Invisible, Inc.
A stealth tactics game about infiltrating corporate facilities.
Where Invisible, Inc. comes up2 episodes and tests
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testShould Designers Listen to Negative Feedback?
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testThe Five Types of Stealth Game Gadget - School of Stealth Part 2Invisible, Inc. uses an alarm that ratchets up over time to create pressure without a hard timer. Kills raise it one level, and knocked-out guards wake after a few turns, so safety expires and players must keep adapting. The lesson: design around the emotion a mechanic creates, then attach costs to powerful options. The sources give no sales or player numbers.
- Turn timers on missions
- Players rush
- Players take risks
- Lands in sticky situations
- Alarm ramps up over time
- No turn countdown
- Each kill raises alarm one level
Similar pressure, less annoying
From Game Maker's Toolkit
What was said about Invisible, Inc.
Invisible Inc's alarm adds pressure without a hard timer and makes kills costly. The alarm system ramps up challenge over time, so players feel pressure to move without a turn countdown. Each kill also raises the alarm one level, which makes weapon use risky rather than effortless.
Game Maker's Toolkit sets this against XCOM 2's turn timers, which made players rush, take risks and land in sticky situations. Invisible Inc gets a similar feeling by a route that annoys less. The kill penalty addresses Robert Yang's complaint that killing 'depopulates a level, severs connections between systems, and makes the game boring'. Dishonored uses score and narrative penalties for the same job.
Knocked-out guards in Invisible Inc wake up, so safety is temporary. Guards who are knocked out wake after a few turns unless you sacrifice a teammate to pin them. Players cannot treat a takedown as a permanent fix and have to keep adapting.
This is the same idea as Splinter Cell's fuses that flicker back on and its smoke bombs. Each creates 'a tiny and temporary pocket of safety within a danger zone'.
Keyhole peeks let Invisible Inc players study a room before entering. Players look into the next room through a keyhole, then plan and execute the move through it. This supports a stealth loop of observation followed by execution.
Game Maker's Toolkit groups keyholes with Splinter Cell's optic fibre camera, Alien Isolation's motion tracker and Dishonored's lean. Each lets players see past the character's viewpoint. Gunpoint's Tom Francis is cited for the point that information is the raw material plans are made of.
Should Designers Listen to Negative Feedback?
Its alarm system ramps up challenge over time, creating pressure without a hard timer.
Invisible Inc's alarm adds pressure without a hard timer and makes kills costly. The alarm system ramps up challenge over time, so players feel pressure to move without a turn countdown. Each kill also raises the alarm one level, which makes weapon use risky rather than effortless.
Game Maker's Toolkit sets this against XCOM 2's turn timers, which made players rush, take risks and land in sticky situations. Invisible Inc gets a similar feeling by a route that annoys less. The kill penalty addresses Robert Yang's complaint that killing 'depopulates a level, severs connections between systems, and makes the game boring'. Dishonored uses score and narrative penalties for the same job.
The Five Types of Stealth Game Gadget - School of Stealth Part 2
Keyholes let players peek into rooms, and knocked-out guards wake after a few turns unless a teammate is sacrificed to pin them. Each kill raises the alarm one level.
Invisible Inc's alarm adds pressure without a hard timer and makes kills costly. The alarm system ramps up challenge over time, so players feel pressure to move without a turn countdown. Each kill also raises the alarm one level, which makes weapon use risky rather than effortless.
Game Maker's Toolkit sets this against XCOM 2's turn timers, which made players rush, take risks and land in sticky situations. Invisible Inc gets a similar feeling by a route that annoys less. The kill penalty addresses Robert Yang's complaint that killing 'depopulates a level, severs connections between systems, and makes the game boring'. Dishonored uses score and narrative penalties for the same job.
Knocked-out guards in Invisible Inc wake up, so safety is temporary. Guards who are knocked out wake after a few turns unless you sacrifice a teammate to pin them. Players cannot treat a takedown as a permanent fix and have to keep adapting.
This is the same idea as Splinter Cell's fuses that flicker back on and its smoke bombs. Each creates 'a tiny and temporary pocket of safety within a danger zone'.
Keyhole peeks let Invisible Inc players study a room before entering. Players look into the next room through a keyhole, then plan and execute the move through it. This supports a stealth loop of observation followed by execution.
Game Maker's Toolkit groups keyholes with Splinter Cell's optic fibre camera, Alien Isolation's motion tracker and Dishonored's lean. Each lets players see past the character's viewpoint. Gunpoint's Tom Francis is cited for the point that information is the raw material plans are made of.
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