The Assembly | Game Overview
Hi, my name is Martin Field, I’m the Art Manager at nDreams. And I’m Jackie Tetley, Senior Designer. In this video we’re going to give you an overview of The Assembly, our interactive story we’ve built from the ground up for virtual reality, and take you through what you can expect to be doing in the game.
With The Assembly we set out to make a long form, fully featured game in VR, rather than just a virtual reality tech demo. What I mean is we didn’t just want to create a throwaway experience with some interesting, experimental mechanics. We wanted to create something with a comprehensive story that spanned multiple hours, and had a high quality, realistic art style.
"We just passed perimeter A, ETA to front entrance, 10 minutes." We also immediately knew that VR gave us a great opportunity to tell a very different type of story. With VR, you’re fully immersed and ‘present’ in the world, "Hey there boy" so stories that are more grounded and based on human interactions and emotions, tend to feel much more believable, and much more powerful.
"Welcome Officer Harris" "Honestly, if making that machine smart again means more explosions, I can live with that." "That's because you don't have to clean up after it." "Why is she awake?" In many ways, The Assembly shares more in common with the kind of episodic TV dramas you’d find on Netflix and HBO than a traditional videogame narrative.
"You’re nobody, but if you do well today, you could be somebody." "Be seeing you." The story itself centres around a mysterious organisation - The Assembly. The Assembly are a collective of scientists, academics and engineers who are all too eager to further humanity’s progress… ...But with little regard as to how they get there.
They’re based in a bunker hidden deep below the desert which allows them to operate in total secrecy, away from the prying eyes of government. The Assembly does not conform to typical society views of good or evil. It’s up to the player to judge the organisation for what they are as they play through the game.
You experience the game from the perspective of two separate characters "Shall we begin?" Madeleine Stone and Cal Pearson. And that allows you to see the multiple sides of the Assembly’s organisation. The first character Madeleine has only just encountered the Assembly.
She is an experienced, world-renowned neuroscientist, who recently in her career made some difficult decisions which had devastating consequences. "How do you plead?" "Guilty" As a result, she’s been struck off as a doctor, putting an end to her life saving research while also wrecking her personal life.
"I can’t live like this anymore!" Cal, our second character, is a veteran of the Assembly. "Alright, party time. Or not." Cal is a virologist, and being a member of the Assembly has allowed him to make incredible breakthroughs. However recent failed experiments have put him in a difficult position within the organisation.
"That’s not so bad, another week then it’s mojitos on the beach." As the game starts Madeleine is inducted "I’m so sorry if my kidnapping has ruined your holiday plans" or to be more accurate, abducted - by the Assembly, so they can assess her potential as a member.
Cal on the other hand has uncovered a revelation which makes him question the organisation he works for and their relentless pursuit of progress. In The Assembly, you get to play as both Cal and Madeleine each in their own dedicated chapters. A chapter based approach has been really useful, not just as a narrative tool, but also to allow flexibility when playing in VR.
If you want to play for 20 minutes or for a few hours, we give you that choice. Madeleine’s chapters are trial based. The Assembly want to test Madeleine’s abilities – and consequently the player’s abilities – In order to see that she has what it takes to work in the organisation, from her grasp of logic to her moral outlook.
Each challenge demonstrates one of the key things that working for the Assembly enables, whether that’s saving lives, or the creation of ground-breaking technologies. Cal’s levels on the other hand are exploration based and involves an element of subterfuge.
He explores multiple sectors within the Assembly’s underground facility from labs and offices to aborted trials and residential areas. What we’ve found is that VR amplifies your instinctive curiosity to explore environments in detail and we really wanted the game to provide this for players in abundance so as to make the most of their experience with VR.
"Bingo! Now what’s so important that you’d lock it in your desk?" Examining the environment and the objects within them is key along with some light puzzles layered within the storylines. Cal’s chapters also feature side stories, which gives players a glimpse into other issues affecting the Assembly from experimental research gone wrong, to the influence and corruption of its financial backers.
The different experiences also tie into the contrasting perspectives of the two main characters in The Assembly. Within Madeleine’s chapters you are sold the dream of what the Assembly can be, while as Cal, you explore the more problematic side effects of the existence of such an organisation.
One of the things we were really keen to do with The Assembly was not just make the most of VR, but to create a perfect introduction and showpiece for the new medium. A key part of that for us was movement. We knew that players would really want to explore a world freely in first-person, but we also knew we’d have to solve the issue of comfort so that this could be enjoyed in VR.
So after a lot of research, testing and iteration we created our own customised control scheme which we’re confident will work for everyone. This combines simple blink movement controls with snap rotation – that means, intuitive right stick controls where you push the stick in the direction you want to immediately face.
By minimising the need to use the gamepad to move or position your viewpoint in this way, we ensure the game is comfortable for all players, without needing to limit you to a static point or by putting you in a cockpit. Plus, we’ve included standard twin stick ‘Classic Controls’ which are perfect for when you’re more familiar with first-person exploration in VR.
One of the other things we know people are keen to do in VR is simply look around. "Today’s the day he locks his drawer?" So we’ve gone the extra mile to ensure the game’s world allows you to do this. Players can lean in and look through the contents of cupboards and draws, or even read individual Post-It notes up close.
Also key objects of interest, whether an essential item or a document hinting at the Assembly’s activities, can be picked up and examined in detail. Additionally, we have designed the game’s chapters to heighten things that work really well in VR. From heights and scale, to darkness and particle effects, things you took for granted when playing videogames on a flatscreen TV become instantly noticeable and much more powerful and convincing when viewed inside a VR headset.
The fate of the Assembly and its members is ultimately determined in one of several surprising conclusions. These endings are hugely influenced by the decisions and actions you’ll have made over the course of the game. Unlike many games within the genre, which rely on branching conversation trees to determine the outcome of a story we’ve approached this important aspect differently.
The choices presented to you are a result of your actions rather than words, while much of the outcomes are weighted on several key things you do, rather than multiple small continuous choices. We are not trying to tell you whether the Assembly is good or bad after all, scientific progress is rarely as simple as that.
Many of the choices presented to you will allow you to pass judgement on this intellectually gifted but morally ambiguous organisation and its members, and reflect your personal interpretation of its actions. Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed our overview of The Assembly.
