Cyberpunk Red: THE GIG (Sage's Story)

Sage is seen making her way into the deeper parts of Night City.

Hook: Looming Threat. Sage was set to perform on stage but her contact there suddenly went silent for way too long. She even heard rumors that the gig was going to be cancelled. It is a big-time gig though. She is NOT going to let that go easily if she could help it. So, that's it, she's taking things into her own hands. Looks like she is going to head there herself and get to the bottom of it.

Dev: Personal Stake. Sage had already engaged a delivery service to transport her equipment to the gig location. The service offered armored transport with state-of-the-art military hardware. Cargo is guaranteed to be secured and insured if they don't arrive in one piece. At least that's what they said on the ad.

The gig was about to net her a really nice chunk of change so she went all in with the delivery service. However, it set her back a few hundred ebs. It's a small price to pay to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible. The route between her place and the gig location is widely considered to be some of the most dangerous routes in NC. 

Dev: Personal Stake. Sage hasn't had a gig or a job for a long time and she's leaking ebs. She had already made all the necessary arrangement to transport her equipment over to the gig location. 

Her roommate guitarist, who goes by the stage name of Jonathan Silvers, went ahead to the location with all of their equipment on his van. They also had to loan some other equipment - their Tech ordered them to haul a bunch of stuff to resolve some compatibilty issues with the stage they were playing at.

However, the vehicle was so full of their stuff that Sage was forced to give up her seat for the time being. Silvers last update was when he arrived at the location. Then it just seemed like he vanished. Hopefully everything's alright. That's hundreds, if not, thousands of ebs worth of equipment, her friend and her home. Oh yea, she and Silvers live in his van.

With a scowl on her face, she marches onto the cold concrete grounds under the dark polluted skies. It was such a lengthy journey that Sage could feel the exhaustion creeping in.

"I should be heading the right way. Just need to continue down this path." Sage ponders to herself as her eyes dart around, scanning the street signs.

She can't help but notice that the place was ... quiet. Then she spots something in the corner of her eye.

Cliffhanger: Confrontation. A couple of boosters. Ironsights. Both are strapped. One of them carries an Assault Rifle. The other, a handgun.

"Uh oh. Might be trouble." Sage thought to herself. She makes her way to the nearest cover to ensure she is out of sight. Shen then takes another peek to confirm their numbers. "Yup, it's just two of them."

She needed to cross the street but she will have to make it past the boosters. There's no other way around. No cover or places to hide so sneaking past them is near impossible.

"Maybe they'll ignore me if I keep my distance?" She shakes her head, furrows her brow, and then retorts to herself. "Yea, fat chance. These are boostergangers. Not the type of guys that'll stay out of trouble."

"What to do • • • ?"

• • •

"I'll just ask them what's up. I gotta at least know what's happening first, right? But that's if they try to bother me." Sage readies herself to step out and approach the gangers. "Maybe it's really nothing and they'll just let me be."

Sage adjusts her holster, making sure her Militech Crusher is within reach at all times.

The Rockerboy casually walks down the street while attempting to inconspicuously observe the gangers. Will they react or ignore her?

The male ganger with the purple mohawk turns to face her, his cybereyes affixed on Sage's mug. "Yup, of course • • • sigh • • • here we go." Sage thinks to herself as she returns her gaze on the gangers.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a tourist." The ganger keeps a stern look on his face. "You wanna leave your footmarks on our turf then you're gonna need to pay the tax."

"I think I know what's going on now." Sage thinks to herself. "Guess its best to pay up and hope my gig works out."

• • •

"Alright choom. I don't want any trouble - just wanna cross the street. Let me know how much and I'll wire the funds over." Sage replies.

"You don't put up a fight, huh?" The other ganger with a bandana across her face chuckles. "That's good."

Sage just nods as she prepares the transfer. She can't help but notice the whirring sounds and beeps coming from the mohawk ganger's cybereyes. She might be wrong, but it sounds like the ganger is still scanning her. Shit, what now?

Sage continues to observe the gangers. The male ganger quietly signals to the other one. The bandana Ironsight member slowly brings up their agent and squints at Sage. The Rockerboy carefully takes a peek. Then her heart sank.

An image of a bounty poster with Sage's face on it flashes across the ganger's agent. A high price hangs above her portrait. A million thoughts raced through her mind in a fraction of a second. Sure, she's got enemies. Who the hell doesn't? But who's going so far to see her dead? No time to think about it now. Sage smells a firefight coming.

"You know," The male ganger suddenly grunts. "once we're done with the transfer, we'll need ya to follow us for a bit. You paid your fee so you've got nothing to worry about."

The ganger tightens his grip on his firearm. Sage looks up and makes a painful attempt at a smile. "Sure thing, choomba."

• • •

Sage flips out her trusty Crusher and pulls the trigger in one fluid motion, catching the gangers off guard. The shell splits up upon fire and smacks right into both of them.

Without missing a beat, Sage spins around and ducks back into her previous cover. The gangers howl in pain but quickly recover. They're hurt real good but unfortunately not dead.

"You'll pay for that ya gonk!" The mohawk ganger raises his rifle and blasts right at the Rockerboy, catching her twice on her torso. The male booster turns to his comrade. "Flatline her now!"

The other ganger lets a bullet fly right into her target's traps.

Sage winces as she looks over her piece of cover. Her armorjack managed to soak a lot of the damage she took but it won't last for long. She'll need to end things fast.

Right now the mohawk ganger's looking like the most dangerous goon on the street. She'll prioritise him for now and improvise if the other one becomes too much trouble. Sage switches for her VHP and looks out for an opening.

The mohawk ganger ceases fire and steps out to get a better angle. That was the opening Sage needed. She pops up and puts a bullet right into the ganger's neck.

The ganger lets out a short squawk before gurgling on his own blood. He wheezes and chokes as he drops his rifle and grabs his ruptured neck. But the damage was too great and the ganger collapses.

"No, no, no - Matty!" The remaining ganger yells. "You can't die!"

She then collects herself. "I'll bring the others here. Don't you go flatlining on me, ya hear!" 

"You're a dead gonk walking, Sage." The ganger yells as she withdraws. "I'll make sure to put you in the dirt!"

 • • •

Resolution. Sage stands up, making sure to hug her cover tightly. Looks like it's over for now.

Sage double checks her digital map. Yup, the Ironsight ganger ran towards the location of the gig. What's going on? Sage feels a wave of anxiety washing over her. Damn it, is Silvers alright? And who's gunning for her?

There's only one way to find out. Or at least die trying. The Rockerboy takes a deep breath and lets out a drawn-out sigh. This is going to be a long night. She makes her way over to the goon lying on the ground. He might have some clues for her.

 • • • End • • •

Cyberpunk Assets from Kitbash in Unreal Engine Tutorial

Before we begin, some disclaimers. 'Cyberpunk' and 'cyberdistrict' asset packs belong to Kitbash. Do credit wherever credit is due. 

Do make sure that Unreal Engine is properly set up. Boot up Unreal Engine and create a new project file. The engine needs about 30 mins to an hour to set up shaders, textures and other important functions to run the program. If you did not encounter long waiting times, please repeat those steps before proceeding. 

Locating Your Unreal Engine Project File

Once you've created a new project file, locate the file in windows explorer. The file should save itself in the following folder by default:

[System Drive Name]:\Documents\Unreal\[Project File Name]

Once you've located the project file, the file structure should look something like this:

It should contain a collection of folders as well as an executable file (With an Unreal logo icon).

Asset Packs Installations

Your downloaded asset packs should come as a .RAR file. Unzip them if you haven't done so.

Now go back to the Unreal Project File in windows explorer and move the unzipped folders in the 'Content' folder.

Booting Up Unreal

Now run Unreal Engine and open your project file. Open your Content Drawer. If you don't have the drawer, just click on the Content Drawer button on the bottom left-hand corner.

Once you have it opened, your Unreal project file should look something like this:

On the left hand side there should be a folder structure. This should be your browser for the files you've set up earlier.

Loading the Asset Packs in Unreal

Brace yourself for more waiting. We'll go with cyberdistrict asset pack first. Open the Content folder and locate the asset pack. Then double click the 'Actors' folder.

Click on one of the assets within the Content Drawer. Then press 'Ctrl + A' to select all the assets in the drawer. Once that's done, right click once.

On the bottom right hand corner of the screen there should be a loading bar. They should also say 'Preparing Shaders'. Now give it some time to load.

Once that disappears, test the assets by selecting an asset in the drawer and drag it into the level. Then rinse and repeat for the other asset pack.

That's it! All done. Now go have fun!