About
Sneak and Destroy is a stealth, puzzle, platformer where the player takes on the role of a futuristic espionage drone sent to interfere with a political party’s computer mainframe. Avoid the traditional tripwires, pressure pads and cameras along with more sophisticated sound detectors, drones and laser turrets. Hack terminals to disable security systems and collect incriminating intel while making your way to the top floor to complete your mission.
Original Idea
The original idea was called Watch List where the player was a stealth agent with their very own espionage mech. The gameplay was going to be split between exploration in the mech, and stealthy hacking with the operator. This was simplified so that the player themselves is the stealth agent while the mech became the remotely operated drone.
Security Systems
The gameplay is centred around a networked security system. The player has to avoid the classic tripwires, pressure pads and cameras, but also scanner drones and sound sensors. The player is able to hack terminals to weaken or disable specific security objects, for example, reducing the number of tripwires in an area. If the player is detected, then wall mounted laser turrets will emerge and put a swift end to the mission.
The hacking mechanic is realised as a puzzle minigame, the player has three chances to select the correct colours to complete a circuit. I cut a huge corner with this by using the exact same puzzle layout for all of the hacking terminals. I just changed a few things to make them each appear more unique. I rotated each puzzle in increments of 90 degrees and also randomised the colours on each attempt. To scale the difficulty, a different number of incorrect paths were hidden, with less incorrect paths shown making the correct paths easier to find.
The stealth robot also has a couple of useful abilities. One is a detection pulse which reveals security systems through walls, helping to quickly assess the complexity of an unexplored area. The other is a cloaking device which only works for a brief moment, but can bypass visual detection or help to escape from a sticky situation. These are each limited in their use and require recharging at a save point.
One feature I had more fun with than expected was the icons that appear when the player is detected. I originally included these as a debug feature to help me see what set off the alarms, but players liked them and so I added them to the final game. Letting the player know why they failed is a great way to help them improve and keep them motivated to try again.
Level Design
The game is built around a large five storey building which gets increasingly harder as the player ascends. The floors are each coloured to match their difficulty with the bottom two serving to introduce the game’s mechanics and get the player used to evading security systems, while the top three floors provide more of a challenge as well as containing the three different endings to the game.
Visuals
As my focus was on gameplay, any non-gameplay visuals were kept to a very basic level of detail. I created a few simple shapes and created assets from these, so the office chairs and the kitchen sinks are all made from the same basic set of shapes.
Gameplay elements are more detailed and stand out against the more basic environment, threats had to stand out and so were very bright such as the red tripwires and bright camera spotlights. As for the player character, this was designed purely around its functions, but players really liked its design and often referred to it as a robot dog.
The game’s menus were fun to make, especially the main menu and pause menu which were styled around a camera feed. Otherwise menus were kept simple with an occasional circuit board design here and there.
Narrative
This was my first project in which I decided to add a more comprehensive narrative. I knew that many players wouldn’t want to break away from the gameplay to read paragraphs of lore, so instead of fighting this, I worked it into the narrative.
The general idea was that there were three endings. The main ending is simply that you do as you’re told, to upload a virus to the mainframe. The player will naturally achieve this by following their orders or not worrying about collecting and reading intel. But if the player does find and read the intel, they will uncover alternate narratives which may influence them to choose a different ending to the mission.
So with this concept decided, the narrative theme had its framework. ‘You can blindly follow orders, but you may end up working against your own morals without even realising it. Making the right decisions often comes with the responsibility of educating yourself and becoming aware of more than just what you are told.’
Throughout the game 21 pieces of intel are hidden. These were written as seven different events which each have three reports written from different perspectives. If the player collects enough evidence for the alternate viewpoints, they can then use them to trigger an alternate ending.
I found that writing the actual text for these intel packets was very challenging, mainly because of how strict I had to be with the writing style. In the end it was quite difficult for players to follow all the fictional plots and made up countries, but it got the idea across for anyone willing to piece it all together.
Supporting Systems
To support the gameplay, several additional systems were developed. Save data was essential as I didn’t want to lose progress every time the game was closed. This is performed whenever the player touches a checkpoint and allows a player to return to the game and carry on from where they left off.
A popup message system was also added, originally for tutorials but this wasn’t well received as players would miss them or want to read them again, so this was instead used for comments from another operator. Tutorial messages were placed in the level as permanent signage and an encyclopaedia was also added so that a player could read up on security systems and gameplay tutorials at any time.
A 3D rotating map was also added because I thought it would be cool. I hoped to have a miniature version of the level here but I couldn’t figure out a way to do it quickly so that idea was scrapped, though it did stay in the game. I really should have removed it but I didn’t because, again, I thought it was cool.
Finally I added a statistics menu to count how many times the player had been detected by the various security systems, but it also tracked miscellaneous gameplay actions such as the number of jumps, slide boosts, and ability uses.
Progress & Extras
I recorded a few progress videos throughout the project. The level being used for developing and testing systems was eventually implemented into the top floor.
There is also a extras video showing some additional menus and gameplay.