The Agency - Interview @ The Agency HQ

Part one of an interview with Hal Milton, Lead Designer on The Agency, is up at The Agency HQ:

[00G] You’ve mentioned an intel camera for taking pictures of handoff’s, liason’s, etc. How is this used in the game? What benefits does it give?

[HM] So intel is a pretty big system. There will be visual intel, physical intel, and maybe another type which I’m not going to mention. You generate visual intel by bringing out your camera and taking pictures of events or objects that are going to highlighted when you look through the view finder. That means that A) I see a teddy bear with a gun sticking out of it’s stomach, “I bet that’s an intel object that I’ve never seen before”, I take a picture and get credit for it. B) I see a liason between two people, I bring up my camera, “Hey look that’s an intel object!”, take a picture of it and get credit.

What does this mean? Well, the intel can include finding physical intel, packages, microfiche, etc. This intel can then be analyzed by operatives and converted into things like unlocking a new mission, a monetary reward, or it may turn into schematics that lead to crafting weapons, objects, gadgets, technology. So, the entire world becomes this explorable space where you’re taking pictures of stuff and then checking if that intel can be analyzed by operatives to turn into something special. At the top level, it’s an achievement mechanic, you walk around the world fishing for stuff that you’ve never seen before. But as you begin to explore it, it turns into one of the most vital elements for operatives, and for advancing or opening up side missions for players. As well as some other fun affects which we’ll go into another time.