Blog Quest 2: Design Your Game Item

    In the same fashion as many of the blogs before this one, I will be implementing an item into one of my favourite titles released by the company Rockstar Games.  This title is the 2010 hit classic Red Dead Redemption.  Before getting in to the item I would love to have added to the game, I will first give a little overview as to how the game is played before any modifications.  The player begins the game as John Marston, a retired outlaw who has settled down with his family in the mid-western part of the United States in the year 1911.  Marston finds that his family has been taken by the Bureau of Investigation and to get them back he must track down and kill his former gang member Bill Williamson.  This adventure takes Marston through old western towns, New Mexico, and open plains filled with random encounters and wildlife.  The combat in Red Dead Redemption is similar to the kind used in the Grand Theft Auto series.  The player uses a wide variety of pistols, rifles, snipers, and shotguns.  Along with these weapons, the player has special items to use such as dynamite, molotovs, tomahawks, and my favourite weapon, the lasso. By using all of theses weapons together, the player will defeat many enemies and eventually retrieve your family from the corrupt Federal Bureau.

So many possibilities with such a simple tool.

     Since the lasso is my favourite tool in the game, it only made sense that the weapon I design would be used in conjunction with this favourite of cowboy cliches.  The weapon that I would want to introduce to Red Dead Redemption would be the native Americans Bow and Arrow.  To begin I will outline how the player could receive this iconic weapon.  The game is full of minor characters, a few of them being native Americans.  By implementing a simple side quest, the character could receive the bow and arrow (along with training) as a reward from one of these minor characters.  

     

One of the Native American characters in the game.

    Now that we have the weapon, we would have to learn what it can be used for.  The first use would be a simple extension of how far the lasso can reach.  In the normal campaign, the lasso is useful for capturing bounties alive, which in turn rewards the player with more money.  By simply purchasing rope arrows from any general store, the player now has the means to grab the bounty from further distances and rope them in for a hogtie.  Now, while this seems overpowered and would in turn render the lasso completely useless from that point on, the rope arrows would come in very small quantities from the store (a specialty item) and would do a set amount of damage to the bounty, making them more susceptible to being killed before they can be taken to the nearest sheriffs office.
 

Similar to the, but with an arrow in his back.

    Another couple of uses for the rope arrows would be more for traversing the landscape and interaction with objects.  I will begin with the later of these.  At certain points in the game, Marston encounters scenarios where he is hopelessly outnumbered by the enemy.  In these situations, the levels could be altered to allow the player to shoot interactive objects (Pill of barrels, the supporting beams of a ledge) with his rope arrows and give them a sturdy yank, bringing them down on the enemy.  I feel like this could create some cinematic moments that would leave the player in awe of what they just accomplished.  The second use would allow Marston travel over large gaps of land in a short amount of time.  This would be accomplished by shooting rope arrows from a higher point to a lower one.  Once done, Marston would attach the other end of the arrow to an adjacent structure or the ground.  This would create a zip-line of sorts and would assist the player in some situations where they would like to get to a lower point, but no clear path is in site.  As mentioned earlier, the rope arrows would be quite rare and would have to be used sparingly.

    One thing that I noticed while playing Red Dead Redemption, is the severe lack of stealth gameplay.  I know that John Marston is this rough and tough gunslinger, but I feel that with the day night cycle included, the game could have benefited from some form of sneaking.  The Bow and Arrow would fit like a glove in this scenario, as the player would have to forgo using their conventional firearms, for the more tactical approach.  This would also change gameplay, as players would be able to raid encampments silently, while in turn eliminating the aspect of witnesses hearing your gun shots and trying to turn you in to the authorities.  Since players may try to just use the bow at all times and player every mission through with stealth, not only would arrows be particularly rare to find on cowboys, the player would also have to strike the enemy in the upper chest/head area for an instant kill. 

Prime time for sneaking up on enemies.

    Although it is a fairly simple weapon addition, I feel that if it was implemented in the ways listed above, the Bow and Arrow could make for some incredible moments and add to an already astonishing gaming experience.