Development of Deus Ex
In preproduction, six people from Looking Glass's Austin studios focused on the setting ahead of the game mechanics, and chose a story centered around prominent conspiracy theories as an expression of the "millennial madness" in The X-Files and Men in Black.
Spector felt that the development process's highlights were the "high-level vision" and length of preproduction, flexibility within the project, testable "proto-missions", and Unreal Engine license.
Their pitfalls included the team structure, unrealistic goals, underestimating risks with artificial intelligence, their handling of proto-missions, and weakened morale from Daikatana's bad press.
After Warren Spector released Ultima Underworld II with Origin Systems in January 1993, he began to plan Troubleshooter, the game that would become Deus Ex.
[1] Noting his wife's fascination with The X-Files, he connected the "real world, millennial weirdness, [and] conspiracy stuff" topics on his mind and decided to make a game about it that would appeal to a wider audience.
For Thief, he tried to suggest buffing the character more so that the player could opt to fight through levels instead of sneaking, the original intent of the game, but the team didn't take to these ideas.
[4] Frustrated at Looking Glass, Spector sought employment elsewhere and was nearly about to sign a contract with Electronic Arts, when John Romero of Ion Storm approached him.
[4] They worked on the setting ahead of the game mechanics, and decided on a conspiracy-style story that referenced existing conspiracy theories such as Area 51, CIA drug trafficking, the John F. Kennedy assassination, the Majestic 12, and a Masonic underground bunker beneath Denver International Airport.
[1] His principles included "problems, not puzzles", "no forced failure", "players do; NPCs watch", and "areas with multiple entrance and exit points".
[4] It was written to be similar in concept to Half-Life, Fallout, Thief: The Dark Project, and GoldenEye 007, and to mix elements of the films Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Manchurian Candidate, and RoboCop in a world inspired by The X-Files and Men in Black—examples of "the millennial madness that's gripping the world ... and a general fascination with conspiracy theories and the desire to play with high-tech espionage toys".
[9] They also built a conversation structure based on console role-playing game setups, and drafted the augmentation upgrade, inventory, and skill screens.
They also designed an in-game text editor for taking notes, and "reward systems" for skill points, reduced weapon and tool cooldowns, and augmentation upgrades.
He wrote that he learned about the importance of the team members' personal investment in the game, the preemptive benefits of addressing personnel concerns as they arise, and the usefulness of a chain of command even when consensus works.
[10] In his postmortem, Spector concluded that the team was "unrealistic, blinded by promises of complete creative freedom" and by "assurances" of budget, marketing, and no time restraints, which he called "seductive traps".
[6] Spector felt that the development process's highlights were the "high-level vision" and length of preproduction, flexibility within the project, testable "proto-missions", and Unreal Engine license.
[14] Their pitfalls included the team structure, unrealistic goals, underestimating risks with artificial intelligence, their handling of proto-missions, and weakened morale from bad press.
[15] He referred to that period of Ion Storm as "Sturm und Drang" with its degree of hype and as a target of vitriol following Daikatana's "suck it down" trash talk marketing and what Spector saw as negative press in 1998 and 1999.
Eventually, the Deus Ex Austin team developed a "'we'll show them' mentality" to distinguish their work and reputation from the Dallas-based Daikatana and Anachronox Ion Storm releases, which Spector considered toxic.
Ally Tracer Tong was more of a "mercenary" than a "kindly anarchist", while enemies like UNATCO's Joseph Manderley went from "ruthless bastard" to "stuffy bureaucrat" and Majestic 12's Bob Page and assassin Anna Navarre played more of a background role.
The Majestic 12 organization originally intended to initiate a Mexican invasion of Texas and then suffocate the presidential cabinet by killing their oxygen supply.
Though Spector originally pictured the game as akin to The X-Files, lead writer Sheldon Pacotti felt it ended up more like James Bond.
[6] He wrote that the team overextended itself by planning such elaborate scenes, especially parts such as a replica of downtown Austin,[12] Area 51 reconstructed from satellite data,[17] a sunken post-earthquake Los Angeles, a raid to free thousands of prisoners of war from a Federal Emergency Management Agency-controlled United Nations concentration camp, and over 25 missions throughout Siberia, western Europe, and the United States.
[17] Designer Harvey Smith suggested a streamlined plot that removed the Mexican invasion to make development easier and the narrative more personal.
Spector was swayed by this widespread sentiment to have "monsters and bad guys", and the team increased the prominence of several robots and added genetically-altered animals that still fit the story.
[6] Spector intended for Deus Ex to be an "immersive simulation" similar to Ultima Underworld[5] by removing reminders of the game world such as interface or backstory.
Like an adventure game, Deux Ex is primarily based on a linear narrative story and item collection, though its puzzles are open-ended with many possible solutions and consequences.
[10] Developers from other companies, such as Doug Church, Rob Fermier, Marc LeBlanc, and Gabe Newell, identified these deficiencies in game "tension" when they played the prototype.
A May 1998 "proto-mission" milestone was to have a basic but functional demo of the crucial game systems and two maps (the White House and Hong Kong) ready.
The team chose to pause the action while the player was viewing interfaces as to keep the strategy tactical, and to make the affinity of strangers and purpose of items "instantly recognizable".
[12] Though their quality assurance did not see major Direct3D issues, players noted "dramatic slowdowns" immediately following launch, and the team did not understand the "black box" of the Unreal engine well enough to make it do exactly what they needed.
