Game Development Giant

How to make a game magazine with no reputation sell sales?

Jester did think of a solution.

Because he knows who will buy game magazines. If he wants to sell a certain product, he only needs to know the target group of the product, and then he only needs to cater to these people.

So who are the people who are willing to spend money to buy game magazines?

Very simple logical reasoning, such a person is not just a game player, but must be a player who loves games very much. The most attractive thing to such a person is a good game.

Therefore, Jester was thinking about whether he could give away a trial version of a game when this magazine was first published, which is what later game companies would call a demo, and then use the Mars Entertainment brand as a gimmick to promote the game. At least players who like Mars entertainment games will definitely be interested in this.

After all, it is Mars Entertainment’s first PC game.

And the trial version of this game is not sold separately, it can only be included with the purchase of the magazine.

In this way, as long as players are interested in this game and want to play it, they will definitely buy a magazine. If their magazine is well-made, then a large number of players will definitely be retained.

Moreover, in this way, trial versions can be produced every few issues. The price of this issue can be set slightly higher. After sales and influence expand, it will not only be limited to your own games, but also other companies' games. Games, of course, cannot be free.

Of course, the magazine may not make money in the early stage, but it can quickly increase sales and gain a large number of fans. For a magazine, nothing is more important than sales and share.

Well, now comes the problem.

What kind of game should you choose? Jester was spinning the pen with one hand and tapping the fingers of the other hand on the table, frowning and thinking seriously.

First of all, this is definitely a PC game, not only because the current buyers of game magazines are mainly PC games, but the most important thing is that there is currently no more suitable platform than PC.

Secondly, the production of this game cannot be too difficult. It needs to be completed by two or three people within a week or two weeks. For example, scrolling games are definitely out of the question and can only be passed with still images. game.

Finally, the game has to be fun.

After much deliberation, Jester actually thought of a more suitable game, battle-city, which is translated into Chinese as City of Fierce Battle. It is more commonly known as Tank Battle.

This game will not be officially released until next year. The production company is the famous Namco. At that time, in addition to the FC version, it was also released on Fujitsu's FM77 computer. However, the FM77 version was not popular, but the FC version became immortal. classic.

This may also be the game that domestic players have the most contact with. Basically, the kind of dozens-in-one, lily-in-one, and thousand-eight-in-one cassettes. I can’t guarantee whether there will be Super Horse, but City of Battle 》It is inevitable.

Judging from Jester’s experience of playing countless combined cards, this game and Little Bee are basically the repertoire of this type of deceptive combined cards.

The first yellow card game that Jester came into contact with was City of Guild Wars. Of course, at that time, he and his friends did not know what the two English words that appeared at the beginning of the game were and could only use hearsay. The name came from Tank Battle to call it.

But since this is a trial version, there is no need to add some unnecessary functions.

For example, there is no need to add the map editor to the trial version. As for whether to add a two-player mode, Jester decided to add it after thinking for a while. After all, this game revolves around a two-player game. This is the selling point of the design. It is worth mentioning that this is also the first game on FC that can be played by two people at the same time. Previous ones, such as Super Mario, only played after the 1p died, and the 2p could play.

As for other things in the original version, Jester feels that there is nothing to delete, but there is no need to keep as many levels as the thirty-five levels in the original version. It only needs fifteen to twenty levels. First, it is made so Multiple levels take time. Secondly, as a trial version, it only needs to make players find the game fun, but it cannot allow them to play more content.

Otherwise, how can the official version make money?

Of course, if there is a trial version, there will be an official version. The official version, Jester, is going to be designed based on the Smoky Mountain Tank that will be modified and produced in China based on this game.

Because Smoke Mountain Tank was completely modified and made based on the shortcomings that a player felt when playing City of Guild Wars, such modifications also make City of Guild Wars more fun and playable.

Many players who have only played City of Guild Wars may have such thoughts, or regrets, when playing this game.

For example, when all the tanks on one side are dead, the tanks on the other side are quite wealthy. Why can't they 'borrow' a car from their partner like in other games, such as Contra? For another example, when an enemy tank hides in the grass and then fires cold guns to kill itself, then one will angrily think, why can't the grass blocking the line of sight be burned? Also, the rivers in the game become a stumbling block at many critical moments. It is already too late to take a long way back. I watch helplessly when my nest is destroyed by the enemy, and then I will complain why the tanks can't cross the river? Also, why are the props in the game only edible by players? Can't the enemy tanks also eat it? Wouldn't this be more fun?

Similar to the above, there are many.

At that time, Fu Zan, the founder of Yanshan Software in China, was also the earliest senior game player in China and the earliest electronic game developer in China. It was because of the various shortcomings he found while playing this classic game that he decided to play Guild Wars. On the basis of City, we modified and produced a game similar to the game mod type of later generations. This is Smoke Mountain Tank. Of course, this game is not authorized.

Jester's memory of Fu Zan doesn't end there. The first strategy book he read about video games was written by Fu Zan. It was also the first time he learned about Contra from this strategy book. How to choose thirty people, how to choose ninety-nine lives in Saloman Snake, this was Jester's secret skill at the time. Every time he played with his friends, he always had to hide the controller and press it secretly. Afraid of being copied by others.

This electronic game strategy guide is called Video Game Guide. It was released in 1991. The content and quality are very high. Once it was released, it caused a sensation and influenced a whole generation. It was reprinted five times in one year, with a total of The sales volume was close to 240,000 copies, and there were countless pirated copies. This had to be said to be a miracle at the time.

Another point worth mentioning is that Fu Zan was also the first person to make a Heka. In 1984, he copied the famous game River-Raid on the Atari 2600. He used a homemade I extracted the program of this game using the tools, rewritten the flight path of the plane and re-burned it, made the card box myself, printed the stickers myself, named it New Canal War, and then put the rest of Atari's software into it. The two games were burned together and the first combined card was made.

Jester also has a plan when he returns to China this time. He is to see if he can find Fu Zan in China. He can help Fu Zan set up a game studio or company in China without asking for how good a game he can produce. As long as we can cultivate a group of real game designers for the future, it will be enough. After all, in this era, it is extremely rare for mainland China to have a talented game designer. He cannot bear to see Fu Zan, the only one in the history of Chinese video games. A figure who can be called a legend will regret for the rest of his life in the future wave of piracy.

If there is a chance, Yanshan Software will definitely make original creations. Now thinking of these powerful words that the old Fu Zan said when he recalled the past, Jester also felt deeply. As a person who has unlimited love for video games Designers who don’t want to be original.

While thinking about it, Jester wrote the settings of this game on paper.

Of course, the settings are divided into two versions. One is the trial version. In addition to the game editor, it is basically the original Namco settings. There are twenty enemy tanks in each level, divided into four different types. Type, and then there are props such as five stars, shovels, clocks, bombs, etc. that are available in the original version. The enemy AI will continue to improve as the level increases. However, the addictive Jester added to the plot of the game, in order to increase the sense of immersion in the game. The logo of the player's headquarters was changed to the American flag. City of Fighting, which originally had no plot, was also changed to Soviet armored forces launching a raid on the United States. The player controls the only remaining soldiers in the city. Two tanks came to turn the tide and engage in a soul-stirring decisive battle with the evil Soviet armored forces.

In the full version, he imitated Smoky Mountain Tank to make additions. For example, he added a flamethrower, which is the icon of a small pistol. Eating one is equivalent to eating five five-stars. You can shoot away concrete, and eating two can burn it. After dropping the lawn, a new prop ship has been added. Players can cross the river terrain after eating it. The function of borrowing lives has been added. After one party's tanks are consumed, the game can be played by borrowing the remaining tanks of the companion.

The most important thing is that Jester has made further enhancements and added an optional difficulty system.

The game is divided into three selectable difficulties by Jester.

In normal difficulty, only the tank controlled by the player can eat props.

In Nightmare Difficulty, both tanks can eat props. If the enemy eats a shovel, the defense of the player's headquarters will be reduced by one level. For example, the brick wall that was originally a red brick wall will disappear. After eating the shovel, it will return to brick. The wall and undefended headquarters remain unchanged. Of course, if the enemy tank eats the bomb, all your own tanks will be destroyed.

In hell difficulty, only enemies can eat props.

After writing this, Jester began to draw a few maps he remembered from City of War or Smoky Mountain Tanks. He played this game a lot when he was a child, and he has several very classic maps. There were still some impressions. Based on his own memory and some of his own understanding, Jester drew seven or eight levels of maps on paper in a short time.

Now there are no purchase points in the system in Jester's mind, so he can't play the game directly in his mind and then copy the levels, but it doesn't matter. The levels of the game City of Battle are designed. It was not difficult to begin with. The Yanshan software of Fu Zan and the three of them could create the next fifteen levels that were not inferior to Namco. Naturally, their own designers would not be able to do it either.

In this way, Jester set the total number of levels of the official version of this game at fifty levels, the same as Smoky Mountain Tanks. Of course, because this is a game with a plot, after the player completes fifty levels It is also impossible to go back to the first level and start over like the original version. Instead, Jester added a slightly rough CG similar to the FC version of Ninja Gaiden as the ending of the game. Explain that the player has a great victory, defeating the evil Soviet Axis Group and saving the United States.

This setting also gives players a greater sense of accomplishment.

Jester still remembers the shock he felt when he saw the CG of Ninja Gaiden for the first time. He believes that the current players will be the same.

In this way, Jester has generally completed the framework design of this game. As for the specific numbers and level parameter settings, his staff will naturally complete the modeling. Moreover, because of the simple interface of this game, there is no judgment. According to Jester's estimate, any complicated part can be completed in at most two weeks, and the trial version does not even take a week.

It just so happens that he can form a game magazine and publish the first edition of the magazine.

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