance with the boiler and vents. The alarm can depend on the facts of a) is the forward "bunker" of the sleeping areas manned and firing and b) the hero has to get more keys from dead enemies to proceed further into the area, because the doors are locked.
Also, if the alarm has been set off, the area will have less enemies (most of them have gone off to search for the PC in other area) but they will be more threatening (have weapons and expect him). When it is not set off, most of the soldiers will be sleeping soundly and can be avoided completely (unless he starts shooting at random). If he does wake them up, they'll all be pretty easy targets with only melee weaponry or fists, but can still hurt the PC with sheer overwhelming numbers.
There isn't much going on on this level except excessive amounts of violence if the alarm has been set. The passcard or key can be found from a higher ranking soldier hunkered down in the rec room with a couple buddies defending him. The areas should have lots of cover and lots of nooks and crannies for the soldiers to lean in and out of and since the area is circular, the enemies should try to outflank the hero by attacking his rear once he enters into the sleeping quarters and further in.
If the alarm hasn't been set, the PC should read from the locked door something along the lines of "If you want to go through after lockdown, speak with Heidecker" and then the PC should search the lockers for that name. Of course Heideckers belongings would not be where they're supposed to be, but instead his locker would be in the maintenance area for repairs or something. There could be a couple of late shower-users coming out of the showering-area once the PC enters the room, so he could hear humming and see the door open (some light shining into the room from the shower area) and thus have to stay back while the single soldier (or couple soldiers) makes his way to his bed. If he is through to the corridor, he could encounter a soldier coming back from taking a piss with only his sleeping undies on. The sleepy soldier could either be avoided or stealthily choked and killed. The locker would be in the maintenance room and once the key was procured, the PC could get back through to the door without any additional incidents.

Now, as for the stealthers storyline. Pretty much the same as with the non-alarm action dude, except for the fact that he would also have to get the janitor-key for the maintenance door from the other sleeping quarters and he would have to carry the poison and a gasmask with him. You could also maybe alter the routes of the soldiers a little bit to change the playing experience. Thus you could script two more things in here. Firstly, once he opens the janitor-closet (just some unfortunate soldier with maintenance duty) it could trigger a small noise and wake up one soldier from the other side of the room. Thus the PC would have to close the closet and get out of there before the soldier gets too close and sees him.
Once he has set the poison into the ventilation (of course the poison is silent and won't wake the soldiers up, thus making them sleep forever) and geared himself up with the key and the gas mask, the PC makes a run for it before anyone catches him. With a three minute timer before the base's internal systems (located in the armory) spot the contaminants in the air, the PC must quietly make his way to the armory to turn off the alarm.

The Spy hasn't gotten a lot of love in this version, since I pretty much forgot all the key elements I had with him, but still, this area would be all about conversations with the soldiers and their reactions to you depending on your rank etc. You could blow your cover if you were stupid enough with your choices (game over, man, game over), but also there can be hidden bits of info if you're extra special careful with the dialogue options. All the doors would of course be open to the spy, except the armory, since he wouldn't have clearance to go on further or whatever. So you could get clearance somehow or you could just get the key from Heidecker somehow and that would trigger an event for you to wait until night to start the "final operation" behind that door, at which point your cover would be unnecessary anyway (you had no business to go in there, I mean).

If you get any ideas, any at all, please give it a shot. I'm especially keen on hearing any ideas for the dialogues of the spy.

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Comments

Matti Delahay March 29, 2010 09:55 Flag

Sorry for responding late, as I told you in my PM I meant to comment this a lot earlier but have been (and still am) pretty busy this month. This is an excellent shot, however, thanks for your trouble!

While the living quarters area in our base is already a pretty complete level in terms of room structure, there's a lot of very nice ideas here that we could use (including some things we've already planned to do) especially in terms of the soldier (action guy) storyline. :)

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