Locating NPC hostages

[adamfoneil]

In stealth mode, you'll be roaming a level looking for hostages. But how do you know where to look? Are there any environmental clues that point to hostage locations? What tools or gadgets does the player have to assist? Is there any HUD info? I think answers to this may emerge from play testing, but my thoughts are:

• HUD style: use something like Ghost Recon's threat indicator to indicate proximity of hostages. (In GR, the threat indicator shows the general direction of enemies beyond 50 meters and the direction of incoming fire. If enemies are within 50 meters, the center of the indicator turns red.) In this game, we could do something similar, but the bullseye would indicate hostage proximity. Let's say like if they're under 20 meters away (or something), the bullseye brightens.

• I've considered a "ping" mechanic which behaves like sonar. Let's say you press a key (Ctrl), and it emits a "ping" -- and hostage locations are briefly revealed on the map -- but not the route to them. A ping raises an alert to nearby enemies, so you may lose stealth by using this.

[scottdev333]

Is that realistic to have a proximity to hostages as a base gameplay control? We are doing line of sight, mirrors around corners, but we have a magical hostage detector? That makes sense if we have pinpointed their location but need to find a path of least resistance.

I think that might be realistic if there is intelligence for the mission might allow us to know what room they are in. Intelligence can be wrong and maybe that should be a factor? But also if we have that level of intelligence, there's no need for a fog of war, we would know the map.

Maybe the guards are one factor in finding them? For example, a room where hostages are being held, would likely have a guard by the door and probably more guards in the area patrolling. That can be your indicator of where the hostages are.

Also, maybe we should define if we have fog of war or exactly what it is in this game. Does your usage of fog of war mean it has covering completely till explored? Or does it mean that we don't have visibility of enemies and pickup items etc until explored?

Or is the ping just a gameplay mechanic we are creating to help the player?

If we do something like this, I think it might be best if explained as intelligence that gets communicated to us. I like the concept of intelligence not always being right.

Another thought is that there are pickup items within the mission that give you intelligence as where to the hostages are being held? Maybe that is collecting walkie-talkie of a guard you've incapacitated? That by the way should also be a form of creating an alert. If you do incapacitate an enemy and then communication is attempted with them, that raises alert if they don't reply.

If hostages is a central theme, I think creating variety of ways to efficiently find hostages should be a part of the actual gameplay as opposed to just a ping mechanic. If somehow a device was planted on the hostages, then it would make sense how we have a ping but no map.

[adamfoneil]

@scottdev333 all good points! Some ideas that sound good in my head don't hold up under feedback. I love the idea of guard placement revealing hostage location, and I love the idea of listening in on enemy comms somehow (stealing walk-talkie, etc)

[scottdev333]

The reason I brought up footsteps icon in the other issue on this topic is because it also gives context as to what is causing alert. A door opening/closing. forklift moving. beeping of someone entering a keycode for access to a room. guards talking or a guard coughing. all things that have context beyond just simply a threat level. implementing this kind of system would allow you to have an real world insight of what is around the corner.