Flight Deus Ex

Deus ex is a flight. A flight in which there were incredible ups and even more incredible falls. And I decided to make out more.

“Take -off” – Deus Ex (2000)

In the yard 1994.

Warren Spector, inspired by James Bond and Hollywood blockbusters, dreams of creating a peppy shooter with stealth elements, but all plans are destroyed by Electronic Arts. EA was only interested in “commercially successful” projects, and for this the spector should have done not at all what he wanted.

Warren later becomes the producer of the legendary “System Shock”.

Soon, the spector goes to Loking Glass Studio, where “Thief” is working on “. During its development, Warren could not go through the level, because the guards were too strong, and the spector asked the hero to be made more powerful, but he received an answer that then it would have broken all the stealth-main mechanics of the game. After this incident, Warren understands how important the variability in games. There, he is trying to develop his concept of previously rejected Origin System – “Junction Point”. But the production cannot be launched, since the maintenance of the Austin office was very expensive (there was a team of the spector and he himself). Understanding his guilt due to a refusal to move to the central office in Boston and the owner’s persuasion to open a new one in Austin, the spector quits and dissolves the command. By the way, the Junction Point has helped in the development of System Shock 2

The concept of the protagonist

But here John Romero-designer Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake burst into the life of Warren.

At that time, he opens his Ion Storm studio and signs as many as 6 contracts for the development of games. By the way, the studio itself was in the Penthouse office, and Romero offered chic working conditions. Warren agreed without hesitation, especially since Romero agreed to create an office for him in Austin. Finally, the spector began to create a game of dreams after a few years and “Deus Ex” was gradually born.

The development began in 1997. At first (about 6 months), developers, as part of 6 people, came up with general information about the game. They decided to choose a setting in the style of Cyberpan, as they wanted to make the world chaotic, gloomy and completely unfriendly, and this setting suited best for the game. To be even stronger to dive into the world, Warren decided to add as many locations as possible, even those in which the player could not get. According to him, this would enhance the immersion and add realism to the world. About 200 characters were drawn, and the name from the simple “Shooter” was replaced by “Deus Ex”. Everyone liked it so much that they decided not to change it and not to consider other options. The development team expanded to 20 people.

Inspiration in the process of creating a project was taken from such films as “Robocop”, “People in black”, “Secret materials” and films about James Bond. Among the games, the sources of inspiration were Half-Life, Goldeneye 007, Fallout and Thief: The Dark Project.

But the main thing is that the spector explained to the team: the user must act with the game and its environment as interesting to him, not the developer. As we will see later, this will become the main chip of games in the Immersive Sim genre.

During the development of one of the errors of the spector was the division of the team into two parts, which is why constant conflicts, misunderstandings arose, and part of the team was dissolved. Also for a long time, artists submitted to the general director, although they should Warren Spector, which is why everyone adhered to the “matrix system” (division into administrative and functional subordination), which did not work in the two previous companies, but Warren was able to convince everyone that it was not effective.

The music was written by Alexander Brandon, Michael Van Den Bos and Dan Gardopi and was a mixture of jazz, techno and classic embossed tracks, each of which significantly enhanced the mysterious and harsh atmosphere of the game.

Warren wanted to add something from the real world to communicate with him and leave the players for reflection. Ideally for this, conspiracy theories and terrorism were suitable for this. In 1997, all news channels spoke about the issue of terrorism, each article in the newspaper was about it, it was simple enough
look around, and this is reflected in the game. 2052, the world has become much more chaotic and dangerous than today. The currently terrorists kill innocent people with thousands, and at that moment those who are trying to take control of the shadow come out of the shadow, and those who have sought to world dominance, in whose existence, only supporters of the conspiracy theories believe believe.

When choosing the engine, the studio stopped at Unreal Engine. He gave out an excellent picture and had the necessary tools.

In 1999, when it is time to release the game, one important thing was missed – AI. He was so stupid that the game would just wait for a failure, because of which Harvey Smith had to correct this with incredible speed, and he himself recalls it as a “terrible dream”.

Shortly before the release of Deus Ex, the founder of “Valve” Gabe Newell tested. He said that skills and augmentation systems do not work and the game is boring. Then the developers called the wife of the spector and let her play. She began the introductory mission on the shore, threw the box into the water, swam around it, then tried to interact with the Seagull and eventually decided to swim from there on the box. Then she turned and said: “It was the most funny that I played”.

And so, in 2000, after 6 months of finishing the game and cutting out a heap of content from the game, for example, the base on the moon and the mission in Russia, “Deus Ex” comes out. It is sold very well in Europe and America, receives a bunch of fans, including the best ps-game, chic grades from critics and players, moreover, she could get a film adaptation from Columbia Pictures. As a result, the game was able to bring the Immersive Sim genre to mind and became a model for the next games with variability.

“Fall” – Deus Ex: Invisible War

Of course, after the successful first part, the exit of the sequel was just a matter of time. The spector entrusted the lead designer Deus Ex, Harvey Smith, the development of the sequel “Deus Ex: Invisible War”, and he oversaw the new part of “Thief” and other projects.

The game was released in 2003 on Xbox and Windows and was a complete failure. Literally one step separated the series from death.

The game was released in 2003 on Xbox and Windows and was a complete failure. Literally one step separated the series from death.

The game constantly slowed down due to optimization for Xbox, was greatly simplified in all aspects, and somewhere even worse. The role system fell strongly as a quality, although even if this were not, then minor characters can still be calculated on the fingers, some were returned from the first part, but the characters, additional.there were only one level for each level. The combat system was badly damaged: not only was there simply no work with the inventory, but everything also occupied one slot (bar = shotgun in size, logical), besides, all cartridges were universal, which did not allow to switch to another weapon when ammunition ended on the previous one.

And the augmentations are such that, rather, they resemble magic, and it’s terrible. GG became some kind of not interesting shit compared to those who were a protagonist in the first part. I can only say about the plot that it tells about humanity, which has lost the Internet and communications after the event “Collapse”, as a result of which people divided into several groups and weakly connected states and cities. Well, the cherry on the cake was the lack of music during the passages of missions, just silence and no more. But, even despite all the problems of the second part, the franchise receives one of the best ributs in the history of video games in 8 years.

Renaissance – Deus Ex: Human Revolution

After the terrible Invisible War, Deus Ex had a long lull, but the employees of Ion Storm and Eidos believed and waited for the continuation of the series. And so, in 2007, expectations are interrupted. “Eidos interactive” open “Eidos Montreal”, and its general director becomes a fired top manager from Ubisoft-Stefan d’Astetu.

The publishing house sets him the task:

Increase the department to 350 people

And, in order to achieve it, it improves the working conditions as much as possible: creates rooms for relaxation, showers, entertainment zones and conference rooms. But this was not enough for the specialist to quit work and move to another company. Then the next Deus ex was an ideal solution. The first three employees were from Ubisoft Montreal, they could not resist
Work on the “revival” of Deus EX and settled in Eidos Montreal.

The developers perfectly remembered what happened to Invisible War, and due to the fact that the original Deus ex has reprinted several times, they were able to identify the best sides of the game and knew about what to avoid when creating.

One of the main decisions of d’Aspoil was that about 75 people worked on the creation of the game, but no 300 people in the Ubisoft Okolo, which caused constant stress and even conflicts.

After autumn 2007 and plums that the revival of the franchise is being prepared, EIDOS releases the teaser deus ex 3,.They understood that the three in the name would scare the players, and later called “Deus Ex: Human Revolution”, and also make it a prequel. Tizer shows the augmentated embryo to music from the first part, and with it a statement about the opening of the studio and the website.

The same teaser

Jacques-Bellelet, artistic director of Human Revolution, chose black and gold with the main colors of the game. His gold was associated with life, and black with night and the very basis of Cyberpan. Such a visual will become one of the main chips of subsequent parts and promotions in particular.

Since events now take place in 2027, this allowed to greatly change the visual of the game.

All clothing is made in the style of the Italian era of revival and futurism. After all, the art director of Jacques Bellet, believed that the era of transgumanism is a continuation of the ideas of scientists and artists of the Renaissance.

Crystal Dynamics Engine was taken and greatly modified. The studio managed to make the game a good picture, but at the same time it was loyal to computers and did not require powerful iron.

To create a good study of the world, the developers made it so that it looked futuristic, but at the same time it was recognizable due to clothes, shops and even skyscrapers.

The face and appearance of Adam Jensen could not come up with 2 years. All because no one understood how much mechanical improvement should have Adam, and even problems arose with a general vision of the face. The problem was resolved when one of the artists painted Jacques Belletta in poses. The face was finalized, and the actor Ilais Tuskussis gave the hero a proprietary hoarse and seriousness. Jensen is also not enthusiastic about these mechanical improvements and constantly said the famous phrase: “I Never asked for this”.

The script was supposed to be branched, complex, parallel given the player passage style. This task was entrusted to Mary Demarl. She did a great job herself with the main part, giving only notes in games and magazines to other participants in creating a game.

Warren Spector worked on Epic Mickey for Disney and only wished Eidos good luck.

The studio did not have the task of attracting the old Deus Ex developers. Only Sheldon Pakkoti (leading screenwriter of the old parts) helped the creators of the plot remotely.

Soon, Eidos Interactive has financial problems and the search for the owner’s change begins. Among those interested are Electronic Arts and Time Warner. But quite unexpectedly the owner becomes the Japanese company Square Enix. Her Visual Works studio makes a trailer for Deus Ex on E3 2010. The trailer turned out to be so atmospheric and cool that it struck absolutely everyone (including developers).

The game was released in August 2011.

For the first month, 2 was sold.18 million copies, and the publisher became interested in the continuation and development of the series. At the same time, Warren Spector praises the game and says that the games are rarely held before the finals, but this game was an exception.

“Coma” – Deus Ex: Mankind Devined

During the development of Mankind Devided, Mary Demarl began to work with other developers team members. This allowed us to work on the game from all sides and get more ideas . Initially, Mary did not want to return Adam to the new part, but Square Enix convinced her of this, since the character became too popular among the players and it would be stupid to abandon him.

The main thought that Mary tried to convey in the plot was the answer to the question “about accepting yourself as you became not of your own free will, but due to circumstances, and a further understanding of who
You are “. After the events of Human Revolution, the augmentated begins to drive and despise around the world, and some underground groups try to defend their rights. The main tie is the search for the balance between these groups.

With one of the main problems that the developers faced, there was an engine. It took a lot of time to create it, and it was called “Dawn Engine”.

The maximum immersion was created thanks to amazing locations, namely, praises 2029.

Augmentation system was subjected to processing. She did not become something too strong to break the balance, but rather competently woven into the game. Such abilities were introduced as: “Tesla”, which is an electromagnetic weapon built into the brush and having four charges to neutralize opponents.

“Titan shield”, which temporarily protects Adam from physical damage. Artistic Director of the game Jonathan Jacques-Belfeet emphasized that the geometry of this ability conveys the aesthetics of the game.

Well, the blades could now be bullet.

Another important change was shooting, finally it was pleasantly and a piece of shit, because of which it would be possible to arrange good shootings.

But not everything was so smooth: the developers created a system by which they were supposed to release the game 4 days earlier at a certain level of pre -order, later it was canceled.

The release was postponed for 6 months to finalize the game to a presentable type. The release took place on August 23, 2016 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game received positive assessments, but Square Enix itself did not hide that the results were disappointed. Because of this, the publisher decided to direct the forces of Eidos Montreal to other games

The release was postponed for 6 months to finalize the game before the presenter. The release took place on August 23, 2016 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game received positive assessments, but Square Enix itself did not hide that the results were disappointed. Because of this, the publisher decided to direct the forces of Eidos Montreal to other games.

“Expectations and Hope”

Despite the fact that after Mankind Devided we did not receive a single full game, hopes still remain. Nobody closed the series, it just is in the “coma”. Well, I will believe in the best and hope that the rise is waiting for her again.

The best comments

Thanks for the article, Deus Ex is loved and all passed. Even the second part.

But I ask for the future – check the article for errors. Pieces of text are duplicated and spelling errors are present.

I propose to familiarize

The Fall played well and looked quite cool for mobile phones, although she had a number of problems. The starlings wanted to develop the universe already fully after the MD exit, as they expected success and good sales, but alas, it did not work out. And the microtransactions were so invisible to me that it was perfectly without them.

Well, I agree about the zarub, let’s say in Human Revolution due to cotton and rather all-time shooting I did not want to open, in the next part it was corrected and it has already become much better. But all the same, the emphasis remained on stealth validity

At the same time, The Fall had exactly the same problem as MD – it was a short stub of history, without the beginning and end. Direct continuation of the book and Clifhenger in the final.
Well, to release this on a PC, without any changes in the gameplay, was not entirely reasonable, against the backdrop of the “older brothers” The Fall looked frankly mocked.
Squorses began to “develop the Universe” in 2011, from the first comics and the first book, this is five years before the release of MD.

Microtransactions, by today’s standards – yes, unobtrusive. The key here is “today”, since EA and Jubisoft together have accustomed the players that this is the norm for single games. But at that time, the very fact of buying disposable objects for “extended technology \ episode 1” (namely, this was how MD looked against the background of the previous dx) looked wildly.

I understand that he (for some unknown reasons) is full of fans, but now we are not talking about the quality of the content that is, but about the leadership of the birdhouse itself. T.e. What was in MD was made well, there were no complaints about the developers, they did what they could, given the circumstances. The problem is that this is a short episode (by the standards of the best parts of the series), spoiled by marketing \ publisher and unsuccessful related releases, in the person of the same The Fall and books, in fact, mandatory (unlike, for example, books on Mass Effect).

And then people are surprised why the sales are low (although, over there, the Swedes recently reported that their numbers are quite happy with, and they themselves are happy with the purchase of the franchise). If there was a game of HR level, then it would have sold better, and the fate of the series could have been completely different.

I managed to play Deus Ex (2000) shortly after its release. These were of course gorgeous impressions. For a couple with a friend, we studied the game for a year and knew every nook there!

Naturally, followed the development of Invisible War. Everything was just gorgeous on paper. But in fact, alas, it turned out not very.

The rest of Deus, to be honest, were not impressed, since there was just the variability there. Only Stlas remained. Normal zarub, which are quite successful in the first part, decided to avoid as fire and in vain.

Invisible War is not as bad as it is painted. He puts an end to the history of the original, offering many diverse endings and the real opportunity to choose one of the parties (in the original the hero went to the rebels, without options).

But MD, on the contrary, is even worse than common.

The “birdhouse”, after the success of DX: HR, decided that they are now EA, so they began to milk the franchise “only on the road”, rolling out a couple of castrated mobile titles (including the disgusting The Fall, later portended on the PC), investing in books, comics, but could not create their “extended universe”. One of the problems of DX: MD was just that the game was, in fact, there was no connection between HR and MD was a separate book about Jensen’s adventure and its connection to the TF29 detachment, without which you seem to watch the third season at once, and not the second.

Microtransactions were picked up in the MD itself in the most non -indulgent, and the main plot was a short episode with the “monster of the week”, which, in fact, is breaking off on CliffHeenger. Well t.e. This product also did not have a clear ending, and what was more like a sit-quest on duty (it’s funny that the sides themselves were interesting … including that pair that they sold separately in the form of DLC according to horse price tags).

Another story about how the greed of a large corporation (which in itself is ironic for playing the genre of cyberpunk) has ruined a cult and promising series.

However, now the franchise has new owners, so there is a hope for continuing / restart \ Renaissance.