RandySmith GDC 2002

Design Fundamentals
of Stealth Gameplay
in the Thief series
Randy Smith
rsmith@ionstorm.com
Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

in the Thief Series, rsmith@ionstorm.com
Disclaimers
• I didn’t design Thief’s gameplay
» Doug Church » Tim Stellmach
» Marc LeBlanc » Greg LoPicollo
» Tom Leonard » Dorian Hart
» Paul Neurath » etc.
• This is about open-ended stealth

gameplay. Other games mentioned
are being evaluated by this standard
only.
What is stealth in Thief ?
• Goal = move through space
» Steal » Pick lock
» Blackjack » Pick pocket
» etc.
• Failure = AI state becomes “alert”

» Combat
» Fleeing

How does the AI become alert?
• The player has detectability
» Visibility (light gem = feedback)
» Audibility
• The AI has senses

» Seeing
» Hearing
• The overlap between player

detectability and AI senses…
» …is where the AI becomes alert or not
» …is where stealth happens
What is this lecture about?
• It is about stealth gameplay
» Player movement through space
» Player detectability
» AI Senses
» AI State
• It is not about:
» Goals (such as stealing)
» Consequences (such as combat)

Let’s design a stealth game!
You are a thief in a medieval city. There is a
mansion in the distance, full of loot. A wall
separates you from the mansion, and a guard
patrols in front of the gate. A torch nearby
spills light across the area.
Do you:
A) Wait until the guard has his back turned
and run through the gate.
B) Put out the torch with a water arrow.
C) Sneak up on the guard through the
shadows and blackjack him.
More stuff this lecture is about:
• It is not about:
» Stealth flavored gameplay
» How gameplay is qualified (what makes
stealth gameplay stealth gameplay??)
» What is the definition of “open-ended”
gameplay?
» Discrete interaction
• It is about:
» Player expression
» Analog interaction
Major concepts for this lecture
• Discrete Interaction Structures
» Exemplified by Choose-Your-Own-
Adventure books
• Analog Interaction Structures

» Exemplified (for the sake of this
presentation) by Quake or other FPS

Qualities of Discrete
Interaction Structures
• Finite, enumerable choices offered to the
player.
• Player must choose one of the available
options, not something in-between, not
invent their own thing.
• Designer must explicitly create all
interaction for the player.
• Should be called “Choose Someone Else’s
Adventure”

What are Analog Interaction
Structures?
• Rough Definition: A collection of
player-influenced, interacting game
systems
• An abstract design tool for
(de)constructing open-ended
gameplay and analyzing relevant data
• A “unified theory” of existing thought:
» Simulation vs. Emulation » Feedback
» Player Tools » etc.
» Partial Failure
What are analog interaction
structures NOT ?
• The only way to think about,
construct, or deconstruct any type
of gameplay
• Necessarily the most useful tool for
the job
• A ton of brand new thought

A Useful Metric
• To what extent can the designer
predict the player’s experiences?
» A lot, the player can not take any action
the designer did not explicitly implement
and intent  Discrete Interaction
» Not much, really, the player has near-
infinite ways to overcome the game’s
challenges  Analog Interaction

Analog Expression: Player
Movement in Quake
• Data relating to player movement:
» Player location (X,Y,Z)
» Player orientation (H, P)
» Player velocity vector
» Player acceleration vector
• Player expression:
» Accelerate in various directions
» Look right, left, up, down, or combo
» Some fancy movement (jump, duck, etc.)
What makes it “analog”?
• Hey, yea! There aren’t analog
variables – so theoretically, all
possible states are enumerable.
• ...but the player cannot “choose”
their movement data. There is no
“choice”.
• Instead, the player uses movement
tools to set or “express” their
desired movement data.
Player movement is relevant to
Quake’s core gameplay
• Player movement data is critical to
resolving combat from moment to
moment:
» Orientation is how you aim weapons
» Movement is how you dodge, take cover,
charge, etc.
» These are examples of the player
expressing “higher order concepts”

What else does Quake have?
• For both Player and Enemies:
» Movement
» Weapons that fire projectiles
» Damage model (hit points)
• Projectiles
• A game world with physics
simulation.
» Collisions between player, terrain,
projectiles.
Components to Analog
Interaction Structures
• A game world that hosts interactions
dictated by simulations (in Quake,
physics in the 3D world)
• Analog player expression (in Quake,
player movement)
• Analog/partial failure (in Quake, hit
points)
• Player tools to take arbitrary actions (in
Quake, weapons that fire projectiles)
Let’s talk about Thief already
• Game world that hosts interactions
dictated by simulations = 3D world,
similar to Quake
» Physics
» Line-of-sight (LOS)
» Lighting, light sources
» Sound propagation, noisy surfaces

Analog Expression in Thief
• Player movement
» Player location (X,Y,Z)
» Player orientation (H, P)
» Player velocity vector
» Player acceleration vector
• Player movement expression

» Accelerate in various directions
» Look right, left, up, down, combo
» Some fancy movement (jump, climb, etc.)

Higher Order Concepts in
Expressing Stealth
• Hide in shadows = move into a dark
part of the world
• Move silently = avoid moving over
loud surfaces, move slowly

Quake with only 1 hit point
• No partial / analog failure
• A lot of the data becomes much less
relevant to resolving combat:
» How damaging weapons are
» Player’s emergent combat tactics when
they are weak versus when they are
healthy

Stealth-related tools in Thief
• Potions
» Invisibility
» Speed
• Thrown tools
» Flashbomb
• Arrows
» Water arrow
» Moss arrow
» Noisemaker arrow
Analog Interaction Structure
chart = a data analysis tool
• Useful for thinking about data:
» What data the player has input into
» How data flows from system to system
and eventually leads to success or failure
• Drawing the chart is as much art as
science
» Which data boxes?
» How many arrows?
» Draw the chart differently to analyze the
data differently
Feedback in Thief
• AI State and AI Senses
» Broadcast speech
» Animations
» Behavior
• Player Visibility / Audibility

» Light gem
» Listening
• AI Movement
» Player senses
Level-building for Analog
Interaction
• Don’t create “scripts”
» Don’t plan the player’s experiences for
them.
• Create “possibility spaces”

» Populate the world with challenges
» Populate the world with things that
interact with the player’s tools, the
simulations, manipulate the data flow
» Avoid absolutes, embrace gradients

Design new types of analog
gameplay!
• A game world that hosts
interactions dictated by simulations
• Analog player expression
• Analog failure
• Player tools to take arbitrary actions


RandySmith GDC 2002

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Design Fundamentals

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

• This is about open-ended stealth

• Failure = AI state becomes “alert”

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

• The AI has senses

• The overlap between player

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

• Analog Interaction Structures

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

• Player movement expression

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

• Player Visibility / Audibility

• Create “possibility spaces”

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

Design Fundamentals of Stealth Gameplay

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