Game Development Giant

The most important thing about action games?

When asked by Jester, Tomonobu Itagaki didn't know how to answer. In fact, in the past two years, except for Ninja Dragon, which he produced as a deputy, he has no independent action game development experience. , although he did put forward a lot of suggestions when developing Ninja Dragon, and these suggestions were all adopted one by one, but he never considered one thing in depth and overall, that is , how to make an action game.

Or let’s talk about what are the most important aspects when making an action game.

Well, let's not talk about this issue first, let's talk about something else first. The last game you produced was the sequel to Street Fighter. How do you feel about this game? I remember you said before that you were a Street Fighter A fan of Street Fighter. Jester saw Itagaki Tomonobu and didn't know how to answer. He just smiled faintly and automatically changed the topic.

When facing this problem, Itagaki Tomonobu was obviously much more confident.

He quickly answered some of his thoughts.

I think the fighting games we are still insisting on that can only be played on one line are a bit outdated. Although we can make such pictures very beautiful, for players, this kind of battle in 2D space is a bit outdated. , we can no longer make them as excited as usual, we need to change. In these words, Itagaki Tomonobu said very firmly.

Jester nodded after hearing this.

Do you also like Suzuki Yu's VR Warrior? Then Jester asked with a smile.

Itagaki Tomonobu did not deny it. After hearing Jester's words, he nodded and said bluntly: Mr. Suzuki Yu is indeed a genius in fighting games. I don't know how he came up with the idea of ​​VR Warrior. It is said that in order to design the movements of Akira Yuuki, he went to junior high school several times to discuss with the masters of Bajiquan to learn how to capture movements. It is indeed this game that inspired me a lot.

Um.

Jester nodded again: I asked Suzuki Yu to be my deputy this time, and I have this idea. I want to integrate the combat system into this kind of VR Warrior in my next game. The battle system... Actually, I also hope that you can learn something from Mr. Suzuki Yu, because after completing this game for Sega, I will give you a game that you like very much for you to develop. These words made Itagaki Tomonobu show a surprised look on his face.

Before Itagaki Tomonobu asked, Jester took the lead in explaining: I also carefully studied Mr. Suzuki Yu's VR Warrior and indeed got a lot of inspiration. I have an idea for a game, but it is not yet mature. , I temporarily named it Tekken, which is also an arcade game.

Is this the work we declare war on VR Warrior?

Itagaki Tomonobu asked impatiently, and Jester nodded: Yes, it is the work we declared war on VR Warrior.

Seeing the excitement on Itagaki Tomonobu's face when he heard that he planned to hand over the development opportunity of Tekken to him, Jester couldn't help but feel a little funny. He suddenly remembered that in his world, Itagaki Tomonobu also had an indissoluble bond with Iron Fist. Of course, this indissoluble bond. It's not the indissoluble bond I gave him.

In Jester's memory, Itagaki Tomonobu was once asked what are the five games you hate the most, and then Itagaki Tomonobu made an immediate decision. He answered bluntly: The five games I hate most are Tekken 1 and Tekken 2. Tekken 3, Tekken 4 and Tekken 5. The reason for this answer is, It was precisely because of the famous work of Itagaki Tomonobu, Dead or Alive, which Itagaki Tomonobu often referred to as daughter, that it was once dismissed as worthless by Namco, the development company of Tekken, because the game was too pornographic. It doesn't deserve to be called a fighting game.

In fact, although Itagaki Tomonobu hates the Tekken series and Namco Corporation very much, he has a very good personal relationship with Harada Katsuhiro, the father of Tekken. They often drink together, and even Itagaki When Banshin was bored, he would even call Katsuhiro Harada to chat. Jester remembered that he had seen such an interview.

Itagaki Tomonobu and Harada Katsuhiro were interviewed together. In fact, before this, Jester never believed that Itagaki Tomonobu was actually a very good personal friend with the creator of the game Tekken. In the interview, Harada Katsuhiro even He also told an interesting story about Itagaki Tomonobu. You should know that Itagaki Tomonobu liked drinking very much. One day, Itagaki Tomonobu drank until very late, and then he was too bored, so he called Harada Katsuhiro to chat. As a result, Harada was Shenghong is still working overtime in the company.

Of course, it is the development team of Tekken.

At that time, Harada Katsuhiro heard the phone ringing, picked up the phone and saw Itagaki Tomonobu's name on the screen. He immediately shouted in the office: Look who is calling! Then the people around him laughed at him: Do you want us to pick it up for you?”…

After Jester stopped vomiting after reading this interview, he realized that Sour Face didn't hate Iron Fist as he said.

Having said that, in fact, the reason why Sour Face was able to complete the classic fighting game Dead or Alive was because of the help of the seniors of the am2 development team, and the anm2 development team was formed by Yu Suzuki , Sega's ace development team, the one who developed VR Warrior.

Therefore, Jester looked at Itagaki Tomonobu, who was still excited at this time, and felt a strange sense of joy as he thought about these things about Itagaki Tomonobu.

At this time, Itagaki Tomonobu, who had been excited for a while, seemed to suddenly think of something.

He slapped his thigh and said loudly to Jester: Boss, I think of the answer to the question you asked at the beginning. In fact, the most important thing about an action game is its combat system. If you look at the combat system alone, , I think he is very similar to fighting games.

Similarity?

Jester didn't say whether he agreed or disagreed, but immediately asked a question.

I don't quite understand it. Anyway, it might be called a sense of operation or feel. I can't find the most suitable word to describe it. Anyway, it's just a feeling. It's hard to describe it in words.

Itagaki Tomonobu wanted to explain to Jester, but it seemed that he couldn't explain it himself.

But Jester nodded: I understand what you mean.

This is not an illusion, because Jester really understood what Itagaki Tomonobu meant. This is indeed something that can only be understood but cannot be expressed in words.

In fact, many people in later generations will call this feeling of a game a sense of impact. However, in the eyes of top developers of real action games, there is no concept of such a sense of impact at all. False proposition, if many other developers or manufacturers talk about the sense of impact all day long, it is possible that they do not understand the true meaning and core idea of ​​the sense of impact.

Jester also had several interviews with Zuckerberg. Someone asked him, Facebook is doing so well with big data. What do you understand about big data? As a result, Zuckerberg asked the assistant next to him, What is big data? mean? ’.

Similarly, if you ask Sour Face, Hideki Kamiya, and Yoshinori Ono what a sense of blow is, they may not know what the word means. It is like asking a normal person what a sense of walking is. For Ninlong Producer Sulfur Face, and two generations of Devil May Cry leaders Hideki Kamiya and Yoshinori Ono, this kind of thing that we call a 'sense of impact' is just like a person walking, it is an instinctive thing .

For those who really understand action games, the 'sense of impact' is something that is integrated into their blood in every aspect. This thing is a very simple thing for those who understand, but it is an elusive and mysterious thing for those who don't understand. , it can be said that this is a comprehensive performance of sound effects, animation, feedback, monster and skill design and other aspects. The sense of impact is not a technology, it is a feeling that can only be understood after accumulating more.

I just finished reading your incomplete game development plan. In fact, in my eyes, there are many problems.

After Jester ended the above topic, he talked specifically about the game called Shadow Blade that Itagaki Tomonobu is designing. The plot of the action game is not what Jester needs to worry about. In this aspect , whether it is at the headquarters of Mars Entertainment or the branch in Japan, there are some who are better at this than him. He is referring to other things.

In your design, you don't seem to have considered the difficulties of some 2D side-scrolling action games. For example, here, there is one of the biggest common problems of this type of game, which is a sense of stiffness in the operation. In general, To put it simply, the operation is not smooth. Have you ever thought about how to solve this difficulty?

Hearing Jester's question, Itagaki Tomonobu began to think deeply. After more than a minute, he shook his head in confusion.

He said with some shame: When I was developing the Ninja Dragon, I was just a deputy. I didn't pay attention to these things at the time, so...

hehe.

Jester smiled and thought about Itagaki Tomonobu's words. He shook his head and said: You don't have to blame yourself. This is a normal thing. In fact, the development of action games is a matter that requires the accumulation of experience. , you can take a look at the action games made by us or Capcom. The quality of the early and current games is almost different. (To be continued...)