Chapter 183 A Game that Interprets Coolness to the Extreme!

Kate didn't quite understand what was going on.

We are a major OME game company. Although it is not as big as Blizzard and Electronic Arts, it controls the largest game platform in OME. DFgame (The Digital Frontier, Chinese translation: Digital Frontier, is a fictional game platform in the Blue Star worldview. Follow-up No further explanation, collectively referred to as DFgame)

Due to the continuous optimization and upgrading of the company's business in the past ten years.

As a result, Weiwangdi currently accounts for more than 30% of the distribution rights in the Omi game market.

Although it is only 30%, this number is absolutely astronomical when analyzed.

Generally speaking, there are three steps for a game to be put on the shelves and available to players.

1. Manufacturer/Developer refers to game makers, ranging from an independent game designer to an entire game company. They are responsible for producing a game.

But most of the game designers or design companies on the market do not have the ability to operate.

Just like a vegetable farmer, his task is to grow vegetables.

If it is a small farmland, after harvesting the vegetables, the vegetable farmers can also go to the market to sell the vegetables, producing and selling them themselves.

But once the scale expands to a few acres or even more than ten acres, it will be too busy every day, let alone taking the vegetables to the market to sell.

Moreover, even if it can really achieve self-production and self-marketing.

Faced with tons of fruits and vegetables, you can't expect a long queue in front of your stall, with everyone coming to buy your vegetables.

Therefore, there is another link.

Sellers.

They are responsible for purchasing large quantities of fruits and vegetables from vegetable farmers, and then taking them to the market and distributing them to district-level agricultural agents, and finally to the market.

The same is true for the gaming industry.

To successfully produce a game has exhausted the efforts of the entire game company.

From the time a game comes out to the public, it includes but is not limited to 'materials, screenshots, copywriting, promotional CGs required for launch', 'media trials and press releases', 'major game exhibitions', 'social media 'continuing operations'

Game production companies do not have the extra money to establish a new self-produced and self-sold chain without knowing whether the game will be a big hit.

Therefore, publishers came into being.

They took charge of this aspect.

Specialized in publicity and promotion, ongoing operations, social media and a series of packaging assistance.

Although everyone knows that as long as the game is done well, it will slowly gain reputation without a publisher.

But the problem is that in any industry, there are always only a few leaders.

Most people are mediocre, and so is the gaming industry.

If every game could be made good, who wouldn't want to do it?

Unfortunately, most games have both advantages and disadvantages, or only meet the preferences of a small number of players.

At this time, the publisher's packaging role will be very important.

The sales of a game produced through the publisher's agency can sometimes be hundreds or even thousands of times higher than if it were promoted by an individual designer.

Such examples are by no means rare in the industry.

Of course, the publisher, who is responsible for so many things, is very strict about the price of sharing the game.

Usually the price of a game is 100 yuan.

Then the publisher will basically charge a range of 40 yuan to 80 yuan.

No upper limit.

Sometimes it only costs 100 yuan, and the publisher charges you 95 yuan.

The bigger the game manufacturer is, the more confident it is when facing publishers, and the greater the benefits it can bring to itself.

The smaller game manufacturers will basically compromise within the 60% to 80% commission range.

For some individual independent games, the publisher may even buy them out at a lump sum.

If you give me 30,000 to 50,000 yuan, this game will have nothing to do with you.

No matter how good the sales are in the future, you won’t be able to split a penny further.

Don't agree?

If you don't agree, then ask Gao Ming to do it.

Or think about Xuanfa yourself.

When the entire market is monopolized by publishers with high commissions.

Game designers are actually nothing more than vegetable farmers in disguise.

And if you think that publishers are the biggest vampires, you are totally wrong.

Above the publishers, there are experts!

gaming platform!

As a trading channel, it is also the ultimate endpoint where players can directly pay money.

Game platform controllers have the greatest say.

After all, it doesn’t matter if you are a game company.

Game publishers too.

You made the game and packaged it for promotion.

But you have to have a channel for players to get this game, right?

The game platform came into being, completing the last link and making a game complete a closed loop from R&D and production to release and finally into the hands of players.

Usually on Blue Star, the rake ratio of the game platform will fluctuate between 20% and 50%.

It depends on the final result negotiated between the publisher and the platform.

And this share will exclude game companies first.

That is, if a game is priced at 100 yuan, the platform will take a 50% commission.

Then only 50 yuan will go to the publisher.

This 50 yuan is worth 70/30 to the developer.

For a game priced at 100 yuan, only 15 yuan was left in the hands of the real designer.

This is why a game on Blue Star’s market that looks pretty good often starts in the triple digits.

For 3D masterpieces, it costs four to five hundred dollars.

If the manufacturer is more famous, it is not impossible for the price to rise to 700 to 800 yuan.

At this time, I turned to look at Wei Wangdi.

Occupying 30% of the distribution rights of the entire Omi market, it means that Omi releases more games every year.

Thirty percent of the products have to be distributed through Weiwangdi's agency.

DFgame, owned by Weiwangdi, is the largest gaming platform in the entire Omi market.

In other words, Weiwangdi made all the money from distribution and platform.

In recent years, it has even continued to build production lines and began to produce its own games.

For such a giant company in the Omi game market.

To target a small number one player, this is something Kate can't figure out anyway.

Having worked at Weiwangdi for more than ten years, and now sitting in the position of game director of Design Department 3, Kate felt that the number one player was like a little bug that could die if pinched.

A small company of this size...

What can it accomplish?

I don’t know why my superiors treat me with such high standards.

At the beginning, I let myself lead the team to win all the awards in the game design competition officially recommended by the number one player.

After the failure, they began to focus on this matter and publicize it vigorously.

It even made Ready Player One a black man in the entire Omi.

And now, when I learned that Ready Player One has announced three game works for the reference of participating designers.

He also commissioned himself to spend money to find some review-oriented anchors and let them speak ill of the number one player.

At first, Kate felt a little happy.

From my own perspective, after I was despised by others, the company behind me stepped in to help me slap the opponent in the face.

It did make Kate let out a sigh of relief.

But now that the situation has developed, Kate feels a bit...

Overdone.

Is a small company really worth being targeted by Weiwangdi at such a high cost...

What are the executives afraid of?

"I can't understand." Kate shook her head and looked at the computer screen again.

Since it was entrusted by the company's senior management, he had no choice but to agree.

I found a host under the Twitch live streaming platform who specializes in commenting on various games - Josiah.

And promised to pay the other party 100,000 knives.

The other party also took over the job easily and happily.

Before the trial started, Kate thought that Ready Player One would break at the first touch.

Nothing can stand the spotlight.

A game that is unknown may have a high praise rate.

But it is also a game. After it is praised to the sky and attracts a lot of attention, more voices will come out, "This is not fun."

What's more, the three announced works of Ready Player One this time are intended to be used as textbooks.

This will naturally raise everyone's threshold to a very high level.

In other words simply put.

Maybe if you publish your work normally and your work reaches a score of six or seven, players will think you are good and think it is indeed a good game.

But when you publish your work and say that your work is very fun, players may reach a threshold of seven or eight points. However, when they try it out and find that it is only six or seven points, they will start to be disappointed.

And when you publish a work and call it a 'textbook', the players' expectations will rise to more than nine points or even full points!

If you still only have six or seven points at this time, you will be blacklisted by the entire network.

But what Kate never expected was...

The first game reviewed by Josiah, "Braid"

As soon as he came up, he started to lose his temper.

Even Kate, who continued to watch the live broadcast, was so amazed by the time-travel setting that she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.

The subsequent combination of the ‘reverse flow’ gameplay resulted in more bold and novel innovations, which Kate couldn’t help but marvel at.

After you come to your senses, take a closer look at its proposition.

It really fits the theme of ‘Platform Jumping’ perfectly, and on top of that it explains ‘How to make Platform Jumping interesting’

"This is not even comparable to a textbook. This is simply an impeccable textbook... If its picture quality, music, and scene details could be better, it would be almost full marks." Kate herself makes games. , and know more about what the release of this game means.

but.

The answer "Ready Player One's new game is indeed very strong" is certainly not what Weiwangdi's senior management wants to see.

Therefore, Kate began to increase the quantity and price, urging Josiah to stop playing Braid.

If you give him another hour to play, the viewers who come to the live broadcast room to scold the number one player will all become the number one fans...

"Hmph, I'll assume that your "Chrono Fantasy" fits the theme of platform jumping."

"So, how should your number one player deal with the next two themes, Rampage and Meat Pigeon?"

"You know, especially after "Braid" is released, if the works that appear later do not reach a certain height, they will be overshadowed by the light of "Braid"." Kate crossed her arms and stared at On the computer screen, Josiah has opened the next game.

《Dead cells》

dead cells.

Perhaps the production time is rushed, or perhaps it is because the game is too well-made for designers to imitate it in just one month.

Therefore, this game is still pixelated.

In the game UI interface, a headless warrior stands on the top of a mountain, looking at a castle in the distance.

A black mist emitted from the warrior's broken neck, and the pupils of his eyes emitted light as bright as a supernova.

And when Josiah clicked on the game.

A ball of dirty seaweed-like slime emerged from a dark and damp dungeon pipe.

It hit the ground with a stomach-churning 'squeak' sound.

Following Josiah's control, the slime rolled forward and finally merged with the decapitated body.

Become the warrior in the UI interface that players see.

Soon, after a simple novice guide.

Josiah controlled the Headless Horseman to reach the first level.

【Prisoner's cell】

"On this island, rats and wild dogs are at the bottom of the social hierarchy, and the prisoners are even lower than them."

After a brief CG cutscene.

The breakthrough begins.

At the beginning, the player will bring a rusty knife, which is equipped on the left mouse button bar.

The other two pieces of equipment belonging to the right mouse button column will be placed on the ground.

One is a beginner's bow, capable of attacking enemies from a distance within a safe range.

The other piece is an old wooden shield.

After raising it, it can absorb 75% of the enemy's damage. If you click to raise the shield, the damage can be successfully blocked and reflected back.

Players can only choose one to equip it with the right click.

After some thought, Josiah chose a more secure wooden shield.

Both offensive and defensive, invincible.

And when he picked up the wooden shield, a wooden door in front of him was opened.

Enemies are also attracted.

As the theme of this level goes, this is a dungeon used to imprison prisoners.

The people living here... no, they can't even be considered human beings. They have no trace of humanity. They are tortured like zombies and like shackled souls.

Josiah manipulated the character to get closer, clicked the left mouse button, and slashed out with a knife.

"Pfft!"

It was not as difficult as he imagined, but he was able to kill two monsters instantly with just one blow.

The moment their corpses exploded, pieces of flesh, blood stains, and trace amounts of treasures were scattered in all directions under the mosaic pixels.

There is no need to pick it up, the broken gold treasures will be automatically absorbed and gathered into usable gold coins.

Immediately, Josiah continued to explore.

After about a few minutes, he groped around in this winding terrain.

The oncoming monsters, whether they are melee combatants, archers, or mages throwing bombs from a distance, can basically be easily killed in a matter of seconds.

Unless some enemies who appear to be wearing heavy armor can withstand two swords.

"This seems like a very simple game?" Josiah roughly expressed his first experience of playing the game.

During this first experience, Josiah found that he was not bored because of simplicity.

On the contrary, a kind of invincible pleasure always accompanies him.

When you see a monster, kill him in seconds.

Then obtain part of the soul or wealth from the monster and continue exploring other unknown areas.

On the way, Josiah also picked up something called a 'Scroll of Power'.

After use, three color boxes of ‘red’, ‘purple’ and ‘green’ will pop up.

Each color corresponds to the attributes of the weapon.

Selecting red will permanently increase the damage of all weapons with red logos by 15%, and increase the character's health by 70%.

The same goes for purple and green.

Josiah glanced at the ‘rusty knife I’ he was currently wearing.

The property bar is also quite simple.

138 damage/second

And it is highlighted in red.

It also corresponds to the red attribute in the power scroll.

After selecting, not only the health value changed from 100 to 170, but the damage also increased from 138 to 159.

This kind of improvement that was very intuitive to the naked eye also made Josiah and all the viewers in the live broadcast room feel a little bit relieved.

Armed with enhanced weapons, Josiah hit the road again.

In the winding horizontal version of the dungeon, he jumped up and down everywhere, and he could kill him with just a few blows.

Perhaps in deeper parts of the dungeon, the overall attributes of the monsters are also increasing appropriately, but because they have been strengthened, they can still maintain the pleasure of a knife for a second.

Moreover, the light and agile movement of the body while hovering in the dungeon will also give Josiah a different kind of elegant and silky pleasure.

Soon, he arrived in front of the second glass test tube containing a powerful scroll.

After breaking it, take it out.

Still select the red attribute.

But this time Josiah was surprised.

It is different from other games that always like to suppress player attributes.

In the game "Dead Cells", the designers seem to be afraid that you won't improve enough.

Attributes are given for free as if they cost no money.

In a normal monster-upgrading game, assuming your initial attack is 100 points, then every time you pick up a prop that increases attributes by 15%, it usually increases on top of this 100-point base attack power.

That is, 115 points.

When you pick up the same improved item next time, your attack will be 130 points.

Every subsequent one is predictable.

But every improvement in "Dead Cells" is based on your current attribute value when you obtain the item.

100 points increases by 15%, which is 115.

The second time, it started to improve from the node 115.

115+15%

It becomes 132.

After repeated many times, this attribute value will be infinitely amplified.

Compared with the step-by-step improvement that players already know.

This setting of getting stronger as you go further will also make players want to play further and see how far they can grow.

And in the process of constantly killing monsters and breaking through levels.

Josiah will also pick up a variety of weapons, each with different effects.

Either ranged or melee.

And the feel is also different.

But no matter what kind of weapon, after picking it up and playing with it, there is a different kind of pleasure.

In this.

Josiah's favorite is a purple semi-ranged weapon called the 'Electric Whip'.

The attack speed is extremely fast. If you click the mouse frequently, the character you control will also wave the whip crazily.

The traces of electric current wrapped around it can form a small-scale AOE and draw it to enemies within a certain range in front of it.

Seeing them wailing and losing blood, falling one after another without the ability to fight back, waves of refreshing feelings poured into Josiah's heart.

In one breath, he went from the cell of the prisoners to the avenue of the guilty.

Then he stepped onto the barrier towering high in the air.

The more Josiah killed, the higher he got, and the more vigorously he chopped.

After passing the black bridge, you encounter a boss named the Watcher.

After mastering the BOSS's attack methods several times, you can jump or roll to dodge through a yellow exclamation mark popping up on the opponent's forehead as an early warning.

Then find the right moment to output like crazy.

Until the BOSS was successfully killed, countless rich treasures and newer and more advanced weapons were revealed.

At this time, the entire live broadcast room was filled with barrages of the same mood composed of different sentences.

"Where can I download this game?"

Yes.

It does not have such a stunning impact as the setting of "Chrono Fantasy".

But the game "Dead Cells" has solidly touched the hearts of every audience.

It looks really simple.

Like all side-scrolling action games, there are settings like up, down, left, right, double jump, rolling invincible frame, and shield reverse.

But it is precisely because of this simplicity that people can get started as soon as they play it, and they feel happy when they get started.

It attracted the entire audience in the live broadcast room.

It makes my hands itch after watching it, and I can’t help but want to download a trial version.

Josiah, who had recovered from the explosion, suddenly secretly thought something was wrong when faced with a screen full of questions.

But now that the matter has come to this, he can neither pretend to be deaf nor mute, nor can he forcefully hack this game against everyone's ideas, so he can only bite the bullet and say it.

"This game... Player One is currently in the publicity stage and has not been released yet, so it cannot be downloaded."

Comments expressed regret.

"Oh, what a pity...why isn't this game on the shelves? I can't wait to buy it and play it now!"

"How come such a simple pixel style can create such an interesting game?"

"Is this already the second game? "Braid" proved that Ready Player One is indeed qualified to be a mentor, and "Dead Cells" proved that Ready Player One knows what type of games players want to play! Now I can't help but Starting to look forward to the third game..."

“I don’t understand. Although I have never heard of this company before and have never played their games, but judging from the quality of the two games currently shown in the live broadcast...whether "Escape Highway" really has As for the shortcomings, perhaps Ready Player One’s comments are not wrong?”

"Yeah, I don't really believe that the designer who can produce these two games in a short time will deliberately discredit "Escape Highway". I don't think he has this need."

Faced with more and more viewers who were gradually changing their minds, and the growing popularity of the live broadcast room, Josiah only felt a numbness in his scalp.

If this continues, let alone the trial of the number one player in my live broadcast today...

It's almost enough to advertise their home...

At that time, his generous reward of 200,000 dollars will also disappear.

So Josiah needed to quickly shift everyone's focus.

"Ahem, this game is not so much a side-scrolling game. I think it has more elements of meat pigeons, right? You see, each weapon seems to be dropped randomly. Before killing the BOSS or opening the treasure chest, , players have no way of knowing what type of weapons they will get. There are so many genres that can be played, isn’t this just a meat pigeon?”

"No, it's not meat pigeons." Kate, who was sitting alone in the conference room, was watching Josiah's live broadcast, frowning and shaking her head slightly, thinking to herself.

"This game definitely can't be considered a meat pigeon."

The meat pigeon type has been developing in Omi's independent game circle for two years, although Weiwangdi does not make such small games.

But Kate still has a general understanding of the definition of meat pigeon.

The game "Dead Cells" seems to have multiple genres for players to experience.

The weapons players pick up are also random.

But it has a completely different core than meat pigeon.

Its genre is its own.

It is not the model of Meat Pigeon where multiple props are combined to produce powerful power.

After the player gets the electric whip, the next output method is this one, with at most a secondary weapon and some small skills.

But no matter whether the level of the electric whip is improved or not, the nature of its output will not change qualitatively.

In other words, the weapon styles of this game are fixed.

From start to finish the player is playing a genre that has been set in stone since they picked it up.

Changing weapons midway is nothing more than changing to another fixed genre.

This model cannot be considered a meat pigeon.

Otherwise, Omi's traditional Western fantasy themes, with so many characters to choose from, and each character representing a genre, wouldn't they become useless?

If I have to say it, the randomly changed terrain may have a slight meaty pigeon element.

But this innocuous setting cannot be called a meat pigeon orthodoxly.

It's like an action-adventure game that incorporates some casual chess games. You can't put the cart before the horse and say it's a chess and card game.

Well, after taking off its meat pigeon hat.

Among the remaining two themes, "Dead Cells" only conforms to another theme - horizontal version.

Although there is also a platform jumping setting in "Dead Cells".

But the core of its game does not lie in players jumping between platforms.

In other words, it does not emphasize games that use platform jumping to create many wonderful gameplays.

"This is a very standard side-scrolling level entry..." Kate couldn't help but think.

So, can this game live up to its reputation as a "textbook adventure"?

He carefully recalled the more than half-an-hour game process that Josiah had just tried.

What did you see during this process?

The effortless way to kill monsters and endless energy give players an overwhelming pleasure.

It is the core driving force that supports players to continue playing this game.

If a few monsters come up with high attack power and high health, and players cannot kill them after a long fight, they will feel exhausted.

But the side push gameplay will become boring after a long time.

Therefore, the mechanics of Power Scrolls were added to the game.

This allows players to constantly improve themselves, and the process of improvement is also very clean and neat.

And after the improvement, players can still maintain the node of one or two sword monsters.

In this way, players will clearly understand that ‘they have indeed improved’ and ‘they will definitely not be able to kill monsters with the initial weapon’

In terms of power scrolls, it is precisely because of the indulgent setting of infinite multiplication.

Players can't help but want to explore further to see how much their damage can be expanded.

Kate herself felt this clearly when watching the live broadcast.

If it had a fixed +15 attack power each time, the sense of expectation would be greatly reduced.

Then there is the setting of changing weapons at will on the way, which can further lock in the player's freshness, encourage players to constantly try various genres, and find new happiness from various novel attack methods.

The most important thing that revitalizes the entire game is its smooth and smooth hitting design.

The character's movements are rocking forward and back without any drag. The sword is used to cut as soon as it is used, and then closed after cutting. This allows players to better connect various operations such as jumping, rolling, and shielding.

And these operations themselves are not difficult.

Therefore, when these are combined together, it will give players a very smooth visual experience and excellent operating feel.

Finally, there are various detailed settings that embellish the entire game.

For example, there are customs clearance props hidden in every corner, allowing players to explore as much as possible.

For example, portals can be seen everywhere, which can help players reduce part of the burden of traveling.

For example, more new props that are continuously unlocked after collecting souls will make the entire game more malleable and attract players to start a game again and again.

Etc., etc……

After reviewing the entire process, Kate's eyes couldn't help but widen, and even her breathing stopped a bit.

This game... has indeed achieved a textbook-level interpretation of "cool"!

All its settings seem to provide players with "explosive" emotional value!

Let players just play with confidence!

And to be honest, this is precisely the most important value that crossover action games can provide players.

After all, I play your 2D side-scrolling pixel style action game.

If I don’t care about your picture quality and your music, what should I care about?

Don't you just want to have fun and be happy?

The current presentation of "Dead Cells" in terms of "refreshment" gives Kate the feeling.

It can indeed be regarded as a textbook.

Let many practitioners in the industry analyze this game, why it brings players a sense of satisfaction, how they bring these experiences to players, what they will do in the future, etc., and they can all draw a lot of inspiration from it. of.

"Kejin, right... This designer is not as simple as I thought..." After comprehensively analyzing the advantages of "Dead Cells", Kate frowned slightly.

This is already the second game.

If "Chrono" is like a trend-setter who is ahead of the trend, it has opened up a new design idea for platform jumping.

Then "Dead Cells" is like a big brother that sticks to the horizontal version. It doesn't have so many fancy and new things, and almost everything has been seen in other similar genres.

But it is as stable as a rock, taking everything that is not new to the extreme, and combining these designs to create an "explosive" gaming experience for players.

This seems very simple to say.

But in terms of actual production, there will always be problems of one kind or another due to the integration of various elements.

But "Dead Cells" balances everything very well.

Even Kate couldn't find fault with it.

"It feels like a game that will be a big hit once it's released."

"Speaking of which, this third model..." To be honest, Kate was starting to feel a little guilty now.

You can't really just make three games for your top player. All three are textbooks, right?

Where can you play like this?

What about Blue Star’s excellent matching mechanism?

At this moment, the door of the conference room was pushed open.

A blond middle-aged man in a suit walked in.

As soon as she saw the person coming, Kate stood up quickly.

Alex Connor, general manager of Weiwangdi’s DFgame platform.

The latter pressed his palms and motioned for him to continue sitting.

Immediately, he sat down on the table next to Kate, pulled his tie to loosen it, then looked at the screen and smiled.

"I just finished the meeting. Come over and see how the things assigned to you went?"

"Not optimistic..." Kate let out a breath and told the truth about the process.

Hear the words.

Connor raised his brows slightly and smiled optimistically.

"Don't worry."

"As long as there is a point in a game that is criticized, we can seize this point and amplify it infinitely."

"Everything has high and low levels. Even among the three games released by Ready Player One, there will definitely be a gap in strength. Maybe the two games Josiah picked at random are also the two games that Ready Player One is best at. ."

"In comparison, the last game Josiah is going to try out, The Binding of Isaac, may be the worst of the three games."

I don't know if "Dead Cells" has been revised. I logged in to review it today and re-opened a new level, 0 cell difficulty. I really passed the king's hand without any effort.

What I want to say is not that hitting the king with 0 cells is worthy of bragging, but that the difficulty of this game in the early stage is really not very high.

There is really no pressure to survive... every second along the way. (I’m not without any injuries, I just got beaten casually)

The game itself is like this, and when it comes to the streamer's demo, I really can't describe how difficult it is. I can't just give the streamer five cells as soon as I get started.

So I didn't talk about its difficulties like other articles, but focused on why it attracts players.

Because we have to write three games at once, there is not much space available for each one. Moreover, because this plot is not the highlight, and the protagonist’s company has developed so far, the game with a small production cost can no longer be introduced grandly, so it cannot be like In the past, a game could be completed in ten chapters, but now it is basically a small game that can be completed in one chapter.

And there will be a big one soon, so I have to streamline this plot and mainly highlight their differences.