

We need not look any further than No Man's Sky to see how procedural content can sometimes sound better on paper. Procedural content is incredibly tough to pass off as handcrafted content. The biggest problem for this feature, like Skyrim, would be making sure the procedural quests didn't feel repetitive after the fifth one. The documents use an example of a corruption case surprisingly (and procedurally) turning into a murder case when a target NPC is found dead. One element that the developers hoped would keep these procedurally generated campaigns fresh were "twists," which could suddenly turn an established mission its head. They try another campaign later on that allows them to come back to the district, but now the snitch they met is a small business owner that gives them a discount in his store." After players complete the campaign, the MSP decides that such action was enough to change the state of the district to a more stable one. They meet a snitch that helps them throughout the experience. "One campaign tasks players to go to the run-down gambling district to eliminate a triad that is controlling it. According to the developers, here's how one might have played out: If it worked, it could have been cool, but I seem to remember getting awfully bored of Skyrim's procedural quests. In theory, the game would have analyzed where the host of the co-op session was in the single-player story and assemble a unique "campaign" from various existing pieces-characters, objectives, etc. Some of these would have been as simple as vehicle races, fight club challenges, and fending off waves of enemies, but Sleeping Dogs 2 hoped to differentiate itself through the presence of procedurally generated missions that could be played in co-op or in single-player. The plan was for Sleeping Dogs 2 support full-on co-op, as well, with players being able to run around the world solo or team up for co-op-specific missions and challenges. Something tells me this feature would have gotten axed, if Sleeping Dogs 2 was actually coming out when's the last time you remember someone actually pitching a second screen option for a game? This gives us ample opportunity to explore both characters fully, and gives the player the revelatory experience of discovering both sides of the story." Depending on the character selected, the audience (and characters) will only see one side of the story until both threads are played.

Deciding to split up and follow different leads, Wei's thread will follow him as he busts heads for information, while Fang plants evidence by breaking into a suspect's house. "An opening scene consists of Wei and Fang talking together, discussing what the next step of an investigation should be. Here's one example of how that might have played out: The player would have the ability to arrest any NPC in the world, and influence a branching storyline that swapped between both Shen and Fang. This time, Shen would be joined by a "conflicted, corrupt partner" named Henry Fang, as they explored China's Pearl River Megacity, a noted economic hub- and, yes, a real place. Sleeping Dogs 2 would have picked up after the original game, once again following the previously exploits of (formerly undercover) officer Wei Shen. I asked Square Enix for comment on this story, but the company has not responded.
