RoachWorks, Inc.

The main gameplay hook centers around the player picking between radroaches under the affects of varying performance enhancing drugs and watching them fight (Pseudo rock paper scissors where the player picks between a radroach under the effect of: Jet, Mentats, or Psycho)

Engine:

Creation Kit (Fallout 4)

Development Time:

150 hours

Team Size:

Individual

Goals

Have a unique mechanic the level centers around as opposed to a traditional FO4 dungeon crawl
Incorporate elements of environmental storytelling to enable the player’s detective skills
Highlight the moral ambiguity of doing business in the Commonwealth with flawed central characters

The Sole Survivor is approached by a supplier to the fabled RoachWorks Inc., an automated farming corporation feeding those less fortunate in the Commonwealth.

A strife has broken out between the RoachWorks scientists and a raider faction known as the Frogmen. The Frogmen have co-opted the facility and RoachWorks' technology to create radroaches with higher combat potential. The Frogmen bet amongst themselves on roach fights and sell whatever roaches do not die. The supplier asks the Sole Survivor to help the heads of RoachWorks, Igor and Maria, to rid the facility of these awful Frogmen.

Level Overview

1.0

The Sole Survivor is approached by a supplier to the fabled RoachWorks Inc., an automated farming corporation feeding those less fortunate in the Commonwealth.

A strife has broken out between the RoachWorks scientists and a raider faction known as the Frogmen. The Frogmen have co-opted the facility and RoachWorks' technology to create radroaches with higher combat potential. The Frogmen bet amongst themselves on roach fights and sell whatever roaches do not die. The supplier asks the Sole Survivor to help the heads of RoachWorks, Igor and Maria, to rid the facility of these awful Frogmen.

2.0 Changes

I scrapped the facility interior because I wanted to do an exterior combat encounter. I was able to repurpose an existing smaller interior I cut from 1.0. While I didn’t get to do as much work as I would’ve liked on the roach fights, I am happy with the robustness of the quest.

New map below

Level Layout & Maps

The RoachWorks facility consists of two cells; the interior and exterior.

The Sole Survivor can fast travel to the facility after visiting it once.

Roachworks, Inc. Exterior

Here is my initial paper design for this part of the level.

This cell in particular carries most of the narrative beats for the level: including conversations with Maria (main quest NPC), the side quest NPC, Igor, as well as overheard narrative beats from random NPCs hinting at the roach right matrix and general conflict within the facility.

The quest involved speaking with Maria quite a bit, which required a lot of backtracking.

As you will see in the interiors, many of these exterior buildings were collapsed into single rooms within the main interior.

Roachworks, Inc. Main Interior

Here is my initial paper design for the main interior cell of the level.

The facility follows a traditional hub-and-spoke design where the corner/off-center rooms can be unlocked progressively as the level completes.

The main attraction of this cell is the makeshift Roach Arena in the middle of the facility. The roach fighting mechanic is introduced, reinforced, and ultimately mastered at this location.

2.0 Changes

I scrapped the facility interior because I wanted to do an exterior combat encounter. I was able to repurpose an existing smaller interior I cut from 1.0. While I didn’t get to do as much work as I would’ve liked on the roach fights, I am happy with the robustness of the quest.

Afterthoughts

1.0
2.0

What Went Well

I spent most of my time in the early milestones (Whitebox and Initial Gameplay) getting the scripting for the roach fights working, which took a load off of me gameplay wise as the milestones progressed and I focused on other things like encounters

My quest dialogue outline ended up being pretty in line with the final number of scenes in the mod

Aside from the intermediate conversations (where do I go again, etc.), the scene structure did not change and I was able to use around ~10 scenes with a lot of links as opposed to having several dozen scenes

I got the roach fights to resolve themselves quickly, which was a risk I outlined in pre-production

What Went Wrong

I did not cut early enough with respect to geometry

Having a large interior with 4 smaller interiors in each quadrant is hard to sell thematically as to how the player can go back after leaving a trail of bodies and nobody suspects a thing
The player can see everything in the facility, which leads to sensory overload and impacts conveyance as well as performance

The roach fights still look awkward

I should’ve designed an enclosure for the arena, so the roaches could fight properly and we could see the blood splatter and other animations.
In the current design, I have the roaches set to Ghost mode when the fights start (to prevent the player from cheating), but this looks strange when the roaches fight

What I Learned

FO4 quests will undergo major re-designs, so it is probably better to spend less time on the quest and make sure the layout is conducive to the encounter structures and different playstyles

Traditional RPG dungeon layouts are a safer bet as far as narrative, encounter pacing, and conveyance is concerned

Things like mansions, caves, office buildings, etc. that have clear delineations between one part of the building and another make it easier to design for a more linear structure