Special action ordering (i.e. "Interface" in Infiltration): In Infiltration, many of these are one-shots and some grab loot or change shared state. How do you resolve ordering here?
Interface was Special. Within one room, two people playing Special do it at the same time. For people doing the same action in different places, start with the first room and work your way in. Some rooms in Factory Job have things like "if you're the only person playing Special here..." Obv. they could drop that since they added a turn order.
Looting uneven splits: In Infiltration this is done per DF token, so there can be uneven splits (e.g. 3 players loot with 4 tokens or 5 players loot with 3 tokens). How did you resolve this in the prototype? Did you just split the amount by making change? Or were there tokens there as well? Or some kind of catch-up mechanic where player in last gets dibs?
The numbers are way bigger and the remainder stays in the room. If the room has $80 and 2 items and 3 people loot there then each gets $26 and no items and the room is left with $2 and the 2 items. There is no catch-up mechanic; I vastly prefer "make sure it's fun to lose."
Loot to DF token conversion: You said the max looting was $100 per round and round in the prototype. What would be the closest amount this would correspond to in Infiltration? (I'm guessing 4 DF tokens based on the Extract card, making each DF token about $25 in prototype terms.)
The room with the most $ has like $400. I'm not looking through the Infiltration cards to see what they did; man it's not a game I play and you are asking a lot of questions.
Loot randomization: In Infiltration, the DF tokens are worth random amounts from 1-3. Based on your description, it seems this might not have been the case in the prototype. Was there some kind of loot randomization process?
There is no random token thing in Factory Job and $ is public. A room will have e.g. $150 and a safe with $100.
2 loot lock types seem a bit redundant (Lab Workers and Tech Locks in Infiltration): Was there a corresponding mechanic in the prototype? If so, why two types?
Factory Job has locks, boxes, and people, three types. It's just how I represented the kinds of objects you were breaking.
Random NPCs: Were each of them tied to a room like in Infiltration or were they randomized as well, as suggested in Infiltration's Scattered NPCs variant?
They are all tied to rooms. The rooms are randomized; that's all the randomization you need there.
Concerning the end-game: Did you ever have or consider other methods of luck pushing near the end, such as: a faster method of retreat at a cost (e.g. dropping loot to be able to retreat 2 rooms at a time); or losing loot per round that players are still in the factory after reaching 99 proximity?
I made Factory Job in 2003. So "did I ever consider" is not a question I can really answer. However I bet not; the cops showing up and catching everyone still in the building was the premise from the start. If you want to get out faster, turn back earlier or don't go in as far.
Game end timing: Did the prototype end at 99 proximity immediately like in Infiltration or at the end of the round reaching 99?
The game ends when the cops hit 100, even mid-turn. I guess they wanted a 2-digit number or something; mine goes to 100.
Specialist variant: Infiltration lists a Specialist variant where you start the game with 2 specific items per player character (and randomize/draft the other two) to make them seem differentiated. Did the prototype have such a mechanic?
No, just item drafting.
Secret room / basement: In Infiltration there's one secret room from three special cards. Was the entrance to the basement via up to two specific rooms like in Infiltration? Seems like that wouldn't work as well if the card drawn for the basement was one of the go-to-basement rooms. What was the design goal here?
The design goal was the joy of having a different branch you could take, even though the game depended on a linear map. I made two rooms that got you to the basement; both get you there with Special, and then Move In exits to the one room and Move Out to the other, hence two such rooms. The basement could be any card at all, the joy of the basement being any card at all. Many games there would be no way to the basement, and some games only one, but if you had two, yeeha, you could take that other route. A rare thing. The joy of rare things. Yes the basement could be one of the ways to get to the basement. That doesn't break anything and we would probably all get a laugh out of it.
Room differences: How much were the rooms changed from the prototype? Were they just sorted into the three decks? Or were there massive changes?
This question is beyond the scope. I'd have to find a box and paw through it to know what they had; I don't play that game, I play Factory Job. One thing I remember is, Factory Job had one room with computers, and they used them in more places. Factory Job had two identical security guards and I think they changed one of them.
