game trailblazer

Chapter 180 New Game Plan

In the afternoon, the Oriental Video Game City was almost full. Except for the site of the Fengyun Game Club, the other places were almost overcrowded. Even the Le Beibei restaurant was crowded with parents who came to try new things with free coupons. , or sit in the lounge area with a drink and watch your children play game consoles, or sit in the dining area with your children and enjoy nutritious and delicious Chinese fast food.

In the next few days, the Oriental Video Game City suddenly became the focus of heated discussions. The traditional media was full of high-sounding words, such as cooperation between relevant departments and industry associations, the first step in the standardized management of the video game industry Ah, wait, the Oriental Video Game City has suddenly become a role model for the entire industry. At the end of the article, the traditional media even issued a call for "I hope video game practitioners (arcade hall owners) learn from the Oriental Video Game City..." , Of course, this kind of appeal is basically no one will listen to it.

The game media focused their attention on the action of the China Game Industry Association. Behind the opening of the Oriental Video Game City, it showed the industry association's efforts in regulating and developing the market.And the editors of the game media are also celebrating, because they have another place to learn about the latest arcade game developments, no longer need to spread some hearsay news, and they can even use public funds to play in the Oriental Electronic Game City Bundle.

Players are spreading word of mouth about the newly-opened Oriental Electronic Game City, which has a spacious venue, a well-lit environment, a large number of game machines (according to the first batch of players, definitely more than [-]), complete The content of the game (flying shooting, horizontal version clearance, combat fighting, line elimination, sports competition and other types of games are all available. In addition, there are large-scale simulators and somatosensory game consoles, and even the old street that many people played when they were young. console games can also be found).

In addition to these hardware, there are many details that are also well done.For example, each machine is wiped clean, not full of dirt like many small arcade halls, and the buttons are all complete.Once there is a problem with the machine, someone will come to repair it immediately. If the players encounter a problem, they can also get professional guidance.The most important point is that the price is not expensive, one dollar is 4 coins, and most of the game consoles on the first floor can be played for only 1 coin. There are not only old games in the nostalgic area, but also the latest "King of Fighters 95" "The same is true. Although it is a little more expensive than some small arcade halls, it is absolutely worth it for this environment.

And according to some wolf friends who brought their girlfriends to go with them, since game machines such as claw machines and "Magic Bubble" are suitable for female players, they can finally no longer have to fight alone, like those who used to spend too much time in the game hall. As a result, the occurrence of domestic "violence" or being arranged to go shopping and carry bags has been greatly reduced, and the happy life of the Big Big Wolves has finally arrived.

……

Just as the Oriental Video Game City was bustling with opening, on the other side of the ocean in Seattle, in the office of the president of Wizards of the Coast.Peter Atkinson looked at a piece of information sent by his assistant William, frowned and said: "What's wrong, TSR company is dying."

"Boss, according to our investigation, an overseas company has contacted TSR and completed the capital injection." William explained.

"What, is there another company investing in TSR? I didn't tell you to keep an eye on it. How could this happen?" Peter Atkinson slapped the table, stood up and shouted angrily.

William shivered for a moment, and replied tremblingly: "Boss, we are eyeing it, but the company quoted a high price as soon as it came up. Well, it is said that there is 4500 million US dollars, and Rowling over there agreed."

In fact, there was still a part of the subtext that William hadn't said. Peter Atkinson just let him stare at him, but he didn't authorize the quotation. As a result, other companies came to such a surprise attack, and it was too late for him to react even if he wanted to.

Peter Atkinson sat down slumpedly. He also knew that his assistant could not be blamed for this matter. Who made him want to tempt Rowling's appetite, but he didn't take advantage of it, and even the duck from his mouth flew away.

Thinking of this, Peter Atkinson couldn't help crying out in his heart: "What are you doing~~~ Don't do this, I just want to buy a small TSR."

While mourning, the door of the office was opened, and Peter Atkinson's secretary Jenny hurried in, holding a piece of paper in her hand.

"What's going on?" Peter Atkinson was about to get angry again. What happened today? Everyone in his subordinates has problems.

"Boss, you should read it yourself." Jenny handed over the paper in her hand.

Peter Atkinson took the paper and looked at it. It turned out to be a quotation. Except for some nonsense such as "We are very optimistic about your company's development prospects", the key is the figure of 5000 million US dollars on it.Peter Atkinson only felt dizzy in his head. What's going on? How could the hunter become the prey in the blink of an eye.

……

When Peter Atkinson was struggling with the change of his identity, he was still in BJ, and everyone in the creative workshop had already begun to discuss the next game development plan.Except for "Three Kingdoms" and "Mythology" that need to be reworked, most of the games developed some time ago have achieved good results. Relying on successful marketing and reasonable distribution, they have achieved sales of about 3 sets in the mainland market. Although There was a slight loss, but by virtue of the export and adaptation of certain games, considerable profits were made. In addition, newcomers needed better training opportunities, so a new round of game development was naturally brought up on the agenda.

The group of newcomers who just entered the creative workshop from Fengyun Game School, after the preliminary training of small game development, according to last year's practice, under the leadership of Zhao Yuanhuan, divided into four project teams, and are preparing for the first project in their lives. Official game project.The remaining people (excluding the three unfinished projects and the members of the 3D engine team) got together to discuss the question of "what game to develop next".

Yan Dali was the first to make a suggestion. The "Blood Battle on the Bund" developed by their team has unexpectedly achieved quite good results. Although due to lack of experience, there are still many incomplete considerations in the final product, but only two weeks The sales volume in the mainland region has already exceeded [-] sets, and the trend of sales decline is not obvious. It is very hopeful that it will hit the sales record set by "Legend of Sword and Fairy".

Yan Dali’s suggestion this time was to develop a sequel to "Blood Battle on the Bund". In May, because the development had entered a critical moment, Yan Dali did not go to Los Angeles, USA, but Zhang Lexing still asked people to bring back a lot of E3 exhibitions. data of.From these materials, Yan Dali got inspiration, and he decided to greatly improve "Blood Battle on the Bund". For this reason, he also prepared a not-so-thin creative draft.

According to Yan Dali's plan, "Blood Battle on the Bund 2" can be said to be a complete reinvention.The first step is to use the further improved Build3D engine (version 3) of the 1.0D engine group to upgrade "Blood Battle on the Bund 2" to a real 3D game. Of course, there are corresponding side effects. Since the Build3D engine is based on the KylinWindows95 platform, And it has high requirements for computer performance, so "Blood Battle on the Bund 2" does not have low requirements for computer performance, but Yan Dali also has corresponding countermeasures. He plans to use two years to slowly build this game. On the one hand It is to reduce ill-considered places, and on the other hand, you can also wait for the computer to be updated.

The second step is to add game characters and enrich the game content.Unlike "Blood Battle Shanghai 1" where one person uses a lot of weapons, Yan Dali has added many different game characters, such as the ghost who is good at infiltration and assassination, the eagle eye who is good at long-range attack, the fire who is good at suppressing fire, and the melee character The monk who fights, the god of thunder who is good at blasting.Each character can be equipped with main and auxiliary weapons, plus some special items (only suitable for some people, such as ghost camouflage clothes, Thor timer, Agni's combined heavy machine gun, etc.).The same level, choose different people, can be handled in different ways, correspondingly, there will be different game fun.

The third step is to add online mode to "Blood Battle on the Bund 2". "Blood Battle on the Bund 1" only has a clearance game mode. Although the number of levels is not too small, and there are different difficulty levels, but after a long time, you will always get tired, and the addition of online mode can provide Players bring a fresh experience.Yan Dali has great ambitions. He proposed three online modes in one breath. The first is the cooperative mode, which supports 2-5 teams. In this mode, the tasks (rescue, assassination, investigation, etc.) It is more difficult than the single-player mode. In many places, multiple people must assist each other to pass the level, and even a lot of tactical cooperation can be played.The second is the Capture the Flag mode, which supports 5 vs. 5 mode. The victory goal is determined by the number of times the flag in the opponent's base is captured within a limited time. It can be understood as a team tactical training mode.The third is the melee mode (or survival mode), which supports up to 16 people to fight. You can choose any character to participate in the personal melee, and the one who kills the most enemies wins.

Zhang Lexing was very surprised by Yan Dali's creative draft, because there are many shadows of games, such as the real-time tactics of "Allied Death Squad" and the team confrontation of CS.But this also makes Zhang Lexing very happy. This at least shows that we are no worse than foreign game companies in terms of creativity. Maybe the original domestic game companies are not unable to come up with ideas, but just unable to realize them.Feeling the changes he has brought about, although Zhang Lexing doesn't know when he will be able to expand to other companies in China, he is already very relieved to be able to start making changes.

In this seminar, Zhang Lexing also proposed his two game projects "True Heroes" and "Highest Alert". "True Heroes" has been conceived by Zhang Lexing for quite a while, but he only considered the computer performance and the company's strength. It's almost time to start.

In Zhang Lexing's mind, "Tunnel Heroes" should be a game similar to Dungeon Guardian, but due to the characteristics of tunnels, the defense construction will not only be limited to the underground, but include two parts above ground and underground.The background of the era is set in the Jizhong Plain in 1942. In order to consolidate the occupation of North China, the RB devils launched a sweep of the May 30st North China, and the militia captain in the village played by the player must lead his [-] militiamen and The whole village, old and young, resisted the puppet army and RB devils who invaded the village.

The initial weapons and equipment of the militiamen were very poor, with only one shell gun (equipped by the militia leader) and a small number of [-] caps. Most of them used machetes and red-tasseled guns, and their training was not high, and their combat effectiveness was very low.In order to resist the invading puppet army and RB devils, it is necessary to rely on tunnels and fortifications in the village.

The game process of "Tunnel Heroes" can be divided into two parts. One is the construction stage. At this time, villagers need to be reasonably arranged to collect resources (wood, bamboo, stone, iron, saltpeter, charcoal, sulfur, etc.), and seize the time to dig tunnels and build Organ traps and fortifications in the village, arrange the production of explosives such as mines, and train the militia to improve its combat effectiveness.The second is the combat stage, use the traps arranged in the construction stage to kill the enemy, and the militiamen will stay in the fortifications to fight back against the enemy. There will be a reminder for the number of invading enemies in each level, as long as they are all eliminated or persist until When a large army comes to reinforce it, it will win.

There are several types of incoming enemy troops, puppet troops, RB recruits, RB veterans, and elite RB soldiers. The arms include riflemen, machine gunners, grenadiers, cavalry, special agents, etc., with different offensive methods and survivability.The number of organ traps is limited, and reasonable planning is necessary to eliminate the enemy army to the maximum extent, otherwise we can only rely on a small number of weapons in the hands of the militia to fight back.

In order to design this game to be both interesting and reflect the difficulty of the battle, Zhang Lexing also specially arranged for people to collect information about tunnel warfare. Of course, the black-and-white film "Tunnel Warfare" filmed in 1965 is indispensable. Movie.

"Supreme Alert" is inspired by "Red Alert", which is a real-time strategy game that was popular in computer rooms. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, it did not get the opportunity to officially launch in China. According to rumors, this matter is related to the leading company .It is said that when he acted as an agent for "Command and Conquer", another agency company in China also signed "Red Alert". I went to the relevant departments, and as a result, "Red Alert" was forced to shut down, and there was no chance for harmony.But Zhang Lexing knew that even if there was no prelude, even if "Red Alert" really entered the country, it would only be good for a while, and people would find out the fault sooner or later based on the background design of the game.

The main problem of "Red Alert" is the background of the game, so Zhang Lexing intends to steal the dragon and turn the phoenix, directly replace the background of the game, and then design a blurred background of the era, plus two virtual organizations to fight against, as for the online mode The country options in the game are directly changed to the names of several organizations. Presumably, this should avoid the situation of failing the review or adding a bunch of restrictions in the future, so that players can at least play this game openly.

For the game system, Zhang Lexing intends to basically copy "Red Alert", and the combat units in the game also plan to basically adopt it, and then strengthen the artificial intelligence to avoid the occurrence of "I chose 20 tanks to go to a certain place, but there were only more than [-] tanks in the end." Arrived, and the others were stuck" and the situation of being hit by the enemy but not knowing how to fight back.The operation method of the game, Zhang Lexing is also going to use it, but slightly modified, adding some more convenient operations, such as adding a concept of "drag and select attack" when attacking, after the player selects a unit, press the A key to proceed To attack, if you press the Shift key at the same time, you can draw a box and select a group of targets to attack, and the player's troops will automatically attack one target at a time. If you don't press the Shift key, after drawing the box, The player's troops will be automatically divided into several teams to attack these targets at the same time, which will make the operation much more convenient, especially when dismantling bases and other immovable targets.

After several days of discussion, "Blood War on the Bund 2", "Authentic Heroes", and "Highest Alert" have all entered the process of formal project approval, and relevant professionals will take over for further improvement.At this time, the rookie development team led by Zhao Yuanhuan also came up with the games they plan to set up as projects, which are:
The strategy game "The Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty: The Spring and Autumn Period" is a game based on the Spring and Autumn Period between 770 BC and 476 BC. The game mode is similar to "Three Kingdoms", but it has made certain innovations and intends to fully express In addition to the contention of a hundred schools of thought and the struggle for hegemony among various countries during that period, some famous figures from the Spring and Autumn Period will also appear on stage.

The simulation business game "Sword Inn" borrows the characters, place names, backgrounds, etc. from "Legend of Sword and Fairy", and integrates various elements such as business simulation, role-playing, and love development. Players will play Li Xiaoyao, and Zhao Linger, Lin Yueru and Anu manage the inn together.In the game, you not only need to be responsible for receiving guests, cashier, waiter, etc., but also need to collect food materials, improve cooking skills, arrange the order of guests, resolve conflicts between guests, drive away kickers, and drive away flies Waiting for work.

"Happy Rivers and Lakes", a dice throwing game similar to Monopoly, but the characters appearing are replaced by some well-known martial arts characters.

"The Heroes of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", with the background of the end of the Sui Dynasty, refers to the openness of Mud, a role-playing game with free development lines.Zhang Lexing is very concerned about this game, because judging from the materials attached to the application, it is somewhat similar to "The Legend of Jin Yong Heroes" that Zhang Lexing once played.

Finally, after careful review, the four game applications of the newcomers were all approved, so everyone in the creative workshop started their new journey...

(End of this chapter)