Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

The rating for Xenoblade Chronicles came out soon. GameSpot, the most authoritative media in the industry and an old friend of Nebula Games, gave it a rating of 9.4.

For other game makers, being able to get a score of 9.4 is obviously something to celebrate, including its fans and players will be very excited.

But for Nebula game players, there is something that feels that this score is normal. After all, this is Chen Xu's new work, and it is a strange thing to not get such a score.

Included in the score test article, GameSpot is even more praised for "Xenoblade Chronicles".

Even gave a very high evaluation: the revival of traditional RPG.

This evaluation can be said to be not high. Although some players are quite critical of it, more players agree.

Because in the traditional RPG segment, it has really been many years that an amazing game like "Xenoblade Chronicles" has not come out.

Speaking of stunning, it is not in the sales volume, but in the core concept of "Xenoblade Chronicles".

Combining traditional RPG with open-world map exploration, at the same time, it does not completely abandon the traditional turn-based strategy mode in terms of gameplay.

Xenoblade Chronicles' combat system can be said to be a good combination of turn-based strategy and action.

This also allows players to fight after getting familiar with it, and is very fascinated.

It even produced the feeling of how this strange blood bar was so brittle.

As for the plot, as a royal and **** RPG, the plot of "Xenoblade Chronicles" is not amazing, at least for many players, the emotional trigger is not as profound as the original "Bioshock" games, but Also created some very classic characters.

The traditional RPG itself is weak, and there is nothing in this type that can be taken out. When "Xenoblade Chronicles" was born, and its own quality was very good, it was naturally pushed to the top position. .

At the same time, the concept of open world was once again carried out by designers in the game industry.

Open world, now it is not a new type.

When "Red Dead Redemption: Redemption" and "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" came out, there was a trend of openness in the entire game industry.

It seems that the game does not add elements of the open world, it can not be regarded as a game.

But in the end, there are very few games that successfully sell through the open world.

Leaving aside the products of Nebula Games, only overseas game makers like zeus and FOW have made some decent open worlds.

Especially in some first-tier fields, after spending a lot of money on open-world game production, but harvesting dismal sales, the popularity of open-world games has gradually decreased.

On the contrary, thread games that are particularly suitable for VR experience have become a mainstream direction in the game market.

But this time, the appearance of "Xenoblade Chronicles" has made many designers and players in the industry see the potential of the open world.

After all, the reason why "Xenoblade Chronicles" is very different from traditional RPGs is the stage frame of the debut.

If it weren't for this bias towards the open world, it would be difficult to create such map design and gameplay elements.

However, Nebula Games or Chen Xu did not pay too much attention to the various disputes in the outside world.

In the case of "Xenoblade Chronicles", the follow-up golden country Ira is under development. As for the story of the machine **** and the giant god, the background of the fusion with the subsequent two worlds is a future development plan.

At present, Chen Xu himself has more important things.

While Xenoblade Chronicles confirmed the follow-up DLC arrangement, Chen Xu also selected some members of the technical team and arranged a new task to develop a new event engine.

When everyone heard the keyword Chen Xu, they were a little confused and didn't understand what this thing was.

However, after the establishment of the project team, after Chen Xu's explanation, it became clear to everyone.

The so-called event engine, to put it bluntly, is more of an application of AI technology in games.

With the development of the game industry, in addition to the most intuitive places to experience such as pictures, there is another place.

That is the AI ​​in the game, whether it is a passerby NPC or an enemy or a teammate.

Real enough to make players feel a stronger sense of substitution, just like Elizabeth in "Bioshock" developed by Nebula Games.

The super AI brings a strong sense of immersion and a sense of identification with Elizabeth.

But that is only limited to one NPC, and now according to Chen Xu's introduction, this new set of event engines will contain a lot of computational logic, thus creating all aspects of the rules of the world.

There are robbers, villagers, mercenaries, mages and thieves in the game. Different professions or monsters have their own living conditions.

And these different existences interact with each other in AI.

For example, robbers will rob the villagers on the way, and mercenaries will crusade the robbers. This is the most complicated part of the whole incident, because to create a random feeling, it can be said that it will affect the whole body.

In addition, there is another point, and that is openness.

Skeletons, AI, event feedback, etc. in the game can be said to open almost half of the reserved interfaces in the game.

………………

"Mr. Chen, is it too much to put this on a VR game?"

In the project room, Qin Yi looked at the relevant data and open reserved interfaces, and said somewhat uncertainly.

What exactly the new game is, has yet to be counted.

But for the current brand new engine, the entire core team of Nebula Games has worked hard for nearly two months, including El Dorado Ira, which has slowed down the progress.

And this new engine formation is obviously to serve the new work.

But the key is that it is too free. In short, it is like "Minecraft" and "Warcraft", which is equivalent to handing over a set of development tools to the player.

It is of course more difficult for ordinary players, but for some producers who understand this aspect, this is completely different.

To put it simply, once this thing is opened, what clothes and what the characters in the game will wear and do in the future will be up to you, and it is still very easy.

"It's an attempt, and we have been doing a good job in the player community." Chen Xu smiled but didn't care too much.

"So, the new game will be a game with MOD as an extension?" Meng Zuo guessed.

After all, from the perspective of these contents, they are all convenient settings for MOD developers. Will it be a game like "Minecraft"?

"Of course not, don't get the primary-secondary relationship wrong, the interactive function of the new engine and the creation of a more realistic world are the main things. As for the reserved interface, it's just a bonus." Chen Xu shook his head and said.

"In addition, I believe that you can also think of what type of game this organization is for." Chen Xu said.

"Open the world..." Meng Zuo said.

Everyone is also the top practitioners in the industry. Naturally, it is very clear that this is an engine tailored for the open world.

And that's the strength of their Nebula games.

"Yes, no matter what game it is, it has its own unique attribute points. Simulation management is carefully planned (random construction), shooting and action are hot and refreshing (hand-mutilation), and real-time strategy and strategy are platooning. Formation (IQ is exploded), and the open world can be said to be the most special type."

In the project room, Qin Yi, Meng Zuo and others were also quiet, waiting for Chen Xu's follow-up words.