Create horror games that scare players around the world

Chapter 93: Game Process Changes to Dual Narrative

The next day, Ding Yi contacted CEO Zhang of Danmu.com.

Agreed to the development request of the first-party VR game.

As for what type of subject matter will be developed, it has not yet been determined.

But the prerequisite is, as I said yesterday, to complete "The Evil Within" first, and then establish this new project.

About ten minutes later, CEO Zhang replied with surprise and joy, "Is it true?"
He then went on to say that he had approached several well-known game companies to discuss the matter, but both domestic and foreign companies had rejected the development intention.

So I was very anxious, and finally decided to just put it on the market for sale.

As a result, CEO Zhang finally got good news from President Ding, which made him very satisfied and happy.

Boss Ding looked at the reply in the WeChat message with an indifferent expression. He replied casually that he hoped a VR device could be sent over to facilitate the development of the subsequent game.

After sending the message, CEO Zhang replied almost immediately, saying that there was no problem and that they would send it today, and that two more would be sent.

At the same time, when the VR project is launched, please feel free to let us know if you need to use Danmu.net.

Seeing this, Ding Yi didn't say anything.

Anyway, this VR game project is fully funded by Danmu.com, and Star Games will not pay a penny, and they don’t want the copyright.

And after the game is released, the profits will still be shared according to the previous contract.

It can be said that all expenses of this VR project, including employee salaries, are borne by Danmu.com.

If subsequent games make money, they can still get the biggest share.

To be honest, Ding Yi felt that this deal was a bit magical and unreal.

But when I thought about CEO Zhang who was looking for game companies to produce first-party products in order to sell his own VR equipment better, he ended up hitting a wall.

With this kind of eagerness, it is not surprising that they would do something almost altruistic.

After all, the technology and value of Star Games are here.

"I just need to develop the VR game and then get paid after it's released. I won't lose money."

After saying that, Ding Yi smiled.

...

After the discussion with CEO Zhang, he continued with the development.

The main game of "The Evil Within" has been polished to a point where it is almost done.

Now both the company and outsourced parts are working hard to develop DLC Kidman's process.

After finishing this part, there will be the DLC for the box man.

Of course, he can also follow the lead of other game companies and release the game first and then release the DLC later.

Boss Dante doesn't want to do this. He has enough time and money to release a complete game. There is no need to release part of it first and then part of it.

But to be honest, in order to connect with "The Invasion", Kidman's DLC was stuffed with a lot of original content from the Bureau of Control, causing its process to far exceed the size of a DLC, and its duration is probably more than eight hours.

If it is taken separately, it is longer and larger than "Rotten Meat" and can be sold as a new game.

Just like The Witcher 3's Hearts of Stone DLC.

But Ding Yi doesn't want Kidman's story to be released as DLC.

So he thought about it, and suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind, and he started searching for keywords on the Internet.

'Dual narrative', 'dual main lines', 'inside and outside lines'.

The results were, without exception, no relevant information.

This immediately made Ding Yi's eyes light up.

"No way. After decades, there hasn't even been a single-player game on Blue Star with a dual-story narrative."

Ding Yi blinked and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Dual-line narrative refers to experiencing the same main event from two different perspectives.

The most typical representative is "Resident Evil 2".

The same main quest is jointly advanced by the male protagonist Leon and the female protagonist Claire.

Players can choose one of the characters to play at the beginning, and after completing the game, they can choose another character to experience a new second round with a different process.

But the final outcome is the same.

If the player chooses the male protagonist in the first round, he will meet the female protagonist in the process. The two will help each other at certain intersections and meet again in the end. The second round allows you to play the female protagonist and see what she goes through in the story.

During the process, you will also meet the male protagonist played by yourself in the first week and help each other.

This makes the player's second-week experience full of freshness rather than repetitive playability.

Such a thoughtful process design gives players the motivation to experience it repeatedly.

Therefore, Ding Yi also planned to do so.

"The Evil Within" also has two protagonists.

The male protagonist Sebastian and the female protagonist Kidman.

The former is the main process, and the latter is the DLC process.

Although their experiences were different, their main goals were the same, and they intersected many times and helped each other.

They can be completely integrated together, allowing players to freely choose which character to play first, rather than completing the main game first and then playing the DLC.

Therefore, Ding Yi plans to put Kidman's process directly into the main game, allowing players to choose the protagonist they want to play at the beginning.

After deciding on the idea, Boss Ding started to work.

But first, we need to solve the game map problem.

He stood up and went outside the office.

In fact, as early as yesterday, he discovered that there was a big problem with one of Kidman’s scene maps.

too bright…

There is no horror atmosphere at all...

Most of Kidman's early maps are indoor scenes, that is, Mobius's corporate research institute.

The requirement for this indoor scene is that it must have both the scientific research style of a laboratory and workplace elements; the two are indispensable.

But the employees made the scene into a strong laboratory style, and it no longer looks like a workplace office.

Even with the line drawing as a reference, it was still completely off track.

Coupled with the bright environment, the atmosphere is not scary enough, which makes it unsatisfactory.

The indoor scenes of horror games should give players a sense of tension and depression.

Therefore, the environment must be small, dark, and creepy.

Coupled with the various small noises around and the weird BGM, the players are frightened. This is a qualified atmosphere creation.

Although Ding Yi can modify the lighting and shadow atmosphere of the map in the engine, if he has to do even this kind of thing himself, the workload will increase dramatically in vain.

Therefore, he asked his employees to make changes themselves.

“Make this corridor darker and less spacious. Players will feel too safe, and they can run around monsters if they encounter them.”

"Just make it narrower, so that two people can walk side by side. This way, when players encounter monsters, they can either fight them or run back."

Outside the office, Ding Yi stood behind the scene designer, making requests for modifications.

"Well, I was just worried that the environment would be too depressing and players wouldn't dare to play, so I made it a little brighter."

Ding Yi shook his head upon hearing this.

"Players can adjust the intensity of their fear themselves, so we just need to create a good atmosphere. The process of female characters should be more thrilling, more depressing and scary than that of male characters, so that players' adrenaline surges while playing. Otherwise, this is not a horror game."

The designer scratched his head and replied.

"Um...Okay, the process for female characters is more terrifying, Mr. Ding, I've made a note of that."

Ding Yi nodded and continued.

"Also, at the corner at the end of this corridor, put a swaying human-shaped shadow on the wall. Make it twitch a little, and make it as weird as possible. It will make it impossible for the players to leave or retreat, so they can only go ahead with it."

“This red sofa will be used as a save point. Players can save the game by sitting on it and touching the cat. Add some corpses here to make it bloody and scary, so that players will feel that the save point is not safe.”

"This safe, put a corpse inside, let the player mistakenly think there are resources inside, after opening it, the corpse will..."

Within Star Games, Kidman’s process is being developed at an accelerated pace.

Overseas, players who played the perfect game "Abnormal Invasion" suddenly received text message alerts from the cyber platform.

The "Rotten Meat" that they had been longing for was finally released in multiple languages!
Finally, I can play this horror prequel to Star Games!

(End of this chapter)