The Last Goodbye Act I - Prava Industrial
The Last Goodbye is a pulp thriller running on the Goldsource engine. In the Gothic metropolis of Prava, the gun-for-hire Lucille - better known on the streets as The Banshee - takes a job from enigmatic entrepreneur Ark McLean. Her target: Bullseye, the deadliest gangster in town. On her travels through the criminal underworld she meets all manner of friends and foes, with plenty of action and intrigue along the way.
The finale of Act I is a trio of levels set in an industrial district. Due to the cutting and rearranging of level geometry during development it also contained some overlap from the slum levels, with a market and cafe conspicuously in amongst warehouses, a power station, workshops, factories, garages, computer rooms and a drainage canal.
The industrial levels featured the most combat in Act I, and certain concessions had to be made for it. The lighting was livelier and the spaces larger so the player could properly engage with foes fairly. Sadly this does clash somewhat with the intended gritty tone (this set of levels also features executed/mutilated citizens more often than those preceding), and is emblematic of larger tone issues caused by concessions to making "fun" gameplay across the campaign.
What these levels do succeed at, however, is continuing TLG's penchant for interactivity. Fuel canisters explode, fire extinguishers can be shot to let out a harmful jet of smoke, machinery can be tampered with and fire alarms can be pulled (and drown out every other sound). Secrets were also prioritized and given narrative significance as hidden weapon caches assembled by the Banshee's aide Danny Munroe.
To set these levels apart from the others, there were some aesthetic changes made. Firstly the street lights were far whiter than their yellowish predecessors, the fog was a deeper shade of blue, metal surfaces were far more common, player-guiding spotlights appear more frequently and the sky has begun to change from blue to purple. The audio was also altered, with the outdoor ambient wind augmented with a deep rumbling and distant malfunctioning machine noises to match the oppressive buildings.
You can download the game here: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-last-goodbye
The opening sequence of Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) was an early influence on the aesthetic of Prava's industrial areas.
David Lynch's 2014 factory photographs provided a visual guide for defining an "industrial horror" tone.
Hamilton's cafe. Incongruous perhaps, but you bet he makes money off of workers when they're on break.
Interior of Hamilton's. A shootout was prototyped here, but playtesting soon revealed that it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped.
This interior was cut for a long time, until finally being reintroduced as an alternative route for the player to take.
The outdoor lighting gradually changes over the course of Act I, from a greyish blue to violet - the latter foreshadowing the purple skies of Act II.
The mural of the woman is taken from Jindrisska Street in Prague. It has since been covered up by a new building.
Power station exterior. Given the abundance of crates and warehouses in this set of levels, a crushing box sequence was an obvious choice.
Canal area. The player can avoid the water altogether with a well-placed jump.
View of the marketplace from an alley.
Initially this garage was to be left by crawling under the gate, but climbing around proved to be fun and the lift was integrated into the player's route.
The market where a massive shootout erupts. Sadly due to pathfinding issues the market had to be stripped back and lacks a lot of character as a result.
A warehouse appearing in a cutscene.
Franz Jaegar and two aides arrive to inspect some newly delivered ordinance.
A view from outside the doors as Jaegar engages on a rant.
The warehouse in-game.
Outside the warehouse. This is hub level where the player must rescue a Worker NPC and lead them back here to open a gate. Due to difficulties with AI, this sequence is not as fun as it could have been.
Inside a workhouse, where flooding has taken effect.
This dangerous machine was based on 1900s technology.
Computer station, where dead rats have been reported inside the casings.
The final exterior of Act I.
An underground tunnel in a cutscene.