Chapter 45: Quota for Immortality
The development cycle of a game is not something that the producer can decide.
Because plans often fail to keep up with changes!
It is said that a new game will be released next week, but a major bug may be discovered in the test today, and the game must be postponed and delayed, and then faced with indiscriminate bombardment by countless unsuspecting players.
It is agreed that a new game will be released next year, but due to financial problems and pressure from investors, the semi-finished product has to be released in advance, and then the players are scolded and unable to hold their head high...
These are common things.
In addition, there are many factors that affect the development cycle, such as the most classic "chief executive getting sick", "company team building tour", "producer taking advantage of the situation" and so on.
What are you looking at?
It’s you, Hideo Kojima!
Precisely because many different challenges and problems will be encountered during game development, and the time required to solve these problems cannot be estimated, mature game producers will use "approximately" and "possibly" to describe the pre-release time.
The same goes for Chen Ba.
Since the release of the first promotional CG video for "Star Emperor", he has continued to receive harassment from players.
There are also acquaintances and friends around him who will come to him and ask: "How is the new game?"
This is not too outrageous.
What's really outrageous is that while Chen Ba was squatting in the toilet, he received a harassing phone call promoting a mobile game that could be used to exchange skins for money.
On the phone, the game customer service announced that he was the selected "lucky player" and that he could receive VIP999-level privileges and an exclusive Guangwu gift package when he went online...
"Do you know who I am?"
Chen Ba became interested and immediately introduced himself to the game customer service.
Then came the divine twist!
I thought that after learning his identity, the customer service officer would definitely give up. Unexpectedly, this guy is also a player of "Hanchuang Kudu Simulator" and a member of the Cowherd Cult.
"Ah? Are you Brother Ba?"
"That's right! So when will the new game be released?"
God knows how speechless Chen Ba was at that time. Every time he received a harassing phone call, he would encounter the Cowherd Cult, and he would also be asked about the development progress of the new game.
Please!
Can you take your work more seriously? Also, how many followers does your cattle-herding sect have?
Chen Ba was also convinced.
"Hanchuang Kudu Simulator" has sold more than 700,000 copies so far, and the total number of players cannot exceed 1 million.
But how does he feel that there are more than one million followers of the Cowherd Cult alone?
"The Niuherding Cult has many cloud players."
Yang Dong, who was fiddling with the air conditioner remote control, couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "It's not just Cattle Herding Cult. In fact, many people have seen but not played our two games."
“Seen it but never played it?!”
"right!"
Yang Dong explained: “Take Hanchuang Kushu Simulator as an example. Some people simply watched the relevant videos and knew the game process after watching it, but did not purchase it.”
So Chen Ba’s theory is valid.
Although the game only sold more than 700,000 copies, the number of followers of the Cowherd Cult may be higher than the sales of the game.
for example.
Previously, "The Invisible Guardian" became a hit, and the line "My wife is pure and pure" went viral, attracting countless people to watch curiously.
At that time, the number of people who knew the game, the plot of the game, and the origin of this line was far greater than the actual sales of the game.
Such is the case with the Cowherding Cult!
The reason why Chen Ba feels that the influence of the Cowherd Cult is so amazing, that there are even more players than real players, is mainly because there are many "cloud players" who play tricks in it.
They may not have even bought the game, let alone played it.
I just came across some related videos and thought the "Cow Herding Bug" was very interesting. I happened to know about the existence of the Cow Herding Cult, so I got involved and acted as a fun person.
"I see……"
Chen Ba nodded and reluctantly accepted this fact.
He actually thought about this, which is why he didn't continue to strengthen plot games after "The Survival Simulator".
A game with a strong plot may look good, but it’s also too easy to be spoiled.
But once it is spoiled, or you play it once by watching other people's live videos, it will be difficult for you to be interested in buying and playing it.
"I agree with you."
Yang Dong said with a solemn expression: "This is also the reason why many excellent games with strong plots have good reputations and good game quality, but their sales never increase."
Tianba Studio has actually suffered a loss once.
That's why when discussing the "Star Emperor" project, he and Chen Ba thought of the same thing and were determined not to make a plot that was too complex and profound.
no point!
Just do the fighting part of the fighting game well. Who should write so much plot copy? Cloud player?
But cloud players don’t buy games...
"There are pros and cons."
Chen Ba does not deny the importance of a good plot. If a game has an excellent plot, it can still greatly enhance the sense of immersion and substitution.
Only relatively speaking.
As a fighting and competitive game, "Star Emperor" does not need a complicated plot line.
certainly!
Plot and setting are two different things.
Although the new game does not have a complicated plot, the settings are not simple, especially the background settings, ability settings, etc.
"In the game, the stand-alone mode is the protagonist's path to enlightenment, Star Emperor, but what about the online mode?" Yang Dong asked.
"Fight to become an immortal!"
Chen Ba smiled and said: "Whether it is the great emperor of the human race or the supreme king of the alien race, even if his combat power is astonishing, he is still not an immortal."
"According to the settings, the place where players in the online mode fight is the Immortal Road, but it is just divided into different areas..."
Two or three people become immortals in one life!
At that time, it will be implemented into a season system, and a certain number of "immortal" places will be given in one season, and those who become immortals can get special titles.
This is not the end of the story. You can also combine the ranking mechanism to develop a rank-level matching system exclusive to the online mode.
"The Great Emperor/Supreme is the entry-level level, and the higher level is called the Heavenly Emperor level, and then the ninth-generation Red Dust Immortal. Each level increases by one lifetime..."
Chen Ba, who often reads online novels, is familiar with these fairy tale settings and casually said: "After nine lives, there will be ranks such as the Immortal King and the Immortal Emperor."
It is difficult to become an immortal, which means that the Immortal King and Immortal Emperor are like the master king rank in LOL. Only a small number of people can reach this rank every season.
Most players cannot become immortals.
Yang Dong was a little surprised by this season tier system setting, because he originally thought that the online mode was a simple match-match, but he didn't expect that there were tiers.
"This is to retain players, otherwise the online mode will have no motivation and they will soon get tired of playing." Chen Ba shook his head.
Without this ranking mechanism, the online mode would probably get boring after just two games, and players would have no sense of accomplishment or motivation to continue playing.
This is definitely not possible!