Game Development Giant

Although a lot of publicity work has been done before, the niche nature of the game type will inevitably lead to pessimistic sales.

Except that the sales volume in the first few days was acceptable due to the good publicity, the subsequent sales volume immediately dropped. The sales volume in half a month was less than 500,000. Compared with Mars Entertainment, especially Jester’s several models The game gap is really too big, and in the face of a head-on confrontation with Nintendo's Metroid, this number can be said to be a huge defeat - although Sid Meier didn't say it, Jester can still see it You can see the look of disappointment on his face.

The reputation of Age of Discovery is indeed very good. Even players who don't like this kind of simulation strategy game that is tiring to play just say that they don't like this game very much, but it is indeed a good game. As for those who like this genre, they regard it as a masterpiece.

On this day, Jester had just returned to the company and returned to the office from the development team when he saw Sid Meier waiting for him.

This made Jester a little strange. Logically speaking, Sid Meier would not come to him unless he had other things to do. However, when Sid Meier saw Jester coming back, he immediately stood up. He looked ashamed and said: Boss, I let you down this time. So that's what happened!

After hearing these words from Sid Meier, Jester understood the meaning of his coming. But what surprised Jester even more was that after Sid Meier finished speaking, he took the money from his pocket without hesitation. He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Jester with both hands. At the same time, he said with some reluctance: This is my resignation letter. I am willing to contribute to the sales volume of The Age of Discovery. Responsible for bad issues.”

Mars Entertainment made a huge investment in Age of Discovery, and it also took a long time. Sid Meier also had high hopes for this game before, and he himself knew that such a game would have a huge impact on the audience. It is impossible to compare with those popular games, but with sales data like this. It still makes him feel that he has the primary responsibility.

However, in Jester's view, it is very extraordinary for a true simulation strategy game to be able to sell half a million copies in half a month in such an era, just because the previous games were so good. It just seems that the sales volume of 500,000 units is not outstanding.

If we continue to buy according to the current sales curve, it will not be difficult to reach 800,000 or 900,000 sets of Age of Discovery in the end, and there is even hope of hitting the one million set figure. You know, in the history that Jester knows Here, the total sales volume of the first part of Enix's DQ was only a little over one million. Therefore, Jester looked at Sid Meier with a surprised look on his face. He asked in confusion: Why did you resign? When did I become dissatisfied with the sales of The Age of Discovery?

In fact, neither Jester nor the entire Mars Entertainment showed any dissatisfaction with Sid Meier's Age of Discovery. Sean Dabbili, who had accumulated a lot of contradictions when playing Dawn of Discovery, also said after playing Age of Discovery that it was a work that was difficult for him to match.

Even Jester feels that even he can't produce anything better than Sid Meier.

Seeing that Sid Meier wanted to say something, Jester just smiled and said, Actually, I'm very satisfied with the sales data of the game Age of Discovery. And you know it yourself. This game is not user-friendly in terms of experience and operation. The current sales volume is beyond my expectation. Moreover, look at the evaluation of your game in these game magazines and some programs. How could you suddenly resign? What about the idea? And I still remember what you told me before about the game you planned to make that covers the entire process of human civilization. Are you going to resign if you don’t finish the game? I was the first to disagree.”…

Sid Meier was amused by Jester's statement and smiled. He said with some embarrassment: I'm a little distracted, but I've been thinking a lot recently. I feel that simulation strategy games can be played on home game consoles. It was too cumbersome and far less convenient than on PC. I was thinking at the time, would it be more appropriate to transfer this type of game to PC?

Hearing what Sid Meier said, Jester just nodded calmly. He now rarely tells his employees what they should do, but lets them do it freely, because Jester Sturt knows that the most unforgettable experience is only after you do it yourself.

Just do it if you think of it. Prepare to port The Age of Discovery to the PC. You will know after giving it a try. Jester said in a very calm tone, which actually surprised Sid Meier. He had previously He thought that what Jester said was to comfort him, but in fact he was very concerned about the sales of the game.

Jester did not explain further. He just continued to smile and said: After you finish the PC port of The Age of Discovery, you should make your simulation game covering the process of human history. I've been eager to play this game since the first time I heard you mention it. If you don't do it, then I won't be polite.

Sid Meier also knew that Jester was joking, and he also knew that many people in the company knew about his ambitious game, and many people asked him to produce it as soon as possible. In fact, he himself He has been preparing for this game for a long time. He originally said that he planned to start making it after the end of The Age of Discovery. However, looking at it now, he may still feel that his level is not enough to structure a game of such a scale, so he plans to work on it a little longer. Wait a minute and make another game first to continue accumulating experience.

Therefore, Sid Meier shook his head without hesitation, and then said: I plan to transfer the running platform of Civilization to PC, but I still lack a lot of experience in developing such a game on PC, so I After completing the port of Age of Discovery, I want to make a new similar game on the PC platform, and then start making Civilization which I have been imagining for many years.

Other games? Jester frowned after hearing this. He asked curiously, Have you figured out what the theme is? As for the type of game, there is no need to ask, since Sid Meier He said that he wanted to accumulate experience for the production of his Civilization, which must be a strategy simulation game.

This time, Sid Meier didn’t think much and just blurted out: “It’s a game about railroads. The background is probably the era of great railroad development in the United States. Players will play the role of an Iron Curtain tycoon in the game and try their best to , to spread our own railways across the country, this inspiration came to me a few days ago, and after thinking about it carefully, it is quite good.

Hearing Sid Meier talk about the new game he was going to make, Jester felt a little familiar. The game Railroad Tycoon can be regarded as one of Sid Meier's masterpieces. Although it is much less famous than his Civilization series.

However, it's a very good idea. Jester said sincerely.

I also had a few chats with Sid Meier about the port of Age of Discovery. In Jester's eyes, even a ported version should be somewhat different from the original version to be interesting. Otherwise, how can we deceive those who play the game? What about people who have played the original game playing the transplant?

It's best to add an RPG script, and then add world treasures and other things. Jester suggested this. He saw from recent letters from readers of Game that the vast majority of players still like Big Game. The RPG elements of Age of Sail.

This is actually contrary to Sid Meier's original intention of making this big sailing game. In his opinion, this game should be a simulation strategy management game, with some RPG elements added. He thought it at the time was A great proposition just because he felt that these things would attract some players, and to retain these people, these gimmicks would not work.

But in fact, it seems that many people are more interested in the elements of these RPGs than the simulation system he painstakingly designed. In fact, in Jester's opinion, Anrong's original Age of Discovery is also the next few. The work was not crowned a god until Age of Discovery 4, because Age of Discovery 4 basically transformed a maritime management game into a game with a very large proportion of RPG elements. It's like Jester's changes to Fire Emblem.

But Sid Meier didn't say anything else. Since his previous thoughts were deviated from reality, he agreed to his boss's correction. However, just because he agreed to the correction did not mean that he agreed with Jester's behavior. Design thinking, so for the game Railway Tycoon, he decided to concentrate on making a pure simulation strategy management game to see if such a game has broad market prospects.

Every outstanding game designer is a person with very strong personal ideas. It is impossible for such people to easily accept suggestions that are different from their own ideas. Sid Meier is such a person. Some people Games are made to make money, and some people make games not just to make money. Sid Meier is the second type of person.

In fact, from Jester's own point of view, when Sid Meier wanted to make Pirates, he suddenly came up with An Rong's idea for The Age of Discovery just because it was fun, but Although Sid Meier only regards RPG elements as icing on the cake, based on the principle of perfectionism, even the RPG content that is not the core gameplay of the game is very well produced.

It is reasonable for such a niche game to be able to sell half a million units in half a month.

Is half a million units in half a month a small amount?

What Jester said before was the truth, and it was enough for the game Age of Discovery.