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Quest Summary

- Combat focused companion POI

Decommissioned Autonomous Extractorium (DAE) is a combat focused location in The Outer Worlds 2. This area is locked down and populated with Cultist known as The Glorious Dawn. This multi-level factory once processed and packaged Zyranium, but has since been abandoned and occupied by cultist seeking to experiment and create bootleg Zyranium weaponry from highly toxic chemicals (the player can even get one). It can be entered 3 different ways, and the cultists inside of it can be dealt with a number of ways as well. Whether the player chooses to run in guns-a-blazing, Use stealth, Use Hacking to poison the cultist, or have Aza assist you, the space offers multiple options to support the target goal of allowing the players many RPG options they can leverage to their liking of the experience.

Additionally, the player can also meet & acquire Aza (1 of 6 in-game companions) whom is not in the most favorable position upon arriving at the DAE. Help her out, and she can not only help you with the cultist, but also join your crew.

Design | Team Goals

Initially this area existed as a pure combat POI, where the player would engage in a dense, fun amount of combat, on their path to progressing and leveling up. Later in the blockout phase, Aza was added to the area, and the goal then became about not only making a fun, RPG-rich combat experience, but a compelling, memorable introduction to meeting a rebellious companion in that being Aza.

Role: Area Designer

  Responsibilities:

  • Blockout area layout

  • Combat Encounter setup

  • Loot Placement

  • Collaboration w/ Art & Narrative

  • Visual Scripting/Blueprints

  • Digital Documenation & Maps

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Pod Team: 3 Devs
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Game Name: The Outer Worlds 2
Platform: Xbox, PS5, PC
Development Time: 2 years

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Factory Lobby

This area serves as the main entrance of the DAE. The player will have a view of the Cultist occupying the Main Factory Floor. In this corridor, the player will also see one of the two ways they can enter the main floor, this one being, via a locked door. 

If the player is curious enough to explore the Restroom ahead, they'll find a cultist in a stall. If the player has the Speech capability, they can persuade them into lending the front door key to the Main Combat Floor.

Factory Main Combat Floor

The player can enter the main floor via many options. Depending on how they choose to do such, they'll be met with several cultists and a number of ways to deal with them.

On the 1st floor, the player will find explosive barrels to aid them in combat and, also valuable loot that can aid them in their traversal through the abandoned factory. 

On the 2nd floor the player can find more traversal loops, cover, (nice) loot, & also a couple of alternate options to  help them interact with the aggressive cultists. See the Alternate RPG Routes section

My Design Goals were to make a space with contrasting themes. The 1st floor is fairly open to support efficient combat & navigation, with manageable cover. The 2nd floor is a lot more tighter in contrast, but offers the player verticality and traversal loops, thus enforcing quick movement from the player to avoid gunfire as well.

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Glorious Dawn insignia the cultist use to make their inhabitants known

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DAE: 1st Floor

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DAE: 2nd Floor

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Meeting the Companion, Aza

When the player happens upon Aza, they'll find her screaming endlessly, demanding the cultist who threw her into the room to let her out. It appears they attempted to throw her in a room of decommissioned automechs that are leaking Zyranium, in an effort to eventually gas her out. 

The player likely has many questions upon meeting her, but she's focused on killing first, and answering questions later. Depending on the players capabilities, they too can gas out the cultist, or they can witness Aza leap from the 2nd floor, to the 1st floor, and enact her vengance on the Glorious Dawn cultist.

After helping her out with the cultist that imprisoned her, she makes a proposal to join your group, on the account that you don't mind helping her kill more cultists of the Glorious Dawn.

Concept Art by Bree Guthrie

Alternate RPG Routes

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Cargo Dock Entrance

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Cargo Dock Parkour Entry

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Ground Floor Venting Controls Terminal

The DAE has a couple other ways the player can enter the POI. If the player explores the dock area, they will find an open door with a possible stealth option they can use. Additionally, if the player finds there way to the back of the multi-leveled platform, they can use parkour to climb up to a hidden crouch entry way

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Once inside, the player can go either into direct combat, Use stealth, ask Aza for help OR Use their Hack skills on the terminal on the 2nd floor to release the Zyranium safelock, and suffocate the cultist on the main floor. 

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The main Design Intent & Goal in mind here, was to support multiple RPG options and use of the Double Jump Gadget through exploration of the DAE, and additionally give players more than one way to deal with eliminating hostile creatures in a Murder Hole.

Gallery

Art by Rain Supple

Early Development Images

Development Challenges

Balancing developing the DAE & Nest Simultaneously:
At this point in production I was tasked with blocking out both the Mantisaur Nest & DAE at the same time. Balancing time, meetings, resources, and concerted effort to assure I was meeting deadlines was still my expectation, and I'd say I managed well with minimal crunch. Additionally, I straddled blocking out Overlands content for Golden Ridge in general, I was very busy, but pleased with various types of work I had to keep my day-to-day busy and varied.


Assuring that Players didn't Accidentally bypass Aza (an in-game companion):
Given that the player had to cross the cargo dock to progress along the Golden Path objective, the DAE was along the way. We couldn't guarantee players would enter the factory, but we could at least play her audio cue barks in an area that would perhaps entice the player's attention just enough to peak into the DAE, and rescue/recruit Aza, 1 of 6 in-game companions. There are no main quest leading the players directly inside the location, so it's possible players could miss her, which is also totally fine, as it would make the game re-playable for others.

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Balancing developing both a new faction's discovery in a combat space, but also a companion acquisition:
The Glorious Dawn (cultist) would be most peoples first interaction with the faction at the factory. That only with introducing Aza all seemed like things that could get muddled on top of one another. I worked closely with Leonard Boyarsky (Aza's lead narrative designer) to assure that this did not happen by making sure the focus was mostly on her via many audio cues that would attract the players attention, but also cause them to fall for Aza.

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