Controlled Chaos Media, who helped Epic and Chair Entertainment develop Infinity Blade on the iPhone and iPad, have a cooperative, team-based first-person shooter in development, too, titled Bank Heist. This is a game that lets you play as either a cop or a robber, using different character classes.
The cop and robber teams consist of four members each. The robber team has several objectives throughout the game: Infiltrate the bank, steal as much money as you can carry, escape the scene of the crime and so on. On the flip side, it’s the job of the police officers and SWAT team members to stop robberies and protect civilians.
Controlled Chaos says Bank Heist has “dynamic linear design,” meaning that, while levels are mostly linear in nature, changing object placement, secondary paths, blockades, varying weather, spawn points and the time of the day all have an influence over the game.
Since Bank Heist is a team-based game, you can have AI bots stand in for missing teammates. Both cop and robber AI bots, Controlled Chaos say, will react realistically to different stages of the crime being carried out.
In fact, artificial intelligence is something that the developers are taking seriously, not just with regard to teammates, but also how civilians and bank staff react to situations. Gun shots can cause panic, while striking a security guard or the bank manager can cause shock. This ties in to an Intimidation System, which can be used to influence the AI civilian characters.
Civilians have other purposes, too. Before they can dive into the boots of a cop, instead of waiting around before the robbery takes place, members of the cop team start out as civilians inside the bank, prior to the crime. Their actions here — such as activating the silent alarm or finding a hidden shotgun or getting to a phone to call the police — will influence the reaction time of the cop team.
While you’re a civilian, you’ll also have to try and blend in with the AI civilians, lest the robbers figure out you’re a human player and decide to shoot you. If this happens, time is added to the police response clock, giving robbers more time to escape. Similarly, robbers will need to try and blend in, in order to rob the bank without getting caught, too.
Interestingly, there are also some unique plans for Bank Heist DLC, post-release. Controlled Chaos Media want to offer different costumes from various movies such as Heat, The Dark Knight and Point Break as DLC, in addition to new maps and weapons and character classes.
Note: Controlled Chaos weren’t solely responsible for development of Infinity Blade, but were involved with it. We’ve altered our headline to better reflect this fact.
