This is not a BUG, this is a game feature

The development of a game requires many processes and is not accomplished overnight.

Among them, stand-alone games are slightly better. At least there are not so many things to consider, and there is no need to worry too much about server-side issues.

Even if there are bugs in the game, for a single-player game, the problem is actually not that big, and it can be fixed slowly later.

But online games are different.

Because online games involve multiplayer connections, players and developers are far less tolerant of game bugs than single-player games.

Because of this, the development cycle of an online game is not much different from that of a stand-alone game. It may be completed in one or two years. But if players want to play this game, they may have to wait a long time.

for example.

Two games with the same investment scale, one is a stand-alone game and the other is an online game, are being developed at the same time.

The stand-alone games may have started to be sold, but the online games are still in the first beta test. The stand-alone games have been updated for several rounds, but the sales volume cannot increase. The online games are still in the second beta test...

When this stand-alone game no longer sells, its popularity drops sharply, and the developers offer discounts and promotions for the game, then online games may start "non-deletion testing"!

Don't think it's exaggerated.

In fact, this is a very common phenomenon in the gaming world.

The main reason why this situation occurs is that stand-alone games can be released as "semi-finished products" first and then slowly updated, repaired and improved.

Is there a bug in the game?

It doesn't matter!

Whose single-player machine has no bugs? In the early days of game release, various bugs can be seen everywhere, such as the most classic "Cyberpunk 2077" and "No Man's Sky". Anyone who played them when they were first released will understand.

But this does not affect the release of the game as planned. At most, the reputation among players will drop a little, and the game will be sold as it should.

Can online games do this?

The answer is, no!

A single machine can be sold as a semi-finished product, and even if there are a bunch of bugs, it will not affect the normal release of the game.

But online games dare to release semi-finished products, and there are still a lot of bugs that have not been fixed during the public beta, so just wait for death!

The meaning of this sentence does not mean that bugs are not allowed to appear in online games during public testing...

But the bugs shouldn’t be too many, nor too serious. At least you can’t treat an online game that’s about to be released for public testing with the standards of a stand-alone game.

"One test, two tests, three tests..."

Chen Ba explained: "With so many rounds of testing, are they really a waste of time? Definitely not. Each round of testing has a purpose."

"Even if the game disappears after testing, is it still the same?" Huang Qing joked.

"Don't be embarrassed!"

Chen Ba said speechlessly: "After testing, the game is gone. Usually it's because of the version number. It has nothing to do with the game itself."

For example, the DNF mobile game, right?

There is also the predecessor of "Peace Elite", "Exciting Battlefield". Why did the closed beta take so long?

These are all due to version number issues, which is why we have been testing for so long, and we even thought that the game would be gone or the game would be renamed.

"We don't have a version number problem."

Chen Ba patted his chest and promised: "Based on this, the testing process of "Cultivation Fantasy" should be much simpler and not drag out for a long time."

It's almost enough to do one test and two tests.

After the second test is over, the public test will almost be ready, and there will be no third test, closed test, non-deleting internal test, etc. in the middle.

"Only two rounds of testing?"

Huang Qing didn't expect that Chen Ba was so courageous that a massively multiplayer online role-playing game would dare to launch a public beta after only two rounds of testing?

"Two rounds are enough!"

"No matter how many rounds of testing, it's useless. You have to know that the games produced by our Tianba Studio are of perfect quality without bugs."

Chen Ba said this with a slightly embarrassed expression: "It may have some game features, but believe me, there will definitely be no game bugs."

"I believe you as a ghost..."

Although Huang Qing joined Tianba Studio not long ago, he has already heard about this magical game studio.

It is impossible to have no bugs.

Any game may not have bugs, but games produced by Tianba Studio must not lack bugs.

There is a saying in the Tianba community that one day the game made by Brother Ba will be free of bugs, then you can stop playing it!

joke!

As a studio built on game bugs, players would rather believe that men can have children than believe that Ba Ge’s games are bug-free.

"If you don't believe me, then there's nothing I can do! But two rounds of testing are enough. If bugs can't be found in two rounds, there's no point in continuing to test."

This is Chen Ba’s personal experience.

It's not like he hasn't thought about it before. Testing to death, but the work of testing bugs cannot rely on brute force, but requires a little bit of luck.

Sometimes, nothing is discovered after half a day of testing, and a big problem is revealed as soon as players get started.

Who can blame this?

Is it because they didn't test carefully enough? fart! Obviously their brains are not flexible enough to simulate the strange brain circuits of the players.

Two rounds of testing.

The first round is an internal test, which is not open to the public and is only a game test conducted within Tianba Studio.

The second round is a public test, in which a group of players are invited to enter the game by issuing activation codes to test the stability and playability of the game.

After making the corresponding arrangements, the next thing to do is to make a semi-finished game for the upcoming first round of internal testing.

The development process is quite impressive.

Although this is the first time to make a large-scale Xianxia MMO game, the development team led by Chen Ba has experienced many battles and has quite mature experience in game development.

Perhaps the only difficulty is that the core "merit" system of the game requires the help of the Tiehanhan system to realize some functions.

no way!

To put it bluntly, the merit system is actually a hidden three-level currency system.

The whole system does not seem complicated, even quite simple and crude. But in the specific development process, there is a somewhat thorny problem.

How to determine the acquisition of merit?

"In the background of the game, players play the role of practitioners who can obtain merit rewards from heaven by slaying demons or doing good deeds."

Chen Ba introduced: "The problem now is that the way of heaven is a relatively general concept, and it does not have a clear standard for judging the acquisition of merit."

To put it harshly, there is no specific quantitative standard for the distribution and deduction of merit, and the degree of freedom of judgment is relatively high.

“Can’t we just get a set of values ​​and then insert them into them?”

Xiao Lu was puzzled. What was so difficult about this? Just set a fixed numerical framework for this merit system, and then calculate the merit according to this numerical framework.

How simple it is!

For example, slaying demons...

Just set a basic merit value in the game based on the monster's level of strength, and then put it into the formula to calculate the amount of merit obtained by the player.

This is also a common practice in other games, using formulas to calculate values.

"no!"

"I understand what you are saying, but you have overlooked one point, which is the interference of other factors on this calculation formula and the selfless fairness of heaven's distribution of merit."

Or to slay demons? Chen Ba cited a situation that may be encountered in reality.

A demon in the golden elixir stage caused trouble and killed 10 people. It has a certain amount of karma.

Although another golden elixir stage demon also killed people, it did so to protect its own cave. Humans took the initiative to break into the territory in order to capture its body and cubs.

If the player kills these two monsters, will Heaven distribute the same amount of merit?

"There is another situation..."

Liu Jinfu, who participated in the discussion, gave an example: "They are also demons in the Golden Core stage, but their combat effectiveness may be different, and the difficulty for players to destroy them is also different."

A demon has a powerful magic weapon in its hand, or a particularly powerful secret magic spell, so the threat level is relatively high!

But the cultivation level of this monster remains unchanged, but its combat power is a bit high. Will the merit gained after it is eliminated change?

"Forehead……"

Xiao Lu scratched his head and said: "Then add a few new variables to include these situations!"

"After adding it, these situations have been solved, but can you guarantee that there will be no new accidents?"

Chen Ba asked rhetorically: "Do we have to add a new calculation variable to this merit calculation formula every time there is a special situation in the game?"

This is too complicated.

Moreover, treating the symptoms rather than the root cause often occurs when a special situation occurs in the game, and it is necessary to update and add a variable to change the original merit calculation formula.

Chen Ba believes that it is better to make the merit calculation system a subtraction than to keep doing additions like this.

"Doing subtraction?"

"That's right! It doesn't need to be so complicated, nor does it need to carry out tedious calculations, nor does it need to use any formulas or add so-called variables..."

Chen Ba explained: "We can completely eliminate these complicated and trivial things and leave the discretion of merit to heaven."

The way of heaven in the game is actually the core code of the merit system.

No formulas or calculations are needed. Just give Heavenly Dao a certain degree of discretion and let it make reasonable judgments based on the actual situation.

Xiao Lu's plan is actually to use legal provisions to stipulate how much merit XX behavior should obtain and how XX situations should be judged. That is to say, adding more and more legal provisions.

Chen Ba's plan eliminated the thick and long legal provisions and instead established a special position of "judge", allowing the judge to freely determine how much merit should be awarded based on the actual circumstances of the case.

Both options are available.

However, in the specific execution process, the actual experience part of the game. Xiao Lu's plan will appear cumbersome and cumbersome, with constant additions.

Therefore, the most suitable solution for the game is to establish a "Heavenly Judge" to give it certain discretion.

certainly!

After all, the way of heaven in the game is a "dead thing", so it has a certain degree of freedom, not a complete degree of freedom.

Under the premise that there are examples to follow, Tiandao will calculate the amount of merit obtained by the player based on the basic formula.

In some special circumstances, or under the premise that the situation is relatively complicated, it is necessary for Heaven itself to make a judgment as to whether to give 10 points of merit or 100 points of merit.

"Isn't this troublesome?"

After understanding what Brother Ba meant, Xiao Lu frowned and said, "Although your plan is very feasible, what should we do with this heavenly law and merit judgment system?"

Ideas are ideas.

When making games, everyone may have some naughty ideas of one kind or another. These ideas are very interesting, but whether they can be made into finished products is another matter.

Only when you can make a finished product and turn it into practical ideas can it be meaningful to discuss.

Who doesn't know how to just talk?

If you could make a great game just by talking nonsense, there would be no such thing as "you get better at it".

Xiao Lu agrees with Brother Ba’s idea.

Subtraction is indeed more reasonable and practical than addition. But the key to subtraction is to ensure the autonomy of the merit system.

This is hard to do...

He thought about it for a moment, and at least he couldn't make a "way of heaven" with discretion to judge whether the player's behavior met the standards for merit distribution.

"Don't worry, I will solve it."

Since Chen Ba dares to express this idea, it proves that he already has the corresponding solution.

He can't do it, and neither can Xiao Lu...

Isn’t there a Tiehanhan system? With the awesomeness of the Tiehanhan system, simulating a "just and selfless" heaven in the game is just a piece of cake.

Seriously.

This Heavenly Way is actually half an AI. The reason why it is considered half is mainly because the "Tiandao" requires absolute impartiality and selflessness.

To put it bluntly, rigid procedures.

The way of heaven is in the game, it is the supreme, a monitoring program that determines the sins and merits of all living beings. This program, in theory, does not belong to the category of AI, because it is more ruthless and rigid than AI.

When players enter the game "Cultivation Fantasy", every move they make will be monitored by "Tiandao".

Kind of like an anti-cheat program?

Roughly the same! Anyway, that's what it means, by monitoring the player's behavior, and then judging the merit system and issuing corresponding rewards.

This "Heavenly Way" is very powerful!

The "way of heaven" created by the Tiehanhan system is simply pervasive, to some extent even more exaggerated than the game GM.

As the old saying goes: When you raise your head and three feet, there is a god!

Sorry, in the game "Cultivation Fantasy", "God" really exists, and the way of heaven, as a monitoring program, is superior to all living beings.

"Isn't that very private?"

Xiao Lu complained: "Being stared at all the time makes me feel so stressed about playing games!"

"Being stared at?"

When Chen Ba heard this, he immediately laughed.

"Being stared at makes you feel uncomfortable only if you are a person! But is Tiandao a person? It is not, not even an AI, it is just a program!"

From this perspective, Xiao Lu believes that players lack a sense of privacy and feel uncomfortable being stared at. This concern does not exist.

Because this Heavenly Way is theoretically just a small program hanging in the background of the game.

This is a dead thing, a program...

Players don’t need to understand the way of heaven, they just need to know that this is the same nature as the wegame that hangs in the background when you start the League of Legends client.