THQ's Homefront 2/Hope Bar & Moral Choice

**Document Status: Red [Good overview. Could do with a second pass as it seems unfinished in places and could be better presented]**

## Hope

* The Resistance and KPA are involved in a propaganda battle.
* When the KPA are winning it the citizens lose hope of ever being liberated and won't help the Resistance
* When the Resistance are winning it the citizens believe in victory and are willing to assist the Resistance
* The bar that measures Hope goes from no Hope to maximum Hope although it is not visible to the player
* Each level has opportunities for the player to increase Hope, missing these opportunities will reduce Hope
* Some actions will also directly reduce Hope
* Each level also has mechanisms to feedback to the player the current Hope level
* There will be 3 thresholds for Hope each with their own distinct feedback
	+ Hopeless (0-40%)
	+ Low Hope (41-60%)
	+ Hopeful (61-100%)
* We can also directly alter the Hope level dependent on story events
* Hope feedbacks include:
	+ Selecting alternative dialogue strings
	+ Altering AI behaviours
	+ Altering graffiti displayed
	+ Selecting alternative scripted scenes

## Moral Choices

* Each level has scripted moments which present the player with a difficult choice
* There are no rewards for these they just add depth and character to the game

## Levels

### Shipyard

Hope Inputs: (each input raises or lowers Hope by a set amount)

* Killing prison workers during fights with the KPA is collateral damage which lowers the Hope Bar
* Saving prison workers from KPA brutality raises the Hope Bar
* Destroying a propaganda screen creates some Hope (you don't know how to hack them yet)
* Leaving the screen intact lowers Hope
* A prison worker wants to escape the shipyard and go and find his family, hee asks you to destroy a Seeker guarding an area so he can get through and climb over a fence to escape
	+ If you help him and fight off any KPA who come you will hear in Samaritan on the Underground Radio in their "Good News Bulletin" how a prison worker managed to escape the shipyard, evade capture and be re-united with his family thanks to the kindness of a stranger - Hope will increase
	+ A hopeful music will play if you help him escape, a discordant theme if you don't

Hope Feedback:

* All the following interactions will be supported by dialogue which reflects the level of Hope
* With low Hope the workers will raise the alarm when they see you
* With high Hope the workers will be supportive and not give you away
* With high Hope a worker will show you a supply stash
* With high Hope a worker will open a secret route for you while telling you something interesting about the world
* With very high Hope when you engage KPA the workers will attack them as well
* With very low Hope the workers will attack the player if he gets close
* Graffiti at will reflect the level of hope at the beginning of the level (or be dynamic during the level)
* Underground Radio will reflect the overall level of Hope at a specific point or points in the level

Moral Choice:

* A sex slave begs you to kill her, she knows what's in store if she is shipped away and prefers death
	+ She's in a holding pen with a couple of others, you can't free them
	+ If you kill her the others start screaming and if you don't kill them as well the KPA come
	+ If you don't kill her she calls you a coward and insults you every which way
* 2 workers who despise each other are being supervised by a KPA guard. They are bickering about their pent up grievances with each other.  If you kill the guard one worker knocks the other down and starts choking him to death. You can let the killing take place or kill the aggressor

### Samaritan

Hope Inputs:

* Civilian collateral damage lowers the Hope bar (this includes deaths from going to objectives in a sub-optimal order)
* Saving civilians from the KPA or gangs raises the Hope bar
* Destroying screens raises Hope
* Assisting people medically raises Hope
* A child begs the player for medical supplies to help her father, if you hand over one of your battlefield surgery packs the Hope bar increases
* A civilian asks for help, they didn't manage to get home before curfew and are afraid of the KPA and the gangs.  If you take them home Hope rises, if you don't you encounter them again in Comms Dish, they were captured by the KPA and sent to the work camp and are not pleased to see you
* A civilian asks for help getting their radio working so they can join the Underground Radio network.  If you hand over components Hope rises and you hear them broadcasting during Independence Hall

Hope Feedback:

* If Hope is high then some civilians will give you ammo or weapon parts or medical supplies etc.
* If Hope is low then gangs will attack the player more frequently
* Graffiti represents the current state of Hope
* The Underground Radio will reflect the Hope level
* Dialogue from your Samaritan buddies will reflect the Hope level

Moral Choice:

* A woman, heavily pregnant with a child by a KPA soldier, has been dragged onto the street by some civilians determined to punish her for sleeping with the enemy. Do you let them kill her or do you kill one of them to stop them killing her?
* A child shows you the pistol he has and asks for bullets so he can shoot the KPA. If you give him some bullets there is a scene later with a KPA soldier dead whilst others stand over the dead child. Underground Radio could make reference to the Resistance arming children and condemning the action

### Independence Hall

Hope Inputs:

* Collateral damage amongst green zone civilians reduces Hope
* Saving green zone civilians from KPA aggression increases Hope
* Hacking screens raises Hope
* A green zone civilian is sick of life working for the KPA, he asks for explosives to perform a suicide bomb attack on a KPA guard post.  If you give him some of your explosives he performs the attack and Hope increases.  The Underground Radio will report the action later

Hope Feedback:

* If Hope is low the civilians will raise the alarm if they see you
* If Hope is high the civilians will be supportive of you
* If Hope is high a civilian will open a secret route for you
* If Hope is high civilians will give you medical supplies and components
* The Underground Radio network will reflect the current Hope level
* No graffiti in the green zone

### Fairmount

Hope Inputs:

* You find the Mayor of Philly (deeply unpopular collaborator introduced in earlier levels) he's on the phone begging his KPA overlords not to cut the rations any further.  His appeal fails and he holds his head in his hands.  Do you kill him or not?  If you kill him the Underground Radio will celebrate this later and Hope rises but actually he is trying to help from the inside, he's not an evil man at all
* You find the area where the comfort women live when not "on duty". They beg to be rescued but it involves freeing them and a difficult fight.  Feedback if you succeed is via radio broadcast later telling their story which raises Hope
* You find the recording studio where Pyongyang Polly records her broadcasts. You can upload a Resistance message which will be played throughout the city raising Hope

Hope Feedback:

* The Underground Radio reflects the current level of Hope
* The KPA could have an alert status (like DEFCON) which is linked to the Hope level - more Hope means more resistance activity.  The alert status is displayed throughout the HQ

Moral Choice:

* You enter a "comfort room" containing a "comfort woman" who immediately starts screaming and trying to cram herself into a corner.  If you don't kill her the KPA will come and investigate

### City Hall

Hope Inputs:

* There are screens around City Hall showing propaganda, hacking them causes Hope to rise
* There are some construction workers (green zone civilians) working in the construction site.  On seeing the Resistance they want to get away before trouble starts but the KPA lockdown the elevator during the shift.  You can hack the elevator (using components) to allow them to get away or leave them to take their chances.  If you help them Hope rises
* Inside City Hall are some civilian workers providing an opportunity for some collateral damage which lowers Hope
* Potentially have some civilians on the streets who can also be collateral damage, lowering Hope

Hope Feedback:

* The Underground Radio reflects the current level of Hope
* The green zone civilians you meet reflect the level of Hope in their dialogue
* Crowd noise from the KPA rally could reflect the level of Hope, muted applause if Hope is low, loud boos and jeers if Hope is high

Moral Choice:

* When the player storms the courtroom to assassinate KJ-U he's not there but the Mayor of Philly is cowering in there.  The Mayor can explain his situation, how he's not really bad he's trying to help from the inside and the player can chose to kill him or let him live (assuming we don't put him in Fairmount)

### Wetlands

Hope Inputs:

* One of the Rangers has been badly wounded and they have no medic. If you use your battlefield surgery to stabilise him then Hope rises
* Accidentally killing any Rangers while fighting the KPA lowers Hope

Hope Feedback:

* The Rangers have been monitoring the Underground Radio, if Hope is high they give you ammo and weapons etc
* If Hope is low the Rangers are much less friendly and don't give you anything
* The Underground Radio now reports on events after the assassination. If Hope was low the KPA are on the rampage with reprisal killings everywhere. If Hope was high the people are rising up everywhere and fighting back and the KPA are suffering losses all over. The radio is no longer reflecting changing Hope it reports on whichever outcome was triggered until the end of the game

Moral Choice:

* A resistance fighter gets caught in a booby trap and is screaming blue murder, the KPA will come unless you kill him
* A KPA soldier is caught in a booby trap and crying (in Korean) that he wants to go home - do you put him out of his misery or leave him to die painfully?

### Comms Dish

Hope Inputs:

* Killing farmers during fights with the KPA lowers the Hope bar
* Saving farmers from KPA brutality raises Hope
* Loudspeakers around the farm and village relay propaganda, they can be hacked to play a resistance message which raises Hope
* The farmers want to load a truck with food and escape into the countryside, they need components to fix the truck. If you help them Hope rises
* A train carrying prisoners stops at the siding, if you free them Hope rises

Hope Feedback:

* If Hope is high the farmers will warn you about KPA locations
* If Hope is high the farmers will show you hidden supplies
* If Hope is low the farmers will raise the alarm when they see you
* If Hope is high when you uncover the weapon stash the farmers will arm themselves to fight the KPA

Moral Choice:

* After killing the KPA at one of the areas the farmers round on one of their number and start beating them to death for being too friendly with the KPA or informing or whatever, you can intervene (how?) or leave them to it
* After killing all the KPA in an area you find a farmer locked inside an "oven" by the other farmers for being too friendly with the KPA or informing or stealing or whatever. They beg to be let out and you can shoot the lock to let them out or leave them in
* After you kill all the KPA in the area the farmers tell you that one of them was a KPA informer, they demand that you kill the informer.  The supposed informer protests their innocence and is very plausible, what do you do?

### Atlantic City

Does it make sense to continue with the Hope mechanic with the invasion happening? Is it done now?

Hope Inputs:

* Killing civilians during fights with the KPA lowers Hope
* Saving civilians from KPA brutality raises Hope
* Hacking screens raises Hope
* Uploading images of the invasion fleet sends Hope through the roof and the Underground Radio starts reporting the news

Hope Feedback:

* If Hope is high civilians will give you help
* If Hope is low civilians will raise the alarm

Moral Choice:

* Could have a casino section that you can sneak through, some civilians are forced to work as croupiers etc - one KPA angry with the roulette result starts to beat up the croupier and will kill him unless the player intervenes but intervening will raise the alarm blowing the stealth
* Some objective where doing it the easier way means sacrificing some Resistance members (maybe even Main Cast characters or the Agent) or you can do it a much harder way

### Hope Bar General

Outputs:

* Graffiti alters based on hope, either attacking the resistance or supporting them
* The music alters based on hope