Chapter 366 I'll teach you how to make online games
In the closed R&D base, all the employees became absent-minded and glanced in the direction of the conference room from time to time.
Especially those employees close to the conference room, watching every move with concentration, while constantly updating messages on the LAN chat software.
Countless messages were quickly posted on the chat software. Almost half of the employees participated, and the rest were also paying close attention to the messages in the group.
The conference room has never attracted so much attention as it does today. Even if someone had a fight in the conference room before, most employees were too lazy to take a look.
The conference room is a place for quarrels. If there is no movement, it is called news.
But today was different. A heavyweight came into the conference room, which made all employees pay attention nervously.
This heavyweight guest is the real big boss of the game company, Mr. Qin Shaoyan, who has always seen the beginning but not the end.
This Mr. Qin is a legend in the gaming industry.
Before I graduated from college, I formed a small game production team and relied on three members to create a classic in the history of games, "Plants vs. Zombies".
After "Plants vs. Zombies" exploded in North America, it quickly spread to other parts of the world.
In less than half a year, this game was exported to domestic sales and became popular all over the country.
It is said that this game has sold 30 million copies, becoming a valuable champion in the Chinese game industry.
This shocking record in the field of stand-alone games, let alone the current sluggish market, I am afraid it will be difficult for anyone to surpass it in the future.
The next year, Mr. Qin came out with the epoch-making "Counter Terrorism: Modern Warfare" at the E3 exhibition in the United States, shocking the entire game industry in the world, and received 20 million US dollars on the spot. Cooperation bonus.
When they joined this game company, most of the employees came here for Mr. Qin, a world-famous game designer.
But after joining, they found that things were different from what they thought. The game company’s key projects were no longer stand-alone games. Instead, like other companies in the industry, they began to invest most of their resources in online games. .
The employees who dreamed of following Qin Shaoyan to create a best-selling stand-alone game in the world felt that their dreams were shattered. What made them even more devastated was that they had never even met Qin Shaoyan after joining the company.
This Mr. Qin is not only the boss of the game company, but also the boss of Campus Network and Qvod Network.
People’s minds are not on the game at all, but they are busy making achievements on the Internet.
If it weren't for the generous money given by Mr. Qin, many people would want to resign.
Compared to the calm-minded artists and programmers, the planners in the company are different.
They are full of resentment and have no place to vent.
This group of planners have only joined the company for more than half a year. They have never experienced the period when Mr. Qin spent money, let alone worked on projects with Mr. Qin. Many of them have never even met the boss.
Although Mr. Qin is not in the company, there are legends about him everywhere.
As soon as the planners joined the company, they were required to strictly follow the R&D process, such as recording the work content every day, recording every modification of the plan, and providing real-time feedback to art, programming, and testing.
These tedious work contents make some planners unbearable. They feel that this company is simply a pill. It is obvious that the newly established company has such serious bureaucracy and everything must be done according to the process.
Originally, everyone was used to a relaxed R&D environment. They didn’t even write planning documents before. They just had to talk to the program in person about everything.
Not to mention the need to record the details of modifications. Isn’t it just a matter of casually talking to the program? It is simply unreasonable to have to record and write them down in detail.
The cumbersome R&D process specifications make them uncomfortable, and many people are too lazy to comply.
As for the program being modified too frequently?
Please, isn’t that what you programmers do?
We plan the plan and you are responsible for doing it. There is nothing to complain about.
What makes them most dissatisfied is that the company directly brought them to this inhospitable place. It is said to be a closed development and no contact with the outside world is allowed. All mobile phones and other things are handed over, and only the local area network can be used. .
Isn’t this funny?
It's not a cutting-edge national scientific research project, it's just an online game. Why are you doing this kind of confidential research and development?
Although it is said that this project is voluntary to sign up for, it is voluntary and everyone understands it.
In order to keep their jobs, some planners bit the bullet and signed up with everyone.
Isn’t it just three months? It’s over just gritting one’s teeth.
But within a week of coming in, everyone couldn’t stand it any longer.
Except for letting everyone go back on weekends, the rest of the time will be spent in this yard.
This is no different from going to jail.
Such a group of people are huddled in the yard, busy and busy every day, but they can endure it if they have hope.
But what kind of online game they have now is exactly what they are planning.
At first glance, the graphics are exquisite and gorgeous. It is a rare 3D online game on the market.
But in actual play, it can only be said to be a complete mess.
When you first started playing it, it felt novel, but on the second day of playing, you could clearly tell something was wrong.
All kinds of things are piled together. No one knows what to play or how to play.
Don't say they planned it. When doing internal company tests on the LAN, the artists and programmers can tell that something is wrong.
There are no big bugs in the gameplay activities, but it’s just not fun.
There was even an art girl who didn’t know where to get weapons and equipment after playing for three days.
The planners got together and discussed how to modify it every day, but no one could convince anyone.
They know that there is a problem with the entire game framework, but this thing involves too many areas, and they don’t dare to change it randomly, and they don’t know how to change it.
Based on their experience, this game may not be able to be modified even if it is modified for another year, let alone three months.
The system planner studies the gameplay and equipment system every day, and the numerical planner just gives up and tells me if you have the final conclusion, I will change the item drop probability for you.
This group of people have ideas every day, and they can't even finish them according to their modification values.
Whose monster drops must be changed three times a day.
The project is not progressing, everyone is very angry, and the conflicts between planning, art, and programming are not happening every day or two.
Now the big boss has finally appeared, and the art director even criticized the planning at the meeting just now.
Mr. Qin called several leaders together alone. It was obviously a very important matter to discuss.
One of the planners sighed, "Just watch, maybe they will announce the dissolution of the project later and dismiss us."
"That's not the case, didn't we say that we will be tested in three months? ?”
“Test it, do you think this thing can be tested? Everything is in a mess, and the gameplay is not clear.”
“Our project is an embroidered pillow. It doesn’t work.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic. I think the appearance of our game will still make money after it is launched. We will change it based on player feedback.”
"What's not fun about our game?" One of the planners was a bit dissatisfied, "Those activities are very good. Players like rich activities. They are tired of hacking and slashing to spawn monsters. What players need is more. Activities.”
“What players need is PK. You see the constant hacking and slashing in Legend. Their ultimate goal is to kill people through PK,” another planner retorted.
When several planners were arguing, the closed conference room door finally opened.
Liu Kun said with a serious look: "Everyone with a planning position should come in."
The planners were stunned for a moment, are we planning to go in alone to be criticized?
Then Hong Fei also stuck his head out and shouted to the hall: "All artists with the title of team leader are welcome to come in!"
As soon as he finished speaking, several strong men stood up.
The programmers stretched their necks in excitement. Is this going to start another fight?
...The employees of the project team walked into the conference room with different moods. As soon as they entered the door, they saw the boss Qin Shaoyan standing in front of the projector with a smile on his face.
"Dazhuang, are you still exercising now?" Qin Shaoyan said hello when he saw the strong art men entering the conference room.
“We have a lot of work now and no time to exercise.” Da Zhuang showed a simple smile.
"You still have to keep fit. You can't ruin your body just for work. Your body is the capital of revolution." Qin Shaoyan said with a smile, "There is a lack of fitness equipment here, right? I'll ask someone to give it to you tomorrow. Get a batch over here."
"Thank you, Mr. Qin." Da Zhuang rubbed his hands excitedly.
Several other strong men also applauded and expressed their gratitude to Mr. Qin.
They are all veterans who participated in the first ChinaJoy with Mr. Qin, and are absolute direct descendants of Mr. Qin.
Qin Shaoyan glanced at the conference room, "Everyone is here, let's have a meeting today, mainly to tell you about the current situation."
"Our open beta time has been It’s set, mid-April 2006.”
“Everyone remember this time point, take this as a goal, and start to push back the time node. All work on our project is based on the current time node. "
Qin Shaoyan wrote down a few times on the whiteboard, "This is the specific time for technical testing, closed testing, internal testing, and public testing. The local promotion department of the operation department has begun to promote according to this time. "
Everyone present was stunned. Mr. Qin was so resolute in his work that he gave orders directly without looking at the current situation.
The current online game is like this, can it really be launched online?
Or is it that the arrow has to be fired when it is on the string, no matter how it is made, it will be directly attached when the time comes?
Qin Shaoyan looked at the planners present, "The next focus of the work is on the planning department to comprehensively sort out all the systems in the game, from the basic system, combat system, and growth system."
"You can open your notebook now and take note of everything I say."
"I will tell you today how to make an MMORPG online game with free time and paid items."
The planners were all stunned. Will Qin Shaoyan and Qin always end up personally?
The boss's personal exit means that the boss has finally lost his patience and has to start rectifying the situation.
However, most of the results when the boss personally ends up ending in disastrous results, and very few can succeed, unless the boss is really a gifted genius.
Although Qin Shaoyan is touted as the number one game designer in the industry, that is in the field of stand-alone games.
Everyone is in the gaming industry, and this tomorrow cannot scare them.
One of Boss Qin's works is a small tower defense game, and the other is an FPS stand-alone game, which is very different from online games.
What's more, it is an extremely complex MMORPG type game. The design ideas and complexity are not at the same order of magnitude.
Qin Shaoyan suddenly said that he wanted to give them a lecture, and the planners were very disapproving.
I’m afraid Mr. Qin has never even played Legend, so he dares to give us a lecture?
Does he really think that online games are as easy as stand-alone games?
The planners exchanged glances with each other and remained calm on the surface, intending to see what the "first game designer" had to say.
"What is the biggest difference between time-free games and time-paid games?" Qin Shaoyan said expressionlessly.
Although this was a question, Qin Shaoyan obviously didn't expect anyone to answer him.
“Almost all online games on the market are time-based games. Their design idea is to attract users online as much as possible and consume users’ time.”
"All their systems are designed around this idea, such as the slow upgrade rhythm and equipment drops that rely on probability."
"World of Warcraft's huge world view, complex dungeon gameplay and probability equipment drops, but also There are various novel gameplays and rich social interactions, all designed to immerse players in the game and consume more game time.”
“The biggest difference between free games and time charges can be summarized in one sentence. Then, use money to buy time.”
“For example, if you want to get a weapon in a time-based game, it may take several months or even half a year according to the probability of dropping.”
"With free games, as long as you spend money, you can get the weapons directly."
"Our idea is to let players spend money to save time."
The planners sitting below were all stunned and a little confused.
This Mr. Qin... seems to have something.
The difference between the two online games he mentioned was really simple and clear. For a moment, the planners' ideas suddenly opened up, and they suddenly felt that what they had designed before seemed to have gone into a misunderstanding.
Because a lot of their stuff is copied from other online games, and the games they borrow from are all card-paying games, and the design ideas are fundamentally different.
No matter what the planners below thought, Qin Shaoyan still said calmly: "All our design ideas must be designed around the goal of charging props."
"When writing the planning document, you must Review it for yourself first. Have you thought about the charging of items? "
"For example, our weapon strengthening system is designed to be strengthened according to other online games. Weapons need to consume strengthening stones, and strengthening stones need to be dropped by monsters. There is a chance of failure when the weapon is strengthened, and the strengthening stones will not be returned after failure. "
"In order to ensure that the weapon can be strengthened successfully, players need to keep grinding. Monsters accumulate more strengthening stones and use them to strengthen their weapons.”
"Then why can't we design a prop to increase the probability of weapon strengthening?"
"Or we can do it in one step and sell strengthening stones directly."
"In this way, players can directly Spend money to save the trouble of monsters and drop them, players save time, and we gain money, killing two birds with one stone."
The planners were shocked and sold the strengthening stones directly...
Mr. Qin, you. This is really a bit...
"I'm just giving a simple example of strengthening weapons. I hope everyone can draw inferences." Qin Shaoyan still had a calm expression, "When we design, we need to consider what our player group is like."
“In this way we can design for the target users in a targeted manner.”
“I simply divided them into three categories. The first category is users who have troubles and no money. These people may account for 80% to 80% of the entire player group. 90%, we can’t make any money from them.”
“The second type is those who have money but no time. This type of users likes games, but they don’t have that much time to grind monsters and kill them. These people are our key users.”
“The third type is those who have both money and time.”
"So when we design the gameplay, we must take all three groups into consideration and launch targeted activities."
"For example, what kind of activities are suitable for players who have time but not money, so that they can consume their time To get some props, this is a benefit we provide to players, so that they can continue playing without spending money."
"The second and third types of customers are our main target groups."< br>
“For the second type of users who have money but no time, we directly sell strengthening stones. For the third type of users, we directly sell guarantee charms.”
“Since the third type of users have both money and resources At some time, we can even create a separate dungeon for them to brush the strengthening stones, in which the probability of monsters dropping will be increased, but there will be a fee to enter the dungeon.”
"This is to develop different gameplay strategies for different groups."
Qin Shaoyan began to think as he spoke, and suddenly he turned to Fan Xiaoqian, "Teacher Fan, please give me a function."
"You can use GM authority to adjust the failure probability of their enhanced weapons for specific users."
"..." Fan Xiaoqian was immediately confused.
What do you need?
This is the first time in my life that I have heard of such a request.
Not to mention Fan Xiaoqian, even the planners below are crazy.
Holy shit, is there still such an operation?
(End of this chapter)