Operation Medic Bag: Update #19 – Boys in Blue Showcase
Hey heisters,
Since Boys in Blue launched yesterday, we wanted to continue on the theme and discuss the team’s design philosophy regarding parts of the DLC content’s design. This is partially a look behind the scenes, partially a celebration of the team’s work.
We asked team members from the level design, art, design, and audio teams questions and allowed them to highlight their team’s contributions. Fair warning: This is a long blog! This editor will not continue to ramble, and we’ll go straight into it!
The Heist
Emil, Senior Level Designer
What was the main inspiration behind the heist?
The Bronx in New York is a super interesting place on its own, but when police stations are concerned, they are truly unique locations; they’re crammed in anywhere and everywhere that they can fit, leading to varied layouts, designs, and looks. In terms of the theme and feeling, we took inspiration from many movies, such as “Assault on Precinct 13” or even Terminator, to get the 90s style and feeling of a station.
One thing to note for both Stealth and Loud gameplay that PAYDAY 2 players should already know is that gold is heavy. Consider that, and make sure you plan your movement skill lines and stretch your heister muscles before you try to lift it!
What do the players do in Stealth?
There are a number of ingress points to access the station, but my personal go-to is the truck parked on the street. The objective in stealth is to find a way into the evidence room, and while we’re not going to spoil everything here now, there are a few key pieces you need to acquire before you can do that—yes, one of them is a red key card…
Most importantly, the section to get into the evidence room is weight-sensitive, so players will have to work together in co-op! [Editor: A few bits cut here in case some heisters like to go in blind!]
There is an optional objective in stealth play, and we really wanted to experiment with more detailed objectives. For Boys in Blue, you will be tagging listening devices around the station to spy on someone who is of some interest to our buddy, Vlad.
What do players do when the stealth plan goes South?
Assuming players go in loud from the outset, the first thing to do is to pick up a set of explosive charges from a very familiar-looking van that was recently impounded. Using these charges, you blow a great big hole in the wall and expose the vault door. After that, it’s going to be a case of using the cops’ equipment against them. There’s a truck with a winch, so you’ll want to hook that up and just make sure to keep defending it from sabotage squads. It is important to mention that the gas cops will be more frequent in this heist, so prepare yourselves!
During this time, there is also an optional objective: hack into the police servers and steal their data onto a USB storage device. The issue here is that while the fight takes place outside, it is inside the station. A real “split the party” moment of the heart-pounding action.
Finally, as you’re lugging a billion kilos of gold around, you have to escape, but there’s no getaway driver inside the station, so… steal a ride too. I mean, we all know from movies that the keys are somewhere inside the car, right? [Editor: I don’t believe you] No, really! [Editor: stare.gif] …FINE! It’s not, you’ll have to find that, too.
Which is your favourite part of the heist?
I’m loud all the way, so I love moments when Michael Bay-levels of explosions and visual effects cross my screen, the sound is mad, Gustavo drops yet another tune that rips and everything is just so amped up. Then you’re suddenly in a cramped evidence room, or going off and hacking the server, so cloakers or dozers in those moments just crank it all to 11 for me. Love it!
Brennan, Narrative Designer
Tell us a little bit about the story!
The Payday Gang has uncovered something huge. Something that affects them on a, personal level. They have discovered the identity of John Concord—the former CEO of Murkywater who organized the conspiracy to put them in the ground. That bastard!
Naturally, the crew isn’t going to let him off the hook lightly, or at all. Shade has been putting out feelers to any and all contacts she has for info on the mysterious Concord and, to everyone’s surprise, it is Vlad who answers the call. The Gang’s old Ukrainian ally has what they need, but before he’s willing to part with this, the gang has to do something for him. A sensitive problem that needs solving.
A corrupt police official by the name of Captain Blythe recently raided one of Vlad’s actually legitimate cash-for-gold businesses, seizing the merchandise as “evidence.” She’s holding this evidence in the soon-to-be commissioned 51st Precinct, meaning that if something isn’t done to recover this mountain of gold, it’ll end up lining Blythe’s pockets. Figuratively speaking.
Vlad wants the Gang to venture into the belly of the beast and get back what is rightfully, and legally, his. It may be one of the riskiest heists they have pulled, but if they succeed in recovering the stolen gold, Vlad will give them a cut of the profits and valuable intel: A stolen email thread between Captain Blythe and John Concord. The messages on that thread will reveal Concord’s next move, giving the Gang a crucial piece of his plot to strike them where it will hurt the most.
Weapon Pack
For the Weapon Pack, we’ve combined a lot of the answers from a representative from each of the teams that were instrumental in making this new line-up in the arsenal of weapons really slap. Answers have been provided by:
- Oli, Technical Designer (& Dev Update #6 Superstar!)
- Alexander, Weapon Artist
- Christopher, Animator
- Mark, Sound Designer
What informed the theme of the Weapon Pack for Boys in Blue?
Oli: Classic police force finds: not necessarily all American but if you see them, you know what I mean.
Christopher: taking it back to some classic weapons with a lot of signature slaps too! Perfect guns to invade a police station and steal some doughnuts!
Mark: Definitely something to scare the cops of Boys in Blue, even if it’s not quite as effective as an acorn.
Alexander: A lot of inspiration taken from the real world (acorn meme included), as players can no doubt see. Some widely used by law enforcement, while others are recognisable rifles adopted by armed forces around the world, we still feel they were appropriate options!
What can you tell us about the new SMG? How does it stand out from existing SMGs?
Alex: It’s instantly recognisable and has featured in a ton of action movies since the 80s. With some after-market modifications, it has the unique ability to look like an old-school classic while having that modern tactical appearance. Perfect in the hands of our heisters!
Christopher: This gun is a beast to use in game and has become one of my favourites [Editor: spoiler for last question, sorry Chris…] to use in the pack. The versatility is great along with the speed and efficiency, making you feel like a true retired hitman when you have that whisper wrap silencer on!
Mark: ATK7 – this small critter will immediately attract attention with its catchy sound, as if it were clacking its fangs.
What can you tell us about the new revolver and the kind of player experience were you looking for?
Alexander: We wanted to add a proper hand cannon to the game. And I mean CANNON! It’s over 2kg of stainless steel with the same barrel diameter as the HET5 Overkill rifle.
Oli: Perfect for when you need to take care of a cop… behind a car… the next street over, it might even shatter your screen. That should give you a solid idea of its performance 🙂
Mark: An absolute beast, but due to its heavy muzzle, its sound is slightly less explosive than the other revolvers.
Christopher: The heisters sure have a good grip on the BK500, it’s crazy powerful and will leave a big impression on the last thing a cop will see and the poor bugger who discovers that body. This gun is strong but inaccurate which makes it very satisfying when you dome the force one after another! A true hand cannon!
What about the new rifle?
Oli: Our players really seem to enjoy the heavy-hitting assault rifles, so of course we’re going to throw another one into the mix.
Alexander: Yea, the RG5 is powerful and kicks harder than other rifles, but with a slower rate of fire it’s manageable. From a design perspective, it looks similar to the ATK-7 so it fits really nicely alongside as the bigger brother.
Mark: The assembly quality of metal parts usually causes them to be quite noisy.. Christopher: The RG5 has a great punchy quality to it, making it pleasing for heisters to make those helmets fly. It’s a good all-rounder for both long-range and in CQC.
Finally, which is your favourite?
Christopher: Damn it, I spoiled it at the beginning :( [Editor: yep…] all the guns are great in this pack but my go to combo at the moment is the ATK7 and BK500. Insanely good fun guns, going from rapid firing with the ATK to the destroyer that is the BK500.
Mark: ATK7, hands down. Fast reloading and aiming? Please and thank you.
Oli: Definitely the Bullkick 500, especially with the tactical scope on top. It may look silly, but oh boy, you better not mess with the person behind that trigger.
Alexander: For me it has to be the ATK7. It’s such an iconic firearm and as a stealth player I think it looks fantastic when you add the wrapped suppressor, a red dot sight and the collapsible stock.
Bonus Comments from Mark:
When designing weapon sounds, we always think about the player and their hearing first. Of course, unlike the visuals, the sound often has almost nothing in common with the actual sound of the guns. If we were just putting the “real” audio to the game, it would be a very boring “go deaf” simulator.
We stick to one common sound style for all weapons within a family of guns, while creating a unique characteristic for each gun. The sound of each gun is a sandwich of layers of sound that are dynamically controlled separately. The materials used for these layers? Well, that can be anything from a quack of duck to a hand clap. Seems silly, but the important part is when it’s all combined to the final result!
Tailor Pack
We had a quick chat to Ivan, Art Manager and all-round fun fellow to talk to about the designs that went into the Tailor Pack. Take it away, Ivan!
Because Boys in Blue is a police station heist, it made a lot of sense to create something closely related to law enforcement. The goal was to capture the feel of being in a less glamorous part of New York; the parts of this concrete jungle where dreams aren’t really made of. It’s more centered around the dirty and gritty elements of criminal life.
The prisoner’s jumpsuit is self-explanatory, and I’d say the prisoner in riot gear is too. The supermax correctional officer uniform offers a nice balance to the prison suits, giving something on the law enforcement side without just being the same uniform as those in the station. The last one is a little bit more of a stretch, but we like it. It’s not as heavily tied to the cops and robbers aesthetic, but retains the gritty feel we were aiming for in keeping with the neighborhood that the heist is set.
For the masks, we wanted to bring it back to a classic of Payday: clowns. While it is a return to what we already knew, there was still a lot of great work from the team to explore new concepts for them. K9 is, I think players will agree, a no-brainer for this pack and a really cool mask as a fun deviation from clowns while keeping really close ties to the heist. [Editor: also, he’s the goodest boy!]
Music
Finally, we talked to fan-favorite, Gustavo, who is the composer responsible for all the bangers you hear when heisting.
What mood were you going for with the Boys in Blue track?
For our police station assault, I wanted to capture something raw and gritty with a bit of funk. Going loud, there’s a strong emphasis on headbanging, and while moving stealthier you’ll get a groovier vibe. There’s also a good amount of inspiration from the 90s in the mix for this one.
Did you try anything new with this track that we’ve not heard in PAYDAY 3?
Oh yeah! I threw in some new elements like electric organs and other keyboard instruments, include a Rhodes and a Farfisa, some turntable scrubbing, and lots of guitar scratching. There’s also a healthy dosage of distortion and dirtiness on the drums, and while that’s nothing new for PAYDAY music, I really like what we got here.
Any inspiration you’d like to mention for the track, whether it’s games or other work?
There’s a little bit of 90s hip hop in the new track, along with some inspiration from rap-rock bands like Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, and even a bit of Primus. We wanted to get a 90s vibe while still staying true to the PAYDAY DNA. It just felt like a good fit for the Boys in blue setting and heist, and I hope the heisters have a good time with it!
And that, fine folks of the PAYDAY community, about wraps up our blog for this week. It was a very long one, but what better way to celebrate the hard work of the team than to have them talk directly about it? We hope that it was interesting, and that you’re enjoying Boys in Blue.
While we are celebrating the release of the content, work continues ever onward! We’ll continue pushing forward through to the end of September for the Year 1 content, and of course Operation Medic Bag continues until we deliver all that was promised at the start of this year.
Happy Boys in Blue Weekend, gang!
