Tokyo: Being coveted by my wife, I just want to play games

Chapter 203 Super bomb!
Tetsu Fuyukawa was the unavoidable focus of the gaming industry last year.

In other words, before the release of Sekiro, Cheru Fuyukawa had considerable influence in Europe and the United States, but it was not that exaggerated. But Sekiro became a hit, and the impact of a masterpiece is far greater than that of a low-budget game.

The reason is simple. With big productions, even a game like Sekiro, which is very picky for players, has a much larger audience than games like Galgame. And large-scale production also represents huge publicity and distribution expenses.

As the saying goes, good things do not go out, and bad things spread for thousands of miles.

In today's information age, if you want to be known to the public with a positive image without the ability to make huge amounts of money behind it, the possibility is very, very slim. It's like light gamers also know Sekiro, but light gamers don't necessarily know that The Binding of Isaac is a low-cost work that sells about the same as Sekiro but has no large-scale publicity.

This is an information age where ghosts can be packaged as humans, and people can be packaged as ghosts. With the support of huge publicity funds, Sekiro has become popular around the world. What is interesting is that, like its previous life, Sekiro still has a very serious gap in reputation and sales.

Although Sekiro has been greatly improved by Fuyukawa Teru, the core of this game that relies solely on sword fighting without talking about numerical values ​​is there. This thing cannot move, or in other words, it can move, but if it moves, it is no longer Sekiro. As long as the core with extremely high entry threshold and too little upgrade feedback is not adjusted, Sekiro is destined to not be able to eat the largest amount of light. Player pool.

The sales volume of Sekiro in this life has exceeded 10 million in four weeks.

The sales volume was very high, making NTsoft a lot of money, but compared with the world-renowned reputation, it still seemed a bit "morally inappropriate".

Players may not be able to feel the inherent logic of this, but as anchors who also need to study user needs, as well as all game producers present, it is very obvious.

There are no technical barriers!

Missions are not only used to set goals and reward players, but also to guide players to the appropriate areas at the current level, to challenge the appropriate BOSS, and to see what the game producers want players to see.

Super large-scale, extremely broad open world!
Many people in the conference hall gasped, and the barrage went crazy, but this was still just the beginning!
Under this above-ground world, there is also a map of the underground world!

In the early stages of the game, you can go through treasure chests or portals, or even walk to high-level areas on foot, and the entire game does not provide any quest guidance, not even a plot log.

The classic example of an extension of this line of thinking is tasks.

In this regard, Bingyu has already thought of a theme, which is to compare the growth system of Elden's Ring and Sekiro. However, whether this film can be edited depends on the subsequent publicity.

For game producers, the first thing that needs to be considered when making a game is - [How can my game give players positive feedback, and how can I guide players to do the right things at the right time, so as to obtain the right level of frustration and satisfaction? A stronger sense of harvest].

Similarly, if you go to a low-level area at a too high level, or get too awesome equipment at an early stage, the sense of reward from fighting monsters and upgrading will be greatly reduced, and you may even skip certain maps directly. So you miss some of the plot.

The earth is full of stumps, scarlet flowers are blooming, and the purple gravity sword makes the whole picture have a very strong visual impact, giving people a sense of grandeur and epicness.

Frustration, reduced positive feedback, making a map that fails to attract players, leading to a break in the player's story experience, and making the player feel that the map is large and empty are not what game producers want to see.

"Damn it! Go directly to the new work?! The old thief Fuyukawa got a free spray card from me today!"

As Fuyukawa Che's map construction logic emerged, the guests in the audience exploded.

The barrage scrolled rapidly, and soon, under Bingyu's expectant gaze, bursts of hammering sounds reached his cochlea.

Although this is just a CG and not a real-life demonstration, as peers in the industry, they all understand how strong Fuyukawa Che's technical capabilities are, and they also understand that this batch of people who came out of Light Bird, plus those who have switched jobs from other major manufacturers, How capable are the elites?

"Setting the goal too low is not conducive to players' efforts."

It has become increasingly difficult to impress users with royal and traditional passionate plots. On the contrary, plots such as Cthulhu or the Foundation with dark and residual elements and strong curiosity are more likely to make players find it interesting. This is also the case with Tetsu Fuyukawa. One of the reasons why we are willing to prioritize the production of Elden's Ring at this point in time.

Under the expectant gaze of Bingyu who was wearing translation headphones, Fuyukawa Che quickly finished his brief opening remarks. Normally, this would be followed by promotional videos for FATE and Stardew Valley, and then there would be time to introduce the new project, Elden’s Ring.

Needless to say, the dark fantasy background is indeed very easy to create an epic feeling, and perhaps the pressure from reality is increasing. People are not only becoming more and more curious about XP, but also becoming more and more crazy about entertainment products. batch.

The entire world map is a complete large box garden!
scared!
The guests in the conference hall were all frightened. Even the well-known game producers of SATE and Sugi Juin looked at Fuyukawa Che with disbelief.

The visual impact of this promotional video is very strong, but as the saying goes, a layman only sees the excitement, and an expert sees the door. They can all see that this promotional video is just CG, but this is not the key. They believe that with Fuyukawa Che and his team, the technical ability will definitely not be a problem. What they really want to see is the core of the game.

Today I not only have to do a live broadcast, but I also have to edit a film when I get back, and the film editing must have a theme.

"Altar reservation! (laughing)"

Looking at Fuyukawa Che who was chatting about the opening remarks on the stage, Bingyu interacted with the barrage on her mobile phone and kept thinking in her mind. As a hardcore game UP owner, she understands very well why Sekiro is relatively popular but not popular. This problem cannot be solved by putting on an open world skin. The core of the game must be overhauled.

"Come on, come on! It's my favorite dark fantasy!"

These are commonly used methods in the industry. Although they have been criticized by many players, the sales of games produced according to these ideas are actually pretty good. But Elden's Ring completely abandoned all of this.

However, the promotional videos for FATE and Stardew Valley have been advertised for a long time, and it is obvious that Che Fuyukawa clearly understands what everyone present and the audiences around the world are looking forward to.

Of course, they were not shocked by the grand map and excellent art style. This thing can be done by just throwing money and stacking materials, and the perfect box garden design cannot be seen from this six-minute CG promotional video.

To solve these problems, the first thing to do is to limit the player's ability to run around. But the open world is not a linear game, so what should we do? Then we need to use mountainous terrain to isolate them, or set up [keys] required to enter certain areas, as well as the most critical task guidance, etc., these methods will not cause trouble.

And more importantly, it is easy to make the map bigger, but you want to make the map bigger without reducing the fun, and prevent the game from appearing "big and empty" or "give me these three melons and two dates if you take the trouble" The feeling is very difficult.

"He's kidding. If you don't give players a goal, how can they be motivated to continue playing?"

"Dark fantasy world? Cthulhu?!"

When the camera goes from the roots of the big tree to the underground world, there are countless ant soldiers, the eternal city of Nokron, the starry sky, and the Blood Dynasty.
The map scale is extremely large, and the most important thing is that these maps are all connected!

"With a production cost of 2 million US dollars, if we just come up with an enhanced version of Sekiro , I'm afraid it will encounter Waterloo."

It's a very simple logic. If zero-level players don't have tasks to guide them, they will go out and run around at the beginning. It is easy to encounter high-level monsters that they cannot handle at low levels. This will give the player a lot of frustration. Once he dies a few times, or is even guarded by monsters, he will probably scold the planner directly.

A light spot appeared in the center of the dark screen, and as the echoing sound of hammering amplified step by step, the light spot also enlarged step by step, and finally turned into a scene of a blonde woman with braids beating something. But soon, the screen jumped again, and a scene of Xiao Ge holding up a severed arm appeared in the center of the screen, and then there was a scene of the battle between Valkyrie and Broken Star Latarn.

Royal City, Holy Tree, Lienia of the Lake, Tomb of Gyuoron, Yatan Plateau, Volcano Residence, Giant's Peak
Large maps appeared in front of everyone with a bird's-eye view.

There was no suspense. When this dark fantasy-style promotional video came out, the barrage started scrolling crazily again. But this time only the players were excited. All the game producers and anchors present were still watching quietly.

"Whether this game can be successful or not depends mainly on the modification of the growth system."

As the light in the entire conference hall suddenly dimmed, [Holy Light Society's new work - Elden's Circle] appeared on the big screen, and the second line [A sad and cruel dark fantasy world] appeared on the big screen. As these two lines of words appeared on the big screen, the guests and all the audience in front of the screen suddenly widened their eyes.

Their shock came from the completely different idea of ​​​​building a map!

They are all waiting to see what changes will be made to the gameplay core of this game, but
As the promotional video continued to advance, as the majestic and dark Stonewell City appeared, as the gloomy and slightly weird bookish Magic Academy appeared, and as the big-headed wolf Galede appeared on the ground, their eyes became more and more wide-eyed. The bigger.

"He is making something very new. To be honest, this method is not completely unfeasible, but he is indeed a lunatic. The first work of this kind of company is such a high-cost one, so he dares to choose this kind of route.”

"One hundred million US dollars, one hundred and fifty-one yen. If this game dies suddenly, he will have to work hard to pay off the debt for the rest of his life."

"I think he should be more conservative. Although the question marks all over the map have been criticized by players, that method is more stable. With his reputation and ability, he will definitely have no problem getting back his money."

"Let's take a look first and then talk about it. This is just the first promotional video."

The guests in the audience were all discussing nonchalantly, and most of them were not optimistic about the game mode of Elden's Ring. However, compared to these chattering guests, the top game producers from SATE and Juyin remained silent and looked at Che Fuyukawa with surprise and appreciation.

This game mode is indeed prone to problems, but.
They all carefully studied the Sekiro made by Fuyukawa Teru. The difference between Sekiro and most games is that even if Sekiro players defeat the late BOSS and then face the early minions, as long as they are too relaxed or pull too many monsters, they will still die suddenly when they should.

No matter how good the equipment is, you still need to take the early minions and BOSS seriously. It is difficult to say whether it is an advantage or a disadvantage.

Players who like to play the unparalleled mowing type will definitely find it not satisfying, but in such a free open world, it is a complete advantage!
Players can skip the monsters that are currently unbeatable, go to other places to get equipment to upgrade, and then come back to deal with the monsters in front of them. If it were other games, this battle would become a numerical crushing game, but for the [Wolf] game, it is equivalent to giving the player a wheelchair.

Players who like challenges can fight to the death, and players who prefer a relaxed experience can also experience a battle where they can balance the difficulty!

This is more effective than the dynamic level mode, because the decision of difficulty level is in the hands of the player, giving a more realistic sense of substitution.

However, this mode also has a big problem, that is because players can move freely around the entire large map. Therefore, the map must be densely packed with exciting points and novelties, otherwise players will feel that the map is big and empty! This is a big problem, but it is also the least worrying problem for these top game producers present, because Fuyukawa Che's previous works have been crazily piling up materials and digging into details. Like Diver Dave, he added a lot of Chinese food, and like Qingyin Girl, he stuffed more than a dozen classic ACG songs into it.

Players call Che Fuyukawa the old thief of Fuyukawa, and in the eyes of industry insiders, Cheru Fuyukawa is an out-and-out detail and filling maniac, and the feedback given by these details and fillings is very good!

Looking at Fuyukawa Teru chatting on the stage, SATE's top game producer Kagawa Haraharu took a deep breath, shook his head and said with a smile: "As long as the BOSS battle and the design of the small garden are polished in place, this game should be ready. "

Next to him, Ryuken Muramatsu from Juyin's Ronin Studio also nodded and sighed: "This guy Fuyukawa is really exaggerated."

As the saying goes, one leaf knows autumn.

Although I haven't seen Tetsu Fuyukawa give an introduction to the character growth module, both of them are the top figures in the industry. From the map design, they can see that Tetsu Fuyukawa's character growth design will definitely be completely different from Sekiro.

How could this kind of open world with a lot of adventure and collection elements not add attribute growth modules to the characters?
They were already looking at the junior Fuyukawa Che from a level-headed perspective, and naturally did not think that Fuyukawa Che would commit the beginner's mistake of "insufficient positive feedback".

For top game producers, they know very well what positive feedback their games can bring to players. Just like Sekiro gave up numerical growth for the positive feedback brought by sword fighting, all they need to do is to select and decide which positive feedback elements to use.

The facts were indeed as predicted by the two big guys. With the whole hall in an uproar, Fuyukawa Che released the character attribute map.

Standing on the stage, Fuyukawa Che held the screen control buttons in his hand, feeling the atmosphere of heated discussion among the people in the audience. He smiled and said: "I know that many players, peers, and anchors and media complained about Sekiro after its release. The entry threshold is too high, and the growth feedback is weak, so this time our new work of Shengguang Society will give players a sense of experience in this aspect. In this game, players can not only experience the fun of adding points of growth, but also we We are also planning to add an equipment growth system.”

Equipment growth system?

As soon as these words came out, the guests in the audience frowned slightly. The equipment growth system is not uncommon. The equipment growth system refers to gem hunting and enhancement, but Fuyukawa Tetsu actually highlighted this point and described it in detail.

Is there any mystery in it?
The guests were all a little curious, but soon, as Fuyukawa Che explained, many people present widened their eyes again.

"Elden's Circle is an open world game with a Western fantasy background. Games of this genre are not uncommon, but after playing so many, I discovered a small problem."

Fuyukawa Che pressed the button in his hand, and a simple and rough two-handed sword appeared on the screen. He continued to smile: "In games with a Western fantasy background, I like to add stories about equipment to the equipment to increase the sense of immersion. For example, this sword slayed a dragon. , that sword killed the king, so these weapons are given different special effects, but these background stories are independent of the player. In the game, the player kills the dragon, kills the king, kills the god and destroys the saint, but at this time, the weapon in the player's hand is not the same. It will be empowered like the already set equipment as the players encounter legendary encounters. At most, it can be added with a skill.

Weird isn't it? Which player has never slain a dragon with a sword in his hand, but why are these swords not empowered like legendary weapons? "

Amid the excited cheers of countless players in front of the screen, and the sighing eyes of countless game producers in the audience, Che Fuyukawa pressed the controller button again, turned the page, and then explained to the sword on the screen: "The player's The experience is obviously more legendary than the character in the background story, but there is no exclusive [customized weapon].

Sometimes I feel that there is a lack of immersion when playing, so this time in Elden's Ring, players can constantly change weapons during the game, but these weapons will also be assigned to different enemies according to the enemies they kill. Various abilities. Even depending on the order in which the enemy types are killed, the abilities obtained by combining them will be completely different. In the end, players may have an initial sword that has been with them since the beginning, empowered by blood donations from countless monsters, and written countless background stories.

Maybe you will also have an [artifact that a certain person specifically sought out to be forged by a powerful blacksmith in order to defeat a certain powerful enemy]. Even if some weapons are abandoned in one round or broken due to too fierce fighting, they may be picked up by NPCs when entering multiple rounds. There will be NPCs who will change their attitude towards you because of these weapons and equipment and your legend, and even change the fate of some NPCs and the direction of the entire main line. "

Dongchuan Che was talking nonchalantly, and at this time, the audience was completely in a state of excitement!

Think about it, you have been using a broad sword before entering Galede, and then this broad sword accompanied you to slay bears, dragons and Xiao Ge. It was superimposed with countless BUFFs and countless legends were written in the background story. As a result, when you were fighting with Lata The weapon broke during the battle.

At this time, players can repair the broken weapons, or abandon or bury them. The abandoned or buried weapons may be picked up by the NPC and rewrite the NPC's fate.

A broken sword left behind by a legendary knight many years ago has created a new legend.

The sense of immersion has skyrocketed, and players will have a strong sense of immersion.

The anchor area of ​​the entire venue was completely boiling. Through the anchor's translation and explanation, the barrage was completely crazy at this time. All kinds of screaming, fearful, and longing emoticons flooded the screen, while the game producer area was completely silent, and everyone was stunned. He stared blankly at Fuyukawa Che on the stage.

The players are happy to see it, but what they see is ambition!

The growth system of equipped weapons is actually not a very new idea, but issues such as multi-branch numerical balance are very troublesome. In this regard, manpower and funds need to be piled up crazily, and numerical planning cannot be prevented even if you use Overlord to wash your hair. This is even more true with the changes in the fate of NPCs and even the main storyline in multiple episodes!

You must know that the world looks chaotic, but in fact it is like gears that are meshed together. If one of the gears changes, the other gears will also change.

This also requires a large amount of manpower and resource stacking to create countless branch lines.

The cost of 100 million US dollars may not be enough, and this kind of network narrative is difficult to do well. If there is a problem with the setting of an NPC, everything will collapse!

Gamble!

He's crazy!
All the guests present stared at Fuyukawa Che blankly, but Fuyukawa Che was not surprised. To be honest, this method is indeed very dangerous, but... he not only has the development blueprint for the Old Ring, but also the development blueprint for Baldur's Gate 3!
Baldur's Gate 3 can be said to be a masterpiece of network narrative. All NPCs will develop in different directions after facing different choices made by players.

There is no doubt that this method of production is difficult and requires a lot of work. But the problem is that Che Fuyukawa has much more human resources than Laotouhuan. Ultimately, this is because he knows that the game Laotouhuan can be popular in this era.

Miyazaki Hidetaka once accepted an interview. He and FS initially forecast the sales volume of the old ring to be five million sets.

The cost is based on expected sales, so Laotouhuan's development team only had less than 300 people at its busiest stage, and the development funds were only to million US dollars. And Che Fuyukawa knew how terrifying the potential of this game was.

In just over a week after its release, the sales volume of the old ring exceeded 10 million. Two years after its release, the sales volume exceeded 23 million without breaking any bones!

What is the concept of sales volume?

With a cost of 50 million US dollars and a price of about US dollars, the cost can be fully recovered by selling million units and a profit of million units. Based on the estimated sales volume of million units, Fuyukawa Che would have to pile up the cost to million U.S. dollars, so that Laotouhuan would have the possibility of losing money.

Of course, sales volume will definitely fluctuate in different worlds. But Laotouhuan is a classic work with almost no dead ends in terms of graphics, gameplay, positive feedback, or entry threshold.

Fuyukawa Teru is confident that even if the sales of this game fluctuate downward, it will not be less than 20 million units, not to mention that he has made more improvements.

This improvement is not only the equipment system and multi-weekend mode, it also adds back many branch lines that should have existed in the old headband.

Still the same reason, the original sales estimate of Laotouhuan was 5 million units. The forecast limits the budget, and if the budget is not enough, some game content needs to be cut off, and the most critical of these are the plots of Melina, Dragon Tomb, and Snow Mountain.

Needless to say, there is no need to say more about Melina. This fire-proof woman is technically not only a palace but also a concubine, but there is almost no plot about her in the entire game. So although burning trees is quite spectacular, due to the lack of emotional foundation, it is difficult for players to have too strong empathy.

Lani is different. She has a complete plot line, and she also uses dolls to interact with the players.

There is no doubt that Melina's branch plot is related to epilepsy, but perhaps due to production costs, perhaps due to lack of manpower and the need to rush the work, this piece of wood was chopped down by the old thief. And now Fuyukawa Che is rich and wealthy!
In addition to Melina, there are also wandering merchants, but these are all men, and Fuyukawa Che is not very interested. The main filling directions are Melina's branch plot, the plot of Snow Mountain and the plot of Dragon Tomb Gui'ol.

Snow Mountain can be said to be Laotou Huan’s only failure.

There are few new types of monsters, but the value of the reskin pile is high, the map is large and empty, and the BOSS battle of the Fire Giant is also very boring. Fuyukawa Che must work hard in this aspect.

As for Dragon Tomb Gui Orr, how many people felt that the screen went black and then arrived at the Sky City inexplicably?
In fact, according to the old thief's original plan, the Gui'or area needs to be used to connect the plot of Castle in the Sky. Players were supposed to ride on the big dragon mother lying in Gui'ol before they could enter the time rift and enter the city in the sky.

But maybe it’s because of the tight funding and the deadline, or maybe it’s because FS’s old engine couldn’t be optimized for this kind of scene, and it was eventually canceled.

Obviously, strictly speaking, the old headband is not a 100% complete work, but even that kind of old headband still sold 20 million units and still won awards. And now Fuyukawa Che still needs to complete and improve him!
There is no doubt that just the tip of the iceberg at this press conference has turned the entire conference room upside down. The anchor area was very lively, and the guest area quickly started a lively discussion after the early silence. As for the mainstream media area, the flashbulbs had almost blinded Fuyukawa Che.

Flash lights flashed randomly, and the entire conference hall was in chaos, but...
"Humph, this is the man worthy of being my Miyano."

Looking at Fuyukawa Teru who was talking eloquently on the stage, at the door on the side of the podium, Miyano Miwa, wearing a white shirt and hip-hugging skirt, with her plump thighs wrapped in black stockings, was leaning against the wall, smoking elegantly, with eyes filled with joy. Expectation and dependence.

Not only her, but Sayoko and Himawari Izumi, who were next to her with nervous faces, heard the noisy noise and saw the guests giving Fuyukawa Cheru looks like "I'm afraid he's not a crazy person" or "This guy is too fierce". , they also relaxed a lot, and joy gradually emerged in their eyes.

In the backstage cubicle behind the three of them, Asuka Yuezhu, who has dyed blond hair and exquisite mixed-race facial features, is playing Diver Dave on her laptop with her chin in her hands. It’s just that she is playing the game, but the screen has been there for a long time. He stopped moving, his little ears twitching to listen to Dongchuan Che's voice behind the wall.

Next to her, Chika Ohara, who was eating a lunch after a busy day, was chewing chicken drumsticks. She raised her head, pushed up her elegant glasses, and listened carefully to the sounds from the outside world.

After a while, a smile appeared on her lips, and she lowered her head to eat the rice again. In the middle of the first row of seats in the large conference hall, looking at the high-spirited Fuyukawa Cheru on the stage, Sato Fujiko exchanged her folded plump thighs, with strange emotions flashing in her eyes.

But soon, when she saw from the corner of her eye a little lolita with a scary F+ number and wearing white rabbit pajamas in the anchor area, acting cute and begging for rewards in front of the camera, the corner of her mouth twitched unconsciously.

"Did this guy Futaba go bankrupt again?"

"There is indeed something wrong with this man's woman."

(End of this chapter)