Chapter 413 Cover-up of Plot Mode
Lilith thought about it carefully and felt that Qin Fengliang’s idea was indeed feasible.
Of course, there are still many details that need to be improved.
Although a ready-made mechanism has been thought of, to put it bluntly, this mechanism is still very unfriendly to players. If you want to make it as confusing as possible, you must use appropriate plot guidance and appropriate difficulty design to make players accept it as much as possible from the beginning.
The later players find out something is wrong, the more negative emotions the game will continue to generate.
But Qin Fengliang is definitely not good at designing details like this.
She is not a professional game designer and can come up with ideas, but it is too much to expect him to complete a complete plan.
Lilith immediately decided to complete the skeleton of the design, that is, the design concept draft, and then hand it over to Nitiantian to complete the detailed settings.
Especially in terms of the plot, a lot of work still needs to be done.
“Okay, if this new game can be successful, I will give you a big credit!
"I'll go back and be busy first. If there is good news later, I will come and share it with you as soon as possible!"
After finishing speaking, Lilith disappeared happily. Obviously, she wanted to be the first to share it with you! Get the concept draft of the game out, and then give it to Nitian to start development!
……
……
Two days later.
At 7 o'clock in the evening, Lilith, Gu Fan, Zhou Yang, and Wei Chengjie were meeting in a small conference room.
Lilith confidently distributed the design concept draft she had written to the three of them.
Although she looked at the three people with suspicion, Lilith had to admit that these three people are currently the only three people in Nitian who have the ability to lead projects.
Although Lilith also wants to promote a new producer from scratch, the stakes are very high. If something goes wrong, it may seriously affect the development progress of the new game, so she still has to think about it in the long term.
The reason why I called all three people here this time is to infer from their speeches and select the most suitable project producer.
And this producer may also be among the three.
Gu Fan calmly took over the design concept draft and browsed it briefly.
Strictly speaking, this is not actually a standard design concept draft, because there is a lot of missing content.
There is no specific plot, no specific level design, and the name of the game has not even been finalized.
The only two parts that are written in more detail are the "dynamic difficulty mechanism" and the "world view plot background setting".
Obviously, this is Lilith's reading comprehension again.
At least on the surface, Gu Fan and others must understand the deep meaning behind the "dynamic difficulty mechanism" and "world view background setting", and improve the related combat system, plot and level design to give this game The beautiful icing on the game package serves to confuse players.
As for how to bury the bugs in this game...that is something that can be considered later.
Wei Chengjie was a little surprised: "It's actually Cthulhu style? It's a bit niche.
"Although our company is more comfortable doing Western fantasy style, Cthulhu has never been done before. ”
Zhou Yang coughed twice and corrected: "How come you haven't done it before? "Ascension" is Cthulhu, just a Chinese Cthulhu.
"Our company is good at Western fantasy-style art themes, and we have Based on the successful experience of "Ascension", making a standard Cthulhu theme should be a sure thing. "
Wei Chengjie suddenly said: "Oh, right. ”
Cthulhu itself is a niche theme, but in recent years, due to the emergence of various excellent works, its popularity in the country has become higher and higher. Therefore, at this time, making a Cthulhu Lu-themed games don’t take a lot of risks
Not to mention that Nitiantian has successful experience with the game "Ascension".
So far, there are still many players who believe that "Ascension" is the best Chinese Cthulhu currently made, bar none. In particular, the epilepsy of the two worlds transforming into each other can be said to perfectly demonstrate the spiritual core of the Cthulhu theme.
The only problem is...
Under the premise that there is already a game "Ascension", can Ni Tiantian make some new breakthroughs in this theme?
It would be a bit embarrassing if you made an orthodox Cthulhu game and adopted the Western Fantasy art style that you are better at, but the final effect is not as good as "Ascension".
As for "Ascension", the quality is really excellent, and it is very likely that it cannot be surpassed.
Lilith cleared her throat and said seriously: "Have you finished reading the concept draft? In short, the two basic settings in the concept draft, including the "dynamic difficulty mechanism" and the "lying mechanism", must be carefully considered and strictly followed. ’s!
“Under the premise of these two mechanisms, you can speak freely, expand your thinking, and improve this game.
"Now is the time for brainstorming. Each of you will share your thoughts on this game and its general design ideas."
Lilith's eyes were dimly shining, like a searchlight. Sweeping through everyone in the same way.
Obviously, the previous failure of "Heartbeat Dreamland" has been put aside by her again, and she has developed this new game with 120% expectations.
It is said to be a brainstorming, but in fact it is also an attempt to catch a mole.
Lilith wants to use this method to see through the intentions of the three people as much as possible. By the way, she can also find a more suitable development model for this game and determine the best producer candidate.
Gu Fan, Zhou Yang and Wei Chengjie looked at each other and knew each other well.
However, as highly professional actors, of course they will not have any unnecessary communication and will just act out the script according to their own ideas.
Zhou Yang spoke first: "Mr. Li, strictly speaking, this lying system should be considered part of the dynamic difficulty system, right?
"Players can actively adjust the dynamic difficulty by lying.
"It's just that after the lie is exposed, it will all come back intensified.
“I think this mechanism must be covered up with a story mode, otherwise it is just a choice between two questions, not complex enough, and players will quickly figure it out.
“We must add some other rewards to make the system more confusing. "
Lilith raised her brows. She did not expect that one of the insiders she suspected would put forward such constructive suggestions as soon as she came up.
Indeed!
When Qin Fengliang proposed this system before, he did not realize this. The lying system is a two-choice system, that is, there must be one truth and one falsehood. If it is not necessary, do not add entities. There is no need to set more than two options, as it does not make much sense.
But choosing one of the two also leads to the fact that the lying system is not confusing enough for players.
If players are a little smarter, they will soon realize: there is no benefit to telling the truth, there is no way to make the battle less difficult, and there is no way to get additional rewards. Although lying has benefits on the surface, it may be exposed, and the game difficulty will change back after being exposed.
Players will soon understand that this is a scam.
So at this time, it is necessary to introduce another reward variable.
Telling the truth also has some other benefits. The more types of rewards, the more content players need to weigh and consider, which can greatly delay their progress in discovering Nitian's true intentions.
“What about other rewards?” Lilith asked.
Zhou Yang thought for a while: "As an action game, there are only two types of truly useful rewards, one is linked to combat power, and the other is linked to plot.
"Let's talk about the plot first.
"An intuitive setting is that if you tell too many lies, the NPC will no longer trust you, and the possibility of being questioned and exposed will increase. On the contrary, telling more truths should increase the trust of NPCs, so lies at some key nodes will be more effective.
"At the same time, this kind of game must have multiple endings, so "a certain number of truths" should be a necessary condition for a good ending.
"And it is linked to combat power. As a bonus, I thought about some of the qualities that lying affected in the concept draft.
“Dolls are not good at lying by nature. They have higher defense, thicker blood volume, and faster ways to repair or restore blood. As they lie more, they will become more like humans and their defense will become lower. , less blood.
"And if humans lie too much, there will be a side effect, which is the improvement of spiritual vision.
"In the Cthulhu setting, spiritual vision is the inner eye. In layman's terms, it means that you can see the eyes of the ancient gods. Kind of dirty stuff.
“In similar themes, there is a saying such as ‘Everything is said, it will be known’, so lying will improve spiritual vision and see dirty things, which is a reasonable setting.
"Then players can lower their spiritual vision by telling the truth, which is itself a reward. After all, the world looks more normal and there are not so many scary monsters, which is equivalent to reducing the difficulty of the game in disguise.
“In general, I think players should not be allowed to choose to lie or tell the truth without thinking, but should make a decision based on multiple factors.
“First of all, it depends on what the current dynamic difficulty of the game is;
“Secondly, it depends on whether players are willing to choose a game process that is quick but has few rewards, or is cumbersome but has many rewards;
”Finally It also depends on the player’s attitude towards the plot and NPC branches in the game.
“Combining these factors to create a chaotic system can further increase the confusion of the system and make players endure it. Feel uncomfortable and continue playing. "
Lilith nodded frequently: "Well, that makes sense! ”
After Zhou Yang's modifications, the confusion has indeed improved a lot.
When the player decides to lie, he has many issues to consider:
First of all, the player needs to consider the change in difficulty. If the player's difficulty is too high at this time, he can lie to temporarily reduce the difficulty; or, the player can also "earn interest" by telling the truth, making it harder for him to be exposed when he lies in the future.
But you can’t lie all the time, because once a certain critical value is exceeded and the spiritual vision is too high, it will bring about a series of uncontrollable negative effects.
Secondly, you can directly skip certain processes in the game by lying or not lying.
For example, in some levels, if you tell the truth, you can only enter through the front door, but if you lie, you can go through the side door; conversely, in other levels, if you lie, you can push the map normally, but if you tell the truth, you will be directly arrested and thrown into jail.
If players follow the normal process, they will need to fight a lot, but some useful rewards may also appear during the process.
Whether or not to skip should also be taken into consideration.
Finally, there is the plot. There will be various NPC branches in the game, and the players’ truth or lies will determine their fate to some extent.
For example, a good NPC, if the player deliberately lies and points the wrong way, he may die in that place.
Players need to judge whether this NPC is a good person and whether they agree with it in their hearts. At the same time, they must also consider whether there will be more good rewards in subsequent branches if they retain this NPC. If there is no reward later, it would be better to kill him right away and get his clothes and weapons.
The combination of these intricate factors, as long as they are well designed, is enough to overload the player's brain.
Because there are too many factors for rewards, players need to think carefully every time they make a decision, and they cannot see the optimal solution at a glance.
And after they make their own decisions, their tolerance can be greatly improved.
In this way, even if the game becomes more difficult, or there are consequences that are difficult to accept, players will feel that the main responsibility lies with themselves. Who made them make the wrong choice?
That way, they're more likely to stick with it.
Wei Chengjie said: "But in this way, the plot design of the game will be more difficult."
Obviously, the plot is like a courier packaging box. The more things you need to mail, the larger the packaging box will naturally be.
Just to satisfy the two original mechanisms, the plot does not need to be too complicated. But if Zhou Yang's requirements are to be met, the plot must become more ambitious.
Lilith looked at Wei Chengjie: "So, what are your thoughts on the plot?"
Wei Chengjie thought for a while: "I don't think much at the moment, but if I want to connect all the current contents, I must at least think of a reasonable explanation for many existences in the game.
"For example, In this world, ancient gods, humans, dolls, and beast-turned-living corpses can exist at the same time, and it is possible for them to transform into each other. This requires some rationality from the plot.
“That’s what I think. The background of the story can be a large-scale god-becoming experiment, which is human research on ancient divine creatures.
“Dolls, living corpses, and the transformation of humans into beasts Diseases, etc., are essentially by-products of this experiment to become a god.
“Human beings have injected the blood of ancient gods into their bodies, and human blood will gradually turn into unclean blood. The so-called unclean blood is blood that will gradually solidify and no longer flow. In This kind of blood breeds unclean creatures, which will gradually erode human life and affect human consciousness like parasites.
"After a human dies, the blood will solidify and form crystals. Because there is the power of the ancient gods in this crystal, it will carry human memories and life essence. Therefore, although it is a dangerous resource, it can also be used directly. Utilize.
“When humans used this special crystal as a source of power, driven dolls were created.
“By continuously absorbing crystals, the doll can gradually improve its humanity and make itself more and more like a human being.
“Of course, the reverse can also be true. Human beings can transform their bodies and change their way of thinking to become more and more like dolls, but it will be more complicated and cumbersome than transforming dolls into humans. ”
(End of this chapter)