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[Reaper]

Promotional art




Wiretap New Jersey

Story
You play as Patrick, a character that is respected and viewed as a hero by his friends and community (due to his previous accomplishments), but there is a problem with him - the job that he currently has (working as an intelligence officer for the false-flag Wiretap New Jersey operation) is anything but positive.

Why? You’ll find out in the alpha game (don’t want to spoil the endings)


Other mockup images:

(textual content not proofread)




Gameplay
You have your character on the left side of the screen, and a view of the item you're working with on the right side. I think the missions are going to be part Uplink-like and part mixed in from other gameplay times (solving contextual puzzles, finding discrepancies in suspect’s email accounts, etc.). I’m trying to make it as unique/new as possible, so I’m trying out different things all the time.

It should be pretty interesting and atmospheric, I hope to release a playable alpha soon that you guys can try out.

Other than that, each game action is going to influence the successive missions and the final outcome, so you'll have to think twice before completing a mission (will you spend more time tracking a single target, or do mass-surveillance and get the mission over with? Completing optional side quests will also influence the game) and whether/how you'll complete the mission.

Technical
I’m using a custom .Net engine for this game, I had to create it from scratch so it took a while, but it allows me to run the different gameplay modes, as well making it easier to use the website-like GUI, databases, than it would otherwise be possible.

Inspiration
There are several games from which I’ve drawn inspiration to work on this project:
Deus Ex – I’ve always loved the ability to use different game dynamics in order to accomplish objectives in a non-linear matter – that makes the world in Deus Ex feel much more real than it would be otherwise possible.
Hotline Miami – the inspiration to draw the character gameplay element in the game in a top-down fashion – otherwise I suck at drawing platform style graphics even more + the name!
Papers Please – the idea to separate different gameplay elements into different simultaneously active screens.


Thanks!
And do reply back  

[ANtY]

What's better than having a computer inside a game :D

I like the graphics! And I think the black edges fit better here, keep them in.

[ryansumo]

Hmm, I'm weirdly excited even though I don't understand the game completely.  I'd go for no black outlines btw.

[Reaper]

Thanks Anty, the game includes not only access to computers, but it's own internet, together with different websites, ranging from shopping sites to a social network you hack into.

Hmm, I'm weirdly excited even though I don't understand the game completely.  I'd go for no black outlines btw.

Thanks Ryan,

I was just reading your blog a few days ago, and was impressed to learn about your work on Prison Architect, so it means a lot to get feedback from you

I'll be posting more about developing the game, so hopefully in the next few updates things will clear up - if not, once a playable alpha version is released, that should help explain things even more.

[Reaper]

I was doing some more work on the design today, I think the graphics are finally coming close to their final look:

[YogX]

I like the one with the edges better

[Reaper]

I like the one with the edges better

Thanks, that's the type of art I ended up doing  

Anyway, worked today on the game's intro, and this is what I currently have:


Trying to make it look all clean and modern, going to work on the next steps now.

[ashtonmorris]

I really love this idea ~Following~

[The Pickpocket]

Wow, that logo is sweet! Also, the camera view is awesome, reminds me of early GTA and all. I'm new to this place, have been checking out some games, and this one I definitely feel.

[ANtY]

any updates bro? how's it going?

[Reaper]

any updates bro? how's it going?

Yeah, I've just been prototyping different gameplay mechanics, so that's why I haven't posted anything - didn't want to post a dev log update of stuff that may not appear in the final game.

I promise I'll try to speed things up 

[Christian]

any updates bro? how's it going?

Yeah, I've just been prototyping different gameplay mechanics, so that's why I haven't posted anything - didn't want to post a dev log update of stuff that may not appear in the final game.

I promise I'll try to speed things up 

Why not? That's the most interesting part of the devlogs here. Hearing about your dev process, what works, what doesn't, the directions you want to go in, we can provide feedback on the ideas you're working on even if they don't make into the final game.