Operation: Death Engine (Developer Commentary)

''This is the Wikia page for Operation: Death Engine (Developer Commentary). If you're looking for the mission, go to Operation: Death Engine.''


 * "Developing look and feel of the level presented an interesting challenge. We wanted the familiar spy imagery of the 1960s, but space leans more on the futuristic and modern side. For this level, we went for what the 1960s thought the future would look like. The shape language and the colors in this level reference various machines, buttons, and technology of the 1960s. Of course, Doctor Zor's technology developed by Commander Solaris may have been far beyond its time."


 * "We really wanted to make this level feel like a culmination of all the other levels. What better way than to add little elements of the previous levels into this one? Some are pretty obscure, like how pulling your life support fuse to access other systems is a bit like opening the window to poisonous gas in Operation: Friendly Skies. Others are much more direct, like the crystal-based gravity manipulation from Operation: Winter Break and the pulling of a panel to disable a super weapon from Operation: Squeaky Clean."


 * "Going to space, we knew it's going to be our deadliest level yet. Still, we didn't anticipate just how lethal something as seemingly straightforward as operating an airlock can be. These two buttons started off without any indication of what they do and an unavoidable death if both doors were open at any time. It seemed like there's no rule for whether the top button made more sense opening inner or outer doors, and players really struggled remembering which one did what. In the end, we were happy to have taken a bunch of teeth out of this innocent-looking death trap and still observe plenty of players fall victim to it at least once or twice."


 * "The gravity machine in Operation: Winter Break was one of the trickiest things to optimize because of all the floating objects bumping into everything. A level built around variable gravity would be foolhardy madness. So that's exactly what we did. We made it feasible by restricting the number of free-floating objects to about a dozen or so. This restriction also led to the computer taking over clue duties, which usually fall to the cards and notes you see in other levels."


 * "Encouraged by how well it worked in Operation: Seat of Power, we wanted to lean on character presence even more in this level. To give Commander Solaris more space to speak, we decided to cut the player off from the Handler and give her his job, commenting on player actions and giving hints. This was a fun challenge given how Commander Solaris goes from believing the player is an unexpected new assistant to ridiculing and eventually underestimating their ability as an Agent. In the end, we are really happy with Melanie Minichino's performance."


 * "Having an electrical circuits puzzle felt like a very natural fit for this level. The deadly fuse box went through many revisions to make it less punishing. Some earlier, nastier versions involved no labels on the cover panel and no way to mitigate the need to periodically power on life support. What we didn't quite anticipate is the confusion some of our younger players have around the concepts of a fuse box and how fuses work. We think we've found ways to mitigate most of them, but I feel there's still a youth tax on that puzzle."


 * "While we are usually careful about ramping up difficulty, Operation: Death Engine was different. It being the last level, we decided to err on the harder, more punishing side. We spent a few iterations cycles making sure things don't get too frustrating, but our hope is that players come away feeling satisfied and accomplished rather than underwhelmed after breezing through what is essentially the boss level of I Expect You To Die."


 * "Whenever we start making a new level for I Expect You To Die, we have a bunch of brainstorms for what kind of level it should be and where it should take place. Invariably, someone brings up the idea of a level that takes place in a bathroom. For many very good reasons, we've never done it. Yet. But the presence of this, uh, 'waste-management system' here is a little nod to this recurring idea."


 * "One of the special things about this level is how dynamic Commander Solaris's reactions are. Not only will she remark on many of the things you can do, but she'll even change what she says based on how quickly you progress. If you're really quick, she won't even call Zoraxis Headquarters. She'll know something's fishy if you already have the impact crate in your airlock by the time she gets her camera online."