Chapter 102 Extra: The Making of a Dark Dungeon (Part 1)
Design department.
"I believe that you have read through the classic chapters of the Cthulhu mythology during this time, including "Call of Cthulhu", "At the Mountains of Madness", "The Shadow Beyond Time" and so on.
For the element of Cthulhu, everyone should have a certain definition in mind. ”
Luo Bai sat at the top and had an open conversation with all the current design department employees including "monster design", "map design" and "character design".
"When human beings face those indescribable existences, their sanity will be crushed and the whole person will fall into irreparable madness.
But among them, there are also human beings like the existential investigators, who rely on their own courage to fight against madness and demonstrate the praise of mankind.
The core selling point of the game "Darkest Dungeon" is to transform this state of madness from a description in the text into a game.
After this week of accumulation, the discussions within your groups should have yielded certain results. The reason why I convened this discussion meeting today is that I hope everyone can brainstorm. ”
After looking around, Luo Bai first extended his right hand towards Shu Boyue, the leader of the monster design team.
"Boyo, there are many different types of monsters in the Cthulhu Mythos, let's start with you."
Although Shu Boyue, who has just graduated from university, has participated in similar speech activities in school, this is the first time he has shown himself like this after entering the society.
He was a little nervous.
But after seeing Luo Bai's encouraging eyes, he calmed down.
"Speaking of the monsters in the Cthulhu mythology, well, we have to talk about the most famous deep divers. Well, this monster is a marine humanoid race with fish characteristics.
Well, although they appear to be imbecile, the deep divers are a highly intelligent race that will live forever unless killed. They use fish and gold to trade human sacrifices with the residents of the island..."
Although he didn't know why he became the leader of the monster design team out of nowhere, he had liked these weird things since he was a child. After being directly "entrusted with important tasks" by Luo Bai, he didn't dare to relax.
In addition to working hours, he is also enriching himself after get off work and checking various information on the Internet.
He was just nervous, not empty-handed.
"Well, according to the plan given by Mr. Luo before, we can know that the characters have two health bars, one is blood volume and the other is pressure.
Um, so, we also designed the monsters into two types, um, one is a warrior-type deep diver that can cause direct damage, and the other is a deep diver that causes pressure damage.
Well, according to the setting that the deep divers are actually a highly intelligent race, they also have their own civilization internally. The deep divers who cause pressure can be set up as deep diver priests and prophets.
Mr. Luo, my sharing is over. ”
Luo Bai took the lead in applauding, and then the entire design department burst into warm applause.
"Thank you everyone!"
Shu Bo sat down with a red face, took a few deep breaths, and continued to pay attention to the audience.
"Jiang Qiyi."
As Luo Bai called his name, Jiang Qiyi, the leader of the map design team, stood up and bowed to everyone.
"Speaking of the Cthulhu Mythos, the Deep One is indeed a monster that cannot be avoided.
According to the characteristics of deep divers living in the sea, if the deep divers are to be designed to become a major monster type in the game, then the location of this dungeon must be close to the ocean, or even into the ocean.
The protagonists in the Cthulhu Mythos are all mortals with extraordinary courage and will, and do not have the power of supernatural elements.
So we use the bay as a main dungeon type in the game.
According to the article "The Haze over Innsmouth", some folktales about the ocean mention strange jewelry, huge stone crafts and strange underwater buildings in the sea.
The main interactive objects in the bay should be related to corals, shells, and stone artifacts worshiped by deep divers.
My sharing is finished, thank you all. ”
"Pah! Pah! Pah!"
Jiang Qiyi nodded slightly and then sat down.
"Li Shuo."
Li Shuo, leader of the plot design team, pushed up his glasses and smiled:
"Mr. Luo, our group is also studying the literary works on the Cthulhu mythology, but the things we think about are fragmented and there are no systematic ideas.
But based on the previous speeches of two colleagues, I have some ideas. ”
Li Shuo coughed twice and cleared his throat:
"Since there is a main map in the dungeon arranged in the bay, the main place where the story takes place is either an island or a coastal land.
But a dungeon must have land to become a dungeon. The island is too cramped and is not conducive to subsequent development.
According to the settings of stories such as dungeons and dungeons throughout the ages, the background will generally be placed on the fiefdom of a certain lord in the Western Middle Ages.
Therefore, we can assume that the main place where the story takes place is a nobleman on the coast of a fiefdom.
In fact, our protagonist can be such a down-and-out noble. Otherwise, why would he be able to summon a team of four to explore the dungeon?
Moreover, this nobleman cannot be too powerful, he must be downcast, because only when downtrodden can it be reasonable for him to pursue something as terrifying as Cthulhu.
And this can lead to the question, has this noble been always in this downturn, or has he gone from prosperity to decline?
And is the reason that led him to his downfall also related to other supernatural forces? ”
Li Shuo's deduction and supplement to the plot made many people present slightly nod.
Obviously, through keywords such as "coastal fiefdom" and "down-and-out nobles", new inspirations and new ideas emerged in the minds of each design team member.
And this is exactly what Luo Bai hopes to see.
Even if he has a ready-made plot and ready-made design ideas in his mind, he can't speak out directly.
Because, he is building a team.
A team that only needs Luo Bai to provide core creativity and core selling points can create games that Blue Star players love according to local conditions.
Only in this way can Luo Bai bring the ninth arts on earth to this world one by one with higher efficiency.
Next, the character design team, special effects design team, and animation design team all gave their own opinions and ideas on the entire Dark Dungeon.
After four hours of sharing and discussion, this exchange seminar ended successfully.
The results of this meeting will also be publicized throughout the game development department.
However, Pu Xingyu and the planning team led by him are very busy.
Match it with a watch!
As a dog planner, Pu Xingyu is very busy at work every day.
First of all, I have to go to Mr. Luo to report on the development progress of each department of the entire Dark Dungeon project team today.
Then General Manager Luo will propose new needs to everyone based on their existing workload.
After collecting, summarizing, and sorting out the needs put forward by Mr. Luo, Pu Xingyu needs to summarize these needs into a demand list in a way that the following departments can understand, and guide the following departments to complete the work at hand.
For example, for the program group:
"Create a character data template for a hero and a monster respectively", "Create a basic framework for a 4v4 turn-based battle", "Create a floating range of rewards that may appear inside the treasure chest".
Except for original mechanisms such as "Death Door", "Pressure System" and "Floating Combat Value", the combat system of Dark Dungeon is actually not much different from the common turn-based RPGs on the market.
And because the design team has not yet finalized the unique mechanisms of "virtue" and "torture", the tasks given to the programming team every time are relatively simple and can be completed quite smoothly.
And for the art team:
"Draw a fish-man monster based on the design given by the monster design team", "Draw a dungeon style with a bay background", "Draw an interactive item using elements such as shells and pearls"
Compared with the programming team who can complete the characters smoothly every time, the art team can be said to have a fateful life.
Every time a manuscript is finally drawn, Brother Luo always sends it back and redoes it. Of course, when sending it back, Brother Luo will also attach his own revision opinions as appropriate.
This caused the entire art team to fall into a period of low pressure during that period.
Pu Xingyu still remembers that there was a time when Qian Fei, the leader of the art team, couldn't bear it anymore and rushed directly into Brother Luo's office, and there was a quarrel.
"Mr. Luo! If you still have better talents, why don't you just grab them and use them? You're not satisfied with what we do, so why are you hiring us? Why don't you just fire us?"< br>
"I need to control the overall operation of the entire project. A game cannot only have art. How can I have time to focus on art like I did when I painted Ori?
Besides, didn’t I give you revision suggestions? I'm not the kind of Party A who makes weird requests. Did I call you back if you followed my revision suggestions? ”
"Mr. Luo? Are you the artist of Ori?!"
Of course, after that, Pu Xingyu didn't dare to eavesdrop on what the two of them were talking about in the office. He would never say a word about this kind of thing anyway.
It's just that Qian Fei was beaming after she came out that day. Later, when Pu Xingyu heard Brother Luo talk about his needs, he could often see Qian Fei directly sending some pictures to Brother Luo privately for advice, and Brother Luo always responded with a helpless look.
Since then, the art team has had no complaints since the manuscript was rejected.
To the plot design department, monster design department, map design department...
Pu Xingyu has been very busy during this period, but he must admit that he has made considerable progress.
This kind of progress is not in technology, but in the overall control ability.
Follow Brother Luo to see how he puts forward requirements based on the current development progress, how to overcome development difficulties in the future, and how to organize a fruitful communication seminar as quickly and cost-effectively as possible...
Benefited a lot.
But work is not always smooth sailing. When the development progress of Dark Dungeon officially entered its third week, some discordant voices began to appear within the team.
"This style of painting is not good-looking. The whole starting point of the game is to disgust the players. I knew I was going to die before it was finished.
They still ask us to watch some broken "Cthulhu Mythos" every day. What's so good about something that doesn't know what it means?
There is something really wrong with someone's brain. Instead of doing a good "Olympic Day", he insists on crossing the border to do something he has never done before.
When the game comes out, sales will teach this guy a lesson! ”
Luo Bai became a little angry when he saw Pu Xingyu's extremely exaggerated "performance". He threw the watercolor pen in his hand and hit Pu Xingyu's clothes:
"You're going to add insult to injury and I'll slap you, believe it or not? Even if you are dissatisfied with me, no matter how imbecile you are, you can't say such things. The most you dare to do is get angry."
Pu Xingyu chuckled and hurriedly came up:
"Brother Luo, although I added a little more detail, the core meaning remains the same.
Why don't you catch a guy who shakes the morale of the army as soon as he starts playing this kind of game and tortures him severely? ”
"Put aside that guy who shakes the morale of the army."
Luo Bai raised his right hand to signal Pu Xingyu to stop, and then asked with a smile,
"What do you think of Darkest Dungeon?"
"The game made by Brother Luo must be a game where Gods block Gods and Buddhas block Buddhas! A mirror from that time, punching any hell, kicking...
ah! Brother Luo, I was wrong, I won’t play anymore! ”
Damn, this is a living treasure.
Luo Bai rubbed his forehead and realized that the reason why Pu Xingyu believed that this game would be successful was just because he believed in himself.
But I still have no idea why Darkest Dungeon is so attractive.
"Grandma, I thought my plan was very clear. It seems that you guys are not very good at basic skills. I have to give you a good make-up lesson."
Luo Bai shook his head and sighed, feeling a little angry in his heart.
Although Pu Xingyu was adding fuel to the fire, it was not too big of a deal to just have fun.
But the basic meaning of the guy who shakes the morale of the army has not changed:
"This style of painting is not good-looking. The whole starting point of the game is to disgust players. I knew I was going to die before it was even finished."
Want to die?
Do you understand the value of Darkest Dungeon, which has sold over 10 million copies of its main body + DLC?
What you think is a disgusting player mechanism is the essence of this game and the real gameplay of this game!
"Let's take a look at the development progress in the past two days and find out this guy first."
Pu Xingyu didn't even know why the mechanism of Dark Dungeon was so fun, which meant that there must be many people inside who didn't understand how fun the mechanics of Dark Dungeon were.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with unifying your thoughts first before doing things.
Luo Bai does not want his employees to just regard the work in their hands as a job.
They should understand what is so fun about the game they are about to make and what kind of spark it will set off in the world.
That way, they will feel proud of the work they are doing and truly find the joy of making games.
Thirty-two-year-old Liu Cheng is considered an older employee for the entire Chuxin game production team.
He had a bright resume and was transferred from another major domestic game company. Because of his excellent basic quality and the fact that the monster design team was not full, Luo Bai signed him.
What Liu Cheng must admit is that Chuxin Game Studio is good everywhere.
Although the salary level of more than 15,000 yuan is not as good as before he changed jobs, he works from 9 to 5 and has eight days of vacation per month. He can take it as he pleases, as long as he can ensure that the team he works for does not idle.
In addition, allowances such as canteens, housing, and commuting are considered top-notch in the industry.
But the only thing that made Liu Cheng very dissatisfied was that he was not reused here.
Although he had more than ten years of experience in the industry, he was given the position of leader of the monster design team by Shu Bo, a young man who had just graduated from college.
This is undoubtedly a slight! It was Luo Bai who despised him! Why? He, Liu Cheng, has been in the industry for such a long time and has also served as the leader of the monster design team for many popular games. In terms of qualifications, he can be regarded as your senior, Luo Bai.
It doesn't matter if you don't show due respect to your seniors, but you actually arranged for a college graduate to sit on his head and shit.
Of course, Liu Cheng would never admit that he was jealous of Luo Bai for being able to create a work of art like Ori.
In addition, he is older, and many things are not as easy for him to accept as young people.
Just like the "Cthulhu Mythos" that everyone in the entire design team had to study this time, he really couldn't stand it. When he saw this thing, he felt dizzy and felt uncomfortable.
As for learning something, that is nonsense.
Before the construction of the Dark Dungeon officially started, he was holding a book and studying every day on the surface, but secretly he was fishing in the water and trading stocks secretly.
Of course, as a social person who has been in the industry for so many years, Liu Cheng would not show his happiness and anger on his face, so when he first joined the company, he was still very obedient to the arrangements.
Even when facing Shu Boyue, he always smiled and did not put on any airs of seniority. Instead, he kept praising Shu Boyue for his young achievements.
Of course, this is not what he thinks about Shu Bo, this is just a compliment.
He fished and fished, and did not provide any meaningful help to Shu Boyu. In his opinion, this kind of inexperienced boy would definitely lose face at the group meeting.
When Luo Bai gets angry, shouldn't the position of team leader fall on him?
But what is unexpected is that the boy Shu Boyo was originally expected to fall harder the higher he stood, but he made a surprise at the group meeting, and the design results he presented even made Mr. Luo take the lead in applauding!
Liu Cheng's teeth were almost broken down there, but he could only smile and applaud.
Liu Cheng's experience is a common problem among many veterans in the workplace. These people are not good at business. They are obviously where they are today because of the dividends of the times and they don't realize it. They always want to show off a superior air, as if this is all. It doesn't highlight how awesome they are.
The multiple blows made Liu Cheng feel resentful. One day during his lunch break, he went out for a drink, and then he came up with the words that are currently being circulated within the entire game development department.
At the beginning, Liu Cheng had many regrets.
He couldn't possibly not understand the truth that talking too much will lead to mistakes, but after waiting for a few days, he found that Luo Bai had not sent anyone to find him, and that someone was secretly discussing the future of the game "Dark Dungeon" with him. God was determined.
What!
It turns out that not only me, but so many people in the entire development department are not optimistic about the future of Darkest Dungeon.
Oh, this Luo Bai is considered to have exhausted his talents.
Ori's job is to make a turn-based RPG cross-border, and then forget about it and add some Rogue elements to it in a smart way.
Forget it, I don't know where I saw that piece of shit "Cthulhu Mythos", and I thought it was a new thing. I wanted to catch up with the trend and add mechanisms like pressure, death door, etc. that exist solely to disgust players.
When the time comes, if your sales don’t die suddenly, who will?
When the time comes, I'll use my skin to create Ori 2...
Liu Cheng suddenly realized that even if he made Ori 2 with cold rice, it would definitely be a hit, and he felt a sour feeling rushing straight to Tianling Gai.
Bah! Is this kind of person worthy of Ori? So disgusting!
There are only a few dozen people in the entire development department, so it is quite easy to find the guy who shakes the military morale among the gang.
This morning, when Luo Bai stopped all ongoing work and called everyone to the conference room, Liu Cheng had a vague feeling that something had happened to him.
But there is always a sense of luck in his heart.
Even if there were people around him who kept looking at him with hidden eyes, he would smile and question them as usual.
But what is coming will always come.
Luo Bai stood on the stage, looking at all the current development department employees with a smile on his face and said:
"There have been some bad rumors within the development department in recent days.
The main questioning direction of the rumors is about the future of the "Darkest Dungeon" project, whether the game can be welcomed by players, and whether there are any problems with the design of the game mechanics. ”
"It's over..."
Liu Cheng was shocked. Luo Bai made such a big fuss this time, and his fate would obviously not be good in the end.
But he really couldn't bear to do this job!
The glances that were constantly directed at him, both covertly and openly, made him feel like a ray of light on his back.
But later, Luo Bai's words made him sigh in relief.
Looking at the silent audience with their heads lowered, Luo Bai realized that his lesson today was indeed very necessary:
"Now that I am bringing everyone together, I am not asking everyone to identify who is the spreader of the rumor. This does not make any sense.
The reason why rumors can exist is because everyone has doubts in their minds.
And today, I am here to dispel everyone’s doubts.
To be honest, I can understand everyone's doubts. After all, everyone already knows the core mechanism of Dark Dungeon. On the surface, it is indeed a design purely for disgusting players. ”
Having said this, Luo Bai chuckled a few times, which suddenly relaxed the solemn atmosphere in the audience.
Liu Cheng couldn't help but murmur in his heart, "Mr. Luo's overall situation."
Everyone raised their heads one after another and looked at the man on the stage whose face was filled with endless confidence.
"Before I explain to you why the "Darkest Dungeon" project will definitely be successful, I want to tell you something else first.
What is ‘gameplay’? ”
“We often hear arguments like this.
The plot of a certain game is good, but its gameplay is not good. In other words, the gameplay of this game is good, but other aspects are relatively poor.
So, I want to ask everyone, what is gameplay. ”
As practitioners in the game industry, all of you in the audience are certainly familiar with the term gameplay.
But just because it was so familiar, I was hesitant at the moment, not knowing where to start.
Luo Bai didn't give anyone any clues, he said directly:
"The so-called gameplay, in a broad sense, actually refers to the fun of the game, the fun essence of a game.
But there is no doubt that this statement is relatively abstract, because there are too many factors that determine the fun of a game. So is there an indicator or theory that can intuitively describe the gameplay? ”
At this time, most of the players present were still immersed in the thoughts that Luo Bai had brought to them.
But there are also a few people with particularly excellent business abilities and extremely agile thinking who go one step further.
Mo Yun is one of them.
He raised his head and looked at Luo Bai who was talking eloquently on the stage, his pupils contracted.
Although he already has a high enough opinion of Mr. Luo, at this time, he seems to be witnessing a change in the gaming industry!
Of course Luo Bai himself knew nothing about this, and he was very satisfied when he saw the reaction of the audience to this kind of thinking.
He bowed his head and picked up a piece of chalk from the small table beside him, and left six big words on the blackboard added behind him:
"Risk-reward theory."
Luo Bai did not stop at this moment. He opened his mouth and continued to elaborate:
“Let’s take Nintendo’s immortal masterpiece “Super Mario Bros.” as an example.
In this game, a great pleasure is to step on the green turtle and quickly clear out many soldiers in a line by pushing the turtle shell, and in the process, obtain valuable rewards such as scores and lives.
Here, we assume that ‘turtle shell kill’ is a prerequisite for ‘bringing happiness to players’.
After all, not everyone thinks this design is fun, right? ”
At the end of the sentence, Luo Bai chuckled, and everyone present also laughed in the same way.
"Super Mario Bros." is the childhood memory of everyone here. When I think back to the time when I controlled the plumber in the red hat, he kicked the turtle to death, and then pushed the turtle shell to clear the screen. How can I control myself and not get hooked? What about the corners of your mouth?
However, Mr. Luo is really rigorous.
“After we assume that ‘turtle shell killing’ is a prerequisite for ‘bringing happiness to players’, we might as well recall the situation when we played this game.
At that time, you were controlling our protagonist Mario to walk forward. It happened that at this time, a green turtle came towards you.
At this time, Mario is still far away from the turtle, and the turtle has no way to attack Mario. At this time, Mario's risk is relatively low. ”
When he said this, Luo Bai's fingers emphatically poked the two characters "risk" behind him twice.
"But as the turtle keeps walking towards you, the distance between you is gradually shortening. At this time, Mario's risk is also gradually increasing.
When the turtle gradually moves in front of you and is about to touch you, your risk reaches the highest level. If you don't respond, Mario will die. ”
Everyone present was constantly infected by Luo Bai's narration and held their breath.
Some people couldn't bear the pressure and shouted directly below:
"Jump!"
"Just jump!"
With Luo Bai's short cry, everyone present seemed to be released and breathed a sigh of relief.
Mo Yun froze on the spot, as if he was going through a brainstorm in his mind.
"When the turtle is very, very close to us, the reward will arrive corresponding to reaching the highest risk standard, which is the time for Mario to attack!
We only need to control Mario to jump up slightly and step on the turtle's head, and we can turn it into a turtle shell.
The fun is here. ”
Luo Bai stood on the stage with a chuckle, but the audience in the audience seemed to have really played Super Mario Bros., enjoying the little fun in their memories.
Someone in the crowd whistled excitedly, and then the entire meeting room burst into fierce applause.
Luo Bai enjoyed the applause until it slowly stopped.
"While pushing the turtle shell forward, we also controlled Mario to run forward and chase the turtle shell. In the process, the turtle shell hit the monsters on the road, bringing us points and lives.
The return is considerable.
But what would happen if a water pipe suddenly appeared on the way of the turtle shell? ”
"The turtle shell will rebound and kill me!"
"Hahaha!"
The audience suddenly burst into cheerful laughter.
Luo Bai also raised his lips:
"Yes, there is a close connection between risk and reward. Taking risks to get rewards is the essence of the so-called 'game'!
Of course, the so-called gameplay is just a feature of the game.
In addition to gameplay, there are many other things in the game that can attract players to keep playing the game.
It can be a fascinating plot, a highly interactive game movie, an adaptation of a big IP novel, or a rhythmic music game.
But no matter what, as long as we capture the gameplay, at least this will be a game that players can continue to play. ”
The words stopped abruptly here, causing many deep thoughts in the audience.
Mo Yun raised his left and right hands.
The left palm represents risk and the right palm represents reward.
And when players use strategies to avoid risks and gain rewards...
Clenching his left hand, Mo Fan stared blankly at his right palm.
Lead the teacher! I understand!
"When we figure out the risk and reward theory, we will go back and look at the project we are developing, "Darkest Dungeon".
We will find that the gameplay in Dark Dungeon is traceable.
Those things that everyone mistakenly thought were malicious designs by the developers, such as ‘death door’ and ‘pressure’, are actually the real core of this game! ”
Use strategies to escape from death's door, relieve stress, and achieve victory.
Under extreme pressure, players use their own operations to avoid the risk of death penalty and break through the mechanism of Skyrim, and obtain the final reward.
How could this be the malicious intent of the production team?
This is the ultimate in gameplay!
………………
That’s all I wrote at that time, you can read it after Chapter 54.
Because I had written about corporate culture and the like before, it was considered too protracted, so I had no choice but to cut off the 9,000 words here.
If you send it out now, it’s better not to waste it.
(End of chapter)