WEBVTT 00:00:03.810 --> 00:00:07.779 Stealth game heroes always have the best gadgets. 00:00:07.779 --> 00:00:13.770 From Agent 47’s piano wire, to Sam Fisher’s goofy goggles, to Emily Kaldwin’s fistful 00:00:13.770 --> 00:00:20.280 of superpowers - these sneaky boys and girls are often defined by their iconic inventory items. 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:25.220 Because the truth is: stealth games aren’t just about waiting for guards to move out 00:00:25.220 --> 00:00:27.259 the way before you sneak past. 00:00:27.259 --> 00:00:32.989 Instead, they’re about using gadgets, super powers, and abilities to tip the situation 00:00:32.989 --> 00:00:34.430 to your advantage. 00:00:34.430 --> 00:00:39.840 So welcome back to the School of Stealth - a mini-series about the design of sneaky games. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:44.510 For episode two, we’re now deep behind enemy lines, and ready to move on. 00:00:44.510 --> 00:00:50.910 So it’s time to reach into our utility belt and pick out the five types of stealth game gadget. 00:00:50.910 --> 00:00:57.480 So, like I said, most stealth mechanics can be bundled into five key categories. 00:00:57.480 --> 00:01:00.960 Category one covers gadgets that let you gather information. 00:01:00.970 --> 00:01:05.220 Anything that lets you see beyond the limited viewpoint of your character. 00:01:05.220 --> 00:01:10.249 So while a shut door would usually restrict your knowledge of what’s behind it, Sam 00:01:10.249 --> 00:01:14.590 Fisher can slip an optic fibre camera underneath and spy on the room ahead. 00:01:14.590 --> 00:01:17.730 There’s also the motion tracker in Alien Isolation. 00:01:17.730 --> 00:01:20.369 Peeking through keyholes in Invisible Inc. 00:01:20.369 --> 00:01:22.469 Leaning around cover in Dishonored. 00:01:22.469 --> 00:01:25.630 And night vision goggles that highlight enemies in the dark. 00:01:25.630 --> 00:01:30.140 You could even count Snake’s interrogation skills, which force enemies to give up intel 00:01:30.140 --> 00:01:33.310 on guard patrols and ammo caches. 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:37.079 These gadgets give you an informational advantage over the enemy. 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:42.159 And as Gunpoint creator Tom Francis says “when you know more about the enemy than they know 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:45.060 about you, you can factor them into your thinking. 00:01:45.060 --> 00:01:49.460 [And that] information is the raw material plans are made of”. 00:01:49.460 --> 00:01:52.670 These gadgets also dictate the pace of the game. 00:01:52.670 --> 00:01:57.630 The rhythm of a stealth game is defined by a moment of carefully observing the next room 00:01:57.630 --> 00:01:59.520 - and then moving through it. 00:01:59.520 --> 00:02:04.640 It’s a constant, repeating loop of observation and execution. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:08.800 Category two covers gadgets that let you manipulate enemies. 00:02:08.810 --> 00:02:14.340 On the previous episode, I talked about how stealth game guards can see and hear the player 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:17.330 by using simulated eyes and ears. 00:02:17.330 --> 00:02:21.939 These gadgets let us use those sensory systems to our advantage. 00:02:21.940 --> 00:02:28.360 So the Playboy magazine, the decoy, and the dropped weapon can pique a guard’s visual interest. 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:33.380 The sonic Batarang, the speaker on the sticky camera, and the trusty ol’ rock, meanwhile, 00:02:33.380 --> 00:02:35.480 can trigger a guard’s hearing response. 00:02:35.480 --> 00:02:40.769 Sometimes, the distracting element is actually found within the world itself, like overflowing 00:02:40.769 --> 00:02:42.030 a sink in Hitman. 00:02:42.030 --> 00:02:47.810 All of these allow us to move AI characters off of their patrol path, and into a position 00:02:47.810 --> 00:02:49.390 that works for us. 00:02:49.390 --> 00:02:53.870 For some, that might have you open a tiny window in the guard’s patrol so you can 00:02:53.870 --> 00:02:55.120 slip past unnoticed. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:00.189 For others, it’s about luring enemies into traps or guiding them into the dark for an 00:03:00.189 --> 00:03:01.430 easy takedown. 00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:05.709 You can also go further and use gadgets to change the guard’s behaviour. 00:03:05.709 --> 00:03:10.900 In Mark of the Ninja, the Terror Dart causes an enemy to become panicked and paranoid, 00:03:10.900 --> 00:03:15.780 and you can use this to make them accidentally kill their own team mates. 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:19.799 Category three covers gadgets that let you redefine space. 00:03:19.799 --> 00:03:23.910 And to make sense of them, we need to take a moment to consider how stealth game levels 00:03:23.910 --> 00:03:25.040 are designed. 00:03:25.040 --> 00:03:30.209 Thief’s project lead Greg LoPiccolo talks about “space being the commodity that you 00:03:30.209 --> 00:03:34.540 are trading in”, and points out how a stealth game level is split between areas of 00:03:34.540 --> 00:03:36.520 safety and danger. 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:42.319 In Thief, that idea operates on two axes: light and shadow on one axis, and loud and 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:44.040 quiet on the other. 00:03:44.040 --> 00:03:48.286 Other games might have a different split, like high and low in Batman 00:03:48.286 --> 00:03:50.260 or public and private in Hitman, 00:03:50.260 --> 00:03:55.580 but the idea is the same: a stealth game level is like a sea of danger, and you’ve 00:03:55.580 --> 00:03:58.329 got to swim between the islands of safety. 00:03:58.329 --> 00:04:02.109 However, these gadgets let you manipulate this set-up. 00:04:02.109 --> 00:04:08.319 So in Thief, the water arrows can douse candles - turning a brightly-lit area of danger into 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:10.540 a dark corner of safety. 00:04:10.540 --> 00:04:15.629 On the other axis, the moss arrows can create grassy rugs that you can stand on without 00:04:15.629 --> 00:04:20.170 making noise, changing that zone from loud to quiet. 00:04:20.170 --> 00:04:24.710 Another twist on this, is letting you change your character so that you can exist in a 00:04:24.710 --> 00:04:30.000 dangerous space, but with relative safety - like using the camouflage system to blend 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:35.610 in with the surroundings in Metal Gear Solid 3, or using disguises to upgrade Agent 47’s 00:04:35.610 --> 00:04:37.970 credentials in the Hitman series. 00:04:37.970 --> 00:04:43.010 These gadgets let you see levels as not just a static puzzle to solve, but an opportunity 00:04:43.010 --> 00:04:46.560 to change things so they put you at an advantage. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:50.200 Category four covers gadgets that let you alter your movement. 00:04:50.200 --> 00:04:54.949 Typically, these are mechanics that let you reach spots that guards can’t get to. 00:04:54.949 --> 00:04:58.590 So, there’s Batman’s grapnel which lets you shoot up to the gargoyles that are high 00:04:58.590 --> 00:04:59.990 above the room. 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:05.080 Sam Fisher’s split jump, which - in certain corridors - lets you stand above enemies without 00:05:05.080 --> 00:05:06.240 being seen. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:10.870 And there’s Dishonored’s wonderful short-range teleport move: Blink, which lets you clamber 00:05:10.870 --> 00:05:14.650 up to high up places - and also dart between areas of cover. 00:05:14.650 --> 00:05:18.639 We don’t see these audacious moves in every stealth game, though. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:23.830 Mostly, these games concentrate on stances - like standing up, crouching down, and laying 00:05:23.830 --> 00:05:30.039 prone - all of which confer different levels of visibility, noise, and speed of movement. 00:05:30.039 --> 00:05:34.950 Finally, category five covers gadgets that let you incapacitate enemies. 00:05:34.950 --> 00:05:40.039 Where would stealth games be without the blackjack, the trip-mine, or the trusty (and admittedly 00:05:40.039 --> 00:05:42.509 unrealistic) silenced pistol? 00:05:42.509 --> 00:05:46.197 The stealth game fantasy doesn’t preclude taking out guards 00:05:46.197 --> 00:05:48.509 as long as you cover up the evidence. 00:05:48.509 --> 00:05:54.410 Importantly, though, stealth games don’t often give you machine guns and rocket launchers. 00:05:54.410 --> 00:05:58.880 Because, if you think about these five types of gadget - they’re about letting you find 00:05:58.880 --> 00:06:04.639 an advantage over the enemy on practically every axis - except sheer brute force. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:09.260 You know more, you can move more freely, and you can manipulate guards into doing what 00:06:09.260 --> 00:06:15.180 you want - all of which puts you in total control, until you get into a straight up firefight. 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:19.680 But more on that in a future episode. 00:06:19.690 --> 00:06:24.949 The other thing that these gadgets all have in common, though, is that they must be balanced. 00:06:24.949 --> 00:06:29.370 Without careful consideration for how these mechanics should be limited or countered - they 00:06:29.370 --> 00:06:32.509 can cause all sorts of problems in the design. 00:06:32.509 --> 00:06:38.759 So, unrestricted use of gadgets that let you manipulate enemies and space can lead to dominant 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:44.460 strategies - which are simple and incredibly effective tactics that you can use again and 00:06:44.460 --> 00:06:47.379 again, in place of more interesting solutions. 00:06:47.379 --> 00:06:51.800 Things like using an endless supply of rocks to slip past braindead enemies, or dousing 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:53.650 every torch you see. 00:06:53.650 --> 00:06:57.729 Gadgets that confer too much information can break the flow of the game. 00:06:57.729 --> 00:07:02.470 So in Assassin’s Creed Origins, you can fly your eagle buddy over a base like a feathered 00:07:02.470 --> 00:07:05.250 drone, and tag every enemy you see. 00:07:05.250 --> 00:07:09.700 This then gives you complete knowledge of where that enemy is, for as long as they’re alive. 00:07:09.700 --> 00:07:15.140 This breaks that wonderful stealth game rhythm, essentially flattening it out into a single, 00:07:15.140 --> 00:07:21.620 effortless observation stage - followed by an unimpeded, and relatively low-stakes, execution phase. 00:07:21.620 --> 00:07:26.660 And using overpowered weapons to kill (or permanently incapacitate) every guard you 00:07:26.669 --> 00:07:31.159 see can actually reduce the complexity of the situation. 00:07:31.159 --> 00:07:35.580 Game design professor Robert Yang says that killing foes in stealth games “depopulates 00:07:35.580 --> 00:07:39.659 a level, severs connections between systems, and makes the game boring”. 00:07:39.659 --> 00:07:45.100 If you’ve ever had to exfiltrate a Dishonored level by simply walking past all the corpses 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:47.590 you made earlier, you’ll get what he means. 00:07:47.590 --> 00:07:52.759 Oh, and there’s also that problem of x-ray vision modes being so helpful that you never 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:57.449 want to turn them off - making the entire game look like it’s being played on an airport 00:07:57.449 --> 00:07:59.270 security monitor. 00:07:59.270 --> 00:08:02.700 So how can we balance the power of these gadgets? 00:08:02.700 --> 00:08:06.270 One way is to give systems inherent limitations. 00:08:06.270 --> 00:08:11.590 Look at Ghost Recon Wildlands, which has a very similar system to the eagle in Assassin’s 00:08:11.590 --> 00:08:17.189 Creed, but the bird is replaced with a UAV that has a limited battery, a short range, 00:08:17.189 --> 00:08:19.830 and can be shot down by observant enemies. 00:08:19.830 --> 00:08:23.159 It lets you gather information, but it’s not omnipotent. 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:26.960 Likewise, The Last Us does let you see enemies through walls - 00:08:26.960 --> 00:08:29.780 but only when the enemy is making noise. 00:08:29.780 --> 00:08:35.320 And Deus Ex lets you tag enemies, but there’s a limit to how many you can track simultaneously. 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:38.250 Another way is to make your power temporary. 00:08:38.250 --> 00:08:42.959 Sam Fisher can overflow fuses to turn off lights, but they’ll soon flicker back on. 00:08:42.959 --> 00:08:48.150 A smoke bomb creates a tiny and temporary pocket of safety within a danger zone. 00:08:48.150 --> 00:08:52.600 And when you knock out enemies in Invisible Inc, they’ll wake back up after a few turns 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:56.110 - unless you sacrifice one of your team mates to pin them down. 00:08:56.110 --> 00:09:01.350 A rather obvious way to restrict something’s power is just to limit how many you have. 00:09:01.350 --> 00:09:05.790 In Chaos Theory, you only get a few sticky cameras per level, and in Thief you have to 00:09:05.790 --> 00:09:09.800 pay for water arrows with the money you stole in previous stages. 00:09:09.800 --> 00:09:13.899 While some games let you throw infinite stones with a touch of the button, Dishonored makes 00:09:13.899 --> 00:09:16.529 you find physical objects in the world. 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:20.980 And in Hitman, you can only stuff two enemies in a cupboard before it’s full up. 00:09:20.980 --> 00:09:25.089 You can also give AI the ability to counter your best moves. 00:09:25.089 --> 00:09:30.339 Enforcers in Hitman are characters who can see through disguises, so private areas keep 00:09:30.339 --> 00:09:31.680 some of their danger. 00:09:31.680 --> 00:09:36.970 And in Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, enemies who wear straw hats simply aren’t 00:09:36.970 --> 00:09:37.970 distracted by rocks. 00:09:37.970 --> 00:09:39.740 I don’t know the logic behind that decision. 00:09:39.740 --> 00:09:41.779 But, hey, video games. 00:09:41.779 --> 00:09:46.150 This can also be handled adaptively, like in Metal Gear Solid V where guards will start 00:09:46.150 --> 00:09:49.040 wearing helmets if you’re too handy with the headshot. 00:09:49.040 --> 00:09:54.149 An even bolder take on this idea is the game ECHO, where enemies learn and then copy your 00:09:54.149 --> 00:09:58.630 tactics, which means if you stick to one powerful technique, you shouldn’t be surprised if 00:09:58.630 --> 00:10:01.269 your opponents start using it against you. 00:10:01.269 --> 00:10:06.420 There’s also an opportunity to provide unique set-ups for certain levels or areas, which 00:10:06.420 --> 00:10:08.820 temporarily thwart your favourite plans. 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:12.620 In Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, for example, there’s a level on a ship where the engine 00:10:12.620 --> 00:10:17.269 room is filled with gas - which means you can’t use your weapons or everything will 00:10:17.269 --> 00:10:18.269 go boom. 00:10:18.269 --> 00:10:21.639 Then there’s the layout of the level and the guard patrol patterns. 00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:26.399 One guard on their own can be easily dispatched, but two guards who are looking at each other 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:29.570 will require a much more complex plan to overcome. 00:10:29.570 --> 00:10:35.410 And, finally, there are abstract systems that exist outside of the current situation. 00:10:35.410 --> 00:10:40.540 So killing a guard in Invisible Inc causes the alarm system to ratchet up one level, 00:10:40.540 --> 00:10:45.120 and using lethal takedowns in the Dishonored games makes you miss out on certain grades 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:50.050 on the end-of-level score system, and can cause changes in the narrative. 00:10:50.050 --> 00:10:54.930 The idea is to make players more thoughtful about the tactics they use, and try to stop 00:10:54.930 --> 00:10:58.650 the game from veering into a more simplistic experience. 00:10:58.650 --> 00:11:02.680 So using weapons should be risky, not effortless. 00:11:02.680 --> 00:11:06.800 Information should be carefully gathered and imperfect, not handed to you. 00:11:06.800 --> 00:11:10.550 And strategies should be mixed up, not endlessly repeated. 00:11:10.550 --> 00:11:12.529 That’s it for lesson two. 00:11:12.529 --> 00:11:16.510 Come back next time for more deep dives into sneak ‘em up design. 00:11:16.510 --> 00:11:20.840 For now, let me know your favourite stealth game mechanic in the comments down below. 00:11:22.260 --> 00:11:24.000 Hey. 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