Which area of the game was the most complex one to create and why?
Jean-Francois Dugas: I’d say the city hub of Prague. It’s a location that holds many sub-locations with different artificial intelligence needs for NPCs and enemies, as well as various exploration and mission setups. It’s also a place you visit a few times throughout your journey at different times of the day, thus demanding different scenarios. So, it’s very complex to manage the various aspects to make all of the pieces work together while still keeping the world-logic and maintaining overall consistency.
Patrick Fortier: From a gameplay point of view, the most difficult challenge was Adam Jensen himself. Because he had evolved into a character who is much more comfortable with his augmentations, we wanted to find a way to translate this “Adam 2.0” persona into the actual controls. We were looking for more fluidity and better reliance on augmentations. To achieve those goals, we worked a very long time finding the right control scheme (I think we went through 19 iterations, each one inching us closer to the final result). The main objective was to allow quick use of augmentations, whether assigning, triggering, or using them in movement. We also modified the energy system to allow more frequent use of certain augmentations and developed the “auto-locking” nature of the gun-arms to make them meaningful (more powerful and reliable than regular weapons) yet easy to access on the fly, no matter your playstyle. That system needed to blend perfectly with all the different animations both in first- and third-person, so it was quite challenging. In the end, we are very happy with the results.
Olivier Proulx: The Prague City Hub was a massive challenge. In terms of design, it has to seamlessly accommodate for critical path missions, side missions, and exploration. Also, the AI system is pushed to its limits as NPCs must react and adjust their factions based on the player’s actions. Lastly, we worked very hard on the ‘living breathing world’ aspect of this map with lots of NPC voiceovers, custom animations, and scripted events—all of which are essential to push the narrative aspects of the game. Obviously, being such a big map with many assets, Prague was a challenge for the technical team and the programmers!
Steve Szczepkowski: Sonically, I would say the sandstorm in Dubai would be one of them. There’s so much going on: the battle between the Djinn and the Task Force, gunfire, barks, rising winds, etc. It was a lot to try and balance, but we did our best!
Were there any times during testing when you found solutions to an area that you hadn't even thought of during design?
Jean-François Dugas: It happens all the time because the way we build challenges doesn’t require a specific way to solve them. It’s really about using the augmentations, weapons, and tools you have. Here’s a simple example to illustrate this point: There was this place in Prague that was filled with toxic gas and the valve to shut the breach off was too far to not die without the proper augmentation. However, I had the Icarus Dash augmentation and the TITAN shield. I just turned on the shield, thus reducing damage, and then used the Icarus Dash to quickly get to the valve to shut it down. I didn’t die, I just took a hit on my energy bar and that’s it. The funny thing is, while we were building those challenges, we didn’t think about how they could be solved using augmentations not built for these situations.
Patrick Fortier: I remember it was very challenging to keep Singh alive when we were building the final Dubai sequence in the Atrium. The level designer working on the map wondered what would happen if you simply sniped him with a tranquilizer dart. Sure enough, Singh went down, so enemy NPCs stopped firing at him. However, since he was not dead, the objective of saving him was completed successfully!
Olivier Proulx: What I always find surprising is how players can get creative with game mechanics. I remember one player being super excited about how he took out a cop in exo-skeleton by setting up a frag mine in a choke point, luring him by throwing a physical object, then finishing him off with AP rounds. From our point of view, it’s always awesome to see creative mix and match of the many mechanics of the game.
Steve Szczepkowski: I encountered this when we originally designed the Drone. We had a cool sound for it, but sadly it didn’t work when we tested it in other areas of the game. In some areas, it just didn’t work and actually caused problems. In the end, we had to go with a different sound.
Was there anything that you really wanted to include in DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED, but didn't have time for?
Jean-François Dugas: Not that much, but I’d say a few experimental weapons and another city hub probably got left out.
Patrick Fortier: I would have liked to explore more “first person body awareness.” You see Jensen’s augmentations when he uses them or his arms when he runs, but you still can’t see his legs when he looks down or his hands when he picks things up, etc. Obviously, with all the work that was needed rebuilding basic systems for first- and third-person actions in the new engine, there was no time to fully develop that, but it’s something I feel would have added a lot to Jensen’s (and the player’s) physical relationship with the environment.
Olivier Proulx: Of course! As with any game development project, sometimes we have to make choices and cut some ideas in order to maximize the quality of the most important aspects of the game.
Steve Szczepkowski: Like I mentioned before, we really wanted the drones to have a unique signature sound, but in the end we had to go in a different direction. We’d get more than two drones together in one area and the sound wouldn’t work anymore. We also wanted to get some custom music tracks for a lot of the conversations in the game. We managed to get some, but not as many as we wanted.
Which augmentations make you the happiest? Is there a build that really suits you?
Jean-François Dugas: I really love the gun-arms. I’m more of a stealthy player and I love that now I have more aggressive yet silent and non-lethal means to take down my prey.
Patrick Fortier: I really like the PEPS and the Icarus Dash. The PEPS is just so versatile, it can take down multiple enemies momentarily (allowing you either to kill them or run away). You can move heavy crates with it or charge it up to fully knock-out an NPC. The Dash is also a very open-ended tool. You can use it as a weapon (to Dash into people) or as a great way to explore and navigate the environments stealthily, especially vertically.
Olivier Proulx: I love the tension and challenge of playing stealth non-lethally. To that effect, a mix of Glass shield, remote hack, and a maxed out Tesla seems to suit me very well. That said, I’ve had fun playing all sorts of combinations in the game, including a deadly aggressive build with a mix of TITAN armor, Nanoblades, and maxed out health and dermal armor augmentations.
Steve Szczepkowski: I really like the Titan Shield. It sounds cool and is bad ass.
What are some of your favorite near-future Sci-fi stories?
Jean-François Dugas: Blade Runner is a classic for me that never gets old. I love the first two Terminator movies because when you look at it, AI and robotic technologies are getting closer and closer to its fictive counterpart. I also really dig books like 1984 and Brave New World. Our world is different from what is depicted in these stories, but it’s scary to see the similarities with today’s reality and where we’re headed.
Patrick Fortier: Robopocalypse, Ready Player One, Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, Foundation, and Nexus Trilogy are my favorites.
Olivier Proulx: Like many, I’m a big fan of Blade Runner. I can’t wait for the sequel, which will be directed by fellow Quebecois, Denis Villeneuve. The films Brazil and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the classic manga Akira, are other favorite near-future sci-fi stories.
Steve Szczepkowski: I’m more of a horror reader.
Major confrontations in DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED are even more open-ended than they were in DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION. How hard was it to make so many challenges with multiple outcomes?
Jean-François Dugas: Well, the same philosophies are always at play. Yes, we were able to push things further than in DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, but ultimately, the same design logics were applied to this title and a lot of iterations were needed. It’s not magical; you need to constantly refine things until they start to feel right. It required experienced people, a lot of hard work, and stubbornness.
Patrick Fortier: It was very challenging for the narrative team, but all the open-endedness is very difficult for the gameplay team, as well, since we never know the loadout players have and which abilities they’re going to use. You need to test and retest and really step out of your comfort zone to experiment with “unlikely” combinations of weapons and augmentations to see how the game systems hold up. Also, you must make sure every map in the game can be completed without augmentations, because that’s a player option, too!
Steve Szczepkowski: It demands a lot of support—mainly narrative as we have whole conversations that will change depending on what you did in the game. Different cutscenes will play, as well.
In a personal sense, do you think of ghost playthroughs as being canon, or do you see Jensen as someone who uses all methods (weapons, Takedowns, stealth, social engineers, etc.)?
Jean-François Dugas: What’s important to me is that players build their own canon version of Adam Jensen. We have defined character traits for him that will inform us on how we write him and how he will react to different situations or people, but that’s pretty much it. The rest is up to the audience to decide. Yes, my Jensen doesn’t kill unless it’s necessary. He’s resourceful and will use his full arsenal to get things done. But that’s my truth. Maybe not yours.
Patrick Fortier: Fundamentally, I feel the series is about choice and consequences, so for me, from a gameplay perspective, that translates into a “whatever happens, happens” kind of playthrough. I try to be stealthy when I can and destructive when I don’t feel I have to hold back. Other times I’m forced into action because I made a mistake, but ultimately I never want to re-load. My goal is to get by with the tools and resources at my disposal. Testing the limits of your creativity is one of the most rewarding aspects of this game.
Steve Szczepkowski: For me, he would carry a balance of all the above: weapons, stealth, takedowns, and social so you can hopefully get through most situations. I always make sure my hacking is maxed out so that I can get into all the cool parties.
What is your favorite "I can't believe that worked" moment in this game and why?
Jean-François Dugas: The sandstorm in Dubai. I asked for it very late in the project when, technically, it’s not time to ask for these things anymore. I had my reasons to add it and the team got on board pretty quickly. Of course, the tech people started by saying no, but that was just the start of the discussion, right? Ahahahhaha!
Patrick Fortier: An NPC was patrolling toward me and was about to discover the body of a guard I had knocked out. Fearing detection was unavoidable at this point, but I noticed he turned his back to me momentarily while searching around. From my crouched position behind a desk, I picked up a coffee mug and threw it into the corridor. The NPC was turning back toward me and was one step away from getting a line of sight on the body before he turned away to investigate the noise. This allowed me just enough time to pull the body away and stash it in the corner, thereby continuing my “undetected” run through the map. Very satisfying because of the “quick thinking” nature of my solution and how the systems all behaved the way I expected them to in order to allow me to get away with it!
Steve Szczepkowski: I think the boss fight at the end tops my list. There were so many cutscenes and potential outcomes that we decided to go for a global solution that simplified things and gave a better presentation in the game.
Which character surprised you during development?
Jean-François Dugas: Vaclav Koller. At first, I wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to have such of an eccentric character, but he was so beautifully written and acted that he really came alive in the end.
Patrick Fortier: Rucker is a character I really came to adore. The nuance and intelligence of his arguments, his sense of honor, but also his great lucidity about his current predicament really makes you understand why people would choose to follow him. He challenges you intellectually and forces you to really reconsider your positions about the augmentation debate, even after you turn the game off.
Steve Szczepkowski: I really enjoyed Koller and his performances. I was also impressed with how good some of the side mission characters came out—they’re always a lot of fun and it’s where we can usually have a bit more freedom from a creative standpoint!
Did any character become more important than you expected them to be?
Jean-François Dugas: Otar Botkevelli. Originally, he was just a thug leader working for the Dvali family. He had only a small role in Koller’s shop when the Dvali were trying to get him. Something was off. We didn’t really take advantage of the character we had in our hands. We then realized that we had an underground casino that was merely an exploration setup. It gave us the idea to move him there and create a storyline involving Koller—a story in which you can get involved or not. Therefore, this character started with a few lines and ended up with a robust storyline in the end.
Patrick Fortier: Otar started out as a pretty minor character and evolved into something else entirely. Gameplay-wise, the social interactions with him are very interesting since they are heavy with possibilities. Players who fully explore his storyline can unlock very significant things later on in the game.
Steve Szczepkowski: Again, Koller took on a bit of a bigger role than I think we originally planned.
What did you want to be the most challenging aspect of the game?
Jean-François Dugas: For me, it’s not about how challenging the game is or is not. It’s more about the journey. Is it fun or not? Does this game encourage you to think outside of the box or not? If I had to choose something, it would be the new difficulty mode called “I Never Asked For This.” It’s perma-death mode. It adds a new dimension to the overall experience; a tension and a sense of constant danger that really changes how you play the game.
Patrick Fortier: The end-game sequence is meant to be the most difficult, not just because it includes a boss-fight, but mostly because there are so many things to do and so many possible outcomes. Players have to really get their priorities straight and decide what’s important for them because it’s unlikely they will have time to do everything.
Steve Szczepkowski: Sonically, I would say the hacking. We wanted it to feel tense and hi-tech.
Did you always have a "canon" ending in mind for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, or was there a debate for what actually happened in the end?
Jean-François Dugas: Mary, the narrative director, will tell you that all endings are canon because the truth is buried and nobody really knows what truly happened that day in Panchaea. But when we were developing the endings, we felt that Jensen would choose to sink the facility, thus avoiding broadcasting perverted versions of the truth to the world. At least that was the original state of mind.
Steve Szczepkowski: We debated it, but Mary DeMarle (the Executive Narrative Director) had that angle figured out, so we followed her lead.
What was the absolute best thing that ever happened in-game for you?
Jean-François Dugas: When a bunch of thugs outside of public areas in Prague started attacking me. Instead of fighting back, I dragged them into the open, which alerted the police. They went and killed them all, cleaning the place. Then, I got into enemy territory and could explore at my own leisure, knowing no one would bug me. It also allowed me save ammunition.
Patrick Fortier: Playing the game so much with so many different loadouts, there are tons of little magical moments (reverse throwing a grenade with the PEPS, Icarus-Dashing straight into an Icarus Strike, putting away my weapon before a city drone investigates the scene and takes down my enemies for me, etc.). However, I think my favorite moment was the first time I played the complete TF29 headquarters. Seeing all the NPCs running about and talking about ongoing events, hearing the dramatic background music, reading the emails about the ambiguous nature of the command line from the previous Dubai mission between Jensen and Macready, talking with Aria during and after the shooting range, finding the on-going investigations board or talking to Singh because I had kept him alive. Even though there was no real challenge, that was a moment where everything really clicked and the Deus Ex world really came to life for me.
Steve Szczepkowski: I was just walking around to test the city hub. I entered a small bar/restaurant in the Prague city hub and the audio transition going in was seamless. There was background music playing inside the bar and a couple was having a conversation in Czech as I walked in. All the elements came together (audio, narrative, etc.) and created a pretty magical moment for me. The mood and setting were perfect in that moment. I had a big smile.
Describe the inspirations for your career in gaming and what things give you the greatest satisfaction in your current role?
Jean-François Dugas: I have played games for more than 35 years, but what made me want to become a game developer were all of the PC games of the ‘90s. Graphic adventures like Gabriel Knight, King’s Quest, Police Quest, Full Throttle, or strategy games like Heroes of Might & Magic and Civilization inspired me greatly. What gives me the greatest satisfaction is seeing a game coming to life through the expert hands of a team that chooses to believe in the direction of the game I’m trying to make. We have a creative core who can have ballsy ideas and when the production team steps up to make them happen, it can be very exhilarating.
Patrick Fortier: I don’t know if I would call them “inspirations,” but most of my philosophies about game design come from the old Japanese console and arcade games of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Things like “tease, teach, test, master” for introducing new mechanics, constantly introducing new patterns for established mechanics, or letting players experiment on their own are concepts I grew up on and which fundamentally influence my perception of game development. Ultimately, though, the most satisfying thing is seeing ideas come to life through players’ experiences. Witnessing paper ideas gradually evolve into tangible emotions that resonate with people are the moments I live for.
Olivier Proulx: Creating games is the ultimate team effort – as a producer, I have the opportunity to work closely with all the teams to make sure communication is smooth, objectives are met and daily problems are solved. It’s very rewarding when the work of many talented developers from different fields comes together on the controller and through world-building!
Steve Szczepkowski: I always wanted to work in the arts and be creative. For the longest time it was just playing and making music. I also love film and reading. The gaming world allows me to bring so many of my passions to the forefront and be creative, from the casting of interesting voices, to the sound of a certain weapon, to the music and emotion in a certain area. I love all of these moments and feel very lucky to work in this field. I get a great deal of satisfaction seeing something we worked on come to life and shine.