Game Development Giant

Software guides hardware.

This is not an empty talk, but something that Jester is actually doing now.

Of course, Sony would do the same thing more than 20 years later, after Ken Kutaragi resigned.

Why is this so?

Because, although the development of game consoles was invented for players to play games, before playing games for players, software, that is, game developers, are needed to develop games based on this game console.

Because of architectural issues, developing games on a game console is completely different from developing games on a PC.

And if it can make it easier for game developers to develop games, they will naturally be able to develop better games. This was the reason why Sony appointed Mark Saini as the chief architect of ps4. Later, ps4 became more popular in the market. The above performance also truly proves the correctness of this point.

Therefore, Jester will gather the main designers of Mars Entertainment at regular intervals to discuss the development of next-generation game consoles with the hardware development team.

Of course, such discussions also have big drawbacks.

That is, every game developer must have their own requirements. If you want to meet their requirements as much as possible, it is always impossible. So at this time, you need to make a summary at the meeting. , it is up to Jester to decide which plan should be adopted.

Jester returned to the office from the conference room and rubbed his sore forehead.

Then I started looking at the meeting minutes he had taken.

To be honest, although he knew that the outside world was chattering about 2D or 3D, what he didn't expect was that this kind of debate was also chattering inside Mars Entertainment.

Some support 3D, and some support 2D.

Of course, the one who supports 3D the most is Hideo Kojima. His newly designed Metal Gear is waiting for the completion of the next-generation game console. Production can officially begin, and the team re-established by Kojima is also coming to the United States with Kojima, and is participating in the development of Dreambox 3 throughout the process.

As for the development of 2D games, many meritorious personnel of the company believe that 2D will be incredibly beautiful in the next era.

Jester is also continuing to summarize the meeting based on his understanding of the future carefully.

Because when I left, I had already promised to the supervisor in charge of the development of Dreambox 3 that I would hand over his opinions to him this afternoon. I have been busy for most of the day. Finally finding a clue, Jester couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

On the table is a new game.

With the reform of game magazines, the original bimonthly has now become a weekly. The last issue of Game reported that Runestone Guardian caused a great response, but this response was mainly due to this This game was inspired by Jester's new game.

And now the latest issue of Game once again published an article about Rune Stone Guardian.

Because in the past, Jester had asked the company to send the alpha version of Runestone Guardian to many people, and of course those who worked with him were very happy. In fact, it is its own magazine.

Maybe it's because it's not an official version.

Game magazine did not give a specific rating to the game after the trial.

In fact, this time around, Jester was not as usual in testing the alpha version of Runestone Guardian. The test participant Qianshu was asked to enter into a confidentiality agreement regarding the content of the game, so this time as the alpha test progressed, a lot of news was revealed.

As for the reason why the information was not kept confidential, it is very simple.

Because of the game Runestone Guardian. After completing the alpha version, the full version will be released soon, so. This time the Alpha version test was also viewed by Jester as a kind of publicity.

After all, it is a small game that I made for my own entertainment.

Jester originally did not plan to take up much of the company's promotional resources, but despite this, the game still aroused a great response after the trial began.

Not many people participated in the trial.

Basically, they are all true diehards of Mars Entertainment, and they still have to live near Los Angeles.

These people have been working as game testers for Mars Entertainment all year round. It can be said that these testers have also contributed a lot to the creativity and ideas in many Mars Entertainment games. This time, the news about Runestone Guardian no longer requires them to keep it confidential. , so these people revealed their feelings to various media after just trying it out.

For a media like Game, in addition to its own trial experience, it is natural that it will also add the trial experience of several test participants.

In short, Rune Stone Guardian, both by game and by these experienced game players, is evaluated as a game that is extremely surprising to them. This is a game that is completely different from other RPG games. Although it is also an RPG, the player controls a protagonist to go on an adventure.

However, the experience of this kind of adventure is completely different whether you play a traditional American RPG or a well-made Japanese RPG.

Although Game did not rate Runestone Guardian in the article, and this Alpha version still needs improvement in many places, but although there are still such and such unsatisfactory shortcomings, this A very innovative game.

The editor who wrote this test report said it with an extremely positive tone.

If he were asked to give Runestone Guardian a rating now, he would probably give it an eight out of ten, but if Jester and the two new intern employees were given some time, let them put the game into practice. From the alpha test version to the official release version.

And according to Jester's ability, after this game is perfected, it can definitely get a score of nine points or even nine points and five points.

In game, it's about the testing of trial players.

One person's answer was interesting.

In this article, the interviewer asked him what was the most surprising thing about the game Runestone Guardian?

The respondent did not talk about the game's subversion of traditional RPGs, but talked about the online mode in the alpha version. However, because he played it at his own home, it was an alpha version of Runestone Guardian. The test floppy disk can only be installed once. It will be automatically locked after installation, so there is no way to connect to it.

I'm very curious about the online mode of Runestone Guardian. I don't know how to connect this game, which is obviously designed for individual players. I asked a few friends, and they, like me, had no choice. It’s for online testing, so I’m extremely curious about it.”

At the end, the interviewee also added something.

Because online play on PC is originally a pioneering work of Mars Entertainment, especially their Quake and Age of Empires. It can be said that whether it is FPS or RTS, these two types of games are the most fun and the most interesting. It's not about plotting, or contacting the computer AI with marksmanship or anything like that.

These two games, or these two types of games.

The greatest fun lies in going online and playing against players. That kind of fun and sense of accomplishment is not something that people who only know how to play stand-alone computer AI can understand.

Of course, especially in RTS games, the frustration of having your IQ crushed after failure is also extremely frustrating.

Of course, for Game magazine, this kind of online problem is not a problem.

This time, their magazine received a total of about twenty test disks of the game. Of course, this was also because when the magazine got the game, they found that there was an online mode in it. It reminded them of the previous online battle mode of Age of Empires in the magazine. The popularity caused inside decided to ask for more.

And Jester didn't begrudge it. In fact, he didn't have any expectations for the appeal of the current online mode of Runestone Guardian.

Because the gameplay of this game is an exploration gameplay, neither Jester nor the original producers of Runestone Guardian have ever had this idea. It is very simple. If the game If the design should be considered for multiplayer games.

This will inevitably lead to game complexity.

In short, it makes the game less simple and fun, which is contrary to the designer's original intention.

As for why there is an online mode.

It's very simple. This is actually prepared for the future of Battle.net.

For Jester, after Mars Entertainment's Battle.net is completed, the first game to be added to Battle.net for testing is not Age of Empires. After all, Age of Empires is too big a game. Instead, it is Age of Empires. Stone Guardian is even more appropriate.

In Guardian of Runestones, Jester set up an abyss mode.

This mode is exactly the same as the ladder mode pioneered by Blizzard, which ranks players based on the number of levels they can reach.

Of course, Blizzard’s original Diablo ladder was not set up like this. Jester has not played the Diablo 1 ladder, so he doesn’t know it. However, he does know the Diablo 2 ladder, but this ladder calculation method is more complicated and does not work well. It’s not advisable, but Diablo 3’s ladder method is very simple and easy to understand.

That is, whoever plays more layers and whoever uses fewer layers will have a higher ladder ranking.

That's all.

The same is true for the Abyss mode of Runestone Guardian.

It's just a ranking. (To be continued...)