Deus Ex Machina in an exploration into a fan remake and modernisation of the original in Unity, redesigning systems and game mechanics to conform to modern iterations of the franchise and the genre as a whole. Not designed to be an exact remake of the original but instead and evolution of it with the intention being at this early stage to produce a reimagined Liberty Island as a portfolio piece.
Not only is the same helicopter model used throughout the game with only two variations of texture, they seem poorly fit for the instances they appear as each instance has a different context for why the helicopter is present, This is also compounded by the fact that the model seems to be that of a stealth attack chopper which in general does not fit in the fast transport role.
These situations are:
- Jock: redesign current model to that of a light and fast transport helicopter, this would take the form of a tiltwing as speed is essential to move government officials, classified materials and operatives where ever they need to be taken at speed
- NSF occupied heliport, this is an NSF operated helicopter so should lower tech than that of Jocks but has futuristic aesthetics, suitable for the role of light transport.
- Heavy transport helicopter onboard PRCS Wall Cloud to be used to spray the virus. It needs to be a heavier helicopter as vast quantities of any liquid is a definite heavy load.
Situational variations and transitions of helicopter states and improved interactions with Jock
In all cases where a helicopter has landed, wheels should be deployed and contact with the ground made. In cases where you observe a helicopter landing or taking off, you should see the landing gear retract or deploy as it flies off or comes into land.
All helicopters that are stationary on the map and do not take off during the level should not have their engines running and should have deployed landing gear, namely the NSF operated helicopter in the Heliport waiting to be loaded with the container of ambrosia vaccine and the Helicopter being loaded with the virus to spray over NYC.
In situations where you are deployed on a mission Jock starts from a landed engines idling state, then takes off allowing the player to see the retraction of the wheels in the process.
In situations where jock is waiting for the player and is in a safe location, Jock will be standing in front of the helicopter. The helicopters gear has been deployed and the engines are off. When the time comes to leave, the player is then shown the sequence where the engines are running and then takes off again showing the action of retracting landing gear. The first situation will be when the player leaves UNATCO HQ, and the second is when he’s waiting on the Helipad at LaGuardia Airport.
All other situations, Jock should be waiting inside the helicopter with engines idling and landing gear deployed.