The Five Types of Stealth Game Gadget | School of Stealth Part 2

Stealth game heroes always have the best gadgets.

From Agent 47’s piano wire, to Sam Fisher’s
goofy goggles, to Emily Kaldwin’s fistful

of superpowers - these sneaky boys and girls
are often defined by their iconic inventory items.

Because the truth is: stealth games aren’t
just about waiting for guards to move out

the way before you sneak past.

Instead, they’re about using gadgets, super
powers, and abilities to tip the situation

to your advantage.

So welcome back to the School of Stealth - a
mini-series about the design of sneaky games.

For episode two, we’re now deep behind enemy
lines, and ready to move on.

So it’s time to reach into our utility belt
and pick out the five types of stealth game gadget.

So, like I said, most stealth mechanics can
be bundled into five key categories.

Category one covers gadgets that let you gather
information.

Anything that lets you see beyond the limited
viewpoint of your character.

So while a shut door would usually restrict
your knowledge of what’s behind it, Sam

Fisher can slip an optic fibre camera underneath
and spy on the room ahead.

There’s also the motion tracker in Alien
Isolation.

Peeking through keyholes in Invisible Inc.

Leaning around cover in Dishonored.

And night vision goggles that highlight enemies
in the dark.

You could even count Snake’s interrogation
skills, which force enemies to give up intel

on guard patrols and ammo caches.

These gadgets give you an informational advantage
over the enemy.

And as Gunpoint creator Tom Francis says “when
you know more about the enemy than they know

about you, you can factor them into your thinking.

[And that] information is the raw material
plans are made of”.

These gadgets also dictate the pace of the
game.

The rhythm of a stealth game is defined by
a moment of carefully observing the next room

- and then moving through it.

It’s a constant, repeating loop of observation
and execution.

Category two covers gadgets that let you manipulate
enemies.

On the previous episode, I talked about how
stealth game guards can see and hear the player

by using simulated eyes and ears.

These gadgets let us use those sensory systems
to our advantage.

So the Playboy magazine, the decoy, and the
dropped weapon can pique a guard’s visual interest.

The sonic Batarang, the speaker on the sticky
camera, and the trusty ol’ rock, meanwhile,

can trigger a guard’s hearing response.

Sometimes, the distracting element is actually
found within the world itself, like overflowing

a sink in Hitman.

All of these allow us to move AI characters
off of their patrol path, and into a position

that works for us.

For some, that might have you open a tiny
window in the guard’s patrol so you can

slip past unnoticed.

For others, it’s about luring enemies into
traps or guiding them into the dark for an

easy takedown.

You can also go further and use gadgets to
change the guard’s behaviour.

In Mark of the Ninja, the Terror Dart causes
an enemy to become panicked and paranoid,

and you can use this to make them accidentally
kill their own team mates.

Category three covers gadgets that let you
redefine space.

And to make sense of them, we need to take
a moment to consider how stealth game levels

are designed.

Thief’s project lead Greg LoPiccolo talks
about “space being the commodity that you

are trading in”, and points out how a stealth
game level is split between areas of

safety and danger.

In Thief, that idea operates on two axes:
light and shadow on one axis, and loud and

quiet on the other.

Other games might have a different split,
like high and low in Batman

or public and private in Hitman,

but the idea is the same: a stealth
game level is like a sea of danger, and you’ve

got to swim between the islands of safety.

However, these gadgets let you manipulate
this set-up.

So in Thief, the water arrows can douse candles
- turning a brightly-lit area of danger into

a dark corner of safety.

On the other axis, the moss arrows can create
grassy rugs that you can stand on without

making noise, changing that zone from loud
to quiet.

Another twist on this, is letting you change
your character so that you can exist in a

dangerous space, but with relative safety
- like using the camouflage system to blend

in with the surroundings in Metal Gear Solid
3, or using disguises to upgrade Agent 47’s

credentials in the Hitman series.

These gadgets let you see levels as not just
a static puzzle to solve, but an opportunity

to change things so they put you at an advantage.

Category four covers gadgets that let you
alter your movement.

Typically, these are mechanics that let you
reach spots that guards can’t get to.

So, there’s Batman’s grapnel which lets
you shoot up to the gargoyles that are high

above the room.

Sam Fisher’s split jump, which - in certain
corridors - lets you stand above enemies without

being seen.

And there’s Dishonored’s wonderful short-range
teleport move: Blink, which lets you clamber

up to high up places - and also dart between
areas of cover.

We don’t see these audacious moves in every
stealth game, though.

Mostly, these games concentrate on stances
- like standing up, crouching down, and laying

prone - all of which confer different levels
of visibility, noise, and speed of movement.

Finally, category five covers gadgets that
let you incapacitate enemies.

Where would stealth games be without the blackjack,
the trip-mine, or the trusty (and admittedly

unrealistic) silenced pistol?

The stealth game fantasy doesn’t preclude
taking out guards

as long as you cover up the evidence.

Importantly, though, stealth games don’t
often give you machine guns and rocket launchers.

Because, if you think about these five types
of gadget - they’re about letting you find

an advantage over the enemy on practically
every axis - except sheer brute force.

You know more, you can move more freely, and
you can manipulate guards into doing what

you want - all of which puts you in total
control, until you get into a straight up firefight.

But more on that in a future episode.

The other thing that these gadgets all have
in common, though, is that they must be balanced.

Without careful consideration for how these
mechanics should be limited or countered - they

can cause all sorts of problems in the design.

So, unrestricted use of gadgets that let you
manipulate enemies and space can lead to dominant

strategies - which are simple and incredibly
effective tactics that you can use again and

again, in place of more interesting solutions.

Things like using an endless supply of rocks
to slip past braindead enemies, or dousing

every torch you see.

Gadgets that confer too much information can
break the flow of the game.

So in Assassin’s Creed Origins, you can
fly your eagle buddy over a base like a feathered

drone, and tag every enemy you see.

This then gives you complete knowledge of
where that enemy is, for as long as they’re alive.

This breaks that wonderful stealth game rhythm,
essentially flattening it out into a single,

effortless observation stage - followed by
an unimpeded, and relatively low-stakes, execution phase.

And using overpowered weapons to kill (or
permanently incapacitate) every guard you

see can actually reduce the complexity of
the situation.

Game design professor Robert Yang says that
killing foes in stealth games “depopulates

a level, severs connections between systems,
and makes the game boring”.

If you’ve ever had to exfiltrate a Dishonored
level by simply walking past all the corpses

you made earlier, you’ll get what he means.

Oh, and there’s also that problem of x-ray
vision modes being so helpful that you never

want to turn them off - making the entire
game look like it’s being played on an airport

security monitor.

So how can we balance the power of these gadgets?

One way is to give systems inherent limitations.

Look at Ghost Recon Wildlands, which has a
very similar system to the eagle in Assassin’s

Creed, but the bird is replaced with a UAV
that has a limited battery, a short range,

and can be shot down by observant enemies.

It lets you gather information, but it’s
not omnipotent.

Likewise, The Last Us does let you see enemies
through walls -

but only when the enemy is making noise.

And Deus Ex lets you tag enemies, but there’s
a limit to how many you can track simultaneously.

Another way is to make your power temporary.

Sam Fisher can overflow fuses to turn off
lights, but they’ll soon flicker back on.

A smoke bomb creates a tiny and temporary
pocket of safety within a danger zone.

And when you knock out enemies in Invisible
Inc, they’ll wake back up after a few turns

- unless you sacrifice one of your team mates
to pin them down.

A rather obvious way to restrict something’s
power is just to limit how many you have.

In Chaos Theory, you only get a few sticky
cameras per level, and in Thief you have to

pay for water arrows with the money you stole
in previous stages.

While some games let you throw infinite stones
with a touch of the button, Dishonored makes

you find physical objects in the world.

And in Hitman, you can only stuff two enemies
in a cupboard before it’s full up.

You can also give AI the ability to counter
your best moves.

Enforcers in Hitman are characters who can
see through disguises, so private areas keep

some of their danger.

And in Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun,
enemies who wear straw hats simply aren’t

distracted by rocks.

I don’t know the logic behind that decision.

But, hey, video games.

This can also be handled adaptively, like
in Metal Gear Solid V where guards will start

wearing helmets if you’re too handy with
the headshot.

An even bolder take on this idea is the game
ECHO, where enemies learn and then copy your

tactics, which means if you stick to one powerful
technique, you shouldn’t be surprised if

your opponents start using it against you.

There’s also an opportunity to provide unique
set-ups for certain levels or areas, which

temporarily thwart your favourite plans.

In Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, for example,
there’s a level on a ship where the engine

room is filled with gas - which means you
can’t use your weapons or everything will

go boom.

Then there’s the layout of the level and
the guard patrol patterns.

One guard on their own can be easily dispatched,
but two guards who are looking at each other

will require a much more complex plan to overcome.

And, finally, there are abstract systems that
exist outside of the current situation.

So killing a guard in Invisible Inc causes
the alarm system to ratchet up one level,

and using lethal takedowns in the Dishonored
games makes you miss out on certain grades

on the end-of-level score system, and can
cause changes in the narrative.

The idea is to make players more thoughtful
about the tactics they use, and try to stop

the game from veering into a more simplistic
experience.

So using weapons should be risky, not effortless.

Information should be carefully gathered and
imperfect, not handed to you.

And strategies should be mixed up, not endlessly
repeated.

That’s it for lesson two.

Come back next time for more deep dives into
sneak ‘em up design.

For now, let me know your favourite stealth
game mechanic in the comments down below.

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