Background
There are 6,964,425 people living in the Night City in 2077, almost 7 million.
We as species aren't very good with numbers that big. Based on background info a little bit less than 3% of citizens can afford health care, using 3% as number that would mean 208,932 peoples, still awfully lot to comprehend. Based on survey done in 2010 average people social circle varies between 150 - 200 people. Limiting factor is known as Dunbar's number, based on his research "While you may have far fewer than 150 of these people in your life, your brain really can’t hold a close connection with more than 150" there's also that within that circle closest 15 are the most important. That survey and research was done in the US and how we define friendship probably varies in different cultures, is what makes Dunbar's number so important.
We however experience the world around us also through other networks, our jobs for example. We can see impact of our work in our organization and (if applicable) client organization(s). Via internet we can access experiences of thousands of end users and so on.
In Cyberpunk 2077 V's story isn't about connecting to that world but about survival in very difficult situation with help of certain individuals and even faction. How this plays out in the end is up to players to decide. V actually gets good glimpse of how things run in this society through different encounters. River's quests for example; how things are in NCPD and how his most important network is in the end his family. That we don't get a popup window pointing these things out is IMO very good design.
Could players benefit from their character connecting to world differently?
Perhaps and possibilities for that definitely exists through factions in game world. There are several problems too. Why would V do that to begin with in his situation after events of Act 1? There's also problem with SIlverhand character after Act 1, why wouldn't he show up from time to time?
That leaves 6 month montage we get in prologue, but there are still issues. Or there could be entirely different player character, but I won't get into detail regarding that.
Example scenario:
Mission: Collect data from the offices of Network News 54 (N54) and World News Service (WNS) undetected.
Synopsis: V has to pair up with wending machine resupply worker to get access to locations needed to get certain information undercover. Jackie is spotting moments of opportunity from neighboring buildings through windows for V to leave wending machines and search offices. During these missions V (player) learns more about game world.
Locations:
Megabuilding H10. V is picked up from here by wending machine resupply worker driving a van with resupply stock.
N54's Nigh City Headquarters at downtown
WNS Anchor workplace / studio, location unknown.
Factions: Wending machine resupply company (unknown) N54, WNS, Militech, Arasaka
The point is to create certain opportunities for player / V to connect to world, so I'm not going to create detailed script here.
In terms of connecting the world, there is much here that could be perhaps achieved with voice. Say N54 and Militech conversation could be between their lawyers, that would create another opportunity to portray work culture. There might be staff meeting covering other topics that again portray different areas contributing world building and connecting player through V to that. With all the factions in game and from the point of view of V's undercover role wending machine resupply worker, someone nobody pays attention to, there are really lots of possibilities here.
This is to say, while I really like reading and Datashards are great feature for me and I really don't want to see them gone as people in general read faster than people speak, not everybody reads them. How I pictured a megacorp even before I played Cyberpunk 2077 was also already influenced by cyberpunk literature and something like Arasaka employing 595,000+ people in 35 countries was even expected. But for some players it has appeared like just one tower in Night City.
Ultimately this or these kind of slices of life segments would portray among other things that even in nihilistic and narcissistic world of CP2077 where fake it 'till you make it attitude is probably even a norm, eventually someone sometimes actually needs to do something and be able at something, presented though NPC's.
Problems and solutions.
Problem 1: Jackie
Problems 2 and 3: Lifepaths and challenge level of Heist mission.
Problem 4: Replayability, would players like to experience interactive sequences placed within 6 month montage multiple times to begin with?
Problem 5: What kind of further ramifications from prologue players would expect carry past Act 1?
Problem 6: Issue with the map and the lockdown
Problem 7: Effect to skill and builds?
If you read all this. Yeah, CDPR probably laid plans for DLC's months ago. Damn...
There are 6,964,425 people living in the Night City in 2077, almost 7 million.
We as species aren't very good with numbers that big. Based on background info a little bit less than 3% of citizens can afford health care, using 3% as number that would mean 208,932 peoples, still awfully lot to comprehend. Based on survey done in 2010 average people social circle varies between 150 - 200 people. Limiting factor is known as Dunbar's number, based on his research "While you may have far fewer than 150 of these people in your life, your brain really can’t hold a close connection with more than 150" there's also that within that circle closest 15 are the most important. That survey and research was done in the US and how we define friendship probably varies in different cultures, is what makes Dunbar's number so important.
We however experience the world around us also through other networks, our jobs for example. We can see impact of our work in our organization and (if applicable) client organization(s). Via internet we can access experiences of thousands of end users and so on.
In Cyberpunk 2077 V's story isn't about connecting to that world but about survival in very difficult situation with help of certain individuals and even faction. How this plays out in the end is up to players to decide. V actually gets good glimpse of how things run in this society through different encounters. River's quests for example; how things are in NCPD and how his most important network is in the end his family. That we don't get a popup window pointing these things out is IMO very good design.
Could players benefit from their character connecting to world differently?
Perhaps and possibilities for that definitely exists through factions in game world. There are several problems too. Why would V do that to begin with in his situation after events of Act 1? There's also problem with SIlverhand character after Act 1, why wouldn't he show up from time to time?
That leaves 6 month montage we get in prologue, but there are still issues. Or there could be entirely different player character, but I won't get into detail regarding that.
Example scenario:
Mission: Collect data from the offices of Network News 54 (N54) and World News Service (WNS) undetected.
Synopsis: V has to pair up with wending machine resupply worker to get access to locations needed to get certain information undercover. Jackie is spotting moments of opportunity from neighboring buildings through windows for V to leave wending machines and search offices. During these missions V (player) learns more about game world.
Locations:
Megabuilding H10. V is picked up from here by wending machine resupply worker driving a van with resupply stock.
N54's Nigh City Headquarters at downtown
WNS Anchor workplace / studio, location unknown.
Factions: Wending machine resupply company (unknown) N54, WNS, Militech, Arasaka
The point is to create certain opportunities for player / V to connect to world, so I'm not going to create detailed script here.
- V could get some background information via text message sent by Jackie. There could be some conversation that sell what wending machine resupply company is and what kind of car to look and what's the job, Jackies role and so on.
- V could get more information during ride with wending machine resupply guy by conversing with him. About himself, about job, about company and so on. (B for skip option for replayability)
- V could get more info about N54 once in location. Some place might be beyond from what Jackie could spot and V would need to listen what is happening to find out right moment to get in office V needs to access. V might hear conversations going on like "...you have 64,000 people on payroll. Care to explain how you are unable to..." and reply "...we do appreciate working with Militech building... but there are concerns related to..."
- At WNS location there might be a conversation over phone and via that or other sources V learns that in global scale, it's actually WNS that is the bigger dog with their personnel of 215,000. V could also learn something about relationship between WNS and Arasaka.
In terms of connecting the world, there is much here that could be perhaps achieved with voice. Say N54 and Militech conversation could be between their lawyers, that would create another opportunity to portray work culture. There might be staff meeting covering other topics that again portray different areas contributing world building and connecting player through V to that. With all the factions in game and from the point of view of V's undercover role wending machine resupply worker, someone nobody pays attention to, there are really lots of possibilities here.
This is to say, while I really like reading and Datashards are great feature for me and I really don't want to see them gone as people in general read faster than people speak, not everybody reads them. How I pictured a megacorp even before I played Cyberpunk 2077 was also already influenced by cyberpunk literature and something like Arasaka employing 595,000+ people in 35 countries was even expected. But for some players it has appeared like just one tower in Night City.
Ultimately this or these kind of slices of life segments would portray among other things that even in nihilistic and narcissistic world of CP2077 where fake it 'till you make it attitude is probably even a norm, eventually someone sometimes actually needs to do something and be able at something, presented though NPC's.
Problems and solutions.
- How to make this work with Jackie?
- How to make this work with different life paths?
- how would this affect challenge level of the Heist mission?
- Replayability, would players like to experience interactive sequences placed within 6 month montage multiple times to begin with?
- What kind of further ramifications from prologue players would expect carry past Act 1
- Issue with the map and the lockdown
- Effect to skill and builds?
Problem 1: Jackie
I don't know about psychology of creating characters for novels or screen or NPC's for games. Some basic factors I could think depend of how much we can flesh out these characters in our minds, fill the gaps so to say. Then that may depend from things that makes us what we are. Things that aren't about better or worse but preferences like introverts and extroverts and where ever we are on that axle, our social circles might be different, leading to different life experiences.
Say Jackie here reminds me a lot of friend of my little brother and times that go back when they weren't yet 26 so still certain way immortal and stories from their drunken adventures through summer rock festival seasons. Though in the end the mundanity of life tends to get the most of us but some of those things still makes me chuckle at times. So it was easy for me to like and understand this character Jackie. I sure as heck don't want to get too involved in prologue with someone like that who is then going to die anyway. At the same time, Jackie's role and story arch is very important in multiple ways to CP2077 story. Then for someone else Jackie may present some sort of archetype and relate or not relate to character differently.
I would like to be able to order Jackie Welles in Afterlife though, even if my take to role playing is probably something quite superficial, but I digress.
Solution: Sideline him. Make him a getaway driver, a contact person, or someone pointing a gun to someone's head to enable V perform some task in a different location.
Problems 2 and 3: Lifepaths and challenge level of Heist mission.
Solutions: These might be easiest one to solve by different dialogue options and characters from different backgrounds noticing different things and Heist mission difficulty not being of that much of an issue with some level scaling and in the end, we can do quite a bit of work already before doing that mission. I appreciate that we can test out our builds and get familiar with mechanics as that enables to do that mission feeling like a mercenary we are supposed to be instead of novice trying to be that mercenary.
Problem 4: Replayability, would players like to experience interactive sequences placed within 6 month montage multiple times to begin with?
Solution: This is kind of issue and question estimating how many players would enjoy this to begin with is to experienced designers to estimate and solve. I think worst come to worst, perhaps interactive segments during montage could be made optional.
Problem 5: What kind of further ramifications from prologue players would expect carry past Act 1?
It would be perfectly reasonable that players who interact with certain people within game factions, would expect these people recognize them if they encounter them later in game. For example, why wouldn't V be able to say something later to Bes Isis if V encountered her before in some other mission at Network 54 building? If V would kill some characters, like Gillean Jordan (N54) then she shouldn't appear later in game. Or even factions, if player would be able to sabotage something major at WNS office, that should somehow show up in game world. Maybe their website would operate otherwise normally but have a notification regarding Night City like "New and Improved Night City news coming soon" or something like that and at some point that might happen.
Solution: This might work by using same idea what would make connecting to factions possible. For me it would make sense that people starting their mercenary career from the bottom wouldn't be working with anything serious enough to have major impact to their environment, that is a city of 7 million people. Why would anyone give major job to people with no reputation yet? Also make sure certain NPC's aren't in locations when V has a job there.
So low key jobs, meaning perhaps undercover work. Disguised as wending machine repairman (solo) or other workers we can encounter in game, people who resupply wending machines (they work in pairs). Why exactly would V or (other player character) work with these people, or take a job in the whatever unknown company that employs these people and how would job come available I don't know. But idea is that playing characters like that creates opportunity to experience and connect with many factions of this world, as these guys go everywhere where there's wending machines and there sure are lots of those things around.
EDIT: Supply van driver could leave town (with his familiy?) after missions were completed with his share of reward and whatever savings. V would know about this via SMS.
Problem 6: Issue with the map and the lockdown
Issues with map and lockdown are huge. We don't have much to explore before doing the Pickup and the Information. Lockdown has IMO important function so removing that would just create other problems. How enable V to to do jobs during prologue without undermining purpose of lockdown?
Solution: V is on rails when transferring from one job to another. In game workers who resupply wending machines work in pairs. V isn't worker like that which makes plausible that worker who knows destinations drives their vehicle. V would sit on a passengers seat during journeys to destinations and only exit vehicle once in destination that could be N54 studio or WNN office. Once mission in location would be completed I could see even simply fade out might work in certain situations.
Problem 7: Effect to skill and builds?
Interactive segment of prologue should give experience and money simply for completing objectives. As these wouldn't be anything high profile these rewards shouldn't be anything big. Skill experience is more difficult matter. There should be possibilities to gain skill experience to fit needs of many kind of goals players might have for their character build. Variations here are too many to get in detail, but something that shouldn't be overlooked as not every player invests to story to begin with.
If you read all this. Yeah, CDPR probably laid plans for DLC's months ago. Damn...
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