[This article can serve as a companion piece to Jonathan's “A Day in the Life” development diary of the original 24: The Mobile Game that appeared on Gamasutra in February 2006. This is Part One, discussing What Went Right. Part Two, published on Thursday, discusses What Went Wrong.]
Intro
24: Agent Down is based on the hit Fox television series 24 and is the sequel to the 2006 BAFTA-award-winning 24: The Mobile Game.
This time the race against the clock starts when Jack Bauer responds to an alert from the Counter Terrorism Unit Headquarters (CTU) which has been infiltrated by terrorists who have taken hostages. At risk: the "NOC List" - a file containing all of the names of every US secret agent in the world. As Jack, the player uses a new inventory system to select the right tool (or weapon) for each situation, and with technical help from Chloe (and sniper support from Curtis) he might have a fighting chance to save the day once more.
24: Agent Down
The production of the first game (24: TMG) had a demanding conversion schedule and the process was both thrilling and nail-biting. We were fortunate enough to work with the same talented team from Big Blue Bubble and this time around had a bit more time to create 24: Agent Down (24: AD).
To keep the momentum we generated with the first title, it was only a matter of a week or two after Beta when I sat down with the team at BBB to discuss what we would like to do for the sequel. We started by listening to players' feedback and focus test results on what game elements were their favorites - the shooting game, the car chase sequences, etc. (as well as the least favorite - the lock-pick game and word decryption).Then we discussed the largest development goals (making the player actually Jack rather than the Player as him/herself, a tighter storyline and better integration with the mini-games), along with new publishing, licensor, and sales targets.
The result was a game concept and feature set that was more focused and concentrated, just like the television series. I often referred to it as "a shot of espresso compared to coffee" - it packed a powerful punch for the player and was a fresh approach to a successful series.
