But it made sense that only a heavily augmented person could break into the bank using a combination of abilities. "We never want to push augmentations on players. "We eventually ditched that idea," says Maurer. The bank was also designed to be one of the toughest levels in the game, and was in fact originally designed as a playground for the new remote hacking upgrade, at a time when it was forced on the player. The pieces of the puzzle are not meant to be given away, but earned." It's a tough, rich, and super dense map, and rewards smart and adventurous players who explore every corner of it. "We give you the tools, but not the answers. "That's exactly what it's meant to feel like," she says. ![]() I've always thought of Deus Ex levels as giant puzzles that you're given the tools to creatively solve, and I ask Maurer if that was the intention. I also tried to convey useful information in a subtle way-like a clue to the manager's door code-so some players could find these things themselves rather than be handed them." Hard luck So that's why I spent a lot of time designing stories to give these items context. "I didn't want to just throw codes and key cards at the player. "I'm a big believer in subtlety," she tells me. Overall I worked on the bank for about two years, but I was also working on the Prague city hub at the same time."Īs well as being responsible for the grand vision of the Palisade Bank, Maurer also paid attention to the smallest details. "This was due to the fact that most people were working on the vertical slice of the game, which was of course a high priority task. "A few areas were a bit awkward and would need a lot of refining," says Maurer. Production on the bank proceeded quickly, and after six months the basic layout was set. And when a client (or Jensen in this case) requests their vault, a crane plucks it from the stack and brings it over to them. There would be an immense archive room with thousands of vaults stuffed with corporate secrets. The logic behind how the vaults worked was finally settled on, with help from Eidos Montreal's team of talented concept artists. If you get caught in there, the lockers will actually retract into the floor, leaving you exposed and making them inaccessible. It also had to provide engaging gameplay, meet the requirements of the story and art direction, and not blow the budget." So it was tremendously important that my design be bulletproof, allowing me to answer every question about how the space worked. And as I presented the map to my superiors, they didn't really get it. "There was a lot of resistance to the idea of a shaft containing nested vaults. Making this system come to life, and appear grounded and functional, was the toughest part of the bank's design for me." We knew there would be big boxes full of corporate secrets, and that one would be brought to the player. "This was much harder to conceptualise," Maurer says. When Jensen finally reaches VersaLife's vault, he finds himself in a vast chamber with containers stretching as far as the eye can see. It's so elite that very few clients visit, and most things are automated. "This is not a bank where a lot of people work. "The art direction was very clear," says Maurer. But now it's below the parking lot."Īfter three months of work, the bank was starting to take shape. You used to be able to see the shaft from the main lobby and vice versa. ![]() It was originally more connected to the structure, at the very back of the lobby. I wanted this to be the backbone of the layout, used as an alternate entrance and exit. "The idea of a shaft containing movable vaults came pretty early. The vaults are stored in an immense vertical shaft, which players can sneak into with some effort. "Where is the data locked away? Is there a vault, and what would it look like? Are there offices and people working there? How would the security systems work? Answering these questions was meticulous, demanding work, made even more difficult by the fact that this kind of building doesn't exist in real life." Vault boy "I started rethinking the space," says Maurer. Break into the vault belonging to Tarvos Security and you'll find experimental armour and computers tracking the company's enemies. ![]() There's no vault with a heavy circular door stuffed with gold bars, but thousands of sealed containers filled with data and things they don't want the world to see. The Palisade Bank is where the sinister corporations that rule Deus Ex's dystopian society keep some of their darkest, most precious secrets.
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