Operation human shield

Hold on to your hats folks, it’s time for another exciting instalment of “Random shit in And’s head”.

As I said in my previous post, I’m aiming to make a game with a cinematic feel and there are some things that have never sat right with me in other games.  One of the things that bugs me the most is that there’s never anyone else there.  You’re having a scuffle in the middle of a town and there’s no old ladies doing their shopping, no drunks stumbling out of bars and no-one freaking out when you set off an explosion.  That is something that I intend to address with the addition of bystanders.

Bystanders will be an optional element that can be included in missions to add an element of realistic chaos.  Their movement will be randomly determined each turn until they react to a specific action taken by one of the players.  If, for example, you shoot someone near a bystander you will need to do a test (trying not to give too much away!) to see what kind of person they are.  Like in real life, there are many types of people so taking an action becomes a gamble.  You will have to weigh up the pros and cons of what you do, you may be stood next to someone who doesn’t want to get involved but on the other hand, they may be an off duty cop with a gun.  Depending on what type of person they are and who you are, you can attempt to influence the bystanders but if you fail, something hits the fan.

I’m hoping that this concept turns out to be a fun little addition to the game, only playtesting and time will tell if this will make the final game.  Worst case scenario, it should make for some interesting playtesting, some kind of St Patricks day mission with a few dozen drunks wandering round could be funny.