Level Discussion
High Concept
Choose to fight on the side of either the Super Mutants or human military in a dramatic, snow-capped mountain village.
Design Goals
- Create an immersive, atmospheric environment that stands out from the rest of Fallout: New Vegas's desert setting
- Allow players to complete the level multiple ways (3) and with several different playstyles (from combat intensive to stealth)
- Create radically different endings for each of the three ways players can complete the level
Creative Overview
Humanity Lost encourages exploration and inventiveness. Players must investigate District 17 and talk with its inhabitants in order to learn how to get to Solus. Allowing the players to feel as though they are discovering a unique way of getting through the level is an essential element of this quest. Additionally, suspense is a major focal point of this map, as the player works his way through the blizzard like conditions. The first portion of the level has a heavy emphasis on exploration, while the last culminating in a dramatic fight for survival at the end of the level that focuses on the player’s combat abilities.
Level Features
- One of the biggest design goals for Humanity Lost was to create a snow-covered village that truly felt alive. To accomplish this, I made certain that each area of District 17 is visually distinct from the next.
- Giving the player significant choices throughout Humanity Lost was absolutely essential to my overall goals. To accomplish this, I allowed players to choose to complete the quest in a multitude of ways and at the very end of the quest force them to make a difficult decision that drastically changes the outcome of the game. However, it was important for me that neither of these choices be clearly right or wrong. I left the moral ramifications up to the players.
- While the first portion of the quest is primarily dialogue, I wanted the last segment to end in a climactic battle between the Super Mutants and the NCR. The player is on one of these sides depending on which path they chose and the combat scenarios are completely different.
- It was vitally important to me that the player understand the scale of the conflict between the Super Mutants and NCR. Thus, in order to portray this I made sure not all the conflict was occurring on the ground. Instead, I scripted vertibirds to fly over the player’s head and bomb the town while the player engages the enemy on the ground. Other vertibirds fly in and drop additional troops off to further emphasize this scale.
- It was important for me that Humanity Lost cater to multiple play styles, not just combat. To do this I gave the players the options to equip invisibility armor. This in turn allows the player to sneak through the level and never actually encounter real combat scenarios.