This is not a BUG, this is a game feature

After the Arbor Day team building, Tianba Studio returned to normal working conditions again.

Chen Ba also convened the development team to discuss and formally establish the development plan for the new game "Ancestral Tree".

The new game is tentatively titled Adventure Break.

Because this game is the studio's first buy-out stand-alone game since the beginning of the year, Chen Ba attaches great importance to it. Not only did he personally write the game plan, he even drew a character prototype of the protagonist Shu Bao.

Shubao is a code name!

He is a primitive man wearing animal skins and his face is covered with various mineral pigments.

That’s right!

The protagonist of the game "Ancestral Tree" is a primitive man according to the setting.

But this is just an early image...

When Shubao dies more than 100 times and plants 100 ancestral trees in the game, his clothes and outfits will evolve to the tribal era.

The 300th time is the feudal era, the 500th time is the steam age, the 700th time is no different from modern people, and the 1000th time directly evolves into the interstellar age.

This actually uses the image changes of the protagonist Shu Bao to reveal the time changes in the game, and by the way reminds the players how long it has been since the first adventure...

Shubao lived in a forest with dense vegetation. One day, he had a sudden idea and climbed up the tallest tree in the forest and saw a flash of blue in the distance.

From that moment on, walking out of the forest to see what the outside world was like and what was at the end of the world became what Shubao wanted to do most.

So he set out on his journey.

This is the beginning of the story and the starting point of the journey...

Chen Ba took Xiao Lu’s suggestion and made “Ancestral Tree” into a complete Roguelike game.

In other words, except for the first and last levels in the game, where the maps are fixed, the maps of all the intermediate levels are completely random.

Why does the map of the first level and the last level remain the same?

"Because that's the answer!"

"Shu Bao died during the journey. He failed to reach the end of the world and see the scenery he wanted to see. But his son and grandson continued his journey..."

Chen Ba explained: “It wasn’t until Shubao’s countless generations of descendants finally came to the end and returned to the familiar forest that they understood what the answer their ancestors had been searching for their whole lives was.”

"So what's the answer?"

Xiao Lu asked in detail: "Starting from the forest and finally returning to the forest, Shubao and his family proved that the earth is round with their lives?"

Chen Ba: "..."

The earth is round.

I'm sorry, this is not a tree treasure, but Columbus? The answer people are looking for obviously has nothing to do with whether the earth is round or not!

"Can the Riddler die?"

Seeing that Brother Ba didn't say anything and insisted on letting himself guess, Xiao Lu was speechless and said: "I hate solving puzzles the most. Let's just say, can't we talk about this kind of thing openly?"

"Hahaha!"

Luo Ji laughed out loud. Seeing Xiao Lu looking at him with an unkind expression, Lao Luo quickly put away his smile and explained: "Isn't the answer already obvious? Look at this picture..."

Xiao Lu leaned over.

In the picture, a primitive tree treasure and a tree treasure wearing sci-fi armor are drawn respectively, appearing in the same forest.

However, one is leaving the forest and the other is returning to the forest.

"The questions Shubao wants to explore are the classic three philosophical questions: Who am I, where do I come from, and where do I go."

Lao Luo explained: "In the game, there is no clear answer. It just tells you that you will eventually return to the forest."

"Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?"

These three questions almost made Xiao Lu's brain burn out. Being accustomed to single-core thinking, this was his first time trying multi-core computing, and he was thinking about such a major issue right away.

The answer is definitely impossible to think of.

"Now you know why Mr. Chen wants to be the Riddler, right?"

Lao Luo joked: "Of course we cannot give a clear answer to this kind of question. Players must be allowed to think and understand on their own during the game."

What you realize is what it is.

As for whether the answer you realized is right or not, whether it is the answer Shubao longs for, if you think it is right, then it is right. If you think it is, then it is!

"Actually, you said it wrong..."

Chen Ba, who was drinking water on the side, couldn't help but shook his head when he heard Lao Luo's words: "I really let the players think and realize on their own during the game, but the answer Shubao pursues is different from what the players pursue." The answer is different."

In the last level of the game, there are no traps or monsters. There are just neatly arranged ancestral trees on both sides of the road. The end of the road leads to the forest.

I don’t know if the players who have come here have found the answer, but the protagonist Shu Bao in the game must have found the answer.

"So what's the answer?"

Xiao Lu asked again: "Oh, I'm so annoyed. Brother Ba, can't you just say it? Do you have to hide it so deeply?"

"You want to know the answer?"

"Uh-huh!"

Seeing Xiao Lu nodding his head, Chen Ba chuckled and said, "Then go ask Shu Bao, why are you asking me?"

Xiao Lu: "..."

Let me ask you a big-headed ghost!

Shubao can't speak. Where can I ask him? The Riddler deserves to die! This kind of person should be sent to Caishikou to be executed like a broken dog!

"Hahaha……"

After teasing Xiao Lu, Chen Ba put away his smile and said, "Okay, your brain is not suitable for holding too much philosophical knowledge, otherwise it will be overloaded."

"You don't have to worry about the plot this time. You just need to design the game levels and map monster traps."

"how about you?"

Xiao Lu asked with a slumped face: "Leave the level design to me, the map design to me, and the monster traps to me. I will do all the dirty work?"

"Let me ask you, what is the name of this game?"

"Ancestral tree?"

"Then what am I responsible for? Don't you know yet?" Chen Ba asked.

It is true that all the dirty work is left to Xiao Lu, but Chen Ba is not completely taking advantage of the situation. On the contrary, his work is the key to the success or failure of this game.

Ancestor tree!

The game is called this, which shows the importance and criticality of this mechanism.

If the ancestor tree system mechanism is well done, then the game will be considered a success. If the ancestor tree system is not well done, then no matter how good the level map is, the game as a whole will be considered a failure.

This is a relatively difficult challenge for Chen Ba.

Fortunately he has a plug-in!

As the saying goes, if you are indecisive, dark blue adds points! Although this system cannot add points to the host and turn him into a muscular brother, it can add points to the game!

"let me see……"

After sending Xiao Lu away, Chen Ba leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes to look at the estimated rating page of the "Ancestral Tree" game.

The planning estimate score is very high, a full 97 points. But the estimated art score is very average, only 75 points...

"The AI ​​drawing is still not good."

Chen Ba originally thought that with the advancement of AI painting, not to mention completely replacing manual painters, at least it would not solve the game art problem.

It turns out.

AI can indeed solve problems, but it is just like "being full" and "being able to eat well", they are not the same concept.

AI is the type that can eat enough.

If you don’t care too much, art with a score of 75 is not unusable. But if you want to make a high-quality product, you have to raise your art score to at least 85 points.

no way!

With such a high planning score, if the art is holding back and the score gap is relatively large, the game will appear top-heavy and unbalanced and coordinated.

Based on this premise, Chen Ba gave up continuing to train the AI ​​and instead contacted a game art master whom he had met at the TGA game conference and exchanged contact information.

This is a Gallic artist.

Although he is relatively young, he is indeed very capable. He has even served as the outsourced main artist for many skins and hero original paintings in "League of Legends" before, and has also participated in the production of many AAA game masterpieces.

Of course, that's not the point.

When looking for a design, it’s not about the stronger the better, but the more suitable the better! The reason why Chen Ba contacted this great master was that he felt that his artistic style really suited the game "Ancestral Tree".

"Okay, I'll take it."

After Chen Ba briefly introduced the game project "Ancestral Tree" via email, the young artist named Morris quickly arrived in Jiangning.

"Chen, why didn't you tell me that there is no direct flight to Jiangning?"

"I thought you knew!"

"What do I know? Didn't you tell me that there is an airport in Jiangning?"

"When did I say this?" Chen Ba was shocked. When did he say that Jiangning had an airport?

"I'm sure you said that."

Morris emphasized: "Jianning Meiyou Airport, you said this yourself."

Chen Ba: "..."

It seems that although this foreigner can speak a few words in Chinese, he still can't understand the homophones and so on, which is really embarrassing for him.

Aside from the embarrassment that Morris mistakenly thought there was an airport in Jiangning and wanted to go directly to Jiangning but ended up transferring to Jiangcheng, which is more than a thousand kilometers away. As a result, he was not familiar with the place and called Chen Ba for help. Overall, the trip was okay. Quite pleasant.

Morris is an interesting person.

While he was still on the way, he told Chen Ba that if he had called him two days later, he might not be able to take the job of "The Ancestor Tree".

"Why?"

"Because my friend is also making a game, and he wants to invite me to help him..."

"Let him go!"

Chen Ba scolded angrily: "I'm also your friend, and I was the one who invited you first. Doesn't he understand that it's first come, first served?"

"So I'm here!"

Morris was sitting in the passenger seat and said slightly excitedly: "It's so cool for a family to grow trees after death! What kind of tree do you think will grow from my grave after I die?"

"Probably prickly pear!"

"What is a prickly pear?"

Chen Ba explained while driving, "The fruit is yellow and has a little thorns. The juice is delicious and rich in vitamin C."

"I like!"

I like chicken feathers! The smelly foreigner saw that he had never been stung by a prickly pear, so he thought it was a good compliment!

Chen Ba pulled Morris downstairs from the studio, then took him upstairs and made an office for him next to his own office.

"You can work here during this period! Don't worry about accommodation. We have our dormitory upstairs, and we can eat downstairs. You can eat Chinese or Western food if you want..."

After Chen Ba settled Morris, he immediately asked, "Let me tell you my requirements first. You can just paint as you see fit."

First up is the protagonist Shu Bao!

Although the tree treasures in the game are the same person in the eyes of the player, in the game world, they are indeed replaced after death.

In this case, it is necessary to draw some differences between the tree treasures of different periods, so that not only the clothes but also the faces can be seen to be different from the same tree treasure.

And then there’s the ancestral tree!

As the core thing of the game, most of the shapes of ancestral trees are fruit trees. This requires Morris to find prototype fruit trees himself and then refer to them.

The most important thing is that the ancestral tree does not bear fruit. Hanging on it are either various weapons, various props, or various abilities...

How to integrate these strange icons into these fruit trees naturally and harmoniously will test Morris' creativity.

To put it mildly.

It’s easy to hang these things up, and you can simply create a similar meme using PS.

But that thing can't be made into the game, and it's also very inconsistent. It looks very abrupt and has a strong sense of Photoshop.

What Morris has to do is not only to draw exquisite and beautiful ancestral trees, but also to hang game prop icons on them as quietly as possible.

This is the hardest part.

If you can't imagine it, then imagine that the persimmon tree in front of your house has grown a large area...steel mixture, blood-coughing battle axe, siren killer...

That’s probably it!

Anyway, just thinking about it is a scene that feels full of dissonance. We must use art design to eliminate this sense of dissonance, otherwise our wages will be deducted.

"Don't worry, I think it's fine."

Morris is full of confidence. Although this job is very challenging, what big storms has he not seen?

It's just a prop growing on a tree, how can it be difficult to defeat him? What a joke!

If you really wanted to stump him, it would probably be a child growing on a tree...

"I won't call you if there is a child growing on a tree. I can handle it myself!" Chen Ba rolled his eyes wildly.

I have watched the TV series "Journey to the West" so many times, but I am not very good at other things. I should have no problem drawing a ginseng fruit tree.

"Huh? There are really children on the tree?"

Morris was shocked. He just said that casually. He didn't expect there to be such a magical tree?

Out of curiosity, he used his computer to watch the episodes of "Journey to the West" where the ginseng fruit tree appeared, and he became more and more interested in it.

Not only did he watch it several times, he even had to watch the TV series "Journey to the West" from the beginning.

"You are here to work, not to watch dramas..."

"This is my job!"

Faced with Chen Ba's doubts, Morris said seriously: "I am trying to find inspiration from myths and legends. The trees here are all beautiful and I like them very much."

Watch "Journey to the West" for inspiration?

Chen Ba was confused when he heard this, but he didn't say anything. After all, no one knew what this silly foreigner was thinking.

Although this method sounds unreliable, what if he is really looking for inspiration?