When I write a bug it becomes the core gameplay.

Chapter 415 Weapon Combination and Transformation Slash
Everyone present nodded frequently, and they all felt that it made sense.

However, what Zhou Yang and Wei Chengjie thought in their minds was obviously not the same thing as Lilith.

Lilith was thinking that Gu Fan's design was indeed different from the general high-difficulty games on the market, and it was also different from "Ascension". It seemed promising to generate negative emotions.

But what Zhou Yang and Wei Chengjie want, of course, is the success of the game.

But it is obvious that although the combat system proposed by Gu Fan has the potential for success, it still lacks some details from true success.

Because this is not a universal design solution!

Take the GP invincibility frame in the weapon for example, this is obviously an imperfect design.

As an action game, if you want the game content to be rich enough, the weapons in the game must be diverse enough.

It would be best if there could be dozens of types. Even if that is not possible, there should be at least a dozen types, and each type must have its own characteristics and a good balance.

This is a bit difficult.

If it is other games that do not have GP invincibility frame settings, weapon balance is relatively easy to do.

Because of the balance of weapons, they can be designed roughly from the following aspects: attack speed, action modules of different attacks, attack toughness, damage, toughness reduction, attribute attack, combat skills, etc.

In general, large weapons have a slow attack and a long swing, but they have a certain degree of toughness and dominance when they are used, and their damage and toughness reduction capabilities are also relatively high.

Small weapons have faster throws, shorter swings, and are more flexible, but their damage is definitely lower.

Even within large weapons or small weapons, there are subtle differences.

The more differences there are, the easier it is to balance them. You just need to weaken or strengthen them in a targeted manner.

But when Gu Fan decided to add GP effects to all weapons, things became a bit difficult.

Because the GP effect is a very powerful effect, it will seriously destroy the balance between light weapons and heavy weapons.

According to conventional design ideas, the GP of light weapons must be easier, for example, it can be launched by just raising your hand; while the GP of heavy weapons is more difficult.

But after careful consideration, you will find that this design is definitely not feasible, because if light weapons GP is easy, General Li will definitely not agree.

The best way is actually to make it difficult to GP light weapons, while heavy weapons cannot be GP at all. This is more balanced and meets the game difficulty that Ms. Li is satisfied with.

But in this case, the game's combat system may lack characteristics and will not be much different from other general games.

Is it really possible, as Mr. Gu said, to add GP to all weapons and still keep them balanced to a certain extent?
This seems a little difficult.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yang expressed his concerns: "Boss Gu, Boss Li, if we add GP to all weapons, it might not be so balanced, right?"

Lily didn't care at all: "Balance? What is that? Can you eat it?
“It’s totally unimportant!”

Gu Fan couldn't help but laugh in his heart. It seemed that Lilith had not yet noticed the seriousness of the problem.

In Lilith's opinion, it doesn't matter if weapons are unbalanced. For example, in the most extreme case, there is only one weapon in the game that is useful, and all the other weapons are toys. Players only realize this terrible situation after trying them all. Isn't this a good way to generate negative emotions?

But Gu Fan coughed twice and said, "Boss Li, think twice.

"If the weapons are very unbalanced, then there will inevitably be some unexpected weapons that can easily clear the level. I think that's not what you want to see."

Lilith raised her eyebrows and became alert instantly: "Hmm? Yes, you have a point!"

The balance of weapons is indeed a big deal. Even for the top action games on the market, it is difficult to achieve a perfect balance when there are too many weapons.

And there will definitely be some "simple weapons" that even the designers have not thought of.

This is what players commonly call a "wheelchair".

Did the designers create these wheelchair weapons on purpose?
In some games, yes, the designers were worried that players would not be able to pass the level, so they deliberately left some mindless wheelchair weapons. But in some games, no, this is not the case, as can be seen from the fact that the production team urgently released balance patches and kept mindlessly cutting wheelchair weapons.

It is common to directly cut the attributes of a powerful wheelchair weapon in half.

This shows that no matter how mature and powerful a production team is, it is difficult to achieve perfection in balance in the first place.

You may think that a certain weapon is just an ordinary weapon and not a super weapon, but once players develop it, they find that this thing is simply too powerful and is actually a pure wheelchair!

It is conceivable that no matter how much balance Against the Heaven during the development period, this situation will inevitably occur after the release of "Blood of Lies".

For other companies, this isn't a big deal.

Why not just cut it down by force?

Just cut it in half, and afterwards all you'll get is a few scoldings from the players for losing your horse.

But this is not the case with Against Nintendo, because once a game from Against Nintendo is released, it can no longer be updated, and it is absolutely not possible to add patches to balance it afterwards.

Therefore, in order to prevent players from easily passing the level with wheelchair weapons, this balance issue still needs to be properly resolved.

Lilith was a little discouraged: "So, is it possible to balance the strength of weapons when all weapons have GP? I feel that this seems a bit too difficult..."

Gu Fan continued calmly: "If GP affects the balance of weapons, this problem is not unsolvable. We just need to continue to add new variables."

Zhou Yang and Wei Chengjie were both a little surprised: "New variables?"

You know, there are already enough variables in weapon balance. If we add new variables, can we be sure that we can still achieve a good balance?
Gu Fan explained: "In fact, the key issue now is, 'Are the GPs of light weapons and heavy weapons consistent?'

“If the GP of light weapons and heavy weapons were equally effective, then there is no doubt that heavy weapons would become too powerful and light weapons would be useless;
“And if the GP of light weapons is easy to use and the GP of heavy weapons is not easy to use, then the light weapons will be too strong.

“Although there is a critical point of balance, it is too difficult to find this critical point, and even if it is found, it is easy to make mistakes.

"So, my idea is to make the GP of light weapons and heavy weapons equally difficult to use, and then introduce a new variable to balance the disadvantage of light weapons. "This variable is... weapon combination, transformation slash, and puppet prosthetics."

Lilith was silent for a moment: "Gu Fan, are you not able to count? These are clearly three variables."

Gu Fan explained: "In my mind, they are actually the same."

Lilith instinctively sensed something was wrong: "Can't we just use one? For example, just use the puppet's prosthetic limb."

Gu Fan hesitated for a moment: "One...is not safe."

Lilith was a little frustrated. She couldn't understand why a hell demon like her, who focused on creating negative emotions for players, was so entangled in the balance of weapons in the game? Moreover, one problem led to many new problems.

But the previous concerns are indeed reasonable. If the weapon balance is not done well and a large number of wheelchair weapons appear, it will indeed be detrimental to the collection of negative emotions.

Then let’s listen to what Gu Fan has to say!
Gu Fan explained: "First, let me talk about the specific concepts of these three mechanisms.

“Weapon combination means that we divide all weapons into two parts. These two parts can be used separately or in combination. Moreover, these two parts can also be used in combination between different weapons.

"Transformation Slash means that the player can hold the two parts of the weapon separately, which is the dual-wielding form; or the weapon can be combined and held in both hands, which is the two-handed form. When the player changes between these two forms, it is achieved through the "Transformation Slash".

"Among them, the dual-wielding form is a light weapon; the two-handed form is a heavy weapon. And the transformation slash is the GP.

“Of course, we can also add GP effects to the specific attack actions of some special weapons for further balancing.

"Finally, there are puppet prosthetics. In other games, the role of prosthetic hands is often an independent skill, such as shooting grappling hooks, breathing fire, deploying shields, etc. But in this way, there is a lack of linkage between the prosthetic hands and the player's weapon system.

“In my imagination, puppet prosthetics should be combined with the weapon system, and the same skills will produce different changes depending on the type of weapon.

"For example, a puppet prosthetic that can spit fire, when used with a certain weapon, it enchants the weapon with fire; when used with another weapon, it uses the weapon to spit fire; and when used with yet another weapon, it becomes a fire trap."

Wei Chengjie was stunned for a moment: "Wait, Mr. Gu, if you can combine them at will, will the attack modules of two-handed weapons also change?"

Gu Fan explained: "We divide the weapon into the left hand part and the right hand part.

“The left-hand part is more of a support role, while the right-hand part is more of an offensive role.

“When combined, the left hand part will determine the weapon’s attack module and its transformation properties, while the right hand part will determine the weapon’s panel properties and its linkage effect with the puppet’s prosthetic limbs.”

Zhou Yang understood a little: "So, Mr. Gu, what you mean is that since it is not easy to balance light weapons and heavy weapons, why not just turn all weapons into a combination of light weapons and heavy weapons?"

Wei Chengjie thought for a moment and said, "Wait, Mr. Gu, if this is the case, we still need to make an extra set of dual-wielding action modules."

Gu Fan nodded: "To be precise, it is not an additional set of dual-wielding action modules. This is originally an action module for light weapons. From the perspective of total volume, it is the same."

Lilith frowned, feeling inexplicably dangerous.

She thought about it carefully and immediately questioned: "Wait, Gu Fan, if we do it this way, it seems... a little too cool!!"

Although there is no very detailed weapon design plan at present, we can roughly imagine what kind of weapons will be produced according to Gu Fan's plan.

Let’s take a simple example: dual swords.

In dual-wielding form, it is two longswords with slightly different shapes, and in two-handed form, the two longswords are combined to become a double-headed sword or a combined large sword that looks like chopsticks.

In addition, the long swords in the left and right hands can be combined with components of other weapons respectively.

For example, a long sword and the handle of a spear can be combined to form a sword-spear; and a long sword and a sharp-edged shield can be combined to form a shield-axe.

When the player uses the transformation slash, he can combine the two swords together or separate the two swords. In the whole handsome and cool action, the invincibility frame of GP is hidden.

Imagine that the boss is coming aggressively, but the player calmly disassembles the weapons in his hands, easily blocks the boss's attack, and then uses a set of cool and stylish small combos with dual-wielding light weapons to beat the boss into incompetence and rage; the boss attacks again, and the player combines the two weapons together, uses GP to easily block the boss's attack again, and then charges the heavy weapon to execute the boss...

Just thinking about it, you can tell how much positive emotions this set of cool moves will bring to players.

This is absolutely not okay!
Lilith immediately raised an objection: Who allowed you to be so handsome?
Gu Fan shook his head slightly: "Boss Li, you think too shallowly.

"If we make the movements ugly, and the upper limit of the movement system is obviously low, and the numerical difficulty is high, who will play the game? They would have left long ago.

“Since we have decided to increase the numerical difficulty and adjust the balance of various weapons, cool moves are a must.

“We want to let players see a wonderful sales show, and see that the theoretical upper limit of various weapons can easily beat the boss. In this way, they will be deceived and come to play. Even if they suffer setbacks in the early stage, they will just think that they are bad, and not think that there is a problem with our design.

“Only in this situation can we do a lot of small things.

“For example, we put the GP invincibility frame of Transformation Slash at a very strange action node, making it difficult for players to adapt; we want to make weapons with cooler actions less useful, so that players want to show off but can’t.

"Players are like holding back a grudge, thinking that they should practice more if they are new, but the more they practice, the uglier they get beaten.

"Combined with our previous settings, including dynamic difficulty and various unpredictable and powerful enemies, won't the players be furious?"

Lilith scratched her head, thought about it carefully, and felt that what Gu Fan said made sense.

Although cool movements may make players addicted, if the movements are ugly, combined with the previous series of settings, won’t players be quickly discouraged? That still fails to achieve the purpose of collecting a large number of negative emotions.

In a sense, the current method is indeed the optimal solution.

As long as... nothing unexpected happens.

Will there be an accident?
Judging from previous games, the probability of accidents cannot be said to be very high, it can only be said to be close to 100%.

So of course Lilith was very alert and tried hard to think about where the problem might lie.

But it is really difficult to predict this kind of thing in advance.

(End of this chapter)