1. 🎯 Mission Design Philosophy
- Player Agency First: Players should be able to approach missions in multiple ways (stealth, combat, social manipulation, bribery, etc.).
- Narrative Cohesion: Missions should tie into the overarching story while leaving room for sandbox emergent gameplay.
- Progression & Reward Loop: Core missions drive story progression, side missions support player growth (skills, resources, reputation).
- Replayability: Encourage replay through branching paths, dynamic choices, and systemic mission outcomes.
2. 🧩 System Design Perspective
2.1 Mission Types
- Main Story Missions
- Linear progression with cinematic beats.
- Multiple objectives (e.g., infiltrate, eliminate, escape).
- Narrative-heavy with branching moral choices.
- Side Missions
- Faction Contracts: Jobs for gangs, corporations, or political figures. Builds reputation and unlocks perks.
- Dynamic World Events: Procedurally generated encounters (robberies, police chases, street fights).
- Personal Arcs: Missions tied to NPC allies and companions that deepen story immersion.
- Activities & Mini-games
- Street races, underground fight clubs, hacking challenges, drug dealing, etc.
- Light narrative tie-ins, mainly for immersion and world flavor.
2.2 Mission Structure System
- Modular Mission Blocks (MMBs): Missions are built from reusable modules:
- Objective Types: Steal, Kill, Escort, Defend, Escape, Deliver.
- Variables: Time of day, weather, faction involvement, difficulty.
- Outcomes: Reputation shifts, faction responses, world state changes.
- Failure States:
- Allow soft failures (e.g., target escapes → mission adapts, new objective spawns).
- Hard failures only in critical story beats.
3. 🗺 Level Design Perspective
3.1 Open-World Integration
- Seamless Mission Start: Missions trigger organically in the world (phone calls, random encounters, NPCs approaching).
- Urban Verticality: Encourage multi-layer design (streets, rooftops, interiors, underground).
- Multiple Entry Points: Missions should allow different approaches (front assault, stealth infiltration, bribery route).