WIP:Raffles II

Working title: Raffles II / Thief / Thievery / Lupin (French title)
Based on: Raffles by David Radisic (from the CPC manual)
Developers: Morn and TastefulMrShip
Implementation langauge: either BASIC with some C / ASM extensions or entirely in C / ASM
Status: Pre-Alpha - Gameplay development, planning

Raffles II is a game loosely inspired by Raffles from the manual. The goal is to take the core idea of the game ("You against the House") and make the gameplay more varied and entertaining. Decisions have to be made that have consequences for your career. Planning has to be done. You can accept missions. A mashup of Pirates! and Raffles, really. While at the same trying to stay clear of what made Infiltrator such a disappointing mess.

The tone of the game is supposed to be fun and non-violent, yet there are some elements of real-world (or famous fictional) heists. E.g., some of the objects you are commissioned to steal might be very familiar to you.

Analysis of the old game

Strengths

Interesting and unique concept
Not very CPU-intensive graphics

Weaknesses

Invincible dog of doom (IDOD). Once it shows up you can only run and hope for the best.
You often bump into furniture on your way to the first light switch, triggering the IDOD very prematurely.
Just a single house; it's a pretty short game considering the source code size.
You always enter by the front door. No real planning involved.
Long-term motivation: not much, except for trying to get all gems from the house
It's boring that bumping into furniture is actually the only thing that can go wrong. Navigating invisible mazes gets tedious quickly. (See Gauntlet II.)
Extremely aracde-y and unrealistic. Jewels and furniture absolutely everywhere. And how many real thieves would ever turn on the ceiling lights?

Key differences of proposed game

More varied stuff to do inside a house
Flashlight and light fixtures allow to illuminate the room partially
More ways to get in
IDOD can actually be defeated
Some objects are more valuable than others.
Element of planning (maps or other relevant information about the house)
RTS elements (career mode) to create a narrative between missions

Gameplay

Start

Choose Training or Career

Training is just a single (random) house as in the original.

Career is the main game mode where you have to work up your way to wealth, fame, and fortune as a thief.

Picking a target

You can pick your target object from various streets. Some streets will have smaller houses, fewer alarm systems, and less valuables inside the houses. Others will have large mansions with additional obstacles.

On your first few heists, you will pick your object yourself. As your reputation as a successful thief grows, you will be offered jobs, e.g. commissioned to steal a certain objet d'art.

When you have selected a house, you have to decide how to enter it. Front door, window, skylight,... You are provided with a map, but that map may contain some errors or be incomplete, meaning you will have to adjust your plan once inside the house.

Graphics

Top-down view
Close-ups of some objects in the room if they have to be identified by you

Things that may foil you inside a house

Darkness. Don't drop your flashlight! It might break. In which case you are where you were in the original game, namely dependent on ceiling lights.

The dog. Luckily it cannot open doors and can be defeated.

Alarm systems. Both on the house and (in some cases) on particularly valuable objects. You can turn these off if you have the correct code, which you can purchase along with other valuable information from other thieves.

Decoys. The obvious things to grab in a room might be forgeries to deceive you.

Bad maps. Sometimes they will fail to mention e.g. a recently added alarm system.

Home owner. In some cases he returns unexpectedly (or wakes up).

Police. If the alarm system goes off, the police is summoned. They will put you in jail where your health will suffer.

How you can fight back and overcome obstacles

Darkness. You have a flashlight, but it only illuminates a small part of the room where you stand. Also, it has limited charge. (You might find batteries, though.) There are light fixtures and ceiling lights in the room, but as in the original game, you risk detection by leaving them one for too long.

The dog. Dog biscuits or beef steaks mixed with sleeping pills will do the job -- for a limited time!

Alarm systems. Can be disabled with a code or a short arcade sequence or puzzle.

Decoys. You options to e.g. examine your inventory or rummage through drawers (takes times of course, also makes noise).

Bad maps. As soon as you visit a room, the map will be corrected.

Home owner. He's the equivalent of the dog in the original game; i.e. you cannot kill him, only evade him. Perhaps even argue with him. Maybe blackmail him into letting you go if you happen to have some information about him.

Police. You may be able to bribe a guard. Perhaps not exactly into letting you go, but you might get better food or other benefits for your health.

You

The RTS aspect keeps track of your

wealth
health, injuries, e.g. sprained ankle from jumping out a second-floor window
thief reputation points that increase based on wealth collected, missions fulfilled, and decrease when your break-in attempts fail

End of the game

Your retire and get assigned a rank between pauper and master criminal, based on your wealth. The length of your career primarily depends on your health.

More inspiration

More possible sources of inspiration for gameplay elements and cultural references: