{Two Thieves}

Game Concept

Thesis: {Two Thieves} is a 3rd person, two-player cooperative heist adventure roguelike game. You take control of one of two master thieves set to engage in an action-packed super heist… who are each running their own game. On each mission, it will be your job to work together with your partner to break into the randomized complex, steal the variable “bag” (gem, gold brick, microchip, ring, etc.), and then escape on your bikes, outracing the cops — all while you keep your secret, individualized orders close to your vest. At the start of every run, each thief will receive a secret objective that only they know – plant evidence or a bomb at the scene, break a certain computer, frame your partner, get both of you captured, or even kill your partner in the escape attempt…

The objectives will vary in difficulty and level of betrayal – but while you complete your heist together you will have to constantly keep track of your own solo objective and the one your partner has as well…

In {Two Thieves}, there are two thieves, two friends, and two missions. Who will win?

Setting: Banks, vaults, secret bases, nigh-invulnerable compounds, complexes full of laser sensors, laser traps, and laser wolves… You will be infiltrating well-guarded structures housing untold riches and secrets. Steel corridors, ceiling vents, underground passages, vertical entryways, etc. – you and your fellow thief will be navigating the most protected regions of vast compounds and these will be your pathways.

Characters & Story: In {Two Thieves}, the two playable characters have complicated, if ambiguous, origin stories. Ava and Beatrice – they are former partners, and former lovers. As key members of a heist gang of old, they initially went their separate ways after a certain high-stakes job went south. Later, they started teaming up again as a duo, now with an advanced personal relationship that soon blossomed into a romance.

Ava specializes in complex hacking, picking, and infiltration techniques, ala a “greasewoman.” Beatrice, on the other hand, provides the overwatch with weaponry and muscle, she’s an enforcer. Both are masters of stealth and seduction. Each carry their own reasons for thieving and working together – and each has their own game they are running. Sometimes their solo games run them together – and sometimes – as the player will find out – their games result with them at cross-purposes, with deadly results…

The storyline of {Two Thieves} is mostly randomized, as the players will be taking on different maps, group objectives and solos objectives each time – so the narrative will be up to the player’s actions within the game. The roguelike elements will determine the story going forward, but players will be revealed details about Ava and Beatrice’s past through unlockable lore dumps via collectible items, high campaign scores, and instances of dialogues throughout the experience.

Gameplay:

Sly Cooper x Splinter Cell x Grand Theft Auto x Burnout ~ The overall gameplay vibe of {Two Thieves} is meant to be more arcade-y than hyper-realistic in nature. Players will control a character that is talented – they can run, jump, hide, shoot, race, and altogether outchase the violence they find themselves in.

In the first half of a campaign run, the players will be facing a 3rd-person stealth action heist game. As thieves infiltrating a compound to steal something, you will be forced to sneak past – or fight – guards, traps, mazes, and sometimes monsters in order to get at the ending vault. Think Sly Cooper x Splinter Cell. Countdowns, skulking in the shadows, ghosting guards and running between corridors.

In the second half of a campaign run, which begins roughly when the vault is unlocked via hacking, picking, or explosion and the bag is carried forth from the center of the complex map’s maze. Escaping on a pair of bikes is the next phase of the gameplay experience. Police will soon be on your tail as they try to chase you down for the heist you just pulled. Think Grand Theft Auto driving and some Burnout-esque destructiveness.

Plan + Infiltrate & Execute + Escape = Art ~ {Two Thieves}, ala Metal Gear Solid, will have two visions to it, one in the concept art and the other in the next gen graphics in-game. The concepts and cutscenes are realized in a more artistic, anime-style – with Ava and Beatrice as 80s anime action star bombshells. In-game, the graphics will be more photorealistic like Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption. {Not fully motion captured or anything.}

The purpose of the multiple art styles and the arcade action vibes for a stealth game is to show the high art of a heist. From the strategy of your stealthing, to the figuring of the maze, securing the bag and then escaping in a wildfire of speed — thieving is its own art.

Open-Ended Gameplay Solutions | Ava and Beatrice ~ The semi-open world environments of the different maps – {7-10 different maps to begin} – means an emergent gameplay experience. Not unlike modern games like Far Cry and classics like Metal Gear Solid, the open world makes for emergent gameplay. This means quite a few variations of each run’s gameplay experience. With two players interacting in the flow of the gameplay’s enemies and obstacles — there will always be a vast array of open-ended gameplay solutions to the loops of {Two Thieves}.

The twin strengths of the two main characters – lithe, fast Ava and strong, durable Beatrice means even more variations on the cooperative gameplay. Ava can outrun eyes and leap between distances while Beatrice can take a few bullets and punch down a guard with one blow. Communicate and combine your powers in real time to conquer the maps your own way. There are two thieves, and two hearts. Will it be your fate to live together or go apart?

The racing phase of each campaign – if you make it there – will be a vast city of roads and intersections and distant highways that mean escape and victory. There will be chaotic drivers on your bumpers and wildly shooting cops behind you. Health bars and visible damage levels on your souped-up bike will be visible throughout your race.

You, on your armored-up, superpowered bikes, will be tasked will driving cops off the road and shooting out tires. Think GTA‘s vehicle responsiveness but with more escalated vehicular violence like in Burnout.

Solo Objectives & Betrayal ~ In the default mode of {Two Thieves} – 2 player cooperative campaign session – each player will receive individual objectives. Steal the bag for yourself, plant a device in the map somewhere, leave a message, kill your partner before you escape yourself.

Each player will know that they may be at cross-purposes from the very beginning. At the very least, players will understand there may be distractions that make completing the map more difficult to do – and good reason to keep an eye on their partner.

But you can’t not work with your partner thief in the meantime. The maps and enemies are designed for two players. If you try to go solo, you are likely to be captured or killed, mission failed. In order to successfully escape with the bag in tow, you will absolutely need your partner all the way until the end. That’s why if you do have an objective that requires betrayal from the jump, such as killing your partner or taking the bag for yourself – you will need to wait until the last possible moment to realize your chance or risk blowing the operation for both of you.

And not every objective will require full betrayal. It’s always random. Most will have you both escaping to freedom together. The story reason for the chance of betrayal between long-time partners, friends, lovers – Ava and Beatrice – is because they are both indebted to bad people and their life is not their own. They receive shadow orders at the start of the narrative because they are desperate and on a knife’s edge between glory and despair. The hope, in the good secret objectives where you can both work together all the way until the end of your escape, is that the two heroes can go into the epilogue together, arm in arm.

But this is not always possible. Sometimes Ava will be asked to kill Beatrice, and vice versa.

Roguelike Randomization & Replayability ~ As a replayable roguelike, infinitely variable, sandbox of a gameplay experience, {Two Thieves} will be a very “run”-oriented experience. This style leads to scoring and speedrunning being an important, and built-in, part of the experience. You can keep track of your total score – accumulated from actions and speeds through each map sim. Each of your cooperative runs will go on an online leaderboard for {Two Thieves} players to compare experiences.

Each run will tell a different story… ~ Through the in-game actions of saving your partner – or expertly ending them at the final moment of triumph – you get to tell your own story with a friend. Engaging in death-defying risks before undeniably challenging odds, and a future potential betrayal that each partner knows is coming, you can craft your own breathtaking love story between your lovely pair of thieves.

Inspired by ~

Sly Cooper

Splinter Cell

Grand Theft Auto

Endgame: {Two Thieves} is designed to provide the tensely engaging experience of a high-stakes heist, from planning to execution to escape, between you and a friend. Under an action-oriented, highly replayable model, the game is for heisters that want something new every time. Whether you control sneaker Ava or bruiser Beatrice, with every {Two Thieves} run there will always be something exciting to steal – sometimes exciting enough to betray your partner over!